Surprise!

We woke up to the beauty of white snow everywhere but not as much as what they were calling for which I am very happy about! It didn’t snow throughout the night and we didn’t get the ice expected. I am all smiles for that means that I get to go on my adventure today! Where to?? Well that is the surprise for you all. My husband has surprised me with adventures before, but this time I know where we are going, for I was the one to suggest it and he happily went along with it. He is so sweet!

So, where do you think we are headed? I know, there are only about a gazillion choices to choose from, but go ahead and take a guess at what adventure is planned. I know very well that many of you have quite the imagination!

I will be back tonight or tomorrow with a post and pictures about our adventure. Until then I wish you all a HAPPY SUNDAY whether you are adventuring with a nap on the couch or going out and about, whichever it is, ENJOY, I know I will! 🙂

Time to Nap!

This afternoon I felt sleepy, and dozed off for a little in the recliner. I may be older, but I still like my naps, just like I did when I was little.

My hubby has had times where a nap is needed as well!

Our Yorkie thinks nap times are  wonderful too!

 

Our Sheltie loves naptime in her bed and she does have a bigger bed, a nice new one, but she prefers this one that she barely fits in anymore.

She loves napping in the shade of our tree too, though right now this

grass is covered by snow as it is presently falling.

Yes, people and animals alike love to have good naps! Our ferrets sleep alot too, though in this shot he is wide awake for he wanted to say HI!

Hope you enjoyed these pictures and if they make you feel a little sleepy, then stretch out and take a little nap. Or you might be ready to go to bed for a much longer nap depending what part of the world you are in. As for Lily, she’s ready for bed. Sweet Dreams and Good Night! 🙂

 

 

 

 

Friday’s Super Short Stories!

What you think you see, may not actually be what you are seeing.

Sometimes it just takes a little spark to make the wheels of curiosity turn!

The same snow that may make you grumble, may be creating magic for another, whose face beams, as their eyes see the beauty for the first time!

Let Us Run…

Today I want to share a post that I posted back in 2017, I don’t think I have posted it since then.  I hope my followers who have been with me for a while now don’t mind seeing it again and I hope my new followers since then can be touched by it. Perhaps there is someone out there whose heart needs these words today.

This poem came to my mind yesterday when I was reading another blog post about how we can get caught up with emotion when writing emotional pieces. How those emotions can help us write better as we let them bleed out on the paper.

I don’t consider myself a poet by any means, but this poem that I am going to share came out of a time when my heart was full of deep emotion.

My heart poured it out on a night when it was breaking. Breaking because the prognosis was not looking good for a good friend of ours, cancer was going to win.  The tears fell as I didn’t know what to say. What could I speak  to my very precious friend;  his wife. How could I encourage her? I felt that I had no words.

 

Come Away With Me My Friend (Let Us Run To The Ocean)

Come away with me my friend

***

Let us run to the ocean,

Where you can let the pain in your heart

Be overpowered by the roar of the waves.

Let us go where you can shout ”Why?” to the sky,

And scream as loud as you need.

Where you can fall to your knees on the soft sand.

***

Let us run to the ocean,

Where I can hold you tight, and let you cry.

Where you can let your shoulders sag.

Where you can let your tears fall,

To be carried away by the waves.

Lean on me. Let me be your strength.

***

Let us run to the ocean.

Oh, my dear friend… let us just go!

You need not think about the future.

Let us walk along the water’s edge.

Remember when we were young?

Our lives were so carefree

***

Let us stand in the water.

Let the waves splash your face,

And gently wash away your tears.

Let us run to the ocean.

Let us go where the waves go on forever.

Life can be hard my very special friend.

***

But let us run to the ocean.

Life we cannot always understand.

Things happen that cannot be explained.

But the waves will go on forever

Through night and day; Through rain or shine,

As will my love for you.

***

Let us go to the ocean my dear friend.

We will face the rolling waves together,

And if you slip… I will be there to catch you.

If you feel you are losing your way…

I will be there to guide you.

***

Let us talk in silence,

For our love does not need words.

We have a special friendship.

Let us run to the ocean.

Let the waves mesmerize you.

Let the ocean’s rhythm soothe your soul.

***

Let us go to the ocean, my friend.

Go where no words are needed.

Where we will let the waves speak.

Let us go the ocean my friend.

Let us go… and be as one,

For I will never let you fight this on your own.

***

Come away with me my friend.

If you enjoyed this poem, you can find it in Colin’s book of poetry , “Just Thinking.” The book is available through  Amazon, Friesen Press, and all other online book retailers. He helped me fine tune this poem into what it is and I was very touched when he asked me if he could include it in his book. Your heart will be touched by his poems as well, as he simply speaks from his heart.

