On the 6th Day of Christmas...

Hi, I’m Bridget! I’m from the same story as Colm O’Reilly.
I am here to share a more New Years-y themed post!
Now, in Scotland, (Where I’m from. A Scottish Lass is what I am!) Christmas isn’t actually an official holiday. It’s currently the mid 1950’s.
It was actually banned in the 1600’s. It’s been 300 years since yule celebrations were made illegal.
But now that I’m living in Ireland, we are free to have all the Christmas we want!

Enough about that now, I’m here to talk about Hogmanay. (Or, New Years Eve.)
We have delicious traditions to celebrate.
One of my favorite traditions, besides the annual steak-pie dinner, is the tradition of First Footing!

Tradition goes that after the stroke of midnight, friends, family, and neighbors go around visiting each other bearing gifts! (Usually of the food and drink variety.)
The first person to cross the threshold of a friend or neighbor’s house is considered to bring good luck to that house.
But, there is a catch. It is preferred that the first-footer is a tall, dark haired fellow.
It is a jolly tradition that goes into the wee hours of the New Year.
Sometimes even longer! First Footing has been known to last for days!

But probably my favorite thing is when we sing “Auld Lang Syne”.
Now, amongst many things, I love poetry; and Robert Burns has always been a favorite poet of mine. It is one of his most poplar works.
It’s a beautiful poem, set to an equally beautiful tune.
It is commonly sung on New Years Eve to usher in the New Year.
Which we do every year!
And now, I would like to share the whole poem with you.

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely you'll buy your pint cup!
and surely I'll buy mine!
And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine;
But we've wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine;
But seas between us broad have roared,
since auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And there's a hand my trusty friend!
And give me a hand o' thine!
And we'll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne!

A few of the words were changed for ease of reading, but there you have it!
I hope you all have a wonderful New Years Eve! I’m off to celebrate with my family now.
Bye!

Thanks Bridget!
I hope all you readers had a great 2018. May your 2019 be filled with God’s blessings, and may His joy fill your hearts and homes this coming year!
Until tomorrow,

God bless!

Megan

poem written by Robert Burns, courtesy of Wikipedia.

On the 5th Day of Christmas...

Hello there, Aaron Rochester here.
Seems it's my turn to do a post, so here's what I've come up with. Hope you enjoy!

I looked at my twin, and grinned. “Ready?”
She nodded, and cracked her knuckles. “Oh yes.”
We both took a deep breath and started singing. Ivy took the melody, I chimed in with the harmony.
“We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!”
A blond head poked out the previously closed door. “What the heck are you two doing?”
We stopped singing as soon as the door opened.
I shrugged. “Why, caroling of course!”
He pushed his glasses up his nose, and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Since when do carolers go around inside their own house?”
Ivy clasped her hands behind her back innocently. “Since now. Come on, Caleb. Join us?”
Our twenty-three year old brother shook his head. “I’m busy.”
I crossed my arms. “Sorry, can’t back out. We’re all going caroling in town.”
Caleb narrowed his eyes at us. “Why wasn’t I informed of this trip?”
I grinned at my sister. “We just decided a few minutes ago. Mom and Dad agreed that it would be fun. You wanna come?”
Our tall brother sighed. “Ah, why not...”
He straightened. “Are we supposed to dress up?”
Ivy nodded the same time I shook my head. When she saw my answer, she nodded again. “Of course! Get a vest and coat, and your nicest hat too. It’s common knowledge that all carolers have to look like they’re from the 1800’s!”
Right then, Dad walked up behind us. “What’s this? Who’s from the 1800’s?”
Ivy looked at him and grinned. “We are! Don’t you agree that we should dress up to go caroling?”
He feigned shock at the idea of not dressing up for the occasion. “Why, of course!” Caleb groaned. “Not only are you making me sing, now I have to dress up too?”
I scoffed. “Ha! You’re the one in the house who always dresses up the most when going places, and don’t deny it, brother.”
Caleb shrugged; a grin spreading across his face. “Ah, tis true, little brother. Unlike someone—” he poked my chest. “—I care about what I look like in public.”

