Nestled in the Woods

I had hoped “Soar Above the Yesterdays” would have been released by Thanksgiving. It is a little behind schedule, but we have high hopes that you will be able to have your very own copy within two to three weeks.

To refresh your memory on the book, it is a sequel to “All Things”, and takes Susanna into some more decision making. Old characters are revisited; new characters introduced; there is mystery, history, and romance to add to the excitement. Susanna has two paths she can follow. Does God have a role in His perfect plan for her with her musical talents, or is there an entirely new and different path for her to travel?

For autographed copies of either “All Things” or “Soar Above the Yesterdays”, contact me at: jwb@junebarebooks.com

“Who is this child? I can’t guess who it is. I give up!” Teacher exclaimed.
She had guessed the other fifteen children in the room, and there was only one left. She could not guess who would act so foolishly. Who was behind the smiling mask?
If a child lived in the back farming country of our nation in 1946, chances are that she would receive her education in a one-room school. The teacher would have eight grades with less than thirty students in the school. These children probably did not know much about “trick or treat” as their city counterparts experienced. Neighbors were few and far between. To celebrate the age old holiday, Halloween, the teacher would have a costume party for the children.
Each child would dress up in a disguise, and the teacher would guess who each one was. The last child standing would get a little prize. After everyone had been unmasked, she would hand out packets of candy corn or licorice.
Such was Oak Grove School in Chester County, Pennsylvania where I went for six years.
A few days before Halloween…a brisk, sunny autumn day…Teacher took the entire school out into the woods behind the schoolhouse on a nature walk. We collected pretty leaves while she took advantage of the opportunity to give us a botany lesson. When we got back to the school house we sorted through our collection and the most colorful, biggest, and most perfect leaves were pasted on construction paper and posted on the back cupboard. Our art project for the week was to draw orange jack-o-lanterns, black witches and bats, and white ghosts on construction paper and cut them out to tape to the windows. The little room was festive in anticipation of the Halloween party.
The day arrived at last…Thursday, October 31, 1946. We had our costumes folded neatly in paper grocery sacks. We put them with our coats and lunch boxes in the “cloak room”, little rooms at the back of the school room…boys on the left…girls on the right.
It was difficult to concentrate on arithmetic, spelling, and geography that day. Recess and lunch time buzzed with excitement, as we whispered to our best friend what costume we were going to wear and how we planned to trick Teacher.
Finally. The last period of the day was suspended. We crowded into the cloak rooms, donned our costumes.  Masqueraded as witches, clowns, fancy ladies, cowboys, bandits, ghosts, and hoboes, we marched out in two single files to line up on the stage in front of Teacher.
One shy third grade hobo suddenly became brazen behind her mask. She swaggered about, she danced, and she made donkey ears with her little hands and stuck her tongue through the mask at Teacher.
“Who is this child?”
One by one Teacher guessed and unmasked the children. “This is Peggy… You are Donnie… Ah! David…Hazel.” She guessed fifteen children, but one remained unnamed, cavorting about the platform.
“Who is this child?”
The children were laughing, because they knew who it was. Teacher didn’t want them to tell her, but she simply could not name the child.
As a last resort she went to her desk and retrieved her attendance record. She went down the list in alphabetical order, naming each child she had unmasked. She came to the last name on the list, June Windle, and looked at the hobo.
“No! It couldn’t be June! Not shy little June.”
It was.
I learned that day that I did not have to hide behind a mask to do what I wanted to do. Although I knew it was rude to stick my tongue out and make donkey ears at Teacher, I knew that I didn’t have to be shy anymore.
I got a Hershey’s chocolate bar as my prize.

“Soar Above the Yesterdays” will be available by the end of October! The publisher has it in their hot little hand!

“Soar Above the Yesterdays” is with the publisher and should be available by the end of October or before.

Thousands of volumes
Millions of verses
 line the shelves
 of libraries
 book stores
 stacked away in attics

Poems of autumn
 scents…
 spicy wild flowers
 decaying leaves
 apples
 pumpkin pie
 sights… 
  golden rod
  purple iron weed 
  joe pye
  birds
  packed for a trip south
 sounds… 
  turkeys chirp in the woods
  crackling fires
  tractors turning tufts of summer down
 savors… 
  grapes
  new potatoes
  cider
 sensations…
  chill after summer sweats
  noses tickled by ragweed pollen

What about the country festivals?
What about the craft fairs?
Need I elaborate?
All these images…
 overdone
 sometimes trite
 
Autumn rather may suggest
 that winter
snaps at its heels
Lucy says,
“Time flies when you’re having fun.”
“As if you could kill time without injuring
eternity,” opines Thoreau.

What remains to place in store
 for children
 of a later year?
Will they know
 that we have
 walked our season?

Those million verses
 nostalgic
 sentimental
no harm to fill our senses
 with the memories
 with the images
They are our own
 to savor and enjoy

Yet…
 values
  tucked in
  next to the pumpkin pie
 beliefs
  shared
  on a walk down memory lane
 encouragement
  sprinkled with the sparks
  at fireside…
These a greater legacy
 for seasons yet to come

The new book “Soar Above the Yesterdays” is with the publisher.  Target date for availability will be within 2 months.  I’ll keep you posted.

Soar Above the Yesterdays, a sequel to All Things, brings Susanna Elder more life-changing decisions with romance, history, and mystery.  Old characters are revisitied and new ones introduced.  What mystery does her antique desk reveal? Susanna finds two paths in front of her; which one will she take.  Does she follow her dream of a career in music, or will Providence lead her in a different direction?  What hope for a future lies in the path of a single mother of twins?

