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Montage Moments is a page of blog postings about a variety of subjects, thoughts and opinions..

Finding Gloria

5/22/2016

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                       Many of you have been asking if I am planning on moving soon, since I have been giving away some of my household items. I will be moving at some time in the future but there are no immediate plans for that.
            I have the unexplainable urge to 'unclutter' my life; that includes getting rid of some possessions, activities, ideas, thoughts and even a few individuals.
            I will strive to make some sense of it. I shall start at the beginning and move quickly so this expose doesn’t turn into another novel and you aren't reading this for a week.
            I had a wonderful, normal childhood. I was raised in a Christian home by Christian parents who loved me unconditionally. We lived in the country with no close neighbors. My sister was 8 years older than me. Add that to the fact my grandma lived with us and there was very little ‘work’ for me to do, so I was basically an only child with time on my hands. I amused myself by having an imaginary audience; not just a singular imaginary friend, as most children do, but an entire audience of faceless individuals who listened to my dialogues. (Obviously, I was unwittingly practicing to be a speaker.)
            I married when I was 16 years old. I had the first four children by the time I was 25 and the fifth child when I was 38. Somewhere in the years between age 16 and age 68, I lost who I was; I lost Gloria.
             She became entangled and involved in raising 5 children, teaching Sunday School, working various jobs, including but not limited to: a pie baker, a restaurant manager, a business owner, a seamstress, a wife, a mother, a farmer, a grandparent, a Director of Chidren's Ministries and a caregiver. These were not necessarily unpleasant job titles and I learned an unbelievably immense amount of information, people skills and empathy from each one; it just was not exactly who I was. I enrolled in college when I was 55 and although I was able to be on the Dean’s List, and I was thankful that my brain still worked…I did not realize I was 'in training' to become the Gloria I am now.
         Numerous grandchildren have lived with me over the years. I calculated I have said the words, "Get up...it's time for school" for 45 straight years; from the time my first child started kindergarten until the last grandchild moved out.
            I took 'care' of my family and livestock and 'life' for the 38 years I was married. Was I an enabler? Absolutely. It seemed even more true after I divorced. I helped take care of my dad after my mother died. I have been responsible for Kalisha for nearly 32 years……..I am done. (Not done loving Kalisha or anyone else; just done being a caregiver.)

                  I had been without a 'significant other' in my life for 20 years and that was fine with me. I considered myself to be a strong, independent, 'take on anything or anyone' woman. I could swear louder, work harder, laugh longer and kick your ass further than most women I knew and I did not need anyone to help me....until.....I started writing the three romance novels in July of 2015. I cannot explain it logically but I slowly became a person I wasn't sure I recognized. Old hurts and thoughts resurfaced. I had 38 years of baggage I had been carrying with me and wasn't even aware of it.
             It was time to unpack and get rid of it. I did, I have, and I am traveling  much lighter now that I have given the baggage to Someone who can carry it much better than I can.
           

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          I realize this will be hard for any of you who have young children and grandchildren  to comprehend, but it is true for me: I have watched countless volleyball, basketball, football, baseball and softball games, track meets, and every kind of dance, gymnastic, acting and singing 'performance' known to man and enjoyed every minute of it. I am not going to abandon my role as mother, grandmother or great-grandmother, BUT, I am going to modify it. I will continue to pray for my children and grandchildren, but with the exception of a few of the younger ones, they are all grown, with busy lives, jobs and significant others. They do not need me and I do not need them...to complete me.
            I have done some rather bizarre (even for me and I am not a stranger to bizarre) things in the last 6 months and I have changed big and little things about my life. 
            My happiness and my sense of accomplishment no longer depend on someone else.
  
             Kalisha will be moving to her own apartment in the next year, so for the first time since I was 16, I will be responsible
for no one but me and responsible to no one, but God. One of my friends, upon hearing all of this, smiled at me and said, "So, that means you're finally going to be a big girl?"  Yes, I guess I am.    God has blessed me with exceptionally good health and I am extremely thankful for that. I am going to continue to write books and speak to groups of people and have coffee with my friends and travel for book signings and go to listen to country music bands. I plan to take horseback riding lessons, possibly get another tattoo, date a few interesting men and volunteer where I am needed, if this is what God has planned for me. 
            My cousin’s husband sent me a poem. He said it made him think of me and what my life was becoming. The title is ‘My Life Before I Knew It.’ The author is a man and much of the poem does not describe me. However, the fact that he wants to be a writer and his view of that does describe me; especially the last few lines, fragments of which are quoted here:

 ‘…writers didn’t have to be good at sports…but strangers were moved by what they accomplished and wrote them letters. One day one of those strangers would introduce herself to me, and
then the life I’d never been able to foresee would begin and everything before I became myself would appear necessary to the rest of the story.’

