Book Recommendation with Celebrate Lit Tours: Far From Home by Mabel Ninan

On September 5, 2022September 5, 2022 By Lisa R. HowelerIn book reviews, books and reading, everyday musings3 Comments

About the Book

Book: Far From Home

Author: Mabel Ninan

Genre: Christian / Non-Fiction / Spiritual Growth

Release date: July 12, 2022

What is my purpose? Why do I exist? A sense of self and belonging are two questions many of us struggle to answer.

And what if you are a foreigner in another land?

How does one adjust to a new culture? Discover their place in a new society?

For Mabel Ninan, born and raised in India and an immigrant in America shortly after marriage, the search for those answers sent her on a journey that led to an unexpected and exciting discovery.

God revealed she was not only an earthly immigrant but also a spiritual one, created with a unique calling to impact His kingdom. Mabel’s renewed perspective imbued her with joy and hope, urging her to share the message with others.

Drawing from her personal experiences and by examining the lives of biblical heroes, Mabel sheds light on what it means to live as a citizen of Heaven on earth. Far from Home will inspire you to:

Embrace your identity as a foreigner on earth.
Make your home with God.
Find community and common purpose with fellow sojourners.

Explore the intersection between culture, identity, and faith in this new release from an earthly immigrant who gained a spiritual perspective.

Click here to get your copy!

My Thoughts

Far From Home by Mabel Ninan is a meaningful, inspirational, and powerful devotional written from the perspective of a woman who was a physical immigrant to the United States, but who also recognizes that humans are spiritual immigrants in a world we do not belong in.

Mabel Ninan moved to the United States from India in 2008 with her husband and was thrown into an unfamiliar world. There were days that her only comfort was Jesus who she’d known her whole life after being brought up in the church in a minority Christian community in India. Over the years, Mabel has lived in different countries and on different continents and no matter where she goes, she has found that Jesus is her one constant.

During her time of adjustment in the States in 2008, during her first move with her husband and family, she came to know Jesus in an even more intimate way, leaning on him during a time when she was lost, confused, and lonely.

The lessons she learned during that time are captured in this wonderful devotional that reminds all Christians about their need to call out and reach for Jesus instead of material things which will not sustain them during the hardest times in their lives.

The words of encouragement in this devotional came at the perfect time for me. I was given a free copy of the book in exchange for a review but was not required to give a positive review. I have no problem giving a positive review, however, because this devotional helped me remember that even when I feel like I don’t fit in with others, I do fit in with God.

This devotional’s main focus is to remind us that our identity is in Christ and not in what we, or others, believe our identity to be.

I thought I’d take a moment to share a personal reason for choosing to review this book. I had a good friend named Rev. Charles Reynolds who was a Christian missionary to India for over 50 years. He brought Indian tea home with him and had it stored in his and his wife Maud’s shed in a small town near where I grew up for years. One day I stopped by and I was suffering from a cold. He offered me a cup of tea and said tea solves a myriad of problems, including illness. I didn’t believe him but after a few moments of sipping the tea, I did actually feel better.

He often told me stories about his time in India, once raised money for victims of an earthquake there, kept in contact with the women’s medical school he helped build up when a missionary there, and wrote a book about he and his wife’s time there. Over the years his stories and mission somehow made me feel like I had a connection to the Indian people. I enjoyed reading about Mabel’s journey partially because of this, but also because of my own struggles to find my identity in an often chaotic and uncertain world.

About the Author

Born and raised in the minority Christian community in India, Mabel moved to the US in 2008 shortly after getting married. In nearly thirteen years of her marriage, her family has called ten different places across two continents and seven cities home. The challenges Mabel faced as an immigrant on the move led to a spiritual crisis that drew her nearer to God’s side where she learned valuable lessons about how to live as a citizen of heaven. Her mission is to inspire believers to embrace their pilgrim journey on earth and boldly pursue their heavenly calling.

A contributor to Guideposts’ All God’s Creatures: Daily Devotions for Animal Lovers 2022, Mabel’s writings have appeared in The Upper Room, CBN.com, Leading Hearts Magazine, and (in)courage.me. She hosts a YouTube podcast called Immigrant Faith Stories where she shares testimonies of immigrants, refugees, missionaries, and cross-cultural ministry leaders. She has been serving in various roles in women’s ministry for almost a decade.

Mabel enjoys reading, traveling, and dancing, but nothing gives her more joy than having conversations about the Bible.

Mabel is pursuing M.A. in Theological Studies from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She lives with her husband, son, and Maltese pup in Northern California.

More from Mabel

When the idea of this book was birthed in 2018, I wanted to publish a collection of letters to my son. I wanted to keep a record of God’s faithfulness to me in a foreign country. How He became my all in all when I had nobody to call my own. How He gave me His all when I was empty. I hoped my stories and learnings would strengthen not only my son’s faith but also other immigrants like me. But God had a different plan for this book.

By 2019, the book underwent a complete change in its content and organization. It also targeted a different group of readers. I wrote for those who were coping with changes, those who wanted a deeper walk with God, those who found it difficult to belong or cling to hope in the midst of suffering, and those who were tired of going through the motions. My agent and I replaced the title of the book from This is not Home to Far from Home.

After facing rejecting from almost eight publishers, Far from Home found its home in Harambee Press, an imprint of Iron Stream Media that publishes ethnic writers. I was thrilled!

