Magic of Snow in California Christmas 2021 and a New Year Is Here

 Happy New Year to you all.

One event was a highlight to my Christmas of 2021. Actually all of Christmas for my family was upbeat. The highlight was that my adult sons asked to go to our church Christmas Eve candlelight service, and my younger son's girlfriend wanted to come too, so that made it even more fun.

 

 

We got there early and talked to my friends and introduced people all around. About 200 people came to church, all masked per regulation. Young and old, lots of songs sung, a meaningful message from the lead pastor. It just elevates the spirits to gather with like minded loving people, united to worship and strengthen friendships. We collected money that night for two local charities. The lights in church were turned out and each person was given a candle to light. After singing a hymn in the dark lit by our 200 candles we all raised our candles up high, illuminating the darkness. Light always wins against the dark.

A magical moment came when the minister talked about snow ball fights after church. I didn't know what he was talking about; where we live in California it does not snow. Lo and behold as we walked out after the service big snowflakes drifted down from on high right outside the church. I played in the snowflakes and felt like a child again. 

Hidden up high on a balcony was one of our ministers hand cranking a snow machine. It was such fun, especially for the little kids. And the adults got to play too.

 

Below is a photo I found online that I couldn't resist sharing: reindeer, little fur friends, a lantern and snow.

 

 

Happy New Year friends.

Merry Christmas 2021, magnolia bloom, our tree and Bounce

 

John 3:16 is often quoted around Christmas time, and for the best reasons. In it we read that the birth of Jesus signals to us that the gift of eternal life is available to all those who believe in Jesus,  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, That whosoever believeth in Him shall have eternal life." This promise makes me happy, knowing that Jesus is preparing a home in heaven for me. I know many of you love that promise too.

Another promise is that when we ask truly for forgiveness of sins our sins will be forgiven and we can start anew with a clean slate in life. "If anyone belongs to Christ, there is a new creation. The old things are gone, everything is new." 2 Corinthians 5:17. 

 

Bounce adds his greetings of hope and joy to all his friends and fans! Merry Christmas to All.

My Christmas tree this year was brought to me by my sons who drove a truck to a Christmas tree farm with Bounce to help pick out a tree. They met friendly goats and big dogs on the farm which was a treat for Mr. B. The tree is 7 feet tall.

 

And a surprise in my yard, my purple magnolia is in bloom, here in California. It is actually called Black Tulip magnolia. I recall reading that it is the darkest red, closest to purple or black, of all the magnolias.

Wishing you all the joys of the season and a Merry Christmas to you both near and far.

Christmas book I wrote, shameless self promotion

 Hi all.Tis that time of the year when some of you may want some Christmas inspiration, recipes, ideas, and more. I have new blog followers so this book "A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts: Stories to Warm Your Heart and Tips to Simplify Your Holiday" may be new to you. Some of you know I co-authored a colorful hard cover book about how to celebrate Christmas easily and inexpensively, while putting Christ at the center of the holiday. This involves helping others, and how to make inexpensive gifts, fun family activities, and more.

 Below is one of the pages in the book I wrote, with its warm illustrations.

Below is the cover of A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts and an Amazon link. I hope the link works!

 Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts

How did this book get written and published? 

I was friends online with five other Christian writers and one of the ladies proposed this book to her publisher and they said yes. Two of us live in Texas, three in Ohio and me way out here on the west coast, in California. We each wrote many short sections and tips. I wrote about green ideas for the holidays and my first Christmas camping in the Everglades as a child. One of us wrote about her first Christmas with her two adopted children who are siblings. It was a joy to write. We also decided to pay a few writer friends to write short one page true stories about Christmas firsts they experienced. One had a reunion with a prodigal son, for example. We paid them from the advance the publisher paid us. The publisher gets my thanks for the beautiful art on every page of our book. 

If you read and enjoy my book, I would love if you post a review online, on Amazon, Good Reads, etc. Christianbook.com also sells our book. Merry Christmas to All.

Matthew McConaughey's Greenlights, Anne Lamott, Tom Ryan and a happy old dog

 Books. Reading. Reading. Books. Two of my favorite things.

