by Audrey Y. Scharmen
It is a distant memory as I recently stood in the Saratoga Community Garden, in Saratoga Springs, New York, on a cold spring-damp day. A beloved Redwing was perced on a catttail in the nearby wetlands. I am writing about Arpeggio of Redwings. I softly murmured a chant in thanksgiving.
In 1994, my husband and I moved to Calvert County, Southern Maryland, for a few short years. Audrey and I came together through our love of nature and our desire to find the elusive Cardinal Flower. Arpeggio of Redwings is like Audrey herself in the sense that I always think of her and Redwings. I was shy when I met her because she was a well-known writer in The Bay Times. I was a budding writer and didn’t even know it until Audrey told me.
Knowing now that Audrey grew up in the Dustbowl of Kansas and living many years in the dry Southwest, I can understand what an oasis Southern Maryland was to her in the water-world of the Chesapeake Bay. Audrey would have fallen in love with the abundance of wildlife and flora there on the small peninsula.
Reading her stories delights my heart. I can see her tiny house on the country lane, the crabapple tree, the arbor, and a sundry of plants surrounding the small property. From the bay window inside, I see the boat at its mooring. Audrey could feel the Chesapeake Seasons, the birds, the water, the air, the breeze, hidden glens with flowers, and the fragrances of blossoms. She was happy in that abundant natural world. Audrey had a keen sense of being able to write about the intrinsic world all around her. It is the sixth sense, and she possessed the rare gift.
Please read the book and come home to Southern Maryland, its backwaters, the creek Audrey and her roommate lived on, and the Chesapeake Bay. The book brings a sense of a simpler time of peace and wonder. The book is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Arpeggio-Redwings-Chesapeake-Seasons-Guide/dp/1734886609.
Insectamonarca's Blog 