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Word Whisperings
Touching Base
Mother Daughter Stories
 

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WhenSparrows

When Sparrows Fall

  by Meg Moseley.  WaterBrook Press, May 5 release. 

 

First time novelist  Meg Moseley has penned an intriguing story ripe with fascinating characters.  Meet Miranda, a single mother who home schools and keeps her children isolated to the point of stunting their coping skills should they attempt to survive in the outside world.  Meet Jack.  He appears on the scene called forth by one of the children when Miranda, the mom, is hospitalized after a fall. Was it an accident? Willful? Did someone push her?  And why Jack of all people whom none of the kids has ever even met? An academic with no children of his own, Jack finds education takes on new meaning as he cares for the children, each child exquisitely developed by Meg Moseley's deft imagination.  They educate him as well!

 

Stir into this a few secrets and a domineering patriarch (kin to my Dr. Kiel of the Change and Cherish Series) who has ordered his congregants to sell their homes and move with him to a new, more isolated community.  Miranda doesn't want to go but there's a mystery affecting what she can and cannot do making this  a page-turning story of leaning toward extremes and how easily one can fall without proper guidance and light.

 

Humor, insights and changing relationships and understandings are the hallmark of this new novel. I expect there'll be more by Meg.  I think you'll like When Sparrows Fall.  I did.

 


Permission to Forward Story Sparks

 

Some of you have asked if it's all right to forward Story Sparks to friends or to print it out for others who might not have computer access.  Yes and please include my name and the section telling people how to sign up on their own.  But before forwarding, be sure your friend really wants to see it!  Lots of forwarded emails get shot around cluttering up the web and I wouldn't want Story Sparks to show up in more "deleted" items than in the hearts of readers.

Story Sparks

"Stories are the sparks that light our ancestor's lives, the embers we blow on to illuminate our own"

Greetings!  

                

 

Trees4.11This tree farm in the Columbia River Gorge always intrigues me. The rows are so perfect and organized.  One day the trees will be harvested and made into paper for books.  Looking down the rows as one drives along reminds me of those children's books with little pictures at the bottom of each page that form an active story when rapidly flipped.  I pulled over this time when I drove along beside them and there, at the end of the row I saw something I'd often missed speeding along: a bulb of light at the end of the row.

I'm looking for that kind of clarifying light right now. Late last month my husband Jerry had a lacunar stroke.  (You can find out more at my blog www.Jane'swordsofencouragement.blogspot.com) Two weeks later, he had a heart attack. Nothing in our world seems straight and organized right now and there seems to be only enough light for the next step.

But that's what much of writing is about, too: knowing enough to write the next sentence and trusting that more will arrive to fill the pages. One can't rush too far ahead or one will stumble in the darkness.  I can't afford to look back...the light is right here, in front of me.

Jerry's doing well and has home services for a time.  He's walking with his walking stick (a gift from a reader in Boise, Idaho, years ago) all the way to the mail box.  I'm so glad it isn't seven miles away as the mailbox at the ranch is! He's talking well and even made a couple of jokes and we both laughed out loud. What a joyous sound, laughter in the morning.

Many of you are in places in your lives where the light may seem distant and pale. I hope you'll remember the trees.  I didn't see the glowing globe until I pulled over and stopped. I think I'll be doing more of that in the months ahead carrying on as I must knowing there is enough light for the next step.

 

Touching Base
 

Jane

 

Join me at one of the upcoming events! 
Check out www.jkbooks.com for new additions. 



May

 

Sunday, May 1, 1:30 pm. Books By the Bay, 1875 Sherman Ave., North Bend, Oregon

 
Thursday, May 5, 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.  Zion Lutheran Church, 1113 Black Butte Ave., Redmond, Oregon. Admission is free but reservations are requested as space is limited.  Contact Greta Dean at [email protected] or 541-548-1236 or 541-480-3870.

 

Friday, May 6, 5:00 p.m.  Sherman County Museum, Moro, Oregon. Mother's Day Twilight Tea. No vampires, though.  Instead, good tea and goodies and Jane's presentation about the remarkable women of her latest novel, The Daughter's Walk.

 

Saturday, May 7 Aurora, Oregon. "REMEMBERING EMMA."  Emma Wagner Giesy, an Aurora Colony member, died on May 17, 1916.  Jane's Change and Cherish historical series tells about the extraordinary life of Emma whose memory will be honored at this event.
       ~ 10:30 a.m.-noon: Join Jane for a book signing at the Old Aurora Colony Museum.  Her latest book "The Daughter's Walk" will be available for purchase and      
           signing along with the Aurora books and her other titles. (NOTE:  The book signing is open to the public without reservations with regular museum admission.)
       ~  1:00-2:00 p.m.: Presentation by Jane at the Aurora Presbyterian Church.
       ~  2:30-3:15 p.m.: Visit the Aurora Cemetery and Emma's gravesite as well as those of other colony members.  Presentation by the museum curator, Patrick Harris.
       ~  3:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m.: Enjoy hors d'oeuvres, beverages, entertainment and visiting with Jane at the Frederick Keil House.
       