            Please don't think I am abandoning my faith, my family or my friends. I am not...but all of my enjoyments and activities may be in a different context than they have been in the past.

             I believe...I have finally found Gloria.


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Was It Worth It?

5/4/2016

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I'm sure there have been times in your life when you looked back on something you did and asked, "Was it worth it?"
Recently I was stopped at a traffic light and the vehicle next to me seemed to want to challenge me as to who could get going the soonest when the light turned green.
Oh man, the memories that evoked. I have to tell you the story. Not too long after Tom and I were married, we ordered a new car. Was it just any car? Noooo. We were young and stupid and definitely not practical. It was a 1964 Plymouth Fury with a 383 cubic inch engine and a 4-on-the-floor transmission and that Baby could run, believe me.
I can't remember where I was working at that time, but every day when I was on my way home, I would encounter a young guy driving a Pontiac GTO and while I never knew the size of the engine in his car; it was hot, too. We would maneuver through traffic so we were always next to each other at every light. (We were on the by-pass which is now Coliseum Blvd.) I could beat him off the line every time and hold my lead until the last little way before the next light.

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I would complain to Tom that I just couldn't beat this guy and I wanted to so badly. There came a day when Tom had the car. He called me and said, "The guy in the GTO found me on the highway; a long stretch between lights."
"Great. Did you beat him?" I asked.
"The good news is, I did beat him. Walked all over that Goat (GTO nickname).
The bad news is, I blew up the engine."
"Oh, crap."
Chrysler replaced the engine because it was under warranty but we were without a second car for about a month.
Now the question: Was it worth it? In retrospect, considering the time without a car and the danger I was probably putting myself in, not to mention the cost of a huge fine if I was caught drag racing on a city street... NO, it wasn't. However, remembering the adrenaline rush of that racing...I might have to say, yes, it was.
Laugh out loud...literally.

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What Happened In Magnolia?

4/27/2016

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Many of my readers know  I recently flew to Magnolia, TX to attend a book signing for my book, 'Bring a Cowboy Home' because the setting for this series of novels is a ranch outside Magnolia, TX.
I have had many people ask me about the trip and how it became a 'thing' and what I did there. I thought I would write this post so y'all could hear the story at one time.
When I visited my daughter and her family in November, 2015, we visited many of the small towns near her home in Cypress. I told everyone we met about the books I had written and their connection to Magnolia, Tomball, Montgomery and Spring. I was encouraged to contact them when the book was available so I could come back and sell them.
So....when it was available, I called Nina, a lady who was especially enthusiastic when I was there and asked her if there were any upcoming festivals or somewhere that I could sell the books. She put me in contact with Tana in Magnolia's office of Community Development. Tana was so excited, she took the ball and ran with it. She told me the best time would be Depot Day, an annual event featuring food, vendors and live music surrounding the original Magnolia Depot.

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I arrived on Thursday around noon, my daughter picked me up at the airport and took me immediately to Magnolia City Hall. There I met Tana, who took us out for lunch and then, with a newspaper photographer and reported in tow, took us to a ranch owned by Pat and Sue Zaiontz, located down a dirt road that seemed to go on for miles. (This could be the ranch in my book.)
The Zaiontzs were the most gracious hosts you could ever want. They showed us their beautiful home, the barns, small animals, every type of fowl and then took us out to the pastures in the 'Gators.' We were up close and personal with a bull that Pat told me was a gentle guy.

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It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. The next day, Nina was my guide. She took us through their beautiful library after we ate lunch at The Magnolia Diner. Then she introduced me to Celeste, who is in charge of the Magnolia Historical Society. This dear woman is a walking information individual about all things Magnolia. We toured the Depot which houses MANY historical items. It was so much fun and gave me lots of things to add to the next books in the series. 
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Saturday arrived sunny, but quite windy. Kari and Jim set up the canopy and tables for me and we arranged the books the way we thought they looked best. I met many lovely people, including one who is my 'adoption advisor' for the books. It really was a once in a lifetime experience. I was actually where I had been writing about.
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The newspaper ran an article about the visit. Talk about feeling like a celebrity...wow. I can't thank the people enough for making my visit so memorable.

