Evening Edition, Free Kindle Book!

I’ve still got Florida on the brain! That state has SO much history that most of us do not know! Looking for the fountain of youth? It was said it could be found there! Ponce De Leon landed in what is now known as St Augustine in 1513. Wow!

I remember a trip down to Key West in the early 1990s --- we drove and drove and drove and thought we’d see so much --- but all you see basically is the greenery that grows between the southbound and northbound lanes of traffic --- and short glimpses of water through the trees and brush….

This novel caught my eye because of a house tour we did while on Key West --- I love old house tours! And this one had a Widow’s Walk up top that you could walk around, much like the wives and lovers of captains past ---looking for ships returning from sea, many of them never to be seen again.

Why? Because those waters were treacherous and many ships found themselves run aground on rocks ---salvaging the remains and contents of these ships was one of Key West’s biggest businesses! And this is where the story comes in…

Windswept is free today in the Amazon Kindle Store and has received a 5 star rating! That’s good enough for me to click it. It was still free for me, so be sure to double check before clicking that it is still free for you too.

Review

"A fresh historical romance that depicts a trade that often goes unmentioned. Salvaging wrecks takes on an exciting dimension courtesy of Ms. Thomason's pen. A little bit of sugar and a little bit of spice mix well to make Windswept' a worthwhile read." --Amy Wilson, The Literary Times Magazine

"Cynthia Thomason once again brings readers a fast-paced story filled with characters so finely drawn they become a part of your life, as you share in their struggles and triumphs. Windswept' brings old Key West and its inhabitants to life, as Jacob and Nora battle greed, judgement, lies and tragedy to find a safe harbor for their love." -- DanaRae Pomeroy, CompuServe Romance Reviews

"Romance, intrigue and family secrets are elements that keep Windswept' so exciting. The characterizations are vivid, and the tense conflict keeps the reader alert. Ms. Thomason has a unique writing style that sparks the reader's emotions in every scene. Windswept' leaves me anxiously anticipating her next book." -- Rendezvous Magazine

Product Description

Well bred Virginia beauty Nora Seabrook longs for a life of excitement. She finds that and more when her father is appointed newest Federal judge in Key West.

The day she arrives on the island paradise, Nora finds herself toppling from the gangway into the murky waters of Key West Harbor. She is rescued by the bold and brazen Jacob Proctor, owner of the island's most profitable ship wrecking company and the man her father accuses of the most wicked of sins. Jacob knows his is trouble from the moment he pulls the judge's daughter from the harbor.

Nora Seabrook is the last woman he should be involved with. Plus a legacy of pain from his past prevents him from marrying any woman. But the stubborn Nora won't be sent away. Stowing on board the Dover Cloud, Nora travels with Jacob to a clandestine island where he becomes vulnerable to his enemies and the love that is destined to be theirs. Two cultures collide in this sexy and exciting romance.

"A fresh Caribbean breeze of a romance." Four stars... the Detroit Free Press.

Enjoy your Friday evening! I think the plans here are for dinner and a movie….sounds good to me!

iPhone-o-gram!! Need more chocolate!!

Thought I was making such good progress on my midnight flight quilt---sewsewsew, presspresspress---oops!!

Someone had the 4-patch turning the wrong way! Just where is my seam ripper?? :-/

Home Again!

Which means I slept in, which means this is a late blog post! You can pretty much tell when I’m home because I didn’t write a post the night before to go live early in the morning like I do if I’m out on a trip and have to leave early to teach a class…THOSE posts I write at night before going to bed so I don’t have to get up extra early in the morning to write!

TODAY – is NOT a teaching day…it’s a JAMMIE day! Or at least a comfy clothes day. I woke up about 8:30, took a shower…had my breakfast and I’ve spent the last little bit going through my photos to figure out what to write about!

I have a new love –AIRPLANE PHOTOS!! The only hard part is they have you turn all electronic devices OFF during the first 10 minutes of the flight, and the last 10 minutes of the flight so most of the time it means you are going to MISS being able to take a phone pic of what you are wanting to get upon take off or landing…

((Just putting it in airplane mode is not good enough, they want everything with an on/off button turned completely off and stowed for the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes of the flight, so you can't photograph take off and landing with an electronic device.))

But 10 minutes into the flight…the “ding ding” rang and the flight attendant announced “You may now use your approved portable electronics….” And I hit that power-on button and begged that phone to hurry up and boot on! THIS is the picture I got as we flew along the Florida Gulf Coast heading North. The clouds were puffy --- the water that magnificent blue/green, the sand on the shore! What I couldn’t capture was the first 10 minutes where the water was so clear you could see straight to the bottom. I could see boats making their way out to sea, white specks in that turquoise, their wakes plainly visible from the air.

