Nature's Valentine

Happy Valentine's Weekend!

Here's a natural valentine I spotted on one of my walks some time last year. I've been saving it for this day. A day late, I know, but we can celebrate love any day, can't we? As far as I know, nobody carved this heart in this tree. It just happened. A gift of nature. But then again, maybe a romantic squirrel chewed off the bark for his squirrel sweetheart. But however it got there, I thought it was neat. It's actually along the road in front of a neighbor's house and not too long ago, he cut it down. So alas, the heart is gone now, but we still have the picture.

I've always liked Valentine's Day. I used to be a room mother at the schools when my children were young, and Valentine's was my favorite holiday party. Every kid got cards and cupcakes. Of course, things might have been simpler then. Certainly, there weren't dozens of bouquets delivered to the schools for this or that sweetheart the way I've heard happens now. Just cute little cards with hearts and some of those heart shaped conversation hearts. Pure sugar, so naturally I liked them. The pink ones were definitely best. :) 

Some people say Valentine's Day can be sad when a person isn't part of a couple. It is nice to have somebody giving you flowers and candy. But I like to think of Valentine's Day as more than a day for sweethearts. It's a day to think about love in all its wonderful ways. A good day to share hugs with your kids and grandkids. Well, any day is a good day for that. It's a great time to share a special day out with a friend or to call your mother or a special aunt. It's a fine time to read 1 Corinthians 13 or 1 John 4 in the Bible. It's a good day to remember all the ways you are loved and to remember all the people you have loved even if some of them are no longer here with you. And if you don't have somebody to buy you flowers or candy, it's a perfect time to treat yourself to the flowers and candy you like best.

And it's a good time to share a crazy picture of a heart on a tree that made me feel some love for nature.

I do appreciate all of you who have volunteered to help me out with my upcoming book release. I am working to meet an editing deadline on a book and haven't had time to respond to each of you as yet. But I will next week. I've got all your names written down and I have to say you were like a special Valentine to me with your readiness to offer to help. Thank you so much. 

Now if you have any spare chocolate laying around, savor a few bites and enjoy the memory of a happy day.

Thanks for reading.

Dime Store Valentines and Cupcakes

"Be Mine, Valentine." 
"I Woof You." 
"You're purr-fect, Valentine!" 
"You're doggone cute." 
"We're heart to heart friends."

I know Valentine's Day is past and it's 50 weeks before it shows up again. The candy's gone. The roses have drooped their heads. The cards are beginning to look like clutter. The diamonds are probably still glittering in the rings and necklaces if jewelry was in your Valentine box. But I'm not ready to let Valentine's Day slide away just yet. I tied in Valentine's Day with my Summer of Joy Celebration Giveaway. Two more days until I draw the winners. I'll announce them here on Sunday if all goes according to plan. 

But first let's enjoy a few Valentine stories. I didn't have a great response with the Valentine stories the way I have with other fun stories you've shared. Grandmother stories. Best or worst gift stories. Christmas gifts remembered. Those are some of the stories I've asked for in contests in the past. And I got story after story and loved it. But when I asked for Valentine stories, they came in few and far between. I'm not going to say romance is missing. Instead I'm going to go along with the reader who said she had plenty of Valentine stories but they were private. But a few of you did offer up some stories and I enjoyed reading them all. I shared some of them already and thought I'd let you enjoy a couple more tonight. 

First let me say that I didn't expect all the stories to be about romantic love and they weren't. Linda shares some fun Valentine school day memories. 

"My valentine story involves memories from childhood. I grew up in a similar small town like Jocie. In elementary school we would decorate shoe boxes with a slit in the top and on Valentine's day we would go around our classroom putting little Valentines in each box. I don't remember if we had to do one for everyone in the classroom, but hopefully that's the way it was so there would be no hurt feelings. Also, someone's mom would make cupcakes for our afternoon snack. Back in the day, life seemed so much simpler because decorating the boxes came from our imagination and what we had on hand and the little Valentines came from the 'dime' store."

