Happy New Year!!!!

´Tis a time to start afresh, and I am making only TWO resolutions:

1.- Take REALLY good care of my health
2.- Be more charitable towards others (specially others I don't like much)


I thought about it long and hard, but I simply could  not list "Blog at least once a week" as a resolution. It didn't sound like it was Resolution worthy (not next to the other two, at least) So instead it's a promise.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Lovely!

When food is good AND pretty, it's hard not to feel inspired.

And if you catch these freshly picked, early in the morning at the market, it's impossible to resist picking them up. I'm just sorry I didn't have the chance to snap a pic of the gorgeous girl selling them. I see her everyday, and most days she's just a regular girl with too much makeup and too "notice me" clothes.

Today? Her curly dark hair was gathered in a loose bun at the top of her head. She wore a red tee and faded jeans, no makeup and a white bandanna in her hair, tied up next to her bun.

Today you could notice her creamy dark skin, her black eyes and full lips. She smelled of the flowers she had been tying in bundles, and I wanted to tell her how nice she looked, but she was obviously mortified about her look, and she barely looked anyone in the eye.

Are we all as self conscious and insecure at 17? Yes, I think most of us are. I was the girl who wore wacky, almost costumey. I still was that girl in college.


I wish I could say I still am. I keep in touch with a friend of mine who I went to high School with and who now is a priest. We talk maybe once a month, but we are still very good friends.
He asked me when had I started becoming so normal. When had I stopped being the girl who did not care what others thought and dressed to please herself, the girl who danced to her own beat.

I don't know. I think she's in here, somewhere. Maybe she's trapped by the "love handles". Maybe she's hiding. I don't think she went anywhere.

I hope she hasn't gone.

How did I get here from eating some flowers???


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BOOK REVIEW: Something old

Something old 

By Diane Christner

Katie Yoder is certain about some things:  Who her friends are; how things should be done. And she is happy to start living the dream of her childhood, hers and her friends’. Trouble is, life keeps getting in the way, making things happen the way they shouldn’t and setting her simple life in turmoil, making her doubt many things she was convinced of. Things are suddenly not black and white, but she begins to see the subtle shades of gray.

This is the first time I’ve read Mennonite fiction, since I usually veer towards Amish, and I was a bit disconcerted at first. I really liked getting to know a bit more about these hard working people,  opening my mind to other ways of thinking that are different to my own Catholic upbringing.  

Talk about opening one’s mind! Katie comes off at first as too judgmental, and a bit “holier than thou” even towards her friends, but everything that happens to her makes her start to painfully accept that there is room redemption, and that differences can divide or strengthen a friendship. The characters are nicely developed and the situations are believable, and the author succeeds in making the reader step into Katie’s mind (and shoes!)

A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher for reviewing purposes. They opinions here stated are my own, and have not been influenced in any way. 

Rest in peace.

Today, the great Facundo Cabral was shot to death on his way to the airport. He had just finished a tour in Guatemala when he was ambushed.

His last words on his last concert were "may God's will be done. He knows what he does"

You will be missed, dearest Facundo. May God receive your soul and may your killers know repentance and find salvation.

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BOOK REVIEW: A Bride's portrait of Dodge City, Kansas

A Bride’s  portrait of Dodge City, Kansas

Erica Vetsch

Addie needs to make a fresh start. With her uncle dead and the weight of establishing her photography on her shoulders, plus the obligations with the bank and the dangers of being a single woman in a city like Dodge City she is still decided and optimistic about making a new life for herself. Then a face from her past turns up in Dodge City, and all at once her secrets seem to be about to catch up to her and send her hopes and dreams crashing to the mud.

Miles is trying to distance himself from his past as much as he can. He is the new appointed deputy of Dodge City, and he can’t help but feel drawn to the lovely new photographer in town.

Then tragedy starts to happen. And it might just mean their pasts will collide and destroy them.

This novel is so well written you feel you are smack in the middle of a Western town, in a time when honor was defended with a gun. The main characters are really endearing, and the plot is very pulling.  I kept wondering and changing my mind about who was the perpetrator of the crimes.  I enjoyed reading this novel  so much that I’m looking forward to further installments!

A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher for reviewing purposes. They opinions here stated are my own, and have not been influenced in any way. 

BOOK REVIEW: The Nanny's Homecoming

The Nanny’s Homecoming

Linda Goodnight

Brooke Clayton has a broken heart. Not only that but her grandfather’s will has a surprise that has the potential of making her face her worst memory, not to mention having to live in the same small town as her not-so-loving, not-distant-enough relatives.

Gabe Wesson is used to challenges. A shrewd businessman, he is also a loving father in serious need of a nanny for his little son, A.J. Now that his new neighbor seems to be coming back to her home for good, it seems like his prayers have been answered.

If only there was not someone looking to make trouble for both of them.

The story of Gabe and Brooke is captivating. Gabe is manly and gentlemanly, and Brooke is just frail enough to be endearing, but also spunky enough in other aspects to make her likeable. Their story develops quite believably, and the twists and turns are nicely timed. Overall, this story is a very nice way to start a series, which is what this is going to be. You have enough mystery to have you wondering and hooked, and enough information to feel like you get to know the characters and care for them. I can’t wait to read the next installment in the series!

A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher for reviewing purposes. They opinions here stated are my own, and have not been influenced in any way. 

Done!

... And starting another one. This next one will be an image to frame...

An image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. :D our family is devout of her, so I'm doubly enjoying this work. While working, I can't help but meditate on Mary's role in the education of Jesus, and wonder if she sat embroidering his little shirts and tunics when he was small.


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Border progress update

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Starting on the border

I'm crocheting the base for my border. And my brain is abuzz with so many things...

I worry about a friend whom I may have let down... You know who you are, and I know you will read this. Honey, I wish I had been right next to you to hold whoever made you mad so you could hit them. Seriously. Or better yet, I'd hit them. Hard. I'd put those boxing lessons from a decade ago to good use, I'd use every dirty trick I know and I'd go ballistic. If you knew me in college, you'd know I'd seriously do it. Just promise you'll pay my bail. Which brings me to the next item...

I try to plan a way to get out of debt... Ugh. Do you know anyone who is willing to donate $10 k to a third world mom so she can get out of the sinkhole? Oh, didn't think so, never mind...

At the same time, I'm considering how happy I feel about the way the choir has grown and thinking of stepping down as their director, because they need someone more capable and better prepared than yours truly. It's been a good two years. Yep. It has.

And I have the craziest feeling I'm at a major turning point in my life. Too bad these "bends in the road" - you darling Anne Shirley! - sometimes are freaking scary.

So I stop to say a prayer, then I sit down, thank my husband for reading my mood perfectly and putting the girls to bed after pouring me a beer, and in the quiet, I grab my hook and start doing something I CAN control... Sort of.

I'm winding down.


And I add everything up and you know what? My life is good. Really good. Thank God for it, and for all of you reading this, and for all the ones around me.

Life's really good. Even when it's not. Except if there's a zombie Apocalypse. Then it will suck unless Milla comes and kicks everyone's green decaying tushie and saves our hides.




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WIP progress

I'm almost done with this, one more side to go and then only the crochet border to go. Can you see the light drizzle of rain out the door? My favorite kind of day


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