A Sunny Day In The Kingdom

Dear Readers.

Something new and delightful has been happening to this little blog while it slept, and it has been…. *incredulous gasp* nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award…. By the lovely Lizzie Hexam of Starlight And Saucepans… Can you imagine??! Generally this is given to blogs known to be of a sunshiney nature, which is a lovely compliment, especially to Young Upstarts Of Blogs Like Us ;) but then there ought to be one for the sunshiney people who go around nominating even people who have only such small starts in the blogging world yet! But since there isn’t any such thing, so far as I know, we shall settle for a simple thankyou (;  Also an apology, because this is a terrifically late post😬 As in September has turned into October on me… But here I am, and it truly has been in the works for just as long😜 I write by patchwork most times, see. And this time was not different. 

Now, getting along with things now…. There is an official set of rules to be followed on such occasions, and having borrowed them from a reliable source called Lizzie’s Blog, I shall then go on to share them with all and sundry, who may whip out their opera glasses and go over them minutely if they possess such inklings. (Allow me to point out a hole or two in the warp and weft of this post for your inspection, though. See, here, and another one over there… The moths got in, there being a sort of a dearth in the land. Both of mothballs and Bloggers With Whom I Am Acquainted.)

But let us get on with the rules, shall we? Else how shall we know what we are about at all? One must do things decently and in order, after all. So here they are. 

The Official Rules         

1. Display the award’s official logo somewhere on your blog.

2. Thank the person who nominated you.

3. Provide a link to your nominator’s blog.

4. Answer your nominator’s questions.

5. Nominate up to 11 bloggers.

6. Ask your nominees 11 questions.

7. Notify your nominees by commenting on at least one of their blog posts.

There we have it, rules one through three have been fulfilled… Number four is up next, and then… Well, allow me to be all upfront and full-disclosure-ish. So, ummmm… This thing about nominating up to 11 other bloggers?? Yeah, this is gonna be a slight hitch. (Which also renders unstable the 7th Rule….😬) Because the bloggers that I personally know are Lizzie and Ruth, and the list of bloggers I have recently begun following but have yet to actually TALK to…. Or do more than comment once or twice on their blogs…. There are not an extreme lot of even them😆  But this does not, however, mean I am going to skip asking my own eleven questions, and I may even find a blogger or two to tag my own self :P  Additionally, if anyone out there happens to feel like giving their own answers, (whether they possess blogs or not, and also whether they are personally acquainted with me or not. ) they are very welcome to either join in on the fun, or comment an eleven-length down below (;

And now, having presented both excuses and explanations, let me see how a good a job I can make of my answers! Which are, so it happens, the following. Complete with questions. Ahem.

1. What’s your second favorite TV show?

I’m honestly scrambling to think of tv shows that I watch😳Okay, so Joy Of Painting with Bob Ross. Which I do not watch often, haven’t in ages, but the other options were either Hollie Hobbie, Heartland, (the one with Ty and Amy, just in case there is any other. Preemptive clarification.) or The Three Detectives…. (The last of which I quite like ;)

2. If you could only read the works of one author all the rest of your life, who would you choose? (The Bible is exempted from this.)

Firstly, thankyou for the exemption😜 That makes this…. A little easier. But I’m still like Clementine trying to decide on just one candy, choosing this means I have to NOT choose that, and that makes things difficult🤣

But I think I am going to go with Tessa Afshar. Because she writes such consistently beautiful, thought provoking, soul-touching books…And if one is only going to read the books of one author for the rest of one’s life… Oh boy, what a choice to have to make😆 Though the beauty of this one is that she is still writing! It isn’t as if what there is now will be the end of her books, Lord willing.  And yeah, they are entertaining, but at the same time, there is a goodly dose of both meat and salt in… 

3. What’s a fun fact about yourself that you would like people to know, but there’s never a good opportunity to bring up?

I have just the fact right here! It is this. 