I apologize for the quality of this photo. AND the number of acres listed in the article is definitely incorrect.
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Midwest author writes series based in MagnoliaTony Gaines
Midwest author writes series based in Magnolia
Author Gloria Doty stands with her host Pat Zaiontz.

Gloria Doty
Midwest author writes series based in Magnolia
"Bring a Cowboy Home" is the first book from Gloria Doty's Magnolia Series.

Tony Gaines
Midwest author writes series based in Magnolia
Gloria Doty with her host, Pat Zaiontz.

Posted: Sunday, April 17, 2016 9:32 pm
Midwest author writes series based in Magnolia By Taelor Smith Houston Community Newspapers
Gloria Doty an author from Fort Wayne, Indiana, has been writing her whole life. She has published a devotional, a book chronicling the life of her daughter living with Asperger’s, and has contributed to many magazines. When it came to writing her first fiction novel, Doty knew she would have go outside of her everyday to better create a captivating tale.
“My daughter and her family lives in Cypress. Even when they lived in Katy, we would come [to Magnolia] to visit and I always like the name Magnolia. I don’t know why, I just liked it. I like the flowers, everything.”
Doty’s book “Bring A Cowboy Home,” is the first novel in her new fiction series. It follows the love story of a cowboy in a rural town. She drew her inspiration of the people and the town particularly from Magnolia because she had become so familiar with the Texas city.
“When I started writing this romance novel, my main character was in Chicago but she was going to meet a cowboy. I wanted him to come from somewhere I knew. I just decided I’d make him be from ranch outside Magnolia, and it just grew.”
Although it is a love story, Doty says the book gives readers a bit of adventure. The characters take readers on a journey through Magnolia and epitomize some of the very people you’re bound to meet in the beautiful area.
“It’s not the typical boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy meets girl type of romance. It is a romance, but it has some mystery. Lucy carries a gun with her at all times. There’s some excitement.”
The books were written quickly as Doty started writing the series in July 2015. It only took her one month to write each book and she says it all came to her pretty easily because Magnolia was so inspirational.
“I fell in love with the people in the book, therefore I fell in love with the town of Magnolia.”
Doty spent the few days leading up to Magnolia’s Depot Day come down and explore the precious town of which she has based her series. She enjoyed a day out on the 11 acre farm of 4B Community Development President Pat Zaiontz. While there, she along with her daughters and granddaughter experienced life out on a real Magnolia farm. They were able to see many of the animals kept on Zaiontz’ farm such as rabbits, donkeys, cows, and geese. Doty shares that she was taken aback by the experience because she had never seen anything like this.
“I was actually raised on a farm and lived on one, but not one this big. I’m loving it.”
In all of the research done while writing the series, Doty had not been able to visit a Magnolia farm until then and she loved every minute of it. The experience is sure to inspire her writing for the two additional novels she plans to add to the series. Doty shares that fans have been so excited about the series so far that it would only be right to give readers more in the series.
Tana Ross, City of Magnolia Economic Development Coordinator and member of Magnolia Historical Society, was able to put Doty in contact with Zaiontz so she could have a true Magnolia experience. In addition to spending time with her family visiting farms in Magnolia, Doty was able to learn history about the city. She will finish up her visit to Magnolia by attending Depot Day, the annual fundraiser held by Magnolia Historical Society where the community comes out for a day of fun, food, and games.
The first book from the Magnolia Series titled “Bring A Cowboy Home” is now available on Amazon. Doty will be at Magnolia’s Depot Day on April 16 to meet fans and sign books. The remaining two books from the series, “Loving A Cowboy,” and “Riding With A Cowboy,” will be available later this summer. For more information on Gloria Doty, her wonderful book series and other writings, please visit her website at http://www.writingbygloria.com.


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Feeling Better?

