Friday, January 31, 2020

Winter 2020 Newsletter


Gay’s Winter Newsletter 2019/2020


Since the winter season begins before Christmas and extends after the first of the year, sometime in March, the cold, barren period has a calendar date of two years—2019 and 2020. As I write this, we have about 50 days left before the robins begin their song.

Down here in Houston, we seldom endure extreme temperatures. I’ve worn a coat only one time this winter. I needed it when hubby took me to the Houston Galleria to see an outside program. We parked our car in a parking garage and walked up and down Post Oak Street. We missed the outdoor dramatic presentation, but we enjoyed the scenery.


I’m sure you can tell that by the dated look that my jacket is ancient. In the 1990’s I worked in Alberta, Canada and needed a coat. I bought this one, and it came in handy in Canada. Not so much here in Houston, but it was cold the night we were out, so this standby garment felt good.

      
The lighting was beautiful, and we walked about three miles as enjoyed the scenery and brisk air.  The trees and decorations changed color. If you are ever in Houston at Christmas, you must see this display.

Healthy and Unhealthy recipes.

I’ve come up with a recipe for a Winter Wonderland Drink. This drink contains a zero-calorie sweetener called Monk Fruit.  I read about Monk Fruit recently. It’s supposed to be a dynamic, healthy fruit that helps control diabetes, weight, and hunger. Most markets don’t carry it. Perhaps I can find it at Whole Foods. Hubby found the granulated bag at Kroger’s and brought it home for me.  The granules look like sugar, and it is sweet.




         
Wonderland Warmer

Ingredients:

8 oz of Apple Juice. (I used Simply Apple. It looks more like cider)
8 oz brewed cup of Sleepytime Vanilla Herbal tea
2 tsp of Monk fruit granules.
2 tsp of vanilla extract.

Directions.

Heat apple juice in a mug in microwave until almost bubbly.
In separate cup, heat water and one tea bag of tea until hot.
When the cup of juice is hot, and the tea is made, combine the liquids into a separate container. Add the vanilla extract and Monk fruit granules. Stir. Pour into two mugs, serve and enjoy.  It’s about 60 calories per serving.

I love sitting in my chair with this hot drink and a good book. If the day is cold enough, I’ll turn on the fireplace. If I’m not careful, the fireplace will make the house to warm, and by bedtime, I’ll activate the air conditioner.

Speaking of good books, have you read any lately?



I enjoyed David Badacci’s book, Redemption.    

The lead character, Amos Decker forgets nothing. His memory is a blessing and a curse. His former partner, Mary Lancaster, reveals she is diagnosed with early onset Dementia.  The nuances in this book are palpable. He remembers everything, and she remembers nothing. I won’t be reading future books in the Memory Man Series, and that’s a shame. I loved the series. Our daughter suffers from early onset Dementia. It’s a cruel, evil disease. I don’t need to read about someone going through this sadness, even if it’s in a fictional novel. I live with it. I talk about it on my blog. You’ll find it under Dementia.


Barbara M. Britton’s book, Lioness, is about five orphaned women who wandered in the wilderness with Moses and the Twelve Tribes of Israel was interesting. They are the only women to inherit property in the Promised Land. I reviewed it on Amazon.

The five orphaned daughters of Zelophehad are mentioned four times in the Old Testament. Three times in the Book of Numbers, and once in the Book of Joshua. Mahlah is the eldest of the five, and in this fictional story, takes on the job of leadership for the family. 



I read my Family Secrets again. Well, they aren’t my secrets. They’re Rebecca’s. I love this book, even if I’m the one who wrote it. The hero, Marshall Donavan, is so handsome, smart, and confident, he’s real to me. Rebecca Davis has secrets and those skeletons in her closet prevent love, marriage and family. I researched a great deal with this book. It’s set in 1975 when cultural issues were hot and nasty. I suppose they still are. When do we learn? Why can’t we accept people who have different backgrounds or skin color? Why can’t we remain civil to those who hold opposing political views?  Does society have to be unkind and impolite?  The two men in this book, Marshall and Sam, are willing to fight society if someone tries to hurt Rebecca.

