November is stick season here in Vermont— that beautiful foliage is gone, after falling away little by little, and we’re left with just brown, bare trees. Or so we think.
I was lucky enough to go for a walk in the woods last week with students, where a teaching artist encouraged us to spread out and do a walking meditation in silence. I ended up leaving an open meadow and walking a path into the woods. The deeper into the forest I went, the more I noticed the moss. There was so much of it, on the trunks of trees and on boulders and fallen logs and the sides of the path itself. And there were so many varied textures, and varieties, and tiny mushrooms and lichens, too. There was so much color and texture and life. And all I could think was, How long did it take, to make this place this specific place?
I had to turn around, because my time was up and I had to meet my students. But I felt like I walked out of those woods a different person than I went in. All because I spent fifteen minutes in silence noticing moss.
(I’ve also been reading Jenny Odell’s book Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock in an effort to slow down, to perceive time differently.
And I’ve been thinking a lot about this post on time and creativity by
.)Slow growth over time is also one of the threads in my upcoming picture book biography, World More Beautiful: The Life and Art of Barbara Cooney, illustrated by Becca Stadtlander and coming from Random House Studio in August 2024:
This was a pandemic book for me, and I think the process of re-reading Cooney’s work (which I loved as a child) and being absorbed in researching her long life and career is something that made that weird, long sense of pandemic time more bearable. I mention a little bit about the inspiration for the book on Betsy Bird’s blog (many, many thanks to Betsy for the cover reveal)!
Cooney was a two-time Caldecott medalist who had a prolific career as an illustrator, beginning in her twenties and publishing 110 books (the last, Basket Moon, was released after her death at age 82). But what I love most about Cooney is that her best work came later in life. She was an artist who pushed herself to grow and change over time—- from her visual style to the themes she pursued. There is SO much more I want to say about Barbara Cooney, but I think I may spread it out over future posts leading up to August.
In the meantime, if you’re already a Cooney fan (and so many people are!), maybe you’d like to pre-order World More Beautiful from your local independent bookstore? All the info you need is right here, and you can also add it to your list on Goodreads.
Upcoming Events
Books make great gifts: This isn’t a (book) event really, but the holidays are coming! If you’d like to give a signed, personalized copy of one of my books, you can order from my local independent bookstore, The Vermont Book Shop. Simply leave your request to have a book signed and/or personalized in the comments when you check out. They’ll even ship to you!
World Read Aloud Day, February 7th, 2024: After a year off, I’m participating in World Read Aloud Day again, and I’m offering slots to subscribers first! If you’re a teacher or school librarian and would like me to read to your class on February 7th, you can sign up here. Space is limited.
Random Good Things
I recently had the pleasure of hearing Ross Gay at a conference, as well as attending a workshop with him. I’m looking forward to reading his books, and also really enjoyed his thoughts on “joy as delight as mechanisms for survival” and as ways to slow down (podcast here).
We had a screen-free, family paint-by-number night where each one of us did an Impressionist painting from Faber-Castell’s Museum Series.
It’s Sunday Soup Season!™ and this butternut squash chowder is so good.
So are these pumpkin cookies with brown butter icing.
As well as this pumpkin baked oatmeal.
We’re slowly building a household collection of vinyl, for more analog listening while we’re doing those things like painting and cooking. Lately we’ve been listening to Weezer’s Blue Album, The Postal Service, and The Beths.
Books I Read and Loved Recently (for Adults)
The Best American Poetry 2023, edited by Elaine Equi
A few months ago, I started the practice of bookended reading as described by
. Every morning, I start my day with three or four poems. I’m enjoying this habit— it really does set a slower, more reflective start to the day.
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
*Please note that all books mentioned above contain affiliate links to Bookshop.org, a site that helps support local independent bookstores.