Linda Ford – Page 43 – Linda Ford is a fan favorite of historical Christian romances that center on faith, family and a forever love.

SUMMER MEANS TRAVEL

Posted on August 27, 2011 by LindaAugust 27, 2011

My garden is very busy with peas, beans and berries. But I decided to abandon it temporarily in favor of going to Victoria, BC with my granddaughter. We had a great time.

Victoria is a beautiful place full of old-world charm.

The flowers and colors were spectacular. As was the inner harbor.

We toured and walked and shopped and ate. We stayed at the Laurel Point Inn which has very serene gardens and paths around it.

We went to a display of Emily Carr which I’m sure I enjoyed more than my granddaughter did. 🙂

Victoria in August 142

I found it fascinating to see a different perspective of the frumpy elderly lady that Emily is often portrayed as. Curator Kathyrn Bridge did extensive research on Emily and Artist Manon Elder used photos and information about the family to create portraits such as the one above.

We also saw the undersea world.

St. Ann’s Academy.

And Craigdarroch castle which was a great experience.

We also enjoyed Beacon Hill Park. And so much more that I can’t take the space and time to tell about. After all, I took over 500 pictures. Most of them in the name of research.

I’ve never been to Victoria in mid-summer before and was suitably impressed.

Can I now face the coming winter? Not willingly. But I have lots of pictures and memories to fill my soul and imagination.

SUMMER: WEEK EIGHT

Posted on August 15, 2011 by LindaAugust 15, 2011

Yikes. Week 8 of summer already but who’s counting? Well, I am but instead of dreading the shorter, colder days to come I am trying to pack as much enjoyment into each day of summer as I can.

So week eight of a great summer and some time for ENJOYING WRITERS.

This weekend I had the privilege of attending a writers/readers conference. In fact, it was called ‘A festival For Readers and Writers.’ The first annual. (I love being part of a first annual event!!) I traveled with and shared a hotel room with a friend. Thank you, Marlene, it was most enjoyable.

I thought I’d share a bit of the weekend but I don’t even know where to begin. I thoroughly enjoyed being part of a cross-section of writers from every discipline. There were literary writers, poets, sci-fi, futurist, romance writers, non-fiction and speculative and probably a whole lot more sub-genres. The surprising thing–or perhaps not so surprising as affirming–was how we had so much more in common than we had differences. It was sweet to the soul.

I attended a grand total of 12 workshops (each event was an hour long) and 1 poetry reading (thank you, Bob Stallworthy for taking me on a roller coaster of emotions) in 2 days. I heard about different publishing models and their pros and cons. I listened authors talk about how to write difficult scenes. I had some blanks of understanding filled in at a talk about Fukashima Power Plant event (only a few teeny tiny blanks were filled but the talk was spell binding.)

I got to meet with and talk to many writing friends I haven’t seen for a long time. And that was refreshing. I wish I’d taken pictures of us but I was too busy yakking.

The last workshop I took was presented by Sherry Peterson Silencing Your Inner Saboteur. Notice she calls that inner voice a saboteur not a critic. A critic’s intention is to help us. The saboteur’s goal is to stop us or destroy us. She gave point by point steps in how to identify and defeat the saboteur. I liked this workshop which she offers in an on-line course. Check it out at http://www.dwarvenamazon.com/

As if to reaffirm the message she delivered, my friend Carolyne Aarsen posted this link on her Facebook page this morning. Another way of looking at the things that destroy us and how to deal with them. http://michaelhyatt.com/what-story-are-you-telling-yourself.html

So be careful of what story you listen to and above all–enjoy what’s left of summer.

SUMMER-WEEK SEVEN

Posted on August 7, 2011 by LindaAugust 7, 2011

Summer skies

As I’ve enjoyed the many different moods of the summer sky I began to think how much it is like a writer’s moods.

Bright Idea:

See that opening in the clouds. I couldn’t capture it with the camera but it was filled with bright sunlight bursting through the clouds. Like a fresh idea for a story. Somehow it makes it through the confusion of my thoughts.

Moodling time.

Moodling is a writer’s term. At least I’m claiming it as such. A time when things just mix and shape without much direction. Ideas just drift about like a lazy summer sky.

Shaping time.

After moodling and drifting, the idea–and the clouds–begin to take shape and form.

Explosion time.

The most dramatic time in both sky and writing…just before a storm. For the writing, it’s when the story has shaped and it fills my mind. I have to get it out, down on paper. It literally explodes from my mind.

After the storm.

We get the most beautiful sky, especially if it a storm is in the evening.

Just like it is after the story is captured, released, input into the computer. The afterglow.

The pot at the end of the rainbow.

The reward for having had the idea, sorted the different bits and pieces into a story, getting the thing done. Now I get to enjoy looking at the finished product. Just as soon as I do the edits, etc.

SUMMER: WEEK SIX

Posted on July 31, 2011 by LindaJuly 31, 2011

Am I the only one who feels a certain degree of color depravation after several months of winter? I know I’m still drinking in the colors, smells and feels of summer storing them up like insulation for the winter. The year the colors seem to be especially vibrant.

The yellow canola is so bright.

The green crops are so green.

The ditches are full of wild flowers and they seem so much brighter than normal as if they pop right out from their hiding places in the grass.

It could be my imagination–after all, my imagination tends to be very active–but aren’t the cows even browner (or redder) than usual.

All I can say is I’m enjoying the colors of summer.

As Julia Cameron urges–I am refilling my creative well.

A quote from her book, The Artist’s Way… Every blade of grass has its Angel that bends over it and whispers, “Grow, grow.”

