I’m so glad you are here and taking part in our weekly link-up of family-friendly, fun, educational, interesting, crafty, fashionable, and whatever else posts. I hope you’ll tell your followers about our post (feel free to copy and paste the graphic) and visit the blogs in the link-up. I know I have met some very fun bloggers that way!
Hello, everyone! This has been a crazy week for me with some health concerns for me and some for my parents. We are all doing well at this point but I had absolutely no time to choose any posts to highlight this week. I will be back next week with highlights, though!
For now, here are our most clicked posts for this week, and, oh my word, we had a seven-way tie!
Now it is your turn to link up your favorite posts. They can be fashion, lifestyle, DIY, food, etc. All we ask is that they be family-friendly. You can link up posts from last week or even from years ago.
Also, please take the time to visit the other blogs on the link-up and meet some new bloggers!
It is June and I should be excited because it is officially summer, but I am not a summer fan so I am not as excited about the arrival of June like others might be.
I will really not be excited when July arrives because July and August are two of our hottest months in our area of the world.
Despite not liking the hot weather of summer, I do have some summer activities I am looking forward to.
Before we get to June, though, I’ll look back on May, which was a somewhat stressful month with a lot of ups and downs.
School ended Thursday for the kids, but I will write about that in a separate post. I will mention here that I was more than excited for this school year to end, especially when it came to the eleventh grader, my son. Getting him to do schoolwork this year was like pulling teeth. He was never rude about it, but he just dragged his feet on every assignment I gave him. He was also attending classes at a local technical school so I know that added some stress to his schedule. He had senioritis early, I guess.
We had some nice visits at my parents during May and enjoyed watching green spread across the hillsides and fields as Spring came. It seemed like one day the trees were naked and brown and the next they were glowing a brilliant green.
The sight of the green made my heart full and light at the same time.
We haven’t been visiting the library as much lately but we did have a nice visit in May. The books we got that day have been renewed once since but we are ready to take them back.
I read The Strawberry Girl from that stack and Little Miss and I decided we didn’t want to read Ginger Pye right now so we will read that at another time.
There was also a book about reptiles that Little Miss enjoyed and a couple of books about horses as well. We still need to read the picture book on Van Gogh, which is full of beautiful pictures.
In April we went to a book sale at another library near us and I came home with a large stack of cozy mysteries and other genres.
I’ve read a couple of those cozies and plan to read more this summer.
I feel like May was not very exciting. It was mostly full of school and trying to push through to the end of that.
Looking ahead to this month, we will be meeting with our homeschool evaluator next week. Once that is over and we hand the evaluations into the school district, our school year is officially over. Yay! I’m looking forward to that, but in a way I will miss school. I like learning with the kids. Luckily learning new things is something we can do anytime of the year.
This week I ended up in the ER for some weird symptoms. In the end, things turned out well, but our family has been under a lot of stress so I am really hoping for some sort of break through and turn around this month.
That’s what I’m looking forward to most in June, besides some time with family, reading, and working on the third book in the Gladwynn Grant Mysteries – a turn around for the good in some way.
The day after I came back from the ER the wild roses and the peonies were blooming in our backyard and it gave me hope that that turn around will come soon.
I’m so glad you are here and taking part in our weekly link-up of family-friendly, fun, educational, interesting, crafty, fashionable, and whatever else posts. I hope you’ll tell your followers about our post (feel free to copy and paste the graphic) and visit the blogs in the link-up. I know I have met some very fun bloggers that way!
This week we had a tie for the most clicked posts, both by Thrifting Wonderland.
This week we have had rain and I have actually enjoyed it. It has been nice and cool and great reading and writing weather. I hope the weather has been lovely where you are!
I highlighted three posts this week but there were so many good ones. Please remember you can always go back and read the posts from the previous week’s link-up, even if you can’t add links to that particular link. I liked so many posts this week it was truly hard to pick just these! I am not just saying that!
Now it is your turn to link up your favorite posts. They can be fashion, lifestyle, DIY, food, etc. All we ask is that they be family-friendly. You can link up posts from last week or even from years ago.
Also, please take the time to visit the other blogs on the link-up and meet some new bloggers!
Apple Cider Slaying is the first book in the Cider Shop Mystery series by Julie Anne Lindsey and I can say right off the bat that I will read more in the series after reading this one.
