Wordless Wednesday If pumpkins could talk..."pick me, pick me!"

Fight Against Fall

I just can't believe that summer is going to be officially over this week. Here are my attempts to fight off Fall!

Cosmos are still blooming prettily in my garden.

It's a dog's life for sure in the summer.

Still warm enough to go for a ride.


Wine, music, sunshine and good company on the patio at Woodland Hill Winery.


A great day to have lunch outdoors.

These are sure signs that summer can't be over...right? Anyone else with me in this fight against Fall?

Wordless Wednesday--The friends I meet everyday on my commute to work.

Wordless Wednesday--"Tsar Tops Dancer"--my brother's race horse before the big race.

Max Lucado’s book Fearless

I have read several books by Max Lucado and have always enjoyed them. The book Fearless was no exception. This book is an easy read filled with practical advice to help us face the fears in our lives. The book has 12 chapters each addressing a different kind of fear.

The three chapters that spoke to me were: Fear of Not Protecting My Kids, Fear of Overwhelming Challenges and Fear of Death. Lucado starts each chapter with a story. Some of the stories are about him and some are about people he has encountered. All of the stories are very entertaining while teaching a lesson or making a point. I enjoyed how Lucado also uses stories of Jesus from the bible but in an updated version.

In the Chapter called “Fear of Not Protecting My Kids”, Lucado gives advice for parents. He tells us that our children are not really “ours”; they really belong to God. He relates the story of Abraham and Jairus to show how much God and Jesus love children. He says that we should give our parenting fears to Christ instead of passing them on to our children. Lucado also says that fear can create permissive parents if we are so afraid that we can’t say no. He reminds us to send our children off each day with a blessing.

“Fear of Overwhelming Challenges” is very pertinent considering today’s economy. We don’t usually expect to see Jesus in the storms of our lives but it’s in storms that he does his best work. Lucado uses the biblical story of Peter and the disciples in the boat during a bad storm. He says that there is much power in Jesus’ words “Take courage. I am here.”

“Fear of Death”. Who hasn’t thought about dying and wondered what it’s going to be like. (I know of one person in particular who is very afraid of dying. I am going to give this chapter to him.) In this chapter Lucado tells about his dream of death. He agrees to go when his time is up if he can just say good-bye first. He says that “death is a passageway, a corner to be turned.” If we have faith, our fear of death is diminished. We believe that Jesus died and experienced resurrection and we will too.

Lucado tells us that 21 times in the bible Christ tells us to not be afraid. “Fear not!” The commandment to love God and our neighbor is only mentioned 8 times. He says that “fear corrodes our confidence in God’s goodness and that it can suck the life out of the soul.” Reading this book made me realize that while fear is a natural emotion, it doesn’t have to get in the way of living. I highly recommend this book!

Letterpress Karma?!?

This past August my husband and I went on an Art Crawl. We met with many wonderfully talented artists. One of the stops was at the shop of a letterpress artist. When I told her my printing story she said our meeting must have been karma!

When I was a high school senior many years ago, I wanted to study printing and graphic arts at our local tech college. My dad and I stopped in at the school and asked to tour their facilties because I was interested in their printing program. I was told in no uncertain terms that "girls were not allowed in the program!" And that was that. No tour, no enrolling in their printing classes.

So now years later, I am thrilled to see a woman running the presses in her own shop. Her name is Mary Bruno and she is the creative force behind Bruno Press. (http://www.mcbpress.com/) She invited me to come and watch her do some printing so today was the day!

I had so much fun visiting with her and watching her print off some really fun cards. She was kind enough to answer my many questions while trying to get some work done. Her shop is filled with paper, type, presses, examples of her work and much more. It was awesome just to be around all that wonderful printing "stuff". I'm really hoping to get back and actually try a little printing by myself! Mary even offered to come speak to my 2nd graders about letterpress printing! (and sent me home with some of those "really fun cards"!)

I'm thankful for whatever brought us together--karma or not. I'm also thankful that times have changed and girls have the opportunities to pursue whatever career they want. While I'm not too sad that my life has taken other twists and turns, it sure was sweet to be in Mary's letterpress shop today!

Wordless Wednesday--"Gathered" at the Beach