I am a sabbath-keeping (this meaning Saturday) Christian, and my family and I keep the biblical feasts as well! Still learning, but we are (:

4. Tell us a random weird word that you like.

*Snaps her fingers* Eureka! (No, that isn’t my word😆) I have, so it turns out, just exactly the thing here. (Er, word.) That being the word Octolimbie. This is a word of my own invention, exclusively used by exactly two people up until right this moment (; And now tis being introduced to the world at small, (aka the blogosphere) and whosoever finds that they need an alternative word for archanids…

5. You’re going to Mordor with the Ring, and you’re assembling your Fellowship! Which eight fictional characters (from any fictional works, not just LOTR) do you want to come with you, and why? (If you aren’t familiar with The Lord of the Rings, just assemble eight fictional characters you would want to bring along on a dangerous quest.)

Ahem. Thankyou for the clarification, because I happen to be one of those people who have no idea where Mordor is😆 But my fellowship I can build up anyway, like you said… And I have been thinking this over (; 

They shall come mainly out of two places, my eight, from one book, and one audio drama. And since I have meant to review the former for ages, and still wish everyone would read it and love it as much as I do…. Call this a recommendation. One of the highest. I cannot say enough about this book, not if I tried for pages… So you must read it and see for yourselves, you simply must. 

But getting back to my poor neglected fellowship!

In order of age, I think we will go…. 

Firstly?

•John Avery Whitaker—Who KNOWS things, and people, and is so much more than you could ever imagine. 

•Jack Allen—not because he has incredible skills which the dangerous quest would require, but because he’s the kind of comfortable rock-ish person you can count on to have a quiet wisdom when you need it most of all. A kind of safe harbour….

•Jason Whitaker comes in next. Because he’s Jason, and how on earth can you mention Odyssey and choose your heroes without Jason? 

•Tasha Forbes. Although she does have, under certain conditions, my permission to change her last name to Whitaker first. This would  be quite acceptable. To me if not to the Jasonnies of the land. It occurs to me that I am making this a very controversial post in places as I write this… So allow to me to clarify that these are merely pet whims, and not intended to say at all that MY way is, naturally and of course, the only way that there is. But still I do like the idea of this😉

Alright. Moving on to the book portion of my faithful fellowship!

Annnnd so, from The Maggie Bright, by Tracy Groot, we have…

•Captain Jacobs, who never gave up on getting his men home, and brings Milton to life in a way you must read to fathom. You will never hear the words “What is dark in me, Illumine. What is low, raise, and support.” the same way again…. 

•William Percy. Because sometimes a righteous man’s rage against horrific injustice is a comforting thing. 

•Mrs. Iris Shrewsbury. For the staccato cadence of her piercingly effective shrieks, and the power with which she fights, knowing that the shatterer cannot prevail when folks still turn to their Creator in prayer. Also her tea kettle could come in handy, you know. 

And as for my eighth, I am caught between Murray Vance, Jamie Elliot, Grayling, Ballantine… And ohhh goodness, the myriads of heroes in this book make it practically impossible to choose!!!!

Also Claire. Young ladies whose goal it is to be the first woman to singlehandedly circumnavigate the globe in their own personal vessel, and are ready on the spot to go dashing off to the front waving a pistol are to be admired. Also Courage, vision, and singularity of purpose are extremely useful traits when going to Modor with the ring, I would imagine. Especially if it is far at all.

Let’s make it Claire, shall we? There was a rabbit hole I nearly dived down that involved Murray being included in the Eighth Place on virtue of being her brother, and then you have to include Jamie (whom I very much like) because he’s Captain John’s son, and Very Important To The Story, but that wouldn’t have been very logical of me, now would it? You cannot go around lumping people into one spot simply because of family ties. As much as you might like to.

Okay, that was not a short answer. Ahem. Moving on!

