Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 26

Five Things on a Friday

These three kittens go up for adoption today.

1. The animal shelter where I volunteer has a bake and plant sale tomorrow, so I'm baking this morning. We have a group of kittens going up for adoption this morning, too. Three litters of kittens were found in a plastic tote and brought to us a week ago. The story was on all our local TV stations, and lots of people have inquired about the cats and kittens. So when I drop off my donations to the sale, I think it will be a busy place!

2. I'm off to South Carolina on Monday for several days of school visits. I'm bringing the South Carolina Picture Book Award medal for Hot Rod Hamster with me to show the kids.

3.  It's exciting to see my garden coming to life again. The rhubarb looks very happy where I planted it. :-)

4.  My critique partners and I have rented a cottage on a lake for 5 days in June to do some writing. I'm looking forward to getting back to writing. I have revisions on an early reader and a chapter book to do, and I assume I'll see First Pass pages for Half a Chance soon. I also want to draft a new middle-grade novel this summer. I have no idea yet what that novel will be about, but I'm anxious to find out.

5.  Maine has officially flipped the switch from mud season to GORGEOUS. Everything is really beautiful now.  Here are two of my local public libraries.


Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick, Maine. Photo by my husband, John


Patten Free Library, Bath, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

Letters About Literature

I'm always honored when a child writes a letter to me for the "Letters About Literature" contest.  Each state names three state winners whose letters go on to compete nationally. I've had many state winners for Rules, but this is the first one for Touch Blue.

Zoe is a sixth grader in North Carolina, and here's an excerpt from her letter:

"Most importantly, I learned blessings do not always come in neat packages. Tess planned for Aaron to be exactly how she w...anted him to be. But while she was planning and checking the details, she missed what Aaron needed most. Aaron came looking for love and acceptance. Tess was too focused on her own plan to notice. She had plenty of love to give him if she had just opened her eyes. That’s exactly what I did. My perspective opened to include the real struggles of people around me; my world grew bigger and became more like reality. I have been thoroughly touched by your work, Touch Blue. I’m glad to have a new outlook that includes looking for all of the unlabeled blessings around me."

You can read the entire letter here:

http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/ld/services/nccftb/letters/Vestal_1.pdf

Thank you, Thompson Brook School!

I had a great day with the kids at Thompson Brook School in Avon, CT yesterday. I smiled when I came up to the front door. The sign just said, "Welcome, Cynthia!" and it felt like we were friends already!



Thank you for a wonderful day!

Off to the Nutmeg State!

I'm driving to Connecticut today. A few months ago I donated a school visit to KidLit Cares: Superstorm Sandy Relief, and Thompson Brook School placed the winning bid. So on Tuesday, I'll be meeting the kids of Avon, Connecticut!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing my mom and mothers everywhere a beautiful day.

My Dad

Marshall Point Light, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

This has been a difficult spring.  A few months ago, my dad had some trouble breathing and we thought it might be pneumonia, but when he finally went to the doctor, they discovered he had cancer. At 87, he didn't want treatment and it was too late for that anyway. So we honored his wishes and let him live out his final weeks the way he wanted: at home.

I grew up in a family of people who love and are talented at math. My dad worked at Raytheon and he liked formulas, Sudoku, and the stock market. He always had notebooks full of lists of numbers. My mother was a bookkeeper and the church treasurer. My sister is a computer programmer and systems analyst.

And into that family came me: a daydreaming lover of words. My dad and I didn't like many of the same things and we teased each other over those differences: music, tv programs, politics, foods, clothes, places we liked to go, and things we liked to do. But somewhere in between all those differences, we met each other in the middle with love.

Even though my dad wasn't a reader, he read my books and he read my blog every day. He had spent most of his life in just a few places, and he was proud and a bit bewildered to see the places I went and the people I met. I've kept this blog for eight years, and my main motivation for continuing all that time was for him, my audience of one. When he went to read it each day, I didn't want to disappoint him. I always wanted him to find me there waiting for him.

Over the past weeks we said the things we wanted to. But still, my heart felt empty that I hadn't been there to hold his hand Tuesday night when he died. So as I drove to MA on Wednesday, I told him in my heart that I was sorry not to have been there. In Touch Blue, it says something like, "Last times shouldn't matter more than all the other times, but somehow, they do. Because last times are what you're left with."

A car pulled ahead of me with a license plate: RHUBARB.

"You know I don't like rhubarb!" I said aloud. And somewhere, I'm sure he laughed.

There was always rhubarb in our garden. My parents used to tell me how good it was and I'd make a face and say it wasn't actually food. My parents moved a few years ago, and last summer, my father bought a rhubarb plant for their new garden.

The last time I saw him, he was sleeping and my mom showed me how their garden was coming. "That's your father's rhubarb," she told me. "He planted it last year, but you're not supposed to pick any of it the first year. So we had to wait."

He was too sick to eat more than soft foods and liquids by then, and it broke my heart that he would never have any of his rhubarb that he had planted and tended and waited for a whole year. Sometimes we don't get the endings we plan for, sometimes things just stop.

But seeing that license plate comforted me. It felt like having him back in that moment. I wanted a sign like a dove or a rainbow or a moose--something undeniable, magical, and dramatic. And he sent me rhubarb. A funny reminder not to take life too seriously, and that things don't always stop forever. Perennials return.

On the way home, I stopped at a garden center. I got out of the car thinking I'd have to ask the clerk if they sold rhubarb because it's not something I see often. But there on the first table in front of my car were big rhubarb plants for $10 a pot. If they had cost 10 times that much, I would have paid it without blinking. I came home and planted one in the garden near my writing shed behind the lupine and lilies and violets, where it has room to stretch out and spread. It will remind me that love goes on forever, and I don't need to always agree with someone to meet them in the middle with love.

I can't promise I'll ever like rhubarb, Daddy.
But I will always love you.

Thank you, Cape Elizabeth Middle School!

I had a lovely school visit yesterday in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Thank you to all the staff and students at Cape Middle School for making the day so special. After school, I took a little drive around town before heading home. Such a pretty place!

Cape Elizabeth, Maine

Today, I'm prepping for a school visit in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, home of one of the most-photographed places in Maine.



Portland Head Light, photo by my husband, John

Well done!

I was very impressed with this video book report for Rules.

Thank you, Wyoming!

And thank you to Derek Anderson for this awesome sketch!  Hot Rod Hamster won the Buckaroo Award from the children of Wyoming. :-)