An hour and a half later found us in the middle of the old section of our little town, wandering through the town square singing Christmas carols and hymns that pertained to our Savior’s birth.
Dad played his squeezebox in accompaniment while we all sang.
“God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay...”
I normally didn’t care to sing in front of people, but if I had someone to sing with, it certainly made it easier. And my family was the best group to sing with, in my opinion.
Once we had our fill of singing in the cold snowy weather, we all shuffled into the local coffee shop and jumped into line to order something to warm up our frozen insides.
We decided to go easy on the baristas, and all ordered hot chocolates.
Dad took a sip of his beverage once we gathered around a circular table.
“Ow!”
We all chuckled and giggled at the expression on his face.
“Daaad,” Ivy giggled, cradling her paper cup. “It’s hot!”
He puckered his lips and stuck his burnt tongue out. “Ya could have warned me.” Caleb smirked. “The name wasn’t a dead giveaway?”
Mom carefully sipped her own. “It’s hot cocoa for a reason, dear.”
Dad grinned and took another sip. “I knew that. I was only joking.”
I reached for the basket on the table that held complimentary candy canes, and stuck one in my mouth. After a couple minutes, I pulled the cane from my mouth; revealing a sharp pointed end.
“My favorite Christmas treat is the peppermint candy sword.”
Ivy rolled her eyes. “They’re called candy canes, not—”
I waved it around in front of me. “Now once you’ve sucked on it a while!”
Dad laughed. “Who knew such a delicious treat could be so lethal...”
Caleb set his cup down, and drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “Certainly wouldn’t be a choice weapon. The strength of the peppermint would be easily detected.”
I scowled. “Brilliant deduction, Caleb. Way to ruin a good plan.”
My big brother flashed a grin. “Just keeping you from being dragged off to jail, dear brother.”
I popped the top off my beverage, and stuck my peppermint stick in.
“Well, I don’t plan on bumping anyone off right now anyhow. But thanks for the warning. I’m much obliged.”
After we had fallen silent for a couple minutes, Dad lifted his cup.
“I’d like to propose a toast.”
We all turned our attention to him, and raised our own drinks.
He cleared his throat. “To Christmas, family, and hot cocoa. God bless us!”
We all echoed his toast, and took a drink.
I grinned, and raised the cup to my lips again.
“God bless us, everyone!”

Thanks for the snippet, Aaron!
Have a lovely Sunday, everyone. I'm off to prepare for church!

God bless!

Megan

On the 4th Day of Christmas...

Greetings! Tis I, Joshua Peterson.
Merry (four days after) Christmas, everyone!
Well, I was going to write about my latest Christmas, but...Amy kind of beat me to that...so...
How about I just share my favorite Christmas drinks and foods with you?
Since my dream is to own my own pizza joint when I finish culinary collage, I have a handful of great recipies to share!
(Don't worry. They're not pizzas. Though...A turkey sandwich pizza sounds really cool right now...)

Drinks
A very important part of any day is drinks, am I right?
So two of my favorite things are Hot Cocoa, and Eggnog.

Hot Cocoa:
2 Tablespoons Cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons Sugar
And enough Milk to fill your favorite mug. (as long as it's not one of those ginormous cups...Then you'll have to add more cocoa and sugar...)
A half teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Mix those, and heat them up on the stove. Once it's hot, but not boiling, pour it back into your mug and add two big Marshmallows, and a Candy Cane.
Viola! Vuwalla!...V....phooey.
And there you have it! A delicious Hot Chocolate!

Eggnog:
6 Eggs
A Half Gallon of Milk
3/4 to 1 cup Sugar (depends on how sweet you like it. I suggest starting with 3/4 and working your way up.)
A teaspoon Nutmeg
And a half teaspoon Vanilla
Blend the eggs and sugar in a blender until totally mixed together, then add flavors, mix until completely blended, then add milk. Blend again. You can't overdo it. Always overblend than underblend your eggnog. Trust me on this one...
Once done, pour into a tall glass and add a tiny sprinkle of Nutmeg on top for decoration.
Enjoy!

Not Drinks:
Very important, this.
And by not drinks, I mean food.
Now these aren't my very own recipies, but I recommend them:

Peppermint Cookies:
https://preppykitchen.com/white-chocolate-peppermint-cookies/#

Chocolate Fudge:
https://foodieandwine.com/3-ingredient-easy-fudge-recipe/

You may not have known, but my father's side all comes from the Scandinavian countries, so we have quite a bit of Scandinavian influences on our Christmas meals!
The above recipies aren't Scandinavian...That I know of...
But here are a couple delicious things we enjoy during the Christmas season:

Spiced Cake:
https://www.redonline.co.uk/food/recipes/a501507/spiced-christmas-cake/

A Yummy Roast:
https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/roast-pork-with-crisp-crackling-red-currant-gravy

Mom isn't too into fish, so we don't have many of the fishy things that Scandinavians usually eat during most of their meals.