6. Do you on the whole prefer movies from before or after 1960? Why?

Before. Simply because they can tend to be a little more refined… If you watch the right kind. Of all things in movies, coarse humour bugs me. 

Not that I don’t like movies from AFTER, I do. But when one must choose one or the other, you know…

7. Suppose you’re tasked with creating a flag for a new country. What does it look like?

Ooh, I’m so glad I have an answer ready for this! See, one was drawn up quite literally, and I am really delighted with it (;

So tis Navy blue on either side and then between, set on ivory, a North Star with an uppercase cursive E curving around it.. Quite like that one, and overall giving a sort of nautical effect, in my mind (: The ivory being more ivory-ish in my mind than I could find when I was colouring it in….

8. Is poetry or prose fiction more expressive? Do you think one form is higher than the other?

Honestly?? I think there needs to be a perfect combination of the two for either to be absolutely all it can be! I want the words to be the poetry, whether there is any rhyme to them or not, the black and white to be intricate and lilting, to show and imply colour where technically there is none. Something that can be plain and simple on the surface, but that when read the right way, will come alive and delight the wordsmith in you. Does that count as an answer, I wonder?

9. What are the last three songs you listened to?

Right now? To be honest, I haven’t been very successful at listening to music lately😆 But I DID listen to You Make Everything Beautiful, by For King And Country, and now I’m having trouble thinking of what else… But YouTube says it was Open The Eyes Of My Heart, as played by Titus Major, and When You Believe, from The Prince Of Egypt! (Note that I am not taking into consideration at present songs played on the radio, because there are too many of them…. So Deliberately Chosen Songs it is.)

10. If you had the ability to make it so that it was always your favourite season of the year, would you do it? 

No, I don’t think I would😜 If it was always verging on spring, I would get homesick for summer, and a forever autumn would leave you without beginning, middle, and end…. An October isn’t nearly so delicious if you don’t get a summer first to make you love the crisp nights, and gold is more precious when it follows green! And a Canadian girl either without a good winter or forever stuck in one… yeahhh, she definitely ain’t a whole Canadian girl. 

11. Dream cast your favorite actor and actress (either can be from any time period; this is dream casting, after all!) in an adaptation of the classic book you think they’re best suited for. 

First I gotta think of my favourite actor and actress😆 Whichhhh is admittedly more difficult than you would imagine, me not having a set ready to name off the top of my head. In fact, it has taken me a very long time to think of a half-answer! Which, now that I do have it, is this. I should very much like to see how an older and greying Fred MacMurray would do at playing Professor Bahr of Little Women…. I haven’t found him a Jo yet, but I HAVE thought of a second actor to play a second part in a second story. Does this count?? Because furthermore, I should rather like to see Angie (aka John Davidson) from The Happiest Millionaire play Richard Kendrick in The Twenty Fourth Of June. He must also be found an appropriately mysterious, clever, dark, and unexpectedly accomplished at the art of efficient typewriting (besides having no actual necessity of doing it whatsoever) sort of a girl creature who knows her own mind very well, and makes it decidedly. This girl we shall, upon discovery, name Roberta.  In fact, casting the whole bookful of people would prove to be great loads of fun…. And that subject would make a post all its own, if I posted half the posts I thought of posting😆 I do not, however, but it would be marvellous fun if it DID happen!! Especially Ted. I should like to cast Ted most particularly. He seems like an ideal sort of a little brother. 

Anddddd that was the end of the questions. 

Which leaves me yet a rule to fulfil, in the nominating of other people, and the subsequent Passing Of The Torch….

So as for me, I nominate:

Hadassah @ sassy & sunny 

(See, I have one! It’s not eleven, but more than none, and I was delighted to think of this many…. )

Also Anyone Else Who Wishes To Do This, because y’all are quite and very welcome.

And for my eleven questions…. Which I must have, having a nominee…. Here they are! See?