4/21/2016

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This is a short story I wrote for an international contest several years ago. It won first place in the Thriller category. That's not my usual genre but it was so much fun. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Feeling Better?
By
Gloria Doty  

“I’m leaving for work now, Danny. I left a few crackers and some Sprite on the nightstand for you. I’ll see you this afternoon.”
            Casey turned for one last look at Danny, totally under the covers. She really hated leaving him alone when he was not feeling well, but she couldn’t miss work again.
She locked the door to the apartment and went down the stairs, passing elderly Mrs. French in the entry hall.
            “Everything okay?” Mrs. French asked in her nosy neighbor way.
            “Yes,” Casey said, trying to smile. “My husband is not feeling well, but I’m sure it’s just a touch of the flu.”
            “Well, make sure he stays in your apartment. We don’t need him spreadin’ any germs to the rest of us.”
            “Yes, ma’am,” Casey answered. “I will.” She wanted to add, ‘you hateful old bat’ but she smiled and went out onto the street as she did every day. Danny had been sick for weeks and it was getting tiresome.
            Casey tried calling home on her lunch hour but of course, Danny didn’t answer. He’s probably sleeping, she thought. That’s a good thing.
            As Casey turned the key and opened the door, she hoped Danny might be setting up, but as usual, he wasn’t. The crackers and soda were untouched.
            “Oh, Sweetie, you’re not feeling any better?” she asked as she went into the kitchen. “Can I make you some soup or something? You have to eat, you know. I wish we had the money for you to go to the doctor again, but we just don’t. It costs so much and the last time you were there, we could barely afford the prescription, remember?”
            She touched his cheek. He didn’t feel like he had a fever, but she wasn’t very good at telling that way and they didn’t own a thermometer. She smiled to herself as she washed the few breakfast dishes, remembering how her mother had always felt her head when she was sick and knew immediately if she had a fever or not. Casey wished her mother were here with her in this cramped little apartment. She would know what to do about Danny…but she wasn’t. Casey sighed and suddenly felt sad and very alone. Her mother would never come see her; they hadn’t spoken since she and Danny ran off to Chicago and got married. She could hear her mother’s voice telling them they were making a huge mistake. She accused Casey of being delusional about life and never accepting reality, but she and Danny left anyway.
Casey didn’t want to think about the realities of their hasty decision. Nothing turned out the way she thought it would. Danny quit his job, so there was only her paycheck to pay for rent and food, bus fare and his damned cigarettes and then the doctor bill and the medicine, too. Well, now they were behind with the rent payment, but she had done her wifely duty, hadn’t she? She gave him his medicine, measuring every dose; sometimes a little more than it said on the bottle, but she wanted him to get better, faster.
She really wished they had a fan. It was so hot and the apartment was stifling, but a fan would make the electric bill even higher. She couldn’t allow herself to think about what they would do when winter came and they had to pay for heat. Maybe she could move before winter; just her. If Danny didn’t want to work, she would find a place of her own.
            Casey shook her head to clear her thoughts. Her main concern right now should be Danny and what to do about him.
            The loud knock on the door startled her.  Probably the landlord, but she didn’t have the money he would be looking for.
            “Who is it?” she asked.
            “The police, Ma’am. Open the door, please.”
            “Police? Why? What do you want?” Casey stammered.
            “We’ve had a complaint about a smell coming from your apartment.”
            “Did Mrs. French call you?” Casey asked. “She’s such a busybody. I just forgot to take out the garbage.”
            “Open the door, Mrs. Croll.”
            Casey opened it a crack and looked into the hallway. A policeman and two men in suits were standing there. They pushed past her and moved toward the bed.
            “Please don’t disturb my husband. He doesn’t feel well.”
            The officer in the uniform took Casey by the arm and led her out of the apartment.
            “Come with me, Mrs. Croll. They will see to your husband.”
            As Lt. Wills pulled the sheet back and put a mask over his nose, he asked the coroner, “How long do you think?”
            “We’ll need to run tests for sure, but from the looks of him, I’d say it’s been over a week.”
 


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An Interview With Author, Bonnie Howell

2/15/2016

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Bonnie and her husband live in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon
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They recently celebrated their 46th wedding anniversary. Bonnie worked for the Forest Service for 20 years and helped her husband with a fly fishing shop for many years. This is her first published book and she is understandably very excited. I'm going to ask her a few questions about the book and her experiences while writing it.

 Give me a brief overview of your book.
Passages Across Time brings a modern day woman in touch with women from long-ago. Can the past help her find her future? CJ has lost her faith in God and in herself after a disastrous broken engagement. Returning to the country home where she grew up, she begins to find peace. She also rediscovers the love of her childhood crush, Sam.
An unexpected windfall gives her the opportunity for the adventure she has always dreamed about. While CJ is torn between her desire to travel and her growing love for Sam, she discovers a different treasure, letters written to her by her grandmother and journals written by her great-grandmother. Will she find her own answers in the choices these remarkable women made? Will she renew her faith in God?