The mystery starts with a murder in the apple barn of Winona “Winnie” Mae Montgomery and her Granny Smythe. The discovery of the body of Nadine Cooper, Granny’s nemesis, would have been unpleasant at any time but was especially unpleasant to find when Winona was in the middle of an interview with the bank’s loan officer while trying to secure a loan for her cider making business.
Winona has been helping Granny with her orchard for years and had hoped to expand the business. That will be hard to do, though, without some extra money. Getting that money won’t be easy when horrible things keep happening in front of the man who can give that money.
When the new sheriff, handsome Colton Wise, lists Granny as his number one suspect, Winnie knows she needs to clear Granny’s name. To clear her name she will have to do some investigating of her own because she thinks Sheriff Wise has made up his mind to prove Granny is guilty.
As if trying to keep the orchard afloat and start her own business, working at the local diner, and having her grandmother accused of murder isn’t enough, Winnie’s ex-boyfriend shows up back in town after dumping her the year before. Luckily, she has a best friend and people in her small community to lean on and support her and her grandmother.
There is a ton of humor in this book even in the midst of some very tense moments – especially between Winnie and Colton.
The one minor issue I had was that I would have liked the grandmother to be a little more flushed out – such as having even more of her personality and backstory showcased, but I think that will happen in future books. There was some of that in this first book, don’t get me wrong, but I loved her character so much so I want more. I am sure I will get that more in book two.
I loved Granny so much that I almost cried during one scene but I’m not going to spoil the reason for my emotion. You’ll have to read the book.
This series is on Kindle Unlimited or available for purchase in ebook, audiobook, or paperback.
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
The Secret of Shadow Ranch by Carolyn Keene (Another fluff read by “Carolyn Keene” this week.)
The Fast Lane by Sharon Peterson (A romantic comedy – much needed, though there is some seriousness thrown in so I’m reading it sort of slowly.)
Just Finished:
Strawberry Girlby Lois Lenski
I almost abandoned this one because of how odd it was when I first started but then I had to find out what happened with the Slater family – who are so mean to the Boyler family. If you’re not familiar with this one it is about farming families in Florida in the early 20th century. Their accents are, I guess, very authentic. Or mocking. Not sure which, but I think they are meant to be authentic. (I know they are meant to be authentic. I’m teasing a bit here.)
It honestly had a lot of disturbing stuff in it so I don’t think this will be a book I’ll read over and over. The librarian at our local library said this one had sentimental meaning for her like the Little House books but I don’t remember neighbors poisoning the Ingalls’ mule like the neighbors in this book did. Yikes. It did have a good ending, but I would not call this a “cozy read.”
It was, however, an interesting one.
Abandoned: I planned to start a new book by author Maddie Day and then found out that she is a cozy mystery writer who pushes politics in her books. No thanks. I read to escape from all that – not to have it shoved at me in books that are meant to be fun. And, by the way, I don’t want politics even if it is politics I “agree with.”
Soon to be read:
The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of my Father by Jim Wight
The Deeds of the Deceitful by Ellery Adams and Tina Radcliffe
The Boy and I are reading Around the World in 80 Days Together.
Little Miss and I are reading Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes.
The Husband is reading . .. oops. Forgot to ask him and he’s laying down for a nap. I’ll let you know next week.
What We watched/are Watching
It was a mixed bag of things on tap to watch this week. I watched an episode of Dick VanDyke, one of the old Carol Burnett Show, a couple of YouTube videos from Just A Few Acres Farm and I think that’s about it. I read and wrote more this week than watched things. What I’m Writing
I am still working on corrections to Cassie and on writing the third book in the Gladwynn Grant Mysteries.
Now it’s your turn
Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
This week our prompt was: Authors I’d Love a New Book From (These could be authors who have passed away, who have retired from writing, who have inexplicably gone quiet, or who might just not be able to keep up with how quickly you read their books!)
I knew right away what I would answer for this when I looked at the list of prompts last week.
This weekend the first author I thought of – Jan Karon, author of The Mitford series — announced she is actually writing a new book! What?! So excited right now!
In addition to Jan I would love new books from Lilian Jackson Braun (alas she is dead) and L.M. Montgomery (also dead).
Back to Jan, though.
This weekend Jan attended a tea at the Mitford Museum and announced that at the age of 87 she is writing the 15th book in the Mitford series, after originally deciding that the book she released in 2017 would be the last.
