July 1st, 2010 admin
After weeks of sending letters and emails to agents (the process of finding a publisher) about Curious Cooper’s Hawks, my narrative non-fiction book for middle grade readers, I took a weekend off to learn what I should have been doing. The Writers League of Texas Agents Conference in Austin, TX was a profitable and enlightening time. Listening to all the wisdom from the folks in the conference was a great learning experience.
Sunday afternoon was free-time on my schedule so I browsed in the independent bookstore, BookPeople for two wonderful hours. I was pleased to find a book in the children’s section that is constructed in the style I have in mind for my hawks. The book I found is Pale Male by Janet Schulman. Her book helped me see what I am hoping for. I knew my book isn’t a kid’s chapter book or a small child’s picture book. I have told the little girl across the street that when the hawks ever get in print she will be given the first copy. (The next three copies will go to our three great grandchildren.)
Mama hawk is back in the same nest (two years later) with three young ones again.
Added benefits during the weekend included wonderful dinner and conversation Sunday night with our friend, George. Also a stop in Ft Worth to spend time with cousins, Hobie and Ann was priceless.
The meditative view out my hotel window in Austin would inspire anyone. Doesn’t it make you want to sit down and write something about beauty and nature?
Colorado River and Austin downtown
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June 14th, 2010 admin
Kathleen and Joel (my ex-business partners) said, “Let’s go to the Symphony in the Flint Hills” so we got six tickets and B&B reservations at The Cottage House in Council Grove and planned a great weekend. Storms before, almost during and after every happening…but amazingly lovely at the critical moments. Rod and I stopped in the Harveyville, KS cemetery to visit his great aunts and uncles who didn’t make it to adulthood. When Ben and Rod tried to find their grave sites last summer they discovered the five little ones were buried in three plots with no markers. Thanks to their efforts we now have a lovely “Wilson” bench to mark Rod’s grandfather’s siblings final resting place. It is a lovely, well kept cemetery and the sun shone beautifully while we were there. The next happening was the Symphony in the Flint Hills in Chase County, near Bazaar. 6,000 of our closest friends also were there. The sun didn’t quite shine, although it tried to. But the storm clouds stayed away long enough to guarantee a lovely afternoon and evening for all who attended. And the choreography with the cowboys and cattle on the adjoining hills was worth the price of the tickets. The last folks still enjoying the ambience of those amazing white tents were asked to leave about 10:30 pm as a storm was approaching. Lots of rain during the night with accompanying lightening and thunder. During the drive back to KC on Sunday we stopped at the best moment to catch the awesome black cloud spreading clear across the sky. And then – getting lost near Gardner while looking for the KCPL Wetlands (which we never found) we saw this amazing barn with its bouquet of daylilies blooming in the doorway.
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May 12th, 2010 admin
Trees and Memories
One night lightening killed a friend. All right, my friend was a tree. Lightening struck the large maple beside our driveway and I knew I was losing something special. Red-bellied woodpeckers lived in a hole in that tree which doubled my love for that gorgeous maple tree. After the lightening damage, we were persuaded that the tree had to come down. It wasn’t safe. So with great sorrow we watched as the tree crew brought that beauty down chunk by chunk. I bade farewell with sorrow.
Trees evoke memories that crawl into my consciousness and enlighten my future. Through out my life, certain trees continue to engage my memories like pegs on a calendar.
Trees provide magical feasts for my eyes. Trees beckon me to pay attention. Is the wind whipping the leaves on every branch today? Or has a calm settled unto the leafy crowns? Trees inform me of my day with a whisper of what it is like out there. Is it hiking weather, stay indoors and read a book time, or a new task occasion? With myriad shades of green in spring and summer, trees spread comfort in my mind as well as shade for my body. Then in the fall the bursts of orange, yellow and red excite my imagination.
Certain people play the role of whispering in my ear and informing my choices. I call these folks my meditative council. They are the ones, sometimes invited, but often unbidden, who speak wisdom whether I think I need it or not. Sparks in my thinking may come from both folks out of the past or ones I know today. A diverse bunch of folks, both dead and alive, this council includes the voices of mentors, authors, movers and shakers, friends and strangers. As I travel life’s many faceted roads, these people frequently serve up wisdom that informs my decisions.
But, trees and memories? How do trees play this role? Certain trees have been more special than others through my life. As each spring approaches, wonder again fills my being as new leaves set in motion their journey to maturity. And I remember.
