Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary. (Edgar Allen Poe) Can’t you imagine Poe writing that on a January Monday midnight?Chilled to the bone and unhappy, but with pen in hand? I hope you’re not cold or unhappy. But let me ask you. Do you like winter? Do you like January? Or is it the month …
January 12, 1966 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. It’s January. Do you like January? Dad says you should like every day. That every day is a gift from the Lord, but somehow January days can feel like grab bag gifts that don’t have anything in them but broken crayons. I got a grab bag like that once. It …
Did that make you smile? It does me. Smiles are what this post is about. Some of you may check out my Facebook page. If so, you know that I have some regular features on my page on different days. Sunday morning coming down. Tuesday mailbag. Shaker Wednesday. Throwback Thursday. And Friday is smiles day. All day. Some Fridays we have …
The Seeker, my Shaker book set during the first two years of the Civil War, is on special e-book sale this week for $1.99 or less on most e-book sites. It’s fun having reduced price books to give readers a chance to try one of my stories. Of course, there is always the library too for those who prefer a …
January 5, 1966 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Can you believe it’s 1966? Wow! In a few years we’ll flip the decade and then it’ll really be hard to write the right date for the year. I’m getting fairly good at changing a 5 into a 6 on my school papers. Yeah, it didn’t snow, so we had …
“Dates that come around every year help us measure progress in our lives. One annual event, New Year’s Day, is a time of reflection and resolution.” (Joseph B. Wirthlin) Here we are at the time of year when resolutions figure in many people’s conversations. What are your New Year’s Resolutions? That’s a …
The flowers return Happy New Year!!! Snow in January 2014 Snow and sunshine. Winter and spring. Each year brings us gifts from them both. Mom still smiling before she moved on up to heaven Darrell’s last concert with the Patriot Qt Family came to help Darrell celebrate a milestone birthday! Can you believe it’s 2015? Fifteen years past the worry …
December 29, 1965 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky for the last time in 1965. In a couple of days I’ll have to start trying to remember to put 1966 on all my papers. I can hardly believe it’s almost a new year. I’ll be 15 next year. 15! That’s a while away since my birthday isn’t for months …
Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world – stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death – and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem two thousand years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas. …Augusta E. Rundel There’s nothing quite …
Merry Christmas, everybody!! This is one of the cute Christmas cards I got this year and so I’m sharing it with all of you. Christmas – that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, …