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Dear Friends, Happy 2021!
I have never written my
monthly hedge a gram with so much surprise, wonder and dismay
than the one I'm writing. For the first time ever, I sent
friends and family a holiday newsletter. I wrote it in
response to all the touching holiday letters I have received.
As for myself, the year wasn't a bad one if I could blank out
the empathy for others, but I have missed my family, friends
and the large groups of pals that I know from the publishing
and bookstore worlds. concerts, poultry shows and road races.
I think so many have felt this curious detachment and it
invites a lot of musings about how we have assembled our
lives. Every year, month by month I
write a hedge-a-gram describing what takes place in my
children's book creations. I have always hoped other people who are fascinated by
children's literature would find it interesting. I have been
watching youtube offerings titled " a day in the life of a
ballerina" and found them entertaining and thought provoking.
Maybe someone will find creating a children's book
interesting, too? This month, I am going to do
something different and rewrite Joe and my personal holiday
letter.
Joe and I miss
seeing our loved ones, relatives and friends. This is our
first Christmas letter and I hope it brings us closer to all
of you.
2020 really started with a
great send off in December 2019. We went on a three-week book
tour on the big bus the publisher provides for us and we "sort
of see" America. We definitely meet many book lovers and
visit wonderful bookstores. Joe and I barely unpacked before
we headed out to Alaska to celebrate my "big" birthday at the
Sheldon Chalet. Growing up in Boston, our family loved going
to the Museum of Science. Explorer Bradford Washburn was the
head of the museum and was admired for being the first to map
Denali. You could see the room-sized model of the mountain at
the museum when I was little. He and his bush pilot colleague
Don Sheldon had a camp on a pinnacle of rock jutting out of
the Ruth glacier near the summit of Denali which served as
their high-altitude camp. All these years later Don's children
built a small hotel next to the original cabin, and that's
where we went for my birthday. The tiny building sits in a
huge glacial bowl surrounded by mountains. We happened to be
the only guests, but we had the company of three adventuring
guides and a chef. The helicopter that brought us up also
brought Alaskan seafood and all sorts of wild foods like black
spruce buds and devil's club shoots. It was very cozy and
romantic and if there is ever a next time, I'm going to make
myself go snowboarding. I wimped out this time.
High on the list of
highlights of our Alaska trip was seeing daughter Lia and
husband Tom in Eagle river where they retired after 21 years
in the USMC. Their two children Torynn, 10 and Brian, 8 are
living the Alaskan life, skiing and hiking and much to my
delight, reading. We also spent time in Talkeetna, staying in
Belle's cabin in town and visiting the Talkeetna Historical
Society where we met a famous alpinist who told us about his
expeditions summiting the mountain. The original room sized
model of Denali that we saw as kids in Boston is installed at
the museum. Outside of town we visited Dallas Seavey's
Iditarod winning Alaskan Husky's kennel. We even got to mush a
team ourselves on an hour-long loop through the forest. The
dogs were super spirited and joyful and the kennels were
immaculate. The grand finale was when the puppies were brought
into the warming hut for us to play with and get puppy bites
from. Our family dog was a Siberian Husky and we laughed and
laughed remembering her escapades. Before we left we drove up
to Palmer to see my Musk Ox friends Teal and Littleman as well
as Mark the curator of The Musk Ox Farm and colleagues Kerry
and Dani, and Jamie.
We came home to spend
time with daughter Michelle who is curator of a small museum
near Albany and her children Katie who is also an artist like
Torynn and Brian, and Zollie who is interested in music and
especially percussion. In March, the Hearne part of the family
met up in Knoxville where Sean moved to a new job as head of
one of the Oak Ridge Labs after years in Albuquerque at the
government lab there. His wife Catherine continues to work as
a Psychologist, particularly with war veterans.
Back home in January I
was working away on my COZY book which features an Alaskan
Musk Ox and washing my exhibition bantam chickens for our big
two day show in January. The chickens did well, but little did
we know that it would be the last show for a long time! I
raise about 100 youngsters. I only keep 3 or 4 “future
champions" or individuals that possess a trait I want to
amplify. All the rest I place among fellow fanciers, but this
year there are no shows. So, I have a lot of chickens!
Luckily, I stopped hatching after one after another event
cancelled.
There are three of us
sisters and we have remained very close over the years. Not
only do I admire them and love their company, but they are my
best friends. Sophie lives in NH and Jeannie in Maine. Then
Jeannie's three adult children moved one by one to Montana. Of
course, Jeannie and Greg wanted to be near them, and they
bought an amazing house on a bluff (they call it a bench)
overlooking the Madison River, famous for trout fishing in
Ennis, MT. They love the life of the wild west and last summer
made the final move out there. The silver lining is that two
of the kids have married and will make their home in Montana
and celebrations are planned hopefully next summer and Jeannie
will have a great place to create her art to boot (no pun
intended) When my Dad died at 62 years old we were all
devastated. Not long after I had a very vivid dream when he
came back to say goodbye. I said, "Daddy what can I do for
you, what are your wishes?" This is in my dream. He said for
us three girls to stay together and protect each other and
always stay close. The dream had such potency, and all these
years later I think we have tried hard to realize his wish,
much to our benefit, speaking for myself of course. We will
have to try hard and remain connected, but it is a big change
for the sisters. Sophie was supposed to go on a Boston
Symphony trip to Asia with Joe and me last spring. Sister
Jeannie had gone with us and the BSO a few years ago to Japan.
