1-31-23, Day 30 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day thirty, the final post of A Day In My Life! Happy Tuesday!

Here we are, at the finish line of the Rave Reviews Book Club’s 30-Day Blogging Challenge, and what a run it has been. At first, I had no idea if I’d have enough material to share for thirty days straight. Whose days are so interesting that anyone would want to hear about all the details?

Along with writing every day, we were also challenged to read the other participants’ daily blog posts, and that first day, I had my Eureka! moment. Each writer had something different to share. From deep introspection to views on current events, from travel stories to past experiences in school, from family drama in the past to life-changing events happening right now, I gained a new love and appreciation for each RRBC member who participated.

Did I get as much out of writing my blog as I did from reading everyone else’s? I think so. I wrote about things I did, but more so about how I felt about those things; like the bittersweet sadness and relief of putting away Christmas. I hope my love for the Lord God showed through. Without Him, I’m nothing, but all things are possible with Him. I hope my visitors enjoyed these daily posts.

This wasn’t an easy challenge. I had to put aside tasks that needed doing then and are CRITICAL now because they’re time-sensitive. Think numbers. I haven’t written anything other than these posts because writing them, searching out pictures, and reading and commenting on everyone’s posts has eaten all my writing time. For that reason, I won’t be writing more blogs for the time being. If you’ve enjoyed them, then don’t be disappointed. I’ll be back when the inspiration hits and I have something to share with you. And I do like to reblog great articles I find elsewhere.

Enough finish line stuff. I PROMISED I’d show you pictures of my trip to Spain, broken leg and all, so here goes.

My sister Margie and I left Germany and flew to Spain after Bill left for home. Thankfully, the doctor gave me a walking cast, which really came in handy when we had to walk through sand in the mountains.

Mom and Dad built their house in 1972 and furnished it with the same 1950s furniture we grew up with. We loved that house! They had no air conditioning, and kept the windows open year round. The garden scents of night blooming jasmine, gardenias, and roses filled it night and day. That part of Spain has no humidity, so even though it was hot, ceiling fans were enough for sleeping comfort.

The house was two blocks from the Mediterranean. Where we have beautiful sand in Florida, those beaches were made of pebbles. Tough on the feet!

The entire town shut down every afternoon from 1pm to 4pm for Siesta. It was nice to have down time to nap or read or walk along the beach promenade. The buildings interested me. Where here you might see apartment buildings all looking exactly alike, in Spain, the apartments in the buildings all had different facades.

We ate at different restaurants and often stopped for quick treats.

The town my parents lived in had its own fort and marina where Dad kept his sailboat.

Have you heard of spaghetti westerns? This part of Spain looks very much like Texas in the mountains. Westerns have always been popular movies in Europe, and we went to the movie set where many of them were filmed.

On other trips to Spain, we visited the Alhambra, a gorgeous Moorish castle in Granada. All the photos I took there are in physical albums, so I’ll share this one I got from the internet.

If you ever get to Spain, visit Granada and tour the Alhambra. It is breathtaking!

I have had so much fun scrolling through photos of our trip to Germany and Spain! I wish I could share them all with you. I wish I’d had more of the inside of Alhambra!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this month of blog posts. God bless you and yours!

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org

1-30-23, Day 29 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day twenty-nine of A Day In My Life! Happy Monday! (Only one more day after this to complete the challenge!)

A few years ago, Bill and I checked off one item on our bucket list. We visited Germany, and I showed him some of my favorite childhood stomping grounds.

When my parents moved us to Germany back in the 1900s, the first place we landed was Heidelberg. Mom was born and raised in Germany, and her brother was superintendent of the city schools. Dad found us a large apartment in a house two blocks down the hill from Heidelberg castle, and so the castle grounds became our playground. Our cousins had found a way into the battlements, and since they spoke a little English, we enjoyed many games of knights and battles. We didn’t speak German yet, and I felt completely out of place in the school, but loved playing in the castle grounds.

These are typical houses below the castle. I didn’t remember which one we lived in, but it looked like the one on the hill.

I felt right at home in the courtyard. From there we took a tour of the inside, where many furnishings are original. Like most castles, Heidelberg has its legends. The wine barrel in the cellar is so large, they built a platform on top big enough to be a dance floor. According to legend, a greedy wine keeper drank every drop in the barrel on a dare.

Bill and I spent most of the trip in Bavaria, the southernmost state in Germany. We visited my brother and his family (all six of their children were born and raised there), and my sister, who had raised her two children near Nuremberg, but now lived near and worked with our brother. Munich is in Bavaria, and they lived south of Munich.

