We were recently awarded the Liebster Peer Award by Seedling: A Place for Little Thoughts to Grow: Writing on Gentle Parenting, Nature, and Encountering Happiness.
Thank you! We’ll nominate our own favorite blogs soon, but in the meantime, a bit about us in answer to the questions posed by Seedling — Lee in blue, Jean in red, and Gabe (the elusive illustrator of Hunting Red) in green!.
- What is something that you appreciate today and why?
Lee: Eating outside on the front porch in the sunshine.
Jean: Everything. Life should be lived in appreciation. Specifically, there is a flower blooming in my yard that I don’t recognize.
Gabe: Today? I don’t have to go to work or class!
- What is something that you recently learned?
Lee: How to post to twitter — @pocketmousepub!
Jean: How to make charcoal. My knowledge heretofore has been theoretical.
- What is something that you love about yourself and why?
Lee: My cursive handwriting. It’s legible, uniform, and well, lovely. Sadly, none of my children have inherited it.
Gabe: I taught myself to be ambidextrous (after reading The Queen of Attolia).
- What is something that you had always wished to do and achieved?
Lee: I always wanted to homeschool. I heard about it while I was in high school, and now I have two who have graduated and four I’m still homeschooling.
Gabe: Complete the full 50,000 word NaNoWriMo this past November.
- What is something that you still wish to do before you pass on?
Lee: Travel the world with my husband on a sailboat or catamaran.
Jean: I try to avoid bucket lists. If there is something I want to do or experience, I try to prioritize it for its own sake and create a plan for making it happen. If it doesn’t happen, it should either be because 1) I never got beyond the wishful thinking stage to fully develop it, or 2) I decided, consciously or not, that other priorities were more important.
- How many languages do you speak?
Lee: Just English. I know a little Latin and a smattering of Ancient Greek from learning alongside my children. Not that those will help me while I’m sailing!
Jean: I’m fairly adept at English and appreciate etymology.
Gabe: Not Spanish or Latin (sorry, Mom). I’m creating my a language for world I made — check back in 5 years to see if I speak it yet.
- If you made a New Year’s Resolution this year, are you still working towards it? If so, in what way?
Lee: Not a New Year’s Resolution but back in mid-February I made a commitment to get my children out into nature every day. We haven’t missed a day yet! Of course, not everyone goes every day. Getting 8 people around the dinner table at one time is hard enough, let alone out for an hour in the woods!
Jean: Not a New Year’s Resolution, but I am committed to achieving the Living Building Challenge for the Indian Creek Nature Center’s Amazing Space project.
Gabe: I resolved to keep working on my 50,000 word NaNo novel. April is Camp NaNo, and I’m adding at least 30,000 words to scenes I skipped in November.
- What is one way in which you live authentically?
Lee: My priorities are my own. Reading aloud to my children daily and only buying quality dark chocolate are high on my list. Dressing stylishly and dusting the house are very low.
Jean: I am developing a better understanding of the plants around me on a deeper level. Specifically, I’m focusing on their nutritional and medicinal value, and how valuing them can bring me into harmony.
- What is one of your own ‘natural highs’?
Lee: Being near rushing water: from the babble of the creek running over the rocks, to the thunderous noise of the rapids on a big river — I love the sound.
Jean: Riding in the fields with Frank, my horse. Hiking in the woods with Nitro, my dog.
Gabe: Riding my bike downhill very fast. Hitting people with sticks — SCA heavy-combat style, of course.
- What is your wish for the world and how do you work towards it?
Jean: Sharing the joy, learning, and wonder that come from being in nature. That passion was the basis for writing Hunting Red and why I’m the Land Stewardship Director at Indian Creek Nature Center.
Thanks for reading, and when we get those questions & nominations together, we’ll share!
Pocket Mouse Publishing 