It’s been a while since I did a “general updates” post with what I’ve been up to lately, so without further ado, here it is!

What I’m reading …

I’ve been reading such fun books as of late! My current total of books read this year is 22, so I’m happy to be right on track with my reading goal for 2022. Recent top favorites include Where The Heart Is by Janet Lambert, Unearthing the Secret Garden by Marta McDowell, Golden Sovereign by Dorothy Lyons, and Ginnie and the Mystery Doll by Catherine Woolley.

What I’m planning to read …

I also have a set of new books coming in the mail, including two Janet Lambert novels I haven’t read yet. I’m very excited!

What I’m writing …

I have projects in varying stages right now! I’m deep in an edit round for one project, am planning and beginning to draft a couple of others, and have ideas for plenty more! I’ve been experimenting lately, having written my first picture book last summer and now my first TV screenplay this past weekend. 🙂

Most delightful of all, my upcoming middle grade novel, The Star That Always Stays, releases on July 12, 2022, and the preparations for it—final edits and marketing—have been so exciting! I was also invited to speak on a panel called “Another Time, Another Place” at School Library Journal’s upcoming Middle Grade Magic virtual event, which will be on March 10th!

What else I’ve been enjoying…

I’ve been doing some scrapbooking and drawing lately! I really enjoyed watching the 2022 Winter Cup on Saturday, the first major U.S. gymnastics meet of the year. Cheers to Konnor McClain, who took home the gold in the senior women’s all-around! My flower seeds have arrived, from several different seed companies, and it was a delight to watch them show up in the mailbox. I’m looking forward to planting all of my usual standbys, such as cosmos, zinnias, calendulas, and bachelor’s buttons, and I’m also trying out other flowers I haven’t planted before, including pink dandelions and lisianthus. I planted nasturtiums for the first time last year after reading about them in Jane of Lantern Hill and LOVED them!

What have you been doing to spruce up your winter days? Leave a comment! 

At the close of this first month of the new year, here’s a quick update on my current books (and other things)!

What I’m reading …

I read eleven books in January to kick off 2021! Among my (new) favorites: The Anne of Green Gables Devotional by Rachel Dodge, a heartfelt read full of inspiring verses with charming illustrations; Karina Yan Glaser’s The Vanderbeekers Lost and Found, the fourth volume in the Vanderbeekers series and perhaps the most poignant yet; Best Friends by Mary Bard (1950s fun about a French girl moving to the US); Francie on the Run, the second book in Hilda van Stockum’s Bantry Bay trilogy. Rereads included Kate DiCamillo’s 20th-anniversary edition of Because of Winn-Dixie (with slightly altered text), and Jane of Lantern Hill (L.M. Montgomery), which I am having the fun of discussing with friends in a book group right now.

What I’m planning to read …

Some brand-new books just arrived in the mail, and here’s why I can’t wait to read them:

Emily’s Runaway Imagination (1961): I’m working on filling in my Beverly Cleary library, having stuck mainly to the Ramona books and her “First Love” series. I just read Mitch and Amy (1967) and liked it quite a bit, so I’m eager to read this one, a rare historical story from Cleary set in the 1920s.

The Four Graces (1946): A Little Women retelling-of-sorts set in WWII in an English village and written by D.E. Stevenson? What could be better? 🙂

Carney’s House Party (1949): I just bought this lovely two-pack that includes both Carney and Winona, two Deep Valley novels by Maud Hart Lovelace. I just read Winona’s Pony Cart for the first time last year and greatly enjoyed it, and now I’m looking forward to rereading Carney’s House Party.

L.M. Montgomery’s Short Stories, 1907-1908: Montgomery’s short stories often have such wonderful characters and situations that I end up wishing she’d lengthened them into more novels!

Two Little Women (1915): I read the second book in this trilogy in 2009 and the third in 2010, and I have finally bought myself a copy of the first book! Carolyn Wells’ writing is so breezy and fun.

Not pictured but also on my list: Jennifer Dances (1954): A 1910s-era story by Eunice Young Smith about a girl who moves to Chicago to live with aunt and takes up ballet. It sounds so sweet!