"Greenlights", a memoir by Matthew McConaughey turned out to be even greater than I had hoped. Plus Mr. M. is such a handsome man, isn't he? One of my favorite movies of his is Mud, not his most acclaimed movie, but excellent. Mr. M is a man of honorable character as is revealed in his memoir. It is easy to read, fun, has family photos, and lots of his words of wisdom on helping us find our own greenlights. Some of the tips are duct taped to the page in photos. Very clever format. Below is a photo of one of the tips on a page of his book. The note says "Knowin the truth, seein the truth, and tellin the truth are all different experiences." (he drops the "g" in those words for a reason).

Here are three books I recently purchased and read, all written by authors I think are honorable people. Thus their books resonate with me, and I am happy when reading them and thinking about them afterward.

"Dusk, Night, Dawn" by Anne Lamott. I buy all of her memoir/Christian ideas books. She is a free spirit. In this one we learn that she married for the first time in her life at age 60 or so. She never thought she would marry. Her essays are always interesting.

"Will's Red Coat: The Story of One Old Dog Who Chose To Live Again" by Tom Ryan. Why did I only recently discover this author, who obviously has a great heart? His earlier book "Following Atticus" is a best seller and is also about a dog Ryan loves. I aim to read that one soon. These are nonfiction. Will is an old dog who was adopted when quite deaf and almost blind and he sure grows to enjoy life.  Ryan is so attentive to Will, one clever way he helped him was by playing classical music and setting Will's bed so Will rests his head against the table leg so that even though deaf, he enjoys the vibrations of the music.

I see that all three of these are memoirs. What book treasures have you found to share?

Thanksgiving, Giving Thanks

 Here in the USA we celebrate Thanksgiving. I find it a relaxing holiday centering around family, food and praising God for the blessings he gives us. Here are some photos for the day.

 I chose the above photo because it is not your typical turkey picture and it is rather pretty.

The above is the last Thanksgiving Will and I spent together, which was in 2015. Hold your loved ones close.

I love foxes and this guy has an orange coat, so I include him.

I count my blessings from God every day. Well, a few of them, the list is rather long. He is a good good Father. I also sing "Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye Heavenly Host, praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost."

For those who celebrate this holiday and for everyone world wide, Happy Thanksgiving.

The ocean near my home, Bounce and Fluffy and dog bed

 I am posting this added info on November 8, as I have had no Internet/Wifi at my house since October 25. AT&T finally fixed it. I okayed 22 of your comments today, to show as posted, it took me this long since I had no Wifi. This post was scheduled to post on Nove. 1 and it automatically posted. I will start visiting blogs again, hurray. And watching TV and visiting rumble.com, etc. Thanks for taking the time to leave your kind comments, sweeties.

Bounce and I often walk from my house (our house) to the bay, to enjoy the fresh air and to experience all the pure beauty of the sea. 

The sparkle of the waves gave me joy and you can see some students on the rocks on some sort of science outing. When I see the waves and feel the majesty of the ocean I do not fail to thank God for His creations. "He hath made everything beautiful." Ecclesiastes 3:11

Above is Fluffy and Bounce taking a nap together. Of course I woke them when I took the photo. Sorry to disturb you guys.

Above is Bounce in his favorite bed, which is actually a pretty shade of blue. He feels very comfy in there and we call him little taco.

Above he was sleeping. It is hard to get a picture of him sleeping, he usually wakes up. 

Have a great day friends and enjoy the beauty around you.

Musicians I Heard Live from Bob Dylan to B.B. King

 

Above is a free standing cardboard sign of Bob Dylan that I got when I was in college and that I am still pleased to have. It is about 40 inches tall. Isn't he young in this photo? He is my favorite singer/song writer/poet. I saw him live in concert a few years ago when he played where I live. I still have the tee shirt I bought that evening, showing a photo of Bob.

My husband Will and I heard B.B. King several times play live in a blues club in Oakland, California. One time B.B. came and sat at our table and chatted with us. What a thrill for us. Will played guitar so it was quite an honor to meet B.B. King in that friendly manner. I couldn't find any B.B. King photos available free to post.

I heard Joan Baez perform live once, her voice is so rich and haunting. Isn't the above photo perfection? The young and talented Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, briefly a couple. I think she wrote the great song about their affair, "Diamonds and Rust."

I heard Del Shannon live in concert in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His song Runaway is a favorite of mine.

