Fun surprise about my book

Like me, do you love good surprises?

I had a grand surprise when I found that Monix from Devon England wrote about my book with enthusiastic words on her blog, and is giving away a copy of it.

Be sure and visit her fun blog at http://randomdistractions.blogspot.com
Her post about my book "Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts" went up on Sept. 27, 2009.
Monix has blog topics for posts listed and I couldn't help myself, the Devon topic grabbed me (27 entries) and the Christmas topic. Under the subject of Devon I found her post with lots of photos about handsome old stone walls. My husband and I visited Devon years ago and completely enjoyed it.
Devon cream tea is the height of fabulousness as a treat, so be sure to enjoy it if you visit the area.

Five Words

Five Random Words is a fun game that I saw on Teresa's Treasures
at http://teresa-grammygirlfriend.blogspot.com/
On her blog she gave her responses to Five Words, and sent me five random words.
Here are my five:
Happy. Overall I am one happy camper. Yes, sadness appears from time to time, but I count my blessings often. In fact, in church this Sunday we all paused to count our blessings. I hope your own list of blessings is as long as the Mississippi River and as deep as the Pacific Ocean.

Today. After church today I visited some blogs that are new to me and left comments.

Astounded. I am astounded by all the beauty I see around me, in my own wee garden and all around town. One neighbor has a front yard completely full of mulit-colored dahlias in full bloom, that are so pretty I stopped and took some photos which I will post here one of these days.

Baby. I gave birth to two delightful babies who grew up to be great young men. There are no babies in my life right now, but I do adore them, especially their perfect little fingers and toes, and their grand potential.

Finished. I am so disappointed when my favorite tv series finish, like Fire Fly. And they are hinting, only 1 more season of Monk and of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I will not cry but still, waah!

If you want to join in, and play this on your own blog, send me your email and I will give you five random words.

You can plant historic trees' offspring

There is a company that creates offspring of famous trees from cuttings from the historic trees.

You can plant a tree that is the offspring of the Elvis Presley Southern Magnolia from the tree at Graceland, the Moon Sycamore grown from seeds taken to the moon and back in 1971 on Apollo XIV, and the Johnny Appleseed tree from the last remaining tree planted by him, which still grows on a farm in Ohio. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in the shade of a Live Oak tree in Selma, Alabama and that tree's offspring is available, and the Live Oak tree growing at the Alamo.


The American Forests Historic Tree Program at www.historictrees.org (800 320-8733) sells these precious trees and many more including the Walden Woods Red Maple and the Gettysburg Address Honey Locust.

Muscari to plant in my garden

Muscari armeniacum 'Blue Pearl' - Grape Hyacinth
Originally uploaded by The County Clerk
Do you love "plant therapy" where you wander the rows of plants in a garden store and buy a few plants?
Today I bought a pack of 10 Muscari "Dark Eyes" , ideal for fall planting and which will bloom in spring. I have a big pot to plant them in.
For bulbs pots work best for me: it foils the gophers, if the ground gets soggy the bulbs don't rot since the pot soil drains well, and when they are done blooming I move them to the side garden.
I believe gardeners are hopeful people. We plant a seed, or a bulb, or a sapling in hopes it will grow strong and healthy.
That hope is part of me as a gardener and as a Christian.
What bulbs are you planting for spring?
Oh, and today I mailed the two books to the readers who posted comments this week, and who were selected to receive the books.

Squirrel and Sunflower in Our Garden

I have written before about my black squirrel who

visits our garden and plants raw peanuts. That post was on 2/8/08 in case you want to read it. Well, now a grey squirrel visits too, and climbed up to a precarious

perch on our 10 foot tall sunflower. If you look carefully you can see the twine in lower right corner that is tieing the sunflower to our roof. After the sunflower fell over, I tied it and it recovered.
My husband took this photo from inside the house, and it seems very cheerful to me. I hope it gives you a smile.

winners of 2 books are ...

Ta da! "The Book that Made America: How the Bible Formed Our Nation" is won by Becca (Becca's Dirt) and "Stray Affections", a fun novel, is won by Garage Sale Gal.
I will be giving away more books soonish.

The Book that Made America book giveaway

I am delighted to have a copy of this book to give away here.
"The Book that Made America: How the Bible Formed Our Nation" by Jerry Newcombe documents the Christian roots of our nation.
Secularism is working its way through our culture, asserting things that are not correct, and even some political leaders are wrongly asserting that America did not begin and continue as a Christian nation.
Americans today have the right and the duty to preserve and uphold that heritage. This book provides readers with the facts of American history.
Those who want to restore knowledge of our Christian heritage have their work cut out. As secularism prevails in our schools, we move further and further away from retaining our Christian roots. The Book That Made America will challenge anyone to know the true origin of our Nation and to fight to keep it. Newcombe hopes to educate Americans by providing the facts of history, proving that America began as a Christian nation and Americans have every right to preserve and uphold that heritage.


Most of what is positive in our country's foundation can be traced back to the Scriptures. Recently, President Obama declared that America is not a Christian nation, while Newsweek announced the demise of Christian America. This book answers secularists with the facts.

Leave a comment here for the chance to win the free copy that the publisher is providing.
For two chances to win, sign up as a follower of my blog.
If you are already a follower, and leave a comment, you will have two chances to win the copy.

free copy of Stray Affections

I enjoy Charlene Ann Baumbich's Dearest Dorothy novels for their sense of humor since a giggle or a laugh is a great gift to provoke from a reader. Her new book "Stray Affections" is deep, tugs at heart strings, and gives readers plenty of smiles.

This novel begins with Cassandra buying a mysterious snow globe. She’s enjoying some shopping time, with husband Ken at home tending their brood of four young boys, when she’s utterly charmed by the one-of-a kind globe containing figures of three dogs and a little girl with hair the color of her own. She can’t resist taking the unique globe home– even if means wrestling another shopper for it!
The beautiful snowglobe sparks memories for Cassie, of her beloved Grandpa Wonky, the stray she rescued as a child, and the painful roots of her combative relationship with her mother, “Bad Betty” Kamrowski.
A happy touch is that "Bad Betty" charmingly begins to mellow. After a strange–flurrious, as Cassie deems it–moment happens with the remarkable snowglobe, Cassie and the people she loves are swirled into a tumultuous, yet grace-filled, and life-changing journey.
With the quirky, close-knit Midwestern small-town feel that made Charlene Ann Baumbich’s acclaimed Dearest Dorothy novels so popular, Stray Affections invites you to experience the laughter and the healing of second chances.
The author reads in a fun manner and gives readers some insights into this book with her video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWwya52SkjU
This is a fun book to read, so leave a comment here by Sept. 12 for a chance to win a free copy.
For one chance leave a comment.
For TWO chances, comment and follow me.
If you leave a comment and already follow me, you will have two chances. One commenter will be selected, using random.org