new territory

I haven’t talked much about what’s happening with Mom in the last while – but stuff is. The edema (fluid retention) in her limbs has been getting a little worse every day. It is also in her chest cavity so that she can’t breathe well. Even a walk around her apartment leaves her breathless and wheezing. On Monday I asked that her meals be delivered to her suite.

We’ve had her back to our family doctor, the heart specialist and our local hospital’s Heart Function Clinic. There she was being worked up to be part of the home I.V. program and get her diuretic delivered intravenously instead of orally, seeing as how the massive doses of Lasix she is on by pills don’t seem to be having any effect. I was told that the home I.V. program’s intention is that the patient or a family member give the treatment in the home. (This would mean that I would need to learn to do this? Yikes!)

I also put in a request, Monday, that she be moved to a higher level of care.

Yesterday her assisted living place called an ambulance for her and she was admitted to hospital (and I wonder if she’ll ever live in her little suite at the Villa again).

Also, the nurse in charge of placement called me back saying that if she requires ongoing medication by I.V., no extended care places will accept her. In other words, she’ll need acute care - that is, hospital (or perhaps palliative?) care.

Whew! On one hand I’m relieved that I won’t have to learn and give home I.V. I am not a nurse and the thought of doing something like that totally scares me. On the other, I feel sad and not a little bewildered and overwhelmed. We’re in new territory here.

The temptation is to worry, fret and be consumed with ‘what if’s.’ In this regard, the My Utmost for His Highest reading this morning, based on John 15:4, is perfect:

It does not matter what my circumstances are, I can be as sure of abiding in Jesus in them as in a prayer meeting. I have not to change and arrange my circumstances myself. With Our Lord the inner abiding was unsullied. He was at home with God wherever His body was placed. He never chose His own circumstances, but was meek towards His Father’s dispensations for him. Think of the amazing leisure of Our Lord’s life!

...Think of the things that take you out of abiding in Christ – Yes Lord, just a minute, I have got this to do; Yes I will abide when once this is finished; when this week is over, it will be all right, I will abide then....Determine to abide in Jesus wherever you are placed.

- Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest

(Also, if you have a minute, could you lift us up to the Father?)

flower fashion

Magnolia's wedding gown
is creamy white velvet


with a lacy veil
of water parsnip.


The Rose sisters
wear classic tailored suits
of pink jersey.


Aliums have chosen
ruffled sundresses
of yellow cotton.

Love-in-a-mist
is crisp and cool
in blue seersucker

But the Pansies

in their elegant but flirty

black satin dresses

steal the show.

interview with author Sharon Hinck

Today I get to talk to Sharon Hinck, author of the The Secret Life of Becky Miller.

Welcome, Sharon! Now, what I’d really like to ask is, what Becky Miller-type adventures have you already been on today. But since we’re dealing with virtual time here, I guess I’ll have to stick with my script. So, shall we begin.

Violet: The Secret Life of Becky Miller is your first full-length novel, but surely not your first published writing. Talk about your writing journey to this point.

Sharon: I’ve loved reading since I was about four, so it was natural for me to love writing as well. It wasn’t until grad school when one of my writing profs suggested markets for my articles that I began to pursue publication. Then it was parenting tips, devotions, first person non-fiction, humor kinds of things. I was the artistic director of a Christian ballet company for ten years, and during those years my writing shifted to newsletters, patron letters, scripts, and press releases. About three and a half years ago, I joined a local writer’s group and began my first novel.

Violet: Becky and her friends and family (in all their variety) ring true. From the way you paint characters and portray friendship and family, I get the impression you are a people-person. How do you reconcile the people-loving part of you with the many solitary hours required to write a book?

Sharon: This is an AWESOME question. I’m an odd blend of the melancholy introvert artist (the tormented Russian side of my genes) and a sanguine extroverted bubbly type (I have no idea where that came from). It’s actually a little tough, because I need extremes of both –– time alone in my mental cave wrestling with the monsters and shaping words for stories, and also intensive time with people interacting, debating, laughing, and sharing.

