Carlene Havel's Blog: Carlene, page 6
February 11, 2013
The Fun Starts Now
For those of us who love going barefoot in the sunshine, February desperately needs help. President’s Day is all right, but it doesn’t stir heart fires. Valentine’s Day is the major bright spot in this otherwise dreary month. Prism Book Group is warming up the Valentine celebration with prizes, surprises, and daily installments of a romantic story about a winter wedding.
Check the Prism blog every day at http://prismbookgroup.com/blog/ for updates of “A Blizzard Wedding” and to register for giveaways. If you miss a day of the story, you can catch up—although I can’t make any such guarantee for the prizes!
Carlene Havel,
Author of "A Hero's Homecoming" co-author “Daughter of the King”
http://goo.gl/s6EQS
Check the Prism blog every day at http://prismbookgroup.com/blog/ for updates of “A Blizzard Wedding” and to register for giveaways. If you miss a day of the story, you can catch up—although I can’t make any such guarantee for the prizes!
Carlene Havel,
Author of "A Hero's Homecoming" co-author “Daughter of the King”
http://goo.gl/s6EQS
February 2, 2013
Come On Over
Check out the Meet and Greet at
www.dianeestrella.com
, a Christian blog site. Also, the charming Jacqueline Hopper will feature tidbits about the life and times of Princess Michal during the Promotion Mondays event at
http://jacquelinedhopper.blogspot.com/
. Although these sites are quite different from each other, both are interesting places to visit. I hope you’ll drop by!
Carlene Havel,
Author of "A Hero's Homecoming" co-author “Daughter of the King”
http://goo.gl/s6EQS
Carlene Havel,
Author of "A Hero's Homecoming" co-author “Daughter of the King”
http://goo.gl/s6EQS
February 1, 2013
The Ring That Binds
There is nothing I enjoy more than a sweet romance, and I’m also a bargain hunter. Those two pleasures came together when I paid ninety-nine cents for the novella “The Ring That Binds” by Linda Carroll-Bradd. The story is set in Aspen, Colorado, back in the gold rush days. The heroine is a widow, struggling to put food on the table for herself and her five-year-old daughter with her dressmaking business. There were plenty of historical details that transported me back a century and a half, along with descriptions that absolutely made the story come alive. I read “The Ring That Binds” in only a few sessions—all I had time for during a busy couple of weeks. The pricing of eBooks is a mystery to me, but in the case of this sweet novella, the value definitely exceeds the cost. Where else could I find so much entertainment for a dollar?
You know what else? This book tugged at my heartstrings without resorting to cheap tricks like casual sex, dirty language, or violence. It’s so nice to find an author who takes the time to develop real romance instead of tossing characters into bed with the hope the reader will mistake lust for love. If you are short on time or money—and who isn’t these days?—I encourage you to put “The Ring That Binds” on your reading list. It’s available at Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, or at the publisher’s website, http://www.prismbookgroup.com/TheRing... . While you’re visiting, check out the free short stories, ninety-nine cent novellas, and full-length novels bargain priced at $2.99. Or search for “Prism Book Group” at Amazon or Barnes & Nobel. The quality is just as good, often better, than books costing four or five times as much.
Carlene Havel,
Author of "A Hero's Homecoming" co-author “Daughter of the King”
http://goo.gl/s6EQS
You know what else? This book tugged at my heartstrings without resorting to cheap tricks like casual sex, dirty language, or violence. It’s so nice to find an author who takes the time to develop real romance instead of tossing characters into bed with the hope the reader will mistake lust for love. If you are short on time or money—and who isn’t these days?—I encourage you to put “The Ring That Binds” on your reading list. It’s available at Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, or at the publisher’s website, http://www.prismbookgroup.com/TheRing... . While you’re visiting, check out the free short stories, ninety-nine cent novellas, and full-length novels bargain priced at $2.99. Or search for “Prism Book Group” at Amazon or Barnes & Nobel. The quality is just as good, often better, than books costing four or five times as much.
Carlene Havel,
Author of "A Hero's Homecoming" co-author “Daughter of the King”
http://goo.gl/s6EQS
January 23, 2013
How Y'all Doin?
