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Want to Gain Power…Give it Up!
Dear Reader: (Anne and I decided to volunteer to work in our church’s memorial garden once a month….how hard could that be…right? So yesterday (Saturday) armed with baskets, bags, clippers, brooms, and...
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If a Tree Could Talk…Oh!… The Secrets It Could Tell…
Dear Reader: (This upcoming week…June 10-16…is dedicated to my “dead” boyfriend…Archibald Rutledge. As I went back through the stories associated with him and the family home…Hampton Plantation I fell...
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Water to the Soul
Dear Reader: (“Water to the Soul” was the expression that Eliza Lucas Pinckney used to describe her passion…that one thing which made her feel alive. I love that expression…isn’t life all about finding...
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“It Will Be Daybreak Soon”…
Dear Reader: *(As I re-read this earlier blog yesterday I fell in love, once again, with the scenario between Archibald Rutledge and Sam Singleton…the boatman at Hampton. Now every time I see a sunrise...
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“If Life Lasts”….
Dear Reader: (Ever since first reading the following story from Archibald Rutledge about the hired hands who worked on the plantation falling to their knees each month… upon the advent of the silvery...
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“…And the Dying Year was so Beautiful”
( I love that phrase…don’t you? “And the dying year was so beautiful.” It is true when we understand that something or someone is leaving us…the time spent together becomes so...
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Keep the Story-Loving Child Inside of You….
Dear Reader: Isn’t there something about hearing a tragic story that pulls us towards it… even knowing it will have a sad ending? Personally I think the appeal lies in our interest in seeing how the...
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More Stories and Legends from Hampton Plantation
Dear Reader: ( I discovered this blog post right before I went before the board last week to present the book “The Gift of Yellow Jessamine” to the district schools. One of the stories was perfect for...
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365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life
Dear Readers: (A lot of memories returned while reading this past blog from a couple of Christmases ago. And I have so much to be thankful for that I am almost giddy with happiness. And it is always...
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My Beautiful Broken Shell
Dear Reader: ( I love this book…one that Tommy gave me from a friend of his…and even though it wasn’t a shell that “refreshed my soul “…guess what happened yesterday…or should I say last night? I left...
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Mountain Manger
Dear Reader: ( Update: I think this might be a fitting title…a little early to tell…but at 9:00 Tuesday morning (June 18)…Walsh called and said Mollie had a rough night and was talking with the...
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“Silver Packages”-An Appalachian Christmas Story
Dear Reader: Merry Christmas! Our story today is one of my very favorites…When it came out in 1997 I had attended a reading conference in Hilton Head and a friend of mine who worked with a publishing...
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Miss Rumphius
Dear Reader: (I’m back and I come bearing gifts….well…at least one gift…Rutledge Dickey Dingle….he will be called Rutledge …or as we figure probably… ”Rut” by school mates. I am in love again…and what...
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Bumblebees and Blessings
Dear Reader: (I can tell the Super Moon is coming….my moon flowers are going nuts….five bloomed yesterday and the fragrance last evening was beyond enticing and beautiful-One day I will share with...
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Fortunately
“A wise man turns chance into good fortune.” Dear Reader: (This is the last past blog for my three week hiatus… ending with one of my favorites and Anne’s also. *I have so many stories and God’s Winks...
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For a New Beginning
Dear Reader: A new start to the Chapel of Hope Stories… Life-Pt. 2 (so to speak)…truly “blessings in space between us”…myself and you the reader. The contest against Scheherazade is over, but really...
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“Take Two”!
Dear Reader: Eva Cate got to hold her little cousin for the first time yesterday. She declared “I love him” and she does. When my “Ya” friend, Jackson, got the news about Rutledge’s arrival…she...
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“Unfurl Yourself into the Grace of Beginning”
Dear Reader: Monday at Anne’s place… she pointed out how fascinating it is to watch a sunflower unfurl into reaching its full bloom. I started thinking about that thought…how true it is. If we are...
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What to Make of Learning
Dear Reader: ”Clang, clang, clang went the trolley; Ding, ding, ding, went the bell; Twelve, twelve, twelve to the aquarium; And we survived it… very well”! Eva Cate and I were bunkmates Tuesday night...
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When God Winks on New Beginnings
Dear Reader: I mentioned Monday when I got started back with the new blog posts that I would use this week to start at the very beginning when I first introduced the term God’s Winks through the book...
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