Happy Winter Holidays For Whatever You Celebrate!

White Rose of Peace

Edit: Not a week goes by that i don’t see someone coming to visit my site picture of this white rose (7 in the last two days); so I wanted to mention that it is a stock photo available at yahoo. It came with my installed computer software and I use it for several things. It is beautiful though, so I can understand why so many folks want to see (and I assume copy it). 

P.S. It DOES NOT have anything to do with the German youth group called “White Rose” that is a modern day anti-Nazi movement, it is just a coincidence that I chose it for its beauty & peace symbol.

 

Yesterday was Winter Solstice, and Hanukah, Christmas & Kwaanza are all on the calendar this week. El Id was just a few weeks ago. So today I thought would be a good day to send warm wishes for winter celebrations in cultures all over the globe! May the blessings of your culture be visited upon you this season!

I know there are various wars and conflicts going on in far-flung corners of this beautiful earth and I hope that there will soon be peace in all of them; and soldiers everywhere will soon have no ‘war-work’ to do. I wish with all my heart and spirit that Peace will break out in all the conflict-stressed places of our fragile Mother Earth.

I also hope that children everywhere will find love in their family relations, with a gentle touch to rock them to sleep at night. For I have seen too much in my life cycle of children who have too few (if any) gentle touches and soft hugs; not to mention the horrors of abuse. It breaks another piece of my heart every time i run across those children (with neglectful or abusive parents) in my lifetime of work with children and families. May there be peace in all children’s hearts this world-over soon!

My future is looking a little brighter this month, since I have chosen to go back into the Early Childhood Education field and accepted a job offer just this week that will send me back into other’s children’s lives. I have been out of this field for almost 5 years; so there will definitely be an adjustment period for me. I will be posting here a little now and then about my trials & tribulations as I re-learn the finer points. (Translation: I’m rusty & need to read up on all the regs in our state that were implemented last year, plus have a newly required Homeland Security check.) Gee – I hope you can’t be failed for bad credit. I don’t think I’ll ever recover from having myself and 3 semi-adult children in college at the same time!

Well here we are again at the end of this post, cause I’m about to sneeze from my allergy/cold whatever — jeez — I know that lady in the mall store REALLY does get a bonus for spraying Chanel No. 5 right in my face! No matter how hard I try to stay away from those stores — I always end up caving-in and going to help with at least one set of grandchildren — and those perfume ladies get me every season! AAACCHOOO! Sorry! Couldn’t hold it in!

Meddy Chris-mas and Hoppy New “Achoo!” Year! May everyone have a blessed year in 2009! And for Pete’s Sake — read a bedtime story to a child near you!

Barefoot Book Reviews for “Listen, Listen” & ” One City, Two Brothers” (Cybil Award nomination!)

HOORAY! One City, Two Brothers NOMINATED FOR CYBIL AWARD! (CHILDRENS & YA BLOGGERS LITERARY AWARD) with 100 nominations. Finalists announced on Jan. 1st, 2008. Winners announced Feb. 14th, 2008.  Can I do a little “happy” dance, now? (edit 12/04/07)

Barefoot Book Reviews 2007: Received from BookList  (American Library Association’s magazine) Starred Review.

Listen, Listen – “Jay’s stylized pictures, with the texture of ancient frescos, are a window into a world in which the buzz of an insect and the whoosh of the wind lend surprising emotion. Illustrations filled with snowmen, anthropomorphized animals, and people running through a leaf-swept field will make children long to discover what is just over a hill or around the next bend. Capturing a summer idyll reading in a hammock with the same care as a warm evening by the fireplace, Jay invests each image with both joy and melancholy. This jewel of a book will draw children back again and again.” –Booklist, STARRED REVIEW.  

One City, Two Brothers – Framed by a story of King Solomon dealing with two squabbling brothers, this tale tells of two other, quite different brothers. they live in a two villages, sharing the land between them. For years, they have divided their harvest. One abundant year, the elder brother, who has a wife and children, worries that his unmarried brother needs to save for his old age. Secretly he brings extra grain to his brother’s storehouse.  Yet the next morning, the elder brother seems to have the same amount of grain as before. Meanwhile the younger brother, has been worrying too; his elder brother has a family to be fed.  He is also secretly bringing grain to his sibling, then finding  his own storehouse still full. The mystery is solved when the brothers meet on the hilltop, each with a donkey laden with grain. The blessed spot where they meet becomes Jerusalem. Based on a folktale told by both Jews and Arabs, this picture book beautifully captures the spirit of brotherhood and gives both readers and listeners hope for what could be if people thought more about one another than about themselves.  The verdant green, heavenly blue, and harvest oprange and yellow, does more than illustrate the story; it adds an air of peace and hope to which children will respond.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW.   

Both of these titles can be found on my website at  ( Talula’s Wagon ) by clicking to see the Barefoot Banner in Talula’s Shops.