I love Texasisms, those down-home sayings peculiar to the part of the world where I hang my hat. For example, a true native who’s preparing to take action is said to be “fixin’ to”, as in I’m fixin’ to go to the store.
Have you ever heard of someone who looks like “nine miles of bad road”? There are two meanings, and neither is a compliment. Meaning #1: having bloodshot eyes, with visible capillaries similar to the lines depicting roads on a map. Meaning #2: having a face so wrinkled it resembles that same kind of map.
“All wind and no rain” has essentially the same definition as “big hat, no cattle.” Either term applies to a phony whose conversation goes beyond the bounds of reality.
The essential Texasism is “y’all.” It can mean you, you guys, you all, you people, or this establishment (“y’all got any eggs?") just to mention a few. There’s no “w” in y’all, and it’s not elongated into two or more syllables in Texas the way it is in some southern states. Students of the language can tell what part of the state you’re from by the way you pronounce y’all. They can tell if you're not really from here as well. Don't worry. Nobody will tell you how the cow ate the cabbage. They'll just grin at a companion and mumble "big hat, no cattle."
Carlene Havel,
Author of "A Hero's Homecoming" co-author “Daughter of the King”
http://goo.gl/s6EQS
Have you ever heard of someone who looks like “nine miles of bad road”? There are two meanings, and neither is a compliment. Meaning #1: having bloodshot eyes, with visible capillaries similar to the lines depicting roads on a map. Meaning #2: having a face so wrinkled it resembles that same kind of map.
“All wind and no rain” has essentially the same definition as “big hat, no cattle.” Either term applies to a phony whose conversation goes beyond the bounds of reality.
The essential Texasism is “y’all.” It can mean you, you guys, you all, you people, or this establishment (“y’all got any eggs?") just to mention a few. There’s no “w” in y’all, and it’s not elongated into two or more syllables in Texas the way it is in some southern states. Students of the language can tell what part of the state you’re from by the way you pronounce y’all. They can tell if you're not really from here as well. Don't worry. Nobody will tell you how the cow ate the cabbage. They'll just grin at a companion and mumble "big hat, no cattle."
Carlene Havel,
Author of "A Hero's Homecoming" co-author “Daughter of the King”
http://goo.gl/s6EQS
January 19, 2013
See Spot Run
In the play and movie, “The Miracle Worker”, teacher Annie Sullivan works endlessly to help Helen Keller understand that the word for water, signed into the sightless child’s hand, represents water, the liquid drink. The scene where Helen makes the connection between the word and the concept often moves audiences to tears.
I recall a similar though less dramatic “aha” moment, the exact instant when the reading connection snapped into place for me. In first grade, I sat in a circle with other students, laboring over a book with a red cover and lots of pictures. “See Dick run,” Mrs. Houston said. She pointed to the words on the page. I looked not at the printed words, but at the bright illustration of a boy and a dog running. The teacher went on. “Run, Dick, run,” she read from the next page. The simple narrative continued. “See Spot run. Run, Spot, run.”
I’d wanted to read for at least two years. The older girls in my extended family read stories that whetted my appetite to devour a book without assistance. My mother frequently read little golden books to me. However, she also looked at books that contained nothing but words—no pictures. When could I learn to do the same? I dutifully repeated “Run, Dick, run,” when my turn came to read aloud, but the repetition lacked the allure of “Kerry the Fire Engine Dog” or “The Little Train That Could.”
A few days later, I noticed a newspaper lying on a chair in the kitchen. In the midst of a headline the word “RUN” ignited a flame in my tender young mind. I could read the newspaper! It said “run”, just like the book in my first grade classroom. Although neither Dick nor Spot appeared, I knew without Mom’s interention that someone or something was running. Hallelujah!
Returning to the classroom with renewed motivation, I began to pursue words like Dick and Jane running after Spot. It’s a passion that still burns brightly.
Carlene Havel,
Author of "A Hero's Homecoming" co-author “Daughter of the King”
http://goo.gl/s6EQS
I recall a similar though less dramatic “aha” moment, the exact instant when the reading connection snapped into place for me. In first grade, I sat in a circle with other students, laboring over a book with a red cover and lots of pictures. “See Dick run,” Mrs. Houston said. She pointed to the words on the page. I looked not at the printed words, but at the bright illustration of a boy and a dog running. The teacher went on. “Run, Dick, run,” she read from the next page. The simple narrative continued. “See Spot run. Run, Spot, run.”