Questions

1. You are informed that you are going to move into a book.

What book? Well, it turns out that unlike every other character, you will be given the courtesy of being allowed to choose the one you wish to dwell in. And the particular, precise house and household in which to make your home. This makes you a most extraordinary addition, seeing as the rest have all had their places chosen for them. The only catch? You can’t make it up, it has to already be in existence.

But what book are you going to jump into??

Ps. I give you full permission to take drafty attics and cellars with mice well into account before you decide, also how well you will get along with the company you must keep On The Inside. 

2. What is your most used survival tool (aka Useful Thing) in everyday life?

3. What is the best book you read this year? 

4. What’s one inanimate object that always looks like it comes with its own personality to you? (It used to be cutlery, in my case. Just in case you wanted to know that)

5. My lil sis had a penpal ask her this one… Would you rather have a pause button, or be able to hit rewind? 

6. The number one skill you wish you had? 

7. Something that made you smile today… 

8. One thing in your life lately that just made you stop and say, “Wow. That had to be a God-thing.”?  

9. If you could rewind fashion to any point in the last 100 years, what would your closet look like? 

10. What is the least Anne-like thing about you? (Like for instance, I heartily disagree with her on the subject of zinnias ;) 

11. Now this one has a practical bent😜 What is your most successful cure for writers block?? 

Alright then. I believe that means I’ve wrapped things up, it now being late in the area of the putting up of this, and the hour doth be growing to match it…. And so I think I really, really ought now to go to work fulfilling the final rule, don’t you? 

But first, by way of finishing properly, allow me to extend a Thankyou Again to Miss Lizzie…. This post was SUCH fun to do, even if it took its own sweet time in being Published! As seen in the way my words ran away with me…. (they do this sometimes. Like now, for instance.)  Although they do make an excellent witness, bearing ready testimony to the fact that it was indeed so. (there was one, once, you know. A fact. Way up top-of-the-paragraph. We have merely buried it, it is still very much there)  Especially in the long-ish-most places.  (I have just realized that this must be a very confusing paragraph to read🤔 But it was fun to write too, and so I shall leave it where it lies!)

Alright. Toodle-Oo for truly now,  dear-very-patient-reader. We shall go away presently and acquit ourselves like proper and well behaved Little Women, and have the tea and the muffins-and-cream all quite ready for such a time as you may be called upon to stop by and see us again! 

Yours Wordingly As Ever, 

~Emi

PS. You may be wondering who this mysterious Other Person is who makes up the We part of us. Well, I shall tell you the truth. She is Me too. One cannot be Little Women all by one’s self, you know, and Little Woman has quite a different ring to it.

PPS. My apologies for the astonishing lack of pictures in this post, (this resulting in Solid Walls Of Text with only one small break in ‘round about the flagmost area)  I seem to be having simultaneous bouts of Blogger Difficulties In The Adding Of Pictures Department, and Lack Of Extreme Skills In The Technical. 

In Honour of Best Friends...

 In honour of best friends... without whom the world would be a dreadful place indeed. Thank God for the blessing of friendship!!!

The Sun Will Shine Again

Those of you who have been peeking around corners and discovering the nooks of this place…. To you I write this. Also to people who have no idea whom the persons I am about to mention may be, because one never wishes to exclude people, particularly Potential Readers Of Lovely Books….  

But anyways. 

To those of you who know.

You guys. (Ahem. Switching—I mean, Switching out of italics now. You are welcome)

You have read of Ronnie’s Rachel, no? Of Benjie, of teddy bears and great ships and the vast crushes awaiting them whilst they dock, and of creaking barns and nervous soldiers? You have heard of this? 

Well, before any of that…. There was Germany. There was a little house that sheltered warmly against the horrors of the times, and let the inhabitants believe that good would prevail. There was peace amid traumatic circumstances, and hope inside of destruction. 

Until there was not, and their world fell apart. So completely, so thoroughly, that it took the only One Who could to save them. 

