Easy Halloween Costume!

Boo!  

I found this picture amongst the rubble of files in my laptop.  I'd forgotten about it.  We all dressed as scarecrows once upon a time when I held the monthly Bunko party at my house.   

Easy costume  to make!

Find a plaid or stripped shirt of some sort.  The one I'm wearing I found in the back of my hubby's closet.  A flannel shirt would work well, too.  I tied a multi-colored raffia bow at the neck.  Add jeans or bib overalls.  Tie a rope around your waist.  Decorate a straw hat with artificial flowers, birds, fruits or veggies or the real thing if you have them.  If you have tan raffia, you can hang it from under the hat to look like hair.  One of the other ladies did this and it was very cute.  I wore my hair in pigtails and added burgundy wire ribbon to each to make big bows.  Then I put on some bright lipstick and, using brown eyeliner, I outlined my mouth. A few more strokes and you can see the stitching onto my cheeks and around my eyes.  Such fun, it didn't cost me any money because I had everything around the house.  This costume works for every member of the family, too! 

 Happy Halloween!    - jmm

 

True Love Bites

     After I drafted this post, I thought how some might find the title deceptive.  No. I will not trash the concept of true love, this or any day.  After all, I write historical romantic suspense novels set in paradise, don't I?
     Rather, I mean to show the depth of love my husband, Bruce, has for me.  You see, after I slathered the last of the raspberry jelly on one slice of his morning toast, I opened a fresh store-bought jar of the same flavor.  That's when I compared labels.  One was full tilt, meaning lots of sugar added.  The other had no extra sugar added.  I was curious to see the difference in flavor between them.  Since there was no more in the one jar, the only way to taste them both was to take bites of Bruce's toast slices.  I went so far as to ask his permission, although he would have probably taken notice of the rounded chunks missing from each and inquired.  Well, with no hesitation, my sweet man granted my wish.  While I can't remember how much of a difference between the sugared and less-sugared jellies there was, I can and will always remember what I can only describe as an act of true love.
     I have to had that, as a child, my father used to let me spoon the juice aka yoke out of his fried eggs, often, on Saturday mornings.  He would eat the less than appetizing remains of the eggs, afterward.  
     You may tag me as spoiled rotten, but I prefer to see the true love in these generous acts. 
     I might add how Brucie will occasionally utter the phrase, "You know, I've never had a complete meal to myself in all our years of marriage."  Then he smiles at me.  

LIttle Free Library in Fernandina

      I decided to go on a quest to see if Fernandina on Amelia Island, Florida had any of those free mini-libraries I have read about.  You know, where you borrow a book and leave a book?  Well, I am delighted to report, after some investigation on Facebook and Google, etc.,  I visited two out of the seven listed in our town. One is near the gazebo in the Amelia Park development off Citrona and one is located at 103 S. 18th Street.  Each has a bit of a design difference, but all are charming, if for no other reason than because they contain books.  Note the blue bird-knob on the front of the Little Library in the picture at the top of this post.
     To find the Little Free Library in your area, go to https://littlefreelibrary.org/ourmap/, scroll down to just above the image of the map and insert your zip code in the search box.  Once found, add and/or borrow a book.  If you can't find a library box in your town,  get a call out on social media or your book clubs or library or all of the above and build one or more.  Talk about your small town America.  It's a "better thing,"  as our Martha Bear says.

Martha Bear taking a break from her duties as spokesbear for Gracious Jane Marie