YA Eco Mysteries, Memoirs, Novels & Travel
Writing Eco Mysteries 2
Adventures in Writing Eco Mysteries 2, Ghost Town
All you need to bring along is your imagination and your curiosity! Our journey continues here as we step off into the unknown of a writing project and see it through to its destination.
July 28 In Search of The Elusive Bird and a Ghost Town
In the East, cotton-ball clouds, reflecting the colors of the setting sun, melt into candy-cotton pink. We gaze at the nest, silently waiting and hoping for just a glimpse. Rat-tat-tat! The woodpecker! Maybe it’s on the other side of the tree trunk. Nothing to see. I pick my way toward the furthest tree with a nest in it, hoping to see the bird. The little path disappears. I wave my hand back and forth shooing biting insects away. The colors of the dying sunset fade the trees to black silhouettes. I find myself looking anxiously over my shoulder. Will my protagonists, The Sizzling Six, spend a night in the forest? How would they feel lost in the woods at night? A half moon rise between the pines, like a delicate paper lantern.
In the fast sinking light we make our way out of the woods, disappointedt but not vanquished. Bird watching is all about patience . . . maybe we’ll spot the elusive birds next time.
July 30 Ghost Town, Robertson’s Crossing, Autauga, Alabama
Two days later, we join Greg Harber and the Birmingham Audubon Society on a trip in search of Mississippi and Swallow-tailed Kites and Wood Storks—regular late summer visitors to the Tombigbee and Alabama River systems in the upper coastal plain. Our caravan halts at fields of blooming cotton and mown hay. We step out of the car into the blazing heat and red dust, to gaze up into the sky, through binoculars, at the amazing acrobatic maneuvers of kites catching insects in mid flight. Another bonus is the good down home lunch of fried chicken and catfish with cabbage, collard greens, beans, squash and cornbread at Chef Lee’s in Autaugaville. The ghost town, of Robertson’s Crossing, near Autauga, is special gift for me. I doubt that I will be able to resist weaving it my story. Somewhere in the story my girls will spend the night, scared out of their wits, in this ghost town. Stay tuned for the next adventure!
For additional information visit: Birmingham Audubon Society
Questions? Comments? contact Claire: cldatnow@me.com