Y is for Yarn Bomb!

I am a defender of all things crochet.

So, when the subject of toilet paper covers came up at the knitting group (actually, today) I cringed.

Okay, I understand that some crocheters of yore have made some unfortunate choices, thereby tainting the reputation of the entire art of crocheting established by my Irish ancestors (along with some other people).    I might add that these hard working Irish women also contributed to the support of their families during some pretty trying times in Ireland...

Still, it's hard to get the craft's dignity back after some of those poodle themed items surface in movies and such, depicting individuals sorely lacking taste and style.

But, thanks to some amazing crocheting graffiti artists, also known as "Yarn Bombers", the cool is back in crochet!  Of course, yarn bombers are knitters too, but knitters on the whole have a more pristine image, and generally don't need the publicity.

Yarn bombers create fantastic urban art - like the crocheted tree cozy pictured above.  They have been known to cover city buses and even an army tank in well fitting outfits that can't help but bring a smile to your face.

Have you ever been surprised by art in the city?

X is for eXcalibur

Once upon a time there was a little girl who dreamt of being a ballerina...

Wrong story???

Anyway... She danced and danced and danced.... you get the point...

One day while she was dancing through the forest she came upon a giant rock with a sword sticking out of it.  It was very sparkly so she grabbed hold of the handle and removed it from it's stony prison.

The sword was so happy to be free that it granted her a wish...  What did she wish for?

If I told you, I would have to... you know...

My point is, we all have dreams, but sometimes it feels like we're dancing as hard as we can and we can't see an end in sight.  We need help.

The Word of God is called The Sword of the Spirit!
Excalibur was a legendary sword in a fantastic story.  The Sword of the Spirit IS the story!!!

W is for Worth

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also... Matthew 6:21

While in the process of moving from our old house into our present home, decisions had to be made. What to keep and what to throw away?  Everything from clothes to toys to the food in the pantry required a verdict.

I only wanted to take what I really loved or thought was useful.  So, much was donated or tossed to the curb.

It was a great opportunity to streamline.  One of the items that didn't make the cut was a bank that my husband's aunt bought at a garage sale and gave to him for Christmas .  It was one of those heavy old metal things, a truly hideous looking politician on a box giving a speech.

Some years later I was checking out the "what it sold for" section of the newspaper and to my horror I read "Stump Speaker bank: 1,250.00..."

At least I still had that can of black eyed peas!  And the capers...

The Sound of Red Returning by Sue Duffy

I am totally tipping my ushanka (Russian ear-flaps hat) to Sue Duffy for giving me hours of page turning happiness with her new novel, The Sound of Red Returning.

Even the title has a retro spy thriller feel to it and the book delivers suspense in the classic United States versus the Evil Empire style.

Leisl Bower, a classical pianist from South Carolina, is the reluctant heroine accidentally caught in the cross-hairs of  an international tug of war.  While being hunted by the Russians, she discovers that she must also come to terms with her painful past in order to trust in the present and save the world.

Sue Duffy creates characters you want to cheer for.  I enjoyed travelling from Boston to New York to South Carolina with Leisl and meeting cool Cade O'Brien and his quirky grandfather Ian, who added warmth and romance to the fun.

For more information, please read on!!

This week, the  Christian Fiction Blog Alliance  is introducing  The Sound of Red Returning  Kregel Publications (December 9, 2011)  by  Sue Duffy  


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Sue Duffy is an award-winning writer whose work has  appeared in Moody magazine, The Presbyterian Journal, Sunday Digest, and The Christian Reader. She is the author of Mortal Wounds (Barbour, 2001), Fatal Loyalty (Kregel, 2010), and The Sound of Red Returning (Kregel, 2011). Sue has also contributed to Stories for a Woman’s Heart (Multnomah). She and her husband, Mike, have three grown children.


ABOUT THE BOOK

After losing everyone she loves, concert pianist Liesl Bower has nowhere to go but to escape into her music. Searching for the peace she usually finds in her concertos and sonatas, Liesl can't shake the feeling that she is being haunted by her past . . . and by someone following her. When she spots a familiar and eerie face in the audience of a concert she's giving for the president in Washington, DC, the scariest day of her life comes back to her with a flash.


It has been fifteen years since Liesl watched her beloved Harvard music mentor assaulted on a dark night in Moscow and just as long since the CIA disclosed to her that he'd been spying for Russia. She had seen that man-that eerie face-the night Professor Devoe was attacked. And now he's back-and coming for her.

ENDORSEMENTS:

“Sue Duffy has mixed the mayhem of political intrigue with the melody of romance.” —Dick Bohrer, author, editor, and former journalism professor

“Intrigue and suspense come together in an incredible story of love and betrayal, commitment and courage, power and danger . . . and a God who controls it all. Sue Duffy is a wonderfully gifted writer and this book is a must-read.” —Steve Brown, founder and president of Key Life and host of Steve Brown Etc.

If you would like to read the first chapter of The Sound of Red Returning, go HERE.

V is for Veritas

Veritas is the latin word for truth. It is the motto for Harvard University.  I like it.  It's simple.  One word says it all.

Or does it?

Francis Shaeffer, coined the phrase "true truth" meaning that what one says is true, should actually be true.  One of my favorite books by Francis Shaeffer is He is There and He is not Silent- if you enjoy an intellectual approach to understanding Christianity, check it out.

Veritas.

U is for Understatement

So... an understatement is a figure of speech in which the writer or speaker plays down the importance or the facts of a situation.

Back in my college days I went through a bohemian phase (during the age of Lacoste polos) and arrived at my french class,  at Amherst college, wearing a beret and a mini-dress.  My friend, Holden, remarked, "I can see you're not in a preppy mood today."

Now-a-days, my understating self is more inclined to use this figure of speech when I get home from shopping, and after unloading bag after bag of groceries, say to my husband, "I needed to pick up a few things from the store."

In Laura Croft Tomb Raider, Laura's house has just been shot up by the bad guys and as they are cleaning things up she gets a delivery.  In response to the delivery man's questioning look she responds, "I woke up this morning and I just hated everything."  To him, that would have seemed like a huge understatement.

I do love understatement.  But sometimes I like over the top!

How about you?

T is for Testing!

I was over at blogger friend Robyn Alana Engel's place (Life by Chocolate) and I noticed she had posted pictures of children needing prayer; so I started to pray.  While I was praying, my television sounded an emergency alarm; I ran downstairs to turn it off, thinking that it was only a test.    A man's voice announced that a five year old boy named Porter Stone may have been kidnapped from a hospital in a nearby county, and that he was also number one on the list for a heart transplant.  It felt like God was adding another "angel" to the prayer list.

Would you please join me in praying for Porter and the kid's on Robyn's prayer list?

Father, we ask that you will help in the search for Porter.  We pray for healing for him and all of the kid's on Robyn's blog, too.  Let them go to sleep tonight in comfort and safety.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Sometimes God speaks in a still, small voice.  And sometimes He sounds an emergency alarm.