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 It's said that pioneer children often carried "leavings," dolls made of a piece of fabric and yarn and a small ball of cotton. The cloth was leftover from some other piecework the child's mom stitched, often as they walked the Oregon Trail. With a piece of yarn, the cloth wrapped around the cotton leaving a featureless face arms formed from yarn tied on either side and puffed up to look like limbs. There were no legs showing. Still, this left over made all the difference for a moment or two of play in a child's life. And perhaps it taught a lesson of transformation, turning discard into useful, pleasure, joy. In Boston in the 1830s a group called the Fragment Society formed. They too took leftover yarn and fabric and stitched clothing or knitted booties they gave away to poor families with babies. Their name came from the scriptural feeding of the 5000 where what was left over, the "fragments" of that wondrous meal of five fishes and two loaves of bread was shared by so many and still there were baskets filled with fragments of left-overs. I suppose in some ways that's what I do with my story-telling. A diary entry discovered while researching A Sweetness to the Soul became years later All Together in One Place. The definition of a charming used to hunt Antelope (In Love to Water My Soul) became the title for a book about a fabulous garden on the Oregon Coast and the couple who lived within it - A Gathering of Finches. There must be dozens more when I think of it and I am this summer, thinking of "leavings" Maybe it's because I spoke to the Willamette Heritage Foundation about legacy and story or maybe because Jerry turns 84 this summer or maybe it's that 50th year class reunion coming up. When Jerry and I have spoken of legacy he said he thinks less about the past than about what lies ahead. Spoken like a true homesteader and explorer. And I like that what he plans to "leave" will be more stories of adventure and experiences worth savoring. The farmer and poet-philosopher Wendell Berry wrote an entire book entitled Leavings about those precious memories we transform; and of heaven. One of his poems of that book labeled "Leavings IV" left both Jerry and I with moist eyes. Here's just a fragment... ...Heaven enough for me would be this world as I know it, but redeemed of our abuse of it and one another. It would be the Heaven of knowing again. ...I would like again to know my friends,
my old companions, men and women, horses
and dogs, in all the ages of our lives, here
in this place that I have watched over all my life
in all its moods and seasons, never enough. It is those words of never enough I think of this summer...and how the leavings of one experience can bring on the newness of another. May you discover in your days especially the left-overs that might be transformed into a "leaving" of another kind, one that like a child's doll, brings you moments of wistful joy you can carry with you forever. |
This summer, we had Bo stripped. He's our Wire-Haired pointing Griffin. I give you this picture of his first day and then follow it with one a day later when he seems much happier with his new look. We've never "stripped" him before but with the hot weather approaching and his many pounds of fur, we decided now was a good time.
I also have been stripped a bit...by changing the color of my hair. This happened after the third time in as many weeks when I was mistaken for the mother of one of my closest friends - who is but three years younger than me. She's a blonde. Then there's another friend, a year younger (also a blond) who I was mistaken for her mother! It was when her grandchild had just been born and there were four "generations" of women in the room that must have made the nurse wonder at who was the "great-grandma." And then at breakfast with our former real estate agent the waitress said "You must be Brian's mom. You order such similar foods." (No bread or potatoes, apparently. Fruit instead). He's like, maybe, 10 years my junior. So, no, I didn't go blond but I did color my hair! And I'm so happy! (Like Bo, I think). At a signing recently a youngish woman approached the table with several of my titles. She looked at them, looked at me, looked at them and then said, "Did you write all these books?"
"Yes, I did."
"I couldn't believe it was really you because there are so many books and you look so young to have written so many." Enough said.
So here's my latest publicity photograph with my new do. And please don't confuse me with your grandma....
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The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (Villard, 1998)
I've had so many deadlines to meet - finishing critiques for our first ever Beachside Writers Black Butte workshop, working on my novel due September 1, reading for a contest I agreed to judge, speaking and having a life with Jerry. And then our dear Pastor Jenny tells me about The Sparrow. I ought not to have started this book but I did and then all the other tasks were set aside, at least for a time.
Reading this first novel by Maria Doria Russell has captured me. In part because it is a story of exploration, of a Jesuit funded mission set in the future designed to engage the people of a newly discovered planet. And it is a story of one man's crisis of faith. The exploration part has made me re-think the ways in which this part of the country was settled, how Indians were encountered by ship captains, by explorers, by scientists and botanists and yes, by Jesuits and other missionaries and how they responded. I love character-driven novels and this one is full of complex relationships between the members of the expedition (there were eight people: two women -a physician and a linguist- four Jesuits that included an artist, a botanist / chef-type and two other technical, engineering types). The dialogue made me laugh out loud at times and ache with sadness, too. The story goes back and forth giving us the excitement of the voyage preparations and people's thinking about whether to go or not and what happens on the planet and then...the de-briefing of the one priest who returns. Feeling empathy for the characters, giving voice to voices seldom heard and memorializing, those are the three qualities Joyce Carol Oates said made a great story in a lecture she gave a few years back at the Festival of Faith and Writing. The Sparrow has it all. But don't start it if you have something looming because this book won't let you go. You'll have time to read the sequel this summer, too.
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  It all begins September 2 at Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing and September 13th at the Benton County Historical Society in Philomath, OR and the historic Soap Creek Schoolhouse on the 14th. These dates are connected to Letitia Carson's story as one of the first African-American women to cross the Oregon Trail. A friend and historian, Gwen Carr, vice-Chair Oregon Black Pioneers, to whom I gave an approved reader copy called me and among the many things she said that warmed my heart were these words: "How did you get inside the skin of a black woman?" and "thank you for keeping her story alive." Humbled and grateful. I hope you'll enjoy the story as well. Please watch my website for latest information concerning the release of A Light in the Wilderness. |
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This summer issue is my way of encouraging you all to relax this summer. I had a June Story Sparks
prepared but somehow I lost it, so my dear webmaster suggested a summer issue instead. Since Jerry is having a hernia repair surgery as I write this, the Cavalier has a cheat grass in his ear and I need to call the vet as soon as they open and I'm teaching a class with Bob Welch AND starting revisions of the novel due in September (different from the one being released in September!) perhaps having only one Story Sparks this summer will be enough. I leave you with a phrase from the 12th century: "Enough is as good as a feast." Feast this summer and remember to pass the fragments and leavings on.
Warmly,
Jane Kirkpatrick
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Note: Additional information and/or registration info can be found by clicking the event names, when highlighted!
July 9 - 4:00 pm - Paulina Springs Books in Sisters, OR. Quilt week and Sincerely Yours book presentation.
July 14 - Woodburn Public Library, 6:30 PM. Speaking and signing. Woodburn, Oregon July -16 - Private fund-raising book group July 29 - heading back to Wisconsin and Minnesota for family, friends and 50 year Class reunion in Mondovi, Wisconsin Please check September dates on my calendar at jkbooks.com . For information on the release of A Light in the Wilderness, click here. Additional information on Jane's events can be found by clicking on Jane's Event Calendar - below. |
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