Southern Living Yankee

I had the privilege of joining a group of remarkable women who have all been friends since college for their Wild Women Wild Flower weekend, hosted by Cindy Steffen at her Prairie Pond Woods retreat house. My photos don't do it justice--the colors are washed out and the flowers indistinct, but maybe some of you can enter into them. Cindy took us to "by permission only" nature preserves and we had absolutely perfect weather that the early flowers held on for, and the later blooming ones came a little early--it was a Peak of the peak season. Also, a brisk southerly wind blew in a variety of warblers and I got to see the most colorful all together: indigo buntings, bluebirds, a scarlet tanager, Baltimore oriole, and more. Most of them were right in Cindy's back yard. There's a lot more to say--I could describe each photo in detail or tell you about the new friends, the good conversations, the 5 books each of us would want if stranded on a desert island, the yum...

Because I already look like I do? You know, I simply asked Tom to take a good picture of me and he started flashing the camera, pretending he was a pro--which he obviously is not. Then he started laughing. I'm just sitting there and he's got tears streaming down his face. He was laughing so hard these pictures would be all blurry if it weren't for the "anti-shake" feature on my camera. He didn't even apologize. Now we have to do it all over again. He says daylight will be better. Ha. All I wanted was a decent little picture of me to post as a "follower" on Mary's blog--see "The Writer's Nudge" link on my sidebar-- is that too much to ask?

I can't wait until Saturday! I'm going to jump out of bed, into my jeans and drive twohours away to the "Little Smokies" of Ohio where I will meet up with women I never met before for a Wild Woman Wild Flower weekend. And you thought it was the W orld W ide W restling F ederation. I do know one of the women: the hostess. She has this little retreat cabin and a ministry to help people get back to God through time in the Word in nature and solitude. She's invited six women she knows for this weekend, and I'm happy to be one of them. We'll take various hikes and have some quiet times. It'll be great. Here's her website: http://heartbynature.com I hope to have some pictures for you next week. WRITING UPDATE: On Friday I took a good look at the Ruth manuscript. I marked chapters that needed extensive work, and those that just needed a little. If I continue with the one day/week schedule I'm looking at another six months. I'm fine with that. In...

Heavy sigh, my dear Trixie Belle passed away on Friday. She lived with us for nine months while her family was called up for National Guard duty in El Paso, TX. I will miss her smooshiness--she was like holding a pillow. She made us laugh at her responses to the various indignities she suffered here with Elmer, Fudd, Tom and Aaron. (Hissing at the boys and then coughing & wheezing to catch her breath). It was nice for me to have another girl--someone who truly understood what I put up with--in the house! My only consolation is that she didn't die on me--she was like 160 years old in cat years and I was always afraid I'd have to call her mommy with the bad news. So here's to Trixie, aka Miss Hiss, Miss Cranky Pants and all around wonder cat. On top of sad kitty cat news here, I watched the movie "Marley & Me." Note to my kids and anyone else who has owned Labrador Retrievers: get a whole box of Kleenex for the ending, or--if you don't want to bawl your ...

I can never call it plain old Easter: Bruce always thought "Easter" too casual and pagan a term for the day our freedom was paid in full and death defeated by the sacrifice and victory of Jesus. He was right! No Easter bunny descended into hell, set captives free, loosed our chains of enslavement to sin, defeated death and arose from the grave to continue sovereign over eternity. So cut the cute stuff and let's get down to the sacred heart of it: "The Cross of Jesus is the revelation of God's judgment on sin. Never tolerate the idea of martyrdom about the Cross of Jesus Christ . . . The Cross did not happen to Jesus" He came on purpose for it." (Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest," April 6). That's what' I'll be thinking about this week. Thanks for letting me share it with you. WRITING UPDATE: Last Thursday I worked on the conclusion of the book. I wasn't as relieved as I thought I'd be. I'm afraid now the rea...

Yesterday I presented "Blogging for Whiners, Klutzes and the Simply Uninitiated." It was a two-hour whirlwind tour of the blogosphere and getting started in blogging. Nobody threw eggs or tomatoes at me, nobody fell asleep, the computers didn't crash, the Conicker worm threat didn't wipe us out, and none of my most embarrassing moments recurred, so I call it a success. One thing I forget to teach, though, was how to make a comment. So here goes: *See the little "__Comments" label at the bottom of this post? (They all know what a "post" is). Just click on that. *Ta-da! A window opens up with a comments box in it. Type in your comment. *Now scroll down and select your identity. To make it simple, be either "google/blogger" or "anonymous." If you're anonymous just put your name within the body of your comment. *Fill in any other little boxes they have for you, and then click on PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT. Now your comment flies strai...