Is Autumn Truly Here? The pumpkins say Yes.

My neighbor's punkins, growing in their front yard. These folks have green thumbs!

The silvery grey plants in front of the punkins are guava bushes. I have one guava so far, with plans for another, and they planted maybe twenty guava bushes. Yum.

Confessions of a Wonder Woman Wannabe book review

Jenny Sulpizio wrote "Confessions of a Wonder Woman Wannabe" where she shares her funny insights on momhood, and ideas about how to avoid her mistakes (we all make a few), and how to organize your days to be a fun and successful mom.

She will bring you giggles and laugh out loud moments interlaced with solid tips on being the best mom you can be.
The chapter titles give you some idea of the fun ahead for readers: "Jesus take the wheel: this girl's outta control", "Did someone say DIY? The Wannabe gets crafty, " "Frazzled and frustrated: this mama's stressed out", and her wise words too, like "Remember, God isn't calling you to be perfect ... He's calling for you to mother your kiddos to the best of your abilities."
Her book is a fun and info packed read for all new moms and for moms of older kiddos too.
Jenny often has give aways on her site at www.jennysulpizio.com especially in September which is her book launch month.

Two garden vignettes, lily and succulents

Yes friends, this is an experiment to see if I can repost an older post!
Two patio scenes, the top one is of a fiery orange red lily given to me by a friend in 2009 and this lily is a very happy and faithful bloomer. The second photo shows a little scene with quite a few dainty succulents in a pot, one is blooming with lavender flowers, bless its heart.
The subtle colors of succulents are so pretty I bought several and put them in one pot recently. Actually the one that has flowers I already had in a huge pot, so I broke off a piece and put it in this container, but I bought the others. As you may know you can break off a piece of succulent and put it in dirt and it will usually thrive and grow.
And yes, that is my lavender color chair from my previous post. I like the effect of the new paint job, and a fellow blogger inspired me to paint the chair. I linked to her in the previous post.
Happy gardening, painting, crafting and most of all, no matter your passion, happy June.

My favorite bedtime story books

 Do you have favorite bedtime story books to read to your kiddos, or that you recall from your own childhood?

Here is the list of favorite bedtime story books, a list we wrote for our co-authored book “Scrapbook of Motherhood Firsts: Stories to Celebrate and Wisdom to Bless Moms”.

The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown.

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.

The Little House on the Prairie series and The American Girl books.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. Great to read aloud at bedtime.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff.

Elbert’s Bad Word by Audrey Wood.

Dr. Seuss books.

In Christ Alone wonderful hymn

Some lyrics from one of my favorite hymns "In Christ Alone", written by Keith Getty (Northern Ireland) and Stuart Townend (England).
I am posting this with love for Judy.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

Downton Abbey and The Cazalets

I must say, I am a big fan of Downton Abbey. It achieves close to perfection for a tv drama, in my view and I would love to visit Highclere Castle where it is filmed.
Since Downton Abbey does not run 24/7 (insert sobs here) all year, I was pleased to find another tv series, The Cazalets. We borrowed the DVDs from our local public library and enjoyed watching it. A nice surprise is that the patriarch of the family is played by Hugh Bonneville, also the head of the Downtown Abbey family.
The six episodes were filmed in 2001 for the BBC, and cover the middle/upper class Cazalet family and their estate in Sussex. The time is 1937 to 1942. The house employs plenty of servants but is not at all as grand as the home in Downton Abbey.
I read a recent interview with Elizabeth Jane Howard who wrote the 4 books the Cazalet series is based on, and she is now a vibrant looking 90. The Telegraph shows a photo of her, at 90 she is gorgeous, strong looking, uses a wooden cane and is holding a tiny brown cigarette. Even better, she is writing book 5 which will answer lots of my questions about the people in the tv series and what happened next.
The first book of the Cazalet Chronicles is The Light Years, which I want to read.
Have you read the Cazelet books or seen the shows?

And the winner of "Tracing Our Footsteps" by Wei Wei is ...

Hi Friends. I went to random.org and it selected the winner, number 9 of the commenters, who is Dee of One Foot Out of the Box blog. Dee, I left a comment on your blog telling you to send me your snail mail address.
The book is a memoir written by my friend Wei Wei and the title is "Tracing Our Footstep."
Thank you to all who left comments.
On about Dec. 1 this year I will give away a copy of the first book I co-authored, "Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts: Stories to Warm the Heart and Tips to Simplify Your Holiday."
Stay tuned!