Middle-Aged Crazy - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

Middle-Aged Crazy: Short Stories of Midlife and Beyond (The Complete Collection) is just what the title says, plus it's a lot of fun. In this collection of eighteen short stories and essays, author Lynne M. Spreen introduces a variety of characters--from Rita (driving a semi across the Donner Summit in a fierce storm) to Carolyn (advice columnist who writes "Carolyn's Corner" for the Bee). I enjoyed meeting every one of them. The book ends with several thoughtful essays, including "Could You Live in a Ditch?" and "Do You Lack Purpose?" Lynne Spreen, I like your attitude!

I highly recommend this book, not only for midlife readers but also for adult readers of any age. 
FYI: Ms. Spreen is also the author of Dakota Blues.

Book Beginning (from "The Kirby Girls"):
This girl came up my son's driveway just as I was stepping outside to take my baby granddaughter for a walk. The Santa Anas were coming up already, and the wind blew the girl's shoulder-length hair every which way, hiding her face. She was holding a clipboard and I figured she was one of those Jehovah's Witnesses, here to save my soul, but then I changed my mind when I saw she was wearing real short shorts the color of old mustard, and black tights. I bent down to the baby in the stroller, fastening the straps so she couldn't fall out, and I thought maybe she shouldn't be seeing this girl.

The Friday 56 (from "Phoenix"):
(I found this terrific description at 54% on my Kindle)
      The address on the cement saguaro confirmed she was in the right place, but Stacey stood on the front porch knocking for a good five minutes without any response. Now her knuckles were copper-tinged, and every time she knocked on the rusty security screen, she had to angle her body to avoid the Palo Verde tree. Its lacy branches buzzed with bees, to which Stacey was allergic.

Genre: Coming of Age / Contemporary Women
Amazon link: Middle-Aged Crazy
Length: 129 pages
Author Website/Blog: Any Shiny Thing - Aging Well

                 

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reads) 
Click HERE to join other Friday 56 bloggers (sponsored by Freda's Voice)

Renton Quilt Show - Saturday Snapshots

Last weekend, my son's neighbor invited me to a quilt show hosted by her church, Fairwood Community United Methodist Church in Renton, Washington. Each quilt included an information sheet, telling its story and the name of its maker. Here are a few pictures I took at that delightful event. (Click on pictures to enlarge for more detail.)

Cats and yarn make a clever quilt design.

Crazy quilts (like the one pictured below) can include buttons, lace, charms, embroidery, silks, satins, velvets, and just about any embellishment you want. Traditionally, these quilts have been created for show rather than for function and often cannot be washed because of the fabrics used.

Here's a signature quilt, with each square signed (and embroidered) by the person who made it. QuiltingInAmerica.com says:

In the mid-1800s, Victorian quilters began a popular tradition of making signature quilts, signed and quilted remembrances, to honor family members or friends. At a time when many loved ones moved away and seldom, if ever, returned home to see their families again, these quilts served as precious remembrances for those families who had only occasional letters to connect them with friends and relatives back home.

Beautiful cross-stitched whole cloth quilt. In a whole cloth quilt, the emphasis is on the stitching. Some designs include trapunto, a technique that involves stuffing certain areas of the motifs to add more depth.

   

More amazing embroidery.

 

I wish I'd written down the name of this quilt pattern. The simple design and autumn colors appeal to me.

Now I'm inspired to start quilting again!

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, 

click HERE or on the box below. 

To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) 

have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. 

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate 

for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. 

Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Something About Maudy - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

     Pastor Maudy is a down-to-earth Porsche-driving Methodist minister. She isn't at all what I expected! Maudy handles every challenge (and there are many) with common sense and a sense of humor, trying her best to do the right thing for the aging congregation of her small church. There's plenty of humor in this story (her cat is named John Wesley) and an element of romance for Maudy, too. The book kept me entertained from beginning to end. 
     Something About Maudy doesn't preach or teach Bible lessons. 
     I enjoyed the story's small-town Puget Sound, WA, setting and had a great time getting to know Maudy in this delightful book.


Book Beginning:
Maude
I've always considered carpets, if I thought about them at all, to be rather boring. I'm talking about rugs here - not the most exciting objects in the world. We can all continue to learn, and I learned something about carpets one Monday at City People's Nursery in Seattle when a rug decided to change the course of my life and became animate.

Friday 56 excerpt (from 56% on my Kindle):
Your daddy got hurt. He had an infection in his brain. He would never have done what he did if he hadn't been hurt. 

Genre: Contemporary Christian Romance
Length: 318 Pages
Amazon Link: Something About Maudy
Other Books by This Author: Delinda McCann

Synopsis from Goodreads:
To My Congregation: This first year as your pastor at Blackfish United Methodist Church has been a wild ride. In the beginning, I thought the bishop was crazy when he appointed me to your church. He knew something had to change or the doors would close for good. He also knew I needed direction in my life. Perhaps the bishop was crazy, crazy like a fox. . You never had a woman pastor, let alone one who had once been an actress. You barely tolerated my Porsche, my dress, my makeup, and my style of ministering. You didn't trust my son, and couldn't understand why I didn't want you letting yourself into the parsonage when I wasn't home. But somehow we managed. . While I was learning to appreciate all of you, I met the man who was to give me a whole new outlook on life. It couldn't have come at a better time. It was his love that gave me the inspiration and courage to serve all of you. Love has a way of changing us like that. . This is an account of what happened in my first year at Blackfish UMC. It includes a flood, attempted murder of a young woman, a cheating husband, several natural deaths, two divorces, and so much more. I'm still amazed at all that has happened, but even more at how it drew us together. Truly love conquers all. I wonder what the next year will bring. God bless all of you, Pastor Maudy.

