Wow, July has gone by fast, hasn’t it?

We’ve had a fairly quiet month. Our local COVID-19 cases and deaths are still rising rapidly, so we’ve pretty much been staying at home as much as possible. We do get together with my son and daughter-in-law and grandson since they’re mostly sheltering at home as well.

The heat and humidity would be keeping us inside even if the virus wasn’t.

We had a fairly traditional 4th of July with grilled burgers. All the major fireworks displays were canceled, but we saw several around the neighborhood.

Jason’s family and my husband camped out in their yard and then in ours to get Timothy used to it before camping away from home. He enjoyed it!

Timothyisms

Once again I have none! There have been a few times he’s said something cute, and I’ve thought, “I need to write that down.” But then I forget.

He’s in the tooth-losing stage of life and currently has three out in front. So cute!

Creating

Jason’s birthday was this month. Since he had asked for some camping equipment, I went with that theme for his card:

The Cricut has some designs that can be printed out, and this was one. It came out darker than it looked on the computer. The things in the corners are some button-like stickers.

I don’t usually show the insides of the cards I make, but they can be the hardest part. I don’t want to say the same thing every time. With this one, all sorts of camping terms flooded my mind, so I wrote them down to see what I could come up with.

Watching

While riding my exercise bike, I’ve worked my way through a few movies. Watching something keeps me there for the allotted time more than listening to something, even an engaging audiobook.

To Catch a Thief was an old Hitchcock film with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. A burglar known as “The Cat,” played by Grant, had served his time and changed his ways. But now someone else has committed a string of burglaries using his MO, and he sets out to catch his imitator.

Funny Face was another old one with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire. He’s a photographer for a high-profile women’s magazine who “discovers” her in a book shop and thinks she’s the face for the magazine’s new campaign. The only reason she agrees is to be able to go to Paris. It started out a little weird, but ended up being sweet and cute.

Beyond the Mask is a Christian film set during the Revolutionary War. The main mercenary for the East India Company wants to quit and is betrayed. He ends up working against the EIC . . . and falling in love with his rescuer and meeting Benjamin Franklin. I don’t think I have ever seen a Christian film with such extensive costuming and setting. I enjoyed it. And the two main characters are married in real life.

Waiting for Anya was just released this year. A young shepherd boy in France who is not very responsible at first ends up helping a stranger smuggle Jewish children into Spain during WWII. It was pretty good! I’d like to look up the book it’s based on.

I think I watched all these on Amazon Prime, but they may be available elsewhere as well.

Reading

This month I finished (titles link back to my reviews):

• Monday’s Child by Linda Chaikin. I had finished but not reviewed this last month. Set after WWII, a model serves as a courier for Interpol but soon learns not everyone is what they appear to be. Excellent!
• Rain Song by Alice J. Wisler. A Southern young woman was born in Japan, where her mother died. She has determined never to fly and never to go back to Japan—until she’s attracted to a man online who lives there. Loved this one, too.
• If We Make It Home: A Novel of Faith and Survival in the Oregon Wilderness by Christina Suzann Nelson. Former roommates meet up for a 25th anniversary and go on a wilderness camping trip, which doesn’t go as planned. Very good.
• Hurricane Season by Laura K. Denton. One sister leaves her two children with the other sister for two weeks, but ends up staying away much longer, which strains relationships. Very good.
• Waves of Mercy by Lynn Austin. A Dutch immigrant looks back on her experiences coming to and trying to make it in America through much hardship. She finds an unusual connection with a young woman at a crossroads in her life. Very good.
• Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott, sequel to Eight Cousins (audiobook). Rose, the orphaned and only female cousin in the Campbell family, grows up. Sweet, old-fashioned story.
• Billy Budd by Herman Melville (audiobook). Melville’s last novel, about a winsome young sailor who accidentally kills a superior officer.
• The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (audiobook). A mysterious “opera ghost” manipulates the opera house managers and his young protege.
• Be Concerned (Minor Prophets): Making a Difference in Your Lifetime by Warren Wiersbe covers Amos, Obadiah, Micah, and Zephaniah.
• The Red Door Inn by Liz Johnson (just finished, not reviewed yet)

I plowed through a lot of Christian fiction on the Kindle app in the evenings.

I’m currently reading:

• Candleford Green by Flora Thompson, the last of the Lark Rise trilogy
• Write Better by Andrew Le Peau
• None Like Him by Jen Wilkin
• A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (audiobook)
• Be Heroic (Minor Prophets): Demonstrating Bravery by Your Walk by Warren Wiersbe
• 7 Steps to Get Off Sugar and Carbohydrates: Healthy Eating for Healthy Living with a Low-Carbohydrate, Anti-Inflammatory Diet (Healthy Living Series Book 1) by Susan Neal

Blogging:

Some of my posts this month, besides the weekly Friday’s Fave Fives and occasional Laudable Linkages:

• When Others Don’t Do Their Part, we’re still supposed to do ours. We have an example in Christ, who continues to love us and meet our needs even when we fail Him.
• The Cares of This Life are many and can choke out God’s truth in our lives unless we cast those cares on Him.
• My Journey with the Bible, from hardly understanding it to its becoming a dear friend and companion. I particularly enjoyed reminiscing in this post.
• Finding Ways to Minister may or may not include “official” avenues of service.
• Blog Birthdays and Musings celebrates my blog’s 14th birthday and ponders my direction.

