One of a Kind Names for One of a Kind Flowers - Name the Flower 3

Spring is still dragging her feet around here and letting Jack Frost hang around days too long. But next week, warmer air is supposed to show up and maybe that will mean flowers start showing up too. Are you ready for flowers?

I hope you're ready for a new flower to guess. Or to name if you don't know the name already. Or even if you do, you can say the name you think might fit the flower better. So, give it a try and enter my Name the Flower contest. You might win a couple of books, one of mine and one of a different Christian author. 

BUT FIRST, LAST WEEK'S FLOWER NAME

Several of you named last week's beautiful flower. A few guesses were Adder's Tongue, Dog-tooth Violet, Dutchman's Britches, but nobody came up with the flower's actual name or at least not the name for the flower in my Wildflowers & Ferns of Kentucky book. However, some of you came up with great new names for the flower. Dewdrop, Teardrops, Grandmother's Dancing Bells, Green Whisper, Job's Arrow or Flying Geese. Now those are some good names. The Flying Geese and Grandmother's Dancing Bells really caught my fancy. Karen's name of Job's Arrow showed some great thinking too. 

But the flower's actual name is Shooting Star. Here's what the wildflower book says about this flower. "The rocket-like flowers of this strikingly beautiful plant appear designed for space flight. It is frequent from Central Kentucky westward but rare in eastern Kentucky." 

It's not rare in my wildflower woods area, but it's a flower that always makes me want to take one more photo.   

NOW CAN YOU NAME THE NEW FLOWER

The flower up top is the new flower to name. It's one of my favorites to find. Let's see if you know its name. You can post that or you can still use your imagination and give it another name if you wish. You can even simply say you haven't a clue about a name. Any of those will get you a new entry into my Name the Flower Contest. Remember, each time you name a new flower posted here, you get a new entry into the giveaway. 

I'll pick three winners from the entries by random drawing on April 19, 2015. So April 18, 2015 at midnight EST is the deadline for entering. You must be 18 to enter and if the winner chosen lives across the ocean, the prizes will be in e-book form. If you haven't guessed on one of the other flowers and left your contact information, be sure to leave it with your comment. If you've already left it on a different guess for this contest, then I'll have it.

Thanks for playing my Name the Flower game.

Time for a Spring Contest - Name the Flower

Spring is Here

Hey, did you notice? It's SPRING! The calendar says so. Now if some of us can get Mother Nature to go along with the calendar, we'll be happy. Here things are beginning to look and sound like spring. The spring peepers are in full voice at night and in the morning, the birds are singing their spring songs. I haven't heard a mockingbird yet, but he'll show up soon. Maybe the mockingbirds are scouting out a new nest location and building their new home. 

A First Wildflower

I did actually see my first wildflower today. The flower up above wasn't it, but I did post its picture on my Facebook page. Usually that first flower is a dandelion, but so far I haven't spotted one of those. If you've read my book, The Blessed, you might remember how my character Lacey did a spring dance every year when she saw her first dandelion. Some springs it was harder for her to do that happy dance than other springs. 

Name the Flower Contest

But seeing the first little wildflower of spring gave me an idea for a new giveaway contest. This one won't be very hard, but I hope you'll have fun with it. Name the flower. As always, you don't have to be right. You just have to give it a try (and leave your e-mail so I can contact you should you be a winner.) That said, I know all of you will get all the flower names. Still, even if it isn't a hard to guess contest like some of my mystery puzzles, (well, some of them were hard to guess) maybe it will still be fun. 

Prizes

The prizes are guess what? Aww, you did guess. Books!! I'll draw three winners. And every time you name a new flower, you'll get a new entry. So be sure to come back and check on the next flower every new blog post. That's usually Wednesdays and Sundays if I don't forget what day it is. That has happened. :) The winners will get their choice of one of my books and a grab bag book by a different Christian author. I have several autographed books that I need to give away and some others that aren't signed but the story is still good. I'll figure out which ones are up for grabs and let you know in one of my posts. That's besides my books. You can check out which of mine you might like to read by checking the titles out on my website. There are sample chapters and more there on all my inspirational fiction books. 

