Whenever Emily and I are in a housecleaning frenzy, we say that we are “Vin Mathering.” Often I would like to summon Mrs. Mather to set all the rooms to rights and take over the kitchen and make my home ready for guests. At such times I wish I had as much energy and passion for housekeeping as did Lavinia Mather of the Mather Inn.
This weekend I am Vin Mathering in preparation for a gathering to celebrate the launch of my historical novel Kingdom of the Birds. This new book also features a good housekeeper. Hermina lives in a mountaintop castle in the Thuringian Forest instead of a Wisconsin inn along a plank road, and she welcomes visiting knights and minstrels instead of farmers and teamsters.
My own home is no castle, and I have spent considerably more time creating characters who keep house than keeping house myself. However, since neither Vin Mather nor Hermina is likely to show up to help, I must end this entry and go off in search of a broom.