 
What made you decide to write a romance?
I always thought that I would write children’s books, but my heart was just not in it. This story came to me one morning and I realized that this is the book I was meant to write. I am sad at the turn of modern romance books, and their graphic content. Christian romance was my clear choice, and I loved combining the story of a growing love with a growing faith.
 
Are you an organized writer, using a formal outline and following a clear story idea from beginning to end, or did your book just evolve as you wrote it?
I have to laugh as I answer this one. I started with a basic overview of this story, but it made twists and turns as the words flowed out, often surprising me. For example, I decided that CJ should travel, but how did I manage that? If she stayed working in her office in the city, when would she have time to travel? And how would she fall in love with Sam, back in the country? Suddenly the entire story changed, not just for CJ but for her grandmother and great-grandmother. The words just kept coming. I then wrote the ending, and filled in the middle.
 
We are both well past our thirties, how is this book different than it might have been years ago?
I did start a novel in my thirties, but never finished it. As I look back now, I can see how bad it really was. I simply did not have the life experience to craft a really good book. Now my characters have depth, based in large part on all of the people that I have known in my life. I have experienced love and loss, success and disappointment, triumph and tragedy. This experience translates into a believable story.
 
What was the most difficult part for you to write?
The middle. The beginning just rolled off of my fingers, and the end nearly wrote itself, but filling in all of the details that make up the core of the book took work. Description comes easy to me, but I struggled with dialogue. A wonderful editor, Rosemarie Fitzsimmons, gave me the help I needed to bring life to the characters.
 
How long did it take you to write the book, and how long to get published?
It took a year to write, and a year to get published. I made some mistakes as the process unfolded. The first publisher I looked into with my on-line research at had a word count requirement of 45,000. I hit that mark and submitted my book, only to have it rejected within two hours (I don’t think they actually read it.) That was when I discovered that most publishers require 60,000 words. Rewrite time. That was when the book got better. More meat and less fluff. More context, more dialog, more interaction between the characters. I found another publisher, submitted, and was rewarded with a request to submit the entire book. A week later, they politely rejected it, letting me know that I did not meet the required formula. There is a formula? Yes, the hero and heroine have to be together on 50% of the pages. There has to be an HEA (Happily Ever After.) Girl meets boy, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl have a problem, resolve it and live HEA. Not exactly the story I wrote, though it has the required happy ending. More online research revealed a good Christian publisher, and I submitted a third time. They accepted! I was so excited, that I threw my laptop in my husband’s lap so that he could read the email. That is when he read the fine print, where they asked for money up-front. It turns out they were a vanity press. SIGH.
Then I found Booktrope and Vox Dei. It took 12 weeks before they read my book, and just as I was about to give up and look into self-publishing, I received an acceptance email. They have been wonderful to work with, and I am so glad that God led me to them.
 
Do you plan to write another romance?
Oh yes, The Story of the Year is well underway. I have over 25,000 words and the ending, I am just working on filling in the middle. It includes a newspaper reporter, a forest fire (and a cute firefighter), an old diary, and Christmas. It is totally separate from my first book, though there are some similarities. I can’t wait to see where the story goes!
 
Gloria, thank you so much for allowing me to take part on your blog. Good luck with Bring A Cowboy Home.
 
Passages Across Time link to Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Passages-Across-Time-Bonnie-Howell/dp/1513708449/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1454612985&sr=1-2
 
Writing on the River Blog link:
http://www.writingontheriver.com/blog.html
 


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Surprise Introspection

10/1/2015

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I have written before about what I write; always non-fiction, whether it is devotions or magazine articles or my two published books: Bouquet of Devotions and Not Different Enough. However, at the invitation of a friend, I attended a half-day seminar on writing fiction. I listened, absorbed what I heard and decided I would make a stab at it.
I had an idea in my head about the story I wanted to tell. I wasn't certain of the entire story, but I thought, naively, I would write and the story would take shape. I knew I wanted it to be a romance novel and my main characters were going to be 59 and 62 years old, as opposed to the endless stories about 20-30 year-olds.
I really felt God telling me to write so that individuals in the 55+ age bracket would realize they aren't dead yet. My characters are vibrant, healthy, sexual beings who live life to the fullest.
The first novel, Bring A Cowboy Home, was written in two weeks. I couldn't leave my characters there, so I wrote the second in the series; Riding With A Cowboy. I am writing the third in the series now. (I've been told 'series' need to be comprised of at least 3 books.)
I'm not writing this post to advertise the books (well, maybe, just a bit) but to express the personal journey it has led me on.
I heard other authors say many times about becoming attached to your characters but I didn't put much stock in it. After all, they were fictional people; they didn't really exist in this world.
I have to say I have become so involved in my characters' lives, I hurt when they hurt; I cry when they're sad, I laugh when things in their lives are funny. I enjoy their friendships, I become stressed when they are experiencing some sort of dilemma and I miss them if I don't write about them for a few days.
I realize you are getting ready to call the people in the white coats to come get me and I understand completely.