The contest is open to USA and Canada for print books and e-books for international entries. That international postage is prohibitive. You must be 18 to enter. Deadline for entries is April 18, 2015 at 12 midnight EST. I'll announce the winners here on April 19. 

Get Ready, Set, Go

So I'm ready to hear what you know about this flower. For years I called it the wrong thing. Oh, and if you don't know the real name or even if you do, another fun thing to do is pretend you were the first person to ever see this flower and that you got to name it. So what would you have called it? 

Remember to leave a way to contact you if you want to be in the running to win a book. I can't respond directly to your comments. 

March Snow? 12 Things that might be Good

March is usually a headed toward Spring month here in Kentucky. Flowers begin to appear. There are days with a generous dose of warm sunshine to soak into your skin after the winter cold. The normal temperature for a Kentucky day in early March is in the 50s. Sometimes we're treated to much warmer. And sometimes we're slammed with much colder as we were last week. Record breaking cold all across the state with the temperature dipping into the minus regions. 

We had snow to match the low temperatures, or perhaps the low temperatures to match the snow. Wednesday every bit of the snow we had on the ground melted and it rained. Until it started sleeting and then snowing. And snowing and snowing. 

We sometimes have snow in March in Kentucky. But not 16 or 20 inches. That's January snow. March snow is generally a few flakes blowing in the wind. Flurries one minute, sunshine the next. Or if the snow does fall down and coat the ground, the sun warms it up and melts it away pronto. But not this snow with the minus temperatures. It didn't care that it's March and Spring is only two short weeks away. Winter isn't ready to quit. 

But there is good in most everything if you look. And so I'm looking. What good things can we think of for this snow? 

1. It was a beautiful snow. Really. Friday morning when I went out at sunrise the trees were sparkling and the cedars were coated in snow just like a Christmas card. The snow on the ground sparkled too. Made me think of those detergents I used to buy to wash baby clothes. Ivory Flakes or Dreft, I think. And sometimes if a little breeze shook some off a tree, the flakes sparkled like diamonds in the air. Beautiful. Really.

2. I got lots of extra exercise walking in the snow over my boot tops. Had to be good for my leg muscles. Had to be.

3. That much snow is filling up the ponds and underground springs. Nourishing the plants and flowers that are waiting under the snow. 

4. They say it has to be at least minus five to kill deer ticks. If that's true, then this winter should thin them and other insects out around here. 

5. Kids and wanna be kids got to build snowmen and go sledding and had the fun of a snow day out of school. 

6. There was plenty of fresh snow to scoop up for Snow Cream. 

7. The trees might not bud out and bloom too early and get killed by the frost. Maybe.

8. Oscar was ready to come inside. If new experiences help our brains, then maybe the same help dogs learn too. He had to figure out all the different ways to walk in the snow from pushing through the powdery stuff to walking on top of a frozen crust, to breaking through the crust with some of his steps back to deep powder again. 


9. It gave many people reason to help their neighbors with shoveling and plowing out their roads or donating to homeless shelters.

10. It will make us appreciate the spring sunshine and flowers all that much more for having to wait for it. The flowers are coming. Well watered by the snow.




11. A snowy, cold day is a great time to settle down with a good book and a cup of something warm.

12. It's a perfect reason to make a cup of hot chocolate.

What good things can you add about the snow?

Happiness is a Poem and a Flower

"No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn." (Hal Borland)

"Winter lingered so long in the lap of Spring that it occasioned a great deal of talk."  (Bill Nye)

I'm wishing I could spot some little spring beauty flowers like those above, but not yet this year. Those little blooms are still sleeping under the snow that has stuck around way past its welcome. But it's a good thing we don't have to find our happiness in the weather. While most of the poems I've received with entries to my Roses are Red Contest that's going on now, have been simple four line verses, a few readers have shared poems that put my amateur rhyming to shame. So tonight I'm sharing them with you.

Happiness  by Nona

Happiness comes from many places.
Singing birds and familiar faces.

A hug from a friend
when you are blue.

Lifting of the heart
when your love is true.

Sitting in the shade by a 
babbling brook.