When I wrote my first manuscript (not yet published) we had family discussions around supper each night about the plot and characters. It was a fun interactive way to test ideas. However, I’m also learning that as I writer I need to listen to my own instincts...and sometimes need to get a little LESS input. :-) It’s a very challenging balance.

My writing groups help me get some of the social interaction I crave, and speaking for church groups and book groups also gets me out of the house and away from the invisible crows that flap around my head telling me how wretched my writing is.

Now that my first book is releasing, I’m having a harder time creating space and silence for writing. Honestly, I’ve begun to ask my author friends how they find time to write once they are published. Marketing, promotion, signings, speaking opportunities, answering reader mail, and stressing over whether the book will fly (okay, that one is optional...but one that eats up a lot of my time) all fill my day. One of the strange ironies of this business.

Violet: I really enjoyed the vignettes that began each chapter. How did you come up with that idea and what were you hoping to achieve with those bits?

Sharon: Those were GREAT fun to write. :-) I got the idea from the old James Thurber short story, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” - where we get a glimpse into the grandiose daydreams of a downtrodden “everyman.” Women talk about feeling like they have to be covert secret agents to keep track of their preteen’s activities, or a race-car driver to manage the car pooling, or have the balancing skills of an Olympic gymnast to manage all their roles. I just took those metaphors a little further. In addition to adding some fun to Becky’s story, I hoped they would give a window into Becky’s subconscious feelings about her life.]

Violet: The faith questions you grapple with in the story (for example, what is my Big Thing for God and what does God really require of me) resonated. Do they reflect experiences from your own life? What are some of those?

Sharon: Yes –– and more than I intended. I identify with Becky’s good-hearted desire to make a difference, and I also understand her sometimes ridiculous self-imposed pressures and expectations. But one of the spiritual themes that emerged as the story developed -- and that I hadn’t planned on--was that God uses us in our weakness. I don’t like that truth. I want to be big and strong and admirable. Instead, God invites me to offer my weak, flawed, and wobbly self and whispers to me to trust Him. Even when I can’t see it, He is allowing my life to bless others. And often the grand schemes I come up with do less to serve others and only exhaust me. And the quiet daily choices can make a huge difference.

Those are all concepts I believe in my head, but haven’t yet absorbed into my bones. In fact, my friends delighting in calling me out on my workaholism and perfectionism. “Hey, Sharon. You oughta read this book. It’s called The Secret Life of Becky Miller. It might help you realize how much you’re driving yourself.” LOL! With friends like that...
...I’ve got plenty of fodder for future books. :-)

Violet: Becky Miller falls into the mom-lit genre. According to this Writer’s Digest article, more and more publishing houses are seeking out such manuscripts. Did you write Becky Miller knowing that mom-lit was in demand, or was the meeting of your story and the current market a happy coincidence?

Sharon: I actually had read several general market mom-lit novels a few years ago that resonated with me, and there wasn’t much in the CBA at the time (although some fine ones came out while I was busy writing BECKY MILLER). Since I’ve written first person humor accounts for magazines and book compilations, the voice of mom-lit was a good fit for my writing style. However, I also love speculative fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, adventure. So by including Becky’s wild daydreams, I got to add a twist to my mom-lit.

Violet: Well done on Becky Miller! What’s next?

Sharon: Thank you, Violet! And thanks for letting me visit your awesome blog.
In March, 2007, RENOVATING BECKY MILLER releases from Bethany House. Becky and her family decide to simplify their lives by purchasing an old farmhouse to renovate. Yeah, right! Plus, Becky’s mother-in-law is having health problems and comes to live with them. Stresses abound at work, Becky’s best friend is acting weird, and the Miller family is on the verge of losing everything. Becky loves fixing things, so she sets out to fix her mother-in-law, her children, her church, and her friend. But God is planning some renovations in Becky’s heart.

