Although not officially autumn until Sept. 23, I feel like the season is upon us. School has resumed. The garden is past its prime and the leaves are yellowing. It is my favorite time of year when things slow down and I actually have time to enjoy nature and the cool evenings. I don’t have to do much Googling to learn I am not alone in my fondness for the season.
William Cullen Bryant
“Autumn…the year’s last, loveliest smile.”
Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s
“Aprils have never meant much to me, autumns seem that season of beginning, spring.”
It is a time of fleeting beauty. I plan to do my best to enjoy it.
What is your favorite season and why?
Busy Making Memories
I don’t have time to write a post…or much of anything else. I’m too busy making memories. I’ll share a few pictures to give you glimpse of what I mean.
I hope you are getting a chance to make lots of memories as well.
Yes, we do learn what happened to the brother.
I’ve had several inquiries about the missing son in the Glory, Montana series. And yes, we do learn what happened to him. I think you will be shocked and surprised. The story of discovering what has become of him is full of adventure and, of course, romance. It will be the grand finale of the Glory, Montana series. Coming out in Nov. Available soon for preorder.
In the meantime, enjoy COWBOY PREACHER which was released a few days ago. And then the three FRONTIER BRIDES series will release in the fall. I think you’ll enjoy each of these upcoming stories.
Summer is…
Summer is picnics and parties and plays written by grandkids and performed with their cousins.
It’s splash parks, river excursions and lazy days at the beach.
It’s flowers and fruit and vegetables from our garden on the table.
It’s baby animals, visitors and vacations.
It’s sunshine, rain and rainbows. Sunburn, storms and heat.
It’s beach reads.
If you’re looking for a beach read, have you tried the Glory, Montana series?
https://tinyurl.com/y3h74udf (this link will take you to the page where the series is for sale.)
Comments on Amazon:
‘I have fallen in love with all of these books. Thank you for all the great stories. I look forward to the next one.’
‘Great story. Well worth the read!!!!!! Can’t wait for the next one.’
‘Linda Ford’s books are always read with pure enjoyment!!! She is a master at weaving together stories rich in detail and overflowing with excitement and adventure. I always end up wishing I could take a step back in time and experience life during the 1800s. I’ve been enjoying each book in this series, and they have all been amazing. The simple lessons of faith that you see acted out in each story always speak to the heart and are relatable to things taking place in your own life.’
Enjoy summer. Enjoy family and friends. Enjoy reading.
Lazy, hazy days of summer
There’s an old Nat King Cole song ‘Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO8i7c5MMEE
I don’t know where old Nat lived or what he did to earn a living (besides sing some beautiful songs) but lazy does not fit in my summer. There’s the garden, the flowers to weed, the vegetables to pick. There’s family to visit or to visit me. There’s grandkids to entertain. There’s hot when I can’t turn on the oven to cook. Even the thought of turning on the stove seems a bit much. There’s rain with mud–outside and inside.
I know part of the reason summer is so insanely busy is because we feel the need to pack in everything we can before bad weather, bad roads and the claws of winter make it really difficult. I want to go all the places that I can’t in the winter including museums. So far in July I and one or two grandchildren have gone to two museums and I’m planning to take in a few more.
The first we visited was the Sundre Museum. Lots of interesting artifacts and a few buildings. The log house was quite an eye opener for a grandchild.
I remember my mother having a big bread mixing bowl like the one in the picture on the top and I can remember having to learn to draw the Union Jack.
Our next stop was Carstairs. I really like this museum because there was a lot of information provided for each item and picture. A great place for research.
They had a nice display of posters used to attract settlers to Western Canada. Belows is one of them.
Yes, the summer might be anything but lazybut there will be lots of memories and lots of pictures for the future–both to go in the family yearbook and to use for research.
How is your summer going? Is it lazy, hazy or screamingly busy?
Whatever it is, make the most of it. The one sure thing about summer is it is short.
Writing’s Gifts
I’m one of those people who considered my writing to be a gift.
This glass paperweight is how I see the gift of story– a beautiful object that defies description.
A wonderful book that made me realize the value of this gift is WRESTLING WITH YOUR ANGELS: A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY TO GREAT WRITING by Janet O. Hagberg. 
As a gift given to me, I try to do it justice-honor it- by learning craft, using all the tools at my disposal and generally doing the best I can as I write. I don’t often think about the fact that not everyone wants to, likes to or can write. It’s just part of who I am. I haven’t always written my stories down but I have always made them up for my own enjoyment. I can remember as a child sitting in the branches of a maple tree in our yard and creating imaginary worlds.
But I have learned to appreciate the gifts my writing has given me.
First, writing is my escape. No matter how crazy my life is, how unreasonable the people in my house are acting, my writing has been a place where I could find sanity, order and control. I can disappear into my imaginary world and enjoy myself. Never mind the dreadful things certain people are saying or demanding in my real world. I love this gift from my writing.