I’d wanted to read for at least two years. The older girls in my extended family read stories that whetted my appetite to devour a book without assistance. My mother frequently read little golden books to me. However, she also looked at books that contained nothing but words—no pictures. When could I learn to do the same? I dutifully repeated “Run, Dick, run,” when my turn came to read aloud, but the repetition lacked the allure of “Kerry the Fire Engine Dog” or “The Little Train That Could.”
A few days later, I noticed a newspaper lying on a chair in the kitchen. In the midst of a headline the word “RUN” ignited a flame in my tender young mind. I could read the newspaper! It said “run”, just like the book in my first grade classroom. Although neither Dick nor Spot appeared, I knew without Mom’s interention that someone or something was running. Hallelujah!
Returning to the classroom with renewed motivation, I began to pursue words like Dick and Jane running after Spot. It’s a passion that still burns brightly.
Carlene Havel,
Author of "A Hero's Homecoming" co-author “Daughter of the King”
http://goo.gl/s6EQS
January 14, 2013
One Of a Kind
My father built most of the houses I lived in as a child. If he started working double time to complete the construction, our family knew that particular house was about to be sold.
The living room of one house had bright red wallpaper with shockingly green birds on it. Below the paper, the wainscot was red if viewed from one direction, green from the other. That living room also served to connect the bedrooms with the kitchen and dining room. The really distinctive feature? We lived in the house several years before Dad got around to putting a roof on it. During a rainstorm, the choice was to stay put or run through the living room in the rain to the other area of the house. I’ve often wondered why he put up the wallpaper and painted before he put on the roof. I suspect he couldn’t wait to experiment with the red and green wainscot effect.
I remember a missing wall between the closets of two adjoining bedrooms. Each closet had sliding doors, and on the exterior looked “normal”. I’d love to know what the next owners thought when their kids discovered they could go from room to room through the closets.
In another house, Dad painted the living room hot pink—not that he had any special attachment to that color, but he got a good deal on the paint at a flea market. That was the same place where there were two upstairs areas, built at different times, each with its own stairwell. To move from one upstairs bedroom to another required going back to the first floor and up the other set of stairs. He made a library upstairs, where he kept the table he’d retrieved from the Salvation Army thrift store’s trash heap. After an investment of countless hours of labor, the table was beautiful. Dad loved making something out of nothing.
Recently, the city notified us of a date we could leave bulky items by the curb for a special trash collection. I watched as a ratty old pickup cruised down the street that morning. Sure enough, it slowed to a stop in front of my house. A man dressed in work clothes hopped out and loaded up my neighbor’s broken, discarded desk and bookcase. I smiled and thought of Daddy.
Carlene Havel,
Co-author, “Daughter of the King”
http://goo.gl/5WLKj
Author of "A Hero's Homecoming"
http://goo.gl/s6EQS
The living room of one house had bright red wallpaper with shockingly green birds on it. Below the paper, the wainscot was red if viewed from one direction, green from the other. That living room also served to connect the bedrooms with the kitchen and dining room. The really distinctive feature? We lived in the house several years before Dad got around to putting a roof on it. During a rainstorm, the choice was to stay put or run through the living room in the rain to the other area of the house. I’ve often wondered why he put up the wallpaper and painted before he put on the roof. I suspect he couldn’t wait to experiment with the red and green wainscot effect.
I remember a missing wall between the closets of two adjoining bedrooms. Each closet had sliding doors, and on the exterior looked “normal”. I’d love to know what the next owners thought when their kids discovered they could go from room to room through the closets.
In another house, Dad painted the living room hot pink—not that he had any special attachment to that color, but he got a good deal on the paint at a flea market. That was the same place where there were two upstairs areas, built at different times, each with its own stairwell. To move from one upstairs bedroom to another required going back to the first floor and up the other set of stairs. He made a library upstairs, where he kept the table he’d retrieved from the Salvation Army thrift store’s trash heap. After an investment of countless hours of labor, the table was beautiful. Dad loved making something out of nothing.