There! Now that I'm totally hungry from talking about all this food...
I think I'll go grab myself some fudge I think is still leftover in the fridge.
Hasta la Pasta!

Great recipies Josh, thanks for sharing.
Hope you enjoyed this post, and maybe will try out some of these tasty recipies!
(I highly recommend the fudge!)

Until tomorrow,

God bless!

Megan

On the 3rd Day of Christmas...

Hello there, my name is Colm O'Reilly. (pronounced; Call-um).
You haven't met me yet, but my story is still a work in process. It's quite long.
Megan has been working on it for a couple years, but not a lot, so it's coming along slowly.

Anyhow, I hope you all had a very lovely Christmas!
I decided to see what sort of post Miss Hyde wrote yesterday, (I found it enjoyable, I hope you did as well!) and I decided that I am going to share a different sort of post.
I thought I would share some of my Irish Christmas traditions.

Nollaig Shona Duit!

This is the Gaelic greeting for this festive time of the year. Though I normally speak English myself, I do like to use my native tongue on occasion!
Nollaig Shona Duit is, as you have probably already guessed, means Merry Christmas.
You pronounce it: "Null-ig hun-a dit."

Decorations

Since my family isn't much for expensive decorations or extravagance, most of our decorations are handmade.
Ever since I was a wee lad, I liked to make the annual Holly Wreath.
It is still my job to build the wreath every year, but I always let my ten year old sister, Sarah, help me gather the prickly greenery.
Holly Wreaths are a very common sight here in Ireland. Since holly grows wild, the richest even to the poorest of us can make a lovely bit of decoration for our front doors.

Besides our annual holly, we always have a large pillar candle in our front window that we keep lit from Cristmas Eve, all the way to what we like to call "Little Christmas", or, Epiphany. (January 6th).

A frosty holly wreath

Celebrations

We have a small family celebration on Christmas day, a lovely meal with a nicely roast goose, potatoes, a Christmas pudding, and sometimes a few delicious rolls.
I dearly love Christmas celebrations, rejoicing for the birth of our Savior and King!
My family and I, which consists of my father, mother, younger brother Jack, and little sister Sarah; gather in our living room and sing Christmas carols, then give each other our gifts.
January 6th is a special day for the mothers, sisters and wives in our lives. We like to give them a day off, so us men take over the cooking, dishes, and all their usual housework while they get to visit each other and just enjoy a full day of no worries or work. In my opinion, our ladies should have far more than one day vacation from work, they work so very hard to make our lives easy and enjoyable... But I digress.

At the end of the 6th, we take all decorations down. Nobody dares to take them down before, as it is considered bad-luck to take down our Christmas decorations before the 6th. Perhaps it's a silly superstition, but we treat it as tradition. The decorations are lovely, so I'm never in a hurry to take any of them down.

Goodness, I think this post has been long enough, I don't want to bore any of you with my dull writing skills!

I had better go, I have some wood to chop. It's rather nippy outside, and I don't want the cold to find its way in here...

Nollaig Shona Duit, readers!

Thanks for sharing, Colm.

Hope ya'll enjoyed reading my dear character's post!

Hope you come back for tomorrows post, too.

God bless!

Megan

On the 2nd Day of Christmas...

Hi, Amy from the Time Travelers here.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you!

Since Megan is apparently too busy to write these posts herself, she has enlisted the help of my friends and I.
A list of names were tossed into a hat, and my name was drawn first; so...
Here is what my Christmas looked like:

*knock knock*
“Miss Hyde?”
I sighed heavily, and lowered the violin from my shoulder.
Aaaand there goes violin practice for the rest of the day... “What, Saunders?”
My Grandmother’s stereotypical British butler stuck his head into my music room. “Miss Hyde, your presence has been requested in the drawing room. The guests have arrived.”
I raised the lid to my case, and gently laid my precious instrument in.
“Alight Mr. Saunders, tell Grandmother I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
The elderly butler nodded, and ducked back out of the room.
I loosened the hair on my bow, and slipped it in before closing and locking the case shut.
As I left the music room, I glanced down at the chain hung around my neck; attached were my late Father’s dog-tags.
My Grandmother didn’t think they were feminine, so frowned upon my wearing them. I lovingly ran my fingers across the raised words on the metal tags, then tucked the special necklace inside my cream blouse before entering the drawing room.

