We Are the World Blogfest #WATWB

It’s the last Friday of the month–time again for some good news to take you into February with a smile.

The story I’ve chosen for this month is about a town in Guatemala that has outlawed single-use plastics. The residents, with the help of the local government, were able to adjust to more sustainable alternatives with relative ease. We can all take some lessons from this story!

Click here to read the story.

Here’s how #WATWB works: On the last Friday of each month a number of bloggers participate in a blog hop in which each blogger highlights a story that spreads good news, happiness, and hope.

These are the cohosts for this month: Inderpreet Uppal, Shilpa Garg, Sylvia Stein, Simon Falk, and Damyanti Biswas.

 

Want to join? Click this link to sign up and help spread some happiness!

Book Recommendation: Schifflebein’s Folly

It’s been some time since I recommended a book to readers, so I figured it was time. I recently read Schifflebein’s Folly by Iris Chacon and absolutely loved it. It’s a feel-good, do-good, read-it-all-in-one-sitting-if-you-can-good, does-your-heart-good book.

It’s the story of Lloyd Schifflebein, a Floridian with a passion for children, work, and doing good. He is endearing almost to the point of being too good to be true, and you can’t help but love him. He’s spent his life getting ready for the day when he would adopt six children, and though he doesn’t have a life partner, he knows that the future Mrs. Schifflebein will show up when the time is right.

Those six kids? They all have special needs and it seems Lloyd is just the man to meet those special needs. He’s got good friends, a healthy respect for the adoption process and its timelines, and he’s handy with tools. All these things come together to help him when he needs it most–when everything he’s worked for looks like it’s in danger of collapse at the hands of crooked politicians.

And it doesn’t hurt that he has somehow ended up with a talking, often snarky, sometimes bossy, teapot.

You read that right–a teapot. Lloyd recalls a similar teapot from his tumultuous childhood, and this one shows up at his house just when he needs it most. Now, I don’t usually read or enjoy books with any hint of the supernatural, but the talking teapot was just perfect in this book. I loved that teapot and I think I could use one in my own house sometimes.

There’s a lot of fun to be had in this family-friendly book, and when the going gets tough for Lloyd, you somehow know everything is going to work out just the way it should. To me, timing was the theme of the story–one can’t make things happen if they’re not ready to happen.

I hope you’ll take a look at Iris Chacon’s book. I think you’ll love it. You can find it by clicking this link (at the time of this writing, it’s only 99¢) and you can connect with Iris here.

Until next time,

Amy

Winter photos

This week I thought I’d share some photos with you. We don’t get snow all that often in southern New Jersey, so when we do I like to take the dog outside and get lots of pictures. There are also a few from a recent visit to New York City.

First, the snow.

 

   

The woods near my house

No picture of snow is complete without Orly, who loves it!

Second, New York City.

 Central Park

 

Empire State Building, where I got engaged waaaay back in 1995

 

    

 And finally, because WordPress won’t show the caption for the last three photos, I give you Radio City Music Hall, Midtown Manhattan, and the tree at Rockefeller Center.

This week I’m a little overwhelmed with writing projects, but I hope to be able to share the cover of Trudy’s Diary with you soon. In the meantime, I’ve got to entirely restructure the novel, but I hope to be done with that in less than a week.

Until next time,

Amy

Something to think about – So how are those New Year #Resolutions going for you?

Some thoughts on those New Year’s resolutions from Sally Cronin, who has a great one! Me? I’ve got a few, and so far they’re going well! We’re only five days into 2019, though…