A Happy Easter to Y'all

Beautiful Easter Lilies.

Here in the South "y'all" is a common form of speech. So I hope you don't mind my southern greeting of "A Happy Easter to Y'all."

I know that Easter means different things for different people. There's Passover, Easter Sunday at church, pretty Easter dresses and bonnets, Easter baskets, coloring Easter Eggs, hunting for eggs left by the Easter Bunny, Easter candy (chocolate eggs and chocolate bunnies, yum!), Easter Lilies, memories of loved ones from Easters past, Spring Break, family, kids and grandkids.




Last year's Easter Lilies.

For many it's also memories of the Easter Rebellion in 1916 Ireland: 1916 Easter Rebellion - on Wikipedia

A little Easter history: The Easter Bunny - on Wikipedia

My favorite Easter character: Peter Rabbit - on Wikipedia

Easter is a time that's both happy and sad. I hope for y'all that this Easter is a happy one.

This spring the Easter Lilies in my yard have yet to bloom. They're running behind schedule. Go figure. But last year my Easter Lilies bloomed just in time for a beautiful Easter morning. The photo above was taken of hot-house Easter Lilies. So beautiful and with a heavy sweet fragrance.

When possible, I try to gather a list of fiction that has something to do with the post I'm writing. So I was surprised to find an assortment of reads, some happy and some sad, but all of them have something to do with Easter in one way or another. I haven't read any of these books, but they all managed to catch my eye, so I thought I'd list them for y'all.


Fiction that has something to do with Easter (in no particular order & all available as eBooks):

No Bunny But You (Holiday Series) by Carol Rose
Easter Bunny Murder (A Lucy Stone Mystery) by Leslie Meier
Death of a Dumb Bunny (A Chloe Boston Mystery) by Melanie Jackson
Easter Lili by Margaret Knight
Spring Comes to Barncastle Inn by Lynette Sowell
Easter's Lily by Judy Serrano
A Baby for Easter (Love Inspired) by Lois Richer
Easter Promises (Love Inspired) by Lois Richer
Easter Blessings (Love Inspired) by Gayle Gaymer Martin & Lenora Worth
1916: A Novel of the Irish Rebellion by Morgan Llywelyn*
The Young Rebels by Morgan Llywelyn*
Easter at Tobruk by Michael O'Sullivan
The Rising Moon by William Martin
Martyrs and Traitors (A Tale of 1916) by Marina Julia Neary
An Excess of Love (Easter Rebellion) by Cathy Cash Spellman
Easter Island by Jennifer Vanderbes
Like a Lily by Victoria Pitts-Caine

*By one of my favorite historical fiction authors and on my TBR list.

On Easter Sunday I'll be taking photos of my grandkids hunting for Easter Eggs in their backyard. It'll be a family day - a time to visit and to munch on yummy food and Chocolate Easter Eggs.

A Happy Easter to Y'all.

Shades of White

White Azaleas are blooming all over my neighborhood.

Lately I have been reading a lot of historical fiction, particularly during the time of the Wars of the Roses. From 1455 to 1485 the White Rose of York and the Red Rose of Lancaster were fighting to put their king on the throne of England.

Eventually, after much bloodshed, the two factions united under the Tudor King Henry VII and his White Queen, Elizabeth of York. The symbol of their rule, the Tudor Rose, was Red and White.

If you want a quick overview of that tumultuous era, check out Wars of the Roses - on Wikipedia


Reading about the Wars of the Roses gave me a new sense of color, with Red and White representing two sides of wars that seemed to go on forever. This inspired me to write today's post on Shades of White.

Flowers in assorted shades of white.

Colors have varying shades, even the color white. Here on the Florida Panhandle the flowers are in bloom. Each day brings a new display of color, but lately it's the white blooms that stand out: White Azaleas, Dogwood and other white flowers I couldn't even begin to name. So many lovely blooms in every shade of white.

In my search for historical fiction set during the Wars of the Roses, I discovered the awesome author, Philippa Gregory. Now many of you have probably been reading her wonderful books for years, but she's new to me. Believe me, I now fully intend to read every one of her books.



It just so happens that the first Philippa Gregory book I read was The White Queen. I followed that up with The Kingmaker's Daughter.  Both were awesome reads. Now I'm looking forward to reading The White Princess when it's released this July. These books are all part of Philippa Gregory's series, The Cousins' War, which is set during the Wars of the Roses.

Delicate pinkish-white flowers.

If you check out my Goodreads page you'll see the other wonderful historical fiction novels I've been reading lately. This includes historical fiction by Sharon Kay Penman, Bernard Cornwell, Morgan Llywelyn and Elizabeth Chadwick, to name just a few.

I love compiling lists of books to read, so here is my latest one of books in Shades of White (fiction and non-fiction that has something to do with the color white).