                 

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Read) Click HERE to join other Friday 56 bloggers (sponsored by Freda's Voice)

50% Rebate Sale - All Romance eBooks

Today only, All Romance eBooks is having a 50% rebate sale 

on select books.

Here's the link to mine: 

BLUEBONNETS FOR ELLY

Smart Phones, Writing Research, and Romance

I'm over at Smart Girls Read Romance today, blogging about my first encounter with a smart phone and research for my work-in-progress. Stop by and say "hi!"

Princess & Smart Phones

Smart Girls Read Romance

An Unholy Alliance - First Chapter/First Paragraph and Teaser Tuesday

  

      When I discovered that An Unholy Alliance takes place in Oregon's wine country - an area I've visited more than once - I wanted to read it. And when I learned that the main character is in her fifties, I was sold! So many of the book's settings were familiar to me, described beautifully by author Judy Nedry. The mystery kept me turning pages (well... clicking on my Kindle), and the well-developed characters (who have problems of their own) kept me interested in the plot's outcome. It was fun to learn more about vineyards and the wine-making industry too.
      An Unholy Alliance is the first book in the Emma Golden Mysteries series. The second book The Difficult Sister takes two fifty-something women on a road trip down the Oregon coast. I can't wait to read that one too!

First Paragraph:
Prologue
Friday Night
He waited in the half light a little drunk, a little floaty, but with that constant edge of irritation that had grown so much worse in the past couple years that he couldn't remember when he'd last been rid of it. Surely only during sleep, which was troubled now on the best of nights.

Teaser (from 59% on my Kindle):
For alcohol, we are told, is a subtle foe - all good times and laughter until the day it quits working and fun is no longer part of the equation. It is replaced by terror and self-loathing so great that only a drink or a drug will quiet the screaming in your brain. On that day you learn that one drink is too many and a thousand are not enough.

Genre: Mystery
Length: 336 Pages
Amazon Link: An Unholy Alliance
Author Website: Judy Nedry

Synopsis from Goodreads:
     Like many women in their fifties, Emma Golden feels invisible. She lives quietly in her Portland, Oregon bungalow and minds her own business. But her tranquil life is about to change. She is asked to return to the rolling hills of her former wine country home south of the city to supervise a friend's bed and breakfast inn near Dundee. Emma arrives at the Westerly Inn during grape harvest. She is under contract to write a book about Oregon wineries, and it's business as usual until she discovers one of her subjects dead in a wine vat-murdered at his own dinner party.
     Cougar Crossing Winery owner Ted Maxell was a ruthless and dishonest newcomer to the northern Willamette Valley wine scene. Many people wanted him gone-including his son, many local winegrowers, and even Emma's ex-husband, Dwight. Then Maxell's daughter, Tiffany, calls Emma and begs for assistance. "I know who killed my father," she wails. When Emma answers Tiffany's cry for help, she finds herself drawn into the search for a murderer or murderers with secrets worth killing for.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!
Link at ADailyRhythm.com

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.

Link at BibliophileByTheSea

Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet- Saturday Snapshots

Are you feeling fancy? Then you'd enjoy "Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet." Recently my daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and I attended the Evergreen City Ballet's performance of this delightful ballet at the Meydenbauer Theater in Bellevue, WA. We had such a great time! 

Fancy Nancy is the main character in a series of books written by Jane O'Connor and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser. The stories are geared to girls aged four to eight (my granddaughter is almost four years old). I have only read a couple of the books, but I like the way the author introduces unusual words in her text. For example: "My favorite color is fuchsia. That's a fancy way of saying purple." In this story, Nancy and her best friend Bree vie for the coveted role of mermaid in the ballet. When Bree wins the role, Nancy must learn how to handle her disappointment.  

Photos were not allowed during the performance and I was hesitant to take pictures of other children, but I did get a few of my granddaughter to share.

Here's the program from the ballet.

Do you think my granddaughter was excited?

All the attendees dressed in fancy clothes,
from their heads to their toes.

I can dance too, Grandma!

Here's the link to the Fancy Nancy book that inspired this ballet: Amazon

By the way, Disney will be making a Fancy Nancy movie and has a TV series in the works too.

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, 

click HERE or on the box below. 

To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) 

have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. 

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate 

for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. 

Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Easter - 1950s Style - Saturday Snapshots

Back in the days of black-and-white photos my dad loved to take pictures with his Kodak Brownie camera. Here are some he captured at Easter time over the years. 

Eat. Eggs. NOW.
My brother, mom, and me at an
Easter egg hunt (Dallas, TX)

White anklets, patent leather shoes, bowtie.
Yep, that's the Fifties, all right! How 'bout that TV and those curtains?

Fancy hats, Easter purses, and
dig that crazy jacket!

Giant Mutant Bunnies!
I'm surprised  we didn't run screaming 
from these creepy critters.

I'm not so sure this is a good idea

I hope these pictures brought back good memories for you or at least gave you a smile. 

Happy Easter!

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, 

click HERE or on the box below. 

To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) 

have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. 

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate 

for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. 

Please don’t post random photos that you find online.