I am terribly excited for the new book but even if it never comes out for some reason, I will be okay because there are already so many books that I can read over and over again.
And I do read them over and over. I am always finding something new in them each time I read them.
If you don’t know what The Mitford series is, it is a series of books about Father Tim Cavenaugh, an Episcopalian Priest in his late-60s who starts to experience a lot of firsts – the first time falling in love, the first time becoming a father (you’ll have to read to find out what this means) , and the first time being diagnosed with a serious illness. He lives in the fictional town of Mitford, N.C. where there are a variety of wonderful, eccentric, sweet, bullheaded, hilarious, and loving characters. Those characters include Father Tim’s friends who he meets every morning at the diner, his church secretary, his housekeeper, his doctor, his sweet congregation member Miss Sadie, and then later his charming neighbor Cynthia.
Mitford books are written in a series of short snippets from a few points of view but somehow the story still comes together cohesively. Each character is so endearing and Karon writes them so perfectly and authentically that it is impossible not to fall in love with them and want the best for them. There are plotlines that carry over from each book but the main plotlines are usually resolved in the installment they begin in.
There is at least one plotline that does not resolve in several of the books and it had me heartbroken and worried as I waited for it to completely resolve. It was an amazing way to keep readers coming back for more.
I know some people might start the series and be annoyed by how the points of view jump here and there, but for the most part, the POV is Father Tim. If that jumping does bother you, I encourage you to still give the books a chance because I truly feel you will find yourself as enchanted by the character’s stories as I always was.
I remember how shortly after I married, I would sit in the tub at our new apartment (or it was new for me) and read the books while I was in the bathtub. Weird. I know. I was always worried I’d get the pages wet because back then I only read paperbacks – no e-readers. Yes. I am old.
The first book, At Home in Mitford came out in 1994. I was in high school at the time. I don’t believe I started reading them until I was in college. I read them because my mom was reading them. The last book, To Be Where You Are, came out in 2017.
Mom has said more than once that picking up a Mitford book, even years after you’ve read it, feels like coming home. She’s so right. It feels like you are walking right back into your friendly hometown with people who you know so well and they somehow know you too.
Last year my mom had her gallbladder removed. She was in the hospital for a week and for a while we weren’t sure if she was going to be okay or not. She needed something to read so I took her Bathed in Prayer, which is a collection of little sayings or excerpts from previous Mitford books. One night on the phone, when I’d called to check in, she told me how comforting that book was to her while in the hospital.
“It was almost like a little devotional,” she said.
Some of my favorite lines, scenes, or excerpts have come from Mitford books, including:
“Perhaps, he thought, we should all live as if we’re dying.”
***
“When it comes to feeling his sheep, I’m afraid my sermons are about as nourishing as cardboard.”
“Are you resting?”
“Resting?”
“Resting. Sometimes we get so worn out with being useful that we get useless. I’ll ask you what another preacher once asked: Are you too exhausted to run and too scared to rest?”
Too scared to rest! He’d never thought of it that way. ‘When in God’s name are you going to take a vacation?’ Hoppy had asked again, only the other day. He hadn’t known the truth then, but he felt he knew it now—yes, he was too scared to rest.”
***
“He’d learned that one obstacle to childlike faith in a heavenly father was bitter disappointment in earthly fathers. No, not everyone had that obstacle to faith, which was clearly a favorite of the Enemy, but Miss Sadie had had it, and he had had it and come to terms with it, and forgiven his father, long ago.
His research for the paper on Lewis revealed this had been a major obstacle for the apologist. One commentator had said, “For years, Lewis had not been able to forgive himself for his failure to love his father, nor had he been able to appropriate God’s forgiveness for this sin. But when finally enabled, he was almost incredulous of the peace and the ease he experienced.”
***
“There’ll be times when you wonder how you can possibly thank Him for something that turns your life upside down; certainly there will be such times for me. Let us, then, at times like these, give thanks on faith alone… obedient, trusting, hoping, believing.” (In This Mountain)
***
“At times God puts us through the discipline of darkness to teach us to heed Him. Song birds are taught to sing in the dark, and we are put into the shadow of God’s hand until we learn to hear Him…. Watch where God puts you into darkness, and when you are there keep your mouth shut. Are you in the dark just now in your circumstances, or in your life with God? Then remain quiet…. When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else when you get into the light.” ― (In This Mountain)
When Jan announced at a recent Mitford Tea at the Mitford Museum in North Carolina that she would be writing a 15th book, she reflected on why she had felt like she might not be able to write again.