My memory returns to the trees I have considered friends. In the 1930’s and 40’s, the poplar tree by the driveway at 119 North B supplied the switches that our father applied to our bare legs. To this day, I never see a poplar tree without being reminded of my sister’s and my (minor) transgressions. Called child abuse today, these switches across our legs never hurt anything but our pride. Standing on our back stoop to make it easier for our father, these switches only stung a bit, but they called us to account. Memories of our father who wanted us to live up to the “perfect children” image he had of us accompany the sight of a poplar tree.
A textbook perfect oak tree in the middle of our back yard in Lake Forest, Illinois became a dear friend in the 70’s. I loved to gaze on its slowly opening leaves in the spring and its colors each fall. However, one day as I stepped out on the deck, I looked up to see our nine-year-old daughter waving from the top of the tree. I gasped and managed to croak in fear, “Mary, what are you doing? Come down from there, be careful.” I dearly loved that tree, but I might have crossed it off my list if she had fallen rather than successfully climbed down.
Southeast of Lima, Peru an olive tree hanging over the outhouse served as a feeding station for a flock of warblers. Working for a month in a village project, our daughter, Mary (by then a freshman in high school) and I used that outhouse often. Every day as I watched this feathery leafed tree and listened to the birds, I anticipated them singing in our yard in Illinois during spring migration. It seemed that that olive tree was a partner of our olive at home. The reminder of being linked beyond my own yard always returns with the migrating birds.
For two years in Evanston, Illinois, a large burr oak in our back yard provided worms for warblers as they followed their migration pattern north. It became a daily ritual to sit and enjoy the warblers from my second floor sewing room. During May (the month of migration), too many hours of my life vanished in communion with that tree and its visitors.
When the Santa Fe Railroad transferred my husband to Kansas City in 1982, I knew trees needed to play as vital a role in our house search as kitchens and bedrooms.
The first view of our home on Tomahawk Road was on Good Friday. A light snow drifting through the air added to the magic as I opened the sun porch door. Five male cardinals were popping in and out of the tall linden tree in the corner of the yard. “This is it,” I announced. Only then did I go inside to look at the rooms. That linden tree has remained an anchor in my love for our backyard.
Five river birches replaced the maple that died in the lightening strike several years ago. Maybe it is too soon to savor their beauty. However, they have filled that space with their silvery-gray shaggy bark and medium-green leaves. These river birches are a constant reminder of what matters in my life. Those trees have filled that space so rapidly; they give me a sense of accelerated time. I am reminded that time is fleeting…even mine.
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March 9th, 2010 admin
We just returned from Minnesota and time with kids, grandkids and three precious great grandkids. On Saturday evening our son, Ben, took us to a reception and program titled All About Owls at the Carpenter Nature Center south of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Walter Conrad of the World Bird Sanctuary brought in four owls for guests to meet. In the show were a Tawny Owl, a Barn Owl, a Spectacled Owl and a Eurasian Eagle Owl (largest owl in the world). As Walter talked about each owl, his assistants carried that owl around the room so each could be seen by everyone (and pictures taken). The World Bird Sanctuary is a few miles west of St. Louis.
At the end of the show, guests were invited to donate $$ for the privilege of having their picture taken with one of the owls, the Tawny Owl or the Eurasian Eagle Owl. It is an amazing experience to be so close to such fascinating creatures.
On Friday afternoon Ben took us to see the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota. He volunteers there in a variety of roles, principally transport for rescue and photographer of flight times with the raptors.
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February 3rd, 2010 admin
What fun it was yesterday. I had the opportunity to share slides of the Cooper’s Hawks from my story of their being trained in our back yard. About 25 elementary school kids listened and watched in rapt attention…and asked some good questions along the way. I had reworked the Power Point presentation…changing some of the slides. So it is now a better show than the other three times I’ve been at schools in the area. The Junior Master Gardner groups are the ones doing this. They meet once a month and as soon as it is nice weather the kids will work outside in gardens on the school ground. Wonderful program for kids.
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January 31st, 2010 admin
Where did the month of January go? Is it fair to say, “One twelfth of 2010 is gone?” I started the year with the intent of sending as many queries for my hawk book to as many agents/publishers as I could. Having never done this before, I am surprised how much time it takes to research where to send my manuscript. Each agency has different submission guidelines and so careful study of their web sites is required. How did any of us do anything before the internet? Bottom line is: I have sent 16 queries out and tomorrow is Feb. 1. Tuesday I get to rehearse the whole story again at another elementary school in the neighborhood. They have asked for the slide show of the hawks for their Junior Master Garden Club group. Fun!
