Saturday, March 14, 2020

Sunshine Award


Thank you, Joan Edwards, for recognizing me with a Sunshine Blogger Award. Check out her blog that just oozes with her lovely sense of optimism. I can always depend on Joan for an encouraging word and so must many others because she was recognized as a "Sunshine Blogger." Now she passes the award on to me and several others who she lists on her blog.
This sudden surprise made me smile. A sunshine award! Not that I'm always Susie Sunshine or anything (I can claim that title because Sue is my middle name), but my aim IS to be positive in my blog posts.

So here goes on what Joan sent me to reply, quoting Joan, with my answers in red:
  1. What makes you happy? Accomplishing what I hoped
  2. What is your favorite place to travel on a vacation? Taos, New Mexico Why? Besides being art colony to savor the atmosphere, it is where my daughter lived for several years
  3. If I could ask one question of an important leader of a country now or in the past, who would you choose, and what would you ask him/her? I am researching the Whiskey Rebellion for a project I'm working on now so I'd like to ask George Washington about his role in that.
  4. What is your favorite color? brown Do you have many outfits in that color? Yes. I prefer earth tones.  Attach a picture of you wearing one of your favorite colors.
  5. How would you prefer to spend your weekend? Creating great art, writing, movies, or hiking? A little dab of all four! 
  6. What is the most important quality of a friend? Truthfulness
  7. What is your favorite book? I can't pick a single book, but usually it's the latest book I'm reading. I meet with local writers once a week and each of them have new books out. I've read them all and enjoyed each for its uniqueness. Would you read it again? By all means, and I have read the haiku poetry book by one member a couple times.
Reading back through what I have written, I'm looking for the sunshine amidst the brown, earthy answers. I see it in the books I choose to read. I surround myself with positive books so I can keep my mindset on the joyful wonders of life rather than the darkness that creeps in when least expected.

I want to refer you to a few equally Sunshine blog friends of mine who deserve the "Sunshine Blogger Award." They are authors in our Foothill Writers group. To them I ask, "Why are you overflowing with sunshine?"

Polly Anna Watson writes about Biblical Joy in her book that is to be released this week on kindle, Joy Actions. Her blog, Joy Regardless is a companion to the book and worth checking out for the sunshine it brings.

Stefanie Hutcheson takes us on a journey as head wanderer in her blog, Wandering Through the Bible. Her book, The Adventures of George and Mabel, is a delightful book that she has extended through a facebook page, GeorgeandMabel Harrison, as she writes the sequel.

Also on an author facebook page is Jan Lindie, who does her own beautiful art work in her soon-to-be-released novel, From Darkness. I am so looking forward to reading it.

Stop by their sites, visit with them a bit and see why I consider them worthy of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

There are other authors in our writers' group that I want to mention who have published recently but don't have an online presence beyond personal facebook pages. Carol Starr writes poetry that she shares in her "Little Poems" book, Ripples. Vivian Satterwhite writes short stories and includes an award winning short in her book, Sweet Tea in Autumn. Thomas Ballantine, a pseudonym for our buddy we call Tom, released a novel, Ridge Runner, that entertained me with a trip back to my own early adult years. I just completed a novel by Gena Williams, Stolen. I had this book on my "to-read" list for a few weeks and saved it to last because a friend who read it warned me that once I started I wouldn't be able to put it down. Friend was right.

If you are homebound the next few weeks, you should find your own sunshine by reading these books.

Catch of the day,

Gretchen

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