I fished a rat snake out of my hens’ nesting box before locking them up for the night. A day in the life of a pretend homesteader I guess. To top it off, said snake chose to invade my chicken coop during one of our famous, spontaneous thunder-with-dumping-rain-storms.

With one hand holding the umbrella, I couldn’t get the snake and hold the lid up, so I trucked into the house to fetch a glove, boots, and a poncho, the latter of which, I remembered too late, was with my daughter at camp. Sigh…

So, not-very-water-proof-hoodie draped over my head and back instead, work glove on, back out to the coop to fetch the snake, boots sloshing in the mini-river shooting down the drive, snake relocated and slithering angrily away, chickens accounted for and locked up for the night, I plowed inside and plopped down to write this post…that I’m just now finding time to edit and publish.

I’ve lived in eight countries, traveled to 30+ more. I’ve seen amazing sites, done things I never thought I’d get the chance to do. It’s been spectacular.

Now I’m in a home back in the states. I thought I’d miss all the globe-trotting. But, I’ve found so much magic in my little garden and backyard flock. The rain that keeps my now-home green as Ireland also invites fireflies with a fairy-light show that never grows old. No jet lag for this kind of wonder.

I once had a conversation with another writer about all my experiences traveling and how that must have given me so much material to write from, and it does, but it is the everyday experiences that inspire me most.

My most prolific writing days were during a brief stint of homeschooling my children. While they were doing art class with someone far better suited for it than me (See Exhibit A as evidence), I would write. Often, what I saw them doing or experiencing was my inspiration, not the fact that we were living in Central America at the time, with all its amazing history and beauty.

Living overseas and experiencing so many different ways of viewing and living in the world was life changing and does affect how I think and therefore how I write. But like Gilbert told Anne, when it comes to writing, the magic is found in the seeming ordinary things all around you. A snake, a rainstorm, a flock of very silly chickens, my children’s triumphs and struggles as they learned to navigate this big world, these all imprinted stories on my mind without ever breaking out my passport.