Writing

I got some good sessions in on my book-in-progress. I was especially thankful for a long work session where I got the basic information down for what I think is my most difficult chapter to put together.

And that wraps up July! We have some things to look forward to in August while we hope and pray for deliverance from the coronavirus.

I hope you’re keeping cool and well this summer! How was your July?

(Sharing with Grace and Truth, Hearth and Home, Inspire Me Monday, Global Blogging, Senior Salon, InstaEncouragement, Let’s Have Coffee)

June has been another challenging month for our country. I continue to pray that God will use all that’s happening to draw people to Himself.

Personally, we’re doing much the same as we have been the last couple of months. COVID-19 cases in our area have been rising steadily, so we’re still sheltering in place. We did have one excursion to a state park. Not many people were there, and they stayed pretty much with their own groups.

My husband has been doing the grocery shopping since all this with the virus started, but I took a couple of turns doing it this month for various reasons. I had my first experience wearing a mask, and found it hot and stuffy. I was self-conscious about trying to speak with it on, but overall people seemed to understand each other. I kept forgetting about the 6-foot distancing—odd, because I’ve been extremely conscious of it elsewhere. I got too close to a guy and his mom a couple of times, and he was really jumpy. But he didn’t have a mask on.

We’re still finding what we need, if not the brands or sizes we want.

I also had a doctor’s appointment. I appreciated the doctor’s office taking extra precautions to try to keep anyone with anything that might be contagious separate.

Creating

I made three cards for Father’s Day. The first was for my step-father, who is a fan of a certain sci-fi show’s original series. 🙂

I adapted the idea from something I saw at Pinterest.

This one was done on the Cricut for my husband, Jim.

The challenge with this kind of design is gluing all the little pieces down without glue showing somewhere.

This was for my son, Jason, also done on the Cricut:

I loved this design because Timothy loves to explore. This looks just like him saying, “Look at that!” or “Let’s go over there!”

I also learned a new skill with Jason’s card. The figure and the words were from two different designs. I wanted to cut them out of the lighter shade and then lay that over the darker shade. But the Cricut automatically defaults to cutting a design out of the far left corner in order to save paper. After searching around, I discovered how to do what it calls attaching, so it would cut out the designs right where I placed them.

Watching

Summer TV is kind of a wasteland, with nothing much on besides a lot of celebrity game shows. I don’t even know who many of the celebrities are any more. We watch America’s Funniest Home Videos every week—even if they are reruns, we’ve forgotten enough of them that they are still funny to us. We also enjoy for the most part America’s Got Talent, though occasionally they’ll have an act we have to mute or fast forward through.

While riding my exercise bike, I watched a movie called Wish You Well via Amazon Prime about a family who goes to live with a great-grandmother the children never knew in the 1940s. The father just died in an accident and the mother is in a catatonic state. The daughter is navigating getting used to a new situation, grieving her father, blaming her mother, and getting to know a great-grandmother. The daughter’s father was a writer, and she likes to write as well. I think it had a “damn” or two in it, but otherwise it was a sweet, clean story.

Another I watched while stationary bike-riding was Under the Greenwood Tree. It’s based on a book by Thomas Hardy. I’ve never read Hardy, but evidently this is one of his few novels that isn’t tragic. A new schoolteacher comes to a village and is wooed by the the richest farmer in the area, a serious-minded vicar, and a poor but handsome young man. There are class and education differences, so the teacher has to decide whether to make “a good match” or follow her heart. There’s a subplot with what’s called a choir (but different from what we think of as a choir today) which the vicar wants to replace with a harmonium. According to Wikipedia, Hardy originally wanted to focus on the motley choir (or quire), but then decided to play up the romance instead. This was enjoyable and clean as well. It was also on Amazon prime.

My husband and I watched The Aeronauts on Amazon Prime. I had thought it was about the first people in a gas balloon, but it wasn’t: it was about the first people to break the height record for such a balloon and the man who thought they could be used for weather prediction. It’s based on true events, but some parts were too fantastical to be real. But it was an enjoyable, clean film.

We also finally watched last year’s movie version of Little Women., rented from iTunes. They changed a few things up from the book, but overall it was well-done. The cinematography was gorgeous. They went back and forth in the timeline instead of following a linear pattern like the books does. If I hadn’t been so familiar with the story, I would have found that confusing. But overall I enjoyed it very much.

Reading

Since last time, I finished (titles link back to my reviews):

• The Wonder Years: 40 Women over 40 on Aging, Faith, Beauty, and Strength, a collection of essays compiled by Leslie Leyland Fields.
• Breaking Anxiety’s Grip: How to Reclaim the Peace God Promises by Dr. Michelle Bengston
• Wynema: A Child of the Forest by S. Alice Callahan.
• Summerhills, a sequel to Amberwell by D. E. Stevenson (audiobooks).
• Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott (audiobook)
• The Mother-Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick
• Monday’s Child by Linda Chaikin. Just finished; I plan to review it in the next day or two. (Updated: just added my review. Very good!)

