As readers can probably tell from my books, I love the outdoors. I love to hike, kayak, and swim. I also love to read (which is probably not a surprise) and I love the theater and art museums. I especially love all the instruments of art: inks, pens, paintbrushes, watercolors and oils, fine papers and canvases, and although I love to mess around with these tools and objects, I have minimal artistic skills.

You know, maybe that's all anybody wants, is to be useful. And have somebody else notice it.

As readers can probably tell from my books, I love the outdoors.

The sea, the sea, the sea. It rolled and rolled and called to me. Come in, it said, come in.

What exactly did people do when they had all the time in the world and could do whatever they liked?

I prayed to trees. This was easier than praying directly to God. There was nearly always a tree nearby.

Being a mother is like trying to hold a wolf by the ears,” Gram said. “If you have three or four –or more – chickabiddies, you’re dancing on a hot griddle all the time. You don’t have time to think about anything else. And if you’ve only got one or two, it’s almost harder. You have room left over – empty spaces that you think you’ve got to fill up.