Nostalgic For Eagles, Writing Workshop Notes and Blog, Blogging Comments

Day 3 - I underdressed today - trusted the weather report and the pattern of the last two days, expected the morning rain to burn off to a sultry, humid afternoon. It rained all day, and at this latitude, without the sun shining it gets chilly quickly.

I'm staying on campus to attend the 8pm concert - a string quartet and a double reed group - did I mention how poignant it is being here amidst a big musicians' gathering? I chatted with the husband and wife at the core of the double reed group, called 'Obohio,' a couple days ago, and very friendly and welcoming they were too, but I told them I'd probably cry when I came to their concert. It's such a strange feeling, abutting my current self against the self that lived and breathed oboe and english horn all those years. More grist to my musing about natural habitat - this campus is so comfortable! I could get out of the rain, get some hot water for my tea, find a comfortable chair in the lounge of the student center, and an internet connection! 

Or I could go for a walk in the birch forest all around and feel the rain on my skin.

(this pic was taken yesterday, when it was sunny).

Rosehips everywhere - they intertwine very prettily with that vetch I showed yesterday:

I haven't seen a bald eagle for almost a week  - back home, they're our closest neighbors! There were some immense ravens flying to roost on the eaves of the building our classroom is in this afternoon, arrowing toward the building and then uplifting at the last minute, so it seemed, before piercing right through our windows. By the third time, I was sure they were ravens, but at first I wondered if they were juvenile eagles - never seen such big ravens before!

I'm so grateful for the energy, kindness and sincerity of our three professors for this course - Peggy Shumaker, David Crouse and Jeanne Clark. They manage to be simultaneously challenging and nurturing, and raise good questions as well as answering ours. 

This afternoon, they were joined by a local writer, Theresa Bakker, who offered insights from the inside of an MFA process and a moving meditation on the value of walking as part of the creative process. I've found her blog and look forward to following it henceforth!

Speaking of blogs, two things! First, thanks to Sue Ann Bowling, a Geophysicist emerita and newly-published science fiction writer, our workshop has its own blog! They're going to put up the day's exercises and are encouraging us to post our drafts in response. I may just do that too. The blog is at http://homecomingbook.wordpress.com/  (and I'm sorry, but I don't think I'd have recognized David Crouse from that photo!)  

Second, I want to try to say something that's been on my mind, coming out of a comment on my blog post of Monday. Averie wrote that she appreciates the comments I make on her blog and hadn't been as good about responding. I just want to say that while I really want people to read my blog and am really delighted and flattered and pleased and overjoyed when I get comments, I write comments on other people's blogs because I feel moved to do so, because I admire or otherwise feel moved to respond to what they say. I don't want this to constitute an obligation on them to comment back to me. I think it's too easy to end up in an all-consuming cycle of blog-hopping and reciprocity and would prefer not to have anyone feeling obligated. I write this blog because I love to do it, I write comments on other people's blogs for the same reason. When I have enough online time, I will do more than my 'fair share' of commenting, but that's just how I am - and sometimes I'm offline completely! When I get comments, I'm happy and grateful to know that someone has felt moved to respond.

Thanks so much, Averie and everyone else.