The heavens declare His glory! Do you enjoy thunderstorms?

If you live anywhere on the east coast from Port aux Basques, Newfoundland to Long Island, New York, then last night you would have experienced the most extensive and amazing light-and-sound show to occur in years. It began late in the evening, lasting for a couple of hours. I finally fell asleep so I don’t know when it ended, but oh my … what a glorious demonstration of power it was!

Now, I realize some of you may not appreciate thunder and lightning storms and did not find it to be fun, and to you I express my regret. Our daughter’s little dog, like you, was definitely not happy. But for me .. oh wow! I loved it.

I see such expressions of nature to be a taste of the power of God. A demonstration of the force of nature set in motion. When the lightning flashed and crackled overhead, lighting up the whole sky and earth, flash after flash – hardly one faded when another lit up in its place or overlapped the first – I smiled and exclaimed “oh wow! so beautiful!” .. and waited for the thunder it announced. Then as the thunder rumbled, boomed, crashed, rolled, I listened in awe as it was everywhere at once – both rumbling and echoing in the far distance and exploding right over my head, sometimes rattling the house. The rain came in a driving rush, pounding violently against the windows, easing off, pouring down again and again. It was a truly amazing storm.

For many people it was not very fun, waking this morning to no electrical power. I can relate to that frustration, having been robbed of that necessity too many times. There were many lightning strikes and I suppose I would not be as happy if we were hit, but it doesn’t change the awesomeness of it all.

I have loved thunderstorms for as long as I can remember, but I understand the fear that others have of them. When my children were small I determined that I would not instill that fear in them, but I did use caution. We would watch the lightning – from the safety of our house, never standing outside in it – and count the seconds before the clap of thunder to figure out how far away the storm was from us. Some storms were so close and loud overhead and the thunder would shake the house, so that a few times I sat my little girls down and we read aloud something interesting and fun to take some of the attention off the storm. It was not to teach fear but to show them to trust God and not worry.

One of those daughters during last night’s display drove with a friend “chasing” the storm and watching it from that perspective. [Did I do a fine job or not? hmm 🙂 ]

So, what do you think? Do you enjoy thunderstorms? Why or why not?

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows and proclaims His handiwork. – Psalm 19:1

For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). So [men] are without excuse; – Romans 1:20

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

What do you like to read, what would you write?

If you have been here before, you may notice that I changed my blog theme. I like that now the comments link, where you share your thoughts with me, is located at the top of the posts.

Thank you so much for taking time to come here and read what I have to say, and for leaving comments for me. I look forward to reading next week what you write to me this week. Time away from my computer for the next few days will be used for reading and hopefully a little writing.

In all the reading I am doing I’m discovering more about my varied taste in books – from children’s picture books, middle grade, young adult, to adult novels in different genres. If you want to check my 2011 “have read” book list page, I’m keeping track there, as I did in 2010.

I have been learning what I am not very interested in, what I like but with qualifiers, what I get totally lost in, and what I would love to write myself.

Lately I have been wondering about something, and I would love to hear from you on these four questions.

1. What do you like most to read? Themes, genres, authors?
2. Do you have favourite authors and would read anything written by them?
3. What have you found that you are not interested in spending your time reading?
4. If you were to write a book, what would it be about?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Has the English language lost its eloquence?

It’s been a busy month. Our daughter prolonged her stay by one week so that we were blessed to have her home for a month this time. It had been almost two years since her last trip home. It was sad having her leave on Tuesday, especially since we don’t know when she will be visiting again.

I am back and forth between my dad’s and my own home, as I talked about in my April 2’11 post. Since my computer was not behaving well – which set me back a bit – a stint at the shop was in order. Unfortunately, the expected few days turned into a week – part of which I was home and suffering withdrawal with no computer. 😉 (Can anyone relate?) I’m still trying to sort and find things after it was ‘made like new’, but I feel assured it is operating better now.

