Posts

Another excerpt about peace, love, and understanding

-
Image
We went to France in 1999, but I can't find any pictures from the trip. Instead here's a 1999 shot from our British backyard. Okay so spoiler alert, but I think this scene from Home and Far Away is worth it. Meanwhile my right arm has been tingling for over twenty minutes; maybe the pinched nerve is better? Enjoy and happy Monday!   That morning it was only the women in the house, French spoken by two, but understood by all three. Chella also asked Sooz a few questions silently, but Sooz didn’t reveal much, other than yes she loved Richard, and no, she wasn’t sure how, when, or what they would tell Gilly. Sooz wasn’t even certain if she would sleep with Richard that night, though she then smirked inwardly, not wanting to be apart from him. She missed him greatly, but also feared how this new element of their relationship would develop. Then she sighed, seated in the front room, a fire crackling. Chella had gone to the porch, talking in their native language to Max as thoug...
Read more

An uncomplicated afternoon of machine sewing

-
Image
I've had this in mind for a while. Didn't anticipate making it quite yet, but.... So my shoulder remains fiddly. Har-rumph! Yesterday I eked out a truncated evening of handsewing, feeling a *wee bit guilty* about it, because if I was smart, I would do NO handsewing, but last night that notion made me feel twitchy. So I sewed. And I ached. And I went to bed, sleeping on my left side to coddle my right shoulder, but instead the odd position made my right knee twitchy, oi! Thankfully I slept in this morning, but have done no hand-stitching, nor will I this evening. Instead I'm gonna blather all about it, as well as remark on making a quilt top in an afternoon as if hand-sewing meant nothing to me. (WAH WAH WAH!!! Insert crying face emoji HERE!) What I noticed right off the sewing machine bat was how easily it was to slip back into machine sewing. With my earplugs firm in my ears. And noise cancelling headphones over my earplug-protected ears. Lol. I've used earplugs and he...
Read more

Because sometimes you need an excerpt, especially when it's about peace, love, and understanding

-
Image
Maybe how the moon appeared to Sooz. Photo from 2024. Thank goodness that despite an achy shoulder, I can still manage revisions, lol. Was just reading Chapter 21 from Home and Far Away , and I had to put a paragraph here. P.S.... If you want Sooz's backstory, get a copy of Far Away from Home: The Enran Chronicles Book Three . Don't worry about Books One and Two ; Book Three concerns Noth in another galaxy, and as he doesn't recall his past, those earlier segments won't be missed (Though if you want the whole ball of wax, go for it!). One of the joys about writing this particular series is while the books connect, certain ones can be read as standalones. Far Away from Home and Home and Far Away are like that, just saying, hehehe. Anyways, shameless plugs aside, more to matter is what Home and Far Away is truly about, that of love mattering more than anything, that people are worthy of said love regardless of their origins. Sooz is discovering that imminently, but w...
Read more

The worth of perseverance

-
Image
The short row of stitches directly under the lower safety pin are those done SLOWLY with my left hand. In sewing, book publishing, and everyday life.... I considered this post a few days ago when I was happily appliqueing by hand Lucy Boston (LB) blocks. Since then my right shoulder has asserted its right to be cranky, and I don't know for how long this will be the case. Hence, perseverance now applies to waiting out troublesome joints, being fully aware that what will be most certainly will be. Ahem. Anyways.... I pondered this post while hand-stitching a project I truly had no idea would come to fruition. Perhaps this entry is also about being faithful to one's inner spirit, or Spirit, depending on your beliefs. Either way, being faithful, obedient even (now there's an idea to spark blog post musings....) to what calls upon your heart is EXTREMELY VITAL. It's why I have books available for readers, why a Lucy Boston quilt in an altered form continues to evolve (as ear...
Read more

Morning chicken routine

-
Image
Good morning my chickens! All photos from today. Subject to change at the whim of said chickens and the lessening morning light.... Amid books and quilts and laundry, etc, are the chickens. These chickens were my husband's idea, to which I acquiesced after how many chicken videos, lol. Feeding them in the morning is my job, which blends easily for how early I get up, yet the mornings aren't as bright as previously. Consequently the chickens don't get their feeder in the coop until it's light enough for me to head outside and deliver it. Yet they're not the wee babes of earlier in summer, HAH! They're quite, um, large. Eleven weeks old yesterday, they prance around the run like they've always had possession of it. They strut around the coop as if forever calling it home. They race to the wall above the roost in the evenings, jockeying for position along the boards my husband placed there so we'd not have to rescue another one of them the way we did Owl Ch...
Read more

Early afternoon (via moonlight) musings

-
Image
There's a full moon under all that glow. And yes, a little star to the left. Keep an eye on that star in the next picture! It's been a longish day. I was up early, but I got to enjoy the moon, although snapping a decent picture of said moon is a crapshoot and today, well.... It's an okay shot, and a few minutes later I went outside again with a different phone that didn't give me anything better, lol. And now it's ten hours later, and I just finished formatting Home and Far Away: The Enran Chronicles Book Four , which might be one of my all times fave novels I have written. And not to get too distanced from Straight to the Heart , but man, I am one lucky writer to have crafted such tender yet witty tales. That I considered myself lucky doesn't begin to explain how I feel about this craft. I'd say blessed is a far better adjective, as it's solely by God's grace that I write anything, including this post. But some people aren't comfortable with ble...
Read more

Straight to the Heart

-
Image
It's always a PLEASURE to announce a new release! Straight to the Heart: The Hawk Book Three continues the saga of Eric and Lynne Snyder, as well as their best friends Sam and Renee Ahern. Add Stanford Taylor, Laurie Abrams and newcomer Marek Jaworski to the mix and this women's fiction/magical realism/historical fiction drama proffers joy, intrigue, and heartbreak all in a tightly knit 90K. And best of all, it's FREE! (Unless you get it on Amazon; then it's ninety-nine cents.) Set in spring of 1962, Lynne and Eric are about to realize their biggest dream, as parenthood knocks on their door. This thrill isn't theirs alone; Renee and Sam share in their exuberance, until Sam's sister Frannie makes a startling announcement. Meanwhile, Seth's continuing status in Minnesota stirs concern in his cousin Laurie, who doesn't believe Seth is being fully honest. As Eric and Lynne draw closer to their new pastor Marek Jaworski, truths surface about that man's p...
Read more