Dear Sunday Letter friends,
Guess what? Summer arrived yesterday just after lunchtime. That’s how it seemed to me anyway. The afternoon was warm and humid, and we even turned on our air-conditioner. What a great time of year, when blackberry winter thaws and spring fever truly takes root.
No longer concerning myself with late in-the-season frosts frees me up to scout for soon-to-arrive Japanese beetles. There’s always something, right?
Camp Time!
When you were a kid, did you ever experience the magic of summer camp?
I never went to one of those super cool camps like the one on The Parent Trap, or my personal favorite, Little Darlings, you know the ones, six weeks of canoeing and archery and bunk-mates who become best friends 4-ever (or long lost twin sisters). But I did go to cheerleader camp at Arkansas State several summers in a row. (Oh, winning that elusive spirit stick was the pinnacle!) I also attended basketball camp at University of Central Arkansas where I learned something right off—basketball success lay in dribbling and shooting. And let’s not forget church camp at Ravenden Springs. If you read The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee, just know much of Gracie’s experience matched mine. In other words, there was lot’s of preaching and singing, and yes, Devil’s Bathtub is real.
It’s highly possible my parents sent my sister and me off on a dusty church bus to an un-air-conditioned cabin in the woods mainly to save their own souls. Back then, school didn’t resume until after Labor Day which must have seemed like forever away.
Well guess what? Tomorrow I’m sending myself to camp. And the best part—the camp I’m attending is limited to ten writers.
Even the name—Story Camp—is perfect for me.
I imagine there will be cheering (cheering for other writers is something we writers like to do). Full court suicides will be replaced with optional yoga on the beach. And if it takes a little singing and praying for my muse to join me there, you better believe I’ll sing Kumbayah at sunrise, quietly, as to not disturb the other storytellers.
Sun. Sea. Sand. Nature. Stories.
Yay.
Migration Time!
While I will soon be migrating south for a few days, millions of birds are currently migrating north. And lots of them are stopping over at our feeders. This week, in addition to our regular cardinals, finches, and wrens, we’ve greeted two of my favorites, Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks and American Goldfinches.
The monarch migration continues too. Our monarch caterpillars are getting fatter everyday as they feast on milkweed.
Spring is truly becoming my favorite season.
What’s Growing and Blooming This Week?
So, so much! The irises are still going strong. Salvia and coreopsis have exploded. Roses are budding out. My nasturtium is lush, and to quote my neighbor, county fair worthy.
You may not remember my Little Pipevine That Could, but he is in full bloom too. (And if you want to read his story, click HERE.)
With so much happening in the garden, going to camp is bittersweet for me. Yes, I will worry about my plants while I’m gone even though John will take good care of things. Bottom line, I hate to miss the opening of that first peony bloom after watching the buds grow to the size of large gumballs.
This is one of the curses of being a garden-loving homebody. Still, I remind myself of what’s coming.
Sun. Sea. Sand. Nature. Stories.
Photo by Jake Hill on Unsplash
Picture me walking on this beach because that’s where I’ll be soon. Of course, I plan to be barefoot.
Things Momma Says:
I haven’t been feeling very funny lately.
***
One more thing before I sign off on today’s Sunday Letter. If you aren’t using the Merlin ID Application to identify the birds in your yard, you might want to give it a try. It’s easy to use. Download the app to your smart phone, record the bird sounds in your yard, and the application identifies those birds.
After recording five minutes yesterday, the app picked up the following thirteen birds in our backyard:
*Northern Cardinal
*Carolina Wren
*Blue Jay
*American Robin
*Gray Catbird
*Yellow Warbler
*House Wren
*Northern Mockingbird
*Great Crested Flycatcher
*Eastern Wood-Pewee
*American Crow
*Tennessee Warbler
*American Goldfinch
It’s no wonder we go through birdseed so fast!
Later, Sunday Letter friends. I hope your week is fabulous.
Grace Grits and Gardening
Food. Farm. Garden. Life.
I’m curious about your camp destination. Wherever you’ll be, I know you’ll be creating new stories.
We arrived in Navarre yesterday, and I’m looking forward to the week here. We’ve had grosbeaks and orioles at our feeder but no yellow finches yet. Enjoy camp!
I’m going to St. George Island! Have fun in Navarre (someday I want to go there with you). We’ve not had any orioles yet but I have my grape jelly and oranges out.
Great letter. We had a Rose-breasted Grosbeak at my jelly feeder last week. Enjoy camp.
Thank you! And congrats on your granddaughter’s engagement!
Wonderful newsletter ! Thank you!! Can’t be beat I don’t think!
Thank you lady!
My calendar is peppered with spottings of migrating birds so I can be ready to watch for them. Rose breasted Grosbeals and Baltimore Orioles are listed now and I’ve seen the Orioles but not the Grosbeaks. Definitely finches and hummingbirds!
I posted the “summer has arrived” to friends yesterday too, and today I’m planting some pots when if I had done it three days ago, I wouldn’t have been sweating like this.
Missed you at the Arkansas Pie Festival this year. It grew and kept me busy with volunteering. So busy, I didn’t get to collect my pie samples!
Have a great camp. (I went to 4H camp in my youth) Julie
Oh yes, I had a conflict during the pie festival, but I saw a post about the winning pies. They looked amazing! I was sort of a 4-H dropout…
Only camp I went to was church camp. No frills but fun. Georgia coast sounds wonderful. Might be too distracting for me. When Don and I went to Bar Harbor, Maine, I just wrote nature poems about everything around me😄. Are you coming to Hemingway Pfeiffer Writers Retreat this summer? Different week than in past (June 19th). I love to watch hummingbirds at the feeders on my deck. Title of my book refers to hummers, remember? I wrote a minute poem about them and gave it a three line title 😄. We are having roof built over our deck next week. Bummer. I won’t get to finally sit in warm weather to watch them . . . and write. Don is on week long fishing trip to Lake Norfork. Caught a 15 inch bass this morning at 5a.m.😲. Do you have a WIP? I’m working on my second book. Poetry again. Hope to get it out soon. Hope you can come to HP❤️
Hey Fay! The Story Camp I’m going to is a barrier island in Florida called St. George Island. I hope I’m not too distracted to do any writing. I recently wrote a review for your poetry book and posted it on both Amazon and Goodreads. I’m glad you are working on your next one. Yes, I have a WIP although I’ve not had much time to devote to it (which is one of the reasons I am going to Story Camp). I will miss HP this week. Just couldn’t work it into my schedule. Have fun!!