Peg Kehret Blog

I’ve had glowing reports about Gus. He is happily settled in his new home and Jackie, the woman who adopted him, says that her husband thinks I passed up a superb cat. He is right. Gus is a great cat, which I knew from the start. I would love to have kept Gus. I would love to have kept Edgar, too, and Charlie, and many other animals I’ve fostered. I do R&R: Rescue and Rehabilitation. Once I take in a foster animal, my goal is to help that animal become as trusting and loving as possible. I aim for creating love light in their eyes (see Cages for an explanation of love light) and it is magical when I succeed.

I watched more hours of television last Tuesday than I had watched in the previous six weeks. As soon as I got up, I turned on the inaugural proceedings. With a pot of coffee at my side and Lucy in my lap, I followed the events for hours. What a proud day for our country!

Once again the Gates Foundation and Rotary International have committed to donating millions of dollars in the fight to eradicate polio world-wide. I hope to see this happen in my lifetime. In my opinion, Bill and Melinda Gates are heroes for the generous and thoughtful ways that they share their wealth. Rotary has worked to rid the world of polio for many years, too. It seems to me that no child, in any country, should have to suffer the effects of a disease that can so easily be prevented.

On Wednesday, I visited the Seymour Botanical Conservatory in Tacoma to see an exhibit of glass art by Dale Chihuly. It is the 100th anniversary of this conservatory (a glass structure that houses a collection of rare plants) and Chihuly, who grew up in Tacoma and visited the conservatory as a child, loaned art work worth half a million dollars to celebrate the occasion. I’m a fan of Chihuly’s work and it was exciting to see huge glass lilies, leaves and other botanical figures interspersed with the live plants. Vibrant colors and surprising shapes are Chihuly trademarks, and this exhibit is no exception.

None of the above occurred while I was at my keyboard, yet each will enrich my writing. I’m often asked if the events of a book really happened to me. Usually the answer is no. I have not lived through a tsunami, or been abducted, or conversed with a ghost, but I have experienced the emotions that my characters feel. Every experience that gives me an emotional reaction - patriotism as I watched the inaugeration, gratitude for the gifts of the Gates Foundation and Rotary, a renewed respect for cats and a sense of accomplishment from Gus, and appreciation for artistic talent and originality from the Chihuly exhibit - is something that I can use in a future story.

Yesterday one of my highschool classmates forwarded an obituary of Cecily Spaulding. Miss Spaulding was my speech teacher at Austin High School in Austin, Minnesota, in 1953-54. She taught me to never say “uh” between thoughts, to speak clearly and concisely, and to be well prepared for my audience. Even more important than how to deliver a speech, she taught me to value solid content. I learned to appreciate speeches with depth, speeches that made me think and question.  At the time, I never dreamed how useful her instruction would be in my future career.

I remember giving one speech based on the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.” Miss Spaulding encouraged me to explore my dawning realization that it’s okay to be different. Teens in general want desperately to be accepted by their peers. Miss Spaulding taught me to be true to myself, regardless of what others were doing.

Miss Spaulding also directed the high school plays, and I tried out for all of them. Sometimes I got a part; sometimes I didn’t. If I wasn’t cast, I worked backstage. I learned to love the theater and the feeling of community that develops between those who stage a production.

I was astonished to learn from the obituary that my former teacher was only ten years older than I am. When I was in high school, the age difference seemed far greater.

Cecily Spaulding is the only person on whom I completely based one of my characters. She was the model for Miss Fenton, the teacher in Cages. When Cages was published, in 1991, I found an address for Miss Spaulding and sent her a copy of the book, along with a letter explaining that she was the inspiration for my character. I also told her how much I valued what she had taught me and how useful that knowledge had been.

I saw her once a few years later when I returned to Austin High School to speak to the Language Arts students. Miss Spaulding came to hear my talk and we had a lovely chat afterward.

I’m writing about Miss Spaulding today to honor her memory and also because many teachers read this blog. Teachers, I want you to know that your efforts do bear fruit. Your words and actions matter in the future lives of your students. Decades from now, some will remember you vividly and give you credit for being a positive influence in their lives.

Thank you, teachers.  Thank you, Miss Spaulding.

Gus has a new, permanent home. As soon as the road was passable, the potential adopter, Jackie, came to see him and he went home with her that same day. I’ve heard from her twice since then. Gus has made friends with her dog. He naps in front of the wood stove but sleeps at night with Jackie and her husband. He follows them around and gets lots of petting. In other words, Gus found the perfect home for him which makes me very happy.

