Publication Opportunity

Here in Missouri, the trees are decked out in their finest. It is the last week of October and we are finally feeling fall temperatures. It will be in the 60s this week instead of  the mid 80s.

We drove to the country about 45 minutes away to visit granddaughter, Ashley and family. As we turned down her road we were taken aback by two of the most beautifully shaped fall trees in all their splendor. We were so enamored with them, we passed her house, had to turn around and backtrack. We laughed at ourselves when we realized these trees are on their front lawn.

Dusk was falling, so the hillside was not illuminated and does not look as colorful in this photo as it did earlier when we came upon the lake with a lone cow, its movements a fluid reflection.

We headed home into the sunset, after a delicious meal and delightful family time.

As we pulled into our driveway, I was in awe as the colors blended and swirled. I am very thankful for my eyesight. It truly is nature's gifts which make me happiest. And although I dread winter, autumn makes me feel so at peace and grateful for my many blessings.

 

At this time of year, my usual restlessness gives way to slowing: my respirations, my urge to go-go-go. I cocoon under kitty-soft fleece, snug in the heart of our comfortable home. Iced drinks are replaced by mugs of warm beverages. The front door is open, and through the glass storm door I watch the dance of birds, flutter of leaves, scampering of chipmunks and tag-playing squirrels. Across the road, a hawk soars into the farmers' fallow fields seeking a meal. I feel the need to spread fertilizer on paper and perhaps grow a poem. Maybe you will want to also. Be sure to add a SASE.

Ideals Publications 
2630 Elm Hill Poke, Suite 100
Nashville, TN 37214

 

Who's trickin' and who's treatin' ?

We are invited to an after Halloween costume party. Still debating what we will wear. But these are my favorites. Halloween used to be my favorite fun holiday. We used to win costume contests. Lately we are more into what the grandkids will be wearing. I'm thinking it's our time to howl again.

 

 

Do you have big plans this Halloween? Will you be tricking OR treating? We have never had a trick-or treater in 20 years, because we live on a main street. Do you have lots of visitors?

Who's the predator now?

My hubby, the hard of hearing wonderful man who is always tinkering, sometimes spends an afternoon watching loud, banshee screaming Netflix movies. Lately he's been hooked on ZOO (I think) where the animals turn on humans.

You can't convince me that people aren't affected by what they view. He had a near escape and then told me about what happened yesterday.

After viewing an entire reverse food chain series, he turned off the TV and headed to the back yard to do something in the shed. As he exited the shed and walked into the yard, he froze in his tracks. He saw both of the wild critters on the patio. They stopped in their tracks, too. They glared at him, then they gave each other a signal to attack, and both of them charged at him. Fearing the worst, he FROZE as they split up. One went to his left and the other to his right. He didn't know which way to look.

Those fat chipmunks have been camping out or preparing their winter home under the shed for a week now. When I sit on the patio to read, they zip by me, hang by their legs over a ledge and look me up and down, then jump in the sedum flowers and tear off across the yard. One goes to the right, and one to the left. ALWAYS. I'm pretty sure they're strategy is to avoid a hungry hawk nearby.

Can you imagine what they thought about the 6' 2" predator standing in their way? I know what he thought about those two cuties! And I have been laughing ever since. 

It takes a village or reaching across the generations

Click on the link to read my story http://www.chickensoup.com/book-story/27481/1-two-little-words-with-a-big-impact, Two Little Words With A Big Impact, first published in Chicken Soup for the Soul, My Resolution, 2008.

It has found a new home in Chicken Soup for the Soul Raising Great Kids. I am thrilled to know my words will continue to impact others.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Raising Great Kids

101 Stories about Sharing Values from Generation to Generation

By Amy Newmark and Milton Boniuk

Tolerance, respect, compassion and other values start at home, in healthy, strong relationships between the generations. These stories provide practical, insightful tips for parents and grandparents looking to strengthen their families and raise successful children.

