Sunday morning Peace

Autumn Fires

In the other gardens And all up the vale, From the autumn bonfires See the smoke trail! Pleasant summer over And all the summer flowers, The red fire blazes, The gray smoke towers. Sing a song of seasons! Something bright in all! Flowers in the summer, Fires in the fall! Robert Louis Stevenson (from A Child’s Garden of Verses, 1885) Blessings!

Winner of the Weird Contest and NEW Picture Contest

Really enjoyed your comments, ladies, for the Weird Contest about animals.

I've made my choice and the winner is . . .


Rebecca (RivkaBelle)

Thanks for commenting, Rebecca!

If you'll email me I'll give you a list of books you may choose from.
browncarole212(at)yahoo(dot)com. You have two weeks to get in touch with me.

NOW for the next contest:

How does this picture strike you?
Scary?
Peaceful?
Hopeful?
Does it stir you to strike out on a new adventure?
Does it urge you to write a fantasy? Suspense? Romance?

Does it make you want to dream away the afternoon?
Hide in your house?

Tell me your thoughts and I'll choose a winner before the end of October. DON'T forget to check back to see if you won.

And remember, if you win, you'll have a choice of at least three books I have on my shelf. Old, but goodies.


Blessings!

Sunday Morning Peace

Autumn in the Garden by Henry Van Dyke

When the frosty kiss of Autumn in the dark
Makes its mark
On the flowers, and the misty morning grieves
Over fallen leaves;
Then my olden garden, where the golden soil
Through the toil
Of a hundred years is mellow, rich, and deep,
Whispers in its sleep.

'Mid the crumpled beds of marigold and phlox,
Where the box
Borders with its glossy green the ancient walks,
There's a voice that talks
Of the human hopes that bloomed and withered here
Year by year,--
Dreams of joy, that brightened all the labouring hours,
Fading as the flowers.

Yet the whispered story does not deepen grief;
But relief
For the loneliness of sorrow seems to flow
From the Long-Ago,
When I think of other lives that learned, like mine,
To resign,
And remember that the sadness of the fall
Comes alike to all.

What regrets, what longings for the lost were theirs!
And what prayers
For the silent strength that nerves us to endure
Things we cannot cure!
Pacing up and down the garden where they paced,
I have traced
All their well-worn paths of patience, till I find
Comfort in my mind.

Faint and far away their ancient griefs appear:
Yet how near
Is the tender voice, the careworn, kindly face,
Of the human race!
Let us walk together in the garden, dearest heart,
Not apart!
They who know the sorrows other lives have known
Never walk alone.

 

Blessings!

Review of Confessions of a PK

by Betsy St. Amant

Back Cover:
Addison Blakely has never had much trouble pleasing her widowed, overprotective father. After all, he's a pastor and she knows her reputation is closely linked to his. But whent he bad boy next door, the cute but arrogant quarterback, and a charming new guy all vie for Addison's attention, she begins to doubt her resolve. To make matters worse, Addison's best friend suddenly seems to hate her, a talent show has the entire school at odds, and an exotic foreign exchange student from Germany is shaking everyone up.

Join Addison as she attempts to separate love from lust, facts from faith, and keep her head above water in her murky fishbowl existence.

My Take:
I'll have to admit, I was a little reluctant to take on this book, but I do like to "help out" the ACFW Book club, and that means reading some genres that I usually don't read. Smile.

Betsy hit the nail on the head with this one. A truly great story that absorbed my interest (which is hard to do!) and kept my sympathy with the protagonist. Well developed issues that today's teens face pushed the plot forward. Loved the protagonist's personality; her good looks (and her worry about gaining a few extra pounds because of her love for mochas, gummy bears, and ice cream) yet her unpopularity because of her faithfulness in being the "good" girl. Her temptation with "bad" guy Wes was oh, so real and the conflict she faced was true to life.

Betsy's setting was perfect. Small town, coffee shop, high school, home, and even the street with the kids walking home was life like and easy to see. Took me back a few years, but some things never change, do they?

I'd call this book a keeper, except as soon as we discuss it next month, I want to share it with a teenager in my life.

Thanks, Betsy, for writing this book, and hope you have a lot more coming that are just as wonderful!

Blessings!

Monday Morning Gratitudes

Nippy noses
Sweatshirts
quiet time
new goals
satisfaction in reaching a goal
Christmas programs
the smiles on elderly faces at the sight of a baby
hot showers
anticipation
the feeling at being at home again

Blessings!

