Prayer

Happy Monday!  It’s a rainy day here in the resort town of Cobourg--the perfect day to catch up on chores, before I head into the city tomorrow.  Tomorrow, I get to spend the afternoon with my oldest daughter and although I lived in Toronto for nearly 30 years and she has been there all her life, we are going to pretend to be tourists and take the double decker bus tour and go to the Ripley’s Aquarium.

So, onto today’s topic of prayer.  My earliest memory of my mother was making beds with her in the morning and then kneeling on the bed to say morning prayers.  I am guessing that I was about 2 at the time and it instilled two things in me--the necessity of a made bed, and daily prayer.  And, yes, to this day, I need to make my bed every day and I still say prayers.

I generally say my prayers at night, as the end of the day is a great time to give thanks for all that I have and ask for forgiveness for any known and unknown transgressions.  I also slip in a request for all beings on this earth to have peace in their heart and soul, that will prompt all to share all the food and water, because I know that there is more than enough to sustain all in the world.  I also have to throw in a request for a windfall and I don’t mind working for it.  Millions of my books selling would be fine, or a simple lottery win would suffice.  I have so many people and charities that I plan to share with.

I never really got into morning prayer, although now that I am retired, there is no longer the excuse that I can’t fit it in before work.  I have thought about this often and feel that I am missing something by not having morning prayer, but then remembered that I actually do.  My morning routine includes work at my computer for a bit even before my daily exercise routine and shower.  At my computer, I do two main things.  I post Bible quotes on Twitter from daily e-mails that I get and I post a prayer on my Facebook business page.

The prayer rarely comes directly from me, I should point out, but before I post the prayer, I have read through several.  I always read the prayer from Daughters of the Creator, and I used to publish that one, with some modifications.  Lately, however, I have been finding some wonderful prayers on the http://www.lords-prayer-words.com website.  This site has prayers for pretty much anything you can possibly imagine--prayers for thanks, forgiveness, wellness, success, exams, new job, job interview, etc.  It is a great site.

So, at night I do my heart to heart prayer, and in the morning, I do a more specific prayer that I share with anyone who is in need of a prayer that aligns with the topic I have found that I need for the day.

The one thing that I truly regret, however, is that I did not instill praying in my own children.  They did attend Sunday school and we actually had a birthday cake at Christmas for baby Jesus.  But they never saw me pray and regretfully, I never spent the time at the end of the day to teach them to pray, so it has not become part of their daily lives.  This is quite unfortunate I think.  That isn’t to say that they do not believe in God and are not spiritual, but they don’t have the same daily connection that I have.  

Perhaps it is never too late. I will be ordained as a deacon for the Community Catholic Church of Canada in November and they will be attending.  Perhaps it will remind them of our roots in the church.

Well, my dear friends, I have other chores to get to.  I pray that you have a gentle week.  God bless!

Autumn

Happy Monday, dear friends!  Summer seems to be holding on until the last minute this year.  I actually broke down and turned on the air conditioning today.  This was partly because I am crocheting this huge Christmas tree skirt and it is actually making me sweat as it rests on my knees--I’m almost finished, though!

Autumn is my favorite time of year.  I just love the colors of the leaves of the trees--the beautiful yellows, oranges and reds, that unfortunately, signal the coming of winter, which is not one of my favorite seasons.

According to the Farmers’ Almanac, this year the autumnal equinox falls on September 22, 2016 at 10:21 A.M. EDT.  This equinox occurs when the Sun appears to cross the celestial equator from north to south. So, I’m sorry to let you know that this past weekend was the last weekend of summer.  I, however, shall be celebrating by working on my crocheting projects and welcome the open windows and fresh air.

Autumn also brings Thanksgiving, which is a time for my family to get together and celebrate the four birthdays that happen around that time.  I’m hoping that Dad and Sally will be hosting again this year, but if not, I shall take it upon myself to take care of it.  I hosted Thanksgiving a few years ago, and I must confess that the turkey was not good--truthfully, it was awful and really dry.  I promise my family that I will get the really good Butterball turkey this time--none of that cheap turkey investment ever again.  A Butterball turkey makes all the difference!

This fall, I will also get my butt going on getting some bulbs planted down the south side of my house.  I’ll start with some easy stuff like alium and day lilies.  I also have some of those Canada tulips to add to the front garden, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Canada.  I am declaring that I shall have more color around my house!  In the spring, I shall invest in a bunch of hostas, to fill in the side of the house.  With any luck, that will help to keep down the spread of weeds.  It will still take some manual work, but it’s a start!

I also invested in two huge pots of mums.  The Rotary Club of Cobourg sells them every year and this year the proceeds went not only to the End Polio Now campaign, but also to the Northumberland Hills Hospital Foundation.  So, not only shall I have some color out the front for the fall, but I shall plant some mums down the side of the house, so that I shall have some color next fall.

Getting some planting done shall happen after our Canadian thanksgiving, which happens on the second weekend of October.  It will probably take me a while, as my MS will dictate my schedule, but I’ll do what I can.  As long as everything is perennials, they should be pretty low maintenance.

