video – Rae Spencer

A Writing Conference and an Air Show

September 25, 2015Rae SpencerLeave a comment

Last Thursday afternoon, a rumble of jet noise lured me away from preparations for the opening night of the 2015 Hampton Roads Writers Conference.

Air Show Sept 17

When I realized the jets over our yard were Blue Angels, I dropped my pens, notebooks, and folders and ran for my camera.

Air Show Sept 17

My fascination with jets, helicopters, and rockets traces back to childhood. My father worked for Sperry Rand, and later for United Space Boosters, Inc., so the space program loomed large in my life. We lived close enough to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center (in Huntsville, Alabama) to make field trips with school and 4-H, and when my father relocated and remarried, his new position took him to Titusville, Florida. There, during a summer visit between 9th and 10th grade, I got tantalizing glimpses of Kennedy Space Center and the Vehicle Assembly Building.

Books, television, and movies fed my aerospace fascination as I finished high school and moved on to college. Somewhere along the way, I discovered the Blue Angels.

Thursday’s flights over our house were practice runs for the Blue Angels’ appearance at the 2015 NAS Oceana Air Show, which overlapped the writing conference on Saturday but not Sunday, so I didn’t have to choose between them.

Air Show Sept 17

As usual, I arrived at the conference full of energy, eager to spend a few days in the company of writers. By Saturday afternoon my energy was dwindling toward exhaustion, but it was a happy and inspired kind of exhaustion. Here’s a list of the sessions I attended:

Mastering Dialogue – Princess Perry
Friday Keynote Address – Ellen Meister
Bringing Your Book to Market: Overview of Self-Publishing – Dr. Chris Kennedy
Copyright and Wrong: The Basics of Intellectual Property – Melissa Edwards
How to Give a Great Reading – Ellen Meister
Psychic Distance: How Close Are Your Characters – Ellen Bryson
Saturday Keynote Address – DeWitt Henry
Hit the Ground Running: Storytelling through Action, not Exposition – Heather Flaherty
The Business of Poetry – Renee Olander
Marketing Your Work – Michelle Garren Flye
Breaking Down Backstory – Ellen Bryson
What Is Paranormal Romance and Why Is It Selling So Well? – Vanessa Barger

I can’t pick a favorite from these sessions. They were all brilliant. I came home with ideas for each of my various works-in-progress, and my contest entries were returned with very helpful comments from the judges. (My fiction entry won Honorable Mention!)

Award 2015

I slept late Sunday, of course, but woke to the sound of jet noise as the Air Show moved into its final day. I hurried through feeding the cats, who were outraged that I had slept past their breakfast time, while my husband gathered our gear. Then we were out the door and on our way.

Air Show 2015

It was a beautiful way to end a perfect weekend.

Saddleback Caterpillar

August 1, 2014Rae Spencer7 Comments

Saddleback Caterpillar July 31

The saddleback caterpillar is one of North America’s stinging caterpillars. Each hollow spine is equipped with venom, and bright patterns on its back advertise the danger. Everything about it signals “Don’t touch!”

I found my first saddleback caterpillar in the yard yesterday, and I hope there aren’t many more. I’m not interested in finding out exactly how painful their stings can be.

Saddleback Caterpillar July 31

The University of Florida’s online reference says this: “The saddleback caterpillar is encountered most frequently as a medically significant pest, and has minor effects in landscaping and agriculture.” So, while my caterpillar was doing a very neat job of eating one of the iris leaves, its primary impact in the yard is being a “medically significant pest.” (Something about that phrase makes me want to write a poem.)

Saddleback Caterpillar July 31

The only North American caterpillar with a more venomous sting than the saddleback is the puss caterpillar, which I encountered in the yard a few years ago. Here’s a video I made at the time:

When I found the puss caterpillar in 2010, our newspaper’s wildlife columnist published one of my photos. She later published an article spotlighting readers’ stories of having been stung by both kinds of venomous caterpillars: Those cute little caterpillars can pack a big, painful wallop.