I entered the room and spotted Josh and his Great Aunt, my Grandmother, and a few of her old friends that I’m not too familiar with.
I waved nervously as my eyes scanned the room for a seat I could take.
“Merry Christmas everyone.”
Josh waved me over to where he sat on a couch. “Sit here!”
Grandmother cleared her throat as I padded across the plush carpet to my friend’s side. “Amy, you’re just in time, I was telling everyone about how well you play your violin.”
I stopped short on my brief trek to the couch. “What?”
All of the guests nodded.
Grandmother smiled primly. “Why don’t you fetch your instrument and give us a little recital?”
“B-but—”
Josh leapt up. “Come on Amy, just a little song?”
I felt my face getting red from the attention of everyone, but nodded slowly. “Oh, I guess...I’ll go get my violin.”
Josh jumped up and hurried after me as I left the room. “Hey Amy!”
I glanced over my shoulder and scowled. “Gee, thanks, now I’ve gotta play.”
He gave me his goofy grin. “But you’re real good at it.”
“I don’t like to play for an audience.”
He continued to follow me up the staircase. “Gosh, sorry...But...You’re still gonna play though, right?”
I scoffed. “Do I have a choice?”
Josh stopped his assent up the stairway, and frowned at the carpeted steps.
“Maybe—” He snapped his fingers. “Oh, I know! I’ll hide it, and you can say that you couldn’t find it!”
I laughed. “You’re a pal, Josh. But I don’t think that would work.”
He took the steps three at a time and reached the landing. “Oh, alright.”
We fell silent as we approached the music room door.
I was about to reach for the handle when Josh coughed. “Hey, would’ja like your Christmas present now?”
“Now? Why now?”
He followed me into the room. “I figured you wouldn’t want everyone to—” He pulled a package out of his back pocket and thrust it into my hands.
I gently pulled the wrapping paper off the package. Inside, I found what looked to be two small oval gold plated picture frame. I looked at my friend in confusion.
He grinned. “It’s for your Dad’s tags. They should fit perfectly inside, and they’ll be pretty, and maybe your Gramma won’t mind you wearing them.”
I clasped the golden frames to my chest, and smiled broadly at my friend. “Oh Josh, this is the sweetest gift! Thank you!”
He beamed. “I was hoping you’d like them.”
I opened my hands, and admired the intricate gold lining before hastily slipping them into the pocket of my jeans. “Thank you very much, Joshua.”
He shrugged and grinned. “Glad you like them. Now...better get that violin. Don’t want Gramma to get impatient.”
I sighed and reached for my instrument. “Yes, this is true. I shall play, but only one song.”
We both started back down.
Josh skipped a couple steps ahead of me. “Three songs!”
I gripped the handle of my case a little tighter. “One.”
“Four!”
I shook my head. “That’s not how you’re supposed to haggle.”
He turned and walked backwards; a grin on his face. “Five. That’s my final offer.”
I rolled my eyes, and chuckled in defeat. “Two. And that’s all I’ll do, or none at all.”

My bow slid over the strings of my violin, my fingers pressing and sliding to create the melodies of two of my favorite Christmas carols.
When I finished, and the small group applauded, I caught Josh’s eye and smiled.
“One final song.”
Josh’s face lit up and he settled back on his couch in glee as I played what I knew to be his favorite Christmas song:
“God Bless Us, Everyone”

Thanks for helping out, Amy.
Hope you all enjoyed!
Until tomorrow,

God Bless!

Megan

On the 1st Day of Christmas...

Salutations my readers!
I hope you all had a blessed Christmas!

I'm going to do a series of posts for the 12 days of Christmas!
"The 12 days of Christmas?? But those already happened, didn't they??"
Ah, that's what most people think, yes.
But!
While some folks assume the 12 days are the ones leading up to Christmas, they're actually the 12 days after, between Christmas Day and Epiphany, (or, January 6th.).

Epiphany is the celebrated day that the Magi brought their gifts to our Savior.

So in honer of the twelve days, I am going to write a new post every day, (or, try to anyway...life may get in the way...) but instead of "me" writing them, I shall inlist the help of my characters.
Each day you'll get a post written by a different character, and a tiny snippet of a Christmas story featuring them.