This year the blades are really growing as are the leaves and flowers and grains.

SUMMER–WEEK FIVE

Posted on July 24, 2011 by LindaJuly 24, 2011

Technorati Tags: summer,family

Summer fun.

First Annual Summer Fun Day to be exact. There was family, food and fun. And perfect weather.

Is there anything nicer than barbecued hamburgers eaten outdoors? Or playing tag in the sun? Or sitting around a campfire in the evening laughing and visiting with family? These are the kind of memories we hoard up and take with us in to winter.

What are your favorites ways to spend summer days?

SUMMER–WEEK FOUR

Posted on July 17, 2011 by LindaJuly 17, 2011

Technorati Tags: summer,flowers

There is something about the smell of wild flowers that can never be reproduced by man but as I walk along the road and inhale the scent of wild roses and sweet clover I wish for a way to bottle the aroma and keep it on my desk all winter.

Roses grow in abundance along the fence line. Small wonder the wild rose is the flower of Alberta.Roses aren’t the only wild flowers in the ditch. There are so many to discover and enjoy.

There are wildflowers galore. Here are just a few to show you what I mean. I have to say that walking a country road this time of year is a treat for the senses especially smell and sight.

SUMMER–WEEK THREE

Posted on July 9, 2011 by LindaJuly 9, 2011

Summer is slipping away and guess how I’m spending it?

First by working outside as much as possible. I set up an outdoor office.

Of course, storm warning have me watching the sky and being very grateful we miss the tornado that touched down four times.

Then I’ve been babysitting puppies while their owners are at camp where my daughter is doing a concert and helping with music.

How about a flash of the past? They’re at the same camp I went to as a child–Plover Lake Bible Camp. Primitive but it’s always busy. An excellent program is offered. Here’s pictures of it in my day.

SUMMER: WEEK TWO

Posted on July 2, 2011 by LindaJuly 2, 2011

Technorati Tags: writing retreat,R&R

I often dream of living the life of luxury as a writer. You know, sitting by a lake, writing. And this week, I made it happen.

I booked a room in a hotel overlooking Sylvan Lake and spent a day and a night there. I know that doesn’t seem like long but it meant I didn’t have to do a great deal of preparation in order to go and–thankfully–did not have a lot of catch up when I got home.

I took a lawn chair and sat by the lake and worked on a novella my editor has requested. It was amazing how much I accomplished with no interruptions and no near by fridge to take my attention.

The room had a balcony overlooking the lake. Umm. A writer’s dream environment.

I loved every minute I spent here and on the beach. I will think of this place often as I work on my story and hopefully be able to return before summer is over.

Some more pictures for you to enjoy.

What would you do or where would you go if you have 2 days for R&R–or a retreat–whatever you choose to call it?

SUMMER. WEEK ONE

Posted on June 26, 2011 by LindaJune 26, 2011

Summer officially arrived this week. It arrived amidst sunshine and great joy to finally have a nice day to enjoy. So apart from the day on the calendar, announcements on TV and radio and sunshine, how can I be sure it’s summer? These are some of my favorite ways.

1. The garden needs weeding.

2. The fruit trees are just passing full bloom.

3. I smell barbecue meals cooking.

4. Walking is so easy (No snow. No mud. No heavy coats and boots.) and such fun. In town, I can admire the thriving yards and out of town, I enjoy the smell of fresh green leaves and listen to birds.

5. Wild roses are just beginning to blossom. Does anything smell finer than the perfume of wild roses?

6.Green. Everything is green as far as the eye can see. Which means lots of mowing. Which reminds me of something cute and amusing. The grass clippings are bagged and taken to the cows. For some reason they love the offering. I don’t know why. Is it less work to eat grass freshly cut then chomp it off themselves? Or does our lawn grass taste better? Anyway, as soon as the mower starts the cows run up to the fence, jostling for position and mooing in anticipation. It’s hilarious.

What about you? What things signal summer in your world?

FATHER’S DAY TRIBUTE

Posted on June 18, 2011 by LindaJune 18, 2011

My father has been gone a number of years but I want to remember him on this father’s day. He was a special man in so many ways.

He worked hard. His own father homesteaded in Alberta and he grew up facing challenges. He continued to face them with strength and dignity when he became sole parent to six children before he married my mother.

He never complained. In fact, he made it a personal ambition to never do so. After every meal, he graciously thanked my mother and did the same when he was a guest. In his later years he had to live in a long-term care facility and was adored for his cheerful attitude. One nurse told me of overhearing him kneeling at the side of his bed at night and saying his prayers. “Help me not to complain even though I don’t like living here.” I’ve always thought his attitude was one the whole world should copy.

My father loved his pets. He once had a part-Siamese cat who suffered from a case of bad attitude but my father loved that cat and bragged about how he guarded the house. He called him his watch cat. When he was in the nursing home I saw how other residents loved stuffed animals and bought him a little stuffed dog that went everywhere with him. If the visiting grandkids got a little too rambunctious with it he would ask them not to tease his dog.

Not that he was above teasing. I am the smallest in the family and he used to say so long as I was tall enough to brush my teeth I was okay. Or he’d say good things come in small packages and then with a sly smile add, but then so does poison and dynamite.

He loved to study the Bible and did a detailed study of the Tabernacle that my mother illustrated for him. A priceless keepsake.

My father taught me how to drive, how to shoot a gun, how to find fossils in a grave bed. I remember being carried outside in the middle of the night when I was about six years old to see a lunar eclipse. He taught me the constellations. (I wish I could remember them.)

My father was a great man and I honor him on this special day.