What I’m writing …

I am nearly finished with my current middle grade novel – only about 7k left to write – and then I’m going to be focusing on a revision of a middle grade manuscript I wrote for NaNoWriMo in 2018! I am so excited about it, and I’m gathering research materials and searching for inspiration!

What else I’ve been enjoying…

Scrapbooking, looking through old family photos, feeding sugar cubes to sweet ponies, listening to Annette Funicello songs and Strauss’ Annen Polka, doing writing sprints with friends, gathering quotes for an interview piece for Inside Gymnastics, watching Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, and other delightful things. I’ve also been planning this summer’s garden, buying seeds and calculating how many flower beds I’ll need. I am hoping for an early spring so that I can get a head start on my seeds, particularly the Madame Butterfly snapdragons. For the first time, I’ll be planting glorious orange nasturtiums (a flower found in Jane of Lantern Hill, as mentioned above), and I’m crossing my fingers that – unlike last year – my pink poppies will actually come to fruition!

What have you been doing to brighten the long January days? Let me know in the comments! 🙂 

This week, I thought I might give an update on some of my current writing projects and reading lists!

An aesthetic I created for my middle grade novel

In September, I finished drafting a delicious middle grade novel set in 1949 England. I wrote the beginning of the book two years ago, added a little more one year ago, and then couldn’t think of where to take the story. But finally this summer I had the perfect inspiration for the book–I simply withdrew a plotline from one of my unfinished projects, paired it with the characters and setting that I’d dreamed up for this novel, and everything fell into place!

I’m currently brainstorming and outlining a lovely Christmas-themed novel that’s been simmering in my mind since last winter. I’ve promised myself not to start writing it until mid-October, but I almost don’t think I can wait that long. 😉 (This novel will be my NaNoWriMo project, too!) In the meantime, though, I might be working on a fun novelette, but I’ll have plenty to keep me busy until I can start my Christmas novel. The World Championships of gymnastics will be held in Stuttgart for the next two weeks, and I’m *so* looking forward to seeing how the competition unfolds. (Fingers crossed that the Japanese women qualify a full team to Tokyo 2020!)

So far this year I have read 91 books.This far surpasses my goal of 75 books for 2019, which I set last December. (True, I don’t think I’ve yet read any of the long classics I had planned to add to my list this year, although I’m rectifying this right now by reading a very long and revered classic with a reading group. See my current reads below!)

More fun from the past few weeks: 

– I’m entering two stories in a very exciting writing contest this fall. I can’t wait to see what happens!

– Last year I planted snapdragons that were a perfect “sunset” shade, a mix of pink and orange. (My absolute favorites!) Then last month this same color of snapdragon popped up amidst my strawberries. I didn’t plant it there – they weren’t even in that flower bed last year! – but it was such a fun surprise.

– Over the past two months, I’ve been digitizing a box of amazing family photos, which has kept me happily busy. 🙂

– I’m re-reading some of my favorite Judy Bolton mysteries,and it’s delightful to return to these books at this time of year. Autumn is perfect for Judys!

– I also recently put together the picture on the left, a mix of cut silhouettes and paint on watercolor paper…a future book character, perhaps? 😉

Recently Read: The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue by Karina Yan Glaser, Grace Coolidge: An Autobiography, The Invisible Chimes by Margaret Sutton

Currently Reading: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Strange Likeness by Kate Duvall and Beverly Hatfield, At Home in North Branch by Arleta Richardson

I read some lovely books this month! I totaled nine books read in May (seven new books and two rereads). One of my favorites from this month was Whose Waves These Are by Amanda Dykes, which just released at the end of April. I found it incredibly hard to put the book down; it was set in Maine (one of my favorite literary locales!), and the story was spellbinding with a beautifully uplifting message and memorable characters. Another favorite was When Patty Went to College by Jean Webster, first published in 1901. This author is better-known for one of her later books, Daddy-Long-Legs, but I found this book even more humorous and entertaining. It’s more like a string of short stories than a novel, and while this format can be dull in some volumes, this one kept up a good pace.

