8 09, 2014

Harvest Moonlight and Spooning

By judythemorgan|2014-09-08T07:00:00-05:00September 8th, 2014|Uncategorized|0 Comments

SOURCE: : http://cheddarbay.com/Shanghai%20Breezes/MoonFestival/moonfestival.html

Recently, I attended a stargazing gathering at the home of our local Night Sky expert, Darlene Danko, who writes a weekly column by that title for our local newspaper. It’s one of the first columns I read.

Last week, Ms. Danko set up her computerized telescope in her front yard and invited the neighbors to join her.

It was fascinating to see craters on the moon and rings on Saturn up close. We saw lots of other stars and galaxies, but the moon and Saturn were the best.

For the next few nights, all of us will have the opportunity to see a full moon without such a fancy telescope.

The moon will be coming up at dusk or nightfall for several nights in succession, a progression of moonlit nights that characterizes the harvest moon.

The term harvest moon probably came from farmers who used the extra moonlight during fall harvest. Then in 1903, Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth popularized the name in the popular song Shine On Harvest Moon. Here are the words:

Shine on, shine on harvest moon Up in the sky,

I ain’t had no lovin’

Since January, February, June or July

Snow time ain’t no time to stay Outdoors and spoon,

So shine on, shine on harvest moon, For me and my gal.

The old sheet music cover (and words) warm my romantic heart.

And, this year the Harvest Moon is a bit bigger than usual … because it’s also a supermoon.

Astrologer Richard Nolle came up with the popular name supermoon to describe a new or full moon which occurs with the moon at or near (within 90% of) its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit. Technically the phenomenon is a perigee full moon, or a perigee new moon.

Whatever you call it – harvest moon or supermoon, I’m just going outside tonight and enjoy the bright, orange orb. Maybe do some spooning on the porch with my honey.

How about you?

1 09, 2014

Naming Children, Pets, and Characters

By judythemorgan|2023-03-19T06:17:16-05:00September 1st, 2014|Make Me Think Monday, Uncategorized|0 Comments

A person’s name has power and all sorts of things should be considered when naming a child, a pet, or a character in a book.

But choosing the perfect name isn’t easy.

After three children, eight dogs, and multiple characters in my novels, I should know.

Back when my husband and I were choosing children’s names, we didn’t have the option to know the sex. You had to come up with a male and a female name. It took us the full nine months during each pregnancy.

In fact, when our second child came early, we had no names picked out and it looked like he’d go home from the hospital as Baby Boy.

Totally not acceptable.

We finally agreed on his daddy’s name and his great-granddaddy’s for a middle name. Ultimately, we used the initials to avoid confusion between two people with the same name.

Coming up with pet names was relatively easy.

We chose common names like Lucky and Buster. Our Old English sheepdogs we gave Biblical names: Obadiah, Micah, Rhinestone, and Tobias.

Okay, Rhinestone isn’t in the Bible, but Tobias comes from the Old Testament. Rhinestone was our rescue OES and came with her name. We didn’t want to cause her more stress by changing her name to Esther.

Naming characters for the stories I write isn’t much easier than naming children or dogs.

Sometimes authors use A & B for their character names and fill in names later using the search and replace function in their word processor. Others change their characters’ names during the editing stage.

I can’t do that. I name my characters before I write a single word. Their names give them personalities, and they become bona fide people to me.

There are all sorts of things to consider when naming a child. Here’s a list of twenty-five in case you’re interested.

There are also guidelines for naming pets. Check here.

I use many of those rules when naming my book characters. Chiefly, I consider these questions.

Is the name easily pronounceable or sounded out without difficulty?
Do the first name and surname sound good together?
Do the names start with the same letter or sound similar? (It may be clever in a family setting to have all the kids’ names begin with the same letter, but similar-sounding names can lead to confusion for readers.)

When I’m coming up with names, I also

Consider the number of syllables and vary the number in each character’s names.
Choose names appropriate for the story setting, era, and genre.
Avoid names of friends and family members.
Make the name fit the story and the personality of the character.

Finding the perfect name is not easy. I have been known to change a character’s name, but not often. Once in a book sequel, I killed off a character because I no longer liked her name. It’s one of the perks of being a writer. I get to kill off people. :-)

How’d you come up with the name you chose for your child, pet, or character in your book? Any hints you’d like to offer on choosing names?

