And how to make it all around them.
Fall is here, bringing hot cider, hot chocolate, and cozy reading by the fire or curling up in your favorite chair with a book and a quilt.
This past week, we started kindergarten, Tavaci choir, and ballet with the almost 5-year-old. She is loving it all; she gets to wear a leotard, fluffy skirt, and ballet slippers, and prance around with other kids in ballet. She sings the Christmas program songs in Tavaci, and she is already reading Clifford books.
Peni, on the other hand, is the most rambunctious 1-year-old. If there is a ladder, she has to try it; if something looks climbable, she’s on it. If there are books to pull off shelves or a toybox to empty, it’s her job. She can be most trying, but when she looks at you with big brown eyes and a crooked, half-in-front tooth, it’s hard to be mad.
As for me, I just had another MRI and am waiting for the results. Eventually, someone will tell me why I have so much chronic pain. Until then, I ice what hurts and stumble through my daily chores.
Have the grocery and gas prices gone wild where you live? Usually, after school starts back, they go down a little so people can start Christmas shopping. Not this year. I do not know how families will handle the cost-of-living increases and still get a few gifts to cheer the family during the holiday season.
Harvest is over, and I am setting up our fall decorations and doing Christmas cards. I send out around 110, and it takes these old hands a while to address them all and include a note. This year, I am also adding stickers for those I know have kids and bookmarks for everyone. I enjoy hearing from folks, especially when they include a picture. The best one last year was of a desert tortoise that lives in a cousin’s yard in Florida. He looked old, grumpy, and wonderful. Imagine having one living in your yard. I only have small wild creatures like raccoons, groundhogs, and deer crossing our yard. I have way too many feral cats, and our dogs go nuts over the wildlife. I do have a koi in a 125-gallon fish tank in the back sunroom that now stretches 22 inches long. I have got to find a home for him.
Weren’t our military amazing as they marched for the visit by the Chinese leader? They must spend hours learning to toss their guns around like that and not hurt someone.
In the news around here last week, I completed the rough draft of book three of the Beyond the Veil series. The angels are back, defending their clients from evil, helping the plan unfold, and finding a way to happy endings by Christmas. In the meantime, I’m running a 99-cent special on three of our bestselling books to give you a budget break. Here they are:
Sept. 23-30: Life’s Flashbacks, our third book of poetry and our newest book, is one of two specials this week at just 99 cents for an Amazon download.
Wander with me in the realm of poetry; quietness descends like a fuzzy blanket over your heart. Rest from the rumbles of life. From the thoughts of the small to the musings of the old, the road is not far to a friend’s heart. Sit a spell, tell me what you think; won’t take long. Grab a cup of tea, some shortbread, relax, think of what matters. I can’t wait to hear from you.
Also, from September 23-30, our bestseller, You Can’t Make this Stuff Up, book 1 of the Social Work Memoirs series, is our second 99-cent download special.
Over the 28 years I have been in professional Social Work, I’ve met people from the privileged to the poor and most of their relatives. It gets greasy, gritty, gracious, and no way glamorous; heart, chaos, and comedy; uncensored. Real lives, real laughs, real heartbreak; it’s all in here! Social work is wilder than fiction, funnier too. You need a copy of this book for those days when you can’t believe people can get any odder. I can vouch for that.
As the end of this coming week arrives, we start October specials—I cannot believe we are approaching October!
October 1-8: Firebird Simmers is a 99-cent special.
Join me as we travel this twisted path to creatures once known and now living in legends and myths. Folklore is based on something that once was there or still is, seen only by those judged safe to trust. This and the next 2 books in the Hidden America Series are about the Firebird, who brings storms and fire and protects the people. What legends live where you live? Have you seen something slide behind a boulder, seen only as a blink out of the corner of an eye? Do you wonder at things that slip by in the darkness? Are you ready to confront the things hidden in plain sight? Get ready for the first of a creepy series…
And that winds it up for this week’s letter. Welcome to all our new friends; I hope you all find time to leave a review of whatever you’re reading, and stay safe! Remember the kids are out there riding school buses and walking: keep watch out for the small fry. Fall is here, and we’re going camping Sunday; I’ll let you know how it went next week. Have a grand time this week. Remember to keep a sweater in the car in case it changes from warm to cool, and blessings on you and yours.