L.M. Montgomery’s The Golden Road was another delightful book from May, full of the delicious descriptions and characterizations that I love about Montgomery’s novels. While the first half of this one is funny and episodic, the second half is heartwarming and compelling. Another book I enjoyed immensely was Hattie Ever After by Kirby Larson, which is set in 1919 San Francisco and features a 17-year-old girl who longs to be a reporter. I also re-read The Midnight Visitor by Margaret Sutton, one of my favorite Judy Bolton mysteries, and Katie John by Mary Calhoun, a favorite from age 10 or so that I still love reading. I also read some fun vintage mysteries!

I’ve started another reread of Jane of Lantern Hill, my all-time favorite novel. It’s always a treat to slip back into this wonderful world, and summer seems like the perfect time to revisit Jane and her father and their marvelous summer home on Prince Edward Island. Last December I reread Anne of Windy Poplars and was struck by the similarities of one of its subplots to the incidents of Jane. The subplot of Little Elizabeth seemed remarkably akin to Jane’s story, and since Windy Poplars was published in 1936, just year prior to Jane, I wondered if L.M. Montgomery was inspired to expand it into a full-length novel. Then I read one of Montgomery’s short stories from 1934, entitled Tomorrow Comes, and realized that it is actually the original story—Windy Poplars and Jane are both derivative versions! In fact, verbatim passages from both books appear in the original short story. All three tales are simply enchanting, so if you haven’t read them yet, do so right away! (But Jane is the best, so if you’re only going to read one, choose this one!)

This month I finished writing two major projects from this spring, a novella called The Joy Cottage and the third novel in my historical series, Every Beautiful Gift. Having finished these two, I’m hoping to work on some short stories—I have so many ideas floating through my head, I can’t wait to explore some of them!

I just finished the first draft of my latest #workinprogress! It’s a romance comedy/drama novella set at a lake cottage in 1946, and it’s been an absolute breeze to write ❤️📖😍 pic.twitter.com/uaKHvyTddL

— Anna Rose Johnson (@GymnasticsRosie) May 15, 2019

The garden is so beautiful right now! Everything is just beginning—all the young blooms are here or getting ready to arrive. I am so excited about my creamy-white marigolds, and they are going to be *so many* strawberries soon! The forget-me-nots are always a lovely treat as well this time of year. I’m especially pleased that my blue-grape hyacinths have come up for the second year in a row—I initially planted the bulbs in the fall of 2017. (As you might recall, these flowers appear the Pat books by L.M. Montgomery; they grow at Silver Bush!)

But at last they were throwing open the windows to let in the spring and Pat learned all over again how lovely young cherry trees were, waving whitely in green twilights, and the scent of apple blossoms in moonlight, and the colonies of blue grape-hyacinths under the dining-room windows. – Mistress Pat

November is here, in all of its drizzly, cloudy glory. I have bulbs to plant soon—beautiful multicolored tulips that will (hopefully) sprout up the in the warm spring months ahead. In book-writing news, I’m currently drafting the second book in my “Norvia” middle grade series, thanks to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I originally drafted the first Norvia book for NaNo in November 2014, so working on the sequel feels like a wonderful flashback for me.

Some of my research for the sequel:

I’m also still working on my Christmas novella, which I hope to share with you all in mid-December—very exciting! 🙂 Stay tuned for more details!

For me, the last two weeks have been all about the 2018 World Gymnastics Championships. I provided tons of fun coverage for Inside Gymnastics Magazine, including an interview with Great Britain’s Becky Downie. It was so exciting to watch all of these incredible athletes at the highest level of the sport. My all-time favorite routine of Worlds? Probably Nina Derwael’s breathtaking, gold medal-winning uneven bars routine. Derwael, whom I interviewed about a year ago, is currently Belgium’s top gymnast and the world’s best bars worker. I can’t wait to watch her compete in 2019!

In reading news, I hit my 2018 Goodreads Challenge last week! I’ve read 100 books so far this year, and I’m hoping to read several more before the year is out. I recently reread some of the books in the Patty Fairfield series by Carolyn Wells (published from 1902-1919), and that was simply delightful. They’re such light, humorous reads!

I was recently given these three gorgeous vintage copies:

Interestingly, all three volumes were previously owned by the same young lady, whose name was written in beautiful cursive in the front of each book. Being a genealogist (and insatiably curious!), I did a little searching on family history sites and uncovered some fascinating info about this fellow booklover, whose life seemed to mirror Patty’s remarkably! Not only was she also an only child and a fashionable debutante in a bustling city, but she looked almost exactly like the illustrations of Patty on these covers! 🙂 I wonder if someone gave her these books because of her amazing similarity to Patty. In any event, I love knowing a bit more about the former owner of my books!

