Hello Nonny's Blog Readers! This year I've been pleased to share good times with you as we published the third book in the Nonny Day Series. All three are available for purchase through Amazon, and Volume 2 is on sale right now for under ten dollars.** VOL 1. Sweet Potato Pie, Oh My! VOL. 2 … Continue reading Nonny’s Children’s Books for the Holidays
Carrying Each Other’s Burdens
There are times when life can become overwhelming. The sense of not being able to shoulder alone what is being thrown at you is very real for all of us at one time or another. It may be the loss of a loved one. Or losing oneâs job. Struggling with health issues. Betrayal of a … Continue reading Carrying Each Other’s Burdens
Try Moroccan-Style Mint Tea (Recipe) plus Photos from our trip to Tangier!
A few years ago my younger daughter and I were fortunate enough to be able to travel to Spain and Portugal and have in our itinerary an added excursion by ferry to Morocco. To this day I can still envision the cafĂ© in Tangier where we sat at a low table sipping hot sweet mint … Continue reading Try Moroccan-Style Mint Tea (Recipe) plus Photos from our trip to Tangier!
Love Found Again (poem)
Fairy tales would lead us to believe concerning love relationships that everyone lives "happily ever after." Sometimes those relationships entered into during youth do last a lifetime. Other times, death or difficulties intervene and unions and marriages are cut short. Today I'm sharing with you a poem I wrote for my brother as he found love again … Continue reading Love Found Again (poem)
Sizzling Southern Fried Green Tomatoes: Tingle Your Taste Buds (Recipe with Photos)
This may be the season when you find yourself with extra green tomatoes on the vine in your garden, or you see them at your farmerâs market or at your grocerâs. If so, here is an easy recipe for Sizzling Southern Fried Green Tomatoes, just the way I made them for my children when they … Continue reading Sizzling Southern Fried Green Tomatoes: Tingle Your Taste Buds (Recipe with Photos)
Maybe It’s Time for Sweet Potato Pie (Recipe)
During the fall and winter monthsâor anytime, for that matterâtaking a little extra time to prepare a special treat to eat can help take our minds off things that may be challenging in our lives. Here is a favorite recipe of mine for Sweet Potato Pie. Sweet Potato Preparation: 2 cups cooked sweet potatoes drained … Continue reading Maybe It’s Time for Sweet Potato Pie (Recipe)
The Magic Is in the Mix (Recipe with Photos)
Most everyone loves chocolate. If that includes you, you are in for a surprise at how easy and delicious todayâs Magic Chocolate Cake is. It has a texture somewhere between chocolate cake and chocolate brownie. The recipe comes from a vegetarian cookbook called The Peaceful Palate by Jennifer Raymond. She says it is magic because … Continue reading The Magic Is in the Mix (Recipe with Photos)
Stan Views Self-Publishing Up Close (Part Three)
Todayâs blog post will wrap up our story of the Flat Stanley who came to visit me in Louisville, Kentucky from my great nephew Benâs house in Glenn Dale, Maryland. If you have not read STAN VIEWS SELF-PUBLISHING UP CLOSE (Part One) or STAN VIEWS SELF-PUBLISHING UP CLOSE (Part Two), you might want to click … Continue reading Stan Views Self-Publishing Up Close (Part Three)
Stan Views Self-Publishing Up Close (Part Two)
Our Flat Stanley of last weekâs blog post is continuing his visit with Nonny in Louisville, Kentucky all the way from Glenn Dale, Maryland. It is the Christmas season which means days and evenings are full of activities. What follows is a continuation of Stanâs journal. If you read last weekâs blog post, you are … Continue reading Stan Views Self-Publishing Up Close (Part Two)
Stan Views Self-Publishing Up Close (Part One)
Many of you, my blog readers, are aware that I am currently self-publishing my third childrenâs early reader through Amazon.com. However, thereâs a little guy named Stan who witnessed one of my self-publishing endeavors first-hand and up close in my home office many years ago. Actually it was on Christmas Eve in 2008. This Stan … Continue reading Stan Views Self-Publishing Up Close (Part One)
Alphabet Excursion & Higgledy-Piggledy for Kindle
Happy to let you know the Alphabet Excursion & Higgledy-Piggledy E-book is now available. Share? If you have family or friends who are Kindle readers, would you consider sharing this message with them? At no cost they can access the full book, and perhaps it will be a good match for them and the kids … Continue reading Alphabet Excursion & Higgledy-Piggledy for Kindle
The Lighthouse that Doesn’t Need a Lamp
If you followed my recent snippet blog post series called Lighthouse Lamps, you know that I presented the Ten commandments from the Holy Bibleâs Old Testament as variously translated into English, Spanish, French, and German, primarily in modern versions. I gave a brief foreword to each with the desire to let the translated words speak … Continue reading The Lighthouse that Doesn’t Need a Lamp
Fun Times Singing Higgledy-Piggledy (video)
Below you'll find a fun version of the new interactive song that's a part of my latest children's book. In this video my sweet grandgals perform the song, with the hand signs (and some giggles!) along with one of my daughters, their mom, accompanying on piano. "Higgledy-Piggledy" is a word you can find in your … Continue reading Fun Times Singing Higgledy-Piggledy (video)
My 3rd Children’s Book is Here!