As role models, parents and grandparents teach good values, like tolerance, accepting differences, shedding prejudices, and making good decisions. And having those traits makes us more successful as adults, too.

The personal stories in this collection not only show adult readers how to be their best selves, but also offer great advice on how to raise resilient, confident, upstanding kids — kids who exhibit all the qualities of acceptance, courage, and inner strength. These stories provide practical, insightful tips for parents and grandparents looking to strengthen their families and raise caring, confident, successful children.

This book harnesses the power of storytelling to inspire and teach while also entertaining readers. Key issues such as bullying; religious, ethnic, and lifestyle tolerance; values; and making good decisions are addressed in stories selected from Chicken Soup for the Soul’s vast library of bestselling books, representing the best on these topics from the company’s 22-year history.

This book is a joint project of Chicken Soup for the Soul and The Boniuk Foundation, which are working together to promote tolerance, respect, and compassion, inspiring young people and adults to embrace their differences, reject stereotypes, and make good choices. It’s part of a larger effort that includes additional books for kids and preteens, teens, and college students, as well as a family television show every Saturday morning starting in OctobTolerance, respect, compassion and other values start at home, in healthy, strong relationships between the generations. These stories provide practical, insightful tips for parents and grandparents looking to strengthen their families and raise successful children.

As role models, parents and grandparents teach good values, like tolerance, accepting differences, shedding prejudices, and making good decisions. And having those traits makes us more successful as adults, too.

The personal stories in this collection not only show adult readers how to be their best selves, but also offer great advice on how to raise resilient, confident, upstanding kids — kids who exhibit all the qualities of acceptance, courage, and inner strength. These stories provide practical, insightful tips for parents and grandparents looking to strengthen their families and raise caring, confident, successful children.

This book harnesses the power of storytelling to inspire and teach while also entertaining readers. Key issues such as bullying; religious, ethnic, and lifestyle tolerance; values; and making good decisions are addressed in stories selected from Chicken Soup for the Soul’s vast library of bestselling books, representing the best on these topics from the company’s 22-year history.

This book is a joint project of Chicken Soup for the Soul and The Boniuk Foundation, which are working together to promote tolerance, respect, and compassion, inspiring young people and adults to embrace their differences, reject stereotypes, and make good choices. It’s part of a larger effort that includes additional books for kids and preteens, teens, and college students, as well as a family television show every Saturday morning starting in October.

- See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Chicken-Soup-for-the-Soul-Raising-Great-Kids/Amy-Newmark/9781942649045#sthash.QXiAv4BD.dpuf

Aww, you're nuts!

Stop by for a visit with my friend Lisa Ricard Claro who wrote a post about not waiting until it's too late to get your family history info.  http://www.lisaricardclaro.com/writing-in-the-buff/

I visited with my late mom's last surviving siblings, three sisters, twins 79 years old and one who is 87. One of the twins told me Grandpa courted Grandma on his horse.

I can't even remember which one said it, but the conversation went like this:

Oh that is not true!
Daddy never had a horse.
When he was young he did. Mom told me.
Mom would have told me. I'm the oldest, and I never heard that.
Aw, you're nuts!
You're crazy!
He did.
Did not!
Did too!

My male cousin, who is my age, and I looked at one another. As they argued among themselves, I said to him, "Can you imagine the noise level with six of them at 5206 Plomo?"

At once, all of my aunts stopped talking over one another when they heard the address.

Hey, I lived at 5206.
I did, too.
Of course you did, that was Mom and Daddy's house.
Aw, you're all nuts.
No I'm not. We grew up at 5206 Plomo.

By the time I left, I felt like I had spent a day back in the classroom. But I did learn that:

You better not put any notice in the paper about me when I die. I don't want any service at all.
I want a big and fancy funeral.
Oh not me, cremate me and be done with it.

I wanted to shout, "You're killing me!"
But since they are Italian and German, I stood up and put my hands on my wide hips and then did the hand motion for them to come along, so we could go out to lunch.
Not much old history learned, but a lot of repeat history.