Here are a few scenes in no particular order.

I HAD to show you the cute vehicles we saw! The one on the right is a delivery TRUCK! Is this our future?

I love how they decorate their buildings. I thought you might get a kick out of the bookstore name. Buch means book.

The bakery deserves its own picture. I can smell it from here! Heavenly!

My brother’s family lives very close to the Chiemsee, which is also called the Bavarian Sea. King Ludwig II had this castle, Herrenchiemsee, built in the 1870s. I heard he nearly bankrupted the government with this vacation home. As large and ornate as it is, he only spent a few days there. We needed sunglasses inside the building because of the excessive use of gold leaf all over everything. A bit over-the-top.

One of the many highlights of the trip was our visit to Salzburg, Austria, the home of Mozart. We visited a number of years ago, so here are some random scenes with no descriptions.

Hohensalzburg Fortress sits atop the city like a medieval helmet. Click on the link for an aerial view. We took the funicular from the city to avoid climbing a gazillion steps, and I truly felt the weight of history. The fortress is nearly 950 years old, which means the homes inside the walls, where people still appear to live, are also ancient. The doorways in the houses looked like they were made for children.

Before we visited the final castle, we took a trip to the Black Forest to see my youngest sister and her family. She and her husband had settled in Germany after many years in the Middle East. We toured a small lake where we bought our cuckoo clock in a store that looked like one. I took a photo of the blue Citroen because I once caught a ride in one, and the seats were like sling lawn chairs, you opened the windows by popping them with your elbow (they swung out and up and latched on the outside of the car), and the ride was like riding on a cloud!

The final castle we visited was the one Disney used as a model for their Cinderella castle in Disney World. Neuschwanstein was another one commissioned by King Ludwig II. He started construction in 1869 and lived in this castle. Some of the more modern touches inside surprised me, and it wasn’t nearly as ornate as Herrenchiemsee. No sunglasses required. I thought this was the most beautiful of all.

Bill had to get back home after two weeks, and I stayed in Europe for another two weeks. My sister and I flew to Spain to see Mom. Did I mention I’d broken my leg walking down from Neuschwanstein? I made the rest of the trip with a cast! It didn’t slow me down one bit. Tomorrow, I’ll share some Spain photos.

Here’s my to-do list for today:

1. Write my daily blog. (Check!)
2. Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (daily)
3. Take a nap.
4. Spend an hour or so editing.
5. Relax with dinner and a movie and my knight in shining armor.

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org

1-29-23, Day 28 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day twenty-eight of A Day In My Life! Happy Sunday! (I keep getting my days mixed up, but I think I’ve got it now.)

Happy Anniversary to the Love of my Life!

We’ve been married twenty-nine years, and although it shows in every wrinkle, time hasn’t dimmed our smiles one bit. God has blessed us with a long, happy marriage, a large dynamic family, and years of trust and growth and faith and fun together. It’s been a blast, and we both pray God will give us many more years together on this side of Heaven.

When Bill and I met, we didn’t think we had much of anything in common. I’d never picked up a tennis racquet and wasn’t sure what a tennis pro did. His idea of the ideal motorcycle was a Vespa scooter, and mine was a bit bigger and faster. He didn’t like snakes and I had one. I give him a lot of credit for tolerating my ball python, Archimedes, until we sold it and moved to Florida.

What we did have in common was our love for God, for each other, and for our children. He had five kids and I had three. We survived the blending process, which resembled throwing us all into a blender and turning it on. The chaotic, drama-filled days eventually smoothed out into a relatively peaceful blend, where the many flavors melded while retaining their individual savor.

Our faith grew stronger through every challenge, of which there were many. We took our two fully-formed lives apart and learned to fit them together into our own. We made a ton of mistakes as we maneuvered our way through adolescence and young adulthood with each of the kids. We stumbled our way through resentments, tantrums, divided loyalties, questionable choices, identity crises, and driving lessons, and came to a place of understanding, acceptance, and love.

Through it all, Bill exhibited much more grace than I did. He always knew when we needed to get away, and thankfully, we started a business together that afforded us the luxury of travel. We’ve made wonderful friends all over the country and the world. Our children have grown up and live successful lives with partners and people they love, and they’ve given us beautiful grandkids.

We consider ourselves blessed beyond measure, and live each day in gratitude. Bill makes it easy. He is genuine, a man of integrity without an iota of guile or malice in him. He sees the best in people, and brings it out of them. He’s patient and courageous, generous and funny, and he’s quick to forgive. I, in turn, laugh at all his dad jokes every time he tells them. They’re funny to me every time! He says I add pizzazz to his life. I sometimes wonder if he means pizzas.

