“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” ~William Arthur Ward Happy Thanksgiving! Isn’t Thanksgiving one of the best ever holidays? A day for family. We don’t have to shop except for food, of course. Lots of turkey and cranberry sauce shopping. And you gotta have pies. While I’m not …
JFK – A Sad Day to Remember
November 22, 1964 Jocie Brooke reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. It’s been a sad week here in Hollyhill as everybody was remembering the assassination last year. Dad put this picture on the front page of the Hollyhill Banner. There was regular news, but it didn’t seem to matter than much this week. Or even that basketball season is about to start …
A Celebration of Love
A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year. ~Paul Sweeney Happy anniversary to my husband and to me. We’re celebrating many years together today. We’ve had a way of celebrating in some different ways some years and typical ways other years. So far we haven’t gone on cruises …
Kentucky Book Fair Fun on the Way
I love the Kentucky Book Fair and I’m happy I get to be part of the Fair this Saturday, November 18th. Looks as though sometimes even Santa likes being at the Book Fair. 2013 was a good year for Book Fair pictures. I’ve got this one with Santa and then I also got to pose with Woody the writing Dachshund and his …
A Moonbeam Award
Before I had the good fortune to find a home with an inspirational book publisher, I wrote a number of books for younger readers. Some of them were what might be called chapter books for middle readers. That would be kids eight to twelve or thereabouts. These were “coming of age” stories about a young character facing some crisis in …
When Sorrows like Sea Billows Roll
When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know It is well, it is well, with my soul. “It Is Well” is a beautiful song and the story behind the words is powerfully inspiring. Horatio Spafford had a Job like experience with his young son dying and …
Cover Reveal – River to Redemption
For an author, one of the highlights of a new book’s journey to publication is seeing the cover that is going to be wrapped around the words of your story. In traditional publishing, the publishers have an art department with talented people who work hard to make those book wrappers as attractive and compelling as possible. That’s because the cover …
The Sights You Can See
Do you like to go walking to see what you may see? I’ve loved to go walking ever since I was a kid. I had a special little woods that I claimed as my very own after I was old enough to go exploring on our farm by myself. I took mental pictures of the trees and the path down …
Clouds and Stories
A cloudless plain blue sky is like a flowerless garden. ~Terri Guillemets Ah, the beautiful sky. A blue sky with nary a cloud is something to be treasured. But at times clouds have a way of making a sky even more beautiful. Clouds are the sky’s imagination. ~Terri Guillemets Ms. Guillemets must enjoy studying the sky. As I searched through my …
The Trees Are Turning
Sometime in the 1960s ~ Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Do you love autumn? I do. Almost as much as I love spring. I mean you have to love spring the most. That’s when winter is going warm and you can see summer vacation from school not that far away. That’s the spoiler with autumn. School. Every …