Far from Home is a nonfiction book but it is also part memoir. I’ve described what life was like growing up in India and I also recount a few experiences as an immigrant in the U.S. What makes Far from Home unique is also that the book introduces the reader to another culture, the Indian/South Asian culture. Some parts of the book read like a devotional while others are rich in biblical character studies and teaching.

Overall, I feel the book reflects who I am—an Indian, an America, an Indian-American, a storyteller, an immigrant, and a Bible teacher—though that was not my aim. I find it fascinating that I could be myself and tell my stories and use all aspects of my identity to declare the goodness and greatness of God.

There is a need for more diversity in our stories. I’m not saying this because diversity is the new buzz world these days. We need diverse voices and ways of worship because they reveal God’s power, beauty, and creativity. Testimonies from other cultures can open our eyes to a new way of experiencing God and His Word. They engage our brains and touch our hearts in a unique way. Reading books by diverse authors can enlarge our capacity for empathy, push back our defenses, and even turn our fear of the unknown into appreciation.

I hope my writing helps you see God from a different lens, a different angle. I hope it makes you want to read books by authors from varied cultures, races, and ethnicities.

And my desire, more than anything else, is that Far from Home convinces you that you’re never really far from home. In the triune God, you always have a home here on earth while you await a better one in heaven. A home that will be shared with people from all nations, tongues, and tribes.

Blog Stops

Texas Book-aholic, September 1

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, September 2

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, September 3

A Reader’s Brain, September 4

Beauty in the Binding, September 5 (Author Interview)

Boondock Ramblings, September 5

Inklings and notions, September 6

deb’s Book Review, September 7

Locks, Hooks and Books, September 8

Simple Harvest Reads, September 9 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, September 10

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, September 11

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, September 12

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, September 13

Jodie Wolfe – Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, September 14 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, September 14

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Mabel is giving away the grand prize package of a Paperback copy of book, customized notepad and bookmark (these eco-friendly products made by rural artisans in India help sustain endangered art forms and secure livelihoods), access to digital resources (recipe booklet, teaching videos, and audio prayers), and a $30 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/21362/far-from-home-celebration-tour-giveaway

Sunday Bookends: The Wonder Dog gets a spa day, Anne of Green Gables and big words, and western mysteries

On September 4, 2022January 2, 2023 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings2 Comments

Welcome to Sunday Bookends where I ramble about what I’ve been reading, doing, watching, writing and listening to.

What I/we’ve been Reading

Right now I am reading Junkyard Dogs, A Walt Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson.

For those who are curious, it is not a clean book, but it is also not as graphic as some books. There is some coarse language.

Here is the description:

From the New York Times bestselling author of Land of Wolves, a modern-day ranch war takes place in the sixth Longmire novel

Junkyard Dogs, the sixth installment in the New York Times bestselling Longmire Mystery Series, the basis for LONGMIRE, the hit Netflix original drama series, takes us to Durant, Wyoming. It’s a volatile new economy in Durant when the owners of a multimillion-dollar development of ranchettes want to get rid of the adjacent Stewart junkyard. Meeting the notorious Stewart clan is an adventure unto itself, and when conflict erupts—and someone ends up dead—Sheriff Walt Longmire, his lifelong friend Henry Standing Bear, and deputies Santiago Saizarbitoria and Victoria Moretti find themselves in a small town that feels more and more like a high-plains pressure cooker.

Walt Longmire is up to his badge in the darker aspects of human nature, making his way through the case with a combination of love, laughs, and derelict automobiles.

I am also reading a devotional called Far From Home: Discovering Your Identity as Foreigners on Earth by Mabel Ninan which I will have a review of on Monday.

A description of that book:

Explore the intersection between culture, identity, and faith in this new release from an earthly immigrant who gained a spiritual perspective.

What is my purpose? Why do I exist? A sense of self and belonging are two questions many of us struggle to answer.

And what if you are a foreigner in another land?

How does one adjust to a new culture? Discover their place in a new society?

For Mabel Ninan, born and raised in India and an immigrant in America shortly after marriage, the search for those answers sent her on a journey that led to an unexpected and exciting discovery.

Drawing from her personal experiences and by examining the lives of biblical heroes, Mabel sheds light on what it means to live as a citizen of Heaven on earth. Far from Home will inspire you to:

Embrace your identity as a foreigner on earth.
Make your home with God.
Find community and common purpose with fellow sojourners.

As you look at my choices of books you can see my tastes are eclectic. Books like the Longmire books are not my normal reads (I usually read much cleaner/tamer prose) but I love how Johnson weaves a story and makes you fall in love hard with his characters.

Next up after the Longmire book is a book by an indie author, Kathy Geary Anderson, called A Refuge of Convenience (It features a marriage of convenience trope, which is not my thing, but I like Kathy’s writing) and then either A Crooked House by Agatha Christie or A Cat Who Book I’ve had sitting on my shelf for a bit.

Little Miss and I are reading Anne of Green Gables at night.

The one fun thing about reading a book like Anne of Green Gables to Little Miss is the vocabulary she picks up. She asked me what the word exhibition meant and then kept saying it to get the pronunciation correct. Then she heard the words dreadfully inadequate and asked what inadequate meant. I told her and then joked with her that she could show her brother how smart she is by telling him the next day he is “dreadfully inadequate as a brother” as a joke. Well, by the next day I even forgot the word we had learned but when I said, “What was that word I was going to have you call you brother?” she piped up “inadequate. And that’s what you are.”

And then she grinned.

Of course, she assured him she was kidding.

She will be 8 years old in October, by the way.

The Boy isn’t really reading H.G. Wells, War of the Worlds, but he likes to pretend he is.