I just finished reading The Mystery on Judy Lane, the brand-new book in the Judy Bolton series. The author, Beverly Hatfield, has gifted Judy fans with a wonderful companion volume to this awesome series. I loved reading this sweet Christmassy mystery, set between books #13 and #14.

I also recently found these vintage copies of two other books in the Judy series. The Mark on the Mirror is one of my very favorites!

Now I’m rereading Emily Climbs by L.M. Montgomery, and even though I’ve read it before, I’m having a hard time putting it down! 🙂 Also—stay tuned for my upcoming blog post on the Pat of Silver Bush series, which I consider to be perhaps Montgomery’s sweetest and coziest series of books.

Happy Reading!

Lilia stood in her new bedroom in the little cottage on the coast of Kilmeny, observing the emptiness with satisfaction. It was a spacious, green-walled room, with unfilled shelves and a blank bulletin board. She had frames on the walls, but they had no pictures inside.

Daddy noticed, of course. The first time he saw the empty room, he asked, “Where is the dragonfly picture?”

Lilia didn’t say a word. He knew perfectly well the picture Mommy once drew was still in its cardboard box, packed away with her colored pencils and her photograph and the bluebird figurine.

“Maybe you could put the dragonfly on your bulletin board,” suggested Daddy.

“I want a completely clean room in this house,” said Lilia firmly.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” said Lilia, even more firmly.

They had not lived in Kilmeny for long before Lilia took notice of the house next door. It was a grand black-and-white Tudor with an enormous garden enclosed by a stone wall. She became aware of an ache in her heart as she admired the garden one night. True, she couldn’t see much of the garden from her bedroom window, but she saw enough to remind her of the old one. She wondered if they had lovely gardens in heaven.

“Good-night, Lilia,” said Daddy, smiling from the doorway.

“Nighty-night,” said Lilia. “What would you like to…” Her voice trailed off. Somehow Daddy’s face didn’t look quite right tonight. It was a little sad, as usual, but it was concerned, too. “Are you worried, Daddy?”

“No, sweetheart, although there is something on my mind. Do you remember how much I liked that book we read together?”

Did Lilia remember! “I have it right here in my nightstand.” Pulling open the drawer, she withdrew a softcover book with a white origami crane on the cover. “The Paper Crane.”

“Odd book.” Daddy paused, as if he was puzzling over something. He rested his chin in his hands. “Depth and characters appealing to adults—warmth and humor perfect for children—a story compelling for both.”

Lilia didn’t quite understand what Daddy meant, although she thought she did. “I think she wrote it for everybody.”

“Who?” he asked, still distracted by his own thoughts.

“Gracelyn Woodfield. That’s the lady who wrote it,” Lilia explained, pointing to the name on the cover.

Daddy grinned, sort of. The ghost of a concern still lingered on his face. “I know. I’ve been trying to get in touch with her for weeks, but her publicist hasn’t been able to get a hold of her, either. Strange as it sounds, Ms. Woodfield seems to have disappeared.”

“Do you want to make a movie out of The Paper Crane?”

“Yes, and of course Ms. Woodfield holds the copyright, and securing the movie rights is impossible without her permission.”

“Where do you suppose she went?”

“Timbuktu, maybe. The Nile. Mars. Zimbabwe.”

“A lagoon in a rainforest,” giggled Lilia. “Maybe she’s been abducted by Martians. Or she’s a hermit.”

That made Daddy laugh. “I’m fairly sure that’s not the case. Ms. Woodfield is a world-renowned author. The Paper Crane has sold millions of copies, and I must get in touch with her as soon as I can.”

“She’ll let you make the movie,” said Lilia with the typical self-assurance of a child. “I know she will. She seems like a real person, like anyone you’d meet in the grocery store.”

“And typically authors are not real people,” said Daddy with a chuckle.

Lilia lay back on her luscious white pillows. “I hope you find her soon. I’d like to see The Paper Crane movie—if it was as good as the book.”

“So would I, darling. Sleep sweet!”