I’m currently reading:

• Candleford Green by Flora Thompson, the last of the Lark Rise trilogy.
• Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott, sequel to Eight Cousins
• Be Amazed (Minor Prophets): Restoring an Attitude of Wonder and Worship and Be Concerned (Minor Prophets): Making a Difference in Your Lifetime by Warren Wiersbe
• Write Better by Andrew Le Peau
• None Like Him by Jen Wilkin

Blogging

Some of my posts this month, besides the weekly Friday’s Fave Fives and occasional Laudable Linkages:

• When the Props Are Removed. When something we leaned on is taken away, we depend on the Lord all the more.
• Stray Thoughts About Racism.
• Flawed People in a Cancel Culture.
• Philippians 4:13 Is for Losers, Too. We tend to claim this verse in order to “win” in some way. But Paul said applied it to suffering need as well as plenty.
• Psalm 91 and COVID-19. Does Psalm 91 promise that no believer will ever get sick in a pandemic?

Writing

I had a guest post accepted this month for Almost an Author titled Publishing Dreams Can Come True. I share a bit about the immense obstacles one author overcame to write what’s now considered a beloved classic. I want to encourage authors (and others!) to pursue their dreams and overcome their own obstacles with God’s help.

I also had a devotion accepted for Christian Devotions, but that won’t be published until September. I’d like to write for them more, because they allow for a smaller word count and require that you use just one verse. When I write on a topic, I tend to feel I need to study all the verses to make sure I’m balanced and accurate, and then I feel I need to somehow include all of that study into one blog post. That can make for a lengthy and maybe overly full post. The requirements of this site will help me simplify, hone in on one main thought, and cut out wordiness.

I was grateful and encouraged that these two sites accepted my submissions. I also did get some editing and revising done on my book. Yay!

I just realized I didn’t have any Timothyisms this month! I’ll have to do better at writing them down for next time.

The Bible says we never know what a day may bring forth, but that seems to be even more the case this year. Whatever is ahead, God knows and will give us grace to deal with it. We can go forth in confident expectation.

(Sharing with InstaEncouragement, Worth Beyond Rubies, Grace and Truth,
Faith on Fire, Global Blogging, Hearth and Soul, Senior Salon)

As I am sure has been true for many of you, May was a rather quiet month. Mother’s Day was the only big event on the calendar. We enjoyed roasting hot dogs and making s’mores for Memorial Day. Most days just held everyday activities.

We had several socially-distanced visits outside with my son’s family at our house and theirs. Thankfully the weather has been pretty comfortable this month for outdoor gatherings. Since our state began opening up a little, and since the COVID cases in our area are low compared to others, we did start visiting inside (just in time to come into the air conditioning from hot weather). But otherwise we’re holding back from jumping full-fledged back into the fray.

Our church discussed meeting together again, and most wanted to wait for a bit. So we’ll still Zoom for now.

I’ve been distressed by the judgmentalism and name-calling in social media over simple things like wearing face masks, even among Christians, even among friends. I’ve had some ideas brewing for a post about it all, but probably should abstain. There are multiple facets to the COVID-19 crisis and multiple opinions even among experts, so it seems like we should give each other plenty of grace and room to differ.

But…on to more pleasant topics.

Family

Besides what I mentioned above, some of us were watching or listening to the SpaceX launch preparations, which had to be scrapped due to weather. Jason texted this picture of Timothy.

I asked Jim why the astronauts were being strapped in so early, then answered my own question by saying they probably had a lot of pre-checks and such to go through. Then I said, “If it were me, I’d have to say ‘You can strap me in now, but you’re going to have to let me up to use the bathroom before we leave.'”

Jim said, “That’s why you’re not an astronaut.”

Not the only reason, but, yes. 🙂

Timothyisms

I mentioned on a Friday’s Fave Five that my son’s Ring camera caught a guy peeking into their window for several minutes. My son spoke through the camera and the guy ran off, but the police were called and investigated the area. My son had recently had a run-in with poison ivy in their back yard, even though he had been wearing gloves. When Timothy learned that the “peeper” had run towards the back, he said in a singsongy voice, “There’s lots of poison ivy back there.” 🙂

Timothy just turned six in April. This month he was telling me about something that happened “a long time ago when I was five.”

I’ve mentioned before that Timothy loves to mow, especially when his Granddad brings over the riding lawn mower. Timothy has his own toy riding and push lawn mower and garden tools. His dad recently texted this comment from Timothy: “If you have a big yard, a push mower will make you very tired. I did that one time, and I wanted to stop, and I changed my mind to not give up.”

His mom and dad will sometimes take a bite from his plate and call it a “dad tax” or a “mom tax.” Monday, when we were eating outside for Memorial Day, Timothy had finished and gotten down to play. Then he came back, grabbed a couple of french fries from the bowl, and said, “Tim tax.”

Creating

It was sad to realize that all of the older women I had looked up to as moms, in addition to my own mom, are gone now.