The Husband just finished a Hercules Poirot book and is anxiously awaiting the latest Walt Longmire Mystery, To Hell and Back, which comes out Tuesday.

What’s Been Occurring

Last week was supposed to be my “do-nothing” week, other than planning for homeschooling to start Tuesday, but as often has been happening this summer, the week filled up rather quickly.

On Monday I received a call from Little Miss’s dentist saying she had a cleaning scheduled the next day. I didn’t remember this at all but apparently, we had scheduled it six months before. While there we learned that she has a lot of dental issues, which isn’t a shock since my son did as well. They both have soft enamel.

After that appointment and the prospect of more work to be done on her teeth in the future, I was looking forward to a day to decompress Wednesday. This didn’t happen, but in the end, it was a lot more fun since I went to my parents to hang out with my mom and swim what could be our last swim of the summer at my parents’ pool.

On Friday we drove to New York State (not to be confused with New York City) to have Zooma The Wonder Dog groomed. While she was being pampered Little Miss, The Boy and I went to the playground, or rather Little Miss and I did because The Boy had an upset stomach after eating fast food, which we don’t eat often these days.

Sometimes we have to explain to friends from out of the area that New York State is more than just New York City and that the area we used to live in was maybe two miles from the NY State border so it wasn’t like it was that different over there. The scenery is about the same but the “rules” are often much dumber. Right now the gas prices are lower, which was not the case when we lived there.

Today we are having a cookout with our neighbors and tomorrow we are probably doing nothing, but I had hoped we could get one more swim in before school starts and the weather gets too cold. I’m not sure about that because we are supposed to get storms on Monday.

What We watched/are Watching

Last week I didn’t watch a lot other than some vlogs and sermons.

This week I will be watching a Halloween or Spooky Season movie with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs, a Paul Newman movie (hopefully The Sting), and probably a lot of Dick VanDyke to help me survive various life stressors.

What I’m Writing

This week on the blog I shared:

I am working on The Shores of Mercy, hope to finish that by the end of September, and then plan to delve into a book called The Devil’s Been Talking, which will be a departure from my earlier books.

What I’m Listening to

This week I listened to a lot of Needtobreathe, a bit of Matthew West, and our local Christian radio station.

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.

Looking back at August and ahead to September

On September 3, 2022September 2, 2022 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings12 Comments

August was a full month, but not as rushed and crazy as July.

It kicked off with my mom’s birthday and a trip to a lake on the state game lands near us with some friends.

We spent a lot of time with my parents either eating dinner or playing in the pool or just enjoying the view. The kids helped dad pick vegetables out of the garden and The Boy helped my dad on various projects throughout the summer.

We also played in the water quite a bit.

We went to the Outhouse Races in town.

The Husband worked a lot, including attending a press conference with the president one day during this last week of the month at a college a couple of hours away.

The most exciting thing about that to my husband (besides some really odd mix-ups uttered by the prez) was the university band, who was performing some nice jazz numbers.

During the last two weeks, I have watched the leaves start to slowly turn orange, red, and yellow and that’s freaked me out a bit since I am not in the least ready for fall and feel I did not plan for school the way I had planned to do. Oh, I had grand plans. We were going to work on math for Little Miss and do a bit of math for The Boy so he isn’t just being tossed into it next week, but alas, we followed the path of other summers and only had fun instead.

Looking ahead to September, school starts for us on Tuesday, and I know the kids are not excited about it, but they are resigned to it and may even be glad to get back into a bit of routine. Scrap that last part. They hate routine and school! Who am I kidding? It’s me that is looking forward to getting back into a routine and maybe a little bit to school again.

There will be plenty of learning going on, including from this mom who likes learning along with the kids. I especially enjoy the history and literature, but have even found math and science fun at times.

I hope to finish writing my current book (The Shores of Mercy) and reading a few others this month as well. I’m sure we will watch plenty more Brokenwood Mysteries, a couple more other mystery shows (most likely all British as we haven’t found any American mystery shows we actually like), a few movie classics (including a couple more Paul Newman movies I couldn’t fit in for my Summer of Paul), and take some walks in the falling leaves. We will also be home more since we have math, reading, history, and science to learn for school and this excites me because there is nothing more delightful than telling someone I am unavailable to do something I didn’t want to do in the first place because we have school.

As for reading, I have a huge list I’d love to tackle.

The Husband picked up a Garrison Keillor fiction book at one of those “little libraries” for me and I also have another stack of books I haven’t been able to dig into yet, plus a huge list on Kindle.

On Kindle, I am currently reading Junkyard Dogs: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson.

This month I hope to read or finish:

High Adventure by Donald Westlake

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis,

Savage Run by CJ Box,

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

And Death Ever After by Eva Gates

I also hope to toss some lighter reads in there. We will see how it goes. I almost never read as many books as I plan on.

I guess I should mention that my birthday is also in September but I’m going to be old this year so, well, I’m trying to forget about it. My parents are also celebrating their 59th wedding anniversary on September 8.

How about you?

What are your plans for September and how did your August go?

Fiction Friday: Mercy’s Shore Chapter 17

On September 2, 2022September 1, 2022 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, fiction, Fiction Friday1 Comment

This is a continuing/serial story. I share a chapter a week and at the end of the story, and after I edit and rewrite, I self-publish it. To catch up with the story click HERE. To read the rest of the books in this series click HERE. Let me know in the comments what you think.