Cuddled into a chair
with your favorite book.

~~~

Lovely poem, Nona. Peggy stayed with the Roses are red theme but made it so much more as she looks forward to Spring.

Roses are Red  by Peggy

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

When this Winter is through

The flowers will shake, and open their heads

Their colors are grand

Some smell pretty, too

Let's strike up the band

For those Violets of Blue

For those buds I will look

As they peek through the snow

While I watch from atop my book

As those zero winds blow

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

Dear God - Bring the Springtime

We need something new!!!

~~~

Last we have a true Valentine love poem from Sandi. 

What is Love by Sandi

What is love...

where does it go...

Is it a vapor not unlike the snow,

Does it drift lazily down from the sky,

piling around us until it's quite high,

Does it make choices or caress all the same

and when things go wrong is it always to blame...

Is it like the seasons that blow hot and cold,

Does it laugh lustily at all those it's fooled,

The fragrance it leaves is dispelled by none,

It lingers long after the romance is done,

If given the chance, would you risk it again,

Treating it tenderly like an old friend...

Not taking it for granted, but being thankful each day,

That no matter how brief, it once came your way???!!

~~~

Indeed we can be thankful when love comes our way. Thanks, ladies, for sharing your talent with us. 

The contest is still open. You can see the prize (a heart-shaped necklace and winner's choice of one of my books) on my News and Events website page. You can enter by leaving a comment on a post here (with a way to contact you) by midnight EST on March 3, 2015. Thanks to all who have already entered and shared a poem too. You don't have to share a poem. That's just to add a little fun!

A Green Theme

"Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises." (Pedro Calderon de la Barca)

What's your favorite color in the springtime? We have so many choices. The bright yellow of the forsythia that shout spring is really here, the rosy red of the redbud tree that pushes out blooms to light up the woods, and the pure white of the dogwood blossoms. So many colors to choose as favorites. 

But the true color of spring has to be green. One day the trees are bare and the grass is brown. Then the magic of spring happens and the world explodes in green. And we can breathe again. The trees and plants are making oxygen for us yet one more year. We return the favor breathing out the carbon dioxide they need.  What a great plan for the earth!

But when you talk about green, we can go so many ways. Kermit the Frog says it's not easy being green. A greenhorn doesn't know much about what's going on. Then again, these days being "green" means we're figuring out ways to keep the earth green. 

"An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight... the truly wise person is colorblind." (Albert Schweitzer) 

Not sure that quote fits my green theme, but I liked it so I'm sharing it. Guess I have a green light on what to put here on my on-line journal.  

That green light means go. But green on your hamburger means you'd better stop and think about eating a peanut butter sandwich instead. Or else your face might turn green when you get sick. Mold is green. And don't they make medicine from that so you might get well from something made from green? 

 

But without a doubt green is the color of spring. Green means growth and fresh starts and life.

The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green. (Thomas Carlyle)

When you hear the word green, what do you think of? Can you think of other ways to talk about green?

An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight... the truly wise person is colorblind.

Albert Schweitzer

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/albertschw117196.html#Eky4xuaQMp5kLL1U.99

An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight... the truly wise person is colorblind.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/albertschw117196.html#Eky4xuaQMp5kLL1U.99

An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight... the truly wise person is colorblind.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/albertschw117196.html#Eky4xuaQMp5kLL1U.99

Imagining Life's Coming Attractions

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on. (Robert Frost) 

I love spring. A time when the spring peepers make music so loud that even with the windows closed I can hear them trying to convince some other peepers to be their dates. I like how one week the trees are winter bare and then a couple of weeks later leaves are waving in the breeze. I like how flowers start popping up out of the ground like magic as soon as the sun begins to warm the ground and then seem to grow tall overnight. 

I especially like those flowers that no one planted. That are just there. The wildflowers Mother Nature herself sowed in the woods and fields. Every year they show up again. Sometimes they spread out into bigger patches. Sometimes they shrink back and cling tightly to their little bit of earth and wait for a better year. But they keep blooming without fail. Flowers like the Dutchman's Breeches up above. 

