Here in Kansas, today is a hot one! I do miss the long, slow progression of spring and autumn in the northeast. But here in Kansas, we don’t seem to have the mud problem either that I remember so well when my parents had their horses. I lost a shoe or two more than once slogging through mud in upstate New York!
The daffodils have bloomed at our house. The peonies I moved last year seem to be doing well so far. They came up anyway! Now I’ll be looking for blossoms. I had wanted to move the daffodils last fall, but plantar fasciitis slowed my autumn prep to a standstill. Maybe I’ll get it done before the end of May.
Writing books and designing covers has been my focus since the beginning of the new year. I designed six covers, and I wrote a new book…about 85,000 words between the first of February and yesterday when I finished going through the edits needed on the second part of 56,000 words. I wrote that second part in three weeks. For those of you that write, you know that is an accomplishment! The first three months of a new year have always been a great time for me to get writing done. Motivated, not a lot of outside work, and between spring and fall cleaning schedules. This year was extremely successful. That puts a smile on my face!
Last September also saw the release of the second book in my Love Defined series…Sweet Belief.
If you live in Texas, the view out your window today may look very much like the backdrop of the cover for Sweet Belief.
Happy spring to all! Enjoy the sunshine, the bright flowers, and new buds on the trees. And if you are in the mood to read, you know where to find a good book. 😉
In the hustle and bustle of life, I tend to forget all the good things and people that I have. People that I rely on, family that is always there to lend a helping hand.
I have much to be thankful for. My health, my family and friends, a warm home, food and clothing. So many people around this world don’t have those things.
Take time today to be thankful for all that you have. All that you’ve been given.
Brightly wrapped presents under the tree are a beautiful sight to behold on Christmas morning. As a child, scampering down the stairs to see what Santa had delivered was always exciting. Even though we all knew Santa Claus was a fictional character in our home, it was fun to think about. We all knew our parents provided our gifts, and my mother worked herself to exhaustion level to make sure we had a wonderful Christmas season.
In our home growing up, and in our home raising children, the birth of Christ being remembered was always the reason we celebrated. The older I become, the more meaningful that is to me. I still enjoy the lighted and decorated Christmas tree, and the giving of presents. The family gathered, and food contributed and enjoyed by cherished family and friends.
No, Jesus Christ was not born on December 25th, and there wasn’t snow on the ground with wise men present. But Jesus Christ was born, and the angels proclaimed it to the shepherds in the fields. A star boldly proclaimed where the Savior lay and directed those that wished to follow. December 25th is the day set aside for Christians to remember. I am thankful we have the opportunity to still celebrate that, and I am extremely thankful for the gift that was given.
Merry Christmas to one and all! May your day be filled with thankfulness, and joy!
If you are in the United States, it’s safe to say that you are probably experiencing some severe weather of some sort. It’s been a crazy weather week! Here in Kansas, we will be having a white Christmas for the first time in many years. I know I’m excited about that! I rather like that Norman Rockwell feeling I get when the holiday season is filled with wintry weather…snow-covered grounds, with cinnamon and pine filling your senses beside a crackling fire.
Stay safe everyone as you get ready for “the most wonderful time of the year!”
Music has always been a very big part of my life. Maybe because of my mother and her talent in that area. She played piano and organ, and even accordion in her younger years. When I was a child, she always played for church services, and any weddings or special singing. Each Christmas season, she usually played for a Cantata. On many occasions, I was her page turner. I thought of it as an honor as she practiced for these events at home. It definitely helped me to learn to read music and keep track of where she was on the page!
I never became the pianist that my mother was. I do have her piano in my home once again. Our daughter was not able to keep it for now, so I am thrilled to have it back. I missed it way more than what I thought I would. And I can actually still play. That was a surprise. It’s been a few years!
Chickering upright. Purchased by my grandfather in Denver, Colorado in 1956. It is now over 100 years old!
Every Christmas season, my mother played Christmas music. It seemed like all day every day at the time. But I’m sure it wasn’t. Especially considering what you went through to play music back then in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. We had records of the classic Christmas songs. Perry Como, Dean Martin, and of course Andy Williams. My father was rather innovative at that time. He wired our house with speakers upstairs, so we could hear the music there as well. It was played from a huge wood stereo. It took up a wall in our living room. When I hear any of those songs now, I get all fuzzy and warm feeling inside.
