Life Is Good

I think sometimes we all need to take a moment and realize just how good life is. Sure, we may have our aches and pains and our disappointments along the way, but overall Terry and I sure can’t complain. What’s that they say about stopping to smell the roses? The other night we were sitting on the back deck listening to two bull elk bugling on the other side of the fence from our backyard. What an eerie sound for such big animals! These are the kind of memories we love making.

Yesterday, Terry was busy editing and proofing the latest chapters of my new Tinder Street book, and I spent some time talking with Roberta Jensen, one of my proofreaders and a friend who has been an important part of my life for more than 40 years. Again, stopping and smelling the roses.

About the time Roberta and I were wrapping up our conversation, Tiffany and Kenny came over and visited for a while. Then we all went to La Casita Mexican restaurant, where granddaughter Destiny works. She’s been bussing tables at the family-owned business for quite a while and was just moved up to waitress. We met her sister Hailey and husband Toby there and had a very nice family dinner. And yes, I remembered to tip our server very well. 😊

After we ate, Terry and I went to Safeway and stocked up on vittles for the next week or two, and while Terry was putting the groceries away when we got home, I went out to the greenhouse to water her plants in there. I also brought in some of her plum tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. Terry loves having fresh produce right out our back door.

It’s Thursday, so it’s time for a new Free Drawing. This week’s prize is a book from my personal library that I just finished reading and was so good I hated to see it end. The Girl With The Red Hair, written like a novel, tells the true story of brave young World War II Dutch Resistance fighter Hannie Schaft. Unable to stand by and watch the brutality of the Nazis who occupied her country, sending her friends off to concentration camps and ruling with an iron fist, killing people just because they could, college student Hannie joined the Resistance and became a legend, loved by her countrymen and feared by the Nazis. Mastering the skills of an assassin and working with young sisters Trus ands Freddie Oversteegen, Hannie was responsible for the deaths of numerous Nazi officials and turncoat Nazi sympathizers. She also became an expert at forging identification papers, helped to blow up a railroad station vital to the Nazi war effort, and a factory building rockets that were used to reign terror upon England. With her long red hair, she became known to enemies and supporters alike as The Girl With The Red Hair. She was so notorious that Adolf Hitler himself ordered her capture at all costs. When she finally was arrested, no amount of torture could get her to reveal the names of her comrades. To say that Hannie was a badass would be an understatement. On the day that she was executed, the first shot grazed the side of her head, knocking her off her feet. Dazed and so weak she could hardly stand, she managed struggle back upright and taunted the German soldiers saying, “I can shoot better than that!” I guarantee you this is a book you won’t forget.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books and audiobooks to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. My dear friend Karen Chandler took this picture in Perrysburg, Ohio. And yes, that is hair hanging over the tailgate.

Thought For The Day – Always do more than what is expected of you.