John & Melinda’s Wedding, a set on Flickr.
This weekend we traveled to Lufkin, Texas to celebrate my niece’s wedding. Congratulation to the newlyweds. May you life be filled with happiness and love for each other.
Review: The Dark Mirror
The Dark Mirror by Juliet Marillier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have read several books by Juliet Marillier. I tried reading this book several months ago but I must not have been in the mood to read this type of book. This time I picked up the book to read and I enjoyed the story line very much. I guess I was in the mood to read a epic fantasy fiction type book.
This story is about a young boy named Bridei that is raised by Broichan one of the most powerful druids in the land. Bridei is being brought to to fulfill the the purpose that Broichan is raising hime to fill. It is a lonely life for the young boy until one Midwinter Eve, Bridei finds a young child name Tuala on the doorstep. The story is how these two grow up together and how their lives are entwined. I do not want to say more….so the story will not be spoiled.
I think that I liked this story because it is about a young man who is courageous, honest and trustworthy. He stays true to his promises. It is also about a young girl who is an outcast and is only accepted because Bridei loves her and took her in as a young child. It is a story about their love and devotion to each other against all the forces that are trying to keep them apart.
Book Review: Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked By God and My soul
I found this book to be very thought provoking. Jennie Allen takes us on her journey when she prays the prayer that she is willing to do anything for God. And as Jennie then starts to do anything for God, God becomes real to her and her life is transformed. I would highly recommend this book for someone who is looking for a closer spiritual walk with God.
This book has made me think about how I have been living my life and if I am willing to do anything for God. I have a nice home, family, possessions and many other things that make my life easy and comfortable.
Here are a few quotes that I found my pondering through out the days as I read this book.
Every sin, at its root, is based on something we do not fully believe about God.
To risk is to willing place your life in the hand of an unseen God and an unknown future, then to watch him come through. He starts to get real when you live like that.
The only exercise that works 100 percent of the time to draw one close to the real God is risk.
Risk is daring and hard. I am not a risk taking person. Ask anyone of my friends are family. I like to be safe and comfortable. However, it appears that safe and comfortable is not the way to draw close to God. I do want to draw close to God. Am I willing to take a risk……are you?
Tagged anything, Book Review, God, Jennie Allen, Prayer
Book Review: Picking Cotton Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton
“Picking Cotton” is the July selection for my book club. We will be discussing the book the first weekend in August. I wanted to go ahead and post my thoughts about the book.
This is a true story of a young woman who was raped at knife-point while she slept in her own apartment. She is able to escape and then is able find the courage to identify the young man who attacked her. The story details her struggles to come to terms with this horrible act that was done to her and the trials that put the young man in prison.
This is also a story of young man wrongly accused of a rape who spends eleven years in prison. He does meets the person who really committed the rape in prison. The story details his efforts to prove his innocence. He is finally allowed to take a DNA test and he is then released from prison. During this time Ronald Cotton is able to find forgiveness for the man who actually committed the rape and for Jennifer Thompson the young woman who put him in prison.
The most amazing part of the story was how these two individuals finally met face to face and even through all the ordeals they went through they have been able to develop an unlikely friendship.
The book is divided into parts. The first part tells Jennifer’s side of the story and the second part tells Ronald Cotton’s story. Part three tells the story how Jennifer and Ronald become friends.
I liked this book very much. It encourages me and gives me hope to see forgiveness acted out, to see redemption and most of all a friendship happen when a great injustice has occurred.
What Did You Do This Weekend?
It is Monday morning. The weekend is over. I am sitting here wondering why my weekends seem to go by so fast. So here is my weekend recap.
Friday I woke up at 5am to participate in the early morning spinning class. I was the only participant. There is a good and bad side of being the only participant. The good – the instructor knows me and I get individual attention. The bad – I can’t slack off at all. She is always calling out my name telling me to go faster. I know it is for my good that she does this but sometimes it is irritating. But I then try to do whatever she is saying she wants me to do.
After spinning, I came home and worked on the grocery list. The rest of the morning was spent at my favorite grocery store – HEB.
After lunch, it was salsa making time.
Marc, Emily, and I then went to Gina’s Restaurant for an early supper. Gina’s is a new Italian restaurant in Friendswood. The last few times we tried to eat there the waiting time for a table was too long. By going early, we were able to get a table.
Then it was movie time. We went to see “This is the End.” As Marc would say – that was two hours of my life I will never get back. I thought the movie was horrible. It was horribly crude and nasty. As you can guess, I did not like the movie.
Saturday I went to spinning class again. Then all morning and afternoon I made salsa.
Sunday I went to worship services in the morning. I made salsa in the afternoon. In the evening, I went to worship services again and then helped decorate for vacation bible school.
I was busy this weekend. I was able to relax some so I would say I accomplished a lot.
Some of the tomatoes from my garden.
The results of my canning efforts this weekend.
