francine's blog

It occurred to me last night that I am living by lists; grocery lists, errand lists, a bucket list.  Good grief, I start on New Year’s Eve and lay out a plan for the upcoming year, God willing I live through it.  I even have categories.  I even keep a list of the books I read and from what category – fiction, non-fiction. 

I’ve been reorganizing our storage room filled with shelves of books and family records.  I found a small notebook and recognized my mother’s distinctive handwriting.  It’s a record of trips she and Dad took from 1976 to 1978; motels, restaurants (rated), how many miles they drove.

County Fairs are one of those things that you look forward to each summer.  My daughter-in-law and I took my grandson during the first week of the Fair.  He’s at that age where he doesn’t protest going to the arts and crafts exhibits, gardens and flowers, and the pavilion packed with new gadgets, cheap jewelry, homemade peanut brittle and fudge.  We ate our way through the fairgrounds.  Is there anything better than cotton candy and deep fried zucchini, funnel cakes and pot stickers? 

I recently returned from four wonderful days in paradise (Coeur d’Alene, ID) with nine Christian dynamo writers for a “plot, pray and play” retreat.  Brandilyn and Mark Collins host the gathering each year.  Brandilyn came up with the idea of brain-storming sessions some years ago.  I’m a late comer, invited last year after I mentioned to my friend, Robin Lee Hatcher, how much I missed being able to brain-storm with other writers.  I was honored, thankful and excited when Brandilyn extended the invitation to join the group.  

The class of ’65 gathered again this year.  We bring along year books and reunion pictures and spend the day laughing as the years fall away.  We started getting together every year when we lost two friends to cancer.  It reminded all of us how time can get away from us, and friendship is important.  We have a great class president who keeps the ball rolling.  Someone always volunteers to host the reunion, and everyone brings something to share.   It always feels as though it’s only been a few weeks since the last time we saw one another.  

Every year, toward the end of July, I become nostalgic and a little depressed.  In years past, I’d be gearing up for the scenic drive north to visit my parents in Brookings, Oregon – with my three children in tow and plans to arrive on Mom’s August 3 birthday.  Mom always had a jar full of freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies and a big pot of stew waiting for us.

My brother and sister-in-law live on sixteen acres in gorgeous Northern California.  The closest town has a population of less than five thousand.  After once through town with its “hemp store”, I now take the scenic highway west -- two very narrow lanes of windy, hilly, tree-lined road.  As if ten miles weren’t far enough from civilization, my brother and SIL chose a place a mile off the road – across a narrow metal bridge with no side railing suspended over a twenty foot ravine with rocky creek bed below.  The bridge is just wide enough to accommodate a pick-up tr

I just received an ARC (advanced readers’ copy) of the second half of Marta’s Legacy.   The cover is gorgeous!  This book continues Marta and Hildemara’s stories and brings in the next two generations -- Carolyn and May Flower Dawn, whose lives span the 50s to present day.  This half of Marta’s Legacy will reveal the rifts and chasms between these mothers and daughters and what it takes to build bridges to bring them together again.   Her Daughter’s Dream will be in stores mid-September. 

Rick and I returned a few weeks ago from three weeks in Europe, two in France traveling by boat up the Rhone River, by bus to Paris and then another boat on the Seine.  The land through which my grandmother traveled is much like Sonoma County, California where we live – though California lacks the majestic cathedrals that took men centuries to build, castles filled with history, Roman Aqueducts and roads from ancient times.