The only Mother’s Day card I made this year was for my daughter-in-law, who likes purple and lavender. It didn’t turn out quite like I was picturing it in my mind, but I think she liked it. 🙂

I also finally finished making masks for the family. I had done them for everyone except Jesse and me, since we haven’t gone anywhere (and Jeremy in RI, because he already had some). But I wanted to get them done just so we’d have them when we needed them. Plus, we’re talking about using them even after our church meets in person. I’m not a good enough seamstress to do this for others, and none of them is perfect, but at least we’re covered—literally and figuratively. 🙂 And it was good to finally cross them off my to-do list.

Watching

Laura and Hope had both recommended This Beautiful Fantastic, and I loved it. It’s on Amazon prime, but I think it’s also on YouTube. It’s about a very OCD girl who learns that letting other people into her life can be messy but beneficial. It’s also about writing and gardening and grumpy neighbors. It’s quirky and had me smiley and teary at the end. Objectionable elements: I think there are a couple of “damns” or similar bad words, and an old man in a Speedo near the beginning (but that’s more gross than sexy).

I also very much enjoyed The English Game, a six-episode mini-series. I care very little about football (soccer), but I could appreciate the struggles of changing it from a “gentleman’s” game to make it more accessible to working men, and the controversy over whether to allow paid (professional) players. Differences got violent a couple of times, but I loved how the two main characters strove to come to an understanding of each other and wanted what was best for the good of the game. I read later that though the people and some of the plot basics were real, some of the points weren’t historically accurate. But I still enjoyed it. There are a few bad words, and sadly, a couple of instances of taking Jesus’ name in vain.

I also enjoyed some of John Krasinski’s “Some Good News” YouTube videos.

Reading

This month I completed (titles link back to my reviews):

• Dying to Read by Lorena McCourtney, a cozy, somewhat comedic mystery about a young woman filling in for her uncle’s private investigation firm while looking for a new job. On her first minor case, she finds a dead body. I liked it okay, but this is not my favorite genre. If it’s yours, you might enjoy it more.
• Castle on the Rise by Kristy Cambron, a story spanning three timelines around a castle in Scotland. Excellent.
• A Season to Dance by Patrica Beal, about a ballerina seeking love and stardom. Interestingly, the author became a Christian during the course of writing this book.
• Over to Candleford by Flora Thompson, the second in the Lark Rise to Candleford trilogy (audiobook).
• Amberwell by D. E. Stevenson (audiobook). My first book of hers, but definitely not my last.

I’m currently reading:

• Breaking Anxiety’s Grip: How to Reclaim the Peace God Promises by Dr. Michelle Bengston. I’m reading one chapter a week on Saturdays, when our church has a catch-up day for our Bible reading schedule. I only have one or two chapters to go, and I am finding it very beneficial.
• The Wonder Years: 40 Women Over 40 on Aging, Faith, Beauty, and Strength edited by Leslie Leyland Fields
• Candleford Green by Flora Thompson, the last of the Lark Rise trilogy.
• Summerhills by D. E. Stevenson, sequel to Amberwell (audiobook).
• Our church is reading through the minor prophets. I’ve been using Warren Wiersbe’s “Be” commentaries along with our Bible reading, but he has the minor prophets in three different books, not in consecutive order. So I’ve been dipping back and forth in Be Amazed (Minor Prophets): Restoring an Attitude of Wonder and Worship and Be Concerned (Minor Prophets): Making a Difference in Your Lifetime.
• I’m about halfway through a Christian fiction book and have run into some serious disagreements. I’m not sure whether to continue or to review it if I do finish it.

Up next, I have these to choose from, plus scores on my Kindle app. I need a reading vacation! 🙂

Blogging

Here are some of the posts from this month:

• Come, Let Us  Return to the Lord. “Wiersbe says, ‘One of the greatest judgments God can inflict on any people is to let them have their own way.’ Fortunately, God doesn’t give people up easily.”
• How Do You Know if God Is Displeased with You? A Twitter thread on this question listed a vague uneasiness, a sinking feeling, life not working out right. None mentioned asking Him or going to His Word.
• Real Life Devotions. We set ourselves up for failure if we wait for the perfect plan, time, or setting.
• Why Doesn’t God Explain? Maybe because we couldn’t understand if He did. But because we know Him, we can trust Him.
• Real Life Prayer. “Prayer isn’t a ritual or a performance. It’s a conversation with God.”

Writing

I still haven’t gotten to my WIP (work in progress). But I did submit a devotional and a guest post and am waiting to hear if they are accepted.

I also listened to several webinars and podcasts on writing. I appreciated that the webinars were offered for free to make up for some of the writing conferences that had been canceled. I got a few nuggets from each one. But I am thinking that, for the time spent, reading books might be better for me. With the webinars and podcasts, there’s always a bit of banter and often a rabbit trail or two. The q-and-a webinars were great to submit questions to, but they also covered a little bit of ground on a great many aspects of writing. But a book would present whole topics from start to finish, and I think my particular learning style would benefit from them more. I have several books on writing on my shelf and in my Kindle.

