yesterday's email

In my email yesterday I received the kind of letter every writer hopes for: a message from Chicken Soup for the Soul saying that my article, "Angels on the M4" had made it to the last step before actual acceptance.  I just had to fill in a form and submit it.  I did that.  I also have to print the form out and sign it--so I've got that done except for sending it off.  I think they want it faxed and my fax machine is dead, unfortunately (is was a dinosaur).  So, here I am typing with my fingers crossed!

yesterday's facebook message

Archbishop Desmond Tutu's name came up on my facebook page for some reason, and I decided to click on it and send him a message.  (Isn't the internet amazing?)
I said that when I had learned that he was a member of the Third Order of the Society of St. Francis, I was especially delighted as my husband and I had been professed as Tertiaries in 2009.
He sent me a private message, saying "How wonderful" and then asked how my family was.  Of course, I had to reply to his question!  Imagine, me, chatting with Desmond Tutu!

yesterday's mail

A few months ago, The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall were visiting Canada, and I saw on TV a performance given for their entertainment which I found offensive.  And, given the sour faces on the royal couple, I think they were offended.  (A female impersonator impersonating the queen--maybe funny in some circles, but not my taste and not to be shown for the queen's son. IMHO.)  Anyway, I sent the prince a letter apologizing for the inappropriate performance, stating that although it was probably not intended as an insult to the queen, nevertheless I thought it in poor taste.  I also mentioned that I'd briefly met the duchess in Vancouver on a chilly November day and hoped they'd return sometime when the weather would be more welcoming.
So: yesterday, I received a very nice letter from the Prince of Wales.

A special day in July

Today is our 58th wedding anniversary.  Not doing anything special to celebrate, I suppose.  But that will be different 2 years from now, our diamond anniversary.  Hoping for a letter from the queen that year. :)

See my play: The Wolf and the Saint, the Life of St. Francis of Assisi as told by the Wolf of Gubbio

I've posted all the scenes now, so the whole play is now online for anyone to use.  The conditions are: Please let me know when you've produced it, tell me where & if possible provide pictures.  If you charge admission, please donate at least 10% of the gate to a Christian church, or a charity such as World Vision, PWRDF, SPCA, or something similar.
See the blog: The Wolf and St. Francis .

second June blog post??

Another activity that's kept me out of mischief lately is tutoring ESL.  My student has been coming more frequently lately.  I hope that in September I'll have more students.  I enjoy teaching ESL.  It's wonderful to make a positive difference in someone's life.  The only trouble is that it's like gardening: you can only plant the seeds and try to offer nurturing care, and hope that the seeds take root and grow.  I can only help the student with his/her English, teach what is needed and help whenever possible, and just hope the person learns and grows with it.
I like teaching ESL better than gardening, though!  :)

June is more than half over

Time to catch up once again.
It's a busy month, as always.  I do have the garden growing--some of it.  My lettuce is doing fine, and the next row is radishes, and they seem to be okay.  The other rows of carrots, beets, spinach all got eaten by birds, I think.  Maybe they'll be scattered all over the garden bed, if they come up at all.

Writing has been better than usual.  I'm about half-way through the first draft of my murder mystery, and I've rewritten one of my short stories.  It's ready to go.  Just have to buy a postcard to put in with the manuscript when I go to the post office to mail it off.  Yesterday, I took a day trip down to Bellingham, Washington, for the express purpose of buying postage stamps for the "SASE" that needs to be enclosed with manuscripts.  I had to laugh at the look on the faces of the customs officers at both the US border going and the Canadian border on my return when I told them why I had to go to the USA.  "Buy stamps?!!!"

It was a nice way to spend the day, though. I went by Greyhound, slept most of the journey there and back, and just walked around Fairhaven, a very pleasant district in Bellingham.  Next time, though, I think I'll take the bus to the centre of town to go to the library there.  I'd planned to go to the Fairhaven library, but the hours are 2pm to 6pm, and my bus home was at 6:15.  As it turned out, I just walked around for 4 hours, bought my stamps, had lunch, and then took an earlier bus home.  I arrived home about the time I would have been leaving.

So now my short story, "Waves", is ready to be popped into the mailbox, as soon as I have a postcard to address and stamp and enclose with the ms.

Now I'm working on my play, The Wolf and the Saint, the Life of St. Francis of Assisi as told by The Wolf of Gubbio.  I'm publishing it in my blog dedicated to that play.  I hope people will print it out and perform it, with the conditions that they let me know how it went (Preferably with pictures), and donate 10% of any proceeds to a Christian church or charity such as World Vision or PWRDF, or the SPCA.