Category Archives: Uncategorized

Dear Reader: Sometimes the best stories start with the simplest acts of kindness…resulting in uncovering something new. I discovered a new pizza restaurant when Tommy emailed me Sunday and told me he “had a pizza for me.” He had participated … Continue reading →

Dear Reader: Each morning when I check the garden…I half-expect to see a book by each plant…because every flower, plant, and tree has its own story to tell. Every time a day lily pops up…I remember Anne and myself planting … Continue reading →

Dear Reader: The real story of our lives begins after the ‘happily-ever-after’ ending which is never the ending…it is the beginning of our own personalized true stories. It took me a long time to realize this. Like most little girls … Continue reading →

Dear Reader: In some families there are famous recipes handed down from generation to generation, even sometimes recipes from the ‘old country.’ That is not particularly true in my family. If there is one dessert that means more to my … Continue reading →

Dear Reader: Yesterday really was a terrific day! Nothing bad or frustrating or weird about it…just a beautiful, gorgeous day to be alive! …And it was definitely filled with blessings! I planted orange (what else) zinnias in the front yard … Continue reading →

Dear Reader: A couple of weeks ago I finished re-reading one of my all-time favorite novels First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen. This book is a sequel to her first New York bestseller story called Garden Spells.  It seems trite … Continue reading →

Dear Reader: Yesterday the sun returned with temps in the upper sixties…the kind of day that felt wonderful in the sunlight and just a little cool in the shadows. What an improvement over the previous three days of damp, rainy, … Continue reading →

(Look what I discovered yesterday…the orange trumpet vine is also climbing the foliage above the bottle tree in the front side yard!) Now how did it get there? Another unsolved mystery!) Dear Reader: In Awakin. Weekly this past week…the topic … Continue reading →

Dear Reader: Yesterday I went back in the archives where the blogs of Chapel of Hope Stories Part I  (August 2010-November 2014) are kept. I re-read some of the anecdotes I used then and how much I still enjoy them … Continue reading →

Dear Reader: By now you realize that I am a HGTV “junkie!” There is something so satisfying about watching a ‘clinker’ of a house turn into something beautiful beyond the imagination of potential house hunters and avid show fans, like … Continue reading →