Well, time to get back to the Christmas tree skirt.  I should be done later this week.  I only have seven rows left to crochet, but each row takes me more than an hour at this point, so, it a bit of a slow go.  I will confess, however, that I am really pleased with how it is looking.  Even the arthritis has been only mildly annoying, so, I shall carry on!

Have a gentle week everyone! Find the joy in the changing of the seasons and may God bless you all!

Book Marketing

Happy Sunday!  A day of rest for most, I hope.  It’s a cooler day today, so I hope to get outside for at least part of the day.

As any author, or business person for that matter, knows, marketing their product, in my case books, is what takes most of your time, if you actually want to make any kind of income from it.  I never expected to make much income from my books, as I knew going in that I have a very small audience.  They are Christian books--four of them--written for three to six year olds.  The market is really their parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. because three to six year olds aren’t generally shopping on their own yet.

What have I done so far?  I attended the Inspire event in Toronto and had a great time meeting many authors--Margaret Atwood, Chris Hadfield, Debbie Macomber and Neil Pasricha (he’s a delight!), to name a few.  I only sold six books and one was to one of my brothers!  I attended the Toronto Word on the Street in 2015 and did not even sell one book.  I attended the Northumberland Word on the Street and sold two books (to a library!) and with all the great Northumberland authors, I bought more books than I sold, but it was a great event none-the-less and with a cost of only $10 for my table, it was most worthwhile.

I have to also mention that last year I invested in having one of my books formatted for hardcover, purchased the booksellers return program and advertised in the Christmas insert for the fall Children’s Ingram catalog, just to see if it was worthwhile.  It did generate some interest.  One company bought a few of my book ‘Animals of the New Testament’ in both softcover and hardcover.  They must have sold because they ordered some more of both formats.

So this year, I invested in having the other three formatted for hardcover and the booksellers return program for all three.  I then paid to advertise ‘More Animals of the Old Testament’ in the regular fall Children’s Ingram catalog and ‘More Animals of the New Testament’ in the Christmas insert.  I should be able to see which catalog fits the books best and by advertising the ‘More’ books, the buyer knows that there must be other books.

We’ll see how it goes.  The results of this seasons sales will dictate whether or not I will invest next year.  There is also a Pictures and Words event coming up in Northumberland in November that I am trying to book a table for.  I did sell one set of the four to a friend of mine for her nephew’s baptism, so I have make one sale this year!

Marketing is tough!  I thought that writing was difficult, but marketing is way more time consuming and costly.

So, for any of you who are interesting in supporting an author, all four of the books are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Abe books, Chapters and various other places, online, across the world.  As I mentioned, I have four books out so far, all in paperback and hardcover, all returnable by bookstores, if they invest and the books don’t sell well.  The four books are as follows:

• Animals of the Old Testament
• Animals of the New Testament
• More Animals of the Old Testament
• More Animals of the New Testament

Go out to your favorite online book store and do a search, or go to a website called BookFinder4U, search on one of the books and it will give you a list of online vendors and you can find the best deal!

Well, folks, I hope that you do choose to buy one (or all four!) and enjoy them with the little ones in your family.  God bless!

Labor Day

Happy Labor Day Monday!  Here in Canada, of course, it is Labour Day.  We like our ‘u’ in words!  It is also the last day that stands between summer vacation and school.  Here in the lovely town of Cobourg, it is a bit of a resting day before I begin my craft projects.

It is also the first Labor Day that I don’t have a child preparing for school, since 1994!  Kaitlyn finished her undergrad in April and is now getting rather discouraged trying to find a job in her chosen career.  Fortunately, she is still working full time at Saks, so with a little help, she is able to support herself and stay in her downtown Toronto apartment.

From Wikipedia:

Labour Day (Labor Day in the United States) is an annual holiday to celebrate the achievements of workers. Labour Day has its origins in the labour union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.

For most countries, Labour Day is synonymous with, or linked with, International Workers' Day, which occurs on 1 May. For other countries, Labour Day is celebrated on a different date, often one with special significance for the labour movement in that country.

In Canada and the United States, Labour Day is celebrated on the first Monday of September and considered the unofficial end of summer, with summer vacations ending and students returning to school around then.

In the US, Labor Day was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century and became a federal holiday in 1894.  

In Canada, Labour Day (French: Fête du Travail) has been celebrated on the first Monday in September in Canada since the 1880s.  The origins of Labour Day in Canada can be traced back to December 1872 when a parade was staged in support of the Toronto Typographical Union's strike for a 58-hour work-week.  Yikes!

Basically, this day is to recognise all who labor for their pay, and ties into union work, that has helped to keep workers safe and fight for reasonable hours, fair pay and a safe environment to work in.

I will confess that I only briefly worked in positions that were part of unions and I get rather frustrated with union rules, because I like to work a bit above and beyond what is expected of me.

Having said that, now that I’m retired, I need to manage only my own expectations for what I need to accomplish in a day.  Tomorrow, I begin my crochet projects and I have a few lined up, hoping that my crochet talent can be resurrected to produce some Christmas gifts!  My biggest project is a Christmas tree skirt, I’m going to make for my friend Viv.  Sh!  Don’t tell her.  It’s a surprise!

So, dear friends, enjoy your Labor (Labour) Day and may you have a gentle and blessed week.  God Bless!