Sophie who teaches, had to get special permission. She was to
take a leave of absence and we were very excited to go. The
day before the instruments were to leave preceding the
musicians and guests in early Feb after rumblings about a
nasty flu, the tour was cancelled. Almost all the concert
halls were closing in Asia. It was a big disappointment, and
soon after, the BSO’s spring concerts and Tanglewood were
cancelled. In the last few weeks with strict guidance, Joe has
been playing again. It is his 58th season. The BSO has built a
huge extension on the stage and the musicians wear masks and
sit 6 feet apart. No audience. We are all eager for symphony
hall to be full of BSO music lovers again, something we took
for granted.
With our air travelling
curtailed, in March we took a trip to Knoxville in the Tesla
before the Covid cases mounted up so we could meet Sean's
family at Dancing Bear resort in the Smokies all masked and
socially distanced. We were able to visit with grandson
Patrick, home from Arizona State at Flagstaff, and his little
sister Charlotte 6, and brother Isaac, now 4. Isaac is a
ringer for Sean at that age with curly red hair, SO CUTE! That
was our last trip of 2020.One silver lining was when were at
home in Norwell. We were supposed to be exploring the Kenai
peninsula in Alaska at the time. I would have missed the
experience of finding a weird foxglove in the back yard.
Instead of the typical spire it ended in a huge terminus
flower that looked like a large poppy only colored like the
foxglove, white with pink spots and splotches. I took a photo
and e-mailed it to my cousin, Leslie Van Berkum who has a
nursery and is a plant expert, and she said it was a known but
unusual mutation called Digitalis Monstrosa, or "hopeful
monster “in Greek. It was an amazing event for me especially
since it was first documented by Linnaeus,
On the subject of silver
linings, I'm working on a version of THE NUTCRACKER, Having
been enchanted by Tchaikovsky’s score more times that I can
count in Symphony Hall with Joe playing Bass I decided to
illustrate it. There are many characters and details and I am
spending lots of happy hours listening to the music as I work.
As a diversion I've been reading EO Wilson's books on
evolutionary biology. I've been carried away by his curiosity
and strength of purpose. I know he was a professor at Harvard
and I wonder if he ever went to Symphony?
We had a great time at
our camp on Goose Pond over the summer. Every week we would
walk the grounds at Tanglewood which was poignant. Yo Yo and
Manny Ax were doing some amazing recordings in the new state
of the art recording studio at the Linde Center (but probably
not when we were there). We are looking forward to being at
the Linde Center next summer for all their offerings, lectures
and chamber music. The center is really visionary, and we will
ever be grateful to Joyce Linde, Cindi and Ollie Curme and
many others for making it a reality. It is such an epicenter
for talent and inspiration.
I got a lot of running
in up at Goose Pond and the endless gravel roads that are
pretty much carless. Lots of chances to see wildlife. My big
endurance race was cancelled in April and has now been
postponed in 2021. I have an amazing coach and I was very
excited about competing in a new age group. If I didn't have
this coach I don't know if I would have kept up with my
running. It's interesting to contemplate how much competition
is a motivator!
Our last Silver Lining
has been our weekly car picnics to the Coast Guard Beach on
the cape. I have a friend who makes beautiful lodge baskets
and we have a special meal, BLT's made with smoked salmon,
roasted tomatoes, capers and arugula on my homemade bread that
we pack it in. Cucumber salad made the Hungarian way,
asparagus and sometime strawberry shortcake, but mostly a
piece of Black and Green dark, dark chocolate. There is a
1920's era coast Guard station with a beautiful overlook. The
beach is deserted because we don't go in summer, and it feels
really wild. We saw Piping Plovers in the spring and now we
see huge seals really close in. The seals are looking to see
if we have fishing rods so they can steal fish, no kidding.
There is a lot of signage about the great whites and even a
satellite phone for emergencies, but we wouldn't get in that
water for anything, there are serious riptides and it is
always very primal feeling. The biggest month for sharks is
October, but we haven't seen a fin. We did re-watch "Jaws"!
We had a cozy Christmas in
the Berkshires at The Old Inn on the Green in New Marlboro.
Peter Platt is the most talented chef we know, and the Inn is
so lovely, lit only by candlelight. We stopped for a few
minutes at our camp on Goose Pond. I waded through the deep
snow in my velvet flats for our dinner at the Inn. That was
the downside. The upside? hugh cat footprints – had to be a
wildcat. They are around but rarely seen.
Here’s to
a restorative 2021 and lots of new adventures and new paths
taken.
Best,
Jan
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