Spring Thoughts From My Journal It’s been a wet and windy day in Northern California and I’ve been in our new home for just over a year and a half. I’ve noticed in certain conditions, this season especially, dewy rainbows hug our area with the green, sloping hills in the far distance. I’ve been on a Spring cleaning and organizing binge as part of celebrating hopeful new beginnings with my fiction, making ready for dreams to take root. My children are also growing at alarming rates, one popped up a whole shoe size in a month and his voice dropped…
The Allure of Pink Diamonds
To celebrate spring, we’re starting a new series with a gem of the month beginning with pink diamonds. My personal favorite gem stone is very rare, and even a bit mysterious. Perhaps as a gem mystery/fantasy author, that’s why I like it so much. I first saw the gem while I was in school to become a Graduate Gemologist in San Diego at the Gemological Institute of America. One afternoon, after a long day of studying in the lab, a rather sterile room filled with lots of microscopes and white desks, our instructor had us gather around. A famous jeweler…
Author Patricia Beal shares her nuggets of resilience – Giveaway and Blog Tour!
As a special part of the Just Commonly blog tour, I asked Author Patricia Beal to share her story of resilience, knowing she’s earned her stripes in terms of having a wonderful outlook despite very difficult circumstances such as the “biggies” she mentions below. When you meet her, all you see is her dazzling smile, witty sparkle, and you can feel the power packed in such a special person, like a gem with petite elegance and grace. I’m thrilled to share about her new novel, A Season To Dance, and host her giveaways below. And she’s been even more generous,…
The Hidden Hearts
On a wonderful vacation recently I started seeing things. No, really. First, after swimming with the turtles, I was resting and taking photos when I felt one in particular might be special. Get it this direction, a little voice whispered. After I peeked at the frame, I saw why. As you gaze into the pool of water as it reflects the sky, you’ll see a shape. A heart. And its twin smiled at me through the windswept clouds as a slight drizzle began. Two hearts. The next day, on a boat tour around the island, a lush landscape came into…
Stolen Candy, Second Chances
Thoughts for today’s teens, and anyone needing fresh perspective. The first day of acrylic painting instructions in high school, someone ate my main project. No joking. We showed up with large canvasses, wide as I could stretch my arms. A 3×5 index card. And piles of very colorful salt-water taffy in wax-paper wrappers. Then the assignment: don’t eat the sweets, blow them up huge on the canvass! First, we glued them to the cards and made notes of the lighting so we could work on it for a few weeks. Then we carefully watched proportion and sketched the lines, shadows,…
Adapt to Open Doors
Part Three in the New Beginnings Series One of the special moments in pursuing your dream is when unexpected opportunities land on your doorstep. Sometimes they come at the craziest moment, when you’re tending a sick one, or mid-stream in another project on an entirely different subject. Has this ever happened to you? How did you respond? Were you rigid in sticking to your schedule or flexible enough to let yourself be open to possibilities? I’ve learned it’s important to pause and give special attention to the moment. Okay, the laundry may back up. And perhaps some other commitment has…
The Treasure Box
When you have to pack and run for it, you find out what is your true treasure. This week we’ve been in Dallas before some media work and it’s given me a renewed appreciation for generous hearts once more. People who accept you after many years, places bringing old smiles back to the surface, silly comments by our kids as they experience a new part of the world. Dallas has been kind to us once more, but mainly for the people and shared experiences that can bridge the distance and miles and years apart. As we head into uncharted territory,…
The Walk of Gratitude
After finishing my manuscript for my fantasy where the main character is a wildfire survivor, I was talking with a friend about those first weeks, months, and years—what it was like. And the words spilled out about all who helped us. Suddenly I knew what we could do with long hours on hot days this summer. We could each use our gifts to not focus on ourselves but on others’ goodness in a new way. Jonathan with his engineering side, Chief Tech and Director. Joey as Chief of Fun with dances and camera angle insights. Mom writing some of it…
A Very Long Iced Tea
Do you ever feel like someone’s watching out for you? Recently I was running errands in hot weather, and I suddenly felt so tired. My eyelids were very heavy. I’d gotten up early to write. And I kept feeling nudged to get an iced tea. I got in the car and I could almost visualize a huge, floating glass of iced tea. I knew better than to ignore those prompts. It’s helped me before. I’ve never even tried iced tea at Starbucks but it was close by, so I stopped and went in. I was greeted with wide smiles by…
The Legacy Gift
My son shook the yellow envelop, trying to guess what was inside. “It’s definitely not a book!” He smiled, putting it on the kitchen table. We all drew close together. My husband John opened it, and out slid the most wonderful gift from my in-laws, all of John’s Boy Scout parent pins. It’s a meaningful tradition from the Boy Scouts, they give the mother a small pin representing each level as they achieve different ranks, including Eagle Scout like my husband. I saw my son, newly inducted into scouts, beaming and asking Dad lots of questions. Memories of my brother…
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