Hoping for Good Luck in the New Year

    My eldest daughter has requested a poppyseed roll of approximately this size. My mother always insisted on a large poppyseed roll for the New Year. My mom clung to a lot of superstitions, which she got from her mother, my grandmother, who was Slovak. This past year was difficult for our family and so my daughter wants to make sure 2023 is better. 

     I sincerely doubt that eating a poppyseed roll will help but it is a tradition in our family and so we’ll continue the tradition. Of course, we’ve adopted everyone else’s traditions for good luck, too. We eat kale, black-eyed peas, noodles, and whatever anyone of any culture claims will help guarantee good luck in the coming year. 

     I keep praying and remain grateful for what I have. The future is in the Lord’s hands, but I can try to be helpful to others, which in my case is usually clothing everyone in blankets, hats, and shawls. 😊 

    But poppyseed roll is a real treat and I can make a large one. If it allays some anxiety, so much the better. 

     Take care. May 2023 be a good year for everyone. 

💕💕💕💕💕

My Wish to You!

    I want to wish everyone joy! May the year ahead be filled with hope and new beginnings. Make new memories. Look for the good things in life. Not every day will be wonderful, but there will be wonderful things in each day. Most of all, pray for peace. 

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

 

Guest Post: CHRISTMAS HOUSE by LoRee Peery

My guest today is Nebraska country girl LoRee Peery. She writes fiction that appeals to adult readers who enjoy stories written from a Christian perspective, focusing on the romance. These include novels and novellas for women and men in the Contemporary, Romance, Historical, Time Travel, and Mystery/Suspense categories. She writes of redeeming grace with a sense of place. Her Frivolities Series launched her releases, and the book based on her father’s unsolved homicide, Touches of Time, was a personal relief. She is who she is by the grace of God: Christian, country girl, wife, mother, grandmother and great-, sister, friend, and author.

The Plot for CHRISTMAS HOUSE:

     Pepper Rainwater has just bought the first real home she's ever had, and she' s decorating and celebrating Christmas with everything she has. The neighbor's miniature donkeys and meeting Foxx interrupt her life. Can she turn from all she' d been taught and trust strangers?
     A startling discovery after his father' s death forces Foxx Haven to face an unknown past. His life has been a lie. He' s distracted from work for the first time—by his heritage and his new neighbor. Can he fight his attraction to an unbeliever and discover his new life chapter at the same time?
     Miniature donkeys and learning about Christ have a profound impact on Pepper. But God has a mighty work to bring her hurting soul and Foxx' s new perspective into alignment. Can hope override hurting souls and enable a happily-ever-after?

Now for a sampling!

     Foxx pedaled hard the few blocks to Dad’s―no―his home now. Pepper was a beauty. He relived the meeting with her. Pert and pretty, but way too serious. And secretive. He grinned. She hadn’t liked it, but he’d drawn her out to talk about herself. Her caution made him more curious, but he wanted to know all about Ms. Pepper Rainwater. Unusual, the way both their names weren’t common to the human race.
     His life had been so crazy lately, following all those months of caring for Dad. Lack of sleep and more apartments to clear before the next tenant. He almost regretted that Dad hadn’t lived in Lincoln, where proximity and traffic kept his driving thoughts turned to his surroundings. Traveling the bike trails in the city, he concentrated on the exercise. Greeted others with a nod, and gloried in the passing air currents he created.
     He secured the house and garage, hopped in his oversized SUV, and left for the job. During the commute from northwest of Lincoln, life and people and the past kept hitting him as distractions. Where did Pepper work? Somewhere on this side, or did she head into traffic for a busy commute?
     It was much easier to let his mind go blank while on two wheels. Thoughts wove from Fred’s donkeys back to pretty Pepper. Where had she come from, what was her story? Why was he so drawn to her?
     And all those months with Dad. Mesothelioma was a killer. Watching him go downhill hurt. It was over. Why relive it? But his memory was relentless. Shortness of breath had led to oxygen tanks. The pain in Dad’s chest hurt Foxx as his elder fought for life. The cough, fatigue, weight loss, swollen abdomen.
     “Stop!” He loosened his grip on the steering wheel. “Oh Lord, take it away. It’s over. Dad’s full of joy in Your presence now.”
     No sooner than he’d asked, a racing motorcycle cut into his lane from the right. And the light changed. He hit the brake pedal. From then on, Foxx concentrated on his surroundings as he pictured his route to the apartment building where a water heater element needed reset.
     Yet Pepper returned to the foremost presence of his mind. The serious woman was a mystery he wanted to unfold.

You can find CHRISTMAS HOUSE at:

Amazon 
Pelican 
Barnes and Noble 
BookBub

 Connect with LoRee: www.loreepeery.com

https://www.facebook.com/LoReePeery

Find her publications at Pelican and Amazon 

Sunset at the Park

      I took this photo at 3:50 p.m. at Holmdel Park. The sun was on its way down. There were no ducks and no geese in the lake. It was chilly, though not freezing. There were very few people walking in the park except for the hardy ones out to get some exercise before it grew totally dark or those walking their dogs.

     I was walking with hubby. Both of us wore hats and gloves. One man walking his dog stopped for a minute to tell us how much he likes seeing couples walking together. Hubby chuckled and told him that I was walking the dog. The other fellow laughed and continued on his way. 

     We stopped into the shelter building to warm up. The huge fire in the fireplace was wonderful. One man, who was probably colder than we were, stood directly in front of the fire for a while holding out his hands to warm them. 

     The fencing is up around the sledding hill, but it might be a while before we get any snow. When there is some, there will be plenty of children with their parents lining up to slide down the hill and the shelter building will be packed with people warming their frozen fingers. 

     But right now there's not much incentive to go to the park. It's dark. The loss of daylight is a sad thing. No wonder the ancients were so happy when the light began to return at the Winter Solstice. It is something to celebrate. 

     Three weeks to go!