Dear readers…. From the beginning of our meeting her in that cold, lonely barn in Belgium, we are given the opportunity to go back. Back, back, back to the days before…. Because you see, there is more to her story than meets the eye at first. (It so happens that this is a novella, really, and may be found, as far as it has been published, under the button up above by the title of At The Heart Of The Storm.)

And I tell you here, it will wrench your heart, and warm it, shatter it into a thousand hopeless pieces, and mend it in ways  you (and she) could not possibly have expected. The story before the story, and how the beginning as we knew it began….

May it draw you in as it did me. 

~Emi

Ps.    Please do let on what you think, hmm? Comments, you know. Blogger-girls delight in them. Greatly. You have no idea. Unless you are one yourself, and then you might😜

🎶Iiiiiiiiits Canada Day up Canada way on the first day of July!

And we're shoutin' "hooray" up Canada way, when the maple leaf flies high.

When the silver jets from east to west go streaming through our sky,

We'll be shoutin' "hooray" up Canada way when the great parade goes by.🎶

Heehee…. 

Errrrr no, that wasn’t actually me. THAT, my dear readers and potentially curious people, was The Man In The Black Hat. (He’s a Canadian legend, you know. Think newer than the Ogopogo, and older than Loonies and Toonies.)

See why I picked him? 

Stompin’ Tom Connors says it for us…. 

And thank goodness too, because I didn’t think of this yesterday…. (Or like, y’know, even before…. Which would have been smart. But the thing is, I DIDNT, and so I had to enlist help now.)

And then I watched the parade this morning, (at which this song was played, I kid you not a bit) and DID think of it, but the day held other things than writing, and here we be.

Good thing there are songs to take our place when we fail to be sufficiently eloquent ahead of time on occasions such as this🤣

Anyways, Canada…. I’m awfully glad my little corner of you is home🤗 

In Belated Honor of Memorial Day

To alll the lovely “Yanks” in the crowd, who may or may not understand how come a Canuck has got hold of such footage…. (Hint, it lived on YouTube, and then it was Transplanted ;) Or why…. And how come it be here…

This one’s for you😜

Oh, but you want an explanation?? Well, call it in honour of a Twinnie-First-Class (; (Wait, is that even a rank?? Well, it is now, anyway! It has been newly invented😜) And the video is courtesy of the same, strongly requested by the aforementioned🤣 

Soooooo…. To the patriots on the far side of the border…. 

Enjoy (; 

Titles, Monikers & Misnomers

Dear kindreds. 

Ready for an Out-Of-The-Blue-Ish kind of a topic? 

Because one presents itself very handily here, and it proves to be a pleasant thing to scribble about on Saturday afternoons ;) (That’s when this was written, see, only I added tidbits and furbelows on later days too, maybe even a Wednesday.)

Every so often the subject of scribbles, and what to name them comes up in the various places of discussion on the blogs of Accomplished Scribblers Whose Work I Admire. The general rule seemeth to be that, scribble once having been written, it then proves uncooperative in allowing itself to be crowned with a Particularly Suited Title Which Pleases The Author.

This is very interesting to me. Because in my experience, and throughout all my years of scribblerhood…

This is exactly the opposite of my difficulty.

Exactly.

See, I have titles that stack up in my head and result in mountains the like of which would fill a shelf with books—if their stories were written. Unfortunately, this is not the case, as they come decidedly without stories. Typically with outlines, and that’s about all. Like covers with maybe a front page and fluid description, but no book in them.

Titles jump out at me from the pages of books, ‘round corners and places through which sunshine peeps and casts intriguing shadows…

Well, not exactly by way of shadows. That was poetic liberty, and not an actual happening😆 But who knows? Maybe someday! The point is, they do pop up, and then they sound SO interesting to me that I either scramble them down, or just go around with them visiting my thoughts at completely unexpectable intervals throughout the seasons. Whether this means they should do the same to other people remains unknown😆

But today…

A handful of them are venturing out into the world, to see whether they have fortunes to be made, or should go into gardening instead. Livelihoods or lavender, you know. 

