I'm Back! (Yet Again!)

Well, I just counted how many posts I was able to add to my String of Pearls during the entire month of June...Twelve!  Twelve measly blog posts.  That's an all-time low for me.  I used to rarely skip a day!  If you come here often and get bummed out when there isn't anything new to check out, sorry 'bout that.  ("Bummed out?  Um, that might be a bit strong.  We do have lives, you know."  Yes, readers--all five of you--I do know.  Trying to be funny here, and failing.)

So--time to get back on the proverbial horse!

There are lots of good excuses for this recent dearth of new posts.  I could blame it on the YA novel I'm writing for Bezalel Books; but over the long Fourth of July weekend, while visiting with various and sundry Pearls in Upstate NY at my husband's family's "compound" on Lake Champlain (and staying up way too late, night after night--which means getting more and more tired with each passing day!), I didn't get much done on that front either.  One morning, I awoke about an hour and a half before the rest of the troops were up and was able to get almost a whole page written.  But otherwise, it was a true vacation weekend for me.

There's lots to report, but that's not going to happen right now.  My husband and I just made the four and a half-hour trek back to our home in NH yesterday, because I have a doctor's appointment this morning.  And afterward, we're going to head right back up to NY to continue visiting with some of my husband's far-flung siblings and their families (and my mom and dad, too) before taking off for my niece's wedding this coming weekend.  So as you can see, we're on the road a lot these days (which appears to be the story of our lives)--another great excuse for the low blog post output.  "But doesn't all that traveling and family reunion stuff make for great blog material?" you ask.  Sure it does.  But it also makes for one overtired/lazy blogger!

Anyhoo, I'm just going to leave you with two bits of tid today.  First, this picture of my husband and me in our Fourth of July get-ups, primed to watch the annual parade that goes right by the family homestead every year.


My shirt is awesome (although you probably wouldn't understand). 
The big guy's shirt is advertising the brewery his older sister
is opening soon with her husband, in Peru, NY.
(Fashion do's here?  Or fashion DON'TS?)

And second, this short article about Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, one of my favorite saints in the making, which appeared in the most recent issue of the Knights of Columbus magazine, Columbia.  This extraordinary young man played a role in Finding Grace (which I guess I can now call my "first book"), because I wanted to do whatever small part I could to help spread devotion to him.  He's such a wonderful role model for the very age group I was trying to reach with that novel.  His feast day is celebrated on our country's Independence Day, as a matter of fact.

Sorry for the poor quality of this scanned page!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend celebrating the birthday of our great nation, which is not like any other country on earth.  America was founded with a special purpose in mind; it is not merely a country, but "an idea," as Bono says in Dinesh D'Souza's new film "America" (which my husband and I saw last night--and highly recommend).  (And yes, I did just quote Bono there, something I really never thought I'd do!)

God bless you, readers; and God bless America!