Not wanting the idea to drift away as so many do, Dan and I met again the next week.

Where do we start?  What are we going to do?  Is this even possible?  In fact we couldn’t even adequately describe the “this”.  All we knew was we wanted to put artists and writers together to somehow benefit the outdoors.  That’s it.

No amount of hops induced inspiration was working this time. I suggested that it might be good to speak with someone who may know what they are doing.  We needed to see if this idea had any merit or was simply the idle ramblings of a couple of old curmudgeons.  Considering places which do similar things, I suggested that we talk to the folks at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin.  They hold a world class exhibition each year titled “Birds in Art.” This exhibit had featured Owen Gromme, Roger Tory Peterson, Robert Batemann, Maynard Reese, and other famous artists as their Master Wildlife Artists.

I arranged a meeting with Catie, curator of education.  Undaunted in our witlessness, we rambled on for quite a while asking for her input and guidance.  She pointed out that we are including writers and authors but have we thought about conservation scientists? Well, that made sense.  With her help we started to put some flesh on an idea.

When we finally stopped blabbering, Catie looked up from the notes she was taking and said, “Let’s do this.”  “We have two possible times either in October or November during Birds in Art”, she added.  She kept on talking about first weekend, special programming, artist in residence, and I am sure a lot of other things which I have no idea what she said.  All I heard was “Let’s do this.” “October or November.”

I am sure that the expression on my face was mirrored by Dan’s.  He looked as if he was teetering on the edge of a dizzyingly high cliff with someone tapping him on the shoulder and saying, “Next!”

I said to Catie, “I think Dan and I need to talk.” “Can we get back to you in a day or two?

• John