“Don’t let the bed bugs eat!” Lilia finished, giggling.

~
In the fading darkness, Joel stood on the balcony, his gaze fixated on the rolling seas of Kilmeny. But he wasn’t watching the waves, and he wasn’t watching the sunset as it drifted and merged in a kaleidoscope of fading color. He was looking at the dead garden below. He’d bought this property for a song; it had been a foreclosure and the details were now sketchy in his mind, since he’d been so engrossed in acquiring the rights for The Paper Crane when he made the purchase. All that time, he had been wondering how anyone could have written a book like that. A book with feelings. Real feelings alive on the pages, as real as life itself. Sharing that book with Lilia had become a syrupy medicine to soothe the ache that wouldn’t vanish.

Why had he bought a house with a garden? It would only remind Lilia of…

But they would both forget, he told himself.

~
It was one of those brilliant mornings, with the sun playing catch with the daffodils, a song on the lips of every bird, spider webs laced with dew, and a cloudless sky. A perfect day for exploring.

Lilia opened her hands and spread her palms wide, hoping a butterfly would flit delicately toward her and land upon them. Not the blue ones, but the yellow swallowtails. However, the butterflies were busy that morning—a few raggedy cosmos flowers were growing at the edge of the old matted garden, and the butterflies were intent on draining them dry of nectar.

Well, I won’t water the flowers, thought Lilia. I just won’t.

Then a strange thing happened. A folded piece of paper—an oddly-shaped piece of paper—floated on a whisper of wind, right into Lilia’s welcoming hands. She turned it upside down and realized this was no ordinary paper. This was a paper crane—it was unfinished. One wing was still incomplete and lifeless.

For Lilia, this incident was far too similar to the first scene in Ms. Woodfield’s novel. “Perhaps I’m in somebody’s story,” Lilia thought uncomfortably. “Perhaps I’ll start doing bookish things that I’d never do in real life.” But then where did the novel end and where did real life begin again?

A harmonious sound met Lilia’s ears: the tingling of tiny bells; tittering like the gossip of birds. Could those sounds be coming from the Tudor next door?

“This didn’t happen in The Paper Crane,” she thought delightedly, and she felt bold enough to open the promising white gate. It swung on creaking hinges.

Lilia found herself standing in a garden—not a dead one like she’d just left behind, but a thoroughly alive sanctuary of blooming lilacs, apple trees, irises, and orchids. Hundreds of chimes were fastened to tree branches and they waved in the breeze—wooden chimes, producing hollow sounds; metallic ones with the bell-like notes. Thousands of crystal pendulums hung on the lilac bushes, glowing and revolving, reflecting endless snippets of rainbows. Dozens of origami cranes, in every color imaginable, perched amidst trellises of ancient English roses. And in the center of the garden was a woman in a wheelchair, folding paper.

She was one of those people who was probably close to thirty but looked no older than fifteen. She stopped her handiwork when she saw Lilia open the gate.

Lilia held up the paper crane, with its unfinished wing. “I found this,” she announced. “Is it yours?”

“Yes,” said the woman, smiling. Her mouth looked as if smiling was its favorite hobby. “Thank you for bringing him home. Cranes have a habit of flying away, and the wind encouraged this one to leave the nest before it was ready.”

Lilia placed the crane on a table beside the lady’s wheelchair. It was covered in squares of multicolored paper and cups of lemonade. “Is origami hard to do?”

“At first. Then it becomes second nature, if you practice enough.”

“My daddy and I read a book about origami. There was this girl who made paper cranes, just like you.” Lilia selected a piece of blue paper—then chose orange instead. “I think that’s what they call a cow-in-cidence.”

The woman’s flying fingers came to a halt. “Oh, do you mean the book called The Paper Crane?”

“Yes. Have you read it?” Lilia asked eagerly.

“Well, yes,” the lady admitted. “I also wrote it.”

Lilia was enchanted. “You’re Gracelyn Woodfield?”

“I am, and that actually is my real name, not a pseudonym,” Gracelyn laughed. Somehow her laugh sounded just like her chimes. “What’s your name?”

“Lilia Bradbury. My daddy’s been looking for you everywhere! His name is Joel, and his very famous studio wants to make a movie out of The Paper Crane.” The remembrance of this dilemma made Lilia frown. “Why didn’t you answer his letters or calls?”

