Writers, You’re Finally Here!
Down on the farm . . .
I have to start with this sky. I was in my office working. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the color pink. Not pale, carnation pink, but the vibrant pink of flamingo or fuchsia or deep rose. Clouds of purple blue hovered above the pink, a curtain behind the curve of green field and cattle grazing. It was stunning, so I ran to the front porch to gaze at it until the sun carried its blazes to another land. I haven’t seen a sky like this often, maybe never before. This one lasted only a few minutes, as truly amazing things usually do. That’s why we’re called to pay attention and then to act immediately. Otherwise, you miss the glory and the beauty. I tell myself “Be here now.” That means be open to what might be amazing, in whatever form it takes.
Moving on to flowers. Some of you may know that I want to start a flower farm on the property. I want to grow lots of different types of flowers, but mainly dahlias. Dahlias are tubers and one thing dahlia tubers hate is wet, soggy soil. They tend to rot in that type of environment. We’ve had 2 weeks of rain and more coming, which is good for a lot of things, but not good for just-planted dahlia tubers. Many of mine have rotted, but many are growing too, and that gives me kind of a motherly thrill. I’ve also planted by seed zinnia, cosmos, sweet pea, and poppies. This year is an experiment. I’ve already learned the predominant plant that tends to take over everywhere you turn is, wait for it . . . grass. With all the rain, the grass is saying “so what” to flowers. Did I mention I don’t enjoy weeding? Yeah, well . . . get over it. There’s lots of weeding to be done. Here’s a sweet pic of the first dahlia bloom:
The big news is neither the sky nor the flowers. It is this: RWC is open! You can’t know just how thrilled I am to write those words. The ruptured pipe happened at the end of January. It took 4 long months of construction and repair, reordering and cleaning, to be ready for this day. And it’s here, writers. YOU ARE FINALLY HERE!
Yesterday, I welcomed the first writers of 2026. Three were previous residents. Two were brand new. All were pretty darn happy to be here (I think, I hope!) I told them that this is the cleanest that RWC has ever been or will ever be in the future. I had to scrub every tiny thing in every room as everything was covered with construction dust. It didn’t matter than the furniture was covered with plastic. Dust has a way of getting in.
Imagine all the furniture in the Tennessee, Williamson, College Grove, and Flat Creek rooms piled in the dining room, library, and Giles Hill rooms and you’ll get an idea of the magnitude of the work. The last 4 weeks have been spent cleaning, and then moving the pieces back to where they belong. And then cleaning again.
We have all new floors, base boards, bottom 3 feet of walls, wallpaper, paint, and new configurations. I took advantage of the down time to make a few changes to the rooms in the farmhouse. If you come for residency, you’ll see what I mean. I’ve always thought all the rooms are wonderful, but now, they are even more so. Or maybe I get overly excited about all that. Sorry, not sorry!
All this to say, come for the new and improved farmhouse and bedroom suites. Come for the flowers. Come for the sky burning pink and purple. Come to write and chase your writing dreams. Come for the inspiration and the knowledge that all this work has been done for you and your words.
Because they matter. You matter.
Now, get yourself here and write!
Blessings,
Sandy