I hope you enjoy the upcoming posts!

Until tomorrow,

God bless!

Megan

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

A very happy Christmas to all!

It is a mere 11 days until the greatest day in all the year; December the 25th!

Lately:

I hope you had a fabulous last few months. I have been a bit MIA lately, I know, but I have an excuse.

I worked in Kentucky from Oct. 5th, to December 1st. It was the best job I could have ever asked for; working for the Ararat Ridge Zoo at the Ark Encounter, which is an attraction built by the Answers in Genesis ministry. An absolutely fantastic experience.

If you're ever in Kentucky, I highly recommend visiting the Ark!

And if you live nearby, and need a job...they're one of the best places to work for as well, I think. Super nice staff, all like family!

Anyways, after leaving, Tiffany and I drove back home (with our Dad and little sister) in 55 hours without stopping for more than an hour at a time to rest. It was fantastic, driving along the Route 66, (practically. It was route 40, but they crossed paths a few times.)

But, like they say: There's no place like home!

Now Christmas is coming...it's practically here!

It doesn't exactly feel like Christmas here yet; it's been wet and warm.

But I'm hoping for a good snow on Christmas Eve, like we were blessed enough to receive last year!

But to make up for the lack of Christmassy feeling outside, my family and I have decorated the inside of the house to look ever so festive!

Now we must bake some cookies, sing carols around the piano, continue our tradition of watching nearly every Christmas Carol filmed, (We own more than half a dozen of the known films. It's fantastic. If you need a recommendation, The Muppets Christmas Carol, and the musical; Scrooge, are my personal favorites, even if they do deviate a bit much from the book...They're musicals, so how can you go wrong?) ;-)

This post is long enough, I daresay. I must go off and play more Christmas music.

A very merry 11 days until Christmas, to all!

~What are some of your Christmas traditions?~

~Which is your favorite version of A Christmas Carol?~

~Are you dreaming of a White Christmas too?~

~Did you catch the two quotes from two Christmas movies I used?~

I'd love to read your answers!

God bless!

Megan

Of Dragons and Plot Bunnies

Hi ya'll!
It's been a while.
Can you believe it's already November 8th? I sure can't. It seems like it was just August 1st...

Anyhow...
I have been reading, writing, and painting in my free time lately.

Reading:
I must recommend this new Trilogy I have recently come across, and devoured.
It took me only ten days to read the entire trilogy. It was fantastic.

The Remnant Trilogy

Fantastic books about what Noah's life could have been like before the Global Flood. Written by Tim Chaffey and K. Marie Adams.
I highly recommend them; they're funny, heartbreaking, entertaining, intense, amazing, and fantastic!

Seriously, go check them out!

Writing:
Been working on reaching my 100,000 word count goal on a story I've been writing for about two years now. Perhaps one day it'll be finished, and I'll self-publish it.
It's a story about a young Irish man, and his struggle with many things in his life including a vengeful co-worker, a friend struggling with his Faith, long-lost family secrets, surprising new family members, and learning to put his trust fully and wholly in God.
It's...a work in process. ;-)
(this is my plot bunny. It started out as a NANOWRIMO project two years ago, and I've been slowly working on it since then.)

Painting:
All watercolor paintings below...
So I painted the dinosaur painting I used for the picture for this post.

Behemoth! One of my favorite dinosaurs. 

Fun fact: The word dinosaur wasn't invented until 1841, by a guy named Sir Richard Owen.

Next, my first attempt at a bird of prey:

The American Kestrel

A commission-of-sorts from a friend who is a falconer. The Kestrel is such a pretty little bird! Barely the size of a pigeon. I never realized how small they were until I looked up pictures!

And lastly, my favorite, a baby red kangaroo:

Ruby the Red Kangaroo

This is a darling little Joey that I have had the privilage of meeting. She's the cutest little "roo" I've ever met.

Well that's about it for this post.
Here's a writing prompt, before I go, since I've not been posting those lately...

~ How is your Autumn coming along? ~

~ Has it snowed yet where you live? ~

~ Did you remember to set your clocks back? ~

That's all for now, hope you enjoyed this post!

God bless!

Megan

Writing Wednesdays #006

Greetings!
This blog post is coming to you from the beautiful state of Kentucky!
We've visited the Creation Museum three times so far, and the Ark, also thrice since arriving! Both places are so amazing. I highly recommend that if you're ever in the area, definetly visit these places!
Ok, so onto the prompts.

