Propagating New Growth

Edith/Maddie writing from north of Boston, where the days are long, the women are strong, and all the children are above average. Oh, wait …

June is such a time of flourishing, show-offy growth in New England. We have as much light in the sky as we ever do, sliding gracefully into the summer solstice in a few weeks. All the new vegetable seedlings are growing like crazy, as is my garlic crop, planted clove by clove last October.

The lilac blooms are over, but the peonies – goodness, the peonies!

My above-average grandbaby is growing and flourishing like a new seedling, too. She’s chortling and babbling and holding her own books (this girl is growing up in a seriously bookish household), smiling all the way. And napping on her Grammy’s lap.

I also propagated a plant the traditional way. Twenty years ago I “inherited” a Christmas cactus plant from a former resident of a house I lived in. It turned out to be a Mother’s Day cactus, and it hasn’t ever been very healthy. I am apparently incapable of tossing a house plant, and this year I gave it a severe cutting back.

I stuck a few cuttings into some potting medium in a small pot. And, voila! They rooted and flourished and are blooming, only a little late for Mother’s Day.

But how about propagating words, you might fairly ask? Is Maddie deviously devising new ways to kill people?

Right now I’m waiting for a set of editor comments to come back on Scone Cold Dead, the book due July 1.

And wearing my Edith hat, yes, I’m propagating a new short story. I live in a town with historic mill buildings still standing. The river that powered the mills rushes through a narrow space downtown, falling 75 feet over a quarter mile. I was walking home through what we call the Upper Millyard last week and slowed to appreciate the sight of a half dozen artists scattered about facing their easels as they propagated plein air paintings.

Ooh, my author brain said as I kept walking the two blocks home. Suppose…and what if…? “Murder in Plein Air” is what I’m writing now, as I get ready for the release of Murder at the Rusty Anchor on June 25.

Readers: Tell us about your garden, your creative pursuit, or any new thing in your life!