Chapter 17

Judi was back in Angie’s room, feeling as awkward as she had before. Maybe she should have helped Ben tell the Phillipis that they needed to leave, but, honestly, she wasn’t ready for the drive yet. She was still struggling to process Jeff’s phone call and she didn’t want to process it while Ben demanded answers from her.

Plus, Angie’s dad had had an odd look on his face when he’d urged Ben to stay. Judi didn’t know Mr. Phillipi at all, but he seemed like a nice man, and he was giving her a vibe that he needed to talk to Ben. Maybe staying over would give them a chance to clear the air, if it didn’t give him and Angie time.

She answered a text from Ellie, telling her the full story of why she was in Lancaster and about the car, the accident on the highway, and that they were staying over. She didn’t tell her, obviously, about the call from Jeff.

After she hung up, she laid back on the bed with a pillow hugged to her chest. The call had certainly thrown her off her game. If she hadn’t received it, she wouldn’t have thought twice about getting in that car, rejecting the Phillipi’s pleading requests to stay, and instead driving her and Ben home so she could reconnect with Evan and forget about the calls from the lawyer and now Jeff.

She rolled onto her stomach and sent another text.

Hey, you okay? Just heard about a tractor-trailer accident and hoped it wasn’t you. This is Judi by the way.

She didn’t know why she told Evan who was texting. He’d put her number in his phone, but who knew how many girls he was receiving texts from on any given day? There was no way someone that good looking didn’t have a girl in every town.

She yawned and stretched then winced as her stomach grumbled in protest. She’d declined Mrs. Phillipi’s offer for dinner, instead wanting to hide away and not have to put on a fake smile. Ben had declined as well, hiding away in the den in the finished basement of the house.

She guessed they both were fighting battles with their thoughts. Better now than tomorrow on the road.

She glanced at the gold-framed clock on the wall. Nine o’clock. She’d heard Angie take Amelia to bed an hour ago. Hopefully, Angie’s parents were also early-to-bed people and hopefully, they also didn’t mind if she snuck down to the kitchen to find a snack.

She walked slowly down the dark hallway and staircase, turning left toward the kitchen, feeling along the wall for a light switch. Somewhere outside an animal howled or screamed or made some noise that reminded her that they might be four hours from Spencer but they were still in a rural area. She slid her hand along the wall with a little more purpose.

The kitchen flooded with light before she found the switch. She looked up to see Angie on the other side of the room by the refrigerator with her hand on a square light switch. Her dirty-blond hair was up in a messy bun, the makeup that had been meticulous and flawlessly applied earlier was gone, but she was still a natural beauty, which sent a swatch of jealousy through Judi, who felt like she had to work for her beauty.

“Guess I wasn’t the only one who needed a snack,” Judi said with a quick smile, shrugging a shoulder.

Angie didn’t smile as she folded her arms across her chest and leaned her right shoulder against the doorway. “I needed a drink.”

“Oh.” Judi gestured toward the fridge. “Please don’t let me stop you.”

“No. Go ahead.” Angie’s words were said through a tight jaw. “Grab your snack.”

Judi pushed a hand back through her hair and sighed. “I didn’t think your parents would mind but if it is an issue. . .”

Angie’s expression softened and she unfolded her arms, letting them drop to her side. “No, of course, they wouldn’t.” She walked toward a cupboard next to the stove, opened it, and took out a glass. “Sorry I’m so grumpy.” She turned around, a glass in her hand. “Please, help yourself. There is some pizza left over from the party if you’d like any of that.”

She took a paper plate off a pile by the toaster and slid it onto the island. “Here is a plate if you need one. The bread is in the breadbox if you’d like a sandwich. We have turkey and ham, salami, and some lettuce.”

Judi pulled out a couple of slices of pizza from the refrigerator and laid them on the plate while Angie filled her glass with water from the sink.

She leaned back against the counter as Judi placed the plate in the microwave.

“So, how long have you and Ben been seeing each other?”

Judi raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder. “Seeing each other? As in dating?” She shook her head. “We’re not seeing each other. I thought you knew I was his secretary.”

Angie shrugged a shoulder. “Well, that’s what he said, but . . .”

She let the implication hang in the air.

“And it’s what he meant. I’m filling in for his secretary. Her husband is going through chemo treatments, so she needed some time off. I drove Ben down here because his doctor advised him not to drive until he stops having headaches and dizzy spells from his concussion.”

Judi took the plate out of the microwave, set it on the island, and sat on a stool. “I’m also the reason he has a concussion and a broken food but no, we are not seeing each other.” She snorted a small laugh. “Ben is good looking, don’t get me wrong, but he’s way too uptight and strait-laced for me.” She grimaced. “And boring. So boring. I don’t know how you ever dated him.”

A small smile tugged at Angie’s mouth. She sat on a stool on the other side of an island, across from Judi. “Well, he wasn’t always boring.”

“Yeah, probably not since he was still drinking then,” Judi said.

Angie made a face. “Actually, he wasn’t a fun drunk. He was an angry and depressed drunk most of the time.”

Judi swallowed a bite of pizza and bit her lower lip. Sometimes she really needed to think before she spoke. “Sorry. That was a bad joke.” She focused her gaze on Angie’s. “Really. I know firsthand how not fun it can be when a person drinks too much.”

Angie cupped the glass in her hands, her arms propped on the island. “Were you in a relationship with an alcoholic too?”

“No. I was the alcoholic.”

Angie dropped her gaze. “Oh.” She cleared her throat and lifted the glass. “I didn’t know that.”

Judi smirked. “Guess you haven’t talked to anyone from high school in a while. I figured you’d already heard all about my stupid behavior over the years.”