Since I didn't get to post last week, you get extra this time. ;-)

~ Which did you like the best? ~
~ How's your autumn going so far? ~

Hope you enjoyed the post!

God bless!

Megan

Writing Wednesdays #005

Happy Autumn!

I'm back again to give you a few more writing prompts.

 

~ Which one is your favorite? ~

~ How is your Autumn going so far? ~

~ Do you like Musicals? If so, what's one of your favorites? ~

See you in the comment section!

God bless!

Megan

 

A British Mystery

Greetings dear reader!
Today is *gasp* the last and final day of Summer.
And on this final day of a very very busy summer, I bring you a little excerpt of a little Murder Mystery I came up with many moons ago...(in June, 2014)
I have put up a blurb of it on my Short Stories page, but shall give a few more details here in this post.
It is titled The Murder of Mr. E. J. Hampton. (Not sure if I'll keep the title, but that's the original one.)

Here is a snippet from the story itself:
(Bear in mind, this is an original scene with barely any editing done...so please excuse any errors!)

Six o’clock the next morning found Captain Windsor sitting on the front steps of the police station.
He sat impatiently; tapping his fingers on the porch. “Does every police officer in this city sleep in? Where is everyone?”
He yanked his pocket watch out of his vest and looked at it fiercely; attempting to read it in the pale light descending from the street lamps.
“Where is Cobbs?”
Right then, Constable O’Halahan appeared, keys in hand to open the doors.
He stopped short when he spotted the detective.
“Why, detective Windsor, a good mornin’ to ya! What brings you here so early?”
Windsor stood up and rubbed his gloved hands together. “It’s about time you got here.”
Ryan fumbled with the keys. “You must be freezing.”
“Very nearly.”
They both stepped into the cold entryway of the station.
Ryan hung his kelly green scarf on a hat hanger, and hurried over to a cast iron pot-bellied stove in the middle of the room. “I’ll have a fire roarin’ soon, Detective; sit tight.”
Captain Windsor pulled his coat tighter around his shoulders as he sank into the chair behind his desk, suddenly becoming aware of how cold he actually was.
Looking out the  dark window, he spied tiny speckles of jack frost at the corners of the windowpane, and shivered.
“Do you need any help with that fire, O’Halahan? Perhaps more wood?”
Ryan looked up from his squatted down position beside the stove. “Thank you kindly detective, but I’ll manage.”
Right then, Mr. Cobbs appeared in the doorway.
O’Halahan flashed a bright smile of greeting in his direction. “Top of the morning to you, Mr. Cobbs!”
Cobbs nodded at the young man. “A very good morning to you as well, Ryan. My, but it is cold out this morning!”
Captain Windsor stood and shuffled over to the fireplace. “Coldest I’ve seen all season.”
Henry looked up in surprise. “Captain! I didn’t see you there. You’re early...”
“Couldn’t sleep.”
Ryan clicked the door of the stove shut, and clasped his hands together. “That’s done. It will be warmer than July in here in no time at all!”
Mr. Cobbs held his pudgy hands close to the stovetop. “I wouldn’t mind.”
Windsor coughed, and shrugged out of his thick wool coat. “Henry, did you happen to catch the name of the Hampton family doctor?”
“No sir, I’m afraid I didn’t.”
“Well we need to find out, blast it! I’ve been up since four this morning, pacing the floor until the sun rose!”
Ryan looked out the dark window. “But detective, the sun is still below the horizon...”
Windsor stopped short. “So it is...But that is merely a small technicality! Cobbs, we must go to the Hampton residence immediately and find out who the doctor is.”
Henry reached for the coat he had just taken off. “Do you suppose they’re even awake yet?”
The detective shook his head. “They had better be. But Miss Hampton is most likely leaving for her relatives this morning. I don’t want to miss her!”


I hope to write a few more stories with these characters, and put them together in a collection of sorts, and publish them all at once in one volume.

~ What do you think? ~
~ Do you like mysteries? ~
~ Who is your favorite character, of the three you've met in the snippet? ~

Happy last day of Summer!

God bless!

Megan

Writing Wednesdays #004

Bonjour mes amis!

It's beginning to feel like Autumn here in the Great Northwet;
chilly mornings, rain, warm days and cool evenings...I love it! 

