What I Did on my Summer Vacation: 2017 Edition

Posted on June 14, 2017 by Jan C. Johnson

Okay, call me a slacker. I missed posting on Monday. In my defense, we’d been in Washington State visiting our son and his beautiful family. Eric and Heather needed an overnight getaway, and Brent and I needed the Grandpa/Grandma fix. Win-win!

While Mommy and Daddy were away, the kids and Grandpa and Uncle Greg played. We hit the Children’s Hands-On Museum…

… and motored around the indoor pool at our hotel.

On Saturday, the whole family was back together for a day of adventure at a nearby state park. We hiked and hiked through a magnificent forest that made even my East Texas Pinewoods look a little tame.

Seriously, those ferns!
The elusive “Angry Bird Berry” grows here. Yeah, I totally made up that name, but don’t you think it fits?
So nice to have the two brothers together. (You see why I get their names mixed up)

Eventually, we emerged into sunshine and the spectacle of Puget Sound at low tide. Waaaay low.

So there you have it. I’m back to my home and computer, so expect more of my usual posts. I promise not to show any more pictures of my grandkids… at least, not in every post.

Thanks for reading,
Jan

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What Matters Most, by Kellie Coates Gilbert

Posted on June 9, 2017 by Jan C. Johnson

Why yes, as a matter of fact I did prop the book up on my desk and take a picture. Don’t judge.

I just finished reading Kellie Coates Gilbert’s What Matters Most. It’s a novel in her “Texas Gold” collection and I couldn’t wait to tell you about it.

This Great Weekend Read features Leta Breckenridge, a smart, capable young woman living in Austin, Texas. She struggles with an income deficit (been there!) and a parent suffering from dementia (done that!).

At her most financially desperate time, Leta catches a break: she gets an almost-too-good-to-be-true job for a public relations firm. Meanwhile, a chance meeting with a handsome and principled young senator has made her mundane life more interesting.

But maybe that job really is too good to be true? Before long, Leta finds herself drawn into a dilemma between her much-needed paycheck, the senator, and her integrity.

No cardboard cutouts, Gilbert’s characters come to life, with all their good and bad, their strengths and weaknesses.

Thanks for reading,
Jan

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Bing! It’s Cherry Season

Posted on June 7, 2017 by Jan C. Johnson

 

 

The cherries are back, and so is this post from 2011. Oddly, nearly six years later, the post still gets hits. Probably from people who think I’m serious… poor, misguided creatures…

 

 

The following post originally appeared on this blog August 23, 2011.

How to Dye Your Hair a
Fashionable Shade of Magenta
Without Actually Trying

Step 1: Allow your hair to go grey. (If your hair is light blonde, either by nature or by art, you may skip this very time-consuming step.)

Step 2: Wash and dry the hair, then catch some of it back with a barrette so it doesn’t fall in your face. IMPORTANT: Grab less hair than the barrette will hold.

Step 3: Give your hair a dubious look in the mirror, then decide it will be fine.

Step 4: Go out and run errands all day, as bits of hair gradually work their way loose from the barrette and form a sort of curtain at either side of your face.

Step 5: Make sure your last stop before heading home is the grocery store.

Step 6: While in the store, notice that cherries are on sale. Buy a bag of these.

Step 7: Once back home, rinse the cherries. Observe that they look really, really ripe.

Step 8: Sigh heavily and begin to sort cherries.

Step 9: Throw any squishy or badly dinged-up cherries into a dish for later disposal, sampling freely from those that look okay.

Step 10: Bite into the questionable-but-not-obviously-damaged cherries to protect your family in case they have gone bad (in case the cherries have gone bad, not your family). Lean way over your dish so you can spit the seeds in with the throwaways.

Step 11: At some point, choose a large, soft cherry and bite it in two. Blink as cherry juice squirts all over your face, hand, countertop, and… yes… the hair hanging down by your face.

Congratulations! Your hair now has highlights in a fashionable shade of magenta. For more coverage, just keep eating cherries over the dish.

Thanks for reading,
Jan

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Considering Bluebonnets

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Jan C. Johnson

Sometimes I wonder whether my writing benefits anyone. My audience is loyal and fun, but small. Should I be doing something different, something to be seen by lots more people?