Recently, the city notified us of a date we could leave bulky items by the curb for a special trash collection. I watched as a ratty old pickup cruised down the street that morning. Sure enough, it slowed to a stop in front of my house. A man dressed in work clothes hopped out and loaded up my neighbor’s broken, discarded desk and bookcase. I smiled and thought of Daddy.
Carlene Havel,
Co-author, “Daughter of the King”
http://goo.gl/5WLKj
Author of "A Hero's Homecoming"
http://goo.gl/s6EQS
January 8, 2013
Serious Business
A year ago, warnings about breast cancer rolled past me without much attention. Women in my famiy tend to live close to a century, and they obviously have no predisposition to this horrible disease. Not one of my blood relatives ever had breast cancer that I know of—and my brother has traced our lineage back several centuries. Check off one thing I didn’t need to worry about.
This year everything changed. On April 1st my mother called and said she’d found “something” during her breast self-examination, a practice I had long since abandoned. After making certain this wasn’t a grim April Fool’s joke, we discussed whether or not she should have this “thing” checked out. There's no need to ask this question – the answer is ALWAYS YES!!!
At every step of the way, both Mom and I thought this little abnormality would turn out to be just another benign cyst. We were wrong. It was breast cancer. Praise God, Mom came through her mastectomy with flying colors, and she is now cancer free.
My point? Get those mammograms done, do your self-examinations, and remain vigilant. Cancer is your enemy. It’s vile, mean, and sneaky. Breast cancer strikes young and old, men and women. No one is immune. Don’t become complacent about this dangerous yet treatable foe!
Carlene Havel
Co-author, Daughter of the King
http://goo.gl/5WLKj
Author, A Hero’s Homecoming
http://goo.gl/Iz7yz
This year everything changed. On April 1st my mother called and said she’d found “something” during her breast self-examination, a practice I had long since abandoned. After making certain this wasn’t a grim April Fool’s joke, we discussed whether or not she should have this “thing” checked out. There's no need to ask this question – the answer is ALWAYS YES!!!
At every step of the way, both Mom and I thought this little abnormality would turn out to be just another benign cyst. We were wrong. It was breast cancer. Praise God, Mom came through her mastectomy with flying colors, and she is now cancer free.
My point? Get those mammograms done, do your self-examinations, and remain vigilant. Cancer is your enemy. It’s vile, mean, and sneaky. Breast cancer strikes young and old, men and women. No one is immune. Don’t become complacent about this dangerous yet treatable foe!
Carlene Havel
Co-author, Daughter of the King
http://goo.gl/5WLKj
Author, A Hero’s Homecoming
http://goo.gl/Iz7yz
January 1, 2013
Contest to Win Ten Dollars
Want a chance at an Amazon gift certificate worth $10? Go to this website, find the answers to three trivia questions, and enter the contest
http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/Cont...
. As a bonus for reading my blog, the following paragraphs contain the answers to the three trivia questions. I thought about putting them in boldface, but you wouldn’t feel good about winning if it was
that
easy, would you??
A heartwarming story about the resilience of true love, inspired by a biblical account of greatness, courage, and foretold prophecy....
Princess Michal was the youngest daughter of Saul, the first king of Israel. In an age when fathers arranged marriages, Michal dared to fall in love with a handsome young musician named David, from the little town of Bethlehem. As recounted in the Bible, Michal helped David escape from her insanely jealous father. King Saul punished his daughter with forced marriage to a distant war lord. Princess Michal unexpectedly returns from seven years of exile to find a changed world. Most of her relatives are dead. David has become King of Judea. He has acquired six additional wives, one of whom is a princess from Geshur. Michal longs to have a son to reign over Israel and reestablish the rule of King Saul's heirs. But each royal wife has hopes of placing her own son on the throne. Can Princess Michal's love for King David survive war, madness, infidelity, and betrayal?
Bon chance, everyone! I have to go now and take the cure for having a blurb in my blog. Sounds serious.
Carlene Havel
Co-author, Daughter of the King
http://goo.gl/5WLKj
Author, A Hero’s Homecoming
http://goo.gl/Iz7yz
A heartwarming story about the resilience of true love, inspired by a biblical account of greatness, courage, and foretold prophecy....