Oh yes, Linda, I remember those Valentine parties. I had some myself when I was in school, but I best remember being the room mother for my kids and helping with their Valentine parties. I was that mama who made the cupcakes even if I wasn't great at decorating them. During my years of room mothering, Valentine's  was always my favorite party of the year. The kids did decorate shoe boxes and they did have ten-cent store Valentines for each child in their classes. I kept my oldest son's Valentine box for years. He made it out of a boot box. Guess he was expecting a lot of Valentines. I thought I still had it, but when I went to search for it to take a picture, I couldn't find it. Isn't that the way of it? You keep something for years and then you finally talk yourself into getting rid of it and a year or two later, you miss it. :)

And here's a cute idea from Amy to make any holiday fun for your kids or grandkids if you like to cook. She shared this here on a different post, but if you're like me, you don't always read through the comments. And if you did read the comments, hope you don't mind a repeat.

"I don't necessarily have many really memorable Valentine's days. I guess I lead a boring life. I do remember my Mom always making a fun dessert for us, and I've tried to carry this tradition on with my family. One year I took it a step further and created a special restaurant for my family. I made up menus and let everyone choose from two different entrees, their choice of salads and side dishes and choice of desserts. The kids loved it and requested the same experience for Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner that year."

And you know what? Someday when somebody asks them to remember a special Valentine's day, that might be the very one they remember. What fun! Hope my grandkids don't read this. They'll be after me to give it a try. Maybe we'll have a go at it this summer for an everyday party time.

What desserts would you want on your Valentine party menu? I'll take cherry cheesecake or strawberries on a slice of Angel Food cake. Yum!

Thanks for reading and remember, you can leave a comment to be in a special drawing for a Hollyhill book or your choice of one of my other books. That's true over on Jocie's Heart of Hollyhill blog too. She's sharing another excerpt from Summer of Joy all about Wes's story about Bug Juice and Jupiterian Fropples. Wes has some great Jupiter stories. But to be in the drawing there or here, you have to leave a comment with a way for me to get in touch with you should you win.  

Thanks for reading!

 







 

A Giveaway to Celebrate Summer of Joy

Celebration time! 

For a writer, there's not much more exciting than seeing a new book coming out for readers - even when that new book is simply one dressed up in a new cover. With the re-release of Summer of Joy, in a few weeks, my Heart of Hollyhill books will once more all be in print again and inviting readers to come back to the Sixties to visit Jocie and her family and friends.

Joy in the Journey
Some of you might remember the Sixties. Some of you might be too young for that. But isn't it great that books can take us to other times and places and let us experience "joy in the journey?" 

Life is a journey and you can travel through a year of life in Hollyhill with Jocie. Secrets are uncovered. Strangers show up. Joy is awakened. Troubles come. Love conquers. Life happens in this Small Town, America story. 

Celebration Prizes

And so I'm celebrating by having a giveaway with a few fun prizes. First prize winner will get that cute charm bracelet that Jocie might have picked out for you along with an autographed set of the Hollyhill books that includes Scent of Lilacs, Orchard of Hope and Summer of Joy. Second prize winner also wins a set of the Hollyhill books along with the ring dish with the bicycle and Joy in the Journey saying. (Jocie loves the bicycle.) And then there is the drawing for those of you who say you "never win." That prize is a box of chocolates and the winner's choice of one of my books. I've only gotten a couple of never win entries. Everybody must either be winners or on a diet! So be sure to tell me you've never won if you want to be in that drawing. And if you already have the Heart of Hollyhill books, it's fun to win books for a reading friend or perhaps your church library.

I also invited entrants to share a Valentine story of love. You don't have to tell a story to enter. You just have to send me a message at annhgabhart(at)yahoo(dot)com or leave a comment here (with a way to contact you) on my blog before midnight EST February 28, 2014. People who comment here will get one entry in the drawing for the prizes listed above, but I'll have a special extra drawing for my blog commenters with two winners getting their choice of one of my books. Each comment on a new post here on One Writer's Journal before the deadline will get you an extra entry in the blog drawing. I do appreciate those of you who drop by to visit me here. And of course, feel free to leave those Valentine stories. 