25 08, 2014

Seasons – They are changing

By judythemorgan|2014-08-25T06:00:31-05:00August 25th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday, Uncategorized|1 Comment

My internal body clock is set for early morning wakeups. Time zones don’t matter. With or without an alarm, I’m up and moving before the sun crests the horizon.

For me, it’s not a problem. I love getting up at the crack of dawn and walking the dogs in the still of daybreak.

Living in suburban Houston, I didn’t worry about walking in the dark. Streetlights lit my way.

Now that I live in the forest in a state that supports a night sky (meaning streetlights are limited and rare), walking in the dark is a different story. Too many critters like the twilight hours for their prowling.

So before I leave the house, I check on weather.com for local sunrise time and start walking about ten minutes before or just as the sky begins to lighten.

On a recent walk, I spotted sure signs that summer is ending and fall is in the air.

First, shadows are changing. You can see what I mean in this photo.

Another clue—temperatures are dropping. This morning it was 42 degrees. The scent of wood burning in fireplaces hovered around some cabins.

For those of you facing triple digit highs, I’m sure that sounds heavenly. Truthfully, it was chilly. I was thankful for my gloves and hooded jacket.

Another hint is our shrinking population. South Fork is a summer tourist town. Our numbers swell from three hundred year round to 3,000-4,000 during May, June, July and August. RV parks are emptying. Shutters cover windows of summer cabins. The exodus has begun. Summer folk are heading home.

The absolute confirmation that winter is heading our way is found in the Aspens along our walking route.

Yep. That’s yellow among the green. The Aspens are turning.

Fall is on the way, which means wildlife is on the move scavenging for food.

Bears have started their annual bulk up for hibernation and need 12,000 calories a day. That means lots of overturned trash and destroyed barbeque grills. Time to seriously heed the signs posted all along our walk.

