Betty Birney’s Blog

  As my family knows all too well, holiday music is a big deal with me, both listening to it and playing it on the piano.  It’s a key element in the enjoyment of the holiday, going back to my childhood. I’ve amassed quite a collection of holiday music for the CD player, including my beloved and obscure novelty songs, “I Yust Go Nuts at Christms” and “Yingle Bells” by Yogi Yogerson and “Dominic the Italian Christmas Donkey” by Lou Monte.

Then there’s my tattered Christmas sheet music from the 50s. They’re all in pretty bad shape. “White Christmas” disintegrated completely but I managed to copy it and “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” (one of my favorites) is partially gone. There are so many carol books but I far prefer one from my childhood. It’s in shreds but still playable.

Playing piano always makes me nostalgic, though, and last night I thought so much of Mr. Ehrhardt, my wonderful, patient, intuitive piano teacher who taught me theory at age 7 and taught me to improvise. He died in his 40s, a real loss, but his memory is always with me when I play and see his pencil scribbled shorthand on my music. I can still hear him chuckle and say, “That was great! Now let’s play it the way it’s written.” He saw early on that I had a knack for improvisation and he led me that way, while always insisting I also had pieces that had to be played the way they were written, too.

So, humming as I write, I say “Happy holidays” to one and all. Whatever holiday you celebrate, I hope you have a song in your heart this year.

Answer to last post’s mystery question: it’s a magnolia tree seed pod. The tree is actually in our neighbor’s yard. We frequently see the pods themselves but I’ve never seen those red M&M looking seeds before. Except for the skunks (and mosquitoes, etc.) nature is pretty grand.

Especially the owl I hear at 3 and 4 in the morning when I take Desi out in the front yard. It’s usually off in the distance but was really close night before last.

But there’s more drama than skunks and owls. Sitting in my quiet little office in the back of the backyard, I heard the loud crash of an avocado bouncing off the roof from the nearby (giant) tree. Actually, we have a very poor crop coming this year because we had the tree trimmed last year. But there was at least big one. I went to my (new) door and was face to face with one of our big, fat, smart squirrels. They really are the hugest squirrels I’ve ever seen, so avocados are definitely fattening.

He took the measure of me, decided to risk everything and check out the fallen avocado. And for the first time, I saw a squirrel carry a very large avocado up the tree. Here’s the sequence:

Squirrel hears the avocado fall

Squirrel sees me, sizes up the situation

Squirrel goes for it anyway

Squirrel gets the prize

By the way, my apologies to those who are iced in. This is Southern California in December but we’re supposed to have cold temperatures (highs in the 50s) the next few days and much needed rain!

Around our house, it does, anyway.

Early this morning - still dark outside - I foolishly let our dog, Desi, out in the back yard and she got sprayed by a skunk. I’ve lost track of how many times she’s been skunked. The first time was the worst - it soaked her face. If the skunk sprays the nose pad, the odor lingers a long time. She retaliated by, um, eliminating a few skunks. She also managed to get sprayed in the daytime (skunks, like hamsters, are nocturnal) twice in the same day! Okay, we were a little slow to catch on but for the last few years, we take her out in the front yard, which is smaller and more protective, when it’s dark out. But this morning at 5:30, sleepily slipped up.

Our neighborhood is obviously full of skunks - there are certain times of year where we are awakened every night by the strong odor of skunk somewhere or another and have to run around and close the windows.

Some years ago, I went out to get the morning paper (I arise anywhere from 4:00 to 6:00 - usually around 5:00 - luckily the paper comes early). There, not far from the front door I found myself face to face with a skunk! We looked at each other in alarm. He was huge! I’m guessing they can puff out their fur to make themselves look bigger. Nothing like Flower in Bambi, I assure you. I quietly backed into the house and when I peeked out the window a few seconds later, he was gone. I think they go through a hole in the hedge to the yard next door - don’t get me started on that.

