Story published, and a close encounter with a loon

The Aroostook Review accepted my short story "Harvest Gold in Spring" and I'll link to that when it's up on their website.

Meantime I'm beginning work on a new book - not sure where it's going yet. But it's set in Fez. The Maine woods envelop me these days. The woods are soft, inspiring, mysterious and quiet. Strange how I'm writing about Fez here, with all its tumult, noises, smells and chaos, amid the quiet of the woods. Last night I caught a white perch off the dock using a worm and bobber. As I pulled the fish in, a loon followed the fish underwater toward me. It dipped and dived so beautifully - and when it was clear I was getting the fish, it popped up to the surface about two feet from me and just looked at me! It had been tagged on each foot - red and blue tags. I've never seen one that close. We think this might be one of a nesting pair down the stream from us.