At Fillmore West in San Francisco  my husband Will and I attended many concerts, and loved The Kinks, Fleetwood Mac, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Hot Tuna and The Youngbloods. The Youngbloods was a favorite band, with their song "come on people now smile on your brother, everybody get together and try to love one another right now." We in the audience would all join hands when they sang that song. We saw The Youngbloods in concert live several times.

 

I heard Memphis Slim (in above photo) in a small underground blues club in Paris, France. There were a lot of small clubs in Paris that were built literally underground. As I recall they were called "caves."

Your comments reminded me that I saw a performance of the Bolshoi Ballet when I attended college in Istanbul, and a Shakespeare play (not music, I know) in Statford on Avon years ago.

Who have you heard live?

My old friend, Henry David Thoreau and my Uncle Leroy Pelkin

 

 

 

I began my acquaintance with Henry David Thoreau when I was a preteen, perhaps 10 or 11, when my uncle Leroy Pelkin gave me a book by Thoreau. He honored my ability to learn by only giving me adult books over the years. Uncle Leroy gave me a nice selection of books by Thoreau and by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Some of the books were published in the 1800s and I still have them. Something about the writings of these men resonated with Uncle Leroy and me. We both value independence, the beauty of nature, and minimal government. Uncle Leroy valued time alone, like Thoreau and like me. He was a bachelor, and as life goes full circle, as a widow I live alone now. Solitude has many virtues, I find.

 

 In his essay Civil Disobedience Thoreau describes our duty to obey a higher law when human laws are in conflict with that. He was opposed to slavery and was put in jail in 1846 for refusing to pay poll taxes which he understood supported slavery. His friends paid his taxes so he was released from jail; he did not appreciate what they did. His family sheltered a number of fugitive slaves.

Uncle Leroy gave me the book "Autumn: From the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau", published in 1892. Now that book is older than I am! I still have this book and will share a quote or two from it here.

"That old Carlisle road, which leaves towns behind;  where you put off worldly thoughts; where you do not carry a watch nor remember the proprietor ... The lonely horse in its pasture is glad to see company, comes forward to be noticed, and takes an apple from your hand. Others are called great roads, but this is greater than they all."  Sept. 24, 1859 Thoreau's Journal. 

Emerson and Thoreau loved America, nature, the woods, individualism and the God given rights of citizens. They understood that God gave us rights, not the government, and thus, the government has no standing to take away our rights.

Here is a quote from Thoreau's Walden: “We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.”

I have a nice little book, "The Bluebird Carries the Sky On His Back", filled with short quotes by Thoreau. I will share a few with you here.

"The swiftest traveller is he that goes afoot." 

"Shall I not rejoice also at the abundance of the weeds, whose seeds are the granary of the birds?" 

 

"On Sundays  ... when the wind was favorable ... I heard the bells of Concord, a faint, sweet melody, worth importing into the wilderness."

And here is a favorite of mine "I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than to be crowded on a velvet cushion."

In 2021 Thoreau reminds me of much that is important and timeless and true.

Beautiful Scripture Quotes

 

I like the above art showing the lion and lamb in the clouds. Today I am sharing some Scripture quotes that guide me. Our God is a kind and loving God and these Scriptures show this.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28-30

 

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35

"We must obey God rather than men." Acts 5:29 God gave us the Bible, which is His book of instructions, to help us follow God. I love reading and studying the Bible, alone and in our Women's Bible Study group, and in our fellowship group at church with men and women.

 

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13

 

When asked which commandment is the greatest Jesus replied "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself." Mark 12:30-31

Queen of the Night Cactus in Bloom

These Queen of the Night cactus draw me in with their beauty. Twenty years ago neighbors dug this cactus up at my house and planted them in their yard. I switched from a front yard cactus garden to one having flowering shrubs. It had become too difficult and dare I say, painful, for me to weed the cactus garden. Yes, the cactus stabbed me! My flowering shrubs need little water and are mostly natives, like California Fuchsia and Native Penstemon.  Meanwhile the Queen of the Night is thriving at the neighbors' home.

These beauties open up fully in early evening so I could take these photos. I think they are pollinated by bees and moths and bats. The flowers are six inches across.