I don't know how to write fiction or non-fiction without putting pieces of 'me' in the story. When people read my book about my special needs daughter, many of them told me they heard my voice and felt as though I was sitting across the table from them and saying the words.
I believe I have interjected myself into these fiction books also. I have not lived in Chicago nor Texas. I have not owned a hugely successful business and I'm definitely not wealthy...but, many of my main female character's reactions and feelings are mine. I didn't realize that when I was putting words on the computer but when I would re-read what I had written, I recognized myself.

Then came the introspection; did I want someone to come along and be willing to take care of me? Would it be nice to have someone else help make decisions and not always be the sole person responsible for everything? Could I love someone enough to be willing to give up some of that control I've had to have for MANY years?
Without telling you the story and ruining it for you, I can't tell you what Lucy's (my female character) answers are to these questions, but I can tell you this fiction writing has taken me on a personal journey I didn't even realize I wanted to take.
If you want to know more about yourself, write something...it doesn't have to ever see the light of day or be shared with anyone, but make it something you are passionate about and you will discover some truths about yourself, I promise.


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Are You Aware?

6/30/2015

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I want to begin this post by saying, this is not a picture of my car.
But I do want to say something about being aware of people, situations, vehicles and various other things.
Having been married to an over-the-road truck driver for nearly 40 years, I learned about 'defensive driving.' It is a great thing and has kept me accident free since I received my license when I was 17 and that was a few years ago. (With the exception of one accident when I was hit by someone who was sliding on the ice and I had nowhere to go to take evasive action.)
I am not a slow, pokey 'little old lady driver' but I am always aware of the other drivers on the road. If I am unable to stop in time and enter an intersection on a yellow caution light, I am aware of the vehicles to my right and left who might be ready to jump the green light. I know who is changing lanes constantly and who is going to try to cut me off at the next light. I know how fast someone is approaching from the rear and if the semi needs a little more space to move back into my lane.
Having pontificated about my great driving skills, I want you to know I think being aware of your surroundings is a lost art. I don't know if it is due to everyone being on cell phones or the "I own the road' mentality.
Last weekend, after the big storm, there was a tree across the street I live on; at the end of the block; making it impossible to get through. 
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My daughter and I sat on the front porch and watched at least a dozen drivers come down the street, reach the tree and THEN put it in reverse and back up to the alley or all the way to the previous cross street. I ask myself, 'How in the world can they not see that tree across the road from a block away?' I don't have the answer.

Now, we come to people situations: how many times do we see a person standing alone in a crowded area, such as a church lobby or a meeting room or at a table in a restaurant? I am not advocating joining them and possibly disturbing their meal; but rather, a simple nod, smile, hello; some acknowledgement would be showing I am at least aware of their presence.

I recently attended a writer's lunch and short seminar. I went with a friend so I knew her, at least. There weren't too many people there, but the attendees came from all over the state and most did not know each other. There were 5 of us at our table with 2 empty chairs. Across from us, at another table, was a woman sitting alone. Did one of us ask her to join us at our table? No, we did not. However, the facilitator asked her if she would like to join us.

A young woman I know recently said she felt totally invisible in a large group of people at a church picnic. Some would prefer to be invisible but some would at least like to know they are seen and welcomed.

If most of the population is unaware of a huge tree limb blocking their path, is it a surprise they do not see the sad, lonesome, alone individual God has put in their path?

Drive more defensively (you get better insurance discounts) and live more 'intentionally.'
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Are You Melting?