Our second workshop was My Blue Heaven ---we had a full fun group! However, I think the Canadian Contingency was feeling their lack of sleep over the excitement of the past several days and were much more quiet ((Notice I’m not saying WORN OUT!)) But much quilt shop hopping and class taking and shopping and eating out and sleeping in hotel rooms can wear a body out – ask me how I know!

		My Blue Heaven, Venice FL 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I had a wonderful surprise at the Trunk Show that night..a couple of them actually! Seems they had arranged for a “Blast from my past” to come up and introduce me! I had no idea what was going on…I was sitting in the front row, she came from the back….

Ellen and I were in the Devine Quilters Guild ((Only called Devine because we met on Devine Street! LOL!)) and she now lives in Sarasota! It was wonderful to touch base with her. If you’ve ever visited Columbia South Carolina, and visited a shop called Carolina Quilter, then you have probably met Ellen. She retied a few years back and moved to Florida and is loving life down there!

The birthday bash continues! Unbeknownst to me, this poster was passed around for all class members to sign and the whole poster fit in my suitcase for display in my studio! What a riot! I had NO IDEA this is what everyone was signing….I was too busy to pay attention!

What happens at the beach stays at the beach! LOL!!

It was a great trip and these ladies were just fabulous! Thank you to the Venice Quilters Guild for making my 50th such a fun and memorable time!

iPhone-O-gram!

A quickie post from my iPhone---

Jeff picked me up at the airport and we headed straight to a "new to us " Chinese place in Greensboro.

We both had to laugh at my fortune cookie---

It seems even the fortunes are making fun of the fact that I've turned 50!

A Florida Kind of Day!

I wasn’t able to even able to CHECK for comments to yesterday’s post until I was back to my digs after last night’s lecture and trunk show! What a full day!

It was really interesting to read the comments, and to hear people’s thoughts. I do think it is all about BALANCE, as is everything else in our lives. And --- I was so encouraged to hear that kids ARE still playing and imagining in many ways ---we can’t turn our backs on technology, but we can’t abuse it either. Again, balance!

Also – I think I don’t SEE it as much because my kids ARE grown – and all the commercials on TV are of course trying to promote something, to sell something, commercialism wise --- and we know that imagination doesn’t require all that stuff…….so it isn’t something that is seen as still alive and well unless you work with children every day.

Never fear, imagination IS still alive and well in many children’s lives and I am SO grateful!

I’m also grateful for the kind of day where I could have just a BIT of time in between a My Blue Heaven workshop --- and my lecture --- to experience a bit of the best that Florida has to offer! And it doesn’t require a pass to a “Magic Kingdom” for me to entertain myself either!

Say hello to the Gulf of Mexico on the west coast of Florida! It was a beautiful day --- and I was thinking about how different this ocean looks than the one on the OTHER coast. Was it really just a week ago that I left California? Holy Moly!

After our workshop, four of us wandered down to the beach, because I whined loud enough to make them understand that I can NOT leave Florida without at least spending a bit of time de-stressing by the water’s edge.

Beautiful sandy shores, and a few walkers out enjoying the last of the late afternoon sun. It’s about 5pm in this picture, shadows are long! But unfortunately we couldn’t stay and wait for the beautiful sunset that was soon to occur --- we had to get ourselves over to a guild meeting and get set up!

We grabbed a table at Sharkeys, a trendy little tourist spot, and delighted in the afternoon sun, tucked under the shade of our own awning. Don’t you love the bright colors of beach umbrellas? We ordered off the appetizer menu because no one wanted a big meal at just past 4pm --- but it would be too late to eat if we waited til after the meeting was packed up to eat something ---It was great chatting to each of the ladies and finding out what brought them to Florida, and what they “used” to do before they retired and threw themselves into a frenzy of quilt guild activity.

Sharkey’s sits at the end of the pier…and we had enough time after to go for a little bit of a walk down the pier --- watch the fisherman trying to get their bait out of the cooler to bait their hooks, all the while trying to keep it from the beaks of nosey birds who were sure the bait treats were just for THEM!

We watched this little fella for a long long time. If any other birds got near his territory, he’d puff up his tail and shoot those head feathers straight up, Mohawk style and raise quite a ruckus! He was such a character!

Here they’ve both got bait in their beaks…it should keep them busy for a while, but they just open up their beaks and swallow it down whole and expect more! I could watch the birds for hours…

I just love the shape of their necks! Wish I had been able to get a picture with his plumage all in a fuss!

I you have a chance to stop at Sharky’s --- it’s VERY nice, right on the beach and the pier, the food is great ---well worth a stop!