Published! đ Dear Nonny's Blog Readers, I am happy to announce that the third book in my Nonny Day Series is now published! The book is called Alphabet Excursion and Higgledy-Piggledy. With its highly unusual and sophisticated rhymes, games, and songs, it is designed to delight pre- and early readers. It is perfect for the … Continue reading My 3rd Children’s Book is Here!
Life is Just a Bowl Full of Cherries
For two and a half weeks in the early nineteen nineties my husband, the Dad Driver, our Pre-Teen Daughter and Daughterâs Best Friend travelled in our over-sized family van to California and back home. Their tent-camping odyssey stretched west from one state or national park to another, beginning in Kentucky. Their second day found them … Continue reading Life is Just a Bowl Full of Cherries
How Much Stuff Is Enough?
From time to time Iâve watched a few of the PBS episodes called âStorage Wars.â These are about abandoned rental storage units all over the U.S.A. opened up for on-site auction sales of the contents. Whether the unit contains junk or âjewels,â it may represent our desire to acquire more and more. Along with that … Continue reading How Much Stuff Is Enough?
The Tangled Web We Weave
Sir Walter Scott was a Scottish author of novels, plays, and poems. In 1808 he wrote the poem âMarmion: A tale of Flodden Field.â In it he cleverly and skillfully pointed out the risk of telling falsehoods with the couplet: âOh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive.â Just as with … Continue reading The Tangled Web We Weave
I’ll Just Help Myself, Thank You!
We see it all around us: cars stolen, vehicles broken into; valuables stripped from a home or shop through break-in and entry; packages snatched from a front porch; retail merchandise slipped out of a store; someoneâs identity information used in a fraudulent manner; take-overs of personal, corporate, and governmental online systems through hacking. The list … Continue reading I’ll Just Help Myself, Thank You!
Faithfulness Within a Sacred Union
Little girls pluck the petals from a flower and dream their way to the colorful last one. âHe loves me. He loves me not,â they repeat. Middle school boys exhibit awkwardness when that certain someone is close by. Youths and adults seek companionship and intimacy. Everyone wants a love that will last a lifetime. The … Continue reading Faithfulness Within a Sacred Union
Disregard for the Image of God
Genesis, the first book of Moses in the Holy Bible, tells us that God created the first man Adam from the dust of the earth and the first woman Eve from one of Adamâs ribs. We are also told that these first persons in the world were created in the image of the God who … Continue reading Disregard for the Image of God
Those Who Gave Us Life
Whether your mother and father are your biological parents or others who raised you, they are the reason you have life. Of course we know some did a better job at loving, protecting, and nurturing than others. It hasnât been very long since my youngest adult child said to me, âMom, thanks for giving me … Continue reading Those Who Gave Us Life
Making Time for R&R
Although the term R&R has varying interpretations in different situations, a basic meaning is rest and recreation. Now, we all know what ârestâ means. But wait a minute: how did you pronounce ârecreationâ in your head as you were reading? Did you say [RECK ree A shun]? Or did you say [REE kree A shun]? … Continue reading Making Time for R&R
What’s In a Name ?
What a person is named or called is a sensitive issue for many. What Mom or Dad thought was a unique and lovely name for their newborn may later cause that child to be ridiculed. A guy who is a âJr.â may feel he can never be the achiever his Dad was. Some love nicknames. … Continue reading What’s In a Name ?
Creating Our Own Gods
Todayâs snippet blog post presents what I call the Second Lighthouse Lamp of a list of ten spiritual directives which anyone can use to give meaning and direction to life. The first was acknowledging and worshiping One God. The second, which we are looking at today, instructs us not to create and then worship the … Continue reading Creating Our Own Gods
Ancient Lamps Still Operational in a Modern World
The directives which are the basis of the Judeo-Christian tradition of reverence and worship of God, and also believersâ conduct, are found in the early writings of the Holy Bible. However, even those raised in this tradition sometimes are conflicted between wanting to do what they have been taught is ârightâ and feeling constricted by … Continue reading Ancient Lamps Still Operational in a Modern World
Lamps to Help Us See Our Way Through Life
Just as the beams from the lamp of a lighthouse cut through the nighttime sky to guide sea vessels safely to shore, so the Bible--Godâs Holy Word--provides lamps to help us navigate this journey we call life. Todayâs blog post begins a new snippet series. Each entry will be a 'lamp.' And each lamp will … Continue reading Lamps to Help Us See Our Way Through Life
Steps to Finding Hope Again
As I am writing today, all across the United States of America, we are experiencing a new wave of hope as more than 50% of our adult population has now been vaccinated with one of the current Covid-19 vaccines: Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Johnson and Johnson/Janssen. As a result, restrictions on spectators for sports and other … Continue reading Steps to Finding Hope Again