The following year, IN THE KEY OF MOM will come out, also from Bethany House, about a concert flutist who is the single mom of a teen daughter. New characters. Still “mom-lit” but from a different sort of angle. I have a fourth book contracted that is still in development, so I’ll be busy for a while. And I suppose, like Becky, I’ll continue to wrestle with trying to figure out all the answers and coming to a point of deeper surrender where I trust God even when He doesn’t explain everything to me. :-)

Hugs,
Sharon Hinck

Violet: Congratulations on that multi-book contract! I, for one, am looking forward to more of Becky's adventures. And thank you for coming on my blog, Sharon. I hope June turns out to be a super month for your supermom!

profound words

from musical fellow-blogger Dulciana after a week of VBS where she was the music teacher. She led the kids in a train-making project using found music -- i.e. incorporating the sounds of everyday life. Though the project is done, she keeps hearing music -- everywhere!

Her profound conclusion:

...we can transcend the everyday even while being a part of it, on both an artistic and a spiritual level. Music does not have to exist in some realm separate from everyday life. It exists in the most mundane of noises if you can hear it. Similarly, the experience of God’s presence is not just a state of mind reserved for cathedrals. We can connect with the pervading presence of the divine in the most mundane of experiences like raking or gardening or cleaning the house. In fact, these may be some of the best ways.

(Well said, D!)

copyright tips for bloggers

An excellent article with links to more...

Hat-tip: Carol's Storybook

blog book tour

Monday - circle Monday! Then come back here to read Sharon Hinck in conversation. Sharon’s the author of The Secret Life of Becky Miller. It’s just been released by Bethany House. (You might want to get a copy – it’s good.)

The tour thus far has been varied -- and interesting. Here is a sample from yesterday's interview by Lisa at Heart Of Africa:

LISA: What is the number one thing you’ve learned from your writing journey?

SHARON: I need to write for an audience of One. When I began writing novels, I worried about the time I was spending on something that might not ever see tangible “success.” But as God reassured me that He valued our time together over a keyboard, I decided to accept that IF my writing was proven to be a waste of time, my time was His to waste, and I would be at peace with that.

So, check out other stops on her tour here, then come back Monday.

Sometimes you've just got to get away from it all.

another window garden

Rebecca who writes from the Yukon has just posted a picture of her garden taken from an upstairs window. I thought that was a great idea, so I tried the same thing.

This is actually five photos, put together by a neat photo editing program that came with my camera. It makes panorama pictures out of a series of shots.

Naturally my garden has the jump on hers in maturity - it being in the temperate west coast of Canada. Because my garden is made up of mostly perennials, my plants don't need to concern themselves with my habitual procrostination either. They begin to stir at the first sound of nature's alarm clock.

In a few weeks, I'm sure her garden will overtake mine, in practicality if not foliage... as hers is mostly edible. (I'm afraid I'd need to be pretty starved to be tempted by a salad of hosta, dahlia and impatiens!)

do you suppose

this little guy thinks he can't be seen?

(From our walk around the Nico Wynd Golf Course today.)

the weekend

was flavored by this profile piece on Brandilyn Collins (rising star of Christian suspense fiction). After reading it I was drawn to check out the story of how she got where she did, posted on her blog Forensics and Faith. Sixty fiveposts later... oh my - what a story! (It starts on February 24, 2005 and goes into June. Good thing I printed it out. But have you ever tried to read a consecutive story printed up by month in blog format? It’s a bit like putting a puzzle together!)

Then there’s the story of her healing from Lyme disease - short but compelling and faith-building.

I found lots of good practical stuff to take away from Brandilyn's stories, for my writer-life and my life in general. (If you’re an aspiring writer – in whatever genre but especially fiction – read her story. You’ll learn lots!) One thing she talks about doing over and over, especially in times of stress, sickness and confusion, is praying the Psalms.

Now I’ve heard of this before but haven’t done it consistently. I think I’m going to start.

In fact, I started this morning. I wrote down the list of Psalms she suggests (at the bottom of this post) for when in distress/sickness/pain and for praise, always.

