Wisconsin provides an unusual bonus opportunity for its residents. We have a long, cold winter. Fact. It’s Wisconsin. The media tries to whip up a panicked frenzy periodically, reporting worst blizzards ever, unprecedented cold snaps and record snowfalls, but most of us roll our eyes and go on with life. It’s Wisconsin. I’m not saying we don’t grumble. That is our special Wisconsinite privilege – the opportunity to bemoan our cold weather. The winters give us bragging rights. That’s always been fun; our grandfathers enjoyed it: “Cold enough for ya?” Winter is an attitude. Winter is a challenge. A dare. I host a Bible study in my home on Thursday mornings. We have 8-10 young moms and a hundred children. (Maybe it’s only about 15.) No one has perfect attendance. We often have one one or two families absent. But on winter days when the snow is blowing and the wind is bitter, every single woman is there. Some of them walk instead of driving, just because. No sissies in that group! And now, to make it all even better, we have social media. We can wallow in our weather long-distance, with friends around the world. We can talk all Read More
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Bite Size Book Reviews
I listened to audiobooks this week while I worked on a number of household, quilting, sewing, and crafting projects. These are some of my favorite contemporary writers of Christian fiction in a variety of genres, and they were all first-time reads. No One to Trust, audiobook by Lynette Eason I always watch my library for Ms. Eason’s new books. Her plotting is exceptionally tight. This one does have a good storyline, but the characters were not her best. I wanted to slap the heroine and shake the hero. She never stopped harping on the fact that he had lied to her, even when the reason was clearly and repeatedly justified. I would have liked him better if he was just a little assertive. That said, the plot, action and mystery were good. The resolution was creepy. Nothing but Trouble, audiobook by Susan May Warren A fun summer read, but don’t underestimate it. The mystery is solid. The family characters and their relationships are enjoyable. The history between the first hero and the heroine creates a sensitive tension that gives them depth but doesn’t overshadow the lightheartedness of the book. I found the second hero kind Read More
Bite Size Book Reviews
I have some kindle freebies in this week’s list! (Correct as of this article. Check the price before ordering) It’s an even more eclectic collection than usual, with settings in first century Rome, 1880 New York City, turn-of-the-21st-century Egypt, and pre-civil war Missouri as well as modern American settings. Audiobook, kindle and paperback! 1. Chasing the Lion, audiobook by Nancy Kimball **This reader is one of the best I have ever heard. The audio version is a finalist in the 2015 Audiobook Publisher’s Association Audio awards in the Inspy/Faith-Based Fiction category** The Christianity in this book is a primary theme. It’s set in 35AD, when Christianity was serious business. The romance was developed gradually and naturally. Again, faith played a pivotal role in all of the book’s relationships. The violence was horrific at times, but it was appropriate to the setting of the book, as were the attitudes toward slavery and (very minor) descriptions of sexual behaviors. This was a long audiobook – 15 hours! – but definitely worth listening to. 2. The Edge of Light, kindle, by Ann Shorey This was an interesting antebellum novel set in Missouri, among slaveholding middle-class tradesmen. We often see slavery associated Read More
My Happy Valentine Quilt
The observant reader will realize this isn’t actually a quilt; it’s a quilt top. I will not have time for quilting before Valentines Day, but I want to enjoy it, so I pinned it to the front of another quilt and hung it up over my fireplace. My goal is to get it quilted by next year. In the meantime, it makes me happy to look at it. The picture makes me feel a little sentimental for another reason. Most of the items shown are special because of their personal associations – my husband made the fireplace for me, the framed Scripture is a gift from a friend, my granddaughter created a few of the items, my mother decoupaged and painted the birdhouse, and I was shopping with her when I found all those little sisal birds and the hedgehog, too! On top of the piano I have pictures of family members, a cross-stitched sampler from a niece, and a beautiful box I purchased while shopping with an old friend – our one visit in over ten years, and we spent much of it at JoAnn Fabrics! I don’t collect a lot of things that don’t have that kind of Read More
Bite-size Book Reviews
Another eclectic collection of books this week. While Christian fiction – especially romantic suspense – is my favorite, I also enjoy some “clean” secular books. I usually find those in the Golden Age authors, especially Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Agatha Christie. Clive Cussler and Elizabeth Peters, although their writing styles are entirely different, are also enjoyable. The first book in this week’s list is FREE in Kindle version! 1. A Bid For Love, kindle, by Rachel Ann Nunes This fast-moving story has all the right elements for a romantic suspense novel: the hero and heroine have similar jobs at art galleries, they are at an art auction and both want the same unusual statue, they both have friends and family support networks, and they are both Christians. The bad guys are street thugs and the FBI agents must be avoided until the hero gets the statue back to his boss. It was a little confusing at times, but I enjoyed it. The scenes with the family of young children were especially appealing. 2. Night Train to Memphis, paperback, by Elizabeth Peters The second-to-last book in the Vicki Bliss series shows a significant improvement in character Read More
Don’t Quit Your Day Job
That’s usually good advice for an aspiring novelist, but my day job isn’t all that profitable, either. I teach quiltmaking. I have been teaching for twenty years, and I love it. Teaching is something that blesses me. I also make quilts for sale on etsy or by commission and do some custom dressmaking. Although I learned to sew clothing over forty years ago, I didn’t take up quiltmaking until I was pregnant with my second child. That first quilt was very sweet, with pink and blue lambs on a muslin background. I appliqued the lambs with a zigzag stitch on my sewing machine and used a puffy batting. I decided I enjoyed quiltmaking and started looking for more information. We were living in a tiny farming town in Germany, and it was hard to find calico fabric in the local stores. The Air Force Base Exchange had some fabric, although none of it matched, and they had something even more interesting: a rotary cutter. There weren’t many quilting books in the base library, and they were all too old-fashioned (I was 24), so I used graph paper and colored pencils to design a little wall quilt to insulate the bathroom Read More