“I don’t really talk to anyone from high school,” Angie said softly. “I don’t like remembering who I was back then.” She twirled the glass in her hand. “I had heard you moved to the city, though. What brought you back?”

Judi shrugged. “Needed a break from the hustle and bustle I guess.”

“I can understand that. The city was a bit too crazy for me, honestly. It made me realize I’m more of a country girl than I realized.”

Judi folded the pizza in half and shoved into her mouth, speaking around it. “I love the city. I’m not a country girl at all. Too dull around Spencer Valley.” She wiped her mouth with a napkin and swallowed. “Sorry to be so blunt, but it’s the truth. If you don’t want to go to a bar then you’re pretty much stuck reading a book or joining the quilt club.” She rolled her eyes. “Or join my sister’s Bible study.”

Angie smiled and propped her chin in her hand. “So how did you give Ben a concussion?”

Judi took another bite of the pizza. “I accidentally pulled out in front of him on Drew Road. He swerved to miss me and slammed into a tree.”

Angie winced. “Ouch.”

“In his new BMW too. Then he got out, bleeding from the head, yelling, pointing and gesturing while this vein in his head popped out. I thought it was going to explode.”

“The one right above his right eye?

Judi laughed. “Yes. It was popping to the rhythm of his words.”

“How about the neck one? Right below his left ear?”

“Working overtime.”

“How red were his ears?”

“Like a lobster. I can tell you know Angry Ben too well.”

Angie’s smile faded briefly. “Yeah.” The smile slowly returned. “Sometimes it was funny though. It wasn’t all bad anger. Sometimes he was upset about a class or because he couldn’t get the garbage bag open. It wasn’t always directed at me.”

Judi took another bite of pizza and a comfortable silence settled over the kitchen for a few minutes.

“People can change,” she said after a few moments, even though she wasn’t sure she believed it herself.

Angie nodded and picked up an apple from the fruit basket in the center of the island. “Yeah. They can.”

“I think I am seeing a different Ben than you did.”

An orange cat rubbed against Angie’s leg and she reached down and stroked its head. “Yeah. I think you are.”

“Maybe you’ll see that version of Ben someday too.” Judi stood and tossed the empty plate in the trash can. “Anyhow – I’m going to head to bed. It’s been a long and crazy day.”

Angie’s voice stopped her in her tracks, and she turned back around. “Did Ben ask you to drive him down here?”

Judi knew she should lie and said he had. It would probably make Angie feel better and make Ben look better. There was that whole private promise she’d made herself to be honest, though.

“No. Not exactly. I offered. He didn’t want to come.”

Angie drank the last of the water and placed the empty glass in the sink. “I see.” She turned to face Judi. “Why did you offer?”

Judi didn’t want to get into it, try to sound like a good person. She just wanted to go to bed and try to forget about the earlier phone call. Angie was looking at her with an expression Judi couldn’t read. Either she was hoping that Ben had shown some sort of interest in doing the right thing or she was afraid Judi had forced him to come.

“I figure he’d eventually regret it if he didn’t see his daughter.” She smiled and laughed softly. “And I really needed to get out of Spencer for a few hours. Like I said, the place is seriously dull.”

Angie responded with a laugh of her own. “I know and I’m going back there in a few weeks. What am I thinking?”

Judi placed her hand on the bottom of the banister. “Look me up when you get there. Maybe we can find something fun to do there together.” She raised her hands in a defense motion. “Something that won’t involve alcohol. I promise.”

Angie tossed the apple up and caught it again. “I may take you up on that. Hey, would you like a pair of pajamas? I’ve got an extra one in the second drawer of my dresser. We look about the same size. I’m sure it would fit.”

The two walked upstairs together, Judi thanked Angie for the offer of the pajamas, and they said goodnight.

She changed into the nightshirt and pajama pants Angie had offered her, turned the lights off, pulled the covers around her, and started to set her phone down when Evan texted back.

Evan: Hey, Judi Lambert. How sweet of you to be worried about me. Yeah, I’m good. Dropping my truck off and then heading back out on the road to Spencer. Hope to catch up with you when I get there. You back in town yet?

Judi: No. Car problems again. Still in Lancaster.

Evan: Ah, man. I should have looked a little longer. Sorry about that.

Judi: No problem. Really. Angie’s brother found some dirt on the connection to the battery.

Evan: Dang. Didn’t think to check that. Guess I was too busy checking you out.

Warmth spread across Judi’s cheeks and she immediately felt ridiculous. Plenty of guys had flirted with her over the years. She was used to it. Evan was no different so why was she reacting this way?

Judi: Very funny, McGee. Glad you are safe. We’re headed out tomorrow. Angie’s mom was worried about the fog and had us stay over.

Evan: Good idea. The fog was rough. Took me an extra hour to get back to my garage and I’ll be taking my time back to Spencer. Call me as soon as you’re back in town, k? I’d love to see you again.

Judi smiled at his words.

Judi: Same here. I’ll be sure to let you know.

Evan: Night, Judi. I’ll be remembering that cute skirt you were wearing tonight in my dreams.

Judi clicked the screen off and laid the phone by the bed. She’d met a lot of guys over the years, most of them after one thing. Evan McGee probably wasn’t any different but right now she wasn’t sure she cared.

Flirting with him was a nice distraction from the situation with Jeff. She’d have to face it all at some point, call that lawyer and tell him she didn’t want anything to do with the case, but for now, she was going to pretend the only worry she had was how soon she could get together with Evan once she got back in Spencer.