6/24/2015

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Do you sometimes feel as though you are being stretched beyond your limits?
Occasionally, events and circumstances in our lives make us feel that way. We feel the effects of sustained 'heat' which can be attributed to health issues, finances, emotions, family situations, work related problems or a myriad of other things that threaten to drive us crazy and s-t-r-e-t-c-h us like the action figure, Stretch Armstrong.
Unlike Stretch Armstrong, whose arms could be stretched from 4-5 inches to 4-5 feet  without breaking, we can't stretch that far. My little rubber frog has been in his spot on my front porch, in front of an east window, just hanging out over the edge of my hanging scale, for several years. Although he has not stretched 4 feet, his one leg is about to reach the breaking point, as you can see.

Until we reach our heavenly home, we will always face situations that stretch us to our limits and even threaten to break us, but if we trust in our Lord, hang onto his word and his promises, we will never be broken beyond repair.
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Pies

6/11/2015

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I begin by apologizing for the blurry pictures. I do not know what happened but use your imagination, ok?
This cupboard has not been passed down through my family; Tom purchased it at an auction in 1972. I have always referred to it as the old kitchen cupboard and when directing any of my kids or grandkids to get something from it or put some item away, it was/is always called the old kitchen cupboard and they all know it by that. The granite part pulls out for more room when needed and there is a flour bin on the left side with a built-in sifter. It will easily hold 25# of flour. I used to keep it full when I was baking bread and pies every week.
Yesterday, as I was rolling out pie crusts on the granite top, I wondered how many pie crusts I have made on this space. While there is no way to know for sure, I would estimate the number at well over a thousand. (That number is only the ones I made at home; it doesn't include the 90 per week at a small restaurant in Whitley County for several years.) I don't recall ever making just one at a time; it wouldn't be worth the effort to bake a single pie crust.
At one point, there was a lady who would call every time she was having guests or during the holidays and ask me to make pies for her.
Yesterday I made several crusts.

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One pie was a rhubarb custard for 2 granddaughters who would rather have that than cake for their birthdays.
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One was a strawberry and the other two will be used for cream pies.
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I am not writing this to brag about my pie-baking abilities, but rather to tell you I never baked, boiled or cooked ANYTHING until I got married. I was the baby of the family, my grandma lived with us and it was probably easier for my mother and grandmother to do it themselves. It didn't exactly prepare me for cooking for a family, and there are some great stories of my first efforts. But I learned. It is never too late to learn something.
It would seem that cooking of one type or another was part of nearly every job I ever had.

These recipes and stories and many more from other cooks and bakers will be included in the book I am working on.
In 1979, I started gathering some of the family recipes from people I knew , so there is a vast assortment of material, a few dating back to the covered wagon days of their ancestors and some from a lady in Montana where we camped and some from the school cafeteria where I worked for years. Baked beans for 200? Yep.
Am I going to test them all? No. Is there going to be calorie and nutritional information included? No. Will you enjoy the anecdotes and the recipes? I hope so. But you will be making them at your own risk if you purchase the book when it is ready. LOL
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My Life-Long Love Affair

6/1/2015

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In case you are thinking this will be a sensual type of post due to the title word, AFFAIR, you will be sadly disappointed.

My love affair is with peanut butter. Yes, that is correct. Peanut butter. I don't know when I had my first taste but since I'm told I was a bit of a 'cry-baby' maybe my mom stuck some in my mouth to stick my lips together.
My first choice in sandwiches is nearly always peanut butter and jelly or a variation of that. As a child, I discovered my affinity for a sandwich consisting of peanut butter and tomato slices. 



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It is really quite good and although my son-in-law thought the idea was disgusting, he tried it and now eats that sandwich all the time.
As a teenager, my before school breakfast was always a piece of peanut butter and jelly toast and a cup of coffee to dunk it in.
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One summer when my first four children played summer t-ball, baseball and softball, we ate many suppers at the ballpark. Many PBJ sandwiches were packed in the cooler.
For 7 years, I worked in a school cafeteria. We received #10 cans of peanut butter from the government. It was PURE unadulterated peanut butter and as such, was too thick to spread. I would empty the can into the industrial mixer and add a bit of butter until the consistency was 'spreadable.' Every day, I made many PBJ sandwiches for the children; not as the main meal, but as "seconds" if they were still hungry.
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You would think I would have become immune to the lure of peanut butter, but that never happened. I like peanut butter cookies and peanut butter candy and I make a scrumptious peanut butter cream pie.
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But one of my favorite ways to eat it (and I have taught my grandchildren to do the same much to the chagrin of their mothers) is directly from the jar. Just give me a spoon.
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