“Got to get you into my life”

By Susan July 12, 2022

“Got to get you into my life”

I was alone, I. t ook a ride

I was alone, I. t ook a ride

Every single day of my life

These photos are from yesterday, Brimley to Marquette, UP Michigan. Normally as I travel I journal. This adventure however, I have been soaking in, not writing. Just alone with my thoughts. Well, not exactly: I haven’t been thinking much!

My sister and I left Mackinac Island and meandered 2 nights along the Lake Huron shore. After I dropped my Kathy off at Detroit International, I hightailed over the border to Ontario where I headed north for 4 days including 2 nights on Manatoulin Island. I returned to the states, on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, yesterday.

Taking only back roads–some very back roads–I am on a scouting trip. Tennesse heat/humidity is interminable. I am looking for the magic place, for when I am older and lose interest in exploring somewhere new every night. Somewhere to get away from the oppressive heat for about a month. Tony can fish, I can write, Roady can just be Roady.

I hope I stay healthy and interested in exploring for years to come.

But just in case I grow weary .. . .

Last updated on July 12, 2022

In 2006, researching for my last literature paper at Oxford, I stumbled onto the late 17th-century court of Queen Mary of Modena, consort to James II. I was intrigued because she had so many female writers in her court—rare for the 17th century. Before heading back to the states, I met with my professor, Peter McCullough, to discuss a book idea stemming from that research. Peter had stunned me with his compliment of my paper—“One of the most beautiful Bread Loaf papers I’ve read . . . The work of an artist by an artist.” He was encouraging about my book idea and later agreed to be one of my Beta readers. Rain Dodging follows my quest for a sense of Mary’s spaces, to breathe the same air, to imagine their lives, visiting palaces and manor houses in England and Scotland and exploring their sublime back roads. Rain Dodging is a kaleidoscope of memoir and mystery, a collage of images and events. As I travel through Britain, I take you on a journey through my life and into a 17th-century royal court. You'll watch the connections unfold, from tales of a troubled childhood to wild days of college and young adulthood, the music scenes in Los Angeles & Nashville, and to my growth as mother, teacher, writer, lover, and solo traveler.