Perhaps it is because I have been snowbound for a week. Or, perhaps it is because of my marathon uncluttering project, but the title The Solace of Open Spaces appealed to me right away.
The book contains a series of personal essays written by Gretel Ehrlich during her sojourn in Wyoming - a state that certainly has its share of open spaces.
She originally went to Wyoming in 1976 to film a documentary on the life of its sheepherders. While there, her lover and partner in the project died. She tried to outrun her grief for two years - first living in Santa Fe and then just moving restlessly about. She finally went back to Wyoming to live on a ranch at the foot of the Big Horn Mountains and that was when these essays - they began as journal entries - were written.
In lyrical prose she covers Wyoming's harsh topography and weather. She rides her horse every day to the tiny post office. She helps with birthing and shearing and all sorts of sheep related tasks. She regales the reader with stories of the cowboys, sheepherders, ranchers, hermits, and hoarders she meets. There are also elk, antelope, eagles, and bobcats. Definitely an eclectic mix of inhabitants and ones you will most likely not meet in your urban neighborhood.
There are twelve essays in the book. The one titled From a Sheepherder's Notebook is dreamy and poetic, covering her three days on horseback herding sheep from one feeding ground to another. She's a tougher woman than I am!
Here are two images from that essay that struck me:
About her sheep charges that cluster together and defiantly refuse to move in the heat: ...their heads knitted together into a wool umbrella.
and
As her friend drives away: Dust rises like an evening gown behind his truck.
Ms. Ehrlich has another book of personal essays The Islands, The Universe, Home. You can be sure it is on my list to be read.
########
Je suis triste. I read this morning about the death of author Peter Mayle. He is probably most famous for A Year in Provence and Toujours Provence about his experiences relocating from London to the south of France. I have quite a few of his books on my shelves. I especially enjoyed his later crime caper novels as I do so love a humorous tale. I relished his writing style, his sense of humor, and the smattering of French phrases throughout his books. I have a feeling I will be rereading Mr. Mayle very soon. Au revoir, mon ami.
Most of the tales in Wait For Signs are winter stories and descriptions of six-foot snow drifts and thermometer readings of ten below zero will send you scrambling for a cozy blanket to curl up under as you read them.
Craig Johnson (who I posted about here after his recent appearance at the Louisville Public Library's Author Series) is the author of these short stories and thirteen full-length mystery novels featuring his modern day Sheriff Walt Longmire of Absaroka County, Wyoming. The first story in this book, "Old Indian Trick," was written ten years ago, more or less on a dare from his wife, as an entry for the Tony Hillerman Mystery Short Story Contest.
He won.
I have read about half of the dozen stories included in this collection. I was quite taken with Mr. Johnson and his entertaining talk and have been watching the Longmire series on Netflix. I tried to read these tales as someone who wasn't familiar with the characters to see if they held up on their own. Oh, yes. They are thoughtful and funny and it is a delight to be in Sheriff Longmire's world.
Mr. Johnson has a calm or maybe I should say gentle writing style. These stories are more about character than action. Just short episodes in the day - or night - of a Wyoming sheriff.
Heck, some of the stories don't even involve a crime. Of course there are ones that do - there is the unveiling of an arsonist whose crimes have gone unsolved for decades; a Christmas Eve encounter with an old woman waiting for Jesus (lucky for her she gets Longmire instead; not so lucky for her abusive husband); and, a slick-tongued Bible salesman who tries to put one over on Longmire. You can imagine how that turns out.
Wait for Signs is a wonderful introduction to Sheriff Walt Longmire's law-and-order ways. You can consider this a Sign from me that there is no reason for you to Wait to meet him.