Be dears and tell me what you think, won’t you? It may save us both seeds and sowing. In individual gardens and  otherwise…

Shall we sally forth and meet our contestants, then?

Quite right. Off we go then!

1. The Words Of His Mouth Were Smoother Than Butter, (But War Was In His Heart)

Okay, that one… I was reading through the Psalms the other day, and that line of Psalm 55:21 just leapt out at me… And it wanted to be a story. Oh, but it wanted to be a story!! 

Now, this is not one I could ever write… I wonder if there is such a thing possible as writing a letter to Tessa Afshar? Because if so… I may have to!

2. Painting The Roses Red.

This is an old one😆 I believe the original interpretation was that people will go to great lengths to tint their roses to the queen’s decrees, terrified of losing both noggins and position… “Off with their heads” and all that, you know… When it isn’t the queen who matters at all, but the wisdom of the King, who painted the roses perfectly the first time, thankyou very much. 

Yes, I thought myself to be quite wise at the time😜😆

3. Teachers Of Good Things

This one is also the excerpt of a bible verse… Namely, Titus 2:3.And it does come with a person in mind, a charming, precious, pure gold darling of a woman… Of silvered crowning glory. A character, you could say. As yet unwritten. Character, that is, the part about the bookful of her story goes without saying. 

Bottle Full Of Tears:

Psalm 56:8-1

The story of three portraits, children, their lives a victim to the holocaust, and the Father who never let them go.

Even in greatest sorrow…

And finally… The one that has come closest to being written out…

You ready? Well, hang on to your gold pan then, cuz WE… Are off to Dawson City, Whitehorse Pass, and the land of dancehall girls…. To meet one man. Yup, really just the one. The celebrities shall have to live in some other book, we’re here for a Nobody. An unusual kind of a nobody, undriven by gold, and there for unfathomable reasons… So say the Sourdoughs!

Shall we meet him? Well then, step lively and skip a beat, because here… Is…

Number 4. 

Aka, No Fool’s Gold

Yup. This is him, No Fool. Oh, he doesn’t look like much yet, but he’s a pretty decent guy, for all that. Humbly clothed, but richer than many a millionaire….

Okay. I admit…. This one has a leetle touch of an ulterior motive in it😆 I don’t know about anyone else, but…. Ohh, I get sick of hearing about gold fever and men losing their minds to the allure of the elusive…. Coming back broken, because they sought what was either unattainable, or cost them everything…. And sent them home mindboggling wealthy, and unable to even enjoy it. Like a Robert Service poem, the Yukon that swallowed men alive. 

Now, give me a story like that of Twelve Foot Davis, whose cabin possessed a latch string which was always out, and you have a happy camper. Er, scribbler. I LOOOOOVE pioneer stories,  I just like ‘em heart-rich, not weighted down with a sack of gold😆 

Soooooo… The thing is, I wanted just this one guy who DIDN’T.  Didn’t catch the fever, didn’t go down on the Gold Boat, only ever ventured down the Pass to bring others back down. That kinda guy. He’s in the middle of it with everyone else, he’s seeing everything they do… But it doesn’t take hold of him, and he finds his gold in the little things everyone else is missing. 

There is gold, and then there is Fool’s gold. But towering above them both, you have No Fool’s Gold… (Yes, this is what they call him, and no, it ain’t his real name…) And he seems to have a knack for finding it everywhere! Richer than George Carmack after the Bonanza Creek was discovered. 

Which is really, really rich. He stored up His treasures in heaven, and moth and rust were no match for them…

In The Lair Of The Evening Wolves

This one is brand new, y’all… So new it does not even have an attached description of plot. (Although it may posses a small orphan boy by the name of David. Found out just now.) And it has been echoing in my thoughts. 

