Garden Time

Soggy summer here in Maine, so the garden is looking a little sad this year. Last year's bounty was inspiring, though--especially the mysterious "volunteers" that grow on their own. Last year I picked four gorgeous acorn squash that I didn't plant. Several years ago a mystery vine grew out of my compost heap, and produced 32 little pumpkins! Well, inspite of this year's meager crop, my new book, Mystery Vine, will be ready for harvest in August. 

Greenwillow Books has posted an activity page for the book here,

that includes little growing projects like these:

Walter at the Library

The new youth services librarian at Baxter Memorial Library in Gorham, Maine, Kathy Stevens, sent me this photo. Walter, a story-loving iquana, visited the library today. He took a particular interest in the Swallowtail butterfly on the mural I painted on the library's wall there several years ago. Here's the other mural, too:

And here are my sunflowers--saying farewell to the garden, now that the season is turning.

It was a good garden year: peas, lettuce, blackberries, basil, tomatoes, peppers, squash, carrots, pumpkins, and a MYSTERY VINE! Which, as it happens, is the name of my new picture book with Greenwillow Books. It will be released next summer. The dog is Bailey, our 14-year-old faithful friend, who has just come from the orchard where he helps himself to pears several times a day.