Yet another very good reason to wear gloves while working in the flower beds…

Saddleback Caterpillar July 31

Cicadas, Cicada Killers, and Freshly Pressed Gratitude

September 5, 2013Rae Spencer4 Comments

Cicada Sept 2

It’s cicada season in the yard. Each night a handful of them emerge from the ground and undergo their final molt.

Cicada August 21

They climb until some secret signal tells them they have climbed high enough, then they wait.

Cicada August 21

The wait must be uncomfortable–squeezed tight in hardening skin, wings constricted, an itchy seam along each tense back. Do they already understand flight? Do they regret leaving the safety of their root-laced tunnels?

Cicada August 21

Or do they simply stretch their new bodies until their old existence ruptures, until their wings straighten and strengthen, until they fling themselves into the dark abyss of the humid night sky.

Cicada August 21

Compared to last year’s numbers, the yard’s cicada population is small this year. Their molts are not accumulating in heaps at the base of the fence or over the roots of our trees. There’s no steady drone of cicada song, only occasional bursts from the wax myrtle.

Cicada Sept 2

Despite the relatively low number of cicadas, the yard has an unusually high concentration of cicada killer wasps.

Cicada Killer August 15

Here’s a post about these wasps from the Scientific American Blog Network: A Feast of Cicadas. Our yard doesn’t have as many wasps as are described in the linked post, but I’ve seen more this year than ever before.

Cicada Killer August 15

But, are there actually more wasps than before? Or do I simply notice them more?

Cicada Killer August 15

Moving away from unanswerable questions, here’s a video from last summer:

In a final note, I want to thank the WordPress editors who Freshly Pressed my last post. Also, I want to thank the readers who visited the post, especially those who clicked the “like” button and commented. Each notification e-mail included links to your blogs, and I followed as many as time allowed. I found stories and poems full of laughter, tears, inspiration, and wisdom. I saw marvelous photographs, bookmarked tempting recipes, and added a dozen books to my wish list. It’s been a wonderful experience. Thank you!

The Empty Nest

August 29, 2013Rae Spencer5 Comments

The house wrens’ nestlings fledged this week. They fledged while I was busy doing other things, and I regret missing the moment of their departure. (For more about the house wrens, see here, here, and here.)

Wren August 4

During the last two months, our little family of birds have been a constant source of amusement and amazement. At first the male worked alone, a tiny bustle of feather and song. Then his mate arrived, bristling with scolds. Together they transformed the nest box into a vessel seemingly immune to the laws of physics. They stuffed it with so many twigs that it should have burst at the seams or collapsed into a singularity. Instead it rocked gently in the wind as eggs were laid, as the first male lost control of the box and his eggs were destroyed, and as he reclaimed the box and eggs were laid again.

Wren August 14

In early August, the eggs hatched.

Wren August 15

Wren August 14

As the nestlings’ voices grew more and more insistent, the wrens again defied physics. They expended so much energy, feeding their young, that both birds should have grown weak and thin.

Wren August 14

Among the insects I recognized, there were caterpillars, moths, katydids, and crickets.

Wren August 23

The yard should have run out of insects, but it didn’t.

Wren August 23

Wren August 24

I don’t know how many nestlings they were feeding. More than the box should have been able to hold, wedged in with all of those twigs.

Wrens August 22

Then, around mid-morning on August 26th, I found the box abandoned.

I want to believe that I’ve heard the fledglings, in the days since, begging from deep within the wax myrtle, or from the neighbors’ yards, or across the street. I want to believe I would recognize them if they returned to the yard, which seems unnaturally quiet now.

Perhaps they will return next year, all grown up and beyond recognition. Perhaps they will fill the yard, once more, with songs and scolds. Fill the nest box with twigs and eggs, and, in the process, fill me with more delight than I should be able to hold.