June 2011
Goodby May. Record cold, record rainfall, record days with no sun! Hope moves forward into June. The garden is responding to the rain with lush growth, but the wisteria are barely flowering and the birds congregate around feeders in hungry clusters. The bright goldfinches gobble up Niger seed, and everyone else empties the black sunflower feeders daily. The weather is conducting its own form of control on certain food products.
Geography and environment do dictate behavior. I am working on a scene set in the Olympic National Forest near the Sol Duc Hot Springs. I wrote the first draft and since I’ve never been to the hot springs I took the time to visit. Good thing I did. I had to revise parts of the scene because of small details which were important, like geological facts concerning terrain and distances which I’d guessed at from looking at the maps I had.
Because of these realities my characters behavior needed a rewrite. And I was also lucky to discover nuances in the forest which I will add to the scene. And I will draw on my own memory which continues to be affected by the geography and environment. These feelings still resonate through my senses of touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell.
I appreciate my garden and my writing in a different way after being surrounded by giant cedars, Trillium flowers, sword ferns, and raging rivers cascading over basalt precipices. The living bio-mass of the forest and my garden is startling, as much for their differences, as for their similarities. The earth is always eager to retake a domesticated garden.
The stealth and tenacity of nature reminds me of the unsuspecting protagonist in my scene when he underestimates the unpredictable side of natural forces which are about to change his perceptions of reality.
A tip of my rain hat to the majestic Olympic National Forest!
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