Since I’m without a computer at Dad’s, I read instead. He has been a fan of Zane Grey for many years, and last week – when I finished the book I had taken with me – I picked up one of the many titles Dad has there. Soon after I began reading it, I realized that my choice for a first Zane Grey book to read may not have been the best. I wasn’t very happy with the rawness, but Grey was a very good writer regardless of the cruel reality in that novel. I was determined to finish the book – which I did – but it is unlikely that I will be reading more of his. Now I can say I read him, though. 🙂

What really fascinated me was the language, the beauty of the words used in 1925 when that book was written – and how some words have changed in usage. It seems to me that over time our language has degraded – almost to grunts and phrases! What are we? – cave people now? Do you feel that way at all? If I were to use some of the wording I would like to use in my writing would people think it too strange, antiquated? The English language used to be so refined and eloquent, but now it is getting to be less and less. Why do we have to ‘talk down’ to people? … ‘Don’t put that big word in your story, children won’t understand it’ – well let them ask about it! Don’t they like to learn anymore? *sigh* Or don’t we like to teach them to reach beyond themselves?

Okay, I have to end this post. You can see that I do get stirred up over such things. In fact, I KNOW I’m not the only one because a few weeks ago one of my blogging writer friends wrote a post about what is happening to our language. When I read her post I nodded in agreement, but after reading Zane Grey I realize even more how far and fast we have been falling .. and failing. Our language is broken. Why is it progression seems to always have the side effect of regression in some way?

So, my questions are scattered throughout this rant, but added to those are these:

Do you like to read books with vocabulary that challenges you a little?

Do you like to write stories like that, or do you withhold because of the chance that you’ll be told that you can’t pull it off these days, it won’t sell?

Are you living your dream?

When I was a little girl, my mother would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. Of course, I wanted to be a singer or an actress or dancer, but most of all I wanted to be a mommy. And I used to tell my mother that when she got old I would take care of her.

Have I been able to live my dream? Well, you could say that I have. I had four little girls of my own, and when my dear mother was dying (only in her 70’s) I helped take care of her the last month of her life. Perhaps that was a love commitment more than a dream.

My childhood dream has not been my only one. I have had several over the years, as I’m sure you have. As we grow we learn new things and try our hand at them. I sewed clothes, made toys and crafts and quilts, tried sketching and painting, wrote poetry, and dreamed dreams. I took voice lessons but I’m shy and nervous about public singing. I dance but mostly when I worship the Lord in the privacy of my home. And the acting? Uhh, No. 🙂 But I keep returning to writing – ministry things, poems, stories, plays, songs, articles, blogging.

Again my dream is to be a writer and author of children’s books. Having accomplished NaNoWriMo, perhaps by sheer determination, then shouldn’t I be able to write a book for children, perfect it for publication, and stick with it until that happens?

But what do you do when life happens, when the time you had which didn’t seem to be enough is now split in half? How do you see those dreams fulfilled?

How do you choose what to sacrifice and what to push to the forefront?

It is a challenge in which, so far, I don’t feel I’m succeeding. With all the reading I try to do, my writing is taking a backseat. With the book reviews and author interviews I committed to, my newsletter publishing is delayed. But do you see the connections? In some way they are all to do with writing, so I haven’t completely left it behind, I just need to discover my balance. What I must do is trust the Lord to lead me in all of these things in my life. If I’m meant to continue them all then He will show me how.

Then there are the unexpected things that crowd in. I gave my piano to our oldest daughter who loves to play. She told me Tuesday that the movers will be here Thursday morning. That meant today’s time was devoted to rearranging things for the piano to be maneuvered around in order for the movers to get it up the stairs and out to their truck. This also means there will be more space for my stuff! 😉 Such as more books? Umm, maybe for all the fabric I have. (Yes, I love fabric too, which is intended to be listed for sale on my business website.)

Do I have too many irons in the fire? Too many interests and not enough focus? Too many ideas and not enough ‘stick-to-it-iveness’? Or maybe I dream too big? – forgetting I’m only one person and nobody else will be interested in my dreams – so I live a little of this one and a little of that one.

I don’t ever stop dreaming.

What about you? Are you a dreamer of dreams? Are you living your dreams? Or have you given up on them?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Surprises, sacrifices and schedules

This is Holy Week in the Christian faith, the week of remembering Christ’s sacrifice for us. It is coming into a weekend of special services and celebrations, family dinners and reunions. I hope it is also a time of reflection for all God has provided for us through the Cross and His unfathomable Love, much more than is realized or that we can even understand.

