Open Spaces Newsletter, Spring 2009

In The Garden --

It looks as though the growing season is peeping through!

In celebration, Open Spaces offers newly posted essays on the act of gardening and the insights, colors, flavors and delight this creative activity can produce by Seattle author and gardener Lee C. Neff.

If you're looking for active participation, we offer the following helpful and fun-to-think-about sites:

Do you ever wonder how we got blackberries, ivy, scotch broom, slugs? Check out the History of Weeds and Introduced Pests.

If you want to be sure not to introduce any invasives of your own, check out the Pacific Northwest Invasive Plant Council.

Do you have questions about organic gardening? See www.seattletilth.org.

Would you like some suggestions for this year? Find the 2009 great plant picks for Northwest gardens at http://www.greatplantpicks.org/.

And if you'd just like to enjoy the show, visit the University of Washington's Botanic Gardens page for an exhaustive list of Arboreta, Gardens and Herbaria.

Reading and Writing --

Kay Ryan has been selected as the country's 16th poet laureate by the
Librarian of Congress. We find her vision refreshing. If you would like to see a sample, a few poems are available at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/books/17poet-extra.html.

John Daniel, a frequent contributor to Open Spaces, whose new essay is posted on this site, has a new book of essays out entitled The Far Corner. John is a former Stegner fellow and the chair of PEN Northwest. He will be offering a yearlong workshop on writing a book-length memoir. For more details, visit www.fishtrap.org/yearlong.shtml.

For more information on the Fishtrap center for western writing, see http://www.fishtrap.org.

For an update on favorite books by noted authors, see http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5432412.

For updated information on writers' conferences and centers, see http://www.writersconf.org/memdir/dirPnw.php.

For current activities of Northwest Association of Book Publishers, visit http://www.nwabp.org.

Just for fun --

We pass on the pleasures of a British Television Series now out on DVD. Based on the popular novels by Leslie Thomas, this series follows the exploits of "Dangerous" Davies (Peter Davison), a cop in a sleepy London borough. Known as the "Last Detective" because he's the last person his boss would send on a case, Davies nevertheless manages to solve every crime he takes on. Comforted by his shaggy dog and his Irish poet friend, Davies manages to be ever the gentleman, inquiring of criminals, who fall while he is after them, if they are hurt before once again taking up the chase.

Regarding the short essay just posted on being "discontinued," additional suggestions of discontinued items have included: Engaging Sunday Morning Talk Shows, Funny New Yorker Cartoons, Insightful Newspaper Columns and Investigative Reporting. After reading this short piece, please feel free to send us your own suggestions at info@open-spaces.com labeled “discontinued.” We will happily share them in our summer newsletter.

For planning your outdoor activities, see what may be coming on NW Hiker's up to the minute radar weather site.

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