They seem to be proof that, as Robert Frost says, life goes on. And if you look at my picture really closely, you'll see that even as I was taking that photograph, life was going on. A spider, that I surely didn't even notice, was building a web and using one of the blooms as an anchor post. It was paying me no mind. I was paying it no mind. We were just each in our own spring mode.

Life is going on in my work in progress too, but sometimes it seems to be still frozen in the winter of my mind instead of springing forth in the right words. 


Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions. (Albert Einstein)


That's where my story is. In my imagination and I'm trying to tell it so that you might make it come to life in your imagination. While Albert Einstein isn't talking about fictional lives, the same can hold true for my characters. If I can imagine it, I can preview their lives' coming attractions. But I have to write it moment by moment or more aptly, scene by scene. Each scene has to flow into the next until the story is told. Because even in a fictional story, life goes on. My story might succeed if I can pull out the right succession of moments.

Life is a succession of moments, to live each one is to succeed. (Corita Kent)

In real life, we can't pick and choose among the moments that make up our stories. We have to live the ones that come to us. But we sometimes can preview our lives by imagining what is to come. 

When I was a kid, I imagined myself married and a mother. I remember the moment when I looked forward to that life with a certain surety. Then I also imagined myself a writer. With a dog by my side. Lots of things have happened that I didn't know to imagine, but those things I imagined true. 

What are some of the things you've imagined that have come to pass in your life?   

Thanks for reading. Check back Sunday for a real treat. I'm having a guest post from someone who writes about her grandmother's struggles with dementia. A beautiful story I know will touch your heart. 

Life is a succession of moments, to live each one is to succeed.

Corita Kent

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/coritakent162489.html#DvO4Gp26V52g3WGr.99

Life is a succession of moments, to live each one is to succeed.

Corita Kent

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/coritakent162489.html#DvO4Gp26V52g3WGr.99

No Mystery about Spring, Tortoises and Winners

Spring is Springing! 

You may still be seeing snow out your window, but if so, just turn your eyes to the calendar instead. It says right on there that March 20 is spring!! And I'm ready to believe it even if winter isn't. As Doug Larson says in this quote, "Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush."

So to celebrate, we've got spring pictures even if they are from springs of the past. Soon the wildflowers will be blooming and the tortoises will be strolling through the hayfields.

A Not So Mysterious Photo

As some of you pointed out, my last mystery photo wasn't so mysterious. I shouldn't have let the shell show. :) Almost all of you guessed it and those of you who didn't were just sure I wouldn't be that obvious. Of course, some of you were like me and called it a turtle even though it isn't. 

Tortoise, Turtle, Terrapin
 
We always called them terrapins, but I didn't go out and check my science on that one. And I have heard people call them land turtles. Tortoise is no doubt the correct name as Annette says. Turtles are in the ponds and the rivers and the oceans. Occasionally in the spring, a turtle will crawl out of the mud in our pond and take a slow stroll through the field and yard to the pond over the way to look for new vistas. I have no idea how they know where the other ponds are. But when that happens, it can really excite the dogs if they see it. The dogs do a lot of barking, but are careful to keep their distance since those pond turtles are snappers. 

But this kind of little tortoise is harmless. You can pick it up and it will slip back in his shell and stay there until you put him down and then awhile. I used to have a cockerspaniel that loved to catch the tortoises. That was the only "wild" game he could catch. Then he'd carry them home to the yard. I always wondered if the poor things ever made it back to their home territory or just had to settle in the new place. Also it's not good to have them settle in your garden. They love to nibble on tomatoes and always pick the biggest and prettiest tomatoes to bite. 

Now for the Winners

I do appreciate all the great guesses. I always have so much fun with these mystery photo contests, although next time I'm not going to give you an easy turtle, oops tortoise, leg to guess. LOL. But it was such a neat picture. Anyway, I'm glad you had fun with the pictures too. And now for the winners. Drum roll please. Amy Bateman and Lisa Bragg, you are my winners. I'll send you an e-mail to get the info on which books you'd like to have. And thanks to the rest of you who played the game too. We'll do it again in June or July after Love Comes Home is released. 

Back to Spring

