Books, books, books!! We depart a bit today from our usual messages because today's SCRIBBLES is all about books, and a wide variety at that. First I want to follow up on last month's Feast of Creation in Christ and my recommendation of Lucinda Vardey's book The Green Soul. I fell in love upon reading the book and have decided to facilitate a small group Green Soul Circle. My plan is to host on Zoom on the first Saturday of every month starting on November 7th at 11 am Central Time (noon Eastern, 9 am Mountain, and 8 am Pacific--note: we can mutually agree to adapt the schedule as needed for holidays, etc).
Below is Lucinda's own invitation from her website. Give it a read and if you care to join me, click on the link to buy the book and then (perhaps after you have received and read some of it) click the RSVP beneath that to let me know you want to join.
Then read on for two more very personal offerings that I hope you will consider and enjoy 🙂
ON PRAYER
We invite you to form a Green Soul Circle — a group of kindred spirits meeting monthly on ZOOM to journey through The Green Soul book, one chapter at a time over a 10-month period.
Every month the author Lucinda offers a reflection to accompany each chapter with some questions to guide your gathering, helping you to absorb the wisdom of the text and deepen your experience in nature.
This is a shared path of healing — for the Earth, for future generations, and for the soul’s longing to reconnect with the sacred. As you walk with others, you’ll grow more attuned to the rhythms of creation, more aware of the climate shifts around us, and more open to the Divine presence that flows through all living things.
Change happens when small groups gather to form community with a common purpose and mission. If you care about nature, if you care about the damage from climate change, if you care to return to the sacredness of the environment, you can make a big difference, you can contribute to the much-needed healing of all natural life.
Come join the journey, become a circle of hearts in the Green Soul movement.
Would you like to join my Green Soul Circle?
LOCATION
via Zoom
DATE AND TIME
11/07/26 11:00am - 07/03/27 12:00pm US/Pacific
GREEN SOUL CIRCLE
a Zoom meeting of about one hour the first Saturday of the month. Dates can be adjusted mutually for holidays, etc.
Not the Brontes but... Writing Sisters!
To your left, I am pictured with my sister, Theresa Schimmel, at the book launch of her newest creation and first YA novel, I Belong in the Game. A large crowd of friends, family, and devotees of books and baseball gathered at the Naragansett RI Public Library on Saturday, September 12th to hear Terry read excerpts from her book and respond to a lively round of Q&A. I was so proud of her and pleased to be able to join her on that occasion.
Books and baseball were both a major part of our growing up. We share memories of bringing home armloads of books from the library, of reading under the maple tree out front and, sometimes, under the covers after dark.
We also share memories of baseball. Curt Gowdy's voice, the drone of lawn mowers, and the slam of screen doors were the hallmark sounds of summer as my dad caught every Boston Red Sox game. Together we and our sisters shagged balls for our brother and then got our time at bat. Terry and I being the eldest, never had any other times at the plate, but our younger sisters coming after Title IX, did our dad proud with their athleticism.
All of this is evidenced in I Belong in the Game, a coming of age story about Raylee Montaur, a girl with a passion for baseball who is ten years old when Title IX comes into play and she has her chance. Buy it for yourself--it's an excellent read, buy it for a young person who doesn't know the story of women and sports, buy it for a baseball lover, buy it for Christmas for someone in that tween or teen group so hard to buy for. Click on the button below to preview and/or order:
TERRANCE McPHEE and the TOY EATING TREE
Yoo hoo! For those of you who don't already know, when I'm not busy with SCRIBBLES, retreats, spiritual direction, scripture study, and other "churchy" stuff, I have another life that also includes writing and books plus the real-life adventures of children and most anything to do with youngsters.
Meet my children's book, TERRANCE McPHEE and the TOY EATING TREE, one year old today! One of the great things about Terrance McPhee is that it really happened--sort of. One day I took my young grandsons to the park to fly a new toy airplane and, you guessed it, it got stuck in a tree! Valiant attempts to free it failed and I ended writing a poem about our misadventure to cheer up some sad little boys. Over the years, the poem grew, characters were added, and we told it over and over until it became part of our shared lexicon of life, a childhood memory that was now mirror of life and life lessons.
Those boys grew up and a time came when the poem needed to become a book. Not being an artist, I asked the younger grandson if he could draw sketches of the characters we'd created. "Sure, I can. They've lived in my head for years." I took his drawings and my writing to Scott Ward, a wonderful artist and voila, together we created TERRANCE McPHEE and the TOY EATING TREE.
When I present in schools and libraries, I stress with children the importance of their own stories and learning all those stories have to teach them. I encourage them to write their stories, to draw their ideas, and who knows? They too could have a Terrance McPhee.
This book owns a huge chunk of my heart. I was content to create it as a legacy for my family, but I have since been delighted to find out how excited children become by it and realize what potential it has.
So now I want to do all I can to give Terrance wings to fly. You can find out more about Terrance McPhee by visiting the website for additional information. Terrance McPhee Website.And if you'd like to preview / purchase, use the button below to go to Amazon.
Responses from Readers...
Contact Kathleen
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