In short, we’re a great match. These have been the quickest, richest, and best twenty-nine years of my life. Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart! May the Lord give us many more!

Is there anything you’re celebrating this month? I’d love to know and celebrate with you!

Here’s my to-do list for today:

1. Write my daily blog. (Check!)
2. Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (daily)
3. Take a nap.
4. Read while Bill watches the Eagles play.
5. Go out to dinner with Bill.

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org

1-28-23, Day 27 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day twenty-seven of A Day In My Life! Happy Friday!

Imagine, if you will, lining up behind the columns in the central street in this photo, out of sight, dressed in cap and gown, and waiting for the opening notes of Pomp and Circumstance. In my graduating class of forty students, I stepped out onto the steep ramp into the illusion of perspective, careful not to fall. Number three in my class, I made my way to a seat on the stage. We faced a curved amphitheater where our families and friends cheered as we graduated. It was 1968, and this theater was nearly 400 years old.

Built in 1580-85 by Andrea Palladio, a resident of Vicenza, Italy, and the most influential architect of his time, the Teatro Olimpico is the oldest surviving Renaissance theater in the world. And it’s where we American students got to graduate.

Vicenza is a beautiful town midway between Verona, where Romeo and Juliet lived, loved, and perished (in fiction), and Venice, known for its canals, gondolas, and blown glass figures. We also knew it for its fishy scent, art museums, and pigeons that would perch on your shoulders if you dared take out a snack in Piazza San Marco.

I’m a bit nostalgic today because I found a cache of some photos we took with old Brownie cameras back in the 1900s. The photos you see above came from an internet search. As teens, we hung out at the Piazza dei Signori after we shared pizzas at Duo Ruote, the best pizzeria in the world. We lived on a side of Monte Berico, off a narrow road we accessed near the Basilica. The church sits at the top of the mountain overlooking the city. The inside shone brighter than the outside with all the gold in there. I added the photo of a villa just like the many that dotted the land around the city. One of the teachers at the DoD school we attended lived in one like this.

Our villa was smaller and the land around it not as well manicured. We had a variety of fruit trees and vineyards and one tall pine we’d climb for a spectacular view of the valley.

I had a room with a balcony. My brother loved to climb the iron grate of the downstairs window, jump onto the balcony, and scare the daylights out of me.

You can see the slope of the road in front of our gate. We kids would walk about a quarter mile to the bottom of the hill to catch the school bus. We also had to walk UP it after school. A neighborhood St. Bernard named Topo (for a cartoon mouse) lost control running down that hill one day. He’d picked up so much speed, he couldn’t stop. My brother and I hopped out of his way as he passed, eyes wild, tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth, flapping in the wind. We watched him reach the intersection in the village below at the exact moment a Fiat 500 did. Topo barreled into the car, knocked it over on its side, and staggered to a stop. He sat down, shook his head, and wandered away. Meanwhile, the family of five inside the car, opened the door, now on top, and climbed out. The papa screamed Italian curses at the poor dog, while Dan and I laughed all the way home.

I’m front and center in the photo of the family gathering, surrounded by siblings, German cousins, aunts, an uncle, and my Opa — Mom’s dad.

I won’t post the photos of our annual beach vacations along the Adriatic and Mediterranean coasts. However, I will share these pictures of a boat my dad fashioned from an old dinghy he rescued. His boat sailed so well, a company bought his design to mass produce them. He thought it bobbed nicely, but didn’t have enough speed, so he built a better one after he and Mom moved to Spain.

I hope you’ve kept old photos that bring back pleasant memories. I enjoy being invited to share your journeys, so please keep posting them!

Here’s my to-do list for today:

1. Write my daily blog. (Check!)
2. Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (daily)
3. Read and critique my writer’s group’s chapters.
4. Take a nap.
5. Spend an hour editing my friend’s book.
6. Relax with dinner and a movie and Bill.

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org

1-27-23, Day 26 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day twenty-six of A Day In My Life! Happy Friday!

Have you ever written something and THEN taken time to do your research on that topic? I did, and here’s what I found.

My first book in the Tetrasphere series is set in a fictitious Cherokee reservation called Blue Mountain in North Carolina. The setting is loosely based on the existing reservation in Cherokee, NC. My four main characters live in Blue Mountain, and they meet for the first time at the high school there, except for the twins who grew up together.

