Lessons from the Landscape: A Time to Post

Spam comments are beginning to come through, indicating some believe this to be an abandoned blog, so I guess it's time to start posting again. I'll start with a cross-post from another forum and then I'll set up a regular schedule.

So to catch up, we started the year by rushing over to California to help my daughter and her family after my son-in-law was badly injured in a wreck. He wasn't killed or paralyzed, nor does he have head injuries, so we're thankful. Considering the actions of the other driver, it could have been far worse. We went back last month to watch the kids so my daughter could get caught up on a few things around the house after months of survival mode.

On occasion, we were able to get out on the trail. In April or May, we went to the Blue Ridge Mountains where we visited both Grandfather Mountain and the Moses H. Cone Memorial park. Grandfather Mountain is NC's newest state park. Though they continue to charge the high entry fee charged while the land was in private hands, we enjoyed the visit and the cool air. You can see "Grandfather's" profile in the pics below.

View from the Moses H. Cone porch.

It's always good to be in the mountains, even if we did freeze at Grandfather's summit.

I've been trying to catch up on some reading. I just finished Christian author Bonnie Calhoun's debut novel, Cooking the Books, a suspense novel delivered with a dash of humor. I'm still working my way through Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs and have a dozen other novels and books on my Kindle awaiting my attention.

In my writing life, after a four-year break, I entered American Christian Fiction's annual Genesis contest and made it to the semifinals. I was more than honored, even if I secretly wanted to move on to the finals. However, Christian Fiction Online Magazine picked up a short story I wrote:

http://christianfictiononlinemagazine.com/Ornamental.html

Ego saved.

Last week, we traveled to Louisville, KY for our denomination's annual General Assembly. We stayed at the beautiful Galt House, and were treated to a nice view of the city and river. On the way home, we made a far-too-brief stop at Cumberland Falls, a sight that inspired another short story (too short for CFOM. I'm not yet sure what I'm going to do with it.)

I continue knitting, making chemo caps for Halos of Hope and baby hats for Ronald McDonald House. Here's my latest.

That's about it. Until next time!