I haven't spotted any flowers yet, but I think the grass is getting a bit greener here and there. I see wild onions growing - well, at least they're green. The frogs are so loud that I'm hearing them here in my office as I type this and the birds are singing every morning. What signs of spring are you seeing?

Mystery Photos in Spring

 "Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand." (Neil Armstrong)

Do you like mysteries? I like reading them. Not sure I'd actually want to be involved with one although when I was a kid I imagined being like the Hardy Boys and solving all sort of mysteries. Now I'm happy when I can solve the mystery of my missing keys or what happened to that letter I just had in my hand and laid down somewhere a minute ago. Of course, that might not be such a mystery if my desk wasn't such a mess. 

Fun Guesses

For some of you my mystery picture wasn't much of a mystery. For others of you, the picture had you doing some creative thinking. Love the yellow boots and sleds in the snow guesses, and you know, that snow does look like soapsuds or maybe ice in a cooler. A few of you saw a fence and bananas. Right color. Wrong object. The best wrong guess was Kristy's idea of a book in one of those yellow plastic bags that the telephone company uses when they pitch out the new telephone books by our mailboxes. I could see that. But, as you can see in the "rest of the picture" above, those of you who said a daffodil or jonquil, as we always called them when I was growing up, in the snow were right.

Mystery Picture 2

So are you ready to do some more guessing? You'll probably get this one right away too. Or at least some of you will. Remember, it's more fun to guess first and read the comments second. Then you can guess if you're right or not. A new guess gets you another entry in the drawing. Some of you didn't leave a way to contact you with your first guess, but you need to do that if you want to be in the drawing for one of my books and another grab bag book. I'm going to pick two winners on the 19th. Remember you can write your e-mail out with yourname(at)mailprovider(dot)com or net. And if you'd rather not do that, you can always send me a message at annhgabhart(at)yahoo(dot)com. 

Spring is Springing

Here in Kentucky, spring is going to give us a little preview next week with temperatures in the sixties. Official spring is about 10 days away, but usually spring sneaks into Kentucky early. Not so much this year. However, Daylight Savings Time did show up earlier than it used to. That will make the days feel longer even though they're still the same twenty-four hours. 

What gets you to thinking spring?   

I noticed my windows needed washing today. But I'd rather be seeing flowers to get me thinking spring instead of dirty windows. what has you thinking spring?

"No winter last forever; no spring misses its turn." (Hal Borland)

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.

Hal Borland

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/spring.html#IoEjqrK8OhXK5SVG.99"No

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.

Hal Borland

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/spring.html#IoEjqrK8OhXK5SVG.99

The Mysteries of Spring

I had fun with my last mystery picture that wasn't much of a mystery for some of you. So how about this one? Got a guess before you read on? 

While you're thinking about it, let's talk about Spring. Here in Kentucky it was so cool in March that spring tarried and dragged its feet, but then April came along with sunshine and rain. Everything in sight burst into bloom. Redbuds, dogwoods, crab apples, lilacs, Bradford pear trees, tulips, to name a few. 

And the dandelion. 

People who want perfect lawns don't have much affection for the lowly dandelion, but I sort of like them. I made them a part of Lacey's story in The Blessed, by having her do a dandelion dance in the spring. And some years ago, I wrote this devotional about them. Here's a bit of it. If you want to read the rest of the devotional, you can find it on my website at this link, Ann's Dandelion Devotional)

The Lesson of the Dandelion 
God made the dandelion and said, "It is good. This plant is tough but has a bloom like a spot of sun to make my children smile. It is plentiful so they can eat the leaves and still never lack for flowers." He smiled when the seed ball popped up. "Yes, my little children will have fun with that, and look at all the fresh seeds for my songbirds weary from the winter. Yes, it is good."

So now if you haven't already figured it out, you know the mystery photo. I took the picture a week or so ago when the dew was extra heavy on the dandelion fluffs. Made them sparkle in the early morning light.

"If dandelions were hard to grow, they would be most welcome on any lawn." ~Andrew V. Mason

"The miracles of nature do not seem miracles because they are so common. If no one had ever seen a flower, even a dandelion would be the most startling event in the world." 


 "It gives one a sudden start in going down a barren, stony street, to see upon a narrow strip of grass, just within the iron fence, the radiant dandelion, shining in the grass, like a spark dropped from the sun." ~Henry Ward Beecher