I went to the first reference on her list, Psalm 25:11-16 and read it from the beginning. Though the verses 11-16 are bang-on if you’re ill. I’m not at the moment. But those first verses of the Psalm are exactly the cry of my heart today:

I need this especially in relation to Mom. If you’ve read here before, you know that she’s 92 and her health is failing. She had a crisis over Easter, which she has weathered and she’s still in her little apartment in assisted living. But she’s fragile. Yesterday afternoon she phoned, full of distress. She’s having trouble breathing, very wheezy and so tired she didn’t go for lunch, didn’t feel like going for dinner.

I went right over, we had a talk and soberly looked again at the possibility that this is the time to get her on the list for a facility with more care. Of course the trade-off would be less independence, an even-smaller room, perhaps a room-mate who is in who-knows-what cognitive state. What to do?

So this morning with yesterday in mind and still wondering whether calling Mom’s worker is really the right thing to do, I’m praying these words from Psalm 25 “...O my God I trust in You...Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths...” when the phone rings. It’s Mom. She’s says, “Don’t phone yet...”

Anyway, go read Brandilyn’s book story. At least you won’t have to wait for the next installment, like her readers in real time did.

weed trees

There is a cottonwood tree growing in the park behind our fence. When we moved here in 1983 it was small and kind of cute. I actually thought it and the few alders beside it might be in our yard. But when we dug to find the property markers before putting up a fence, they were just outside.


At first we hardly noticed the clump of trees except that it gave a little welcome summer shade. But as time went on the trees grew and shaded our back yard to the extent it got hardly any afternoon sun at all. My garden didn't like that. The strawberries became few, small and sour. The peas got mildew. The tomatoes grew gangly and blighted. Finally in discouragement I gave up my vegetable garden altogether.

Then came the year those trees housed a thriving colony of tent caterpillars. Our neighbors got the city to take out a row of infested volunteer alders behind their property. But when we made the same request we came upon the intransigence that has characterized their reaction ever since: What!! Cut down trees?! NEVER! Not unless they endanger life and limb.



Over the years as the alders have weakened with age and split in the cold and wind, we’ve convinced the powers-that-be they are a danger. One by one those weed trees have been removed. But the cottonwood remains.

Today it towers over the fence, its limbs leaning greedily omtp our yard. By now I’ve adapted my garden so that it’s full of hostas, impatiens and other shade-loving plants. And though each season we have to deal with the tree’s litter of cotton sticks in the spring and leaves in the fall, we can handle that. It’s the roots that are the issue now.



I can’t dig a foot down into the garden without encountering their ropy network. And they’re not only under the garden but under the entire lawn. Numerous times each summer we’ve found leaves sprouting from root nodes that poke through the lawn. When these are dug out they leave long scars in the grass. This week Ernie pulled out another. It was about five feet in length, three inches in diameter at widest and came within about a yard of the house's foundation.

The tree that started out so small and innocent-looking and now would take over our yard if we let it, reminds me of the sins of the self-life. A little pride, a little jealousy, a few hurt feelings, a small grudge, a bit of complaining, the odd lustful thought. Aren’t these natural? Just part of being human? Certainly not very threatening,

But any one of these things can take over and get so big that, like I changed what I put in my garden, we alter the way we live to accommodate them (look for ways to promote ourselves, avoid or not talk to certain people, snub others or put them down, cultivate friendships with negative people, dwell on thoughts of revenge, etc.). And still they grow, till they threaten the very foundation of life with neurosis, physical illness, broken relationships, addiction and financial ruin.

I wish there had been a way to deal with that weed cottonwood tree back when it was a sapling. There wasn’t and now we have no choice but to be watchful so that we limit the damage it causes. However, it’s possible with God’s help to deal more effectively with sin. The Holy Spirit and the Bible can help us identify it. Then we need to deal with it in the sapling stage, before its roots weave their network through our lives and threaten our very foundations

wild roses

The smell of wild roses is in the air these days.

