Did you love your birthday when you were a kid? Have any extra fun birthday gifts or parties? Some of my newsletter readers did and they shared the stories with me and let me share them on with you. First here’s Pam. My birthday is December 26 and when I was a little girl I can remember my mom and …
Birthday Stories Starring Sisters
My sisters and I love celebrating birthdays together. Sometimes we do something special – go out to eat or go tour somewhere. This picture might not have been on a birthday, but we did tour a house that was built by a Shaker for his lady love. I’m assuming that was actually when he was a former Shaker! A beautiful …
Grandparents’ Day
Did you celebrate Grandparents Day last Sunday? It’s not widely known celebrated. That’s because most of the time we celebrate grandmothers along with mothers on Mothers Day and grandfathers along with fathers on Fathers Day. But having a special day for us grandparents is nice. The idea for USA-based Grandparents Day originated with a woman in West Virginia. Marian McQuade’s …
Patriot Day, a National Day of Service and Remembrance
9/11 “Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children. ” …President George W. Bush Four planes. …
Appalachian Writer – Harriette Simpson Arnow
Have you read the novel, The Dollmaker by Harriette Simpson Arnow, first published in 1954? I read it years ago and also saw the movie. One of them, the book I think, had a sad but realistic ending. I may have seen the movie first and liked its ending better, but it’s been so long ago, I may have it …
Preacher Rowlett Knew His Bible
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold. Proverbs 22:1 (NKJV) It’s a first Sunday when I usually like to post some sort of devotional, but every idea that came to mind seemed to be something I might have already posted on some other first Sunday. So, when I happened on …
Judging a Book by Its Cover
Don’t judge a book by its cover. I’m sure you’ve heard that little bit of advice over and over. Often we are talking about something besides books when we say it. Don’t decide this or that person isn’t somebody you’d like to know on first meeting him or her. Don’t decide some food dish isn’t going to be tasty …
Some Fun Questions and Answers
A few years ago I went to a Christian Fiction Readers Retreat. It was blast meeting some avid readers and being able to get to know the other authors there. Authors are alone with their keyboards or notebooks for many hours a day for weeks and months, maybe years, as they come up with new stories. Well, maybe they aren’t …
Names and Their Stories
“Names are powerful things. They act as an identity marker and a kind of map, locating you in time and geography. More than that, they can be a compass.” ― Nicola Yoon, The Sun Is Also a Star I was searching for something to post about last weekend and looked back at some of my first posts in 2008 here …
Front Porch Memories
True luxury is being able to own your time – to be able to take a walk, sit on your porch, read the paper, not take the call, not be compelled by obligation. ~Ashton Kutcher Do you have a front porch? I grew up in a house with a front porch. We didn’t have chairs on it. That would have gotten …