So happy dandelion hunting and maybe dancing if you take the notion. I think if you look, you'll find some. :)

Do you enjoy Spring? What's the best part for you?

Spring Blooming All Over

It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!  ~Mark Twain
  
Spring was late in coming this year, but it came in a hurry this week with record warm temperatures after a week of record cold temperatures. That's spring weather for you. But the temperatures rising into the 60s, then the 70s, and today the 80s was enough to convince the flowers to bloom. Forsythia bushes are exploding with yellow blooms in yards along the road. I have a struggling forsythia that's trying to get re-established after being dug up when we built on to the house. We dumped it over on the side of the yard without proper planting, but those bushes are tough. It's putting up shoots and blooming this year. My japonica bush is going red. My peonies have pushed through the ground and are almost visibly growing. All three of those are from sprouts or bulbs I dug up out of my grandparents' yard. A heritage of beauty to be passed from one yard to another, so that not only do I enjoy the blooms, the sight of the flowers also stirs memories of the hands that planted them. 
 
Yesterday on my walk, I saw my first butterflies. Today I ran my face into my first spiderweb. That's spring for you. A constant entertainment to someone like me who enjoys walking on the farm. I've seen it all before but every spring, I'm ready to see it all again. A joy to behold. And maybe this year the pictures will be even better than last year. This bluebell picture isn't. But you've got to understand that I was taking the picture with one hand while holding Oscar's leash with the other. He still has two and half more weeks of captivity. That's how he's feeling about being in the house. A meek and compliant prisoner, but it's obvious he's far from comfortable. I was hoping to make a house dog out of him, but it's not looking like he wants that. He has become a nice companion here in my office. So maybe he can be an office dog.  
 
The front door to springtime is a photographer's best friend. ~Terri Guillemets 

What brings you joy in the springtime?

P.S. I sent the prize packages out today. Sharma, Rita, and Tawnya, you should get them before the end of the week. Congratulations and thanks to all of you who made this giveaway such fun for me, even though your number didn't get drawn this time. Maybe in June. Got to figure out a prize. 

Diane K., I sent you a Facebook message, but if I don't hear from you by Monday, I'll draw a new number for one of the 2nd place prizes - a couple of books.

A Time and Season for All Things

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. - Ecclesiates 3:1 (KJV)

It's March 21, the second day of Spring by the calendar. Normally, this time of the year we're having windy and chilly days here in Kentucky with frosts at night and five different kinds of weather in the daytime. We can have sunshine, snow, rain and sleet all in the same hour in March and the winds can be cutting. Not this March. This March we're having a week long (so far) preview of June with record breaking temperatures in the eighties. The flowers are poking up out of the ground and going, "Oh my, I must have overslept!" And so, they are hurrying to catch up to the sun. 

I've never seen so many different kinds of wildflowers blooming this early in the year. The one above is a twin leaf flower and it is one of the earlier bloomers. But early as in April. Not the middle of March. Even my mom's favorite flower growing wild over at the Rock, the Dutchman's breeches, are blooming all over the hillsides. I saw a few that had bloomed and were already turning brown. Made me want to say wait a minute. It's not time for you to even be blooming yet and you're already fading.   

But the seasons come and go as they please. Whether we'll step back into winter, I don't know. It could happen. Generally we face a chance of frost here until May. But then generally we don't have a whole week of eighty degree weather in March. 

It's not only the early blooming flowers making me want to grasp a few days and try to slow things down. I got a titling questionnaire today for the book I'm working on. Not yet, I wanted to say. How can I think about titles when the story is still seeping into my writer's well? But it's time. To every thing there is a season. Now in the life of this book I'm writing, it is the season for titling. In publishing every thing has a time to get done. So, with some imagination and a great deal of hope, I will tell them about my story that is yet flowing out of my thoughts and through my fingers onto the computer screen. I will describe my main characters and the clothes they're wearing. I will suggest words that might make a title sing. And I will continue to write my story and hope the season for writing is as full of flowering thoughts as our early spring is of blooming flowers. 


What have you seen as an early sign of spring? Or perhaps it's still cold and snowy where you are. But spring will come. For every thing there is a season. And spring is a season many of us welcome.


Thanks for reading. I appreciate each and every one of you.