But beyond reading about writing—I need to just write!

Even though summer doesn’t officially start for a few weeks now, June 1 always signals the first of summer to me. Since our children are no longer in school, our schedule doesn’t change much any more between spring and summer. We don’t have any major plans until August, when we hope our oldest will be able to come for his and my birthdays. We’ll see what happens! This is a season of holding plans loosely, for we truly don’t know what  day will bring forth.

How was your May? What are you looking forward to in June?

(Sharing with Let’s Have Coffee, Grace and Truth, Faith on Fire, Global Blogging,
Senior Salon, Hearth and Home, Inspire Me Monday, Tell His Story,
InstaEncouragement, Worth Beyond Rubies)

This has certainly been a month like no other in my lifetime.

We began by celebrating my husband’s birthday, my son’s first cat, and Pi Day. I enjoyed a long lunch with a good friend I hadn’t seen in a few months.

Then news began to spread about the coronavirus. I’ve run the gamut of emotions since I first heard of it. I think I am pretty settled now … most of the time. When bad news or new concerns arise, I try to remind myself of God’s truth. So far we are doing well. My husband and three sons still have a job and work from home. I breathe a little sigh of relief every time my husband comes home from the store, knowing we’re supplied for the next few days. I pray often that God will accomplish His will through all of this and it won’t last any longer than necessary. I’m an introverted homebody, so being isolated hasn’t bothered me. I hope it’s not harder than usual to get back in the swing of things when the time comes, but we’ll deal with that then.

Family encounters

Humor always helps. We have not felt comfortable getting food out, even with drive-through or delivery services. Some of you who have read here for a while know I love getting dinner out fairly regularly as that’s the only time I feel officially “off.” Instead, now I try to balance easy meals with the more labor-intensive ones. One night after we had grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, I told my husband and youngest son, “I’m glad you guys are happy with whatever I make, whether it’s simple or fancy.”

Jesse said, “It’s made with love. That’s all that matters.”

My husband said, “That’s not all that matters….”

Timothyisms

My grandson wanted to do something that required an adult presence, but my daughter-in-law was making dinner. She said something like, “Not right now, honey. You need supervision to do that.”

Timothy said, “But Mommy, I already have that behind my eyes.”

She was confused until she realized he thought she meant super vision.

Another time, I’d had a negative encounter with someone in the store, right at the beginning of the corona virus scare when stores were first emptied of paper products. I inadvertently got in someone’s way, and he told his companion, while looking at me, “I hope she gets the corona virus. I hope she dies from it.” He didn’t seem angry: he said it with a smirk. I was pretty stunned. When my son and daughter-in-law were talking about the situation at home, Timothy asked what they were discussing. They said someone had some something unkind to me and hurt my feelings. So he texted me that he loved me, and then said,” Mommy, you know why I hug Grandma so much? Because I like her. She’s so sweet.” ♥

Another quip: “I want a pet bee so it can be an automatic honey machine.”

And the last one: we had a severe thunderstorm one night. Timothy told us later that it woke him up and he was scared and “lost his dream.” Then he climbed under the covers and felt better.

Creating

The only card I made this month was for my husband’s birthday. He’s received a lot of camping gear as gifts, so I decided to use a camping theme. The Cricut can do so much more than I use it for: I need to just play with it some time and figure some of these things out. I usually just have it cut isolated images. But I was pleased that I finally understood this time how to layer three different ones. This is one of my favorite cards yet.

I also sewed for the first time in a long time. My husband wanted me to make a face mask for him out of camouflage fabric, and thankfully I had a good-sized scrap in my stash.

Writing

Since the calendar has been cleared, and my husband has been doing the grocery shopping, you’d think I’d have all kinds of time on my hands. I’d hoped to have extra time to work on my book, but I seem to have less. I hope to carve some time out this week. I did write a rough draft of a devotional and guest blog post: I hope to polish those off and submit them soon.

Watching

While riding my exercise bike, I started watching the 2017-2019 A Series of Unfortunate Events. It’s really quirky, but interesting. As a family we enjoyed A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. It’s not a biopic of Mr. Rogers so much as an account of his relationship with one troubled man. But it’s very good.

We enjoyed watching Spies in Disguise except for a segment showing a man’s bare backside. It was just a cartoon character, but still: the scene should not have been there and should not have dragged on as much as it did, We fast-forwarded through it.

My kids played with Legos even after other toys were laid aside. I’ve enjoyed watching Lego Masters, but no one else in the family has been interested.

I mentioned last month watching Dickensian, but I had to stop when they showed a man’s bare backside as well. I hadn’t thought to check out objectionable elements in this series because it was based on Dickens’ work. I’m mad that this seems to be becoming more commonplace.

Reading

I’ve completed this month:

• Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope. (audiobook). My first book by this author, but not my last.
• The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home by Denise Kiernan is about the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC, and the people involved with it. The Biltmore is much loved in these parts, and this is an excellent book.
• Be Reverent (Ezekiel): Bowing Before Our Awesome God by Warren Wiersbe, a Bible study aide.
• I’ve finished one other that I have mixed emotions about and haven’t decided whether to review.