Some of the landmarks I used were NOT fictitious, including Clingman’s Dome. At 6,643 feet, Clingmans Dome has the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I added an observatory, which only exists in the story.

I had never been to Cherokee or Clingman’s Dome, but I’d been to the Smokies and loved the woods, streams, and mountain views. After I published the book, I became curious. Was the reservation anything like I described it? Does the terrain resemble what I wrote? There was only one way to find out.

My daughter and I decided we were overdue for a Mother/Daughter trip together. Wouldn’t it be fun to research my already-published book?

I planned the trip during hurricane season (June1 – November 30), which is when we normally traveled. It just so happened that a hurricane was churning in the Atlantic when I drove up from Florida to visit some of our family and friends. Bill stayed home to take care of his elderly mom. A few days after I left, Hurricane Matthew grew into a Category 5 storm and appeared to have made our county its target. Bill and our son secured our homes from the expected onslaught. At the last minute, the storm turned northward and skirted the length of Florida’s coast, causing no significant damage.

D and I set out from her place in Raleigh the day Hurricane Matthew hit North Carolina along the coast. We headed west into the mountains, expecting that Raleigh was far enough from the sea to avoid damage. The photo below shows the only indication we had that a major storm was pummeling the rest of the state. Rolling clouds threatened to spill over the mountaintops and pour into the valleys below.

Cherokee was everything I’d imagined it to be. D and I visited a replica of an early village, where people made beautiful bead-work crafts, tested weapons for hunting, and told stories complete with dances at the fake sacred stomping grounds. The location the real grounds is kept secret.

I carried an open golf umbrella to protect us, not from wet weather, since it didn’t rain at all, but from a rain of nuts shooting out of the surrounding trees. It sounded like gunfire! Felt like hail. Other tourists joined us under our mobile shelter and we moved like a multi-legged amoeba.

After we left the village, we drove through the mountains. D and I found places where some of the actions in the book might have happened. My daughter had a great camera and took a lot of pictures. These are not those.

The next day, we headed up to Clingman’s Dome. It grew colder and mistier the higher we drove. The two lane road was wide enough for two cars to comfortably pass going in opposite directions, but with steep slopes on one side and a narrow railing to protect against a plunge down a cliff on the other, it was slow and careful going.

I watched in amazement as car-sized puffs of mist exploded from the trees around us. One such mini-cloud formed a hand that reached out to grab our car! We drove through it. It was only mist. I don’t care what scientists say. Clouds come from trees. I saw it with my own, wide, frightened eyes.

We didn’t make it all the way to the top of Clingman’s Dome, but we did make it all the way into the roiling clouds, where we decided it was a good idea to turn back. The drive down was much less dramatic.

When we got home, Raleigh had survived the edge of the storm, but much of eastern North Carolina was flooded. I-95 had been washed out in places, so I took a lot of really cool back roads westward before I could turn south on the turnpike. My drive back home to Florida took several detours and an extra day, but the trip was worth every inconvenience.

The verdict of our post-publication research? I nailed it!

Here’s my to-do list for today:

1. Write my daily blog. (Check!)
2. Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (daily)
3. Read and critique my writer’s group’s chapters.
4. Take a nap. (Check! 15 minute Power Nap done)
5. Spend a few hours editing my friend’s book. (Check!)
6. Relax with dinner and a movie and Bill.

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org

1-26-23, Day 25 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day twenty-five of A Day In My Life! Happy Thursday!

Who doesn’t like to travel? New places are fun to see, but the road trip I like best is one where we revisit places we’ve lived and where we built lives.

When Bill and I met, he lived in Holland and I lived in Newtown, both towns in Bucks County, northeast of Philadelphia. We married in Newtown and settled there for a while.

A lot of history happened in Bucks County. William Penn bought the land and founded Newtown in 1682. Newtown was the County Seat of Bucks County from 1726 to 1813, before it was moved to Doylestown.

In 1776, General GeorgeWashington made his headquarters in Newtown after the Battle of Trenton and the famed crossing of the Delaware River. The town that was built where he actually crossed the Delaware is known as (drumroll please) Washington’s Crossing, Bucks County.

The Bird-In-Hand was built as a private home around 1686. Over the years, it became a tavern, a post office, and a tavern again, and has been known as the Bird-In-Hand for over 200 years. This structure has stood at this corner for 337 years and is believed to be the oldest frame building in Pennsylvania.

Bill and I drove through Newtown, which we always do when we visit our kids who live nearby. We love this little town, but when we visit, it’s for one specific purpose. We’ll get to that. Meanwhile, I’ll share a few drive-by photos with you.

