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The Daily Coyote

Wednesday 08/05/2009 5:09 PM

Even though I had already given her a birthday present when she arrived last week, I gave Shannon another gift Saturday night when we celebrated her birthday at the home of my friends David and Hilda Gilchrist.

David is a true gourmet and he and I put together a fabulous menu:

I was able to recite Shannon's birthday poem to her and then I presented her with that gift: a copy of Shreve Stockton's book The Daily Coyote.

I thought I had written about The Daily Coyote years ago when I first discovered Shreve's web site, but I can't find any reference to it on the blog. Anyway, it is your Link of the Day and every day features a different picture of Shreve's adopted coyote, Charlie. Late last year Shreve published a beautiful book based on her experiences in Wyoming. Her writing is lyrical:

If someone had told me, even three months prior, that I would move, willingly, to a town of three hundred people, I would have told them they needed some Windex for their crystal ball. It was a drastic move, one not based in logic, security, experience, or anything other than unignorable desire, dictated solely by my passion for Wyoming's land. I fall in love with places the way I fall in love with men. Actually, that's not the precise truth. I fall deeper, more ardently in love with place than I have with any man, and will give myself over to a place in a way I have never given myself to a person.

I don't think I've told you this yet, but Shannon and Alex are going to be living in Montenegro for the next five months. That's the reason she and Alex have been here visiting... Candy and I are taking care of Freya and Calvin while Shannon and Alex are in Europe. They actually left yesterday and will fly back to Tallahassee on Christmas Eve.

Over the last few months while I've been reading my own copy The Daily Coyote, I've often thought of Shannon and her fondness for wide open, rural areas. Through her writing, Shreve has come across as a spiritual sister of sorts to Shannon, and I decided that a copy of the book would be great way for Shannon to fondly reminisce about her America that she has left behind for almost half a year.

Saturday afternoon I realized that I needed to write a nice dedication in the book (something I don't do often enough when giving books as gifts) and juggled some different thoughts and ideas until I came up with this:

To remind you of your many homes:

Your home country;
The home you left behind that awaits your return;
The home you find with family and friends wherever you may be;
The homes only half glimpsed that shelter you in sleep and dreams;
And finally, the undiscovered homes you've yet to find with their open doors and warm beds.

Enjoy your adventures!

Love,
Peter

I'll be sharing links to her blog as she starts posting stuff from her European travels.

Link of the Day: The Daily Coyote

File Under: Alex; Birthday; Book; Calvin; Coyote(s); Freya; Gilchrist, David; Gilchrist, Hilda; Link of the Day; Montenegro; Quote of the Day; Shannon; Writing Sample
Music: The Dead Weather "Horehound"

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