Well, while out bicycling several weeks back, I learned a useful little lesson on the subject… from some bluebonnets. Yeah, I know you think I never write about anything besides bluebonnets, but work with me here.

These ‘bonnets were growing among grass and other wildflowers by a road that led, past a church and some neighborhoods, toward a lake.

“Nice! What a lovely setting,” I thought.

On the same ride, I passed these bluebonnets in a patch of weeds and gravel outside a rusty, disused chain-link gate by a pipe yard.

“Eww, what a dismal setting,” I thought.

But then I realized: The pipe-yard bluebonnets were every bit as beautiful, every bit as exuberantly blue, as the ones in the prettier setting. Surely the people who have to drive by the pipe yard need their day brightened, too.

. . . and the lesson?

Don’t worry about statistics, about reaching lots of people. As near as I can figure, if you bloom where you’re planted and do what you do… the people who see and appreciate you are your people.

I close with a quote from Chris Pratt (click here to visit his Facebook page) that appeared some days later (May 3, 2017) in the Dallas Morning News. He was talking about acting, but his words encourage the writer as well. He said, “Whatever is authentic to you, do that, because that will work. Make it authentically your voice, and that’s how you’re going to find your people.”

Thanks for reading!
Tailwinds,
Jan

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Breathtaking Customer Service

Posted on June 2, 2017 by Jan C. Johnson

Photo credit: Harry & David’s website

Last week I published a post about the goofy setbacks to my efforts at celebrating Brent’s birthday. In passing, I mentioned that the first peach from my Harry & David’s order tasted a little flat. (Unlike all the wonderful pears we’ve ordered.)

Y’all, within TWO HOURS I received an email from Harry & David, expressing regret about my disappointment and offering to make things right. I didn’t tag or link back to them, and I wasn’t even complaining. To have stumbled on my post, the staff must have set up an Internet search for references to the company, flagging anything that bears a hint of dissatisfaction.

Seriously, they took the time to look up last summer’s order and mention the Oregold peaches by name.

I replied that a few of the peaches had arrived bruised, but it wasn’t that big a deal. You can’t expect perfection. After all, I’d ordered produce, not some manufactured item like a Volvo.

FIFTY MINUTES LATER, here came another email offering me a 20% discount on my next order.

Granted, 20% isn’t a huge deal. The huge deal is they cared enough to get in touch with me, and I like to give credit where credit is due. So, to my observation that Harry & David’s offers the best pears ever, I must add,

“And the best, most breathtaking customer service ever.”

Bon appétit!
Thanks for reading,
Jan

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To Be Free

Posted on May 31, 2017 by Jan C. Johnson

I can’t help it… Words mean things, and I like to know just what each one means, and to use the right one to say what I intend to say.

Take the familiar quote, “The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable,” generally attributed to James A. Garfield, occasionally to other random people.

There’s a lot of truth to that quote; with human nature’s tendency to deceive itself, knowing the truth often makes for quite an adjustment. In fact, Garfield was actually springboarding from something Jesus said in John’s gospel, chapter 8.

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” (Click here to read the whole chapter.)

But wait…. some translations of the Bible word that as “…truth will make you free.”

Well? Which is it–will the truth “make” or “set” me free? Does it matter? Maybe both mean the same thing?

In English, the verb “set” has a bunch of meanings. But “set free” is a common expression. To me, it implies the victim was captured or trapped by someone else. They have no way to free themselves. So, to “set” someone free, you change the prisoner’s circumstance by dealing with the captor. You take the key and unlock the prison door.

The word “make” in the text also implies a change. But as used here, it suggests a different kind of change.

Ever had someone “make” you happy or angry? We say that when someone’s actions affect our mood.

So to me, saying something will “make you free” implies that the victim lacks freedom because of some internal lack or failure. He is his own prisoner. Here, the truth changes the circumstances by dealing with the prisoner.

Which is it, then? As sinners deceived by satan, do we need to be “set” free, or “made” free?

As near as I can figure, we need both.

Thanks for reading,
Jan

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