The Unplanned Adventure

Dawn was breaking and Erin was up getting a good, early start to her day. A cup of  hot chaomile tea she held in her hands , as she sat on her couch dreaming about the ocean.

She remembered the beauty of the sky when watching the sun rise and the 2 little visitors that joined her on the beach that morning back on that beautiful summer day. What do sea gulls think about she had wondered,  as she watched them.

It was nice to think back to the summertime as the cold winds blew, a snow storm was coming the forecasters said and it could be a BIG ONE.  Finishing her cup of tea, she stretched and got up to start her day.

To get her blood flowing she pulled out her jump rope. She recalled her younger years when she jumped rope with her friends and they chanted all those crazy rhymes as they jumped. “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around, Teddy Bear Teddy Bear touch the ground…”  She was pretty fast as her friends turned the rope, but there were the times when the rope would trip her up. She kept jumping rope as she got older. It could be good mental exercise as well sometimes, depending what she was thinking about while she jumped.

Later that afternoon she was reading a very interesting autobiography, when she heard a knock on the door. Who could that be? She wasn’t expecting anyone.

Going to the door, she peeked out the window, to her delight she saw her friend Jan standing there.

“HI Jan!, what a nice surprise!”  Erin said.

“HI! I thought I would come and see if you wanted to take a little walk with me. With the storm coming, we may be shut in for awhile, so I thought it would be good to enjoy some fresh air. ”

Erin shivered, as she felt the breeze that blew in the door with Jan. Closing the door as she ushered Jan in she gave her a strange look.

“You want to walk in this cold weather? ” , she asked.

“We won’t go far, I promise, I just drove by a little place the other day that I would like to explore and thought it would be much more fun to go exploring with you.” Jan said, as she smiled.

Erin laughed. Jan always was up for adventure and Erin usually couldn’t say no to going along. You never knew what may happen when you were with Jan.

“Well can we go out for some Latte’s when we get back?”  Erin asked.

“Sure, it will be my treat!”, Jan replied.

“Well I won’t say No to that. Let’s go.”,  Erin grabbed her coat and gloves out of the closet and out the door they went.

They caught each other up on their lives during the past week as they rode in the car.

After traveling for about a half hour and going back some winding roads Jan pulled off on the side of the road and parked.

“Here we are,” she said.

Erin looked around and at first she just saw a lot of trees, but then she did see some trails leading to who knows where. She looked at Jan and asked, “Let me guess, you want to take one of these trails and see where it goes?”

“Yes!” Jan said brightly.

“Well you lead the way, I gotta start walking before my face gets numb. ”

Jan laughed, ” Its not that cold, run a little, that will warm you up.”

Erin gave her a look, ” You know I don’t run, unless I am running for my life and well if that happens, its likely that it won’t end well!”

Jan shook her head at her as she started talking about the joy that you can feel when you run.

They walked and they talked and Erin soon did forget about the chill in the air, she was warming up.

“Oh look Jan, up ahead, there is a fork in the trail. which way should we go?”

“Hmm…thought Jan, you pick!”

“Okay, lets go right. Hopefully there are no bears this way.”

“Erin!”

“Well you never know! Remember that last adventure we went on, and…”

Jan interrupted, “don’t remind me!”

Erin laughed, “You do realize I will never forget!” and Jan sighed as they turned right and continued to follow the trail.

Will they meet a bear, or perhaps something else is waiting for them down the trail? One will have to wait and see. 🙂

 

Tuesday’s Thoughts!

We had a small snowfall over the weekend, just enough to make it look pretty. We are supposed to be getting more this coming weekend, which could come with ice and could be a lot more than just a few inches. I been saying that I am ready for a big snowstorm, but this coming weekend we do have plans to go away. Oh well, I don’t have much control over the weather so as the saying goes, ” what will be, will be!”  May you be able to smile this week, even when things don’t go as you planned! That’s why there is always Plan B and C!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9. or a sign of being crazy … or … you choose! 🙂

10.

 

 

 

My Challenge to You!

I was talking to my niece today and I thought of something.  I know i have alluded to this subject in other posts, but I feel its worth mentioning again.  I asked my niece what she had been up to today and she said she was writing a letter!  Yes, my jaw may have dropped, for today that seems like such a lost art. I told her how wonderful that was, and how its rare to hear of today and she agreed.

I remember the joy of running to the mailbox when I was younger waiting for a letter from a pen pal that I had. Then I remember the eagerness of waiting for letters from friends when we had to move. They were special. Just like the letters from my siblings when they went to college and I was still at home.  Letters from my parents meant so much when I lived far away from them.