Classic movie impressions: Breakfast at Tiffany’s (with spoilers)

On September 1, 2022August 31, 2022 By Lisa R. HowelerIn classic movie impressions, everyday musings5 Comments

I have been exchanging classic movie suggestions with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs this summer and I think we are going to continue doing it into the fall because it has been a lot of fun and a nice distraction from life stressors.

Today I am discussing Breakfast At Tiffany’s and Erin is discussing my suggestion of The Philadelphia Story.

You can find Erin’s post HERE.

On to my impressions of Breakfast At Tiffany’s:

I think this is the first movie I watched at Erin’s suggestion that I really didn’t enjoy as much as I hoped I would. I didn’t completely hate it by any means. In fact, there were aspects of it I liked very much, but I did not love this movie and I think it was because of one very specific reason — Audrey Hepburn’s accent.

I feel awful saying that, since I have never actually had an issue with her accent, but in this movie, she was supposedly a girl from the South running away from her problems but he had some odd European accent the entire movie. I mean, she couldn’t at least fake a Southern accent? Isn’t that what actresses are supposed to do? Except for Kevin Costner in Robin Hood, of course. Har. Har. In all the reviews of this movie I saw, not one of them seemed to have an issue with her accent for this character, so I’m pretty sure this is just a “me problem.”

The whole back story for Audrey’s character in this movie just wasn’t believable at all because of her accent, but I am sure it was more believable in the book by Truman Capote that it was based on. He released the book in 1958.

The idea behind this movie is that Audrey is a free-spirited young woman living alone in New York City when she meets Paul, played by George Peppard (who would later star in the A-Team), a gigolo who gets paid to sleep with a married socialite, living in her apartment the next floor up from Audrey. He is supposed to be a writer, but that avenue has dried up so he’s earning money by selling his body. I think we, as movie watchers, are supposed to see this as normal behavior in some ways, but also see that it isn’t what he wants for his life — to be used and dragged along with the promise of a publishing career someday.

Audrey has reinvented herself as Holly Golightly, changing her name from Lulamae and leaving behind an extremely odd and rather inappropriate upbringing.

The entire movie is essentially about her making a number of bad decisions in an effort to be on her own, yet at the same time not having to support herself. She is always looking for a situation where an older, richer man will take care of her and let her live her laid-back life where she imagines going to Tiffany’s jewelry store and buying whatever she wants for her breakfast, so to speak.

Honestly, I think Audrey’s character is a horrible brat, yet I don’t blame her for wanting to get away from the terrible situation she grew up in and I think that’s the point of the movie. She acts like a spoiled, selfish brat because she’s been traumatized. She’s not tied down to anything and she’s afraid to be because when she was tied down, she was told what to do at a very young age.

I really loved the end of the movie, but I won’t share it here in case someone reading this has never seen the movie . . . . then again the movie is 61 years old this year and I did write a disclaimer in my headline that there would be spoilers so — [SPOILER ALERT ABOUT THE ENDING OF THE MOVIE AHEAD!!]

I love that at the end Holly realizes that Cat (which is her name for her cat, that she never really named because naming the cat would mean she has to commit to something and that is a very frightening idea for her based on her past childhood issues) is the one constant in her very unstable life. When she goes back to look for the cat – after she tosses him from a cab and tells him to get lost in the city – she also realizes that Paul is her other constant and she is ready to open herself up to at least a couple constants in her life.

This ending is not how the novel ends, however. In the book the reader is left with not actually knowing whatever happened with Holly

So it doesn’t sound like I totally hated Audrey’s portrayal of Holly, I do want to say that I loved how Audrey was so laissez-faire about life, even if that attitude was leading her into a life void of real love.

She reminded me a lot of a friend I had in college, except my friend wasn’t trying to run away from anything in her life, she was simply extremely laid back and casual about things. She was also a little bit ditzy and that could make her both aggravating and a blast to be friends with.

One quick warning too — this movie does contain an absolutely racist portrayal of an Asian person by Mickey Rooney. I didn’t even believe it was Mickey Rooney when my husband told me it was him.

The bottom line on Breakfast At Tiffany’s is that I do recommend it, even if I didn’t like that Audrey’s accent was not authentic.

Wednesday Hodge Podge: A bit of laboring

On August 31, 2022August 31, 2022 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings8 Comments

This post is part of From This Side of the Pond’s weekly Wednesday Hodge Podge feature. Please check out her blog for more participating blogs.

Something you’ve labored over recently?

Sometime in the spring, our dishwasher died so lately I have been laboring over dirty dishes, which is one chore I just absolutely abhor! But, our dishwasher wasn’t cleaning well before it died so at least our dishes will be a little cleaner now. Hopefully, we will get a new dishwasher someday.

2. How will you rest on Labor Day?

I think on the actual day we will be swimming at my parents if the weather cooperates. Our neighbor has invited us, and my parents, to a cookout at her house the day before Labor Day. We will try to take it easy because the day after Labor Day we start school (we homeschool).

3. Margaret Mead is quoted as saying, “I learned the value of hard work by working hard.” Would you agree? Where and how did you learn the value of hard work?

Yes, I think I would agree. You need to work hard to understand why hard work has value. Some would say that instead of working harder you work smarter and that’s good advice too.

