It’s All Love

Thank you all so much for your warm welcome back from the last post, it felt wonderful being back with my community.  ❤

“The greatest law is: love yourself first”
Bangambiki Habyarimana, The Great Pearl of Wisdom

Today’s Valentine’s day — a day the world celebrates love and everyone who celebrates does it in his or her own way.   I don’t wait for Valentine’s day — as much as I enjoy it I try to show love to everyone in my tribe every day.    And when I say everyone, I mean everyone — including myself.  This week found me indulging in things that nourish my soul and having a wonderful time of it.

I spent some time with my favourite redhead … Anne (with an E), second name Shirley and it was an absolute delight to visit Green Gables/Avonlea after so many years.

Anne Shirley

I was also “persuaded” to spend some time reading  Persuasion from my favourite author.

Jane Austen

I also spent time doing crafty things I love aka picking out the first lot of fibers for my breed study — a Bond sheep and Corriedale mix I got at a small craft fair in Brooklyn last October.  This spin is going to have it’s own post though … by the end of the month, I’ll give you an update. Bond/Corriedale mix

I’ve finally gotten back to feeding myself well and made some homemade vegetarian pizza to start this Valentine Day weekend off right  😀

Homemade vegetarian pizza

Then to top all this love off, I got unexpected gifts from a friend.  My West Coast “sister” came to visit and she made me a lace cowl and some granola.  I made her a sugar scrub that she absolutely adores; that makes me happy since giving fills me with more love than receiving.

Denise

I’m hoping you all had a wonderful week and your Valentine’s Day is as loving as you need it to be — whether you celebrate solo or with your tribe.  Talk to me in the comments, let me know how you’re celebrating your love day.  ❤

Book Review: Amish Christmas At North Star

With the Christmas rush now over, and winter’s official start, the time has come for us to cozy up with good reads and that’s what I wanted “Amish Christmas at North Star” to be — a good read.  I love all things winter, Christmas, snowy and Amish so I expected good things from this set of four novellas.   And truth be told, the cover had me at first glance.   Am I the only person who picks books based on covers?  I think not!  😛

Of the four novellas, I enjoyed two.  Not to say the others were bad but the stories did not hold my interest.  I read them for the sake of reading and being able to truthfully review this book.  The first (Guiding Star) and the last (Star of Grace) stories held my interest from beginning to end.  Without giving anything away, I really wanted to see how the protagonists connected to their pasts.  The descriptiveness of the Amish environment during winter and Christmas time evoked feelings of coziness that had me rooting for the protagonists to find happy endings.

The second (Morning Star) and the third (In The Stars) stories were hugely disappointing after the first.   Although there were high points in each , the plot lines were not as interesting as in the two stories I did like and I felt as if they dragged on a bit.

Overall, I’d give this book 3 out of 5 stars.  I wouldn’t re-read it in entirety but I certainly wouldn’t discourage anyone else from taking a crack at reading it.

Disclaimer: this review was done through my affiliation with Blogging For Books.  Although I received a copy for review, the thoughts expressed are entirely my own.

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