So I just got back

from a week in New England, and considering that it’s been forever since I wrote a new blog I really should be working on one. Instead, i find myself using those precious pre-dawn hours when no one but me is awake

(well okay the dogs are awake, but just barely, drowsily awaiting their walks) 

catching up on posts from Jenny Lawson (a.k.a. The Bloggess), watching videos of dancing dogs, and reading articles from the Guardian that my aunt sends me. 

Oh, and free cell.  We mustn’t forget free cell.   I use it as a sort of mental barometer. If I can’t win a game of free cell I should just go outside and play in the dirt but not attempt anything more complicated than that.  Or cook something.  I can weed or plant things or cook with approximately 1/3 of my brain working.  But everything else should be put on hold.  

This is all to explain that since I have returned from New England where everyone is reasonably well and the island of Cuttyhunk 

(which is so suspiciously similar to the island in my book Coyote Summer) has obligingly remained much as I left it, I’ve had a serious attack of the shoulds.  

I should be promoting my new book. 

I should be working at setting up readings, getting the book into bookstores and libraries, probing my friends for addresses of places to send promotional material, harassing people who have read the book into reviewing it on Amazon, or at least giving it four stars.  Five stars of course are preferable, but I want to allow you a little latitude so it doesn’t seem like I’m pressuring you.  

And mostly, I should be writing a blog post.  There’s a problem, though.  

There are lilacs blooming outside my office window.  My strawberries are flowering. 

My basil and nasturtiums need to be hardened off,

my sunflowers, carrots, and beets need to be planted.  

and this poor little guy. what about him?

Need versus should.  I should be promoting my book.  I need to have my hands in dirt. 

before

after

i was just kidding 

So this is what you get: ramblings with no real purpose and a little announcement at the end. 

I have a reading and book signing at Books and Company here in  Lexington, Virginia on Saturday, May 17.  11:00 a.m. Suitable for both children and adults.I
There will be cookies.  And I would so like to see you there.

Hello, this is your captain speaking…

Please fasten your seatbelts

as we prepare for our descent

into the last of our Antarctic blog posts.

Please enjoy your penguins and seals as after this we will be sailing into warmer Summerhood Island weather.

We have enjoyed our stint as your tour guides.

 Feel free to contact us with requests for autographs or personalized pictures.  

And we thank you for your interest.

After South Georgia, we had two days at sea filled with lectures on Penguins, who governs Antarctica and how do we do science there, an amazing tour of the bridge,

and lectures on the do's and don'ts to follow when actually setting foot on the Antarctic continent.  After years of various countries on various bases crapping up a huge area around them with waste there are finally rules in place to try and take care of what's left of this pristine continent.

Our first stop is Deception Bay.  After a precarious threading through narrow

channels,

the captain brings us into a harbor surrounded by a volcanic crater.

We were only on the island about an hour, but in that time this frozen area thawed into a running stream.

Next up was Pendulum Bay, home of the famous geothermal spring.  If we were brave enough, they said, we could swim.  Swim.  In Antarctica.  I had visions of a lovely deep thermal hot tub pool.

nina getting ready to undress

Not quite.  But I did it anyway, and I have a certificate to prove how stupid I am.

yes, it was warm. but only for about 6 feet from the shore. then the chill of the air and ocean overcame the heat from the sand. you can't see it in these photos but there was ice floating in the water about ten feet out from us. 

And then we're done with islands, and actually setting foot on the coast.  Chinstrap

and Adelie penguins,

you lookin' at me?

some serious snow climbing

up to see rookeries

yes, that's all penguin poop.

and not so serious snow sliding back down.

nina follows our new tour guide

And the zodiac trip around all of the icebergs and ice shelves,

touching an iceberg

threading our way through

complete with wildlife

leopard seal

waddel  seal

one lonely chinstrap catches a ride

and a champagne toast.

This trip was not on my bucket list.  It was my bucket list.  And it was everything I had imagined

and so much more.

Apparently you have to . . .

Actually post a blog post. Just because you send something to a group of people on Facebook, and then make up a blog, this does not mean it automatically appears. You still have to do the actual posting. Or it just sits there.  Who knew?

Okay ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and any assorted animals that know how to type,

(I have trouble reading animal handwriting) it’s time for a contest.  We haven’t had a contest in quite a while, and the exciting part about this one is that although you might have to do a bit more work than just think up the name of an island, there are many more chances to win.

Here’s how it works: you send me the names and addresses or emails of at least three elementary or middle school librarians

or the children’s librarians at your local library.  

I put your name in the hat

for chance to win an autographed, personalized copy of Coyote Summer. 

Every time I get ten entries I’ll have a drawing.  So you have a one in ten chance of winning.  When I get to ten I will start over again but your name will still be in the hat if you didn’t win the first time.  So you have another chance when I hit twenty entries.  And of course if you want to send me three more names I’ll enter you again.  That can really ramp up your chances of winning.

Of course you can win my undying love and affection by sending me the name of a librarian or middle school teacher that you know personally, and allow me to contact them using your name.  It doesn’t matter if any of the leads pan out or not, you still get entered in the drawing.

So get started, people!  Get out those online phone books.  Get out those paper phone books, if you still have one of those. 

Call up your child’s school and asked who buys the books.

This is either called personalized marketing,

using your friends and relatives,

or pandering to me so I will stop annoying you. 

 Or all three. Whatever works.