Saturday Writing Essential: Honeoye Lake, a respite

Good morning, writers!

I missed you last week while on vacation with my wife, and wanted to extend heartfelt thanks to Kathryn Esplin-Oleski, who so generously took over the Saturday Writing Essential. Great job!

The long weekend on Honoeye Lake was a superb blend of all the things we'd actually hoped to do. A rare treat. I received the galleys for Tremolo: cry of the loon, the day before we left, and finished reviewing it one last time before it goes to the printers. I should have two hundred books in hand in a few weeks, just in time for Christmas!

I also had the immense pleasure of non-stop writing time! Talk about writing Nirvana! I finished five new intense chapters in my twelfth book, For Keeps, and finally got my poor protagonist out of the psyche ward and back with his family. Poor Sam Moore has been there since his wife was murdered and he simply lost it. But he's back on track now and with the green marble and his brother Billy's help, he'll try to go back and change time. Wish him luck!

I also started to begin the polish of ("one more time!") Mazurka and Healey's Cave, which are now both scheduled for print in May/June 2008. My publisher is again seeking a real life canvas painter to create the cover art. I'm excited - the European influence in Mazurka could lend to a very innovative painting. Stay tuned!

And imagine this - I had time to read! Actually read!!! I finished a good book: The Josephus Enigma by Shelly Waxman James Nathan Post, and started another that I'd been dying to read: Silent Cry by our own Gatherite, Marta Stephens. It has already hooked me big time - Sam Harper is a fantastic crime fighter, and the writing is superb.  This series is going to be big!

Every morning I rose at 6:30 and went for my morning walk at the local Sandy Bottom Nature Trail. I discovered numerous paths off the official trail and wound my way through woods and fields for an hour and a half every day. It was cathartic and felt SO good! You've seen this photo before, taken mid-day. It's the stream at the north end of Honeoye Lake. This is the first time I captured it at sunrise.

And here is one of the boardwalks that stretch through the park. They were a little slippery with the leaves and morning dew, but I made it through without mishap!

When it's just "us two," (a rare and lovely treat, as most of you know), I can go "all out." I purchased fresh swordfish, haddock, and chicken for our three meals. We never can afford swordfish or haddock for nine people, so it was really a thrill! The first night I made a cherry pie which we then feasted on every evening for dessert!

We had spaezle (German noodles) and weisse spargel (white asparagus) with the swordfish and a giant salad and ate with great abandon. The next night I made a fresh pesto with basil, pinenuts, lemon, parmesan, EVOO, and fresh garlic from the garden. We served it on capellini and along side the haddock and an avocado salad. The final meal included sauteed chicken breasts with fresh tomato chunks and garden picked sugarsnap pea pods.  It's a good thing I went for those walks every morning!

The weather turned into JULY again - it stayed the 80s for almost the whole four days. So I did a ceremonial dunk in the lake each day to celebrate. We finished up a few cane chairs (can't leave that business home, alas) and watched tons of good old movies. By 8:30 every night we were nodding on the couch and slept for long hours with the lake lapping outside our window. It was so quiet, I hardly woke up at all during the night. Very strange. And very nice.

Each afternoon, just before I started dinner, we sat by the water and drank our Diamond wine that we picked up at the Eaglecrest Winery on Hemlock Lake (another of the Finger Lakes in Upstate NY) on the way to our getaway. They had just harvested grapes, and I couldn't resist snapping some shots of the redolent fruit as it sat in its bins with bees buzzing all around!

Don't they look scrumptious?

Here's a shot of the lake shore where we sat watching two ducks go through their crazy "ducking" antics. It was so funny to see them ducking for food, especially in sync when both fuzzy little duck butts ended straight up and their heads were hidden underwater.

 Shore of west side of Honeoye Lake

 Closeup up the gorgeous still life scenes on the lake shore.

Our duck friends - rightside up and upside down!

When it was time to go on Monday afternoon, we packed up and drove the wonderfully short distance home. (35 minutes!) I'd missed my grandsons a great deal, so we played outside with a giant sunflower. They were "birdies" for the afternoon (tweet tweet!) and we made nests out of the sunflower leaves as well as enjoyed eating the seeds. I harvested enough to plant next year, and when it was all over, we propped the giant head near the other birdfeeders.

The next day was the Kodak Video Shoot where they featured me as a "print ambassador" for their website, which I'll tell you about next week. That was a whole new experience for someone used to being on the keyboard side of life. ;o)

On Wednesday I returned to work, but couldn't resist capturing a few new photos on the way.

Horses at sunrise in the fog.

 Soybean field.

 Thanks for stopping by, my friends. And don't forget - write like the wind!

Aaron