I’m currently reading:

• The Women of Easter: Encounter the Savior with Mary of Bethany, Mary of Nazareth, and Mary Magdalene by Liz Curtis Higgs
• Be Free (Galatians): Exchange Legalism for True Spirituality by Warren Wiersbe
• Breaking Anxiety’s Grip: How to Reclaim the Peace God Promises by Dr. Michelle Bengston
• Lark Rise by Flora Thompson (audiobook)
• Castle on the Rise by Kristy Cambron
• A Portrait of Marguerite by Kate Lloyd

Blogging

Here are some of the posts from this month:

• Biblical Reasons for Suffering
• What More Can He Say? “That repeated question, ‘What more can He say,’ drove home the message that God’s Word has given us everything we need to know Him and live for Him.”
• Let Trouble Draw You Nearer. Trials can come between us and God or press us closer to Him.
• Things I Am Thankful For During the Coronavirus Pandemic.
• How to Avoid Spiritual Automatic Pilot. I don’t know why I didn’t say auto-pilot—didn’t think of it til several days later.
• An Anxiety Playlist. I probably should have said anti-anxiety. 🙂
• When the Answer to Prayer Is Bad News.

That pretty much wraps up our March. I’ve been delighted to see signs of spring: more daylight, warmer days, budding plants and trees. What a sign of hope for better days to come.

I saw a thought-provoking tweet recently, but I haven’t been able to retrace it because it was from someone I don’t know. But it said something like, “Maybe being huddled in our homes wondering what’s going to happen next is the most Eastery thing we could do this year.” There’s nothing wrong with our modern ways of celebrating Easter, but who knows how the pandemic will affect those plans. This might be an Easter to remember just because it will be different. Maybe a quieter celebration will give us pause to remember the disciples’ agony those three days after their hope was crucified, and their confusion, and then joy, to realize Jesus had been raised from the dead. I hope we’ll realize the impact anew.

How was your March? What are your hopes for Easter?

(Sharing with Shannan, Faith on Fire, Grace and Truth, Inspire Me Monday,
Global Blogging, Senior Salon, Hearth and Soul, Tell His Story,
Purposeful Faith, Happy Now, InstaEncouragement,
Worth Beyond Rubies, Let’s Have Coffee)

Thank you so much for your encouragement and kind comments on last month’s post when I wondered if I should continue my end-of-month wrap-ups. I enjoy doing them, and I am happy to hear you enjoy reading them.

February was a nice mixture of quietness and busyness. We always enjoy Valentine’s Day around here. It has become a tradition to make what we call Meat Hearts for that day’s dinner: Li’l Cheddar Meat Loaves (minus the mustard and with much less sugar) made in heart shapes rather than ovals. And I also make heart-shaped cupcakes from a gluten-free mix. We’ve always made the day about the whole family. Then we enjoyed celebrating my daughter-in-law’s birthday with dinner and cake here one night and then an outing to the Downton Abbey Exhibit at the Biltmore estate last Saturday. Fun!

The weather has been up and down as well: some bitterly cold days, some warmer than usual, many in the 40s. Even though this has not been a severe winter, I’m read for it to be over. Spring is coming!

Timothyisms

I know my grandson’s funny observations are the favorite part of these posts for some of you. But I don’t have anything new this month besides what I already mentioned at the Biltmore visit. I did want to share this funny-to-me picture, though. There’s been much talk of going camping in the spring. So when we watched Timothy a couple of weeks ago during his parents’ date, he wanted to go “pretend camping” with Granddad while I made dinner. They put drinks in a cooler, turned off the living room lights, turned on lanterns, made a pretend fire, had Alexa play forest noises first, then a babbling brook. I mentioned earlier that Timothy was impressed when Granddad got out his real camping pans to cook their toy fish. Timothy had rediscovered a little tent stuffed in a closet that he had played in a lot when he was two or three. He got that out and set it up. He was too big to fit, of course, but otherwise he seemed pretty cozy.

When he got tired of that, he turned it into a port-a-pottie. 🙂

Creating

With Valentine’s Day this month, I spent much of one week in the craft room. I let the Cricut do a lot of the heavy lifting this time for the main images.

This was my husband, Jim’s:

The Cricut even did the writing and the drawing for the lace. I would’ve used more masculine colors, but I was afraid the writing wouldn’t show up on maroon or red cardstock. The background is scrapbooking paper.

This is Jeremy’s:

The fox is a multi-layered sticker. The hearts came from a piece of scrapbooking paper that had several hearts in colors other than pink and red.

This is Jason’s:

I had seen a similar idea on Pinterest and used the Cricut for the musical note. I rummaged through my heart shapes, hoping I had one already the right size, and I was delighted to find this puffy one.

This is Mittu’s, who likes purple:

The “love” and corner decorations are stickers.

This is my grandson, Timothy’s:

And this is Jesse’s:

A similar design on Pinterest caught my eye because he has a black truck. Some of the hearts were stickers, other were cut with punches.

And this was for Mittu’s birthday, as she loves tea:

I ended up getting the cup a bit bigger than I wanted, but by that point I didn’t want to start all over.