And while you are planning your trip to Sharkey's -- arrange it to coincide with a Venice Area Quilters Guild meeting --- you will be welcomed with open arms, and be treated to a wonderful time with some really great ladies and gentlemen!

I’ve got more pictures from the My Blue Heaven workshop to edit down, write the post and send it live to you as soon as I can. Too may photos to edit down before heading out this morning to catch my flight. So look for that maybe tomorrow ----I've got more to share!

I’m headed back to North Carolina!

Pure Imagination!

First off..a very special shout out to my son Jeff who turns 22 today! Happy Birthday, honey! LOVE YOU! :cD

Second off -

Yesterday was a Happy Scrappy Houses workshop with the Venice Area Quilter’s Guild of Venice, Florida!

And while I could talk about what we did in class, I’d rather talk about something else we found ourselves discussing and pondering and sharing stories of during our lunch break…because I’ve been thinking of it ever since!

We were talking about the difference between children today, and the children we raised ourselves when we became parents, and the children WE WERE when we were children and how times have changed. And then we thought back to what our parents told us about their own childhoods and how things were even more different back then ----Just within 4 generations, wow ---how have things changed!?

Well, obviously things are more computer-generated and electronic now than they have ever been – but the biggest thing we seemed to come up with is that children don’t seem as motivated or encouraged to play by PRETENDING as we were in previous generations.

Do kids still put on plays and want to act them out within neighborhoods anymore? Do little boys build forts and play Cowboys and Indians? Do little girls put on pretend dance recitals? I’m sure some still do, but more and more and more I’m seeing kids glued to TV’s and computer games ---What has happened to IMAGINATION!?

Imagination is SO IMPORTANT!

Neighborhoods are empty. Kids aren’t playing touch football or kick the can or things that were ever so popular growing up. They might have organized “TEAM” sports where they are on a soccer team, or a little league baseball team ---set days and times and practices appearing on the calendar like clockwork --- but do they really PLAY to PLAY?

I’m sure there are some who do. And maybe it’s just that I’m removed from what it is like to raise kids anymore – mine are grown ---but oh how I loved to imagine when I was little, and create, and dream, and play that story out however I wanted it to be….it wasn’t directed by any set response in a video game – if I wanted there to be unicorns, there were unicorns. With my imagination, I could make them green unicorns, or pink unicorns or whatever I wanted them to be. Our imaginations set us free – and taught us so many things.

One of our ladies, Pinkie, had recently retired from making puppets! Think back with me ---How many of you wanted the puppets that they had in the “Sound of Music?!

“High on a hill was a lonely goatherd, Layyeeeodle-Layeeodle Lay –hee whoooo!”

I wanted that whole puppet theater set! I asked for it for Christmas one year, the puppet set, the puppets, the one that played the tuba, the one that blew the foam off the beer --- but I didn’t get it. How many other kids secretly wished that they too had that really cool puppet theater?

Puppets were so fun to play with. We made them out of socks, out of paper bags, out of anything we could think of ((How many of you love the Fandango commercial at the movies and everything they made those paper bag puppets out of? I LOVED THEM!))

We put on puppet shows for the other neighbor kids and made up the stories as we went. What wonderful memories!

Pinkie ran and got us a couple of her puppets to see! These are cone puppets..and yep…the base is a cardboard thread cone! The dowel pushes the puppet up from inside the cone, and they can twist and dance and wave their arms…SO CUTE! They sold these as toys at craft fairs --- can you imagine the thousands of children who were encouraged to PRETEND and IMAGINE by the use of these puppets?

Could you resist these little faces? Adorable! So when you walk down the toy aisle at your local store --- are you seeing things that encourage imagination and play time --- or is everything digital and battery operated? I think it’s sad in a way. I love computers…don’t get me wrong, I’m on one several times in a day…..but I think we need more un-plugged play time! And so do our children.

And that play time is just what we got in our Happy Scrappy Houses class! We threw out the rules, we threw away the “you can’t use this with that” mentality of “matchy matchy” And we allowed our inner child to come out and we PLAYED!

If you want playful houses out of every kind of polka dot fabric, you can do that! If you want Halloween houses with ghosts and cats in the windows, you can do that! If you want to combine calicoes that you’ve saved since 1974 and combine them with a jelly roll from NOW – you can do that! If you want to put a flamingo in the window -- ((After all, it IS Florida!)) You can do that!

		Happy Scrappy Houses, Venice FL 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We had a great time as you can tell by the many whimsical house blocks above! Where would your imagination take you? You can make any house you want --- just use your imagination!

Come with me back to MY childhood…..oh how I loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory --- and how my imagination ran wild the first time I saw this movie!

Today is a My Blue Heaven workshop – and we’ll be making a creative mess again --- ALL. DAY. LONG!

Happy Wendesday, Everyone!