Princess Michal was the youngest daughter of Saul, the first king of Israel. In an age when fathers arranged marriages, Michal dared to fall in love with a handsome young musician named David, from the little town of Bethlehem. As recounted in the Bible, Michal helped David escape from her insanely jealous father. King Saul punished his daughter with forced marriage to a distant war lord. Princess Michal unexpectedly returns from seven years of exile to find a changed world. Most of her relatives are dead. David has become King of Judea. He has acquired six additional wives, one of whom is a princess from Geshur. Michal longs to have a son to reign over Israel and reestablish the rule of King Saul's heirs. But each royal wife has hopes of placing her own son on the throne. Can Princess Michal's love for King David survive war, madness, infidelity, and betrayal?
Bon chance, everyone! I have to go now and take the cure for having a blurb in my blog. Sounds serious.
Carlene Havel
Co-author, Daughter of the King
http://goo.gl/5WLKj
Author, A Hero’s Homecoming
http://goo.gl/Iz7yz
December 29, 2012
December Memory
The holidays are over. Back to school. Back to work. Back to normal. For me, no more baking until next December. Oh, sure, I’ll mix up some brownies and put them in the oven, as long as the box doesn’t call for more than two additional ingredients. Neither of my grandmas would have considered that “real” baking. In December, I tackle their traditional recipes--those treasured scraps of paper with handwritten instructions that begin with alien words such as “fold”, “sift”, or “dissolve a packet of yeast”.
Grandma knew the difference between a cup and a scant cup without resorting to tools. Need a tablespoon of baking powder? Get out a spoon—one of those used at the table—and you’re in business. How about a teaspoon? Don’t put so much in the tablespoon. Her directions to kitchen helpers consisted of “stir until it feels right” or “cook until done”. She was an artist who worked primarily in the media of flour, sugar, whole milk, fresh eggs, and butter—which she often churned herself. No doubt her diet was unhealthy by current standards. Unaware of the dangers of cholesterol, she lived into her late nineties.
One morning, after making biscuits and gravy for breakfast, Grandma encountered a rattlesnake in the back yard. Killed it with a crowbar, came inside, washed her hands, and calmly began peeling potatoes for lunch. When the men shied away, she chewed a plug of tobacco to put on my fresh bee sting. She could cut and sew a dress without a pattern, milk a cow, and put together a good meal when the cupboard looked bare. Most of her six children were born at home. Hospitals were for sick people.
I never saw her use a measuring cup. I was never aware of anyone or anything she was afraid of. The old saw, “they don’t make them like that any more” just may apply.
Carlene Havel
Co-author, Daughter of the King
http://goo.gl/5WLKj
Grandma knew the difference between a cup and a scant cup without resorting to tools. Need a tablespoon of baking powder? Get out a spoon—one of those used at the table—and you’re in business. How about a teaspoon? Don’t put so much in the tablespoon. Her directions to kitchen helpers consisted of “stir until it feels right” or “cook until done”. She was an artist who worked primarily in the media of flour, sugar, whole milk, fresh eggs, and butter—which she often churned herself. No doubt her diet was unhealthy by current standards. Unaware of the dangers of cholesterol, she lived into her late nineties.
One morning, after making biscuits and gravy for breakfast, Grandma encountered a rattlesnake in the back yard. Killed it with a crowbar, came inside, washed her hands, and calmly began peeling potatoes for lunch. When the men shied away, she chewed a plug of tobacco to put on my fresh bee sting. She could cut and sew a dress without a pattern, milk a cow, and put together a good meal when the cupboard looked bare. Most of her six children were born at home. Hospitals were for sick people.
I never saw her use a measuring cup. I was never aware of anyone or anything she was afraid of. The old saw, “they don’t make them like that any more” just may apply.
Carlene Havel
Co-author, Daughter of the King
http://goo.gl/5WLKj
December 21, 2012
Win a Free Book
Sign up on Goodreads to win a free, signed copy of Daughter of the King by Carlene Havel and Sharon Faucheux, Based on the Bible story found in Kings, Chronicles, and Samuel. Scroll down and click on the "giveaway details" link. Bon chance!
Carlene Havel
Author, Daughter of the King
http://goo.gl/5WLKj
Carlene Havel
Author, Daughter of the King
http://goo.gl/5WLKj