Family Secrets is available on Amazon in KU, print and eBook. If you’re a member of KU, read for free.




Like most people, I decided to diet this year. In my book, Sarah and the Angelic, Magical Makeover, Sarah can change her looks in the blink-of-an-eye.  Wouldn’t it be great to do that? No work? Just blink? Be thin and beautiful? Go from blonde hair and blue eyes to black hair and brown eyes?

You’ll laugh out loud at Sarah in this book.

More Odds and Ends.

I’m not only a writer, but I’m a phone caller too.  The LDC Gas Forums allow me to call the most delightful people. I remind them of an upcoming Forum. The first LDC Gas Forum for 2020 is in April, and it will be held in Atlanta. I’m looking forward to visiting by phone with these interesting folks.
In the meantime, I’ll be writing, and I hope you’ll be reading!  Let me know if you like my winter-warmer drink. Send a comment if you’ve tried Monk Fruit. I hear its good stuff.

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

The Hill




I climbed a large, rugged hill a few days ago. It was difficult, but the respite and view from the top was worth my effort. Getting down was also a challenge. The mound was slippery and full of hidden holes. I had to watch every step.



Once down, I realized I had another hill to climb before I reached my destination. This one was a bit easier, but the rocks made the ascent dangerous.

The hike reminded me of our days here on earth. Life gives us hills and valleys, but the journey is worth the struggle and the energy it takes to make it.

We learn to get up as we fall down, and we become more careful as we age. Experiences teach us this, but the reward we receive from our exertion makes it all worthwhile. 




And when all is said and done, we're glad we took the journey.


Friday, January 10, 2020

Five Sisters Must Marry Cousins to Keep Inheritance.



That would have been the headline in the Israel Daily Times, printed during the Wilderness Wanderings. The article would have been written by Moses some forty years after he lead the Jewish nation out of Egypt.

Odd headline, right?  Five sisters must marry cousins? Yes, odd, but it's not fake news. 

Okay, here's the history. The twelve tribes were promised an inheritance in the new land, and they were now on the border, ready to enter. These five sisters had no husbands and their father had died. Well, guess what? Women couldn't inherit land, animals, money, etc. If anything came to them, it automatically went to their husbands.

These ladies had no men in their lives, so they gathered their skirts together and boldly went to Moses. They asked him why they couldn't have the inheritance. If they received none, there would be no allotment due to their family.

Moses took it to the Lord, and the Lord agreed with the ladies!

Yay! Chalk one up for women with courage and a sense of fairness.
God told Moses to "give them property as an inheritance among their father's relatives and turn their father's inheritance over to them." Numbers 28:7.

These ladies were descendants of Joseph and were of the tribe of Manesseh, Joseph's son. Now get this. The family heads of the Manesseh clan went to Moses. They had begun to worry. Together, they voiced a legitimate concern. "What if the sisters marry men other than an Israelite? Then their inheritance will be taken away and given to a non-member of the nation." Numbers 36:3.

So Moses made another trek to speak to God. God says the daughters may marry whomever they want as long as they marry withing the tribal clan of the father.

So the ladies married cousins on their father's side, and everyone had a happy ending.

Great story, right?

These noble women obeyed the Lord.  I wonder if they had happy marriages?  Relatively speaking, of course. 

All my books have happy endings. Have you enjoyed any yet? I hope you will. 


Sunday, January 5, 2020

A Fresh Start Motivates.


A New Year Designates New Plans


A motivation I have is to plan a 2020 vacation. And diet. Weight loss is always on the daily agenda, but I won't diet while on vacation.

At this moment, we, hubby and I, are looking into an Amtrak train trip to New Orleans. 


Have you ridden a train?  I have. Many times. 
One similar to the picture above.

 As a child growing up in Irving, TX, we caught the train to Dallas to go shopping. It was quite fun. I also rode one with my mom to Alabama, but I've never been on Amtrak.  

From Houston to New Orleans via Amtrak is an 8 hour trip. We'll stay a few days and return. We've been to NOLA often, but we haven't been lately. The food is amazing, and I want to tour the WWII museum.

