tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6343122535318547716.post30805529644178313..comments2024-02-25T13:25:26.434-08:00Comments on Owl's Farm: Writing the DesertOwlfarmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15373358232893937182noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6343122535318547716.post-60403674361388447872007-11-29T07:46:00.000-08:002007-11-29T07:46:00.000-08:00Anna; I appreciate the comments and the recommenda...Anna; I appreciate the comments and the recommendations. I'm always on the lookout for new nature writers, especially those who focus on the desert. I'm pretty much a hard-nosed scientist by training and am drawn to those who can combine good science with a poetic understanding of the natural world. I look forward to reading your blog as well.Owlfarmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15373358232893937182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6343122535318547716.post-18191564540509023982007-11-28T12:01:00.000-08:002007-11-28T12:01:00.000-08:00Dear OWL,Thank you for this wonderful post. I'm g...Dear OWL,<BR/>Thank you for this wonderful post. I'm glad to discover your blog. I, too, love Mary Austin (her autobiography Earth Horizon is weird and fascinating, written in third person). Her line "None other than this long, brown land lays such a hold on the affections" plays through my mind whenever I emerge from the Sierra on the East side one more time and look out at the hills beyond Mono Lake.<BR/><BR/>I, too, discovered Ellen Meloy a couple of years after her death. I had to mourn her once I had read and pored over and written a review of Eating Stone because I felt she had become my mentor. <BR/><BR/>I'm glad you're pushing me to reading Joseph Wood Krutch, something I've been meaning to do for a while. Have you read Craig Childs' book The Secret Knowledge of Water? Childs is more of a mystic and a scientist then Abbey though he lacks the humor and swashbuckling style. I'm curious what you would think of him. Charles Bowden is another desert writer I have ambitions to read.<BR/><BR/>Yours,<BR/>Anna Mills<BR/>http://onnaturewriting.blogspot.comAnna Millshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09640063995074031824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6343122535318547716.post-7606343214606033902007-11-28T07:34:00.000-08:002007-11-28T07:34:00.000-08:00GEM: Your friend might be interested in the Ellen ...GEM: Your friend might be interested in the Ellen Meloy Foundation's annual award for desert writing. And for your husband, try Meloy's "Raven's Exile," which I believe is about her time on desert rivers with her husband (it's one I haven't read, but it's been recommended).<BR/><BR/>It's really lovely to hear from a fellow lover of the "dry expanse."Owlfarmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15373358232893937182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6343122535318547716.post-89937591225059802572007-11-27T20:37:00.000-08:002007-11-27T20:37:00.000-08:00Dear Owl - This great post gives me more books to ...Dear Owl - This great post gives me more books to order up from the library for winter reading. I did receive a copy of "Land of Little Rain", Mary Austin from a friend prior to visiting the desert in Utah, Arizona and California about 15 years ago, with my husband who loves the water but supports my obsession with the fierce desert landscape. I lent my copy of TLOLR to a young friend about to visit the Southwest, and she has sequestered it in her vast collection of books. As she is a writer, who was nominated last year for the Governor General's Poetry Award, I understand her love of this priceless book - it has a good home and she values the character and beauty of this writing.<BR/>I do agree, the desert is a marvellous place for contemplation. In this place where life struggles to persist against daunting odds, the importance of natural cycles and character of the land that supports us is thrown into stark relief, excess is excised and the nouances of simplicity exemplified. GEMGEMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11525848943689396086noreply@blogger.com