Memorial Day Tribute

What do you do on Memorial Day?  In our family, we always went to the cemetery to place flowers on all our relatives' graves.  We meet cousins, uncles, aunts and friends doing the same thing, and we would stop to visit and reminisce about the people we knew.

After the cemetery, we went to my favorite uncle's house for a picnic and to play soft ball or touch football.  He cooked the hamburgers and hot dogs on the outside stone grill he built while my aunt and all the other women of the family made up the potato salad, baked beans, etc.

Last of all, we made home made ice cream.  Yay!  Nothing could be better than this ice cream and it was so much fun to make and was delicious. 

We always think of our veterans on Memorial Day, too.  My favorite uncle, Uncle Ray, was a veteran of WWII, so we always place a flag on his grave to honor the patriot he was.  This reminds me that we need to help our veterans, and here is one way to do it without any cost to you other than time. Go to this site and click on the blue button at The Veterans Site and help a homeless and hungry veteran get a free meal.  http://theveteranssite.greatergood.com/tpc/ERV_052213_VET_m  This is the least we can do for our men and women fighting in foreign wars.

These days many people don't visit their loved ones who have passed because they're too busy, which is kind of sad.  They don't know what they're missing by not going to the cemetery.  There's so much history there.  Our family goes back centuries in the small town I grew up in, and it's lovely to stroll through the stones seeing the members of our ancestry.

Remember those who have gone before you and hope some day someone will recall you when you die.  I know those who are young think they will never die, but if you had a friend your age die you know it can happen at any age or time.  Memorial Day is the day to honor those who have gone ahead of us.  I will be visiting my small town cemetery on the 27th.

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day, and I'll see you next week. 

Sandra K. Marshall

http://www.sandramarshallblog.blogspot.com

All about Love

I'm behind this week, so I'm posting a blog I posted elsewhere last week.  So sorry!

Valentine's Day is coming up soon, and although I'm not an authority on love I'm a romantic suspense author who writes about love.  The old saying: Love thy neighbor as you do yourself comes to mind.  Who do you love?

There are many different kinds of love. For instance, love between spouses, love between parents and their children, love between siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, grandchildren and a whole slew of people.  I love everyone even those I don't really like because I care what happens to them.

In many cases there are varying degrees of affection for the people you care about.  Of course, you're going to love those who are the closest to you like your husband, children and other family members, but there's always room for others. 

Friends come to mind for me and I have several lifelong friends.  I have great affection for them, or I wouldn't have stayed in touch with them. You can love neighbors who become friends when you have lived next to them for years. 

Is it possible to love someone who hurts you?  I draw the line at loving people who abuse others physically or mentally, but I write about them in my stories.  I even humanize them with some background about them, but I can't care for them in their present lives because they chose the wrong path.  Or in my stories, the path I chose for my character.  This is when you have to care and love the victim.

I love my hubby more than anyone.  When my mother was alive it was a tossup between hubby and mom because I loved them both equally, although, in totally different ways.  My siblings and children are next in line, and then the rest of the family, friends, etc. 

Who matters most to you?

Sandra K. Marshall

http://www.eirelander-publishing.com
http://www.sandramarshallblog.blogspot.com  

Colorado is a Beautiful State

Good Morning,
By my title you can tell, I'm going to talk about Colorado.  Colorado has suffered a lot lately.  First, due to fires burning eighty thousand acres of gorgeous forest around the Ft. Collins area, and then 18,000 acres around Colorado Springs.  Here are some pictures of the damage around the Springs.  This is just a small portion of the damage, and it will take years to rebuild.

The mountains are still beautiful as you'll see by these next pictures.                      

Garden of The Gods

My time in Colorado was spent with my sister and family. We not only drove to the mountains, enjoyed dinners at home and out at restaurants, we went to Denver to see the new historical museum.  This museum will have four floors when it is completed.  There are two floors almost completed, but even so it is well worth seeing. 

When you walk into the main entrance, there is a map of Colorado on the floor.  Two machines can be moved around the map to different locations of Colorado, and you'll learn the history of that spot.  It is a fun way for kids and adults to learn history. 

I took a few pictures in the museum, but I have to admit that I was so fascinated that I forgot to take photos most of  the time.  I would love to post what I have but Blogger is being very difficult tonight.  You'll just have to take my word that this museum is well worth seeing. 

All of you have heard about the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado, and I want to add my sympathy and prayers for the families of the victims.  It seems the world has become very cruel.

Have a safe and happy week.  I'll see you next Sunday.

Hugs to all of you,

Sandy

http://www.amazon.com/author/sandramarshall



Happy Easter

Hi Everyone,

I have some wonderful memories of Easter when I was a child that I would like to share with you.  We were always up early on Easter Sunday for sunrise service and a huge breakfast afterward.  Yep, I admit that the food was an enticement for me to get up before dawn.  Also, I'll acknowledge once I was at the service, which was outdoors, watching the sun come up made me glad to be there and put me in the mood for the words spoken about the resurrection of God. How could anyone deny a greater power with all that beauty surrounding them.  Not me.

After the sunrise service, we went home and changed into our Sunday best and headed to Sunday school, and then church services.  Next, we went to Grandma's house for dinner where we always had fried chicken and all the other good fattening stuff to go with it.  My mouth melts at the thought of homemade ice cream, hot pies and cakes for dessert.  Yum!