When we go, I'll take pictures and post them on this blog. Many of you enjoyed my posts from the California trip.  Here's a link if you want to check it out. https://gaynlewis.blogspot.com/search?q=California

I love travel. After my dad died, I took a cruise all by myself. I few from Houston to Los Angeles and boarded a ship headed to Ensenada, Mexico. An excursion was planned for Catalina Island. Many of the adventures I experienced on that trip appear in my book, Sarah and the Midnight Cruise to Catalina Island.

Someone asked me recently if I had a book featuring travel and romance. Yes! I do. It's also filled with humor.



Here's a 5 star review from Readers' Favorite.

Review

Book Review
Reviewed by Gracie Bradford for Readers' Favorite

Sarah and a Midnight Cruise to Catalina is written by Gay N. Lewis. This Christian based fiction book is a well-written story about two angels sent down to Earth on a voyage by way of a cruise to Catalina Island, focusing on the same target but with different expected outcomes. One angel (Sarah/Hope) is the real angel. The other angel is the evil minion, Talen. An angel named Gabriella and Mother Goodness also make an appearance. Sarah and the evil minion's charge is to find the right man for a virgin named Carolyn. When both transform from angels into human form, it's hard to tell the good angel from the evil angel. Both angels engage in many hilarious and devious shenanigans.

Sarah and a Midnight Cruise to Catalina by Gay N. Lewis is a captivating story about the role of an angel, using human behavior which keeps the reader laughing. The author uses southern slang when the heavenly angel transforms into a human disguise to depict humor and identify with the characters. It is hard to put the book down from anticipating what the two angels will do next to achieve their individual goals. The book is written as a self-help book with an impressive entertaining twist and motivational quotes from the Bible. Most people's image of an angel differs widely from Sarah. Sarah's character was being tested by her superior beings who had oversight over her moment by moment escapades. Sarah even experienced adverse symptoms from eating and taking certain kind of medicines. The storyline with the red shoes is alone worth reading the book - just hilarious.

Here's what I wrote about the book.

From the Author

Carolyn, the heroine in the book, takes a cruise alone in August. The ship docks on Catalina Island, and she explores the area. I actually did that! All by myself. Many of the incidents in the book happened to me. My luggage got lost. I went to Los Angeles to catch the ship, the luggage went to Dallas. Carolyn's dad had just died. Mine had too--three weeks prior to the cruise. The cruise proved a healing experience. The small cabin was organized and orderly. My life was not. Others cooked, cleaned, and presented refreshing, soothing moments of escape. I didn't meet a handsome stranger who kissed me at midnight, and I didn't have a haphazard angel helping me, but I suspect a kind angel was near at all times. An experienced angel who helped me overcome grief. In this book, Sarah helps in a chaotic way, but she gets the job done, and she makes one smile as she does it.

I think you'll like it.  Let me know!

Thursday, January 2, 2020

New Year! New Start!


A new start to any project is welcome, right?

What do you plan to begin? A diet? Yes, me too.

I'm not looking forward to it.  Are you?

If we were Sarah, it would be simple. Sarah, my chaotic angel, can rearrange her size at any given moment. I write fantasy. It doesn't happen in real life. I wish it did.

In my book, Sarah and the Angelic, Magical Makeover, Sarah helps Valerie lose a few pounds and develop confidence.

Maybe we need a guardian angel to help us.

But Sarah is dyslexic. If she helped me or you, she'd probably get it backwards and instead of making us a twig, she'd turn us into a Redwood tree trunk. 



Here I am with hubby in Yosemite. See how big this tree is? Since Sarah gets measurements backward, she'd probably make us this size.  Then she'd have to call on her superiors and ask for a pardon. We'd better stick to proven methods. Like a normal diet.

Sarah is a regular hoot.  Kinda like us. She messes up royally. 



This book is available on Amazon and all Internet book sites. Here's the Amazon link. Amazon

PBG Insider: Gay N. Lewis Introduces her "Sarah" series

Sarah at Christmas