It has inspired me to paint! Here is my latest acrylic panting:

An early autumn morning

Well anyways, here are a few more writing prompts! 

How is your month going so far? 

Feeling autumny yet where you reside? 

Which prompt do you like best? 

Lets chat! 

God bless! 

Megan

Busy Days

Happy September!
Just one question...Where did August go??
I mean...Didn't it just start like, last week?
Anywho...
This has been the busiest summer I think I've ever had.

But the year ain't over yet!

So here's what's going on for me these next few months:
From the first week in October to the first week of December, my sister Tiffany and I will be working at the Ark Encounter in Kentucky!
That's approximately 2,300 miles from home. *terrified scream*
It's gonna be fun. I'm excited to be able to work alongside like-minded folks, and be able to talk to the thousands of visitors about God and His wondrous creation!
I'm also excited to see the life size Ark. It's gonna be so neat!

Besides that, as you writer folks probably know, NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month, which is November, for y'all who might not have known.) :-)
is just around the corner...
I haven't decided if I'm going to attempt to write the full 50,000 words this year, as I have no idea if I'll have time with my work schedule.
But I hope to get at least a little writing done if possible!

So if my posts are random, few and far between, or completely non-existent...I thought I would give y'all a heads up. 😉

~ Have you ever visited the Ark? ~
~ What are your plans for Autumn? ~
~ Are you planning on participating in NANOWRIMO this year? ~

God bless!

Megan

Writing Wednesdays #003

Greetings, and welcome back to another episode of Writing Wednesdays!
Here are a few more writing prompts:

Hope you enjoyed these!

Can you believe that August is nearly over?

I'm excited for Autumn. It's my favorite season!

~ What is your favorite season?

~ Which was your favorite prompt?

God bless!

Megan

Meet the Characters - Pronunciation Guide

Greetings!
I was thinking it would be a good idea if I provided a little pronunciation guide on my Scottish character names in my book, Trouble in Scotland.
A few folks I know have commented on how they aren't sure about the way to say some of the characters' names, so here is a list of the names, and how I pronounce them.
(my personal pronunciation may be different from the official original ones, but...I get to call them whatever I please, because I wrote them, eh?) ;-)
So here they are:

- Artair - Are-TARE

- Mairghread - MARG-red
(Nickname; MARG)

- Teagan - TEE-gan

- Gavina - Ga-VEE-na

- Fiona - Fee-OH-na

- Fenella - Fin-ELL-ah

- Mairi - MA-ree

- Alexander - Al-ig-ZAN-der

- Riley - RY-lee

And there we have it!
I hope that helped if any of you were unsure of how to pronounce any of my characters' names. :-)

- How is your summer going?
- There are lots of wildfires around my town; is it smoky where you live too?

God bless!

Megan

Writing Wednesdays #002

Greetings!
Here we are again for some new prompts.
Hope you enjoy!

Which one do you like best?

Any of them inspire a story or scene for you?

How's your summer going?
Hope you're staying cool!

God bless!

Megan

A Strange Case

Did my title pique your curiosity?
Brilliant. My plan is working beautifully!
*attempt at a evil laugh, resulting in a choking cough*...
Anywho, this post is an introduction to my soon-to-be-published short story; The Strange Case of Willoughby Spalding.

Here is my back cover "teaser":

Young police inspector Will Spalding is handed a case that involves a missing person. As he and his assistant investigate the story behind the missing young man, the similarities behind the life of the missing man, and the detective himself, become increasingly strange...

Elizabeth Archer is trying hard to be the best secretary she can be. When she is enlisted to take the place of Inspector Spalding's driver and assistant, she soon realizes that her relationship with the young inspector is in danger of becoming more that just professional...

I had fun writing this little story. It is based in a small English town, set in the late 1940s.
It is just about ready to be finalized through my self-publisher, CreateSpace. All that's left...Is the cover. 
I have the cover all completely finished! The catch? It's only finished in my head. 
I just need my photographer sisters to help me get the perfect cover photo... (hint hint, dear sisters!) 😉

Once that's finished, I'll have a little "cover reveal" here on my blog.

What do you think, does this sound like an interesting book?
Do you prefer long, full length novels, or shorter ones?

Hope y'all are staying cool in this hot August weather!

God bless!