Reads in Shades of White (historical fiction, contemporary romances, paranormals and more). All of these are available in eBook format. In no particular order:

Lady in White by Denise Domning*
A White So Red by K. D. Jones
White Lion's Lady by Lara Adrian
The White Dragons by Charley Ray
White Heat by Jill Shalvis*
The White Lord of Wellesbourne by Kathryn Le Veque
White Horses by Alice Hoffman**
Snow White (Enchanted Fairytales) by Cindy C. Bennett
The White Swan (Enchanted Fairytales) by Cindy C. Bennett
White Apache's Woman (Santa Fe Trilogy) by Shirl Henke
White Eagle's Touch (Blackfoot Warriors) by Karen Kay
She Only Wore White by Dorthe Binkert
White Hot by Carla Neggars
White Owl by Veronica Blake
Black and White (Life and Love in the City) by Olivia Hugo
The White Garden (A Novel of Virginia Woolf) by Stephanie Barron
White as Snow by Maleah Layne
Spirits White as Lightning (Urban Elves) by Mercedes Lackey
The White Gryphon (Mage Wars) by Mercedes Lackey
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
Silver-White (The Great North Woods Pack #1) by Shawn Underhill
White as Snow (Truly Yours) by Janice Thompson
White Pearls (Truly Yours) by Shannon Taylor Vannatter
White Heart by Sherry Jones
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
White Lies (Arcane Society) by Jayne Ann Krentz
A Corner of White (The Colors of Madeleine #1) by Jaclyn Moriarty
White Lace and Promises (Carte Blanche) by Natasha Blackthorne
The White Flower (Love Endures) by Grace Livingston Hill
White Satin by Iris Johansen
White Hot (Men in Uniform) by Nina Bruhns
The White Dragon (Dragonriders of Pern) by Anne McCaffrey
The Whites of their Eyes (Bunker Hill) by Paul Lockhart
White Witch by Trish Milburn
The White by Deborah Larsen**
In the Land of the White Cloud by Sarah Lark
White as Snow (Mysterious Ways #1) by Donna Westover Gallup*
The White Horse King (Alfred the Great) by Benjamin Merkle
White Thunder (Ella Clah) by Aimee & David Thurlo
The White Cuckoo by Annie Ireson
White Hot by Sandra Brown
White Seed by Paul Clayton*
One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
The White Album (Essays) by Joan Didion
White Heat by Brenda Novak
Little White Lies by Erin Lawless
Somewhere Between Black and White by Shelly Hickman
The White Rose Murders (Tudor Mystery #1) by Paul Doherty
A White Rose by Bekah Ferguson
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins*



White Azaleas in my yard.

*TBR on my Kindle
**Read and Recommend

I had no idea there were so many reads in Shades of White.  If I missed some of your favorites, please feel free to list them in the comments below.

When you have the time, I hope you'll check out my other color posts: Seeing Red, Passionate About Purple, Think Pink, Lovely Lavender and Yodeling for Yellow. I'll be writing more color posts from time to time.

Once again, thanks so much for stopping by.

First Day of Spring

My flowerpots are filled with Spring Pansies.

The First Day of Spring is very welcome. For so many, it seems that Winter has gone on much too long. Here in Florida it seems that Spring arrived weeks ago with the onslaught of Spring Breakers visiting our beaches.

For those of us who live here on the Gulf Coast of the Florida Panhandle, we're not going to complain about the weather. No snowy blizzards or ice storms for us.

The temperature most days has been ranging between the low-60s and mid-70s. Some days the sun is bright and the sky a gorgeous blue. Other days, like this morning, the sky was a cloudy gray with a chilly north wind and a temp in the low-60s. Spring? Well, it didn't look like spring this morning. On the other hand, this afternoon is bright blue skies, a sprinkling of white puffy clouds and a temp in the high-60s. It's a beautiful First Day of Spring with warmer Spring days just around the corner.

For those who love Spring and Romantic Spring Fiction (in no particular order):