A Valentine Story 
Here's a cute story I received after I sent out news of the contest in my newsletter last week. R.M. said, "Back in 2001, one of my coworkers came in the office where I was working and said someone was there to see me. I was excited! Whoo hoo!! Flowers for Valentine's Day! Nope, lo and behold, a Barbershop Quartet!! Right there in the main corridor. They handed me a long stem red rose and sang "Let Me Call You Sweetheart"!!!!! That was the best Valentine's Day ever. Love was in the air!!!!
    Now, today I am picking up balloons as I already have the heart-shaped cake and cookies to have my granddaughters over for a Valentine's Day Party!!! Love is still in the air!!!"

I love R.M.'s enthusiasm for Valentine's Day love. Love is in the air in Summer of Joy too. So share some love whether about romantic love, family love or even the fun of all those little Valentines given away at school parties across the nation. "Be Mine, Valentine." "Yours till Ivory Soap Sinks." "Roses are red. Violets are blue. Sugar is sweet and so are you." What silly Valentine rhymes do you remember?  

Next Time
If you don't get my newsletter and would like to, be sure to let me know or sign up here on my FB author page. And come back Wednesday night or Thursday. Over on my Facebook author page, I'm getting suggestions for naming my heroine's dog in my work in progress. So far 89 different names have been suggested. I'll share those results next time on One Writer's Journal. 


Thanks for the Prayers
Last, but certainly not least, I very much appreciate all your prayers and concern for my mother. We had a rough week with taking her to the facility Monday and then spending a night in the ER after she fell on Wednesday, but today she seemed to be settling in. She even told one of the aides that we were her daughters and she knew my sister's name. Prayers are powerful and I thank you that you're willing to plug into that power for my mom. 

Gifts of Love

Valentine's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. A day for love. I think it moved up on my favorite list when my children were in elementary school and I was room mother for their school holiday parties. I liked it that all the kids got the same number of Valentines so they could all feel like the kid everybody liked. For years I kept a shoebox decorated with red paper hearts my oldest son made for his Valentines one year and each year he added more to it. It's probably still stuck back in a closet somewhere because I could never throw so much innocent love in the trash.

~~But I suppose the real Valentines are between sweeties. I remember when I was a teenager and my sister's boyfriend would always give her one of those fancy ribbon and silk covered heart shaped boxes of chocolates. Half the candy in those boxes wasn't fit to eat, but my young heart thought those boxes were a beautiful, extravagant expression of love. My sweetie didn't have the money for those kind of Valentines then, but I knew I wanted to stick with him anyway. And now we've been together a lot of years and he still brings me flowers. Sometimes even when it's not Valentine's Day.

~~Anyway I got to thinking about romantic gifts and which I remembered best. While I remember Valentine's Day roses and flowers and once one of those big chocolate bars, I suppose my favorite all time gift was a cockerspaniel pup. Those of you who read this blog on a regular basis know I'm a dog lover. We'd always had dogs, but none that we'd ever had to buy. We didn't have money to buy dogs. We just got the giveaway kind and they were always great dogs. But Darrell knew I loved cockerspaniels. Not a breed you're likely to find puppies for free, so to surprise me one year on my birthday he sold his class ring and bought this little blonde cockerspaniel puppy. Jody was the cutest little puppy and had a way of making me feel loved. Any time I came home even from the shortest trip he danced and whined and yelped his happiness. As a tiny pup, he'd lay on my foot while I was standing at the counter cooking supper. He was a good dog and without a doubt the most romantic gift I ever received even if it wasn't on Valentine's Day and even if he didn't come in a ribbon covered box.

~~What about you? Have you ever gotten a romantic gift that warms your heart to even think about it now? I hope so. I hope you've had so many that you have trouble deciding on your favorite.

~~Reading friends are one of my nicest gifts now. Thank you for reading this and for reading my books. Remember to send me a message from my website or leave a comment here to get your name in the drawing for the book giveaway the end of February.

~~Happy Valentine's Day!! May love follow you around like my little cockerspaniel pup used to follow me, always ready to land in your lap every time you give it half a chance.