On the Road Again

This afternoon I am going to Iowa City for the Iowa Summer Writing Festival.  It will be my second week there this year, this time in a class for "Advanced Novel." There are so many interesting people that go over to Iowa City and it is fun to meet and talk with many of them.  Teachers, reporters, event coordinators, lawyers, and many other fields, all of them writers in various stages of their development. 

I started going over for a week at a time in 2009 when my college roommate from 50+ years ago agreed to come out from the Washington, DC area and attend with me.  That fall I began writing my novel, now titled TOO MUCH LEFT UNSAID. It has gone through numerous revisions including having it workshopped several times at ISWF.  I must say that it gets better with every revision, so I have hopes that soon I will be able to say it is finished.

In the course of May and June this year I have flown to the Pacific Northwest with a group of Road Scholars, where we visited Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria, and San Juan Islands.  We rode trains, ferries, buses, vans, and walked, walked, walked.  Great fun and great people there, too.

A week ago a group of 16 people from our church in Pella, Iowa, were returning from a week-long mission trip to Staten Island in New York, where we served in food pantries, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters, and learned about homelessness and HIV/Aids programs.

I will be ready for a chance to relax and collect my thoughts by the end of this week. I hope I will then have some good ideas for finalizing my novel.

And I fully intend to spend some time blogging on a regular basis.  I hope to be passing along some thoughts over the next few months.

Until then,
Peace.

Celebrating Birthdays--

In my opinion the more birthday celebrations the better.  I know people who stop celebrating at a certain age: "I'm too old for such foolishness," they say.  But I think you can't get too much of a good thing.

One year I "took my birthday on the road" visiting my kids close to the day and dragging out the celebration in a delightful series of birthday dinners--and cake and ice cream in three different states.


One of my friends calls her children at the hour they were born each year.  It works a bit easier for the daughter born during the day, but to greet the son born in the wee hours she has to stay up extra late.  Still it is a nice tradition and I applaud her.  In my family, calling on the day is important, but sometimes even that doesn't work, and we are glad to hear the same week if that is the best we can do.

I turned 78 on Wednesday, and due to events at church here and business in Georgia and Wisconsin where my children live, my birthday calls were before and after the big day.  An email (and an ecard from my grandson) greeted me on the day.  I smiled when both the cruise lines we have traveled with and the gym where we take our exercise wished me an online happy day.


Today, Saturday, I went to the Comfort House--Pella's Hospice facility--to say happy birthday to a friend with whom I have jointly celebrated our May birthdays over the last few years.  We never know what will happen but it looks pretty clear that my friend's 83rd birthday will be her last here on earth.  Next year we will celebrate her memory and think about her surrounded by God's love in a more peaceful and less painful place.

Happy birthday, Joyce, and for all of you others: 

                                                         A Very Merry Unbirthday.

Contest for Book Authors

Guide to Literary Agents is running a contest called "Dear Lucky Agent" that runs until May 14.  This is the Tenth Annual contest, and this year I am entering the first 200 words of my novel TOO MUCH LEFT UNSAID. 

They are looking for upmarket novels, which I think would include my 76,000 novel set in the 1960s.

Here is the URL if you might be interested in submitting your own piece.  If so, good luck!

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/ninth-free-dear-lucky-ag

Do you still believe in government? 

According to David Brooks, as reported on Bill Moyers April 22 telecast, most Americans don't.  Only 10% of people trust the government.

But if we are a government OF, BY and FOR the people, we don't trust ourselves. Right?

Conservatives are consistent in trying to downsize (eliminate?) government, forgetting that the infrastructure of our nation, the roads, bridges, and regulations have made it possible for business and individuals to grow as they have.

Liberals, according to Eric Alterman, author of THE CAUSE, have taken their eye off the ball, fighting among themselves and playing defense.  Because they see problems as complex, they donn't always agree on what should be done.

Liberalism is belief in reason, acting rationally in the interests of fairness, according to Alterman.

Today's episode of Moyers and Company (May 6, 2012) featured Luis Albert Urrea, author of The Devil's Highway.  He had some interesting stories to tell as a child of a Mexican father and a Virginian mother, who was born in Mexico and lived in the U. S. from the time he was in fifth grade.  He said:

In America, we forget we need to love each other.

There is no them.

There is only us.

Urrea, who spent some time with a mission group in Tucson, asks Christians to look through their Bibles and find scripture that tells us to punish and humiliate and hurt the poor among us. Find very many of those?

I believe governemnt is important, and we need to work and vote to be sure it is serving all of us. What do you think?  I welcome your comments.

Tulip Time

The first full weekend in May, this year May 3, 4, and 5, is the time for a huge celebration in Pella where "A Touch of Holland" is our nickname.

This year the tulips in town were blooming at the end of March and people were encouraged to come twice: see the tulips in April and see the parades, dancing, shows and food this weekend.  There might be a stray tulip or two, but most of the plants are now bare of flowers.

May 10 residents of Pella are invited to go ahead and dig up the bulbs to plant for next year in their own yards, for the prime beds get all new plantings with summer flowers and in the fall fresh bulbs to bloom the next spring.

The last two years, just after I bought myself a Dutch outfit to wear, I was called out of town for family events and missed the festival altogether.  This year I look forward to getting a bit involved.

I will put on my Dutch costume on Friday afternoon and be a host in the Wyatt Earp house in our historical village. And I will eat many poffertjes (little pancakes).

So to all of you Dutch and non-Dutch out there: Happy Tulip Time.

Peace!

This is Your Lucky Night

Today is Friday the Thirteenth.

Pogo (anyone remember Pogo by Walt Kelly?) used to note the thirteenth of EVERY month by commenting which day of the week it fell on:

"Friday the thirteenth fell on a Tuesday this month."

or words to that effect.

But ever since my years in Senn High School and Edgewater Presbyterian Church in Chicago (1952-56), Friday the thirteenth has had a special meaning.

Gene and Francis Blackwell, our Youth Group sponsors, helped us plan a social event every month, often on the second Friday of the month.  We did all sorts of things at our socials, games and food being the chief attraction.

Any month with the 13th falling on a Friday was sure to be

THIS IS YOUR LUCKY NIGHT

I still pay attention to this monthly celebration, and many memories and thoughts of long ago friends make it a special time for me.

I hope you will have a good day today--a lucky day.  And many more special days of joy.

Easter

Each Lenten season I resolve to "give up" or "add on" something to remind me of the great sacrifice on my behalf that Jesus made.  As in former years, my Lenten journey has been a mixure of trying harder and continuing to fail.

If it were up to me all would be lost.
 Luckily. blessedly, it is not all up to me.

We have a lot of work to do to help bring about the world God wants us to live in.

Tony Compolo told us at one visit to Central College:

It's Friday--but Sunday is coming.

 With the end of Lent, I intend to renew my vows to do a better job of reflecting God's love

My daughter wrote, for a Lenten devotional in her church this thought that I'll try to keep in mind:

"Sometimes God calls us to the heavenly banquet of the Lamb

because someone is needed to wash the dishes."

Best wishes for a joyous Easter.

HE IS RISEN!