Sunday Morning Peace

In September

This windy, bright September afternoon My heart is wide awake, yet full of dreams. The air, alive with hushed confusion, teems With scent of grain-fields, and a mystic rune, Foreboding of the fall of Summer soon, Keeps swelling and subsiding; till there seems O'er all the world of valleys, hills, and streams, Only the wind's inexplicable tune. My heart is full of dreams, yet wide awake. I lie and watch the topmost tossing boughs Of tall elms, pale against the vaulted blue; But even now some yellowing branches shake, Some hue of death the living green endows:-- If beauty flies, fain would I vanish too. by: Charles G. D. Roberts (1860-1943) Blessings!

I Pray You Enough

I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged, and the mother said, “I love you, and I pray you enough.”

The daughter replied, “Mom, our life together has been more than enough.

Your love is all I ever needed.

I pray you enough, too, Mom.”

They kissed, and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there, I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy, but she welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'

Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'

'Well...I'm not as young as I once was, she lives so far away & has her own busy life. I have some challenges ahead, and the reality is - her next trip back will be for my funeral,' she said.

'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I pray you enough.' May I ask what that means?'

She began to smile. 'That's a prayer that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.' She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and she smiled even more. 'When we said, 'I pray you enough,' we wanted the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.'

Then, turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.

 

I pray you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

I pray you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I pray you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I pray you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

I pray you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I pray you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I pray you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

Then, she began to cry, and walked away.

 

They say, it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but an entire life to forget them.

TAKE TIME TO LIVE . . .

To all my friends and loved ones, readers and visitors,
I PRAY YOU ENOUGH . . .

 

Blessings

Fun Post Day!

I'm thrilled to have my friend, Patty Krylach guest posting today. Read on to find out about her fun and hilarious trip out of the states. Smile. 

 

 

A Trip to the Dentist

Whether it’s The Hobbit or The Hunger Games, Dr. Who or The Help, it’s fun to read about adventures in a storybook. But it’s a whole different ballgame to set out on an adventure yourself. Even something as simple as a trip to the dentist.

Um, did I mention that this dentist is 2000 miles away?

When my husband booked a trip to a dental clinic in Costa Rica, I had a host of good reasons NOT to go with him. I had just returned from a trip to a writer’s conference in Minnesota. My daughter was expecting her first baby any day. I didn’t want to leave our house vacant. And honestly, I was nervous about plopping myself down in a strange country for two whole weeks. What about my to-do list? My deadlines? My phobias of flying, foreigners, and poisonous frogs?

But then again, how often do I get to go to another country and poke around for ideas for Stark Raving Mythopath, my blog about myth and stories. How often? Approximately never. So I threw caution to the wind and my clothes into a suitcase.

Like most storybook adventures, the trip did not get off to a good start. We got within an hour of Costa Rica and had to turn back. At the end of the first day of travel, I had decided to catch a plane home the next morning. But for some strange reason, I got on the other plane, the one headed back to Central America.

Flying into San Jose took my breath away—a ring of wrinkled mountains surrounding the red rooftops of the city. I knew right away we weren’t in Kansas anymore. As we landed, all the passengers cheered and applauded.

Since we were staying at the clinic, we decided I might as well get my teeth looked at too.

So imagine you are sitting in the electric chair—or a dentist’s chair, which is practically the same thing—and a dentist is filling your mouth with machinery—drills, cranes, C-clamps, and a jackhammer. Meanwhile the dentist and his assistant are jabbering away in Spanish. You, of course, do not hablo espanol, so you can only imagine what they are saying:

“White man come in boats. Take our gold. Now we get revenge. Ha ha ha.”

Yes, dental work is still dental work, even in Costa Rica. But here’s the thing. When you finish your session for the day, you are in a tropical paradise, with a mountain view from your room and a host of fun things to do and places to explore.

And we did explore—local markets, the Gold Museum, the rain forest, the mountains, and the Arenal Volcano and Hot Springs. And sometimes I just rested. Or read. Or did some writing.

Of course, we experienced culture shock. Black beans and rice for breakfast? Every single day? And we’re pretty sure we got ripped off a couple of times by clerks and waiters. Who knows how much that “funny money” equals in American dollars? And they don’t need roller coasters in Costa Rica, because riding in a taxi can give you the same rush. Our very first day, the driver explained that traffic rules are optional. Somehow we had already guessed.

