Maine days

I head back to Cambridge tomorrow, to prepare for the memorial celebration next weekend (friends coming from as far away as Minnesota, California, Florida!) but it has been a lovely few days here, with friends for dinner Thursday night...

Here is a rhubarb bread pudding which was delicious for dessert. (Dinner was baked salmon stuffed with fennel).

And my brother is with me. (Here he is):

 

Everyone should have a meticulous brother who likes to fix things. Martin was a great guy and a wonderful companion but not Mr. Fixit. (My friend Susan refers to such men affectionately as "Jews with Tools")  Jon has busied himself at the Cambridge house and now, in Maine, he has taken on the problem of the old butcher block in the kitchen and its many years of accumulated crud. After solvents, sandpaper, elbow grease, and mineral oil:

 

Not to mention the new flat screen TV that son Ben and his partner Lori gave me for my birthday, installed here at the farm...Ben left me instructions for several remotes which left me whimpering. No problem, said Jon. He has now combined everything on one remote so that even I, when I am alone here, which I will be for most of this summer, will be able to find things and watch things and mute things. Or so I hope and assume.

(But could my brother recall—and sing—the words to all the old Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, the way Martin could?  Nope, no way)

  

Comments

[Jessie Lacy]

I hope you are finding peace and healing. Grief can be unpredictable, striking at odd moments. But that pure joy in living can creep up on you equally unexpectedly. Isn't that what lets us know that we are alive?

[Clay]

we all bring something special with us to the party - it would be a pretty dull party, otherwise! Keep remembering all of those wonderful times.

[Revely]

When you talk about Martin I realize that he--like my beloved Myron Krupnik--probably conducted operas with his eyes closed.

The only thing that could make that bread pudding better is lashings of cream. (Thank you, Enid Blyton, for the term)

I'm so happy to have found your blog. :)

[Lois Lowry]

Yes! Martin was exactly like Myron Krupnik, even down to singing the Verdi Requiem in the living room!

[Shirley Pamp]

Lois, I loved your book The Giver! Fantastic! We read it in English class and the words were so descriptive! ;D Thanks!
Shirley ♥

[ojimenez]

I was looking at the photograph of your house in Maine in this blog, and noticed the stone wall surrounding the house. It reminded me of the work of Andy Goldsworthy, an English artist who uses Nature as his canvas and paint:

"Movement, change, light growth and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I try to tap through my work. I need the shock of touch, the resistance of place, materials and weather, the earth as my source. I want to get under the surface. When I work with a leaf, rock, stick, it is not just that material itself, it is an opening into the processes of life within and around it. When I leave it, these processes continue."

His work is inspiring:

http://youtu.be/3TWBSMc47bw

cheers

[Correll Corbett]

In facebooking a friend from Houston who I attended St. Thomas University with, I noticed your site. Her name is Theresa Nelson and she too, is a well known writer of books for young people.

I got on site, to see what you had on your children's book site and to sign up. What struck me was the wonderful tribute to your late husband. I, too am fairly recently widowed as of four summers ago. My husband was the anchor of our family. He was my best critic and supporter in my illustration venture. I am an art teacher who has been teaching PE, not by choice. I had been looking, but decided that this might make creative fodder to write about and illustrate. I had been planning on returning to my roots of illustration since before Chris passed away. He was going to assist me and had been doing children's book research for me! This year may be a blessing in disguise due to the multiple problems with the Texas schools. They have made my decision easier. I was squashed out and I am now in the process of getting information on how to create a site for my work and seriously seeking an agent. In the meantime, I am considering what I can do part time in my field that will help with the day to day budget. I still have a son in law school that I help support.

Never the less... your comments about life and its practical applications has been enlightening. I am so sorry for your loss and respect how you are handling it.

I, too have read The Giver ans was in a study group about the story. It should be quite an interesting adventure. I look forward to hearing what happens.

I did not realize that your base of action was Boston and Maine but both are a lovely part of the country. I have a good friend who is a publisher of Art books in Worcester, Davis Publishing... Wyatt Wade... but you are probably not familiar with that area. My cousin and her husband resides in Worcester, as well. The Boston area is wonderful and you have actual seasons!

I was inspired by your tribute and decided to email you, so I hope you do not mind. I tried to subscribe to your site and think I followed the correct steps.I am not aiming to be well known, but only to have my work accepted in the field.

So I am conducting all sorts of research on children's books. I had written a while back to Theresa and she probably thought I had already accomplished my agent task... but the daily life of teaching sort of interfered. Now I have no excuses, so to speak. In the distant past I had taken a class with Diane Stanley when she was here in Houston, but that information is now out of date. She had reviewed my portfolio but again she was not a publisher or agent.

Thank you for your wonderful inspriation and also your piece on widows... that is an area that does not receive enough attention and can be difficult to settle into or out of for that matter!

Most Sincerely,

Correll Corbett
Houston Artist and Illustrator