Secondly, writing has given me characters who act and react, who love and respond in ways I have found foreign to how I want to act. In other words, through my characters, I am learning different and, hopefully, better ways of being me. For instance, I deal with a grown child who is acting like an emancipated four year old. I want to scream and rage. But instead, I remember a character I’ve created who deals with difficult situations with grace and kindness and even finds the right words to say, the right questions to ask. And I suddenly know how to behave better. Or I am buffeted on every side by demands (unreasonable ones many times) and feeling out of control and then I remember another character who manages to find humor is similar situations and suddenly I find I can too. Or life throws me one of those wicked curve balls. It seems to be too much. Again, a character who turned to faith and trust in her difficult circumstances reminds me I, too, can do so.
Maybe I write the characters I wish I could be. And in doing so I learn a little more about how to be such.
When I think about it, writing is a wonderful gift. And if my stories end up encouraging or helping a reader, I am doubly blessed.
The Power of Memory
Today I am going to share the info I put in my most recent newsletter. (which you can sign up for by going to the Home page and choosing one of the two buttons on the top left-hand side. One gives you a free copy of one of my books–available only by clicking.)
They say smell is one of the strongest memories. I can’t say if that is true or not but I do know that when I smell 
raspberries I think of my granny. She and Grandfather lived on a little acreage where they had a walnut tree, fruit trees and an abundance of raspberry bushes. We always visited in the summer and enjoyed sampling the fruit. Ahh. Such a sweet memory.
So now I am the gramma and I have a raspberry patch. I pick and freeze them to make a stewed fruit in the winter time. I cook together raspberries, rhubarb, apples and saskatoon berries all from my garden. The grandkids love it on ice cream. Or I make delicious freezer jam with raspberries. But what they enjoy the very best is raiding the raspberry patch and ea
ting fresh berries off the bush.
Cowboy Groom is the next book in the Glory, Montana series. It is book #2 of The Cowboys. It’s the story of Stella and Bruce. You might remember Stella from the earlier books.
What do raspberries have to do with this book? It is while picking raspberries that Stella finds something that leads to a rather unusual discovery. I’m afraid I can’t tell you what she finds. It would ruin the surprise.
This link will take you to the proper site (I hope):
https://tinyurl.com/y3nfge4u
I wouldn’t want you to miss this
I’ve teamed up with 35 fantastic authors to give away a huge collection of Inspirational Romances to 2 lucky winners, PLUS a brand new eReader to the Grand Prize winner!
Oh, and did I mention you’ll receive a collection of FREE reads just for entering? Just for signing up at the authors of your choice.
You can win my novel WAGON TRAIN BABY, plus books from many authors.
Enter the giveaway by clicking here
bit.ly/InspyRomance-June2019
Good luck and enjoy!
The Truth About Fiction
Much–if not all–of fiction has its roots in the author’s own experience. For instance, my husband tells how few toys he had. A broken wagon, one jigsaw puzzle that he made so often he had it memorized so he could even make it with the pieces upside down. His favorite activity was playing farmer with rocks, marbles, sticks and whatever else his imagination could turn into what he needed. Incidentally, I have children who did the same with marbles and Lego pieces.
Another toy that children enjoyed in those early days was a rag doll. I know the rag dolls of yesteryears wouldn’t wear neon green but I couldn’t find a picture I liked any better. This doll is simple. All play would be imagined by the 
child. When I was young my mother made me a baby-sized doll with movable limbs. It was the right size to wear baby clothes. I loved it and spent hours playing with it. I don’t know what eventually happened to it. Nor have I been able to find a picture of it.
I’m sure the adults didn’t consider laundry to be a fun activity when they had to scrub everything on a wash board. My father-in-law was widowed at a young age with a large family.
One of the most poignant pictures I recall seeing is of him bending over a tub of water, scrubbing the baby’s diapers on a scrub board. Unfortunately, the photo has disappeared but this is a picture of him with one of his children.
In Cowboy Father, you’ll get a glimpse of how those brave men and women.. and children…survived life in the 1800s. Cowboy Father tells the story of a man and a woman and two children who strive together in challenging circumstances toward a common goal. But the goal isn’t romance. In fact, romance is not in their plans. This book continues the story of the Kinsley family of Glory, Montana. It is available now.
Once Upon A Time
There was a man with a plan—to get back the money stolen from his boss and earn the reward. The robber’s widow was the obvious place to find it. That would make it easy to get back. Right? I mean, how hard could it be to locate one woman, watch her to learn where she’d hidden the money then demand it be returned?
Life had other plans for this man. First, he discovers two orphaned children who attach themselves to him like glue. He finds the widow only to see she has a child of her own to raise. Not only that, she has her hands full and needs help.
Things are getting a whole lot more complicated than he’d anticipated especially when his heart is telling him something quite different from what his head is saying. What is going to happen to his plan?
You can read Ethan and Adele’s story in Cowboy Father. It will be released June 1, 2019 or you can preorder it and have it delivered automatically on release day. It’s a story I think you’ll enjoy.
This is the link to the book: https://tinyurl.com/y5g2brrh
This is a continuation of the Glory, Montana series and the Kinsley family.