There is just something special about a letter that you can hold as you read it and fold it and then open it and read it over again and then tuck it in your cedar chest perhaps.

My husband and I gave the post office lots of business when we were dating. We lived over 500 miles apart, and with no computer, no cell phone to text, the only option was to write a letter. Yes, we talked on the phone as well, but those long distance bills soon got pretty high! I still remember the phone bill coming and my Dad basically turning it over to me, for my calls to a certain guy in the state of Indiana made up pretty much of the bill. Oh yes, the days of being tangled in a phone cord. That doesn’t happen today either, as many phones now are cordless or people have no land lines at all!

Looking forward to the mail coming when we were dating was a daily occurrence! Cards and letters flew. Sometimes I would get creative with the letters and write in a circles so you had to keep turning the letter in order to read it. I probably wouldn’t have the patience to do that now.  I think there was a letter written on toilet paper before as well, though you have to be really careful that you don’t poke holes in it as you write. I remember writing backwards as well, but not for the whole letter for that took time to do. Can’t write as quickly when you are concentrating on spelling the word backwards.

No matter what, one thing remained the same about all the letters and cards I sent or received, they were special! Special because of who they were for or special because of who they were from.

My challenge to you, that I pass down from my niece is to write a letter or send a card to someone this coming week. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, you don’t have to write backwards! It doesn’t have to be long, what counts is that you took the time to let someone know that you were thinking about them.  What matters, is that I bet the person who gets your letter/card will be smiling for the rest of that day. Smiling because it is a rare expression of friendship in today’s world. Let’s do our part to bring it back this week! Who can you surprise with smiles in their mailbox, not their inbox. 🙂

Spreading Smiles!

Happy Saturday! I am happy to share some  smiles with all of you today. I have a picture that I was given permission to share on here.

Meet Benjamin. One of “The Odessa Chronicles” youngest fans, and oh so very sweet! He has  been such a delight to know.  He has made Colin and I smile so many times with his enthusiasm for our book, “The Odessa Chronicles”,  and he happily shares the stories with his friends  too!

His favorite character is Jaxon. Jaxon was thrilled to hear that! Dewey, heard it and just went back to sleep. Odessa rolled her eyes.  They all have had their turn though of being in the spotlight as  someone’s favorite. When I share stories either at schools or libraries, all 3 get mentioned as being someone’s favorite. I am glad to say that the man-servant does get mentioned as well by the children. They enjoy how cunning he can be at times, and his big heart. For who would take care of Jaxon, Odessa and Dewey they say, if it wasn’t for him! Especially Dewey! Poor cat would be lost without someone to wait on him hand and foot!

Benjamin’s Grandma, who is a wonderfully sweet lady, says that Jaxon is always with Benjamin! She sent Colin and I this picture and his smile melted our hearts. This is why we wrote the book, to spread smiles!

 

And if you are new to my blog and wondering what ” The Odessa chronicles” is about, here is an excerpt of a story from Colin’s blog, that he shared a few months ago. I hope it brings a smile to your heart. If it piques your interest, click on the picture of the cover of the book in the right hand margin.  The link will provide you with more information.

Our friends live on Moonbeam Farm. Joshua, who is known better as the “man-servant”, retired to the farm, not knowing what guests would be there to meet him. Odessa, (the Barn Owl), Dewey, ( the Cat), and Jaxon (the Jackalope). They all have very distinct personalities and become the best of friends having all kinds of crazy adventures.

In this excerpt, there has been a woman visiting the farm, and they all have grown to like her very much.  Her name is Florence, and she has a special connection to Moonbeam Farm, for it used to belong to her Grandparents. Being that everyone likes her they have made the decision to give her the ability that will allow her to communicate with all of them. All they have to do is ask her if she would like that and then Jaxon will work his magic.

Florence

The next time that Florence visited, the man-servant called everybody over. “Florence,” he said, “the four of us here had a discussion about you, and we would like to tell you what we decided.”

“Oh dear,” said Florence, “I hope it is going to be good news, because I have a question for you guys.”

The man-servant became thoughtful. “Okay, Florence, as a matter of courtesy, why don’t you ask your question first?”

She was obviously thinking about the best way to present her question. The man-servant, Dewey, Jaxon, and Odessa were all looking at her and waiting. Suddenly, she said, “Well … I’ve really enjoyed coming here, and we all seem to be getting along really well, and so … I was wondering if …”

There was total silence.

Odessa looked at the man-servant. “What’s your problem? Can’t you see that she is having difficulties? Encourage her! She is one of your species … in case you had not noticed.”

The man-servant turned to Florence. “Please continue. We have thoroughly enjoyed your visits. What’s on your mind?”

