cover image Going to Ground: Simple Life on a Georgia Pond

Going to Ground: Simple Life on a Georgia Pond

Amy Blackmarr. Viking Books, $22.95 (192pp) ISBN 978-0-670-87567-2

Some five years ago at age 33, Blackmarr sold her paralegal business in Kansas and returned to Lax, Ga., where she moved into her late grandfather's fishing cabin next to a pond on the family farm. Except for occasional visits from friends, her beloved 93-year-old grandmother and a feisty neighbor, she spent the time by herself, learning to cope with snakes under the sink, mice behind the bookcase, an alligator in the pond and unfamiliar night sounds. In this elegant collection of essays, written during the years she spent in the tin-roofed, tar-papered shack, Blackmarr ruminates on her past and present life, observes the animals and plants around her and luxuriates in the solitude. The graceful pieces are imbued with a sense of calm and delight in nature--the light of a golden November sky, mist ""gliding in like herons over the pond."" They are also tinged with sadness, for Blackmarr knows that eventually her relatives will sell the property and she will be left with only memories of her rustic retreat. These essays are collected from Blackmarr's broadcasts of ""Georgia Gazette"" on the Peach State Public Radio Network. (Sept.)