Most often I am inspired by nature, whether it be visually as an artist, or verbally as a writer.

Last summer, with simple watercolors and ink, before the treacherous fire episodes scourged the Napa Valley and its surrounds, with feeble brushes and watered down cakes of paint I painted abstractions of the nearby Mayacamas Mountains and surrounding vineyards, and I attempted to still the sky and its shifting clouds.

As early summer unfolded into a sweltering July this humble act of observation became a daily practice. Without too much self-judgement I eagerly studied and recorded my observations in my studiolo. In fact, the backdrop of my Instagram – @mymusegrams – launch letter is one such recording. What was painted as a horizontal rendering of the hills outside my house turned vertical now looks like the California coastline.

I painted several postcard sized landscapes before the devastating Glass Fire episodes drove us out of the valley. Luckily our house and vineyards were saved. I also thought it fortunate that of all the summers this was the one where I painted those verdant hills as much as I had before so much of it burned.

Nature holds a powerful pull for me, like a spell I fall into its rhythmic fold. In my attempt to record or even mirror the experience of nature, I try to permanently hold onto it within myself. So much for the struggle of the millennium and all humankind! The challenge to meet nature’s poignancy is rarely satisfied however reliably engaging it may be.

Nature is the best starter fluid for my writing practice.

Publisher “Vine Leaves Press” recently posted in its column aptly titled, “50 Give or Take,” three of my Flash Fiction pieces. You could call them poems if you like.  Funny coincidence, though, the reference to a vineyard! Or is it? Anyway, the column calls to express as much as one can with a limited number of words. I love trying my hand at it and making the most of my experiences in the vineyard, in the garden, with the dog… and so much that nature wrought.

Please, take a read…