I heard this song today…again, a couple of my favorite Christmas songs. I have shared this group on here before. This family came to our church many times over the years. Back when they were all still in school. I don’t think the oldest had even graduated high school yet. Our youngest always looked forward to seeing their youngest. They were close in age, and that was a treat for Catherine. Our son was impressed with the guitar playing. He was just learning at the time. He’s become a pretty good player and singer himself now. The Petersen’s are a very successful group now, and they have a regular show in Branson. It’s been neat to follow their journey over the years and see their talent grow. Enjoy this version of these two songs. I did!
Christmas time has come once again. And like all older people, you know the ones…the ones I said I would never be like back when I was in my twenties and thirties…it arrives quicker each year! Now that’s a sentence for my editor to make a comment on! Thank you, Britta Ann for all your wise words on editing. I really do appreciate you!
I really dislike that each time I have posted this year…all three times I think it’s been…I apologize for not posting. Life has been a whirlwind, and I know all of your lives have been as well. I’ve been wanting to update you all, and the time has never been there. So, here’s a quick update. Maybe at some point, when the winter winds blow and I’m cold just sitting around, and all my books are finished, I will fill in all the little blanks.
In April this year, my husband and I went to Indiana for two weeks to help care for our newest grandson. I kind of had a bad feeling from the standpoint of caring for a six-month old. Doing that at 57 is far different than in your twenties! But we survived, and it was absolutely wonderful getting to know little Maverick, who is now an adorable 13-month-old. But for some reason, those two weeks started a tailspin of events that I’m still recovering from. The hardest part being just being gone from home a lot…which again, something I wouldn’t have found a problem back in my twenties and thirties!
June was a busy month. My sister, whom I hadn’t seen in many years, came for a visit, and we were able to meet her new husband. A great visit! So happy to have Evan as part of our family! My mother fell at the nursing home about that same time. Any of you that have worked in geriatrics know that is not a good thing! Yes, my mother broke her hip…and that’s even worse for someone in a care facility. (I say that after working in care facilities for many years. It just seems to go downhill after a broken hip. Nothing being said here about care facilities being bad!) The end of June held many visits to the hospital, where my mother did very well for about a week. It was wonderful to have that time with her and my father. The end of June brought a fantastic time for our family in Branson. I even went swimming, which I hadn’t done in so many years! It was once a thing I loved!
During our week in Branson, my mother took a turn for the worse. My husband and I headed straight to the care facility on our return, him leaving my suitcases at my parent’s home. My mother passed on July 2nd, and while very sad, I am happy for her, and where she is now. She was in so much pain that last week. My brother and his family were making plans to visit my mother but missed her by two weeks. It was still wonderful to have them visit for a couple days!
Here is a fill-in-the-blank-later moment. My husband and I are now living in my parent’s home…my father is here occasionally, but my husband and I are now caring for it. My father wants it to be our home, and I’ve explained that it will take a while. Some time will need to pass before I don’t look at each item that is here and remember that it was my mother’s. For now, that’s a good thing. So many of my mother’s monetary furnishings had to be sold to make room for our furnishings, but I’ve kept those special pictures, glassware, and furniture that I and my siblings remember from our childhood.
I’ve posted on how special my mother made the holidays. I look back now and wonder how she did it. Dozens of cookies, open house celebrations, decorations galore! We always had at least two Christmas trees, and some years five when we lived in the bigger houses. I fall way short of that, but I have my memories. Yesterday I finished decorating our new home. Simpler than what my mother once did, but homey for us.
Lots of traveling this past year, my mother’s death, and a move. But so much to be thankful for this Christmas season! I have found that in my own life, God seems to work that way. Many trials and testing, but so many other reasons to give thanks, and remember how gracious and merciful God is. I have reconnected with my sister, I have the opportunity to spend time with my father, I have been privileged to get to know my brother’s family a bit better. We’ve had visits with our children and our grandchildren that were wonderful! We have a beautiful home to live in, and my husband’s Parkinson’s is holding steady.
Thank you, God, for all of these! Have a wonderful Christmas season!
I’ve shared a lot on baking for my past few posts. It’s something that I do on a regular basis…when it’s cold outside. But with warmer weather, I’m feeling the pull to be outside. Not to work as I once did…laying sidewalk, building rock walls, digging ponds…but just enjoying. I haven’t even mowed lawn this year. My husband has been keeping up with that pretty well. It’s a two-day job with our push mower. At this writing, I haven’t even planted my hanging baskets or pots for our front porch. That was typically a Mother’s Day goal.
What I’m feeling today is writing. I haven’t worked on my book in two months, and I’m being crushed by the weight of getting it done! With a writer’s meeting this Thursday, the weight is heavier.
