Susan's Hill Country Journal

December 2. I’ve lived in the Texas hill country for thirty years, but every year is different. Last year, it was cold and blowy, and the first frost came early. This year, with nights in the 40s and days in the 60s, the fairy rose is blooming beside the creek, the copper canyon daisy (Tagetes lemonii) is a bright, warm yellow, and the pyracanthus is a fiery orange. Outside my window, a male cardinal, resplendent in his red and black feathers, is eating sunflower seeds out of the feeder. But a change—colder weather, a brisk north wind, gray skies—is predicted for tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to it.

December 6. I heard from my publicist, Julia, that the tour stores and dates are all established now. I'll be going to mystery bookstores in Scottsdale AZ, Los Angeles and San Mateo CA, Portland OR, Seattle WA, and Denver and Boulder CO--plus stores in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. I'm sending copies of Thyme of Death to the stores so they can set up a drawing, and I'm actually beginning to look forward to it. I'm not looking forward to the flying, though (does anybody, these days?). But I understand that the airlines have relaxed their "no-knitting-needles" rule, so I'll arrive at my destination mostly unruffled. I plan to specialize in socks on this trip (they're small projects and portable, and I can do them without a pattern), so you can picture me knitting my way through eight stores, plus four cities in Texas. By the time I get back, I'll have all the birthday socks finished! No indigo, although I'm planning one pair that will be blue-green.

December 9. I spent yesterday afternoon at our Story Circle holiday party in Austin—such a wonderful group of women! If I didn’t have them to connect with, I might feel isolated out here in the country. The longer I work with this organization, the more I realize how important we are to one another. Yesterday, a four-generation family of women—great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, and daughter—shared their family stories with us, and P. Jae Stanley drove down from Waco to sing and play her guitar. What wonderful gifts!

December 13. At last—Death in Hyde Park is done! We’ve still got a little fixing-up to do (Bill wants to go through the book one more time, checking details), but it’s basically finished, and I’m very glad. I always enjoy working on the Robin Paige novels, partly because of the research and partly because it’s great fun to work with Bill. But this year, I’m anxious to get started on the next project: the first book in the Beatrix Potter series. It’s not due until the end of March, but I’m so excited about writing it that my fingers almost itch.

December 17. The robins have been here for a few days, enormous, chattering flocks of them! Hundreds of birds, congregating in the mowed meadows where they can find seeds on the ground, bathing in the creek, calling in the woods, filling the leafless trees. A dozen red-winged blackbirds are feeding on the ground under the bird feeders, and the cedar waxwings are dining on the cedar berries. Yesterday, we watched a tardy flight of sandhill cranes flying over Meadow Knoll, on their way south to their winter grounds along the South Texas coast. All of my favorite birds are coming to Texas for the winter.

December 21. I’ve been knitting like crazy to get all the family’s socks, scarves, and hats finished and in the mail before the witching hour—finally they’re all done and in the mail! Now I’m turning back to my spindle, just for fun. I’m working on some superwash merino top I got from Kate at Paradise Fibers—it’s called Indian Summer. I’m not sure how I’ll spin it, but for starters, I’m spinning the red-yellow-orange sections separately from the darker brown-purple-blue sections. I think this batch wants to be a pair of socks for me. How nice, after all those socks I’ve been knitting for the kids and the grandkids! But it’s been a while since I’ve spun, and I’m still in the lumpy-bumpy stage, so maybe it will be a hat instead—at least until my fingers get the hang of spindling again.

December 25. Bill’s mother is visiting for the holiday—a nice excuse for a turkey, dressing, cranberries, sweet potatoes, and Bill’s very favorite thing: pecan pie. (He’d rather eat that than turkey.) But we’re not the only ones enjoying a feast. From the window on this Christmas morning, we watched the cedar waxwings feasting on the yaupon (pronounced YO-pahn) holly. Several of these shrubby trees grow along the fence and the creek. They’re covered with white flowers in spring and orange-red berries in the winter. Early settlers made a coffee substitute from the dried leaves by soaking them in water, but I think I’ll stick to rosemary-and-rose-hip tea.

December 31.

Bill’s mother has gone back to Houston, and my son Michael and new daughter-in-law Sheryl have arrived from Juneau to spend a few days--what a joy to have them with us! Yesterday they made the obligatory trip to the Alamo, enjoying the shirt-sleeve weather. Today, we drove down to Fredericksburg for lunch at one of those wonderful German restaurants (ah—real German potato salad, with lots of dill!), then on to Mo-Ranch for a look around. This is the wonderful Presbyterian conference and retreat center where Story Circle will hold its first LifeLines writing retreat at the end of March. Christina Baldwin (author of Life’s Companion) will be our facilitator. After a look around the facilities and the gorgeous views, I’m sure we’ll have a wonderful retreat. It was a perfect day for a drive through the Hill Country and along the Guadalupe River--blue sky and sunshine and the lovely dark green of the cedar-covered hills. A perfect end to a very good year.