September 4, 1959 was a beautiful and bright, if hot, day. It was our wedding day. What a trip that fifty years has been!
I have learned so much in those five decades, but I think the lesson I learned the best is that it is not “all about me.” I couldn’t really learn about love until I addressed that issue. When it’s all about me, any diversion from my desire, my feelings, or my control creates a barrier between us. Throw in some legalistic religion on top of that and you have a recipe for conflict.
When it’s all about the one another, we begin to see that our life is a connection. Marriage should be the greatest example of that connection. We live for our mate, and in return, we receive the benefit of love.  We have children together to express that love and the connection grows. This is the way it is supposed to work, but the minute “all about me” intrudes, love is compromised.
I hope that I have learned this lesson, and my goal is to perfect it over the next however many years God gives us together.

FIFTY YEAR SONNET

It’s been a fascinating fifty years
Of marriage, both “in sickness and in health.”
We planned for challenges and new frontiers,
And hoped for great success and maybe wealth.
Of course there would be trials marked by tears,
And sometimes conflicts cause by prideful self.
On some occasions undeservéd fears
That one would leave the other on the shelf.
But now we’ve set aside our separate spheres
While yet retaining differences we held,
And to our great surprise it now appears
Success for us has been unparalleled.

‘Twas neither pleasure nor prosperity
But love and trust has sealed the guarantee.

I Corinthians 10: 13…No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to us all. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

The end of the string,
and the concert’s not done;
but more string is essential
to complete the potential…
the symphony once begun.
Should I choose the same
or make a different choice?
The sameness is melodic;
a difference is harmonic.
Which sings to me the best voice?
The point…to connect,
and the choice is my own.
The Amen is not in sight,
nor should I take wings in flight
until He calls from His throne.
Meanwhile, we play the tune
with those of like kind,
and even when alone
it’s never monotone,
but textured with ties that bind.
God’s love keeps us not
from strings that can break,
but He’s the orchestrator
and none can e’er be greater.
He gives no more than we can take.

“Our Daily Bread?”

My garden has put a new spin
On the gift of “our daily bread.”
Fresh beans and tomatoes and squash
Are the foods that keep us well fed.

The problem with squash is too much.
I cook it, preserve it, and share.
The more I take, the more I get;
There’s more than enough I can spare.

I’ve come up with new recipes
To make daily squash a nice treat,
Because harvest soon will be done
And “bread” will be taters and meat.  

SQUASH PICKLES

(Modified Zylphia Lee recipe)

Slice following thin enough to see through:

·         2 lbs. summer squash (any variety)

·         2 small onions

·         1 small sweet red pepper

Cover with water containing

·         ¼ cup salt

Let stand for 2 hours

Meanwhile, set aside for later:

·         2 cups vinegar

·         2 cups sugar or 1 ½ cups Splenda™

·         1 teaspoon celery seed

·         1 teaspoon turmeric

·         2 teaspoons mustard seed

After 2 hours drain vegetables and bring vinegar solution to a boil and pour over vegetables; let stand another 2 hours; bring to boil and pack in hot sterile jars.

 Quick Sautéed Squash

Variety of summer squash sliced thin; season with onion powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste; place in frying pan with 1 teaspoon margarine or butter/ cup sliced squash; cook on high until it begins to brown; reduce heat and cover; simmer until squash is soft; sprinkle parmesan cheese over top and serve.

 Baked Squash Medallions

·         Any variety of summer squash

·         Buttermilk

·         Seasoned breading (for a hot spicy taste use Zatarain’s™ chicken breading)

·         Colby-jack cheese, cut in little squares

Preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit; slice any variety of summer squash into ⅛to ¼ inch slices; dip in buttermilk; shake off excess buttermilk; roll in seasoned breading; arrange on greased cookie sheet; bake until halfway soft; turn each slice and return to oven to bake until soft; top with cheese and return to oven until cheese melts.

I Chronicles 4: 10…And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.

This prayer, particularly the part about enlarging territory, was popular some years back, prompting marketers to make bracelets, coffee cups, tee shirts and the like to promote the idea that all we need to do is pray and God will give us material blessings. 

What happened to this notion?  I see neither confirmation that Christians are more affluent than their counterpart in the non-Christian world, nor do I see evidence of the once-trendy marketing tools these days.  It seems odd that Christian believers who may have diligently prayed that prayer seem to be suffering through this economic crisis at the same rate of non-believers.  Perhaps the prayer was not prayed in faith; perhaps that prayer was only meant for Old Testament times; perhaps it’s all a myth.  I do wonder if perhaps the prayer we pray in our day should be, not for personal material gain, but for a deeper spiritual relationship with God.

I pray my own paraphrase of this prayer:

Oh, God of Israel, I pray that You would bless me indeed; help me to reach beyond my self-imposed borders to others with the gospel and for Your Kingdom; may I walk in Your presence each moment today; keep me from the evils of this world; may I never cause harm or pain to those whose lives touch mine.

Another odd tidbit: the name Jabez means “sorrow”.  We must be sorrowful for our sins before we can expect the joy of Christ to reach out beyond those self-imposed borders.

It is not about what we have…the things that feed our greed; it is about the advancement of God’s Kingdom.  It’s not about me; it’s about Him. Pray to be more and more like Christ and God will, indeed, grant you what you request.