After dinner, we were handed baskets and told to find the Easter eggs hidden in the back yard, or if it was cold the eggs were concealed in the house.  We had real hard boiled eggs not the plastic kind.  You can't imagine the squeals and excitement expressed when someone found a colored egg.  It was great fun. 

Before the day was over, we were eating again.  In those days, we ate a lot, and it was all good.  LOL  Most people worked very hard back then, so they didn't gain a lot of weight.  They were lucky that way. 

Easter was a wonderful day filled with beauty, love and family.  How did you celebrate Easter when you were a child?  Was it happy for you?

Have a great week everyone.  See you next Sunday, and thanks for visiting me today.

Hugs,

Sandy

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1496954556

Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/SandraKMarshall

http://www.amazon.com/author/sandramarshall

What Makes You Happy? What Makes You Unhappy?

This past week, I had lunch with a friend who used to be in my critique group.  I asked how she was doing, and she said she was fine, and she was happy.

Those words, I'm happy made me start thinking.  What makes me happy?  I started compiling a list in my mind and decided write about them in my blog.

Here's my list:  my faith, my hubby, my family, friends, our kitties, Midnight and Dory, baking for friends and co-workers at holidays and other occasions, and writing.

After answering the question of what makes me happy, I had to ask myself what makes me unhappy.  The number one answer to that was pain. The next reason is dimming sight, which I feel sure will be temporary once I have cataract surgery.  Anyway, I'm hoping that's the problem as I know I have cataracts. 

Okay, I said writing makes me happy, but promotion goes along with being published, and I detest promotion.  Why?  Because it takes me away from all the things that make me happy.  Promotion is a necessary evil if you want to make a name in the publishing world.

My question for you is what makes you happy and what makes you unhappy. 

Have a great week.  See you next Sunday. 

Sandy AKA author Sandra K. Marshall
http://www.skaymarshall.com
http://www.eirelander-publishing.com
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1496954556
http://www.myspace.com/s_zinn/marshall
http://www.twitter.com/SandraKMarshall
http://www.amazon.com/author/sandramarshall

What Are You Most Thankful For?

We have just a few days left before we celebrate Thanksgiving.  It's a day that we give thanks for whatever we are thankful for. 

I'm thankful to have a husband and family who love me. I'm grateful I'm not living on the streets instead I have a house to live in, especially during the cold of winter and heat of summer.  I'm blessed to have food to eat and not to know what hunger is like.    

Last but not least, I'm thankful to be born and to live in America.  I could not have achieved what I have here in any other country.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Best always,
Sandra K. Marshall
http://www.skaymarshall.com
http://www.eirelander-publishing.com
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1496954556
Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/SandraKMarshall

Do You Hold Grudges?

Hi Everyone,

We are going to discuss grudges today. Are you a grudge holder? I’m one of these people who explode and gets over it in about five minutes. Now, that can be a good thing, or not. That depends on the person who got the butt end of that explosion.

My hubby used to get mad and stay mad for several hours or a day or two. Early in our marriage, he learned I wouldn’t allow that. If I made a mistake, I wasn’t afraid to tell him I was sorry. It‘s easier to hold onto a grudge after a major fight than to let go of your anger. If I wasn’t able to teach my hubby anything but this one thing, I’m glad it was that it’s not worth it to hold a grudge or stay mad forever. Now, he gets over being mad almost as fast as I do. Smile. At least, he does with me.

To give you an instance of staying mad for a long time, I know a woman who didn’t speak to her brother for twenty years. That one was over money. Many grudges are within families and they can last a very long time. Sometimes, they are over hurt feelings, finances, assumed knowledge that they know something they don’t when they probably only know a portion of whatever they think they know, which is probably not their business anyway, and numerous other reasons.

My family had their share of squabbles, but they still could associate with one another at family gatherings and are always there for each other. We are huggers when we’re together. I know of families who never speak to one another unless they come together for a funeral or a wedding.

My hubby and sister don’t exactly get along, but they do when they get together. I think they are too much alike to ever really get along. He bitches a lot because he thinks she’s bossy. Lol My opinion is that they both are, and for absolutely the same reasons. Sorry honey and sis. You know I love you both. My sister swore she would never let a man walk over her like our father did our mother, and my hubby won’t let any woman treat him like some others have.

Do grudge holders ever get over it? Quite often, they don’t until it’s too late. The woman who didn’t speak to her brother for twenty years got a call from her sister-in-law to let her know he was ill. They started speaking again and they had about two or three years left to get reacquainted.

Once a woman got mad at her niece over some pictures she thought were being given to her. The person who showed them to her intended them for her husband’s sister, and not for this woman. The woman stopped speaking to her niece even though she was told the pictures weren’t for her. Fortunately, someone stepped in and was able to convince her not to stay mad, and she was glad she hadn’t remained mad because her niece died soon after.

When I was a kid, I learned early not to hold grudges. It was hard because sometimes other kids are mean. As I grew older and held a job, it was an advantage not to hold a grudge, and even if I didn’t feel like talking to someone I made myself speak in a normal tone to them. To do that always made it easier to heal our hurt feelings.

Are you a grudge holder? Does your family hold grudges? We would love to hear about the grudge holders you know.

Next week, I will be in Colorado. I hope to post a blog from there, but if I forget you’ll be free from listening to my ramblings for a whole week. Wink!


Have a good week everyone.


Sandy