Category Archives: Musings

A little late blogging today

Celebrating, Musings, Stuff, , , , , ,

I woke up this morning and realized this is Tuesday, my day to blog and I had nothing!  

There is a good reason.  I bought a new car.   By new car, I mean new to me.  

Twelve years ago, George bought me a brand new yellow Ford Focus.  I love cars in bright colors both because they make me happy and because I can find them easily in a parking lot.  It worked wonderfully.  Never had to spend money except for oil changes and new tires.

Until two years ago.  My battery kept running down.  I had to have it jumped every three or four months and bought four new batteries.  At the same time, when I got into the car and before I put the key in the ignition, the radio would come on.  I believed the radio was draining the battery so set an appointment with the radio specialist at the dealership to check it.   He said (I paraphrase here), “Lady, you’re nuts.  There’s nothing wrong,” because—in my experience–mechanics never listen to women.  I could go on and on about this but I won’t in this blog.

And yet, the radio kept turning on and the battery kept running down.  I had the radio removed.   Didn’t change things and still no one could find a reason for this.  Yes, I know it was a short in the electrical system but, “Lady, there’s nothing wrong with your car,” but they couldn’t explain  the new batteries.  I had to keep AAA on speed dial.

I’m on deadline:  October 1 for The Wedding Planners of Butternut Creek.  When the car wouldn’t start last Wednesday, I had it jumped and drove it for thirty minutes, I thought the charge would last three or four months and I’d have plenty of time to look for a new car after October 1 because it was obvious I need a car that starts without the aid of jumper cables.

But the charge didn’t last.  Saturday morning, the battery was dead again. 

Monday, we bought a new (to me) car, pictured above.  It’s a 2008 Mazda 3 and is so pretty and clean but it’s white!   In the picture my dear husband took, my Power Cat (the logo of  my Alma Mater, Kansas State University) shows up beautifully against the white.

But the car is white and I won’t be able to find it in the parking lot.  My plan is to do something on the roof of the car to identify it.  I’m thinking a purple stripe to match the Power Cat.  I should be able to pick that out in a parking lot.

I am open to suggestion.  What do you think would brighten up and make my new car easier to identify?

 

 

I married a man who loves history

Musings, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I married a man who loves history.   We’ve been to Mystic Seaport in Connecticut and the Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego.  On a trip from Louisville to Savannah, we followed the battlefields of the Civil War from Chickamauga down the route of Sherman’s March to the Sea.

On a terribly hot summer day, George, his sister and I searched Gettysburg for their ancestors who served in the Pennsylvania 150th regiment.  Diane was chased and nearly devoured by a reaping machine in the Hay Field.

We visited frontier villages in Houston and Fredericksburg, TX;  The National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock, TX, one of my favorites;  the Texas Ranger Museum on Waco; the Billy the Kid Museum someplace in Texas;  Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park where we love feeding the burros and I wandered through a herd of buffalo.   Another favorites was the Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site in St. Martinville, Louisiana which we stumbled on by accident on a drive to New Orleans.  

And, of course, in D.C., we visited the Memorials; in Virginia, Monticello and Old Williamsburg. 

I can’t remember all the places but I’ve enjoyed every one of them because I was with George and because, fortunately, I love history, too.

What is the favorite place you’ve visited?  Historical on not, please share.

Good morning, Wrinkle Face

Musings,

When I got up Tuesday morning, I had creases from my pillowcase on my cheek.  When he saw this, my husband said to me, “Good morning, Wrinkle Face.”  He’s smart enough to realize immediately his statement might could (as we say in Texas) insult me.  It did.  He will, I’m fairly certain, never call me this again because he is a really nice guy!

However, this isn’t the worst affectionate nickname I’ve ever heard.  George had a friend from college who called his girl friend–fiancee-wife “Dummy Flab”.  Yes, that’s right.  He called her a name that stated she was both stupid and fat.  I don’t know how or if the marriage  survived.

What’s the worst nickname you’ve ever heard, been called or used?   I love to know these things.

Where do you get your ideas?

A question, Butternut Creek, Musings, Writing, , , , , , , , , , ,

Over and over, I’ve been told, “Write what you know.”   I’ve never agreed.  If authors stuck to writing what they knew, no historicals would be in print because the author  wasn’t alive to witness those events.   Agatha Christie would never had written her mysteries because, as far as we know, she never killed anyone.

 I wrote two historicals that took place in Regency England in 1812 and another that took place in Texas 120 years ago.  Had to do a lot of research to do that.

Then I started writing the Tales from Butternut Creek series and realized I was writing exactly what I knew: a minister in a small town church. The Palm Sunday donkey running away with his rider? I was one of the group that grabbed the animal before he could toss the boy off. A minister’s fear of counseling a member of the congregation? Been there and survived and the woman I counseled did as well. The group of women who run the church? I’ve met them in every church either my husband or I have served and readers tell me they know a Miss Birdie. All the stories, all the embarrassing and funny situations we lived came together in these books and I’ve had such a great time writing them.

