Once in a Blue Moon

I just looked out over the river and saw a blue moon (a full moon that appears twice in one month). We won't have the possibility of seeing another until 2015. In Michigan, however, because of cloud cover so much of the time it's even less than once in a blue moon that we see a blue moon.

8 YEARS AND COUNTING!

Today is our 8th anniversary. What a ride it has been! I can't imagine life without John. He's a far better husband than I could have ever dreamed he would be 8 years ago.

I'm in the process of reading a fascinating book largely consisting of the diaries of Mary Walker a nineteenth century missionary to the Oregon territory. She frequently laments her relationship with her husband who rebukes her for no good reason and who avoids intellectual interaction with her, while enjoying the conversation of another woman more than with her. She fears he doesn't really love her. Poor woman, often alone and out in the middle of nowhere, raising her little ones in primitive conditions with an unloving and uncaring husband.

How fortunate I am.

BOOK SUBMISSION

Yesterday was a great day. After more than a year of hard work, I submitted some 400 pages of hardcopy (more than 197,000 words) to my editor. This morning I sent the 24 chapters to him electronically. What a huge relief. The title is: The Biographical Bible: From Adam and Eve to John of Patmos. But, even though that title came from a Baker Book house insider, a committee at the end of the day could decide it's not right. I like the title and I'll fight for it. The most surprising thing about this book is that no one has ever written it before. There are lots of encyclopedic books that cover characters from A to Z, but no one has done it in a chronological fashion. The next step is the editing process, hoping to have the book in my hands a year from now.

It will be great to relax a little and get some much needed tasks done at the Gardens. Writing and shop-keeping, however, suit me fine. I've been saddled with a very short attention span, so writing for 15 minutes, waiting on customers, and weeding works well.

Here is a picture of Adeline, Pearl and Hilda. They are named for my three late aunts (sisters of my father)---named appropriately since I knew these aunts about as well as I know these fish. As a poor farm family, we thought them citified and somewhat snooty. Cold fish? I thought so, but I speak only for myself.

River Views

It is a cool evening, and I was sitting outside on our log bench near the river a few minutes ago and snapped these painter's-perfect views, the one above looking upstream and the one below, downstream. My little camera doesn't fully capture the light but my eyes do. We are so grateful for our little piece of paradise.

Jennie Carlton Stellrecht

Today is the 100th anniversary of my late mother's birthday. I recently put together a little website on her and I'm hoping my siblings will contribute some of their memories. I had hoped to make more progress on the site by now but between the business and my book deadline of August 31, this has been a very hectic summer. Here is a photo of my mother in her younger years---a beautiful lady.

Kayla at Lake Michigan