I know very little about Evening Wolves, except that they are mentioned in the bible… And even so… Only the fact that they exist. In Zephaniah 3:3. Look it up!

I’m picturing this as set in an ancient times 63 years into the exile of the Israelites in Babylon, awaiting the promise of being brought home again, anticipation mounting… Again, Tessa Afshar, please?!! Oh, never mind, if she wrote every story I thought of, she’d be swamped beyond belief😜 Could also go by One Boy’s Journey.

Now hang you on, my handful grew!

Masterpiece:The Wonder Of God’s Crayons.

Sometimes children just say the most simplistically insightful things…. This is something I borrowed from my little sissie, when she was a much younger sissie than she is now… She’d say God’s “markers” must be pretty marvellous to colour the world like it is. And she was right. From the mouths of babes and five yr olds….

I’ve heard it said that we are God’s masterpieces….

But how often do we stop to believe that God simply doesn’t slip and drop a sudden splotch of paint in the wrong place? Not ever. We’re the ones who do that when we try to wield the brush our own way…. It’s like letting a five yr old loose on a Thomas Kincaid painting. Not good at all😆 

He doesn’t make mistakes with His works of Art, and He doesn’t do them randomly. Every line in us, whether we recognize it or not, is intentional, and that is beautiful. No, Anne, just because you were given red hair does not mean it was for spite. But how often do we forget? Read Zephaniah 3:17 if today happens to be a day when you could use a reminder of just how loved you are. A book I should read a great deal more often, or at least once thoroughly, because I had forgotten the beauty of the promises within its pages….. 

Huh🤔 Now I went n said a HANDFUL of titles, and here we see exactly… A cool seven. A handful plus two digits. Or maybe 2 pinches, if we count like I cook. 

But see, the thing is… Those are my main unwritten ones, and sometimes the names DO only come along after a thing is written. (Though about 3 of these are brand new, showing up for this specifically, I guess!) They can be convenient that way. Other times a name pops out of the blue, and demands you to use it. Or else it just sticks around. Sometimes a scribble goes title-less for years, but almost always… They go and choose their very own! 

Which puts me on the verge of Story Letters, and THERE is a topic for another post. One I may yet need to put Down The Rabbit Hole, because it thoroughly invigorates me😜

The joys of creating people, people!!!! The wonder of seeing a story spun before your very eyes and feeling rather like you’re just the pen… 

There now, how was that for a ramble rolled-into-scribble-airing?? I shudder slightly to think of how many miles have gone by, yet I don’t know of much I’d change… So there we have it (; 

The Title-Folk have had their little excursion into the world, foraying and sallying forth in scribbling suits  trimmed brilliantly with ruffles of Word-ribbons and Yet More Verbage.

So, dear readers… Now I must ask an opinion of you😜 Since you are so obligingly Still Here, and available to be asked, and also because I am now the slightest (ahem) bit curious… 

Question #One. Do any of these sound like stories you’d write? 

Ditto #Two. Which one most tickled your interest, and what do you see the contents as? Colours, picture's, characters… (That’s always my favourite part of discovering a story, discovering the people in it😉)

Okay. The walls of solid text are going abroad now, and the titles to seek wise counsel… And as for Emily, she is off to bed, being yawningly finishing the ending of this! 

Goodnight, you lovely people… Although chances are you’ll read this in the morning. That was not very well thought out. Oh well, goodnight anyway😆

Yours Wordingly,

~Emily

Dear Kindreds. I have something to tell you today. Or rather, I have a message to give you. A message from our dear Julie… And one she wanted me to give to you. And…. . And a stone uncovered is one you no longer have to trip over, but can avoid in the future. And for another “stone-story”, I say…. 

John 8:7-11.

Anyway. I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive her. I certainly have🫂

And so…. without futher ado, I give you….

Julie’s message.

It's been a long time... well, at least it feels like a long time, but perhaps some of you remember Seonaid, aka Seon, who wrote on here briefly...