Waiting for Spring (Westward Winds) by Amanda Cabot
Snow Melts in Spring (Seasons of the Tallgrass) by Deborah Vogts
Springtime of the Spirit by Maureen Lang*
A Promise for Spring by Kim Vogel Sawyer
Spring Blossom by Jill Metcalf
A Scandal in Spring (Wallflowers) by Lisa Kleypas
Spring's Fury by Denise Domning*
Come the Spring (Clayborne Brothers) by Julie Garwood
Spring Fires (Beauvisage) by Cynthia Wright
Three Weeks Last Spring by Victoria Howard*
When Comes the Spring (Canadian West) by Janette Oke
Spring's Gentle Promise (Season of the Heart) by Janette Oke
A Simple Spring (Seasons of Lancaster) by Rosaline Lauer
Spring My Love (Silver Hills Trilogy) by Ginny Aiken
Spring's Renewal (Seasons of Sugarcreek) by Shelley Shepard Gray
Lilac Spring (Wild Rose) by Ruth Axtell Morren
Betrayals of Spring (Forever Fae) by L. P. Dover
Spring for Susannah by Catherine Richmond
The Temporary Wife/A Promise of Spring by Mary Balogh
The Hope of Spring (Lancaster County Saga) by Wanda F. Brunstetter
It Happens Every Spring (Seasons of Marriage) by Catherine Palmer & Gary Chapman
Spring Meadow Sanctuary (The Shepherd's Heart) by Lynnette Bonner
A Timeless Romance Anthology: Spring Vacation Collection by Josi S. Kilpack, et al.
Eternal Spring Anthology by Amanda Brice, et al.*
Spring Break by Katherine Applegate
Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews
Spring Fling by Sabrina James
Spring Collection by Judith Krantz
Spring Fancy by LaVyrle Spenser

*TBR on my Kindle

I'm sure I've missed a lot of wonderful Spring Romantic Fiction, so please feel free to add others in the comments below. Thanks again for stopping by.  Happy First Day of Spring!

Arts Festival in Gulf Breeze - Part 5

"Illusions in Stained Glass" by Cathleen Farroll.

All week long I've been doing blog posts of the wonderful art and artists at last weekend's Gulf Breeze Celebrates the Arts.

At last I've reached my fifth and final arts post. Well, it's the final arts post following this particular arts festival. I happen to love art and arts festivals, so I'll be doing arts posts from time to time.

Most, if not all, of the artists in this series of posts are at Fairhope, Alabama Arts and Crafts Festival this weekend. See the link below:

Fairhope - Eastern Shore 61st Annual Arts and Crafts Festival - March 15th thru 17th

Stained Glass by Artist Cathleen Farroll.

Stained Glass Artist Cathleen Farroll was one of the artists at the festival in Gulf Breeze. I loved all her stained glass art, but my favorite pieces were the pink flamingo and the great blue heron.

Cathleen refers to her art as "Illusions in Stained Glass."

You can find her on Facebook at: Illusions in Stained Glass by Cathleen

Cathleen can also be contacted via email at: c.farroll@cox.net

Mosaic Artwork by Ramona Kirchgessner.

Alabama Mosaic Artist Ramona Kirchgessner was also at the festival. I loved her mosaic pots and birdhouses. She had quite as assortment of mosaic artwork.

Ramona said she also designs custom mosaic tabletops for new or old furniture.

Romona can be contacted via email at: edkirch@kology.net

Wooden Surfboards and Kayak by Don Bert.

Florida Wood Artist/Craftsman Don Green was at the festival. Don designs "Green Boards" which are hollow wooden surfboards. He had two boards on display and they were absolutely beautiful. He also had a beautifully crafted wooden kayak.

Don Green can be contacted via email at: donbert69@gmail.com





Mermaid Windvane by Copper Artist Skip Tanner.

Gulf Breeze, Florida Copper Artist Skip Tanner had quite an assortment of his copper artwork at the festival. I particularly liked his mermaid windvane, though every piece of his artwork was beautifully crafted. Skip says he designs custom windvanes and copper works.

Be sure to check out Skip's website at: Old Salts Copper Designs







Copper Art by Skip Tanner.

If you haven't already seen my previous Arts Festival posts, please check them out. There were so many wonderful artists at the festival in Gulf Breeze.

If you live in the area of Fairhope, Alabama then the Fairhope Arts and Crafts Festival is the place to be this weekend.

A special thanks to the artists for agreeing to be included in this post.

Arts Festival in Gulf Breeze - Part 4

Studio Earth Art by Artist M. Gene Albritton.

I am having a fun time doing this series of arts festival blog posts. There were so many fun, wonderful, awesome artists at the Gulf Breeze Celebrates the Arts last weekend. Most of those same artists will be at the arts and crafts festival in Fairhope, Alabama starting tomorrow through the weekend.

Fairhope 61st Annual Arts and Crafts Festival - March 15th thru 17th

Artist M. Gene Albritton and some of his Studio Earth Art.

One of those is North Carolina Artist Marshall Gene Albritton and his Studio Earth Art. Gene says he does all his paintings using natural pigments which he mixes himself. His art is all in luscious earth tones and most are framed with handmade rustic frames. Gene describes his art as "Adventures with Hue."

You can see more of Marshall Gene Albritton's art on his website at: Studio Earth Art

Gene can be reach via email at: genealbritton@yahoo.com

 



Folk Artist Morris E. "Mojo" Johnson.