Caring for foster animals is one of the most satisfying things I do.  It is sometimes stressful as I worry that they won’t ever be adopted, and it gets expensive as I pay for vaccines, worming, flea treatment and spay/neuter surgeries. It’s also time consuming as I play with them, hold them, pet them, and help them learn to be trusting and friendly. But every time one of the cats is adopted into a loving family I feel such joy. It is happiness for the animal, for the people who will now love and care for this special creature, and for myself. I know that it would not have happened if I hadn’t taken them in, and given them a chance.  As with most volunteer work, I get back more than I give.

Western Washington has gone from heavy snow to torrential rains and the result is flooding everywhere. I live in the foothills of Mt. Rainier, on high ground where flooding is not a problem. However, I am currently unable to get off the hill because the only road is flooded. There is a small (usually) creek at the bottom of my hill. I drive across a narrow bridge to get to Wilkeson and from there to the rest of the Puget Sound area. Now the creek has overflowed, the intersection is under water, and some homes are flooded. The Carbon River, which feeds my creek, crested last night so I hope the water will recede soon. It is an odd feeling to know that the only road connecting me to the rest of the world is closed. There are now notes about this in my Ideas Box.

Soggy ground is a concern for me because it gets so saturated with water that tree roots can’t hang on in high winds and the trees topple. Yes, I’ve also had high winds. It’s only Jan. 8 but already this year I’ve had record snowfall, high winds, and flooding. My son-in-law says locusts will be next. So far I’ve lost only one tree. It came down across my front fence.

On Tuesday afternoon as the rain pounded my skylights, I heard from someone who might be interested in adopting Gus, my foster cat. She saw a flyer about Gus that I had posted at my veterinarian’s office and when she asked about him, the staff told her what a fine cat he is. She emailed me, and I called her as soon as I got her message. After talking to her on the phone, I was certain she would give Gus a wonderful home and we arranged for her to come to meet him the next morning. That night the road flooded, so I had to tell her she couldn’t come. I was so disappointed.  We are still waiting for the road to open.

It will be hard for me to let Gus go. He’s been here since September and I’ve grown very fond of him. But my purpose in doing animal rescue work is to find a loving, permanent home for each animal that I help. If I tried to keep them, I’d have to quit doing rescues.

My foster cat room is a large room that’s attached to my house. When my husband was living, it was his workshop where he restored player pianos and other antique musical instruments. After Carl died, I wanted to use that room in some special way. Doing foster care for rescued animals seemed perfect. So far I’ve fostered three cats there and each one has brought activity and happiness back into the space.

I still hear from the woman who adopted Edgar, my first foster cat who was here for six months. Charlie, the second one, was adopted by my friend, Mark, so I get regular reports on him. Charlie even came back to visit for two weeks last summer while Mark was on vacation. Gus is the third occupant and if his adoption happens as I hope it will, I think I’ll be able to keep in touch with his new family, too, because his adopter seems like someone I’d enjoy knowing better. She even has a granddaughter who is a fan of my books.

If the creek goes down and the road reopens, Gus might have a visitor tomorrow. I have my fingers crossed.

I feel as if I am living in a Christmas card. All the trees have snow on their branches; there are mounds of new snow on my driveway; the birds eagerly await their daily suet cake. Usually when it snows here, it lasts 2-3 days. Then the rain returns and everything melts. This time, I’ve had snow for three weeks. Many days - once for five consecutive days - it was so deep that I could not get out of my driveway.  Before the snow from one storm melted, another snow storm arrived, so it kept piling up. In all, I’ve had about two feet of snow.

One morning there were four deer on the brick path that leads to my front door. They were munching on the shrubs that line my path. Usually I have to prune those shrubs; this year the deer are doing it for me. As I write this, I can see a four-point buck out my window, licking sunflower seeds out of one of my bird feeders. My yard is criss-crossed with animal tracks. One morning I followed a raccoon’s paw prints from my front porch all the way down my driveway, through the gate, and on into the road. There are small, medium, and large deer tracks and tracks from Mr. Stray and Lucy.  

 Because of the deep snow and icy roads, I did not drive to my daughter’s home on Christmas Eve, as planned. But they came here! They put chains on their car, loaded up all the gifts and the dog, and made it up my hill. They stayed overnight and we had a lovely Christmas together.

My writer friend, Linda Joy Singleton, mentioned on Facebook that she had read 138 books in 2008. That, of course, made me wonder how many I’d read. I keep a book list so it was easy to count the titles. I read 115 books in 2008 (and one so far in 2009.) I order many titles from my public library but if I read a book that I like a lot, I buy a copy. I want to be able to lend it to friends and to reread it in the future. 

As always, I have made a few New Year’s resolutions. They are not resolutions so much as goals. I try to focus on a few areas where I can improve my life, always keeping with what I can control. I find that if I write these goals on paper, I am more likely to accomplish them. Happy new year to all!