The meteor showers will be at their peak on Aug. 12. I love to lie outdoors, watching for “shooting stars.” I did it as a child, I’ve done it many times with my grandchildren, and I still get excited every time I spot a meteor streaking across the sky. I used this experience in Runaway Twin – one more piece of my own life that’s been transplanted to my fiction.
There are no street lights or neighbor porch lights out here in the woods, which makes for excellent star gazing. If the sky is clear on Aug. 12, Lucy and I will snuggle under a blanket outside for a few hours, gazing upward.
If you opened my refrigerator right now, you’d probably wonder why I have a bowl containing watermelon rinds and an apple core. It’s because the weather’s been so dry this month that the deer have little grass or other greenery to graze on. When it starts to get dark, I will toss the watermelon rinds and apple core, along with any carrot tops or other leftover greenery, under my bird feeder. The deer come every night to eat the spilled bird seed and they will find these extra treats. When my windows are open, I hear them crunching the watermelon, apparently with great gusto.