One of the fun artists at the arts festival in Gulf Breeze was Florida Folk Artist Morris E. Johnson. "Mojo" does brightly colored wood art and beach paintings. His is the kind of art that will make you smile.

"Mojo" lives in St. Petersburg, Florida where he draws his inspiration from all the beautiful birds, sea life and beach scenes on the beautiful Gulf Coast.






Folk Art by Florida Artist Morris "Mojo" Johnson.

"Mojo" doesn't have a website, but you can contact him via email at: mojofolkart@hotmail.com

You'll also be able to find him at the Fairhope Arts and Crafts Festival in addition to other Florida arts and crafts festivals.







One-of-a-Kind Gourd Art by Florida Artist Bonnie Eastwood.

I'll end today's post with the beautiful one-of-a-kind Gourd Art by Florida Artist Bonnie Eastwood. Bonnie lives in Hudson, Florida and teaches classes in Gourd Art.

Bonnie Eastwood can be reached via email at: purplehatsbonnie@yahoo.com

I've enjoyed putting together this series of arts festival posts. So many wonderful artists. Please be sure to check out my three previous posts and the final arts festival post tomorrow.

A special thanks to the artists for agreeing to be included in this post.

Arts Festival in Gulf Breeze - Part 3

Paintings by Artist Brandy Villella.

I had a wonderful time at the Arts Festival in Gulf Breeze last Sunday. I loved the wide variety of art and it was great getting to meet the artists too. That's why I decided to do a series of arts blog posts all week long. I knew the rest of the world needed to meet these artists and their work.

This is Part 3 of my series, so please be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 too. All of these artists participated in Gulf Breeze Celebrates the Arts. You can check out the link for upcoming arts festivals in Gulf Breeze.

Most, if not all, of these artists will be at the Fairhope Arts and Crafts Festival this weekend. See the link below for additional information.

Fairhope, Alabama - Eastern Shore 61st Annual Arts and Crafts Festival - March 15th thru 17th




More paintings by Artist Brandy Villella.

Artist Brandy Villella paints in oil and acrylics. I instantly fell in love with Brandy's unique style, as you'll see in these two photos. I asked Brandy if she wanted to be in the photos with her paintings, but she didn't want to show off her pregnant figure. Trust me, she looked great.

You can see more of Brandy's art, and a photo of Brandy, on her website at: Brandy Villella - Canvas Catastrophe

Brandy can be reached via email at: brandy.villella@gmail.com

Artist Marion Pacsuta with one of her oils.

I have to say I loved Artist Marian Pacsuta's original oil paintings too. Her oils of dancers, chefs and beach scenes are simply awesome. I could have admired her paintings for hours. I also enjoyed meeting and talking with Marian. She's so very nice.

You can see more of Marian's art on her website at: Pacsuta

Marian can also be reached via email at: marionroseart@gmail.com

Artist Marion Pacsuta with one of her chef paintings.

I'm pretty sure Marian said she'll be at the Fairhope Arts and Crafts Festival this weekend. If you want to get one of Marion's gorgeous oil paintings then I suggest you get to the the festival early.





A Mermaid by Linda Devins.



Florida Artist Linda Devins is one I've admired for a long time. You see, she creates these awesome one-of-a-kind Art Dolls. Not the kind little girls play with, but dolls for us grown-up girls to collect and display in a place of honor.

I've heard from others that if you start buying Linda Devins' Art Dolls, you'll have to keep buying more. Linda was kind enough to let me take a couple photos of her Art Dolls and include them in this post.

Linda names all of her Art Dolls, but I'm sorry to say that I forgot to write down the names of the ones in these photos.

Art Dolls designed by Florida Artist Linda Devins.

Linda's unique Art Dolls, as well as her paintings and jewelry, can be seen at the Pensacola art gallery listed below.

Quayside Gallery - Pensacola, Florida

Linda can be reached via email at: lindadevins@cox.net

Florida Artist Tom Grow.

Pensacola Beach Artists Tom and Frances Grow create the most wonderful, whimsical pottery cats you've ever seen. That's not their only art, but the cats are what caught my eye. They refer to their creations as "Four Elements Art: Using Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Electromagnetic Energy to Create Art." All I can say is, I love it!

You can see more of Tom and Frances Grow's "energized" art on their website at: Four Elements Art





Pottery Cats by Artists Tom and Frances Grow.

Tom and Frances specialize in Raku and Stoneware Pottery. Believe me, their pottery cats and other critters are the kind that will make you smile.

There were so many wonderful, awesome artists at Gulf Breeze Celebrates the Arts that I'm inspired to do blog posts about them all week long. So be sure to check out my two previous posts, Part 1 and Part 2, plus the rest of this week's posts.

A special thanks to the artists for agreeing to be included in this post.