This weekend is especially wonderful for me because last Sunday we were surprised by the arrival of our daughter who lives in Alberta. She showed up for a three-week visit, which is a blessing to this mother’s heart. For the first time in a few years we have all four of our girls home for a few occasions – one daughter’s birthday, Easter, Mother’s Day. I love it! And tomorrow morning we – and some other family members – are all going to the Good Friday service where I fellowship. That means a lot to me.

On another topic — Now that I have access to my computer only half the time, my posts are having to be scheduled when I can manage to prepare them – which explains why I got two posts up last week when I was not online, in case anyone was wondering about that. A Twitter pal noticed. 🙂 WordPress has this great feature where a blog entry can be scheduled to be posted whenever you want it to be seen. Gotta love that! The only problem is that I can’t reply to comments unless I am here. But don’t let that stop you! 🙂

I plan to soon get another book review up followed by an interview, and another one is already planned for early May as part of a blog tour. So, if you enjoy those then please keep checking back.

I’m trying to keep up between times spent with my dad, but not doing as well as I would like in the other things. Hopefully, I will improve. My time management skills are severely lacking.

So, how are you spending the Easter weekend?

And on the topic of time management, how do you pull it all together?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

We have a winner! (Snow Day)

Tonight one of you became a winner of a copy of Snow Day by Billy Coffey. You were entered into the contest if you left a comment on this post: https://lynnadavidson.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/interview-with-billy-coffey-book-giveaway/

Shortly after 9:00 this evening, that’s 8:00 EST, my dear husband drew a name out of the basket and I have sent the winner an email requesting her mailing address. When she has replied then I will post her name so that everyone knows who won and the book will be mailed to her.
So, check your emails, everyone! Is it you?

Thanks for participating, and … Creative Musings!

Have you come full circle yet?

Do you ever feel that life is taking off without you? That you can’t keep up with all that is in your line of vision? It is times like those that I realize I could not hold up without the strength the Lord gives me.

I am delighted that our youngest daughter moved home in March, and so is her little dog – as much as a dog can be delighted. 🙂 Now she is job searching so that she can get herself established again. Having her home will be helpful.

What is upcoming for us as a family is that we have come full circle, my husband and I. Several years ago, my sister and I lived with our parents again for the last month of our mother’s life when she was dying of cancer. We each moved back into our old rooms which allowed us to be there to spend time with Mum and minister to her however we could, and to support our father. (My sister’s husband would bring their baby some days, and each evening I would go home to have supper with my family and put our youngest to bed before going back to my parents’.) This month my sister and I will be starting a rotation of living with Dad, alternating weeks for as long as is manageable. We will be companions to Dad more than caregivers in the way it is most understood. This time it is a sacrifice that will affect our own households for an indefinite length of time, but it is the only right decision at this time as he needs someone there with him. We don’t live far from him anyway, but it is time to do this. And Dad won’t be overwhelmed by us — 🙂 — because we won’t both be there all the time, but taking turns week by week.

To be honest with you, in considering all this it is something that I want to do and do not want to do. Even though I want to be there for my elderly father, I know it is going to change my own life, marriage, home. I will do this, though, because my family supports me in it and I love my dad – otherwise it would be nearly impossible. Do you know the feeling? It will be a good challenge, very important to our relationship and with fun potential. 🙂

During our quiet evenings, since Dad is still able to enjoy his own reading time, I plan to read more books, prepare more book reviews, and finish writing my novel and picture books. Then the weeks I am home I can post to my blog and catch up wherever else I have fallen behind.

Yes, that is the plan. A good plan. A reasonable plan. I’ll soon find out how well it works.

Have you come full circle yet, becoming the caregiver for the one who cared for you?

Maybe you are caregiver for someone else you love, or are available to give someone else a break? (Being a caregiver can be very stressful and exhausting, so if you are considering helping someone who does this, I’m sure they would appreciate a few hours for themselves each week.)

I’m very interested in hearing your stories.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