Everyone in our neighborhood has mature fruit trees, so that’s the attraction, and we’re fairly close to two wildlife parks/hiking areas - less than a mile (straight up the canyon). When I travel out of town and talk about our wildlife (possums, owls, rats, skunks, coyotes), people say, “Oh, so you don’t actually live in L.A.” I assure you I do. L.A. just isn’t the concrete jungle people imagine it to be.

Desi’s smelling much better. There’s some stuff we keep on hand- our Petco on the corner says they can’t keep it in stock. And forget the tomato juice myth. We tried that. It didn’t get rid of the smell at all but it turned her fur pink! I tried a homemade remedy I found on the internet - it doesn’t work. Buy the stuff at Petco. It’s for humans who get sprayed, too.

The house is smelling better but my office got it the worst. The face-off must have happened right outside. In fact, they might live behind my little writing house but I’m not going back there.

As for coyotes, we live on a busy street but twice in the ten years we’ve lived here, I’ve gone out to get the paper and had a close encounter. Once in our front yard - he hurried out through the hedge - and once in our driveway. Really, maybe I need to arm myself with a broom or something when I go out to get the paper!

Speaking of nature … I found this in the yard this week. I know what it is - do you? (Answer to come but take a crack at it if you like.)

 It’s December here in Southern California and as you can see, the world is bursting with red and green!

And gold, too, as our crop of Meyer lemons has started coming in. I’ll be able to go out and pick them for the next 9 months or so, even as the bush blooms again.

Yes, it is a little hard trying to figure out what season it is here … and to complicate things further, I’m writing a summer book about Humphrey. So while it’s snowing in the midwest and Christmas trees are in every shop window …  while the supermarket aisles blare “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow,” Humphrey is … well I won’t tell you where he is but there’s no snow there because it’s summer!

I once wrote a holiday TV movie called “Mary Christmas.” I wrote it in July. I had to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” a lot for inspiration. Not only that, when they shot it (years later but that’s another story), the scene where the snow falls was shot on one of the hottest days in July. Ah, Hollywood.

But even though the roses and lemons are blooming, so is a holiday favorite, also in our backyard.

Trust me - an arrangement of lemons and holly (with a little fresh blooming rosemary tucked in) always looks appealing on the table for the holidays!

(But don’t eat the holly.)

Our dear dog, Desi, has had a rough year but you wouldn’t know it from this picture taken week before last, on the last day of her radiation treatments. She has a benign but aggressive tumor around her spinal cord and we had some pretty dismal days in October. Prednisone, a steroid, got her walking again (she couldn’t stand up) and we don’t know if the radiation worked but hopefully the treatments did something. Best case: shrink the tumor a lot. Next best case: stop the growth. Third best case: the treatment would improve the nerves around the area.

With some trepidation, we opted for radiation and waited for the side effects: tiredness, loss of appetite, an oozing sore at the site. And she had NONE. They are calling her the miracle baby at the fabulous animal cancer center in Culver City, CA. (The last time she came home, she was covered in lipstick from the ladies who work there.)

This picture was taken by her friend KIrsten. When I was in Calgary, Frank had a function to attend and Kirsten volunteered to dogsit for a few hours. Now let me say, Desi is a very independent dog, not a lap dog. She never sits by my side and lets me pet her endlessly. But she does have a girlie-girl streak, which especially comes out when our son’s girlfriend, Ania, visits. She won’t leave Ania’s side and my favorite memory was of the two of them sun-bathing side-by-side in the backyard a few years ago.

Kirsten took her home, but do I see a Victoria’s Secret bag in the back? Did the girls make a stop along the way? They rented some chick-flicks, ate pizza and caesar salad, which apparently Desi loved. She sat next to Kirsten on the couch and got petted all evening.

Does this dog look sick?

Under the harness is the spot where they shaved her for the treatment and then marked the target with green magic marker. It’s sort of like a tattoo. That fur will probably not grow back but I can already see the fur around it coming down to cover it a little.