A Deep Reading Habit and 3 Books I Like

  As many of you know, I love reading.

 I bought "Laugh Like a Kid Again" when I thought of the author Phil Callaway. He was the key note speaker at a Christian writers conference I attended, and got me to laugh and to think. His light hearted true stories in this book include a prodigal dog and Callaway's unexpected afternoon in a prison. 

 Above is "An Enchanted April" by Elizabeth Von Arnim, one of my all time favorite novels. This edition is only $10 for paperback and $1.99 on Kindle. Four English ladies meet via a newspaper ad to rent a villa in Italy. Each is desperate in her own way to have a peaceful interlude in her life.

The two books I suggest above are easy to read and An Enchanted April is a wonderful story with a bit of romance in it. I recently read an article about how to get good reading habits and you can find the article at A Deep Reading Habit

Can you tell I am a librarian and a writer? I wrote two books with a traditional publisher and I also wrote 1,000 or more articles and magazine columns. Yup, reading and writing, I love em.

The article has tips to help us enjoy reading; two tips are to read physical books and to read for at least 30 minutes. Of course ebooks are also favorites of mine, and sometimes I read for just a couple of  minutes. I think the key is to find books you like! If you tell me in a comment or email what kind of topics or books you like I will recommend some to you that might suit you. 

Above shows a page in a book a friend gave me recently, titled 100 Illustrated Bible Verses, by Workman Publishing. As Jesus says in John 15:12 "Love one another, just as I have loved you."

Flames in the Greek restaurant

 

Yes, my family went out to celebrate a birthday for one son and a work anniversary for the other son, at our favorite Greek restaurant. We love the flaming Greek appetizer called Saganaki and order it often. It is Kasseri cheese and brandy and they light it on fire at our table. It is so dramatic, delicious and adds to the fun. The flames reached perhaps four feet in height.

We arrived at 4:30 and the diners all sat at tables far from each other. Another group had the flaming cheese too. In other years they had Greek musicians play in the restaurant, and some evenings the owner, who is from Greece, would throw plates to the floor and break them, in dramatic manner, while calling out "opa". I am sure he used old chipped plates. He would also when inspired (and perhaps drinking some ouzo) carry a small table in his teeth, while dancing. This is a festive place to eat and we love Greek food. So fun to go to a restaurant to eat after such a long pandemic. As the Greeks say, Opa.

Oh, and thinking of Greek food, I must brag a bit and tell you that I got a marriage proposal based on the baklava I baked. This was years ago, at a potluck where I didn't know most of the people, I baked baklava and a man called out across the room, "Who baked this? I want to marry her." I guess that means he loved it. I had to tell him I was already married. Nice story though.

Mystery photo

 

Do you know what the above photo shows?

It is my newest fun acquisition. A tongue drum. I decided to add beautiful notes of music to my day. 

It is a drum made of titanium steel and I don't need to study to learn how to play it. You can hit one note with the mallet and it rings out in a calm musical sound. I play it to lighten my mood, also before I pray, and some people say the notes vibrate in a healing way. I found a book I may buy which has Christian hymns for tongue drum. You can also play it with your hands and with finger tip covers that they include. I bought this drum a few days ago and am almost addicted to it. The sounds are so melodic.

I only heard of the tongue drum a week ago and bought it rather on a whim, after I listened to a video of the beautiful mystical sounds it gives. People often use these drums for African and Caribbean music, and for meditation and prayer.

Being a senior citizen I like trying new things, it might keep me young, and my drum means I have added music to my day.

In response to some of your comments, you can buy these drums at local music stores, or local drum stores, and online in places like walmart.com Mine has 11 notes and is about 12 inches across. Children love these tongue drums and they are a great introduction to playing and enjoying music. Some drums are only 6 inches across and a great size for children and travel. Mine came with a nylon travel case and strap and I am going to take mine to outdoor meetings with friends to show them and let them try it.

Flowers in my garden, fun in an egg, full moon

 

I love the rose petals on the ground under my Julia Child rose. They seem to be dusting the ground like snow.

 I think I shared the above photo with you before; it shows how large the clematis flowers are.

When I cut into the hard boiled egg today and saw these hearts I laughed.

Above I am trying to catch the full moon one evening recently. The moon is so small in the photo and so big when I looked at it.