Well... the time has come to admit that... Seon was a fictional character.

And before I explain any further... I want to apologize. I'm sorry... it was a lie, and it was wrong of me to pretend that Seon was a real person.

Y'see... Seon was a test... an experiment, really. I created her to see if I could effectively write a character who was very much unlike me. Right when I was beginning A Time of War (formerly The Duty That Lies Before Us) I was facing a challenge that I never had before... writing a boatload of characters very much unlike me. Ronnie, Josh, Mac, Emma, Katie... and so on and so forth goeth the list. So most of them have a bit of me in them, but for the most part, they are very much unlike me. And I wanted to be sure I could write believable characters instead of dead carbon copies of myself.

Enter Seon. 

And she served her purpose well... I guess she was believable, cuz I had people fooled... even Emi, who, being my best friend, is an expert on me... 

But it was wrong. And I'm sorry. There's no excuse for a lie, ever.

-Julie

In Which The Long Losted Returns

Hullo again at long last, ye kindreds very dear!

It is I, Emily—Of—The—Disappearing-Act… Oh, very very glad to be back, and having as Lizzie once said, “graduated from the Society—Of—Well—Kept—Eyes”!

You’ve no idea how lovely it is, truly😜 There’s nothing like a famine to make you rejoice in the prospect of feasts! And here… I am (: Back at last! 

Now… This isn’t particularly intended for a long post, just a “Return Of The Runaway Scribbler”, and to post a poem that once wrote itself… And wants to be posted now. 

Scribbles are wonderful, marvellous, splendiferous things, and funnest of all when they go with the wind and a bestie (;

But perhaps the most—humbling and inspiring sort… Are the ones that seem to write themselves, to come from beyond yourself. Have you ever had that happen? The kind where you look at it afterwards, and you can’t even take credit for the writing of it, because, as Emily Byrd Starr The-Original said it….

“Lovely thoughts came flying out to meet me like birds—They weren’t my thoughts, I couldn’t think anything half so lovely. They came from somewhere.”

That was the case with this poem. Ever since I was little, words have done things to me. They tickle until you simply must put them down, and tempt you with the turning of them, the weavery and splicing and fiddling of them…

An art to be joyed in. 

But the finest things…. Are written during the times when you sit back in sheer awe afterwards, and know that it was not you who wrote it. It was only written through you, not by at all.

It is… A humbling thing, to know yourself to be only an instrument. Only? Nay, not only. Broken, but beloved… Empty and useless on our own, yet perfectly directable in the Master’s hand. Useable. I think that’s the part that strikes me most! 

Even when we don’t see how. 

Can you imagine what the prophets must have felt, receiving divine revelation? Being given what would, thousands of years later, be true scripture, yet knowing in the moment only that it was God who gave it to them… To preach, yet not experience, to prophecy, but not to see… 

Now,in no way am I comparing this with scribbbles! Just a thought that struck me… 

Anyway. The piece aforementioned!

                               

Neither Ink Nor Author I,

Only an instrument in hand…

A vessel purpose driven, 

through the love that ever stands.

It is merely I who form the words,

Who sets them on the page.

They are not mine, but given me

Each word in His wisdom placed.

It is not I, yet I rejoice to be used,

Held in the Master’s guiding hand,

And in wonder, I see, word by word,

All the way… In the portrait emerging 

His fingerprints, 

and in awe and amazement 

I stand.

The ink, from the Spirit flowing.

Renewing in It’s power…

A strength and shelter freely gives, 

A hope for each new hour.

Neither ink nor author I, 

Only a pen in His hand…

But to be used by the Master

Brings true joy in the The Way,

And the Light of His love, 

Joy commands. 

Like the song says… Fill up my cup, let it overflow!

Wishing you all His joy today, and may you walk in the fullness of His grace…

May The Lord Bless You And Keep You Until We Meet Again.

—Emi K