All in all, there’s nothing quite like getting away from home when you’re a writer—whether you go across town or across the globe. Looking back, it’s hard to believe that I nearly stayed home and missed it. We met wonderful people and saw some amazing sights. I learned to think about the world in a different way, and I believe that will help me think in a new way about my story worlds—and about my own life-story too.

Patty Kyrlach is design editor for Cookies & Milk, a children’s page in several Southwest Ohio newspapers. She also serves as webmaster for the Writing Academy, an international Christian writers group (www.wams.org).
In her blog, Stark Raving Mythopath, Patty writes about myths and stories from all cultures and the mythic grandeur of everyday life. www.mythopath.blogspot.com.

Hope you've enjoyed Patty's post as much as I did. More from this lady later!
Blessings, dear readers!

　

Grandparents Day!

Aeschylus:  "Learning is ever young, even in old age."


Louisa May Alcott:  "A house needs a grandma in it."


Thomas Bailey Aldrich:  "To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent — that is to triumph over old age."


Joyce Allston:  "Grandparents, like heroes, are as necessary to a child's growth as vitamins."


Irina Baronove-Tennant: "It's so important to give your children and grandchildren inspiration ... Teach them to notice, to pay attention, to appreciate, and to be inquisitive. Don't just look, try to see."


Dave Barry:  "The best babysitters, of course, are the baby's grandparents. You feel completely comfortable entrusting your baby to them for long periods, which is why most grandparents flee to Florida."


Marjory Barslow-Greenbie: Beautiful old people are works of art."

Paulette Bates Alden:  "Her grandmother, as she gets older, is not fading but rather becoming more concentrated."


Hilaire Belloc:  "Dear Grandmamma, with what we give / We humbly pray that you may live / For many, many happy years: / Although you bore us all to tears."


Teresa Bloomingdale:  "If your baby is 'beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, an angel all the time,' you're the grandma."


Erma Bombeck:  "A grandmother pretends she doesn't know who you are on Halloween."


Anthony Brandt:  "Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family."


Thomas Berry Brazelton:  "Grandparents who want to be truly helpful will do well to keep their mouths shut and their opinions to themselves until these are requested."


Pam Brown:  "Becoming a grandmother is wonderful. One moment you're just a mother. The next you are all-wise and prehistoric."


Pearl S. Buck:  "Perhaps one has to be very old before one learns to be amused rather than shocked."


Gail Lumet Buckley:  "Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future."


Have a wonderful day, all you lovely grandparents!
Blessings!

Monday Morning Gratitudes

a reliable vehicle
sitting in a swing beside my mother
the cool morning air fanning our faces
serene views
the first cup of coffee in the a.m.
the recognition on a baby's face
laughter
contact from someone I haven't heard from in a long time
family meals
meals with hubby

Blessings!

A :Little Bit of My World . . .

Fun with the grandkids

Shedding raincoats after viewing the Niagra Falls

 

 

 



Filled with daring people willing to risk the wet!

 

 

 

 

 

Part of the awe-inspiring falls

 

 

 

 

 



Hanging around the important people

 

 

 

 



Gorgeous lights at night

 

 

 

 





Look closely and you can see BigShot baby in his daddy's sunglasses

He got lots of admiring looks and smiles

 

 

 

 



Headed home after a few fun-filled days

 

 

Blessings!

Interviews and Updates

Recently I was invited to join the "new" Barn Door Book Loft: a blog that totally focuses on two-day interviews and spotlights of authors. Sharon Lavy and I, Carol Ann Erhardt and Karen Robbins have revived the blog! It's going strong with lots of interesting interviews and giveaways!

So . . . check it out. For now, I'm pointing you to it and hope you all will be as faithful as you've been when I've interviewed authors.

Here's the link: http://www.barndoorbookloft.net/

Here's the cute little guy who helps choose the winners of giveaway books on the Barn Door Book Loft Blog:

A doll, isn't he? 

But don't forget to check out  my short Sunday devotionals, Mondays' gratitudes, and Fridays' fun posts here on Sunnybank blog.  Who knows what I'll come up for Wednesdays. I'm praying about it. Smile.


Blessings, you faithful readers!

Sunday Morning Gratitudes

Baby's first bite of food
Big baby eyes that stare at you
hot water
air conditioners
chapstick
good wriitng pens
sharp pencils
good music
Fun times with friends
good blog posts

Blessings!

Sunday Morning Peace

 

 

Every man that has this hope in him . . .

he is pure.

 

I John 3:3