Watching

While riding my exercise bike, I finished the Amazon prime series called Home Fires, about the British Women’s Institute during WWII. It ended up being a little soap-operaish, which I didn’t care for. There were a few incidents of people sleeping with people they weren’t supposed to, but nothing explicit was shown. Other than that, it was a good series. I was surprised it ended with a cliffhanger without being renewed. It’s based on a book called Jambusters, which I have not read but which I understand is more like a documentary.

I just started a series called Dickensian. It has Dickens characters all living in the same town and interacting. Marley is still alive and working with Scrooge. Miss Havisham (Great Expectations) has not yet been jilted but has suffered an estrangement from her brother over their father’s will. Fagin and Bill Sikes lurk in the shadows. Little Nell lies sick in The Old Curiosity Shop. Inspector Bucket (Bleak House) investigates a murder. It’s intriguing, though dark: I haven’t seen any of Dickens’ humor yet. (Update: Unfortunately, some nudity was displayed in episode three. I didn’t think to check on that kind of thing because this is Dickens, after all. Argh! So I stopped watching and can’t recommend this after all.)

We haven’t watched any movies together as a family yet, but I want to see It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. I will probably have to keep a supply of tissues nearby. Mr. Rogers was about the only TV show we let our kids watch for a long time.

Reading

This month I finished (titles link to my reviews):

• Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done by Laura Vanderkam
• Good Tidings of Great Joy: A Collection of Christmas Sermons by Charles Spurgeon
• Hard Times by Charles Dickens (audiobook)
• The Words Between Us by Erin Bartels
• Old Town in the Green Groves by Cynthia Rylant, about the “lost years” of the Little House books.

I’m currently reading:

• The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home by Denise Kiernan about the Biltmore House.
• Be Reverent (Ezekiel): Bowing Before Our Awesome God by Warren Wiersbe
• Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope (audiobook)
• The Mother-Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick
• The Women of Easter: Encounter the Savior with Mary of Bethany, Mary of Nazareth, and Mary Magdalene by Liz Curtis Higgs

Blogging

You may have noticed a different url than usual. I just transitioned from the free version of WordPress to the paid, which comes with a free domain name. Unfortunately, just my first and last name plus .com was already taken by a realtor in Charleston. I’ve been thinking about taking this step for some time, both to increase storage space and to get rid of ads. When I couldn’t upload pictures earlier this week because I didn’t have any storage left, I figured it was time. Thankfully links under the old domain name still seem to work.

I’ve thought, off and on, ever since starting this blog of changing the name. Since “Stray Thoughts” isn’t in the domain name, I could easily change it. That’s the only name I could think of when I first started the blog. I keep think I should come up with something more creative. But after 13+ years, maybe it’s better to leave it the same.

At any rate, besides the Friday’s Fave Fives, book reviews, and occasional Saturday Laudable Linkages, February has seen these blog posts here:

• Wanting My Own Way. Still a struggle, even though I know better.
• When I Fall, I Shall Rise.
• Working Toward Harmonious Relationships.
• When Not to Be Minimalist.

Writing

I’ve gotten several good session in with my work-in-progress. I’m about ready to tackle my hardest chapter—hard because I have a lot of information to try to cover in as concise and interesting a way as possible. I’d appreciate your prayers.

And that about wraps up February here. How was yours?

(Sharing with Grace and Truth, Create, Bake, Grow, and Gather, Global Blogging,
Senior Salon, Hearth and Soul, Shannan, Happy Now, InstaEncouragement,
Worth Beyond Rubies)

For many years, I thought January was a gloomy month. After the excitement of Christmas, it was sad to take down the lights and decorations and deal with the rest of the cold, dark winter.

Though I still don’t like the cold, darkness, and bare landscape, I do like the respite that January brings. For our family, there are no major events in January after everyone goes back to work. Much as I love all that’s connected with the holidays, I love having January to reset for the new year.

After a bit of resting, I’ve felt almost driven to get a number of tasks done this month. Some were organizational, some involved cleaning and mending. In my early married years, Sandra Felton’s Messies Manual and newsletters helped me reign in a lot of clutter and bad habits. One of her mottoes was “Scratch where it itches”—take care of whatever is bugging you now. That’s how I felt when I saw my bathroom curtains, shower curtains, and bedroom window all desperately needed attention. Why put that off for spring cleaning? It felt good to take care of those things, both in getting them done and having the time to do so (now the rest of the windows will have to wait. 🙂 ).

An added bonus to getting so much done early in the month is that I didn’t have anything I had to do this week beyond the usual laundry, meals, grocery shopping, etc. There’s always stuff that could be done, but I had nothing that had to be done. So I have been able to delve back into my writing. I hadn’t touched the book I am working on since probably early December. I got a few good revising sessions with it this week plus wrote the rough drafts for two potential articles.