Wild roses are plain-looking, compared to their hybridized cousins. But I've yet to find a domesticated rose with as sweet a smell.

These were the tiniest wild roses I've seen but with the typical big wild rose perfume. (Now I'd really be impressed with technology if a way could be found to communicate smell along with image!)

contemplating heaven

I think Jesus would be puzzled by our preoccupation with heaven as something that is exclusively hereafter. “The Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation,” Jesus said, “Nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21, emphasis added).

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

This is eternal life: that they may know You...and Me.

There is something about heaven and eternity that we have to grasp because if we don’t, we’ll miss everything else. We’ll read the music but never sing, study the choreography but never dance.

It’s this: Heaven starts now.

[...] Eternity is primarily a quality of relationship. It is first and foremost a presence: to know God and Jesus Christ.

Eternity begins now.

Christianity’s most shocking claim is that Jesus is the only way to God. No one gets to heaven apart from Jesus. No one enters eternal joy apart from Christ. That’s our claim. I have seen people react to it with anger, contempt, disgust, incredulity. How dare you say that ! That is so arrogant and narrow and imperialistic. That reaction might be warranted if heaven were only a place and eternity only a duration of time. But heaven is a unique knowing. It is personal, intimate knowledge, not of some thing but of Some One – the only true God and Jesus the one He sent.

This is eternal life.

– Mark Buchanan in Things Unseen – Living in Light of Forever, Multnomah Publishers 2002.

it's family day today

on the Serpentine Fen.

promptings' potpourri

Want to know what 100-year-old tins of food look (or smell) like, how the bitter cold affects getting around with even the hardiest of machines and how to have a social life even in the night of an Antarctic winter? The Antarctic conservation blog is written by a team of three who describe what it’s like to spend the winter in Antarctica conserving the artifacts left behind in the hut built by Ernest Shackleton - 1908.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here’s a wonderful story by Amy (Amy Loves Books blog) about what happened when she used ideas from Gary Chapman’s book The Five Love Languages to teach Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to watch a love story unfold before your eyes? It begins with Rejected by e-Harmony (Infuze might ask you to sign up but it’s free and painless) with sequels here and here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally from my comment box, Judy suggests Mike Yip’s Vancouver Island Birds. Let his latest journal entry whet your appetite (and another ‘brilliant’ for you, Judy!).

Beach Pea

a year ago today

TWO

became ONE

HAPPY, HAPPY First Anniversary!

sand sculptures - the best of the best

The Harrison Sand Sculpture competition that usually takes place in early fall has now spawned a new event – the Vancouver Sun Tournament of Sand Sculpture Champions. This Mother’s Day weekend competition was only for the best of the best: former world champions and medal winners.

The results are spectacular. They are on display on the beach, Harrison Hot Springs, until October 9th. It’s interactive too. Every visitor, attending the event between May 12 and June 30, 2006, will receive a ballot to vote for their favourite sculpture. These People’s Choice awards net the winners and runners-up $3000 and $2500 respectively.



The regular Sand Sculpture competition, this year the 17th Annual, is on again too at the usual time. Building is September 5-10 with the structures on display till October 9th.

Thanks to Rudy who gave us the heads-up on the new competition. His pictures are here.

(These photos are from last year's event, two angles of the 'Campfire Tales' sculpture. It won First Place People's Choice - 2005, team event and was constructed by Sandboxers - Victoria, Canada. Click to enlarge.)

birds were posing

today on our walk around the Nico Wynd Golf Course (Nicomekl River).


This swallow was our greeter today on the dyke path.















I finally got a shot of the eagle visible inside the nest.















This heron is definitely contemplating lunch.















And I captured this kildeer another day farther down the path when he and his mate were bent on luring us away from a certain spot in the trees.

Filed in Birding

salmonberries

The first fruit of the season sighted on our Elgin Park walk today. They were given the name salmonberries by aboriginals because of how much they resemble salmon roe.

I probably don’t have to tell you that these are no longer ‘on the vine.’