Florence looked around the room for a few moments, and then looked at Dewey, Jaxon, Odessa, and finally the man-servant. “Could I live here? You’re not using my old bedroom for anything, and I would love to use it again. I wouldn’t be here too much, because my work takes me away for weeks at a time, but it would be lovely to stay with you all when I am back in the area, and I could help out with the costs of running this farm.”

The man-servant looked at her. “It’s a nice idea, Florence, and we would all love to have you live here, but there is a major problem. We will be leaving Moonbeam Farm before the end of this year.”

Florence was saddened by the news. “Why would you want to leave here?” she asked.

“We don’t have a choice, as far as I can tell,” said the man-servant. “The farm is being purchased by the town, and then demolished in preparation for a road that is planned to come through here.”

“Joshua,” she said, “that does surprise me, but I think that I may be able to assist with resolving that problem. Would you like me to get involved?”

Odessa, Dewey, and Jaxon had all moved in a little closer, and waited for the man-servant’s response. He didn’t say anything. Odessa jumped up onto the man-servant’s shoulder and shouted into his right ear, “Why aren’t you answering? Here you have a female human who obviously knows what she is talking about … and you sit there pondering something or other! Tell her, ‘Yes! Please get involved!’”

Florence had watched Odessa’s performance. “My word, Joshua,” she said, “Odessa certainly gave you a good talking to!”

The man-servant looked at Florence. “Yes, she certainly did. She wanted to know why I didn’t say ‘yes please’ to your offer.”

Florence looked at the man-servant. “Well … why didn’t you?”

*the rest of the story and many more can be found in “The Odessa’s Chronicles”, and yes this isn’t the first time or the last time where Odessa gets baffled by something the man-servant does say, or as in this case what he doesn’t say! It can be hard work figuring him out! 🙂 *

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday’s Super Short Stories!

I would rather sit at a long table, then behind a wall.

When things don’t go their way,  toddlers  kick, scream, pout and blame others.

When climbing a mountain don’t be scared by the strong winds that blow … let others help you fly!

 

Trisha and the Stranger.

Two people were outside sitting on a bench. Trisha was trying not to be impatient as she waited.

“Are you okay Miss?” the gentleman beside her asked.

“OH I just want to get home to my own bed! I been traveling for so long.

“Where did you travel to?”

“I was on a trip to Paris, it was Okay.” she replied.

The man was shocked to hear this, “Just OK? I know many who have loved Paris!”

“Well there were very cool things to see and all, but the bed in my hotel was so uncomfortable, and the air conditioner didn’t work very well. Got so stuffy in the room. Then the one restaurant I went too was very late in serving me food. By the time they brought it out I was so upset that I told them to forget it. They told me I could have it free, but I said to just throw it in the trash. ”  she made a face as she sighed again.

The man lowered his head for a moment and then asked her another question.

“Can you describe for me one of the prettiest sights that you saw?”

“Well there were cherry blossoms blooming everywhere.”

The man smiled when he heard this and closed his eyes. “Ahh! I remember the cherry blossoms that used to be by my house. How I loved to walk by them every day. Can you tell me more?”

“The weather got a little chilly the last couple days for springtime. It was a good thing that I had brought both of my jackets along, so I could wear the thicker one. ”

The man was silent as she went on.

“I went to the Louvre and saw fabulous paintings but oh the line of people was so long to wait in. My feet were getting so tired of standing, glad I bought along my 4 pairs of walking shoes. Carried a extra pair with me each day so I could change in the middle of the day when my feet would get sore.”

The man was silent once again.

“Well there is my taxi finally! Can’t wait to get home and soak in my jacuzzi and then fall into my bed! Goodbye!”

“Goodbye,enjoy your night.” the man said, as he waved his hand at her, watching her get into the taxi.

The night started to get a little chillier and the man wrapped his arms around himself.

He stood up and stretched some, then sat back down. He bent down to rub his feet. His blisters were beginning to bleed because of the holes in his shoes. Leaning back he decided to try to get some sleep.

He stretched out on the bench as much as he could and covered himself with some newspapers that had been left on the bench. The wind began to blow, the man hoped it wouldn’t blow any stronger tonight. He closed his eyes as he tried to go to sleep, and he had a smile on his face.

He smiled as he thought about stunning cherry blossoms. His heart was warm as he remembered the time he proposed to his sweetheart amidst the cherry blossoms that lined the sidewalk near his home. The smile got even bigger when he remembered their honeymoon in Paris, oh how magical that time was.

Yes, the man’s feet ached and he was cold. His back hurt and his head wished for a pillow. His stomach wished for some food, but he still smiled. He was thankful for his memories that came alive tonight and thankful as he closed his eyes. Thankful that he could still have his precious memories.