Things that made me sigh with satisfaction

My daughter and I took Liam to the pumpkin patch, but it was too close to his nap time and we didn't get too many smiles, until he picked up a small white pumpkin and excitedly shouted, "Ball." and tossed it!

Hubby and I went on a picnic midweek. We drove about an hour into Illinois, to Carlyle Lake where we used to camp. We were pleased to see the migratory birds dotting the lake like marshmallows. Upon closer look, we couldn't tell if they were whooping cranes or pelicans. They were huge birds with wide wingspans and black markings on the underside of their wings.  

A few years ago we saw a huge flock of these birds way up high in the sky above the river.

Farmers were out in droves on tractors and farm equipment harvesting cornfields. It's that time of year. Winter wheat or hay is rolled into bundles, sustenance for the farm animals.

We enjoy driving the back roads through small towns. We came upon this ramshackle homestead, long abandoned. My imagination went wild. If I were younger, I would have gone into the home. I used to love doing that. To stand in silence and listen with my heart... to see, hear and feel the voices of the past. To discover the old sinks where dishes were hand washed and dried, antique ranges where some woman baked biscuits for her family. To connect with yesterday.

What is your greatest autumn treasure as the days begin to shorten and cooler weather prevails?

Mom for the Holidays the good, bad, and ugly

I am pleased to announce that I have a story in this book. It is the very last story, for a reason.

Kindle version launched today at Amazon.

Mom for the Holidays is a candid peek into the homes and hearts of moms young and old. A glimpse into the lives of  today's hurried moms. A nostalgic peek into the past of moms whose babies have babies of their own. Mom for the Holidays, is a refreshingly honest, contemporary blend of humorous, heart touching, tell-it-like-it-is stories. Imagine a group of moms sitting around sharing their true feelings about the holiday season: the good, the bad, the real, the happy, the sad. A relatable, enjoyable read. Moms of all ages would enjoy this anthology. A great holiday gift.

What's been bugging me

Fall is my favorite season, and I love being outdoors. There are some seasonal traditions that I have pretended to enjoy over the years but can now admit annoyed me.

POMEGRANATES
In grade school I followed the kids at lunch to the little confectionary across the street that served hamburgers fresh off the grill for a dime. They were yummy. But when I saw kids with "poms" for recess, I figured I'd spend my dime on one of those freaky fruits.

I hated opening them, and despised digging out the seeds. It seemed like too much work in order to suck the too-tangy juice out of a tiny seed. I tried them again and again. I even tried them in high school, and as an adult, but pomegranates and I never were a good match. I love pink grapefruit and green olives, so it wasn't the tang; it was the tediousness.

CANDY APPLES
I'm not talking caramel apples, especially yummy Merb's Bionic apples dipped in a mixture of whipped cream and caramel, then rolled in nuts. The ones coated in chocolate after the caramel dip were my dream-come-true-fruit.

 

No, I'm talking about those sour Granny Smith apples that made me pucker IF I could bite through the red hot-cinnamon flavored hard candy shell. Talk about too much trouble. If I had wanted a sucker, I'd have bought a Tootsie Pop with a dab of chocolate in the center. Candy apples turned me against Granny Smiths. Golden Delicious apples are my favorite to this day.

PUMPKIN CARVING
It seems not one of our knives was ever sharp enough to penetrate the flesh of our large,
thick-skinned pumpkins. I fought a valiant battle every year and ended up with scars to prove it. Yanking the slimy guts, separating the seeds, washing and baking them...so little reward for so much work. Allowing kids to participate (my own and my students) was memorable, messy, and made me crazy when I lifted the lids and revealed  mold growing a day later in my warm classroom.

I read a fun story every year about a mouse family that discovered a Jack-o-lantern and made it their home. Magazine articles claimed birds and squirrels would devour them as the weather grew colder. Nothing ate or inhabited our porch sitter. It sat there until it rotted and folded into itself. Then, I had to pitch old Oohey Gooey in the trash.