Sometimes the memories make me laugh. But members of a congregation suffer, too, and I cried with them. Those hard times made the books, too.

 Of course, I didn’t live through or actually witness everything I wrote. We never lived in a huge Victorian parsonage but I’ve always wanted to—if I didn’t have to do the housework. And I expanded on some of the scenes. In Butternut Creek, the donkey took off down the highway with the kid hanging on his back. In reality, he ran only ten yards although I imagine the boy riding him thought it last far longer.

Have you had an experience you think should be in a book? I’d love for you to share.

What I miss living in Texas

Musings, , , , ,

I grew up in Kansas City, MO.   My father was a huge University of Kansas fan so we drove to Lawrence for every home football and basketball game as well as the Kansas Relays.

What I especially loved–even as a young child–was the glory of the changing leaves during our autumn drives.   Do I remember them as being more beautiful than they were or do I just miss them that much?

What do you think?  Do you enjoy the four season?  Which is your favorite and why?

Salsa and blue Jell-o

Musings, Reading, , , , ,

Every year since 1998, Beloit College has published a “Beloit College Mindset List”.  I love it because it reminds me how old I am—well, actually, that isn’t my favorite reason—and how those events and things I believe are part of our culture don’t even appear as a blip in the minds of seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds entering college.

I read this list every year—here’s the link to the latest list  http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/

My favorite list came out a few years ago.  I first heard about it in the September 21, 2009, issue of TIME magazine when Nancy Gibbs wrote this:  The Mindset List is a “dictionary of all the deeply ingrained cultural references that will make to sense to students of the incoming class. This year’s freshmen were typically born in 1991.  That means, the authors explain, they have never used a card catalog to find a book; salsa has always outsold ketchup; women have always outnumbered men in college; there has always been blue Jell-O.”

I remember hours spent going through card catalogs when I was in college.  And, when I was in college, men outnumbered women three-to-one.  Of course, that did little for me, a humanities major, because most of these guys majored in agriculture or engineering, fields pretty much closed to women way back then.

Think of the phrases students today don’t really understand:  both dial and hang up the phone, a broken record.   In the future, it may be these will be explained in books that tells us what “the whole nine yards” means. 

Both my husband and I have Kindles and will not return to reading real books.  He also uses salsa on his scrambled eggs.   And I prefer red Jello although I’ll eat any color of M&Ms.

What changes do you see around you?  What do you remember that today’s kids know nothing about?   I’d love to hear from you.

 

 

Christopher Robin’s house is for sale!

Butternut Creek, Musings, Reading, Writing, , , ,

I grew up with Christopher Robin, Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and Rabbit and his friends and relations.   When I was sick, my mother used to read the stories to me, changing the name of Christopher Robin to Monica Jane (my real and legal names).   My younger sister even put, “How sweet  to be a cloud” to music she made up.    I can still sing it.  In high school, I had a friend who used to quote Milne’s poem, “Now I am six and . . .” while George loves the poem which begins, “King John was not a good man. . .”

The Winnie-the-Pooh stories even influenced my writing.  In The Welcome Committee of Butternut Creek, Charley the plumber gets stuck in a cabinet in the same way Pooh bear did in the hole to Rabbit’s house.  Adam thinks he may have to starve Charley until he’s thin enough to pull himself out–as Rabbit had to do with that silly bear.  However, I didn’t allow Adam to hang his wash on Charley’s legs.

The original illustrations are wonderful, line drawings which suggest and define the characters.  Children who grew up on the Disney version have missed out on the delight of the E.H. Shepard drawings.  Here’s a link so you can appreciate them.  http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2008/11/original-winnie-pooh-drawings.html

I’m writing this because a friend on Facebook posted that the house on Pooh corner is for sale, the one where A.A. Milne wrote the books and Christopher Robin came down the stairs with his bear bumping down behind him.  I emailed the information to my husband.  He says we can’t buy the house but that doesn’t matter.  I love the memories this news evoked and it is a little above our price range.  However, if you’re interested, here’s the link.   Click here: Savills UK | Cotchford Lane, Hartfield, East Sussex, TN7 4DN | Property for sale

Did you read Winnie-the-Pooh when you were young?  Or even when you were old?   What memories do you have?

 

 

 

Goodbye, dear friends

Church, Holidays, Musings

Our beloved minister of eleven years has been called to serve another congregation.  It is a wonderful opportunity for him, a blessing for the new church.  For us, there is sorrow and hope.  We will miss Tim, Amy, Ben, and Mary-Austin but we also know a new minister will challenge us and lead us down new roads.  Soon we will love him or her very much because they are welcome in our open and affirming family.

Yes, we will miss Tim.  Life changes but God is eternal.