22 05, 2014

Cedar Break Sadie, The Occasional Goat

By judythemorgan|2014-05-22T06:00:44-05:00May 22nd, 2014|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Welcome to the porch today guest blogger, Becky Burkhalter. She’s a writer and published author who raises goats. Here’s her tale about Sadie.

~~~~~~

Everyone has heard the joke about the occasional table … (what is it the rest of the time?)

Would you believe I have an occasional goat?

Sadie looks like a goat. She was born of a goat, I do think that’s her actual form, but she isn’t always a goat.

She started out as a Valentine, born on February 14. She was a tiny thing, the weaker of twins, and we brought her inside to nurse her and keep her warm.

‘Keeping her warm’ meant, of course, keeping her in the bed with us. Isn’t that where normal people snuggle a baby? On second thought, don’t answer that.

She didn’t stay inside for long, and she’s been in since, although not often. This seems to have caused her confusion and from that first day we shut the door in her sweet face, she’s been searching, with a fluid malleability unique even for goats, to find her place.

It came on quietly and without fanfare.

She still seems to be pretty sure she’s a people and has never understood why we don’t let her live in the house. However, as time passed, she became comfortable in being whatever seemed to have the most benefit on any particular day.

I noticed her, one day, being a horse. Goats, you know, stay locked in their yard while horses are granted the pasture and large bales of hay.

Horses are fine to be, but chickens get to come up in the shade of the barn alley, out of the wind, and peck grain out of the dirt. Alley trumps pasture, grain trumps hay, and being many times larger than the others by far trumps being only as tall as everyone else’s kneecaps. So many days, Sadie is a chicken.

Sadie also tends to be a dog on days we have visitors. Dogs get to sleep on the porch. They get lots of attention, scratches behind the ears and all the leftovers cleaned out of the truck. French fries, of course, trump even grain. In the case of a cookout, there are too many good eatables to mention and unattended plates are free game. On those days, it’s good to be a dog.

There are days, of course, when it’s good to be a goat. Goats fit through fences like horses can’t and get to roam the far pastures, and beyond, until they’re chased home.

Chickens fit through fences, but don’t go too far and dogs just have to stay in the yard.

Goats who have figured out how to turn sideways in order to squeeze through a stock gate still get choice pickings of hay and grain – but sometimes get yelled at.

When the yelling starts, it’s better to go back to being a chicken.

Sadie’s latest transformation is to become a mom, which she is handling in her usual fine fashion. Her little daughter appears to be a goat, but only time will tell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Becky Burkhalter takes frequent flights of fantasy, in real life as well as in her writing.

It’s said that life is stranger than fiction, but Becky’s out to prove it’s possible to integrate life both ways. Whether she’s racing her Arabian horses through the woods, rapid firing her .45 or gargoyling from local rooftops, Becky finds it hard to stay grounded in the real world. Although she has yet to ride in a space ship (she did get to simulate crashing a 727) or to meet a real vampire (that she’s aware of), anachronistic dress, “QaQ poHmey” and pints of brew (yes, it comes in pints) are standard fare on the odd weekend.

Visit her on her website: www.BeckyBurkheart.com

Connect with her on Facebook.

Bloodcup: A Tale of the Last Amazon Queen is available from Amazon, and other ebook outlets.

What is it to be a priestess and a queen but a life of service to the people and the gods?

Historic legend tells us Hercules stole the Golden Girdle of War from the Amazon Queen, Hippolyte, at the command of King Eurytheus. Once it was taken back to Mycene – the trail grows cold.

In BLOODCUP the young warrior-priestess Aekhosora seizes command in the aftermath of that bloody theft to lead the army of her people on a vengeful journey south to recover the girdle. Plunging into the marshes of the Danube, through Thrace, past Mount Olympus, with only a brief stop at Delphi, they march on Theseus and all but take Athens before they continue south to death and slavery at Megara.

Suffering the whims of slavery, she struggles to stay true to her god, her goal and the man who takes her home, a man who finds himself the master of a queen striving to restore a lost and scattered people.

28 03, 2014

Little House by Miller Farm

By judythemorgan|2014-03-28T06:00:03-05:00March 28th, 2014|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday, Uncategorized|2 Comments

by Guest Blogger Chicken Wrangler Sara

Several weeks ago our new neighbors moved a playhouse into the space between our houses. They intend to move it into the backyard but need to remove the fence and rent a forklift. It’s an adorable little house.

One morning as I was loading my things into the car to go to work, an older couple was standing in the neighbor’s yard admiring the house. They asked me if the neighbors were selling it.

Now there is a real estate agent in town who shares my name and I have actually taken her phone calls in the past. I, however, am not interested in taking her job.

I explained that the neighbors had recently moved in, have five children and were probably still asleep, but I would check with them later. The couple had retired and wanted a play house for their grandchildren. I wished them luck and went on to my real job – teaching music.

The house has been there for about three weeks now. It isn’t bothering me and there have been no more sales offers.

Bella, our dachshund with short-term memory issues, continues to bark at it every time she goes outside. And every time I explain to her that it is the same house that has been there and barking will not make it go away.

I used to think it took a lot of patience to deal with children. Now I realize that dogs are much more challenging.

20 01, 2014

Ideas for Change on MLKJ Day

By judythemorgan|2014-01-20T06:00:07-06:00January 20th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday, Monday Motivations, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Martin Luther King, Jr. preached about justice, empowerment, love and peace.

Dr. King believed life’s most persistent and urgent question was

‘What are you doing for others?’

Through his nonviolent activism during the civil rights movement, he changed things for others.