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January 22nd, 2010 admin
Dear Priscilla H,
Wednesday morning, a strong aftershock earthquake rocked Port-au-Prince, temporarily shutting down operations at the general hospital in Port-au-Prince, as well as several other PIH sites outside the city. Since then additional smaller quakes continue to disrupt efforts on the ground.
Here’s a quick update on our work in Haiti despite these challenges.
PIH’s surgical teams continue to race against time to provide surgical care to earthquake victims in Port-au-Prince. Operating rooms at the central general hospital (HUEH) in Port-au-Prince are fully operational again after being temporarily evacuated on yesterday in response to the aftershock. PIH is still coordinating the relief efforts at HUEH and reports having 12 operating rooms opened 24 hours per day. Across the country, we have a total of 20 operating rooms up and running.
To date, PIH has sent 22 plane loads with 144 medical volunteers – orthopedic surgeons, anesthesiologists, surgical nurses and other medical professionals – and several thousand pounds of medical supplies to support the more than 4,500 PIH health care providers already in Haiti.
Despite these accomplishments, our teams throughout the country continue to report a great need for additional medicines (antibiotics, anesthesia and narcotics), medical equipment (anesthesia machines and x-rays), medical supplies (IVs, tubing, irrigating saline), and water.
”There are very sick people and too little space and time,” reported PIH Women’s Health Coordinator Sarah Marsh from our hospital in St. Marc. She added that we will lose more patients to infection in the coming days if we don’t find additional medications, and explained that is only for lack of supplies – not patients – that the surgical team risks performing more operations. A volunteer orthopedist also working from St. Marc stressed that we will need full medical teams on site to manage dressings, skins grafts and other post operative care for another 6-8 weeks.
Our sites in the Central Plateau and the lower Artibonite are dealing with increasing numbers of patients and families seeking both medical treatment and refuge from devastated Port-au-Prince. Finding space and beds for post-operative care has become the next major challenge. In Cange, PIH’s 104-bed facility is overflowing: the church is serving as a triage center and the school as a recovery room. People are arriving in Cange at all hours of the day and night; many simply have nowhere to go.
“Our houses were crushed and our businesses destroyed. So we came to Cange,” said one man who arrived in a bus with 12 relatives, including his mother-in-law who was critically injured. In Belladaire, near the border with the Dominican Republic (DR), up to 1,000 people are camped out at PIH’s hospital in temporary shelter, searching for family members and medical treatment. We expect that people will continue to return to the countryside, having lost their family, livelihoods, and homes in the capital city, and meeting the needs of this displaced population will be a major task in PIH’s long-term rebuilding efforts.
Finally, recognizing that many of our own Haitian staff, who are working tirelessly to save the lives of others, have also lost their own families and friends, PIH is also developing a post-trauma mental health and social service program to serve both staff and patients.
The task ahead is a monumental one. And even as we heal wounds, mend broken bones, and provide basic necessities (food, water, shelter), its true magnitude grows before our eyes. But we know from 20-plus years of accompaniment the resiliency of the Haitian people. Through poverty, strife, hurricanes, disease and hunger, our Haitian friends and colleagues continue to amaze us. Their determination, spirit, and ability to overcome and survive is inspirational and humbling.
Partners In Health is determined to do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to ensure that their struggle succeeds.
With your help, we know we will be able to do so.
Kenbe fem,
Ali Lutz
Haiti Program Coordinator
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January 6th, 2010 bnwilson6624
Day one we left Quito on our blue bus at 6:00 a.m.; fourteen birders, three guides, Paul, Steve and Juan plus our bus driver, Enrique. Soon the rush of Monday morning traffic thinned and we traveled the black top highway easily. Before long we left the highway to wind our way over the northwestern flank of the massive Pichincha Volcano to the Yanacoche Reserve.
First we traveled a cobblestone road, and then negotiated gravel switch backs to bring us to a parking spot complete with toilet facilities, picnic tables covered with a thatched roof and a spectacular view. Read the rest of this entry »
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December 25th, 2009 admin
On the Kenyan coast we saw this finished house of the golden palm weaver. Lots more Kenyan pictures coming here… probably also some from Ecuador!!
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