Sunday, May 8 -- 1:00 p.m. (Time change!) St. Helen's Book Shop, 2149 Columbia Blvd., St. Helens, Oregon: Join Jane for an afternoon that will include a special events For tickets and more informationvisit http://www.sthelensbookshop.com/event/author-event-tea-jane-kirkpatrick. 

Saturday, May 14, 5:00 p.m.  Sunriver Books & Gifts, Sunriver, Oregon. 

 

 

Sunday, May 15 , 11:00 a.m. Sunriver, Oregon
Jane will participate in a 5k walk to benefit Habitat For Humanity.  See www.sunriverbooks.com for more information.

 

Monday, May 16 - 6:30 p.m.  Sunriver Books & Gifts, Sunriver, Oregon Sunriver Book Group discussion with Jane.  The book group has chosen The Daughter's Walk for their monthly read and Jane will be there to answer questions and talk about novel writing from fact.

 

 

Wednesday, May 18 -- 2:00 p.m.  Imperial River Co., 304 Bakeoven Rd., Maupin, Oregon  DESSERT TEA.  Join Jane for stories and sweets. The event is open to the public, a fee of $10 will be charged.  For more information contact Sarah Ashley at [email protected] or call 541-771-7625.

 

 

Thursday, May 19, 11:30 a.m. Rolling Hills Community Church, 3550 SW Borland Rd., Tualatin, Oregon:  Women of Worth Spring Tea. The event is open to the public, tickets are $10 and includes a catered lunch.

 

Tuesday, May 24, Paulina Springs Books in Redmond, Oregon at 6:30. A rescheduled event.

 

Wednesday, May 25, 6:30 p.m. Klamath County Library, 126 S. Third, Klamath Falls, Oregon As part of the Oregon Book Awards  Jane will be in Klamath Falls as part of a reading with John Daniel, an Oregon Book Award winner!

 

 

Thursday, May 26, 11:00 a.m. workshop, Klamath County Library, 126 S. Third, Klamath Falls, Oregon. Jane will lead a workshop, "SILENCING THE HARPIES" as part of the Oregon Book Awards Tour.

Thursday, May 26, 6:30 p.m. COCC Redmond Campus, 2030 College Loop SE, Bldg. 3 Room 306, Redmond, Oregon. Reading with John Daniel, for Central Oregon Writer's Guild meeting.

 

 

 

 

Mother-Daughter Stories

of secrets, Reflections,

Life Lessons

DaughtersWalk

On my facebook page last month I announced a story contest in honor of The Daughter's Walk my novel about an 1896 mother-daughter journey  walking from Spokane to New York City and the years after. The winners have been chosen!  Each of three will receive a special prize as well as a signed copy of my book.  Runners up were also chosen.  Congratulations to Missy, Trish Jorgenson and Judy Breneman. Their stories will be posted on my Words of Encouragement blog during the first week in May. They'll receive a signed copy of The Daughter's Walk.  Thank you for participating and making this Mother-daughter Day a great story occasion!

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Winners: 

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A Mother's Life-Lessons:
 
By Patsy Bell

                My family, by today's standards, was poor. But we did not know it. We were raised in the mountains of West Virginia surrounded by black berry bushes, wild roses and rows and rows of pastel colored Irises. The roads were sandy and arched with saplings that let the sun peep thru. I loved living in the "country" and my mom hated it.
                My mother worked very hard to provide for me and my three sisters. She was creative, thrifty, wise and a true artist.
                These three bits of wisdom I heard repeatedly over the years and I have passed them on to all who will listen and doing them has changed my life.
                "You can't always have new, but you can always have clean".
                "If you want new, but can't have new, move items around in your home, it will feel like a new place".
                "Do the task you dislike the most first, master it, and get it out of the way.
                Mama, I love you.

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A Mother's gift of Legacy: Mountain Mama

by Mary Anna Swinnerton

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Anna Montgomery, 23 years old, boarded the train in Reidsville, N.C., headed to Harrisonburg, VA for her first job working in a church. Met by the pastor, he immediately presented a whole new possibility, working with people on the other side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. in a small development known as "Crab Bottom". The pastor asked if Anna might be willing to go to and serve for a year, replacing a woman who had become ill. Anna said "Yes".

               

Riding in a truck to the top of Hardscrabble Mountain, she was met by "Mister Ike" and his 3 sons on horseback (leading another horse). It was January, there was a cold wind, scattered snowflakes were beginning to fall and it was getting dark. In her heels and suit for railway travel, Anna was not dressed for an outdoor trip, but she was tough, and had grown up around horses in North Carolina. After loading her luggage on the horses, they went slowly down the mountain. Little did Anna know that this trip was just the beginning of a 5 year "adventure" caring for the people in the valleys and "hollows" around Crab Bottom (today known as Bluegrass). She would teach Sunday school, preach, play the piano, sew, teach 6 grades in one-room, and even conduct funeral services. Chamberlain Cottage, where she lived, provided a gathering place for the mountain folk. Years later, on Anna's 100th birthday, one of the young girls from that area (then in her 90s) would remember how Anna had taught her to play hymns on the piano and made her a blue dress.