Today offers an opportunity to reflect on the past, think about the present, plan for the future, and reminds us of what is truly important.

Here are some ways to honor Dr. King and impact change in your community.

Find other ideas here

Check here for MLKJ Day projects in your specific area.

You can also check out Todd Goldfarb 50 Ways You Can Be The Change here.

Whatever you choose to do today, I leave you with one of my favorite King quotes:

“Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve.

You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.

You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

4 09, 2013

Blueberries – One word Wednesday

By judythemorgan|2013-09-04T06:20:26-05:00September 4th, 2013|Uncategorized|0 Comments

I found blueberries leftover from our Labor Day picnic shoved back into the recesses of my refrigerator.

I couldn’t let them go to waste.

So I dug out my recipe box.

Yep, that’s the bear firecrackers you see in the basket on the table. We’re ready if Mr. Bear 2013 comes again.

The overstuffed recipe notebook and file box hold some very old recipes. I leafed through cobblers, pies, and coffee cakes among the vintage recipes. Some handwritten from family and friends that are now in Heaven. Nothing appealed to me until I found a recipe that called Lemony Raisin Bars and wondered what it would taste like with blueberries. I thought why not!

I mixed the base/crust. Yummy oats and walnuts.

Then mashed the mixture into a 9×12 pan.

Next, I prepared the sauce—heated condensed milk and lemon juice. Also yummy but less healthy, I realize.

I stirred the sauce over the blueberries.

Then poured the blueberry sauce over the crust, topped with remaining oats and walnut mixture, and baked for thirty minutes at 375 degrees. Je l’ai!

A lovely blueberry dessert that is somewhat healthy and tastes delicious topped with homemade ice cream.

Here’s the full original recipe if you want to try it:

Lemony Raisin Bars

Ingredients:

2 cups raisins (I use Craisins or the blueberries did turn out good)

1 can (14-oz.) sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

1 cup butter or margarine

1-1/3 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1/1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cups oats

1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

HEAT oven to 375 F

1. In saucepan, COMBINE raisins/Craisins [do not combine blueberries they’ll cook up soft], sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon rind.

COOK and stir over medium heat just until bubbly. Cool slightly.

2. In bowl, COMBINE butter, brown sugar, and vanilla; beat well. ADD flour, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Stir in oats and walnuts.

3. RESERVE 3/4 cups of the combined oat mixture for topping.

4. PRESS remaining mixture into 13×9-inch greased pan.

5. SPREAD raisin/Craisins/blueberry mixture to within 1/2 inch of edges.

6. SPRINKLE with reserved oat mixture; press lightly.

Now, if you find fresh blueberries hiding in your refrigerator, you have options!

10 05, 2013

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

By judythemorgan|2013-05-10T05:09:59-05:00May 10th, 2013|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday, Uncategorized|5 Comments

by Guest Blogger Chicken Wrangler Sara

Our next-door neighbor called yesterday afternoon and said, “There is something on the outside wall of your house that you will want to see.”

My first question was “Is it alive?”

“Very much alive” was the answer.

So I headed out side to see whatever it was….

Yup, it is a tarantula.

Rachel’s first comment was “It is not coming inside.”

Since it was close to the window of our bedroom, we discussed whether tarantulas could get through glass. We decided they could not.

Beekeeper Brian put on a glove and was planning to hold it, but it got a little testy – picture all those hairy legs sticking straight up.

We left it alone.

About 2:30 in the next morning, Tucker started whining. I took him to the back door, but he didn’t need to go outside. I checked the weather, but no thunderstorm in sight.

We went back to bed.

I must confess, I did lay awake for a while wondering about the spider. But I soon fell back asleep and so did Tucker.

This morning the itsy bitsy spider was gone.

I’m not sure what is more disconcerting – seeing the spider one day or not seeing it the next.

2 05, 2013

The National Day of Prayer

By judythemorgan|2013-05-02T05:03:35-05:00May 2nd, 2013|Uncategorized|2 Comments

In 1952, the United States Senate designated the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer.

A day set aside when Americans of all faiths gather in prayer in front of courthouses, houses of worship, mosques, synagogues, and temples. Communities schedule luncheons, picnics, and music performances revolving around praying for our nation.

Click here to find a celebration near you: http://nationaldayofprayer.org/events/

The theme for today’s 62^nd annual observance of National Day of Prayer is “Pray for America.” At noon today, Honorary Chairman Pastor Greg Laurie will offer this prayer:

“Father, we come to You to pray for our nation, the United States of America.

How You have blessed us through the years, Lord! We rightly sing, “America, America, God shed His grace on thee.” Yet we see trouble in our culture today. We see the breakdown of the family, crippling addictions, and random acts of horrific violence.

Lord, we need Your help in America. In recent days, we have done our best to remove Your Word and Your counsel from our courtrooms, classrooms and culture. It seems, as President Lincoln once said, that we have “forgotten God.” But Lord, You have not forgotten us! You can bless and help and revive our country again.

Scripture tells us that “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). Lord, in Your mercy, we ask that You would exalt our country again. We have had a number of great awakenings in America. We have experienced times of refreshing, and revivals that changed not only the spiritual but also the moral landscape. As the psalmist said, “Will You not revive us again, so that Your people may rejoice in You?” (Psalm 85:6)

That is our prayer for America today, Lord. Send a mighty spiritual awakening that will turn the hearts of men and women, boys and girls back to you. You have told us if we will humble ourselves and pray, and seek Your face and turn from our wicked ways, that You will forgive our sins and heal our land. (2 Chronicles7:14)

Forgive us today, Lord, and heal this troubled land that we love so much.

We ask all of this in the name of Jesus Christ.”

The National Day of Prayer is a vital part of our heritage. A day when people of all faiths can pause and pray for our nation and our leaders.