I revised my “About Me” section of the blog (I thought I had done that once or twice since 2006, but it didn’t look like it!). I added a Writing page and tab at the top. I’ve also been removing some older, silly posts, like a “What kind of cookie are you?” quiz. I’m working on the latter partly to free up more space: I’m about to max out on the allowable space for a free blog with WordPress. It’s only taken me thirteen years to do so. I am probably going to switch to the paid version soon, both to access more storage and to eliminate the ads that WP puts on free blogs. I don’t think the ads show up as much on a computer, but they are pretty heavy on devices. And one is at the bottom of the email version of the blog posts.

Family

We did have one major event at the beginning of January: my husband and I belatedly celebrated our 40th anniversary with a quick, fun, refreshing get-away to Gatlinburg. We stayed in a cozy lodge and visited the Titanic museum.

We haven’t had many other family doings this month besides eating together once or twice a week, playing games, and chatting. We had a fun FaceTime tour of my oldest son’s new condo after he got settled in and decorated it. My youngest son started a new job in early December and is enjoying it.

Timothyisms

I know for some of you, my little grandson’s sayings are your favorite part of my monthly musings. Unfortunately, I don’t have any written down. I mentioned before that he likes texting, usually gifs and emojis. But now he’s picked up that the iPhone will offer up word prompts. That has led to texts like this:

Thanks I the way we are we can yeah hey there are we doing a little shopping 🛒 is

And

Ghffjf us is to much to do so she has the same problem ho I ghosted and my phone

He has also taken to writing us “notes.”

He’s doing well with home school. For one project, they had to make a timeline with key events from his short life illustrated with his drawings. For his birth, he drew a baby in a box. I don’t know if he thought babies arrived, like everything else, in Amazon packages, or if he remembers pictures of himself in the NICU incubator.

Watching

I finished When Calls the Heart while riding my exercise bike, at least all they had. I don’t know when to expect the latest season of it on Netflix. I’ve enjoyed it, even knowing it is different from Janette Oke’s books. I know the faith element isn’t brought out as much in the series as it was in the books, though they do sometimes quote the Bible or spiritual principles or pray. But they’ve also had some “off” sayings: “Follow your heart,” God doesn’t give you more than you can handle,” “the man upstairs,” “We’re born under a star. Maybe ours was lucky.”

We all enjoyed the second season of Lost in Space. So good, but so intense! Unfortunately, we’ll probably have to wait a year for new episodes since this season just came out.

I found a delightful four-episode series on Amazon Prime videos called Doctor Thorne, based on the novel of the same name by Anthony Trollope (whom I have never read). It doesn’t have a ground-breaking plot: a young man from an aristocratic family in the 1800s falls in love with a poor girl of questionable birth. The young man is urged by his mother and aunt to “marry money” to save the estate from its debts. It was quite enjoyable and satisfying, even though the ending was predictable. The script was written by Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbey fame, and he introduces and closes each episode. I’m not sure why it was rated TV-14: there’s nothing really objectionable in it, except two characters are alcoholics. One dies after an accident, and there’s blood, but it’s not that traumatic a scene.

I’ve discovered another Amazon prime series called Home Fires, about the British Women’s Institute during WWII. I’m only on the second episode, but it’s good so far.

We enjoyed watching the old animated 101 Dalmatians with all the family.

Reading

So far this year I have completed (titles link to my reviews):

• Panosian: A Story of God’s Gracious Providence by Chris Anderson (audiobook). A dramatic true story of God’s protection of a family through the Armenian Genocide preceding WWI.
• Promise Me This by Cathy Gohlke, a novel involving a couple of people on the Titanic, one who survived and one who did not, and one sister who wished the results had been reversed.
• The Shop Keepers by Nancy Moser, a sequel to The Pattern Artist and The Fashion Designer, novels about a young women going into those professions in the early 1900s. This one takes place just after WWI. I am giving away a copy of this book on Tuesday.
• The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle (audiobook).

One I finished in December but didn’t get to review til this month was Seasons of the Heart: A Year of Devotions From One Generation to Another compiled by Donna Kelderman. She draws from writings of ladies like Susannah Spurgeon and Frances Ridley Havergal and transforms them into one-page devotionals for the book.

I’m currently reading:

• Good Tidings of Great Joy: A Collection of Christmas Sermons by Charles Spurgeon
• Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done by Laura Vanderkam
• The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home by Denise Kiernan about the Biltmore House.
• Hard Times by Charles Dickens (audiobook)

February marks the last Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge . I’ll have the first post for it up on Saturday. (Update: The sign-up post is here.)

Blogging

Besides the updating and book reviews I mentioned earlier and weekly Friday’s Fave Fives, I’ve posted:

• A Look Back at the Blog in 2019.
• You Don’t Have to Choose a Word for the Year
• Ways to Both Read and Study the Bible
• Every Resolve for Good
• Biblical Self-Talk

I’m a bit conflicted abut whether to continue the end-of-month musings. I enjoy them. But I wonder if they are too much repetition, too much sharing things you’ve already seen. I do include some things not posted before, but a lot of it is recap. I’d love it if you would let me know honestly whether you enjoy these monthly wrap-ups or pass them by.

How has your January been? Let me know in the comments.

(Sharing with Grace and Truth, Global Blogging, Senior Salon, Shannan, InstaEncouragement, Worth Beyond Rubies)