Anyway, we bought her some time … or rather bought us some time to enjoy the best dog I’ve ever known. Even if we don’t do girlie-girl things together. (Actually, I think she sees me as “the mom” and not “the friend.” )

I spent the past week in the good company of three of my favorite “people” pictured here: my son’s girlfriend Ania, our dog Desi and my son Walshe.  Ania and Walshe were visiting us from New York. All of us have had trying times recently: Ania’s father unexpectedly passed away just a few short weeks ago, a terrible loss. My husband, Frank, and I have been dealing with Desi’s dramatic and abrupt problem walking, which we now know is from a tumor on her spinal cord. We are starting a series of radiation treatments for her on Monday.

Somehow, just being together made us all feel better and we had a wonderful week talking, eating and relaxing. It was also Walshe’s 24th birthday yesterday. (Photo at top is pre-haircut; photo below is post.) He has that look on his face because he couldn’t believe that his ma actually stooped to using trick candles again (you blow them out and they relight) but I was impressed because he actually did blow them out eventually.

Ania and Walshe are back in NY, Desi is enjoying her California sunbeams and life goes on - though it will be a much quieter life for us for a while as I’m planning to stick close to home with Desi and won’t leave her alone at night  - so much for that Hollywood nightlife! It’s well  worth it, because who is here through all those quiet and often frustrating hours at the computer, by my side or nearby? Miss Desi, of course.

By the way, 24 years ago today, I was ecstatically happy, getting to know my beautiful new baby boy. It seems like yesterday.

  I’ve been to Vail, CO, speaking at the Vail Mountain School last  Friday –beautiful place, beautiful school, beautiful people. I will post again about that visit, hopefully tomorrow.

Interspersed with such a great trip (except for travel delays both ways and other indignities), my dearest dog Desi has gone from racing through the yard three weeks ago to not being able to walk at all. She can walk a little now, thanks to steroids, but she has a tumor of the spinal cord. She was supposed to have surgery this week but it’s been postponed until next week. That’s probably just as well because our son (we got the dog for him when he was 11) is coming home Friday and bringing his girlfriend, Ania, another of Desi’s favorite people. Coping with Desi’s day-to-day problems has taken up time. However, her absolutely indomitable spirit is completely inspiring. The worst was having her away from us for a few days. Right now, she’s lying in my office and I feel so much better having her here.

It’s hot here - HOT-HOT-HOT as Humphrey would say, but the office is cool.

I can’t say enough wonderful things about my hosts at Vail Mountain School but I will give more details in the next post.

It was so lovely to see fall color!

 For me, the very best thing about writing is on those days when I actually forget I’m writing. By that I mean, I’m so involved with the story that I’m in the action and lose the awareness that I’m outside of the story writing it. It’s a wonderful feeling, hard to describe, but exhilarating. My husband would never walk into the office without a little knock on the door -  first because he’s polite, but second, he doesn’t like to startle me. It’s like waking someone up from a dream. The knock helps. Otherwise I sort of bounce up out of my chair and go “oh!” and he knows that “oh” means I was somewhere far, far away.

But most of writing isn’t like that. It’s about details. I’ve been holed up trying to finish the first draft of a new Humphrey book. This will be a shorter chapter book with illustrations. It’s the same as the other Humphrey books but shorter - which made it a very different writing experience. Blood, sweat and tears were involved. (I finished and my editor’s reading it this weekend.)

I spent at least four days doing nothing but trying to figure out how to get Humphrey into a certain situation at a certain time safely and logically. This is always a difficulty with Humphrey because he’s a very small creature! I finally talked it over with my husband. I thought we came up with the solution, but when I sat down to write, it didn’t work.  We talked again and I got it and wrote it immediately.

I also enlisted Desi the dog for a little research - seen above. Yes, that’s a baseball cap she’s wearing. No, she’s not happy about it, which is why my husband is keeping her in place. But she didn’t argue about it either. I guess she knows research is important, too.

Even after a book is written there are more details to look after. Witness today. I get up really early, so I was at my desk at 6 am (not showered and dressed yet, but at my desk). An hour later, I got pages from my editor, Susan, about the fourth go-round of copy-editing of the next book, Adventure According to Humphrey. The bound galleys are already published but there were four or five more questions to straighten out. The Humphrey books seem to require more eagle eyes proofing them because of the way the names are written and hyphenated. Luckily, a diligent copy editor caught a few more things. I’m always soooo happy when this happens. I hate mistakes in books and I’m grateful to all those who help find and correct them.

