{"id":14747,"date":"2016-11-19T08:28:37","date_gmt":"2016-11-19T13:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.katrinakenison.com\/?p=14747"},"modified":"2016-11-19T08:28:37","modified_gmt":"2016-11-19T13:28:37","slug":"of-gardens-and-grandmothersa-podcast-with-margaret-roachand-a-book-give-away-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/of-gardens-and-grandmothersa-podcast-with-margaret-roachand-a-book-give-away-too\/","title":{"rendered":"of gardens and grandmothersa podcast with Margaret Roach(and a book give-away, too)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"unspecified\"I<\/span>t\u2019s just after 5 a.m. as I type these\u00a0words, still completely dark outside. But my friend Margaret Roach and I have already said \u201cGood morning\u201d via Skype with a blitz of typed messages. (It\u2019s way too early to talk out loud and risk waking my husband, recovering from a week of flu in our bedroom down the hall.)<\/p>\n

Margaret reports she\u2019s having trouble sleeping these days, too. Combine post-election angst, the\u00a0unusually warm November days, \u00a0darkness descending suddenly at 4 pm each afternoon, and a moon that demands one’s full attention, and it\u2019s little wonder that we\u2019re each feeling a bit out of sync with our normal routines.<\/p>\n

For me, there\u2019s a familiar comfort in starting the day with a chat with my dear friend. I picture her already at her desk, wearing slippers and cozy black leggings, cup of green tea in hand, while I\u2019m still propped up against the bed pillows, awaiting the first rays of light before venturing downstairs. Always, we find something to laugh about.\u00a0Always, we sign off feeling better, even if\u00a0all we\u2019ve really done is compare notes on our inner clocks\u2019 failures to adjust to the time change and tried to encourage each other to stick with our winter exercise routines.<\/p>\n

\"img_1160\"F<\/span>or the last seven years, Margaret has been not only my friend and garden advisor, but also my writing colleague. Because we live three hours away from each other, our early morning Skype sessions are a way for us to stay current between visits. (For me, Margaret\u2019s pre-dawn productivity is also an impetus to get up and get to work.)<\/p>\n

If we aren\u2019t exchanging advice about under-eye concealer or how to deal with a brazen woodchuck in the garden, we\u2019re trying out ideas for some-day-maybe projects, urging each other on as deadlines loom, and sharing the sorts of small experiences that only another writer would deem worthy of mentioning: an uninterrupted afternoon of writing, a thoughtful note from a reader, a moment in nature that gives rise to inspiration on the page, the perils of procrastination, a Wendell Berry poem that leads to deeper reflection, the quiet satisfaction\u00a0of getting down one or two good paragraphs.<\/p>\n

\"books\"W<\/span>hen Margaret received her\u00a0copy of my new book, Moments of Seeing<\/strong>, she messaged me on Skype after reading an essay about my grandmother. \u201cWell, now I\u2019m crying,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd of course I\u2019m thinking about my own grandmother, who also left me an invisible yet precious legacy \u2013 she was the one who taught me how to garden, and that every plant mattered.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that, Margaret suggested that instead of Skyping in the dark this week, we should open up our conversation to her readers and listeners. Would I like to be a guest on her podcast, and have an on-air chat about grandmothers and Thanksgiving menus and how it feels to self-publish a book? I would!<\/p>\n

Honestly, there wasn\u2019t much difference between talking with Margaret in the recording studio and our early morning check-in chats. The twenty minutes flew by, as the time always does when the two of us get going.<\/p>\n

In the spirit of \u00a0Thanksgiving and our friendship, we are\u00a0both giving away signed copies of Moments of Seeing. \u00a0<\/strong>And we’d love to hear about your grandmother, too.\u00a0\u00a0Leave a comment below, and then cut and paste it over at Margaret’s site as well, to double your chances of winning.<\/p>\n

From my home to yours, I wish\u00a0you a Thanksgiving filled with warmth and love and peace.<\/p>\n