               

Anna later took each of her four daughters back to Crab Bottom, where they observed first-hand the difference she had made in the lives of so many. It was a special legacy she passed on, the knowledge that life is about giving to others. You never know how saying "Yes" to another possibility may enrich your life forever. We were blessed to have a "Mountain Mama".

 

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A Mother's reflection on her daughter

by Jill Dyer

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                My daughter.  She is a whirlwind of gentleness, boomer-rang emotions, and girlish beauty.  She is a 7 year-old adult in training who is at times wiser than her years and at other moments younger than those same years.  I have a picture hanging in my library of her as an infant.  Actually, it is of us both and I think the thing I adore about the picture is not only the contentedness in my face, but what I remember feeling as that picture was taken.  I am lying back on our old cream couch (bought before I had children or dogs and didn't know the idiocy of buying a cream couch).  My pregnancy blessed hair falls around me and she is lying, covered in pink, on my chest.  Her eyes are closed and her puckered lips pressed together, pink and perfect.  Her little fist is tightly closed by her chin.  Maybe there have been a thousand other little girl babies who have lain thus on their mother's chests.  But this time, this moment was mine.  This contentment was born out of always wanting a girl and finding that I was undeservedly given one.  This photograph captured an unusual moment of new-motherhood bliss.  Amidst constant feedings, tug-of-war sibling duties, and sleeplessness, found here is the joy of my journey of the heart expanded to love a tiny someone I am just getting to know. 

                I  never had a sister.   I always wanted one.  I still do truth be told, although it is a little late for that.  In raising my daughter, my second-born, I wanted to give her a sister.  Someone who would have that easy familial bond that knows the same jokes and can't help buying her favorite dark chocolate just to make delight her.  Someone whose laugh makes her day brighter and who she'd call at 2 in the morning when life felt like it was bigger than she is.

                We had two children after my daughter.  Both boys.  I wouldn't trade them for any girl I know.  I am smitten with all my children.  However, when I found out my last little baby bump was indeed a boy, I was sad.  I knew full well I would love him for who he is.  But I felt that leaden loss that my daughter didn't have a sister.  And truly, I felt pressure.  Now I am it.  No sister to lighten the load of female family relationships. No feminine cohort to enjoy Hannah Montana or tea parties.  It's all on me.  I am not the girliest of girls and maybe that is part of what weights that worry I occasionally carry.

                However, I do see the lining in these clouds.  I also get to have a relationship with my magical daughter that is ours alone.  No sister rivalry.  No competition.  We are the girls in this home and we better band together to face our testosterone laden family life.  How thrilling it will be to discover ourselves together.  What does it look like to be mom and daughter?  How will we love and live and have our being together?  What captivating adventures do our lives hold?  As we paint our toes and hike in the woods, what sorts of rare beasts shall we encounter?

 

                Whether you are a mom, a daughter, a sister or a friend, we women have some beautiful sort of life together.  The way our hearts draw threads of intimacy and connection between those we love, as well as the way we plumb our own lives for meaning and significance, displays the heart of God.  O yes, we were certainly made in his image.   Let us live out that image in a charming girlish dance together.

 

 

Lilacs    

    

 Congratulations to all these winners. The stories and those of the runners up will be posted on my blog www.jkbooks.com beginning May first.  Enjoy more stories of mother daughter connection and thanks for sharing them. I hope you'll find time to read the mother-daughter connection of The Daughter's Walk as well.  

 

Jane's HatWhen I attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee working on my Clinical Social Work graduate degree in the 1970s I often rushed to class without doing my hair.  I found this purple hat to be the perfect camouflage for feeling less than organized. I wore it a lot. Shortly before graduation, a couple of students whom I didn't know well commented on how "confident" I was.  "Confident?" I said knowing I was scared to death that I wouldn't get a job, that I didn't really know where I was headed even though I was nearly thirty. "What makes you think I'm confident?"

"Your hat.  Only a confident person could wear a hat to class."

I did go on to get a degree and a job that brought me to Oregon, my husband Jerry and both a mental health and later writing career.  It seemed appropriate when after the move I stumbled onto that hat again at a time of confusion and yes, lacking in confidence.  I was meant to wear it to the first signing in many, many years where Jerry wasn't in the back of the room cheering me on. I wear it also to honor Clara of The Daughter's Walk who must have worried about her hair because she carried a curling iron with her all the way to New York City. I hope your reading goes well and I thank you again for caring about the stories...mine, and yours. May you find your own purple hat to enhance your days. Warmly, Jane  

 

Warmly,


 Jane

Jane Kirkpatrick