Immediately after we straightened that out, I heard from Lucie, my copy editor at Faber, my UK publishers. Surprises According to Humphrey is coming out there  in October and there were still a few lingering issues. Actually, she was mostly answering my questions from the last round of copy editing - such as do kids in the UK understand our A,B,C system of grading and do they know the song Yankee Doodle Dandy? In both cases, they do.

Details are important. So if you think writing is just sitting in an ivory tower channeling the muse … remember Desi in her baseball cap. And yes, it is pertinent.

      It’s been hotter than hot here in Southern California, with the temperature edging up close to 100 every day. Before air conditioning, before inflatable wading pools were invented, we had other ways of cooling off. Here I am in the watering can at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. (I am much more modest now.) They lived on Humphrey Street in south St. Louis. That’s right. Humphrey, as in hamster.

Still, the heat hasn’t kept me inside. Yesterday morning, Frank and I went to the home of Lisa Yee (http://lisayee.com) author of Millicent Min, Girl Genius and others including her new American Girl book) for the South Pasadena Festival of Balloons parade. Lisa and husband Scott have a beautiful 100 year-old Craftsman house on the parade route with a large front yard. The food and company was so terrific (and it was so, um, warm) we watched from the shaded front porch and I didn’t take any pictures. Dumb. But I had great chats with fellow LAYAs (Los Angeles Young Adult writers) Sally Nemeth (The Heights, the Depths and Everything in Between), Michael Reisman (Simon Bloom, The Gravity Keeper) and Amy Goldman Koss (The Girls). Amy and I reminisced about our glory days as judges (with Lisa) in this same parade two years ago. And talked extensively also with illustrator extraordinaire, Dan Santat, and family.

Later, granddaughter Remy came over for a cookout (okay she brought her mom and dad, too). We read books and sang at the table (even though Amy Vanderbilt says that’s not polite) and had a rollicking good time. The kids had thought they could see the Studio City fireworks display at CBS Studios from our backyard. Theoretically we should be able to, but the trees are just too tall. I thought of the perfect spot to see them, so Frank drove up with them while I stayed home with Desi (dog) and listened to the fireworks. I couldn’t see a thing but I could hear them quite well! And then I watched Yankee Doodle Dandy - I love corny older films. Unabashedly.

 Tomorrow, Frank and I are going to the Music Center downtown to see A Chorus Line, which I originally saw on Broadway. At first we hadn’t opted for tickets but then I thought even though we’ve seen it before, hearing great music and seeing great dancing is not a bad way to while away a few hours. I hope it is still a singular sensation.

It is 11:00 and almost 100 degrees. The temperature on our patio was 104 yesterday. Thank goodness that a week ago, the weather was absolutely perfect for celebrating the grand occasion of our granddaughter’s 3rd birthday! I’m not sure how many adults and kids there were - maybe 40? 50?

Remy’s mom and dad supplied the entertainment including a long, low table with little chairs and tons of materials for crafts which was very popular. And they hired a “bubble lady” who did all kinds of wonderful things with wading pools and bubbles. There was some real science thrown in, and bubbles of all shapes and sizes. The high point (for the adults) was seeing the kids put inside giant bubbles. Not that many opted to try it but I’m glad Remy did. She’s the girl in the bubble, above. From the kids’ point of view, I think the most popular event was getting to make their own big bubbles from a series of wading pools.

It was a great tryout for the new door to my office. (I have to get a picture to replace the one on the home page.) The little house is a real attraction for three year-olds. One boy called it “The library,” which it looks like with its book-lined walls.  It took awhile to wash off the chocolate and strawberry handprints on the door, way down low but I didn’t mind.

 Today I’m staying in my air-conditioned office and writing. Desi the dog is in here, too. I’m trying to limit her time outside, though she prefers to be outside.

And if it gets any hotter, I might just crawl into a great big bubble of my own!