“I’ll tell you a secret,” said Gracelyn, lowering her voice to a confidential whisper. “When I come here for the summer, I don’t answer the phone.”

Lilia giggled. “I thought all grown-ups loved answering phones!”

“I don’t. But you can tell your daddy that I would love to discuss the movie rights,” Gracelyn told her. “Meantime, why don’t you take a sip of lemonade?”

The lemonade was cool and delicious. “This is good,” said Lilia. “It tastes like spring. Is your garden this beautiful in the summer?”

“Of course! The garden is just getting started.”

Lilia thought of Mommy’s garden and pushed the thought away.

Gracelyn finished another crane, a purple one, and set it aside. “The garden wasn’t always this glorious, though. When I first came here, it was run-down and neglected.” She paused and sipped her own lemonade in a tall glass. “I was a traveler once, Lilia.”

“Is that because you’re an author? I heard that all authors have to travel to get ideas,” said Lilia. “If they stay in one place too long, their brains go dry.”

Gracelyn shook her head. “This was before I became a writer. I traveled all over the world, seeing beautiful things. Sunsets in foreign countries. Endangered animals in rare habitats. Flora and fauna that few have heard of. When I saw those things, I was filled with such—awe, and joy, and contentment.”

Lilia didn’t see the point of this story. “And you were never home to take care of the garden?”

Gracelyn’s exquisite smile returned. “I didn’t own this garden yet. You see, I traveled all over the world for many years, until I had a bad accident. And I couldn’t walk anymore. And when I realized that I would never be able to travel like I used to…and that I would never again see those sights I loved…well, I stopped searching for beautiful things. I hid from them. I didn’t want to be reminded of them.”

Lilia stopped fiddling with the orange paper. It didn’t look much like a crane anyway. She glanced at the blue paper. “Then what happened?”

“Well, one day when I was feeling especially sorry for myself, I caught a random glimpse of a rainbow on my wall.” Gracelyn gestured to the prisms of light that decorated her garden. “I was so overcome by its beauty and its simplicity—and I realized I didn’t need to go places to find beauty and happiness. And then I decided to create gorgeous things. Books. Origami. Rainbows. Music. Gardens full of flowers. And do you know what, Lilia? Once I began to celebrate the beauty, those memories of my travels weren’t painful to recollect anymore. And do you know, since that day I’ve been an infinitely happier woman.”

Lilia finished her lemonade. After a few minutes, she picked up a blue crane. “May I have this?” she asked slowly.

“Of course,” Gracelyn beamed. “I’m pleased that you should want it.”

That night Lilia put the crane on her bedroom shelf. It was pretty, but it seemed lonesome. She found Mommy’s picture and the bluebird figurine and placed them beside the crane. She found the dragonfly picture and pinned it up behind them.

When Daddy came home, she told him all about Gracelyn Woodfield and The Paper Crane and the accident and the memories and the beauty. And she told him about the garden.

“It used to be ugly, Daddy. Nobody took care of it. She brought the garden back to life.” Lilia knelt on her bed and stared out the window at the tangle of weeds below. “We could fix our new garden. We could plant flowers and make it beautiful.”

“Are you sure you want to, darling?” asked Daddy, very softly.

Lilia thought of the raggedy cosmos. Somebody needed to take care of them.

“Yes, Daddy. That’s what I want.”

And so on Saturday they tackled the yard. They yanked weeds and dug holes and planted seeds and listened to the chimes from Gracelyn’s garden. As the sun began to set, Lilia sprinkled blue forget-me-not seeds into the ground.

“Did you talk to Ms. Woodfield, Daddy?” she asked.

“I certainly did, Lilia! She really likes my vision of translating the book to film.”

All because of the paper crane that fluttered into the garden, Lilia thought. It might have been one of those coincidences. But then it might have been a miracle.

“It doesn’t look really impressive yet,” said Daddy, observing their work with a critical eye. “But it will. Just wait till those seeds sprout and grow.”

“Just wait,” Lilia echoed.

And as they stood in the last gleams of sunset, a dragonfly began to circle around them on glistening silver wings.