I worked for 14 years in small town newspapers where you did a little bit of a lot of things. You were the reporter, the writer, the photographer, sometimes answered phones, occasionally had to cover a sports event, and if someone didn’t get their paper you might even end up delivering it. I worked anywhere from 10 to 14 hour days there and one time even worked about a 22-hour day (thought I was going to the hospital that day). I wish I could say that it taught me that hard work means you get paid well, but that being paid well isn’t really a think at small town newspapers. It didn’t really teach me that hard work means success either, but it did teach me that hard work teaches you how to be resilient, how to build up a business brick by brick (moment by moment even, and can also bring you a lot of cool experiences.

4. It’s National Eat Outside Day (August 31st). Will you? Do you enjoy dining ‘al fresco’ or prefer indoor seating?

I might eat outside today, yes. We like to eat outside as long as the weather is nice and there aren’t a lot of bugs around. We go to a little restaurant about 40 minutes away from us and we have eaten inside and outside and I prefer outside. We’ve also been to restaurants along one of the Finger Lakes in Upstate New York and I prefer eating outside there too so we can see the gorgeous views.

5. Somehow it’s the end of August. What was the best day of the month for you and tell us what made it so?

I think I have a tie for the best day. One day a friend texted and asked if we wanted to join her and her kids at a lake in a state park near us. That was such a fun, full day in the sun and left with us a lot of memories.

My mom’s birthday was also at the beginning of August and it was a wonderful, fun-filled day with a lot of laughter.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

This is the best Needtobreathe song, especially the ending.

Recommend a blog or two?

On August 25, 2022August 22, 2022 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings5 Comments

Hello. I would love to find some more blogs to follow.

I love blogs where people talk about their life, love books, and talk about their faith, but they don’t need to have all three of those.

Clean blogs are nice, but the blogger, obviously, doesn’t have to be perfect since I am not. *wink*

Let me know of any blogs you recommend in the comments.

Wednesday Hodge Podge: A Little Waffling

On August 24, 2022August 24, 2022 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings6 Comments

This post is part of Joyce’s blog From Thi s Side of the Pond and her weakly feature Wednesday Hodge Podge. Click over to her blog to find links to more Hodge Podge posts.

August 24th is National Waffle Day…what’s something you’ve ‘waffled’ on recently?

I’ve been waffling on how to make extra money to help support our family as costs go up. First I’ll think stock photography is the way to go and then I think promoting my books and by the end of the day my head is just spinning as I go back and forth on it all. I need to choose a direction and go in that direction.

2. Do you like waffles? Make your own or ‘leggo my Eggo? Any favorite toppings or add-ins? Waffles or pancakes-which do you prefer?

I do like waffles but about ten years ago I dropped all wheat and also found out I am allergic to corn which is in everything so I don’t eat waffles often. I can’t remember the last time I had one but my kids eat them all the time. They will even eat them without syrup and usually have the chocolate chip Eggo waffles. One thing I used to love on waffles was Nutella spread in between two waffles. I also loved waffle cones as a kid. I need to find a waffle maker and some gluten-free, corn-free waffle mix and make some and slather on the Nutella!

I don’t really eat waffles or pancakes but if I did, I like waffles more. Pancakes just seem too…I don’t know. Cakey to me. *wink*

3. Do you have any momentos from this summer (or past summers)? What do you do with them?

I do not have mementos from this summer and I don’t know if I do from other summers really. We don’t go on a lot of trips and I can’t think what I’d collect if we did. If I did collect momentos they’d go in a drawer or box like other momentos I suppose.

Wow. That was a boring answer.

4. One thing you’d like to do before summer ends?

Visit a local swimming hole near us with the kids and watch more Paul Newman movies for my Summer of Paul, which is me watching as many Paul Newman movies I can. I don’t think we will get to that swimming hole, but I can watch more Paul movies.

5. Life is too short to _______________

stress about likes and comments on social media.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Last night my son came into my room at 2 am after he went to see why our dog was barking and told me he looked into our backyard and thought he saw a naked man hunched over but it turned out to be his sister’s plastic side which was faded in the sunlight over the years.

Summer of Paul: Impressions of Cool Hand Luke and Torn Curtain

On August 24, 2022August 28, 2025 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings6 Comments

Last week I continued The Summer of Paul (Newman that is) by watching Cool Hand Luke and Torn Curtain. The Summer of Paul is what I am calling my summer challenge to watch as many Paul Newman movies as possible.

I started this project late, so it wasn’t really an entire summer of Paul movies. If you want to get technical about it.

So far this summer I have watched:

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Paris Blue

The Long Hot Summer

The Hustler

Sweet Bird of Youth

The Rack

A New Kind of Love

Cool Hand Luke

Torn Curtain

In the past, I have also watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Twilight, The Towering Inferno (good grief…what a silly, crisis movie. Ha!), and Exodus.

I have about two weeks left of summer to finish a few more Paul movies, but I may stretch this movie marathon into the Fall of Paul, because, well, it rhymes, and because I have a few more movies I’d like to watch, as well as the documentary series about Paul and his wife Joan, directed by Ethan Hawke and called The Last Movie Stars.

Movies on tap for this week

The Prize

The Sting

From the Terrace

Movies I hope to fit in next week or this fall:

The Color of Money

Hud

Rachel Rachel

Rally Around the Flag Boys!

Mr. and Mrs. Bridge

And

Somebody Up There Likes Me

Now for my impressions of Cool Hand Luke and Torn Curtain.

Cool Hand Luke

Cool Hand Luke is based on a book of the same title by Donn Pearce. Pearce and writer Frank Pierson wrote the screenplay and the movie was directed by Stuart Rosenberg. The story is about a former veteran, Luke Jackson, (Newman) who is sentenced to two years to a prison camp in the hot South for the petty crime of removing the heads off parking meters.

