Hope Toler Dougherty's Blog, page 2

Are You Counting Blessings?

Tis’ the season to reminisce on blessings. A popular finance person likes to say, “better than I deserve.” I understand that sentiment when I think of my overflowing blessings.

In this post, I’ll share just a handful of my blessings connected with my writing journey.

Here’s a picture of my friend, Linda Fulkerson. We met years ago when she created digital product for writers. She created all of my book trailers and revamped my website. Then in 2020, she bought Mantle Rock Publishing, created Scr...

September Travels

Can you guess where I’ve traveled to in September?

Would this picture help?

How about this one?

Surely, you’ve guessed by now, but here’s another that will certainly give the location away.

Yes! Merry Old England.

London in September turned out to be delightful! The sun shined every day. Temperatures hovered around eighty degrees during the day. Seriously.

We’ve visited England before, so we toured different places this time. One day we hiked for what seemed like three miles from our hotel to...

A Blast from the Past? I did a thing…

I’ve wanted to visit this blast from the past for a long time. At least several decades probably. I graduated high school when Charlie perfume, Earth shoes, and the Bee Gees (their second time around) were big.

I wore this skirt for my high school senior picture and also on stage for my role in our drama class’s spring production.

Yes, that’s a grainy profile picture of me wearing the skirt, complete with upside down glasses. Yes, they really were a thing back then.

I’ve kept that skirt through...

Do You Love Meeting Authors?

I love books and reading and meeting authors! During the summer, I’ve had the good fortune to meet two wonderful authors.

You may know Sean Dietrich by his other name, Sean of the South. He’s musically talented and a talented author, too. On the night we saw him, he played at least four different instruments including an accordion. He gave a thoroughly entertaining show with funny, heart-felt stories and got the audience going with a sing-along. He’s the kind of person who makes you wish he was ...

How to have Tea with Jane Austen

I spent a wonderful afternoon with my two daughters at a Jane Austen Tea Party recently. These two beauties aren’t my daughters, but I loved how they embraced Jane’s spirit and dressed the part. Next time, I plan to wear appropriate Regency attire, too.

The food was yummy, but I can’t believe I forgot to take a picture of our beautiful teacups. Phooey on me!

I love cucumber sandwiches, especially if someone else prepares them!

The scones were probably the best I’ve had in a long time! Moist and...

Friends for Life?

I was with these girls last weekend.

We had a great time in Edenton, NC, a great little historical town in the eastern part of the state. It had its own political protest led by women, the Edenton Tea Party! In 1774, fifty-one women stopped buying English tea and cloth to protest heavy taxation! They drew up resolves to support the First North Carolina Provincial Congress.

We toured historical homes and ate delicious food.

I’ve known these girls my entire life. Decades at this point. Different...

Belated Easter Greetings!

I hope you had a wonderful Easter at church and with family and friends. We did.

The Stats

We had forty-seven (47) people here ringing in age from two weeks to late seventies.

I know. It sounds sort of ridiculous (and it’s taken several days for me to recover), but everyone brings at least one dish. The weather was beautiful, so the back porch accommodated several young people. We set up three extra tables, and everyone had a seat and plenty of food.

We had the traditional egg hunt along with o...

Leap Day Book Signing!

We met at our public library on Leap Day for a Forever Free book signing!

I talked about the whole Forever Series.

Lots of special people joined me, but, unfortunately, I didn’t get pictures with everyone.

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I had lots of flowers and books.

We also enjoyed some of the tasty treats from the story like this Hershey Bar Cake. It was the first time I ever baked one of those.

I had a great time! Thanks, everyone!

 

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Go Out and Vote!

Two weeks ago, I voted early so that I could work at my hometown precinct polls for Super Tuesday. (Go here if you want to read about my experience keeping the polls during the 2016 presential election.) Last fall, I changed my party to Unaffiliated, finally! I was thrilled to vote for Nikki Haley.

For the first time in the several decades since I registered to vote as an eighteen-year-old, I was excited about a candidate. I believed in her. My vote wasn’t a I’d-rather-have-him-than-the-other-o...

A Bit of Encouragement

Do you need a bit of encouragement today? I do, and that verse from Ephesians is one of my favorites. I hope the flowers make you smile. I hope the verse reminds you of how big our God is.

 

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