The Smoke Moon
August 2024
There’s a haze hanging in the air. The lettuce has bolted and the peaches are finally ripe. Welcome to mid-August, that point when the heat stops being novel and you can feel fall getting ready for her debut. Leaves are curling around the edges in anticipation. The evening light is fading faster reminding us that we’re heading toward the dark days of the year.
August is lazy fraughtness, a grasping at summer as it slips through your fingers. July-You was busy – plucking fruits and vegetables from the gardens and markets, scheduling drinks on patios with friend, trips to the beach. August-You’s ambitions are no grander than walking at dusk to the store to buy an ice cream novelty or drinking ice tea in the garden you’re too lazy to water daily anymore. You feel like you should be doing more, summer’s end is pressing on you. The rain is coming, the dark is coming and August-You just thinks: Finally.
Writing Updates
My first novel, Pacific NorthWitch, is close to being released! I’m at the stage of planning a launch party for October. Stay tuned for the cover reveal in my September newsletter. I’m excited and slightly overwhelmed with the internal pressure to GET THIS RIGHT. Fortunately, I have lots of supportive folks around me like my publisher, Not A Pipe, to keep me from spiraling. And I remind myself frequently that having a novel published, MY novel published, is such an honor and a privilege to enjoy rather than stress out about it.
Reading Recommendations
Fiction
Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
I’m late to the fan party for N.K. Jemisin but better than not showing up at all because wow is she amazing. I just finished the Fifth Season. It’s the sort of book that almost immediately you just want to block out the whole day, skip all responsibilities, pour a glass of something icy cold with a bag of chips and READ IT ALL. She pulls you into the world of orogenes, humans who can manipulate the thermal and kinetic energy of the earth and are feared for this power. The author wields the power of fantasy writing that make us think about our own world so masterfully in this book.
Cookbooks
I Could Nosh by Jake Cohen
I blame this cookbook for my new obsession with challah tomato sandwiches. It is full of recipes I want to make and reading them is a delight, the author describing lively brunches and gatherings that Midge Maisel would envy.
Moon Writing Prompt
The August full moon has many names but the one that stood out to me is the Haze Moon, named because the haze of summer turns the moon a reddish color. Which here in the west with wildfire season raging, feels accurate. It also fits for how I often feel in August - hazy.
If I were to name a moon for the PNW for August, I’d call it the Smoke Moon. All my life living in Oregon has meant yearly wildfires. It has gotten so much worse with changing climate but there’s always been the time of the red sun and the hazy moon. The Season of Smoke.
Your writing prompt:
“We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.” - Anaïs Nin
Pick a year and reflect on what August was like for you at that age. How would you describe this season, not as summer but through the lens of you at that time? Get into the details - how the air felt, what you wore, what you ate.
Get all the details out and then read it over (leave the critic in her bed for now). What stands out? From that, create a name for that season of you at that time.
Hibiscus Spearmint Ice Tea
Years ago during Augusts in Eugene, I would go to Poppi’s Anatolia restaurant in downtown. They had hibiscus spearmint ice tea, just lightly sweetened, that hit perfectly on summer days. It is hands down my favorite herbal ice tea and I drink it like water in summer. Since moving, I’ve worked on creating my own version.
2 Tbs dried hibiscus flower
1 Tbs dried spearmint leaves
Honey or sweetener of choice (1 to 4 Tbsp or to taste)
Bring 4 cups water to a boil. As the water is boiling, put your dried herbs into a tea bag or tea infuser and place in heat proof container. I like to use 1/2 gallon mason jars - then the whole thing can just go right into the fridge after cooling. Pour the boiling water over the tea bag and let steep for at least 15 minutes. Stir in the honey. You’re making a concentrate tea here so you want it more intense in both flavor and sweetener. Remove the tea bag and add 4 cups cold water. Let come to room temp and put in the fridge. If you just can’t wait for it to get totally cold, you can pour it over ice after it has cooled enough.
