Exactly

 

Humorous Perspective

Thank Goodness It's Sunday

~ Cooler weather

~ Breaking bread with friends

~ Visiting a friend

~ Inspiration 

~ God's grace 

Brain Dump

A woman who is pregnant is not having a baby; she HAS a baby. It's just easier to contain until it's born. 

Halloween or Samhain

Why I celebrate Halloween: It's the one holiday we encourage ourselves to look into the darkness and drag our fears into the light and hopefully see them for what they are: An opportunity to be brave and reclaim our power over them.

Shelley's "Frankenstein" explores the folly of men pretending to be God. Stoker's "Dracula" reveals the horror of those who live by taking from others. I can't imagine a world without Poe, and his willingness to expose the monsters within. We prevail when we choose good over evil.

The early history of Samhain, what would later become Halloween, was a celebration of the end of the harvest and the end of the year as well as the beginning of a new year. Leave in the past what no longer brings life and love. Welcome the opportunity to start fresh with the old and withered swept away, making room for the new. A time to seek God's protection in the coming winter.

For the record, I don't do scary. Growing up in it means it isn't entertainment for me. Dress up is fun. I've always had a fondness for jack-o-lanterns, the cheerful flame flickering inside. Not to mention my love of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. The promise of cooler weather, a definite bonus in the desert. The changing color of the leaves, which people generously share through pictures. The prelude to the coming triad holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year (gratitude, giving, and starting anew). Enjoy the day. Indulge in a treat. Laugh.

Some of my favorites to fit a Halloween mood:

Most people will recognize this piece of music but may not know the name. From Carmina Burana ~ O Fortuna by Carl Orff performed by André Rieu:

https://youtu.be/EJC-_j3SnXk 

Ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRU1AJsXN1g

Gustav Holst's Mars from The Planets

https://youtu.be/Jmk5frp6-3Q

Hall of the Mountain King (Peer Gynt) by Edvard Grieg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLp_Hh6DKWc

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by J. S. Bach needs to be heard as an organ piece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho9rZjlsyYY

Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCEDfZgDPS8

Samhain is coming

Celebrate with a story.

Secondhand Samhain 

The seventh novella in the series.

Welcome back to Holiday, USA, small town America, where nothing happens, except holidays... and a little romance, if the hero and heroine trust God.

Jan Connor, the new manager of the secondhand shop Vintage Holiday, loves her job, her town, and her life. She doesn't need anything except a little bit of help. Her annual Halloween birthday party isn't coming together, and her antiquated computer system is only making it worse.

Trent McDonald, computer guru extraordinaire, is looking for a place to call home. His brother, Cowboy, suggested Holiday might offer what he needs but never mentioned Vintage Holiday's pretty shop manager.

Between one breath and the next, God changes everything...

http://www.amazon.com/Secondhand-Samhain-Holiday-USA-Book-ebook/dp/B01A0IBBQI/ref=sr_1_1

If you prefer paperback, Holiday, USA Anthology 2015

All four novellas published in 2015 are available in their entirety in paperback, including the covers on the back, for those who enjoy collecting a series.

https://www.amazon.com/Holiday-USA-Anthology-2015-2/dp/153018617X/ref=sr_1_22

Ready for Samhain?

Thank Goodness It's Sunday

~ Night temperatures are lovely. Fall is coming.

~ Gospel study with friends

~ Good food

~ Fun TV shows and movies

~ God's grace 

Brain Dump

For the first time, vaccine ads advise that if you're allergic to the process used to make vaccines DO NOT TAKE IT. Oh, that's me! All these years, and this is the first time I've seen this warning. Wow. Way to stay on top of things. If my eyes rolled any further back, they'd roll right out of my head. 

Despite the high temps this week...

Thanks to the cute puppy widget:

Rings of Power Season 2 Episodes 8

You can't drop lanterns like that and have them still burning. I wanted to like this series. Each season, each episode gives glimmers but overall is a disappointment. Over and over they steal from LOTR, without a proper storyline. It's more like they patched together a bunch of scenes that they either cut and paste from Tolkien or made up from other Sci-Fi-/Fantasy stories, with a nonsensical progression. They've pulled bits of the future and attempted to plug it into the past where it doesn't belong and fails to create any rhyme or reason. It's like a committee wrote it, each writing what they thought the story should be and then they glommed it altogether, like a modern artist throwing paint against the canvas and calling it art. The fan fiction writers clearly don't comprehend Sauron or his nature. Not a prisoner of the rings but a slave. Sauron's tears are crocodile tears. Sauron wanted to destroy not save. Tolkien clearly separated evil and good. He wrote characters that chose evil to the point of moving beyond redemption. Violence, as much as they could cram in. The writers give the feeling that they are so caught up in the world of surface living today that they have no comprehension of what Tolkien and those of his time endured, the depth of his understanding and insights, hard won. They want the easy way, and it shows. The sets and CGI is impressive. This is not Lord of the Rings. Only borrowed names and places for a story unworthy of Tolkien. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if they hadn't advertised it as LOTR. False advertising leaves a bad taste in my mouth. 

Men of the West, on YouTube, reviewed the show with more leniency and more details.