The sentence he receives is ridiculous, honestly.

Luke becomes a figure of strength to the other men in the prison when he stands up to a bully in the camp, refusing to be knocked down during a boxing match. He also stands up to the captain, played by Strother Martin who utters one of the movie’s most famous lines, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” This is a line, I might add, that my mom likes to quote a lot, but I’m not sure why. Hmmmm.

Anyhow, Luke becomes a hero to the men until he attempts to escape and that’s when things go a bit haywire. Before that attempt, Luke tries to keep the men’s spirits up by doing weird challenges, such as eating 50 hardboiled eggs in an hour, a famous scene that the movie is known for.

Luke becomes like a Christ figure to the men but eventually, he can’t live up to all the pressure and he doesn’t want the pressure. He wasn’t a hardened criminal before he came to the prison. What he was was a misguided man with no direction in life. He came from an abusive home with a mother who was in and out of relationships and didn’t do a great job at raising him.

His petty crime spree wasn’t something that should have left him in a strict prison where the captain of the prison worked hard to break his spirit and bring him into line.

Much of the movie is heartbreaking, but there are some funny moments in between.

The theme of the movie, besides Luke’s need for guidance and something to work toward, seems to be about staying in line and not rocking the boat to keep your life smooth and easy.

Luke rocks the boat and the other prisoners sort of want to rock the boat but they are too stuck in their criminal ways to know how to move beyond crime and become actual, upstanding citizens.

According to the entertainment site, Looper:

“. . . it’s an acting showcase for its star, Paul Newman, maybe the best he ever got. It’s a timeless narrative of the individual’s struggle against heartless authority, and it’s a very timely tale about how that struggle played out in the ’60s. It’s a mythic, universal story, and it’s one filled with gritty specificity. It’s a story about a Christ figure, or maybe it’s about a mortal man wrestling with God.”

Pearce had a very exciting life, much more exciting than what he wrote about in Cool Hand Luke, the article further states..

At the age of 18, Pearce “joined the US Merchant Marines in the aftermath of World War II, before he fell in love with a pregnant Italian reporter and went AWOL.” He eventually traveled all over Europe cracking safes, passing off counterfeit money, and escaping prison. Eventually, though, his misdeeds caught up to him and he spent time on a chain gang in Florida. He began writing after that but only wrote two books, Cool Hand Luke and Nobody Comes Back in 2005.

Writing for Hollywood didn’t work out for him because of his volatile nature so he eventually became a bounty hunter. Luke Jackson may have been based on someone named Donald Graham Garrison who Pearce may have heard about in prison, but Pearce denied this and said a lot of what Luke did was based on his own life, including eating 50 eggs in an hour on a bet.

Some other cool facts about the movie that you can read more about in the Looper article, or other places online:

The set was a recreation of a real Florida jail;

Jack Lemmon almost played Luke;

Paul, a method actor, toured the South while researching the role;

Some of the sweatiest scenes were filmed in very cold weather;

Paul actually didn’t eat any of the eggs during the actual filming. He put between eight and 12 in his mouth and the rest of the cast ate about 200 during the filming of the scene to get rid of them;

Paul actually learned to play the banjo for the scene where he plays and sings in memory of his mother.

Torn Curtain

I didn’t like Torn Curtain. There is the bottom line of my impression of the movie.

The plot and the script were honestly all over the place which fits with stories that Alfred Hitchcock hated the final script.

I loved looking at Paul and admiring his blue eyes, but I could not get into the movie and much of it seemed pointless. Not only that but I could not see Julie Andrews in the role opposite Paul, but maybe that’s because I’ve seen The Sound of Music too many times.

To me, Julie was not meant for a serious suspense film and this movie proved it.

Plus, she and Paul had horrible chemistry in the film. They seemed like two buddies instead of lovers. It was odd.

Before I go too much further in this post, here is the plot:

American physicist Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman) shocks his friends and family by defecting to East Germany to work with the Soviets during the height of the Cold War. Even his fiancée (Julie Andrews) is surprised by the move, but when she follows him behind the Iron Curtain, she discovers that her husband-to-be isn’t a spy, but a double agent working to discover Soviet nuclear secrets. As they plot a way to escape back to America, his cover is blown, putting both of their lives in jeopardy.

This is one of the few movies of Paul’s I’ve seen where his personality was horrible. He had no range and watching him act was void of emotion and like watching paint dry. He was like a cardboard cutout of himself. He seemed bored the entire time, which bored me.

I honestly kept wishing the movie would just end so I wouldn’t have to remember Paul this way. Sigh.

Hitchcock apparently hated the film so much he declined to do a trailer with him in it, which was a tradition for other films of his.

According to Imbd, the idea for the movie came from the real-life defections of British diplomats Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean who defected to the Soviet Union in 1951. Hitchcock was especially interested in Maclean who later had his wife and three children move with him.

Paul and Hitchcock didn’t get along because Paul was a method actor who wanted to know what the motivation of his character was. Hitchcock reportedly told Paul his motivation was his salary for the movie and left it at that. That probably explains the lackluster performance.

*I mean, look how bored the poor guy looks here! He’s rethinking his whole career up to this point.*

Even though Hitchcock didn’t like the movie or the performances of the actors in the lead roles, audiences did. It was the highest-grossing film, at least for Universal Studios, in 1966.

I am hoping the next couple of movies I watch will remove the memory of Torn Curtain.