FrancesWood

I'm off to the Sandhill Crane Festival in Othello, Washington. I'll be lecturing at noon on Saturday. My topic: Swallow Migration. If you are at the festival, please come find me.

There is a wonderful series on trees airing this week on KUOW by Sarah Waller. Monday featured the gingko, Tuesday the yew, yesterday the nurse log, featuring Whidbey's own Larry Daloz.

My writer friend Joyce Yarrow's new book is free.

FREE at the Kindle store this Wednesday and Thursday - March 14 and 15 -- a mystery set in New York and Russia:
THE LAST MATRYOSHKA by Joyce Yarrow

BirdNote event at the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts in Langley tomorrow night. The 7:30 event will be preceded by a bird-themed art display in the lobby.

Art show at 6:00 is free BirdNote event is $20. Hope to see you there.

Tonight I'm participating in a panel discussion at Book-It Repertory Theater before the performance of Jim Lynch's "Border Songs."

Here's the info. Come on down to the Seattle Center.

Nature Artist Panel Discussion
How Nature Inspires My Art
Wed., Sept. 21
6:30-7:10pm
Center House Theater
Featuring
Moderator Lyanda Lynn Haupt
and Artists
Denise Takahashi
Carleen Zimmerman
Frances Wood
Kate Endle

Panel discussion is before a performance of Jim Lynch's 2010 Washington State Book Award Winning Border Songs at Book-It Repertory Theater. Special Seattle Audubon coupon code for 10% off adult tickets for this production. Use audubonloon when purchasing online (www.book-it.org), by phone (206-216-0833) or in person.

I've just soft launched a web-based project called 41 Whidbey Places. It's a collection of stories linked to special locations on Whidbey Island, Washington. The stories are personal; the places are public. Together they form a mosaic of Island life.

Visit www.41Whidbeyplaces.com to read the stories, find their settings and view photos. So far, I've published 12 stories. Let me know if you have a story to add to the collection. 

Hello blog. Long time no write.

I watched an osprey soar and circle lazily above our bluff. Wings unmoving, it floated in and out of the noonday sun with white wing patches appearing translucent against the deep blue backdrop of sky.

I think it was looking south, preparing for its next long haul down to South America.

Yesterday I attended a book launch for the Whidbey writer and artist team of Craig and Joy Johnson. Their new children's book "Rufous" follows the life of our Whidbey Island rufous hummingbirds. It's well written, full of Craig's watercolor paintings and certain to please young and old.

www.pugetsoundbackyardbirds.com

"Good luck or bad, birds have feathered the nests of many myths"
By FRANCES WOOD
South Whidbey Record
Oct 19 2010
"The days are getting shorter and the evenings colder and rainier. We’re slipping into the dark time of year and Halloween can’t be far away. Yet October always brings its own avian pleasure, listening to owls hooting to each other in the evening and early morning. . ." continues at www.pnwlocalnews.com/whidbey/swr/lifestyle/105306293.html

Last Saturday I graduated with an MFA in creative writing from the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts, Whidbey Writers Workshop.

Woo Hoo. Can't believe I finally made it. But here is proof. Photo shows my sister Nancy, me, husband Bill and step-son Cory (r to l)