I don’t like unfinished projects. But I’m not very good about completing one before I start another. My mind is always bouncing from one thing to the next. There is probably medication for that, and it would probably help my family and friends deal with me better. 😉 But I do like to live in the moment and feel everything! My editor not only edits my books but keeps me reined in when I think of another book to write. Which circles back to the weight of getting this third book in my series done.
Everything beautiful! A sunny, spring day with flowers! Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay
I found the above picture when I was looking through Pixabay pictures for a comment on Facebook. It made me think of my writer friend Julane Hiebert. https://www.amazon.com/Julane-Hiebert/e/B017QGX5X4?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1652806690&sr=1-1 When I go to her house for our writer’s meeting, a bicycle with flowers in the basket lets you know you are at the right place. It always makes me smile and think of Julane and being Julane. She’ll get that statement.
So back to writing, so I have something to share at the meeting on Thursday. I hope your spring is going well, and that there’s beauty, sunshine, and maybe a bicycle with flowers in the basket for your Tuesday!
P.S. The header picture is from: Image by jplenio from Pixabay
Christmas Eve has arrived. I always look forward to this day and tomorrow. A special time spent with family, and whenever those days occur…memories abound.
I am missing my mother this year. She is still with us, but in a nursing home. The woman that was once a huge part of our holiday celebrations, only remembers the work involved. And I guess I don’t blame her for that. She went above and beyond for her family during the Christmas season.
Weeks of baking which included cookies of all kinds, and decorating sugar cookies. See’s Fudge, and gingerbread houses when we were older. We always had several trees to decorate. My father and brothers hung strings of white lights over barns, and shrubs, while candles illuminated every window.
Christmas in Crown Point, New York.
We didn’t always have new clothes for Christmas. My mother shopped at the Salvation Army when we lived in Longmont, Colorado. We always had plenty of new-to-us clothing, and often from high-end places. My mother was a savvy shopper. She could stretch a buck to the breaking point in those days. What she didn’t purchase, she crocheted or knitted. Our babies always were well-dressed, and warm.
In between all of that, my mother played piano and organ for our church services. Which always meant a Christmas Cantata. I don’t know how she did it all.
O Holy Night has long been a favorite of mine. My mother always played it this time of year, and I loved to sing along. With those memories, I share this version of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5j_XuATgRU
This group is going through a difficult time right now with the loss of Carlos Marin. Please keep this group and their families in your prayers.
All my life I have absolutely loved miniature anything. If it came packaged smaller, I was a huge fan. This included miniature horses, baby mice, fairy gardens, and of course doll houses. They make me smile!
When our youngest daughter showed me this site when it first began, I was just enthralled. I wondered…why? But I have spent way more time than I should watching these little cooking shows, and feeling my hands cramp.
I included the one above because it is a tiny gingerbread house. At one time I made these every Christmas, and it fascinated me to watch this itsy-bitsy construction.
Photo by JillWellingon – Pixabay
Many years ago a friend shared using graham crackers for the construction instead of the gingerbread, and it really changed it for me. It was much less prep work, and easier to assemble. But a true gingerbread house…no. If I made one this year for Christmas, I would use the graham crackers. By the time you have it decorated, who sees the siding anyway? 😉
But, back to this post.
I love miniature items, and my favorite are mice. I don’t know why I feel an affinity to mice, but I do. No, I do not want them in my house, and if I saw one I would probably scream and jump on something to get me away from their scurrying little body. But when they look like this…they are adorable.
I know, some may argue that mice wearing clothes isn’t really done, but they are adorable.
When a friend shared this on Facebook, I knew I had to include it in a post. It is miniature, and there are tiny rabbits living in a cute little house, they are wearing clothes, and there is music. And the tiny mice are ice-skating. It just doesn’t get any better for me!
As you prepare for Christmas this year. Take a moment to watch this video. It will put a smile on your face.
The Christmas Day countdown began the first of December for me, but I know a few of you started way back in October! I still cherish Thanksgiving Day having its own little celebration…a wrapping up of autumn and all the golden glory of the days.
The Petersen family featured in this video came to our church several times over the years. Back when they were still in high school, the youngest in grade school if I remember correctly. It’s been fun to watch them grow up, and now have such an amazing following all over the world! They are an extremely talented group of musicians and singers. The young man playing the dobro also came to our church with his family many years ago. The Franz Family was also a joy to watch.
This Life is Real...and so are the Answers 
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