She lost her mother in 2016, her daughter in 2021, and her brother in 2022.
“You’ve got to have something left to write with and I had nothing left to write with.”
Her aquifer was dry, she said.
So she began to write an autobiography but it wasn’t going anywhere. She wasn’t feeling it, so to speak.
She dug into her drawer and found a Mitford-related short story and began to play with that to try to get her creative juices flowing again, she said. Not only did her creative juices start flowing but she fell in love with Mitford again.
And now it looks like we will have another Mitford book – another story with Father Tim. Once again, she promised her fans what she has said in the past – she will never kill Father Tim off. I certainly hope she doesn’t kill anyone else off. A couple integral characters did die over the years and I sobbed like someone in my own family had died.
Have you ever read the Mitford books? Don’t worry – I understand if they weren’t your cup of tea.
I am both excited and nervous to announce that the two books in my Gladwynn Grant Mysteries are now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo and that soon all of my books will be available on those retailers.
Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing and Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage are no longer available on Kindle Unlimited but they are available on Kobo Plus and for purchase on any of the three sites.
On Kobo you can purchase the book in ebook form and on Amazon and B&N you can purchase both paperbacks and ebooks.
In June all nine of my books will be available on all three sites.
A Story to Tell and A New Beginning are being rewritten for a new release in late June and they will also be available on those three sites.
Cassie, which releases in August, will be available on Kindle Unlimited along with the rest of the Apron String Books series, which is being written along with ten other authors. There are five books out in that series now and you can learn more about it here.
The books for the Apron Strings Book Series keep releasing and this month it is Joann by Donna Stone.
The series features books about women in each decade from 1920 to 2020 and they are connected by one recipe/cookery book, but otherwise the books can be read individually.
Today I am interviewing Donna about her writing and her book, which releases today. See the bottom of this post for a link to the book.
1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’ve always loved the written word and books. The bookstore or library is my favorite hangout. Growing up, I used to climb up into a tree in search of a quiet spot to read a book, away from my siblings. I’ve given up tree climbing, but still enjoy a bit of peace and quiet with a book.
Writing has been a big part of my life for as far back as I remember. During the years my children were young, I wrote for magazines and for fun—when I could find time. We homeschooled and were very active in the homeschool community, with church, and with dance and theater.
A few years ago, I started writing novels with the intent of publishing. This was a different world than writing short fiction and nonfiction! I entered a few writing contests and to my surprise did quite well, which encouraged me to think I might be able to make a go of this novel writing thing. Right now, I have five completed novels that are scheduled to be published in 2024 and 2025. I regularly contribute to Almost an Author, a site for writers about craft.
2. What is your latest book about? Who are the main characters and when and where does it take place?
Joann is part of the Apron Strings series. The story takes place in 1965 in the small rural community of Pecan Grove, Louisiana. Joann works in her family’s store and it’s her dream to one day share proprietorship with her younger sister and continue a long family legacy. She has a deep loyalty to the family business and believes serving her community in this way is her true calling. Joann’s father would rather his girls got married. In truth, Joann wants both, but during the 60s a married woman rarely had a career or business. Then there’s the not-so-small matter of whether or not Nathan, the only guy she’s ever loved, is serious enough about her to commit to marriage. Besides romance and Joann facing all the challenges of her expected role in society, the story explores family relationships, especially between Joann and her younger sister.
3. What is the overarching message of your latest book?
Because of past abandonment and her personality, Joann struggles with letting others, including God, take the lead. This causes her unnecessary heartache, even as she tries her best to seek God and understand what it means to “lean not unto your own understanding”.
4. Did you learn anything about writing or yourself as you were writing the book?
When writing, I often use music to inspire me, and with this book, I found out I know a lot of the lyrics to songs of the 60s! The music of the times was all over the place, reflecting the changes and issues of the day. Listening to those songs from the 1960s definitely gave me a feel for the era.
On the spiritual side, writing Joann reminded me of truths I already know, but all to often lose sight of. In the busyness of tending to a family with special needs, I’m called on to smooth out the bumps, which can feed into a reliance on self. That’s not a bad thing, as long as it doesn’t become my go-to so much that I forget to lean on God make space to listen to Him. In our culture of hurry, the practice of waiting and listening is hard to nurture.