Are there things about the season that bug you? Oh let's not forget the no see 'em gnats that nibble my ankles in the evening until the first frost annihilates them.

 

 

A repost that continues to speak to the writer in me

 I stumbled upon some revelations while on vacation that are applicable to writers.


There were twelve of us crammed into a van for a scenic tour to the top of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Island for a view of the Caribbean. When the driver rounded the narrow mountain road, riding precariously close to the cliff's edge, a young woman behind me spoke out.

"Jesus Christ!"

I turned with a stern look, and I saw that she had her eyes closed and her hands folded.

"Jesus Christ!" was a prayer, not a swear.

1. Don't jump to conclusions. Words can be misconstrued. Praise God, share the space, the waves ... and also generously share writing call outs, and your knowledge with other writers.

Most vacationing beach goers hope to come home with a suntan. It cannot be done in one day. Tanning is a slow process, and staying too long in the sun on day one results in a sunburn.

2. Trying to write a book in a week, an essay in an hour, or a poem in a minute is as impossible as getting an even tan in one day. It can cause a writer to burn out.            

We had one day of torrential non-stop rain. Storm clouds gathered, lightning chased beach goers inside, and thunder rumbled. Storms dumped on all of us. After the rain we glimpsed part of a rainbow; that spot of color was a promise of brighter things to come.


3. Seek colors in a bland day; look not only sky high, but in unexpected places.

Caribbean time is a slow ticking clock. I commented to our native driver, a young man of thirty, that he looked twenty.

"That is because I smile a lot, and when you smile and are happy inside, it shows on the outside."

He dropped us at an isolated beach where he said Princess Di once swam. It was one of 365 beaches on the island. Can you imagine one beach for every day of the year? A woman in our group had to use the restroom. She walked to a snack shack which was supposed to be open. She discovered a female employee snoozing on the porch floor.

"Excuse me, I thought you opened at 11:00. I have to use the bathroom."

"The owner is late. No problem. Go pee in the sea," the woman said and rolled back over.


4. Think positive, take it easy, make do; find a creative solution.



While walking along the beach, a gusty wind stirred. A beach ball rolled past me at a good clip. I kicked the ball towards the beach in hopes that the child who lost it might retrieve it. But the ball caught another groove in the sand and kept rolling, and that ball was long gone.

5. Keep your momentum going. If you get stuck in a rut, find another way out.


A flock of docile seagulls waited quietly for someone to toss a morsel. There was nothing to differentiate one from the other.


An orange beaked bird joined the flock and squawked and squealed and made itself known, circled the sea and wasn't at all hesitant to dive in for a meal. This bird was a go getter.


6. Don't wait for it to happen, make it happen. Dare to be different. Make yourself and your work stand out from the rest. It doesn't hurt to toot your own horn. GO FOR IT.



When you stumble, don't stop, just put one foot in front of the other, pen to paper, fingers to the keyboard. Keep going. Be humble, be grateful, be helpful. Appreciate the little things.

When life gets you down, don't give up

After eating pizza, I walked around a lake and took photos.

 

Sometimes life can be exhausting: mass killings, the world situation, violence, disappointment, illness, death. Someone in our extended family was robbed after a ball game and her boyfriend shot. He is paralyzed. Friends and family are battling cancer and serious illnesses. Warring nations, starving people, hurricanes and natural disasters...life can get you down. 

 

Everyone needs a support system. Don't be afraid to reach out, state your feelings, needs, ask for what you want. Express gratitude.

 

When you are feeling down, look up. The night sky was an incredibly beautiful gift.

 

Stand out from the rest. Do something that makes you unique. Be a leader not a follower. Being different is OKAY.

Hang out with those who make room for you. Return the favor. Share, no matter how little you have to give.

Don't give in to your fears, and don't automatically turn tail and run.

There is a divine plan for each of us. Have faith. Hang in there.

 

I saw a photo on Facebook of a Native American captioned:

 What if I told you the left wing and the right wing belong to the same bird?

What if we all vowed to seek peace?