Megan

Writing Wednesdays #001

Happy August first!
Goodness, July flew by. Where did it go?
I hope your summer is a good one so far!
Anyhow, I meant to have a post up last Tuesday, but I couldn't think of anything to post...
But, I have come up with a blog series idea. I'll post snippets of dialogue and story ideas that I have heard, read, or come up with.
I shall title it, the "Writing Wednesdays" series, and post every couple of weeks.
Here are a few to get this started:

What do you think of this idea?
Which one of these prompts do you like best?
Let's chat!

God bless!

Megan

What's in a Name?

To paraphrase Juliet from Shakespeare's Tragedy, Romeo & Juliet;
A rose of any other name would smell just as sweet.
"What's in a name?", she asks.
I too, ask this of you, dear reader. But this question is based upon a much different subject...

I have been thinking about names and titles lately, and need some advise.
My second book, which I hope to have finished before the end of this year, needs a title.

So here is a little about the book, first, so you can get an idea of what it's about:

When the four friends meet during a vacation to the Pacific Northwest, they learn about the famed United States Schooner, the Shark, that wrecked on the mouth of the Columbia River in 1846, just past Astoria Oregon.
While they are visiting the reconstructed fort Vancouver, the four teens get transported back in time to the year 1846, and they soon find out that the day the ship wrecked, is a mere two days away.
After some difficulty, the foursome are able to gather supplies and travel down the raging Columbia River, and reach the Schooner before it set off from port on its fateful voyage, but the Captain will hear nothing about their warnings...

So! As you know, my first book was titled "Trouble in Scotland", and I thought it would be fun to carry on that theme with the other books in the Time Traveler series.
So I need your thoughts!
Here are a few names I've come up with that includes the word "Trouble":
~ Trouble in Astoria
~ Trouble in the Columbia
~ Trouble on the Shark
~ Trouble on the Oregon Coast

Or, if I didn't follow the theme of "trouble", here are a few others I have come up with:
~ Shipwrecked on the Oregon Coast
~ Quest for the U.S.S. Shark
~ Wreck of the U.S.S. Shark
~ Shipwrecked in Astoria

Which title do you like best?
What are your thoughts?
Do you have any ideas for a title that I didn't mention? Let me know!
If you do have an idea, comment below. If I like it and use it, I will send you a free, signed copy of my book, once I get it published! :-)

Hope your summer is going well, and you're staying reasonably cool!
God bless!

Megan

Quote from Shakespeare's tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. Act II, Scene II, Line 47 & 48. I don't own the picture. Courtesy of Google...

My Country 'Tis of Thee

Happy Independence Day!
The 4th of July is probably one of my favorite holidays.
It is a day we celebrate the freedom and liberty we have, not just from living here in the United States of America, but the freedom, justice, and liberty we have through Christ!

Most people, I think, I hope, know the first verse to our beloved National Anthem, the Star Spangled Banner. But I find that not many folks know the rest of the verses. While I don't really know the second and third, I do know the fourth, which is my personal favorite:

"O thus be it ever when free men shall stand

Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave."

Isn't it beautiful?
In God is our trust.
Let us praise God for blessing us with this nation!
God bless America, my home sweet home!

May you have a wonderful Independence Day. 😊
God bless!

Megan

Watercolors & Summertime

And here we are, on the final Tuesday of June. My my, how time flies!

I hope you have had a lovely summer thus far!

Maybe it's just me, but watercolor and summertime seem to go hand-in-hand.
Growing up, I always liked to watch the 90's British animated cartoons based on Beatrix Potter's stories, and the idea of sitting atop a green hill and painting the landscape surrunding, like Beatrix is doing at the beginning of each episode, (before retreating indoors to escape the unexpected rain storm, of course...) is something that has always seemed like a lovely way to spend a warm summer afternoon...
Here, in case you haven't seen it, this is the 3 minute clip of the intro. ☺

 

Gosh, this clip is making me feel rather nostalgic...makes me feel old...

Is it alright if I curl up into a ball and wish that I was 5 again?

*Ahem*

Anyway! Speaking of watercolors, here are a few of my paintings I have recently done:

1920s

1916

1908

1890s

Sorry for the badly taken pictures.
I hope to paint a complete set of fashion paintings ranging from 1810 to maybe 1960. What do you think of the plan?

~ Would you like to see the entire collection if I complete it? ~
~ What year would you most like to see? ~
~ Which of these costumes do you like the best? ~

Leave a comment! I'd love to chat!

God bless!

Megan