I couldn’t quite decide what to write about this week, so I decided that I’d touch on everything I’m excited about in today’s post! 🙂

First of all—after a long, long wait—my sunflowers and zinnias have arrived! I planted them from seed on May 27th, and after several months of anticipation, they finally blossomed this week. The sunflowers (at the top of this post), which I photographed today, are from the ProCut series.

My darling salmon-colored zinnias are from the Benary’s Giant series:

A sure sign that fall is coming—my white hydrangeas are turning a delightful rosy pink!

This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing the one-and-only Eythora Thorsdottir, an immensely talented gymnast from the Netherlands. I’ve been a huge fan of Eythora since 2013, when I first saw her compete at the European Youth Olympic Festival—she has some of the most elegant routines in the world right now. 🙂 I’m hopeful that she recovers from a recent injury in time to compete at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar this October!

I also recently interviewed members of the 2008 U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team for the next issue of Inside Gymnastics, in honor of the 10-year anniversary of their silver medal. I grew up watching and re-watching their amazing performances in Beijing, so it was definitely a thrill to speak with them for this piece! 🙂 The next issue will appear on newsstands later in September.

This summer, my grandma introduced me to watercolor pencils—they are absolutely splendid to work with! Here’s a quick drawing I did the other day—perhaps a future book character! 🙂

In bookish news, I just finished reading Beany Malone by Lenora Mattingly Weber—such a fun novel! Published in 1948, this book is the second in the Malone family series (I read the first earlier this year). A lovely story about a warmhearted family living in Denver right after World War II!

Beany Malone (Beany Malone Series Book 2) Reading Beany for the hundredth time… hooked in the first few pages – yet again. Gusty October, hullabaloo in the Malone house, Beany whipping up 7 minute frosting…. Lenora Mattingly Weber https://t.co/zjKWeOdroY via @amazon #books pic.twitter.com/Tdks7pdgxx

— Image Cascade Books (@ImageCascade) August 29, 2018

I also heard yesterday that there will be a new book in the Judy Bolton series! The original author of the series, Margaret Sutton, passed away in 2001, but Beverly Hatfield coauthored the official 39th volume in the series in 2012. Now, Beverly has written a mystery that is supposed to take place between books #13 and #14. It will reportedly be available later this fall! <3

I’ve written almost 8,000 words of my work-in-progress novella, “The Mistress of Half Moon Hall.” Very eager to keep working on it!

And just for fun, here’s a snapshot of one of my recently-rearranged bookshelves:

Such wonderful books here! 🙂 What have you been reading lately?

While reading the May/June 2018 issue of Victoria (one of my very favorite magazines), I came across an article showcasing the artwork of Bridget Collins, who creates beautiful pictures using flowers and grasses arranged on paper. Inspired by these lovely designs, I decided to give it a try, using the flowers from my own garden.

I didn’t have a specific scene in mind for my picture, so I gathered a handful of petals and flowers in a color scheme of pink, yellow, and white. When I spread them out on a large sheet of poster board, a large peony petal caught my eye: it looked like a long, old-fashioned skirt—something out of the Edwardian era, perhaps. I found a few extra petals to widen the skirt, and worked from there to create an image of a young woman walking through her garden.

It’s easy to put together a simple design like this one; no tools involved except a piece of paper (for your backdrop) and scissors (if you want to snip a petal to make it smaller). For this project, I used mainly marigolds, peonies, roses, and Gerbera daisies.

If you have an artistic bent—and access to flowers—I encourage you to give this unique idea a try!

Summertime is for butterflies!

I’ve always been fascinated with the butterflies that visit our farm, especially the showstopper of summer, the yellow swallowtail butterfly:

I recently read Gene Stratton-Porter’s classic novel A Girl of the Limberlost. Published in 1909, the story features Elnora Comstock, a young naturalist who navigates life and love while searching for valuable insects in the Limberlost swamp of eastern Indiana.

I loved the descriptions of the dragonflies, moths, and butterflies and in this book. We’re lucky to see lots of these here in the summer, including the beautiful monarch butterflies.

If you’re interested in attracting butterflies, try planting bee balm, snapdragons, or lilacs—swallowtails in particular seem to love these flowers (and so do bees and moths)!

What are your favorite types of insects? Feel free to leave a comment!