I awoke early the other morning with the first line of a poem in my head. When this happens, I can’t roll over and go back to sleep without forgetting the phrase. This is the poem that followed when I sat at the computer. Jesus More than a babe in a manger. The King of all kings, and Lord of all lords. The promised Messiah. God with skin on. The Word of God who created the world. The One Who…
Recently my granddaughter, Brooke, called. “Grandma, I’m making a tree skirt for my Christmas tree and I need some buttons. Do you have any you inherited from your mom?” “Oh, I’m sure,” I said. “Come on over and we’ll see what we can find.” Brooke sat on the couch and looked carefully through my collection. Some were in old pickle jars, others had been strung on an old piece of wire. Still others were in sacks. “Where did all these buttons…
By the time this blog is posted, I’ll have two new eyes (almost). When I took the eye exam last year to renew my driver’s license I couldn’t read much from my left eye. When I sat to read a book recently I wondered why the print was so faint. When I drove at night stop lights had halos around them when I looked out my left eye. From the right one, everything appeared slightly doubled. I made an appointment…
Thanksgiving is a time for feasting on tried and true comfort foods. This one came to mind today. I didn’t make it often but it was always a hit when I did. Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons Ingredients 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk 1/4 teaspoon almond extract 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon fine salt 1 large egg white 3 cups shredded unsweetened coconut 1 (4 ounce) bar semisweet chocolate, chopped, or to taste Directions Preheat the oven to 350 degrees…
November is Writer’s Digest Poem-A-Day Challenge. Robert Brewer posts a prompt each day online during the month here. The author can choose to post his work on the site to let others comment or not. The prompt for Nov. 9th was “Reflections.” My response read like this: Reflections A mirror never lies when the eyes of the beholder peer at wrinkles and saggy places. Sometimes I wish the looking glass fibbed—just a little. My latest book, Joshua’s Journey: One Boy’s…
I never cease to be amazed at the wonderful kids and grand kids God gave me. When Trey visited the other day I got a call back from a fireplace store I had called earlier. Trey, his son Lou, and I decided to go check out the gas logs there. Before too long, we came home with a set in a box and the guys had a new job–installing it in our fifty-year-old fireplace. Nothing is ever as easy as…
As I explained last week, I use picture prompts in creative writing classes to spark ideas for a 10 minute writing prompt. This short short story is one I wrote in class this fall. Whether you consider yourself a writer or not, you might find it fun to pick a picture and write for 10 minutes to see what appears on the page. Hmmm. I had a glitch in my system this morning. Here is the story that should appear…
In my writing classes I like to use photos as ten-minute writing prompts. I write along with the students. After the time is up, we read what we have jotted down to one another. This is what I wrote the other day in class. This is a fun exercise. Try it and see what you come up with. I’m ready for the wedding. My master is getting married today. I think I could have gone without this ridiculous bow-tie. That’s…
I recently read at Almanac.com about how to predict the weather watching animals. Since winter seems to be coming sooner than later, I though you might enjoy some of these predictions. CAN COWS FORECAST WEATHER? Perhaps the greatest amount of weather folklore surrounds cows. Certainly, their bodies are affected by changes in air pressure. This is also true of sheep, cats, and us. If a cow stands with its tail to the west, the weather is said to be fair. If a cow grazes…
A lot of the joy of travel is the various people you meet. This guy serenaded us with his delightful bagpipe while we were in London. While we were in St. Petersburg on a tour from our ship we ate lunch in what used to be a ruler’s stable. Now it is a very lovely restaurant with marble floors and fancy bathrooms. I can’t speak too highly of the food, however. This was their rendition of Beef Stroganoff. We…