Have you seen the 2002, M. Night Shyamalan movie SIGNS, starring Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, and Rory Culkin? It’s about crop circles and alien encounters, and it was one of my favorites. That movie was filmed in Bucks County, and several scenes were filmed in, you guessed it, Newtown!

Here are some drive-by photos for your viewing pleasure:

Built in 1763, The Brick Hotel is a fifteen-room inn with a classy restaurant, Rocco’s Steakhouse & Bar. Our son worked there back in the day, and we’d go there for special occasions. Hmmm. We have an anniversary coming up.

The Newtown Theater has been the center of entertainment in town since 1906. It smelled like Aunt Bernice’s attic (a bit musty, with a warm hint of sawdust) and showed one newish movie release a month. It’s like PBIEA in that many live performances grace its stage. I recall seeing a live Christmas performance there once.

I loved walking up and down State Street to shop at stores with original colonial flooring and the scents of over a hundred years of occupancy soaked into the walls–whiffs of incense and cinnamon, old books and furniture polish. The owners took great pride in offering up-to-date goods in some stores, and antiques in others.

I took pride in my beautiful town, especially in the Spring when the pear trees lining the streets bloomed, or on July 4 when the whole town turned out for the patriotic small-town parade. We had the traditional tree lighting and caroling over Christmas, and an occasional ice storm would drape the trees in glittering crystals.

One such ice storm, the day before our wedding, convinced us to move to Florida. Now we visit with one destination in mind.

Yep! Rita’s Water Ice, Newtown, Pennsylvania! The BEST Gelati, Italian ices, and custard treats in the good old USA! This is the reason we only visit in the summer, because it’s only OPEN in the summer! This location has been here since before I moved to Newtown, back in the 1900s. It has been our go-to place for treats ever since.

Note to self: Rita’s is a franchise and you can find them all over the Northeast, and maybe elsewhere. However. THIS Rita’s is firmly set in my heart as the best. Perhaps because it has so much history.

Is there a place you love to visit? A particular attraction? Tell me about it!

Here’s my to-do list for today:

1. Write my daily blog. (Check!)
2. Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (daily)
3. Read and critique my writer’s group’s chapters.
4. Take a nap.
5. Spend a few hours editing my friend’s book.
6. Relax with dinner and a movie and Bill.

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org

1-25-23, Day 24 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day twenty-four of A Day In My Life! Happy Wednesday!

Yesterday and today are catch up days for me. Here’s what I did.

After I wrote and published my blog post for yesterday, I took the ornaments off the tree, catalogued them and packed them away. This is a good-bye-until-next-year photo. The tree stands naked in the living room, and I feel my heart drop every time I see the poor thing. Sometime today or tomorrow, Bill and I will take it apart and store it in its box for next year. Then I’ll put the normal clutter (er…knickknacks and photos) back on the shelves and clean up. Once that’s done, Christmas will officially be packed up and put away. Why do I feel a little sad? It’ll be nice to get back to not worrying about getting that job done.

As the unwilling ad-hoc treasurer for two corporations, I went through their accounts yesterday afternoon to prepare them for our tax accountant. Thankfully, it didn’t take long.

I have to do the same for our personal business accounts, which is much more complicated and takes a lot of time. Since I paid the annual report fee for both yesterday, there’s no rush. I’ll try not to think about them for the next month or so.

Today, I will spend a few hours working on my editing project. The author is a wonderful woman with a great story. What God has done in her life amazes me.

I combed through several years’ worth of photos for ideas for more posts, and saved quite a few of them. I wish I’d catalogued them while I saved them. I’ll pick one at random and share it with you here.

This was me at age two in Germany. From the look on my face, it’s obvious to me that I was born with attitude. German was my first language. We lived in the house my mother grew up in. My grandparents doted on me, but after we moved to the USA, it would be years before I saw them again. I understand now what a heartache that was for them. Although we see our grandkids often, we live far from most of them, and I miss them.

Enough randomness. My brain is having a hissy fit, so we will go to a quiet place, take a nap, and decide what to share with you tomorrow. I look forward to reading how your day went and what memories you’ll share with us.

Are all your photos in albums, either virtual folders or real photo albums? Do you like to go through them and remember other times?

Here’s my to-do list for today:

1. Write my daily blog. (Check!)
2. Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (daily)
3. Read and critique my writer’s group’s chapters.
4. Take a nap.
5. Spend a few hours editing my friend’s book.
6. Take down the tree, box it, and clean up.
7. Relax with dinner and a movie and Bill.

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org