So far this year I have processed 35 pint jars of salsa. I have enough tomatoes for one more canning session. Each session produces 5-6 jars of salsa. So my spring tomatoes will have produced approximately 40 jars. Not to bad for only having 6 tomato plants.
What did you do this weekend?
Fireduckie
Book review “Wereworld Rise of the Wolf”
This was a book that my daughter Emily purchased. Actually, she purchased the whole series. I wanted to take a easy to read, entertaining book on our camping trip to Martin Dies State Park. I thought they must be good if she purchased the whole series. I thought the story was a bit darkroom a children’s book.
From the title you can probably guess it is a fantasy story about werewolves. It is about a 16 year old boy named Drew who lives on a farm. Then one day a horrible monster bursts into his home and murders his mother. In his efforts to defend his mother, Drew begins a transformation into a werewolf. He is bewildered by what is happening to him. He ends up fleeing from his home. In his adventures, he discovers that it is the shapeshifters called Werelords who rule Lyssia and he is one. He also discovers that he has royal blood and is a threat to the crown. Drew is rather most wanted man in the kingdom and the only hope for the downtrodden people of Lyssia.
The story was entertaining but I was wondering how much abuse that poor Drew could handle. I know it is a fantasy story but I was thinking that he had been so severely injured that he would never be able to recover.
Drew also has the worst luck. It seems like he just stumbles into situations that he needs to extricate himself from. (Spoiler Alert) In the final chapters when Drew is battling the king and his men, he passes out and falls over he wall. He finds himself rescued and recovering from all his terrible wounds. What hero just falls over a wall…..
I did enjoy most of the book. I suppose I was a little disappointed in the ending. Will I read book 2…not for awhile.
Fireduckie
Camping Fun
Today I was quite lazy. Slept until 7:30 am. After some reading and breakfast, Marc and I decided to do a paddling trail.
It took us about 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete the trail. It was through some swampy areas. I thought we were going to get stuck in one area but we persevered and made it though the water plants.
After lunch and siesta time, we went geocaching. All I can say is I’m so thankful for bug spray. By the way we did find the hidden treasure.
We were hot and sweaty so it was time to jump in the lake.
We were a little disappointed that the water was so warm…..it was like swimming in Galveston in July/August.
Evening activities – sitting by the fire.
We are thinking about star gazing once it gets really dark.
A relaxing day……
Fireduckie
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Away….
We needed another vacation. We have taken our home away from home to the Piney Woods.
I think we are in a very special spot. Maybe the fairies will come out tonight.
Looking forward to a few relaxing days……
Fireduckie
Weekend Happenings
This Friday Marc and I both had the day off. After completing some chores, mainly grocery shopping. We headed to the beach with one stop at DSW. For those that do not know, DSW is this huge shoe store. They only sell shoes and they have all kinds. Today I was looking for some new Merrill’s. A few years ago I had some feet problems and the foot doctor recommended athletic shoes to wear most of the time during the day. He recommended this type of shoe so that inserts can fit into the shoe. This is not pretty or stylish when you work in an office and wear slacks everyday. Anyway, I settled for Merrell’s.
This is a picture of my old shoes-well one of my old shoes.
Here is a picture of the new shoes. Im not sure how much I like the back of the shoe. The rubber goes way up the back. They seem more sporty.
After much thought, I decided that I would buy them and to heck with style. I guess it is a sign that I’m getting old…..that I want to buy the same style of something I like because it is comfortable rather that stylish.
After the shoe store, we headed to Galveston Island. This time we went to Pocket Park #1. Just Skid-O-Cans (otherwise know as portable toilets) for toilets. In the summer they can be a real sauna. The plus to the park – you could drive your vehicle on the sand. The beach was crowded. Probably because the day before was the last day of school. The water was cool and pretty clear for a summer day here.
Here are a few pictures of our afternoon at the beach.
I love the sand art….the hair is the best part.
I also spent time doing something with all those tiny Roma tomatoes. Yep….it is salsa time. Last year I put up 49 jars of salsa. This year…who knows. It is taking quite a few tomatoes to make these 8 jars.
Wow, it is already Sunday….time for bed.
Fireduckie
Posted in Pictures, Trips/Leisure
Making New Habits
I discovered a new app for my iPhone. It is called Lift. It is an app to help we with making new habits. I have downloaded the app. I even set up some new habits that I would like to develop. One of these habits is to try to post regularly on my blog. So far I’m not good at checking in to announce to the Lift community that I’m making progress on the habits I have listed I want to develop. I know that I made writing on my blog as one of the habits….I decided I would try to write three times per week. My June 3 was my first post after making my new habit list. ( I thought I would post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.) Guess what….I’m stressing out because I let yesterday come and go without posting anything.
I spent Wednesday morning picking produce from my garden. I’m a little disappointed in my tomatoes. I thought I bought Roma tomato plants so I could practice making and canning salsa again. The tomatoes that are growing are not very big….they look like cherry Roma tomatoes. It is going to take a lot of them to make a jar of salsa.
Veggies from my garden
Fire Duckie
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Reflections 