5. Where can readers find out more about you and your projects?
Hello, how was your week? Can I make you a cup of tea?
I need that warm cup of tea today, not only because the temps are a little on the chilly side this week, but because I feel slightly cold and numb inside these days.
I try to be fairly perky on my blog but right now I do not feel perky.
I feel pretty down about a lot of things.
In better news, this week we had some very nice weather and on one of those days with nice weather Little Miss and I visited the library for the first time in months. We have not been going to the library because we have so many books to read already. We are overwhelmed.
We mainly went to the library because Little Miss was very indignant when she found out her friends had gone to the library and immediately flocked to the computers to play the games they could play at home.
“They should be playing or picking out books at a library!” she declared. “Not playing video games!”
Little Miss does play some online video games with her friends so she’s not being judgmental of video game playing, but for her that day she was expressing how she feels the library is a place for reading and not for playing on the computer.
The next day, however, she was letting things slide a bit on that front, saying it would be okay if they picked out books first.
I, however, told her that she would not be playing video games on computers at our local library when we go. The library is for unplugging, for reading, for relaxing, for quieting the mind from all the online mess.
I simply will not allow her to play video games in a place I feel is sacred for readers. I know, I sound like a strict parent and I would be if I didn’t let her play any online games at all with her friends (games I keep an eye on) while they chat through a private message service. I don’t think it is strict to have rules about treating the library as a place to seek out peace instead of chaos.
The children’s librarian said her children play on the computer but only because they are there so much with her on certain days and I said that I would understand. I mean, how many books can they pick out while there waiting while Mom works? So, sure, they would spend some time on the computer.
Anyhow, Little Miss enjoyed playing with Lego’s and blocks while I picked some books out for her – okay, I picked up a couple of middle grade books for me as well and then sat and read the one book – Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes – for a while.
While there I did learn that if you like a book and want others to have access to that book you need to check it out once in a while, otherwise libraries remove it from the shelves after a certain amount of time. The librarian told me if no one checks out a book for whatever amount of time the library sets for it to be checked out (I think she said a few years, but I can’t remember), then it is removed from the shelf – classic or not.
After we arrived home, I made spaghetti and meatballs and we headed to my parents for dinner.
Later in the week, my mom had an exciting night when a bear showed up on my parents’ front porch. My mom suffers from fibromyalgia so lying in a bed has been hard for her for years. She now sleeps in a recliner at night and her recliner is next to the patio door. She was returning from the bathroom around 1:30 when she saw something move in the dark on the patio/deck. She figured it was an opossum or racoon or maybe a skunk since those create visit a lot. Then she saw the bear rise up on its hind legs to grab for the bags Dad had created to look like a hornets nest to try to trick the hornets into thinking there was another nest there.
She said the bear dropped down and sniffed a while and then went up on it’s hind legs again. When it dropped down and rose up a third time, putting its giant paws on the glass of the door to both look in and get to the bags, she called for my dad.
Dad came running from his room with his iPad so he could try to get a photo of the bear. *Facepalm* By that time, though, the bear was making his way off the porch so Dad only saw its backend as it was walking back into the darkness.
Later that day Dad learned that a bear had been hit by a car or truck sometime in the morning along the highway near their house, but we don’t know if this was the same bear or not. My husband said someone had cut the bear’s head off, maybe to take home as a trophy. He wasn’t sure but the State Game Commission is apparently investigating the incident.
Last weekend I wasn’t feeling well because of extreme sinus pressure so we didn’t do much. Today I am having a “lady issue” that I thought I was done having so I am again home and under the covers.
Tomorrow we will have lunch at my parents for Mother’s Day.
Hopefully, my attitude and depression will improve later this week.
As an aside, I heard there is an effort going around the internet to “out” people who support Israel in any way shape, or form – or Jewish writers in general. They are listing them as Zionists, which I don’t see as a bad term. I just think there are a lot of people who don’t like Jews who don’t tremble in fear and walk into the gas chambers for them anymore.
Since I think all of this smacks very heavily to what happened in the 30s and 40s in my opinion I am hoping to get a hold of that list and buy directly from the authors any of the books that interest me.
If anyone reading this doesn’t like that I want to buy books by Jewish authors, you are more than welcome to stop following my blog.
It won’t bother me one bit.
I don’t have a lot planned for the week but I’m sure I’ll be making plenty of cups of tea or cocoa and finishing some books I have started.
