The Village Beneath The Trees

Welcome back, friends!

Do you ever have one of those ideas that just kind of percolates or simmers until it demands your attention? An idea that you toss around until you feel you have to work on it?

Maybe it’s a new recipe, or an outdoor project, or a hobby you’ve been meaning to try. Whatever it might be, you can only keep it simmering on the back burner for so long before it threatens to boil over.

I’ve had one of those ideas. It’s been on the back burner for the better part of ten years, only coming off for the occasional stir to see if anything had changed.

But now? The pot’s boiling over.

What if I were to tell you that somewhere, hidden under trees and beside hillocks, is a little village?

A village where a squirrel-girl lives in a crooked house.
Where a playful chipmunk loves to set off pinecone cannons.
Where a quiet hedgehog keeps a bug collection with all the proper Latin names.

Welcome to Thistledown Meadows.

This place started as a tiny spark. It jumped into my mind one day as a small striped chipmunk who could be the poster child for innocent chaos, and a red squirrel who loved flowers and tripped over her own tail. Often. Then came a sturdy hedgehog with a proclivity for big words.

Sometimes, the pot barely simmered and nothing would come. Then things would start to heat up, and bits and pieces would fly so fast I could barely keep up—a fox with a mysterious background, a mine that had been shut down, a childlike otter with a firefly lantern.

And Thistledown Meadows was created.

Now, as life keeps jumping with children, gardening, and preparing for a new baby, something about this little village—with its badger blacksmith and mouse baker—keeps calling me back. So I’ve officially decided to see where this story goes.

I’m nowhere close to done yet. I’m still in the middle of laying out characters, fleshing out the plot, and designing the cottages. I’ve been working on creating warm, whimsical illustrations for the coming book, as well as more realistic images for sharing along the way.

I don’t have any kind of timeline yet. This definitely isn’t a “Get your copy here” post. I just wanted to share that I’ve got a story I’m excited to be bringing to life, bit by bit.

Why Thistledown? Maybe because I need it right now—a quiet place full of character, kindness, and the kind of beauty that hides in everyday moments. And maybe, just maybe, someone else does too.

So I’ll keep creating. Keep sketching crooked shutters and curious creatures. And I’ll share the journey along the way.

Thanks for being here at the beginning.