Longer days and shorter nights…Today marks the start of the summer solstice.
The term “solstice” is derived from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). The sky at noon does not appear to change much during the solstice and its surrounding days. The rest of the year, the Earth’s tilt on its axis—roughly 23.5 degrees—causes the sun’s path in the sky to rise and fall from one day to the next.
Here are ten of my favorite “summer” quotations:
Summer’s lease hath all too short a date. ~ William Shakespeare
Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.
~ Jenny Han
And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald
It’s a smile, it’s a kiss, it’s a sip of wine … it’s summertime! ~ Kenny Chesney
Summer is the annual permission slip to be lazy. To do nothing and have it count for something. To lie in the grass and count the stars. To sit on a branch and study the clouds. ~ Regina Brett
Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. ~ Sam Keen
Summertime is always the best of what might be. ~ Charles Bowden
I love how summer just wraps its arms around you like a warm blanket.
~ Kellie Elmore
There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart. ~ Celia Thaxter
The summer night is like a perfection of thought. ~ Wallace Stevens
I have passed my second act, and I am on to my fourth. The first act was merely an introduction to get to the twist. I graduated college and taught high school level English for five years. The second act offered momentum, building to the next twist. Moving to California from Oregon, I changed careers from teaching to business. I went into sales and marketing for a commercial publishing firm where I became Manager of Sales and Marketing. Success, however, doesn’t always offer satisfaction. Most audiences expect a resolution to come in the third act. In fact, I returned back to academia, leaving money for treasure, teaching writing to college students. It’s always been about writing, in all my career choices. And now, without the need for an intermission, I have taken the stage for a fourth act.
Linda’s inspiration comes from her favorite authors and life itself. Her women’s fiction highlights characters that peel away outer layers of life to discover the heart of their dreams with some unexpected twists and turns along the way. Her writing integrates humor found in everyday situations, as well as touching moments that make readers connect with her characters. Maggie’s Way is her debut novel, in her Montana Bound Series. Maggie’s Fork in the Road and Maggie’s Montana are Books 2 and 3 in the series.
I have long had a fascination of living in a houseboat, upon the tide. I liked television shows that featured some character living such the dream. However, in feeding my fantasy, I’ve learned a couple key differences between true houseboats and floating homes, which the names are sometimes used interchangeably.
There isn’t a guidebook to yourself. Finding you is more like an unexpected journey and less like a passage to India with a seasoned escort who arranges and pampers. I suppose there are those who are gifted with the latter and step purposely through life without ever taking a wrong turn or suffering the anguish of a questionable mishap, but not me. I’ve chartered my course and had the occasional setback.
It wasn’t until later did I come to realize there was a cost associated with living life outside of the lines. I would also come to understand all too painfully and rather annoyingly that for each action there was an equal if not greater reaction. It became heartbreakingly clear that individual choices could/would effect, and in some cases, hurt others, irrevocably. Others—friends and lovers, strangers and random encounters—could and would influence my decisions, my life, break pieces of me away, steal both my friendship and love, unhinge and nearly break me. But there were those who would give and gift, so abundantly I’d conveniently forget any associated negative byproducts.
For many writers, worry is a habit. Our minds whirl as we over-analyze and over-think each situation.
I love Twitter! It’s fast and fun and can be used to share ideas, educate, promote, and connect. I’m slowly building my following and thought I’d share ten tips I’ve learned!
My heroine, Jane, in A Match Made in Heritage View, is an avid gardener who finds great joy in reviving and expanding the gardens around her cottage in Heritage View. I love to garden, and I could easily list dozens of plants that I feel I need, in the same way some women “need” that next pair of shoes. You know who you are. A garden center is my shoe store and I can get into trouble pretty darn fast.
3. ‘Knockout’ roses – ‘Knockout’ roses may be all over the place these days, but with good reason. They make us all expert rose gardeners almost overnight. This is the place to start with roses if you think you can’t grow roses.
Annie Stiles was practically born with a book in her hand, but the writing came later. A daydreamer by nature, Annie always secretly wanted to be a romance novelist. It wasn’t until her youngest child started kindergarten that she buckled down and turned that dream into reality. She is fascinated by characters on the page and in real life, and talks with her hands so much that people have been known to duck.
Joanne Guidoccio 