A Melodious Sonnet - Page 20 of 58 - Notes from a word-chaser

The Springtime of Joy (Poem)

October 21, 2019 by Esther Filbrun · 2 Comments

21 Oct

It was beautiful, down the valley,
Where the wild gorse grows,
Beautiful in the sunshine,
Where the river’s current flows.

Beautiful in the splendor
Of a clear springy day,
Beautiful as the willow brush
The fresh wind did play.

But deep within the beauty,
Where no eye has ever seen,
Lay the sorrow of a winter,
The drought before the spring.

For once upon a mountain,
The place wilderness only knows,
There lay a pall of darkness
Under winter’s heavy snows.

Cold winds did lash her,
Frigid temperatures in the dark,
And, stumbling, in the gloaming,
Her heart was torn apart.

But now spring has brought her
Out of winter into light,
And the place that once was barren
Now blooms from what was night.

Those who heard her sighing
In the darkness of the past
Are now singing and rejoicing
At the light that’s come at last.

So join with me in praising
If the darkness lingers yet,
For beyond the wings of sorrow
Lies a path to joys unmet.

Dedicated to those who have walked the valley of sorrow, whatever it may be. It’s only the beginning, for beyond the winter, there is the new hope of spring!

Book Haul!

October 17, 2019 by Esther Filbrun · 2 Comments

17 Oct

Several weeks ago, perhaps a month ago now, one of my brothers came home from examining the “treasures” at our local green dump (read green very loosely; that’s what it’s supposed to be, anyway!), and told me there were some old books left there. One was even an old fairy tale book! A day or two later, I took my normal walk around the block, and then we stopped to look at the books. What a treasure trove! If I had known what there was, I would have gone down earlier—but even so, I am pretty tickled with what they found!

The one of the most interest to me was an old 1880s or 1890s copy of Dr. Chase’s Last Receipt Book and Household Physician. I had never seen a book quite like this before, and there are some interesting recipes in here as well as some fascinating (if not scary!) advice. It’s also interesting to see some of the “new” ideas mentioned here, such as the discovery that milk keeps better if it’s chilled down in ice as soon as it has been milked out—what an amazing invention! 🙂

The top is captioned “A Modern Dairy Scene”. Left bottom is the “recent” Swedish discovery (that is really Yankee!), and right bottom is a method to make butter in hot weather…which I think would make some foul-tasting butter!

Also of interest was an old self-pronouncing dictionary. I was sad that the front cover and front pages are missing, but it’s still interesting to look through the definitions.

I love the old page ends on this one!

Then there’s Lily at her Grandmama’s, a delightful old-style picture book, and Northland Heroes written by the author of Haiawatha and containing a story of Beowolf as well as at least one other old story. The “fairy tale book” ended up being a newer (1950s) reprinting of Alice in Wonderland—I’m looking forward to reading this; I’ve been wanting to for a long time! And another newer book called The Whole Person in a Broken World (an interesting title, at least!), which promises to be good if I ever sit down to read it.

Far right-top: “Waltham School Standard 2 A. Special Prize Awarded to Mavis Palmer for Neatness.”

I just love the illustrations in Lily at her Grandmama’s!:

“…He has entangled his line in the tree, and I do believe he has caught the hook in his own finger.”

The other three books I got that day were not quite as interesting to me, but a friend of mine is interested in them—an old Latin Lessons book, a Latin Primer, and Henri Bué First French Book! Unfortunately, I never learned anything about either French or Latin, but I have a friend who has studied both and taught her daughter elements of both languages, and she’s interested in taking them into her own collection.

We gathered all the books we could find, and stuffed them into a reusable yellow shopping bag to carry home. It’s funny how you forget how heavy some things can be—and books must be among the heaviest!—but thankfully it wasn’t too far to haul them home. 🙂

The day after our dump find, then, a bag of several different books was given to us, and at the bottom of the stack was a very old English Bible! It was printed in 1855, and Mom surmised that it must have made a trip across the ocean in the bottom of someone’s sea chest at some stage. There are fascinating old documents in here—I’ll include a few pictures for you.

“Arthur Hayworth. From his affectionate Mother. Surfolk(?), June 8th, 1868.”

Left: A prayer to be prayed in England and Wales, and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed (isn’t that a neat name!?) on 12th August, 1866, because of the cholera and cattle plague. Top right: Several sheets of hymns for gospel services. Bottom right: A Sunday School paper, with the front page a picture of Greenlanders.

In all, this was quite the book haul, and I’m quite pleased about some of the finds we have. Keep your precious old books. You never know what a treasure they might be for the next generation!

What’s the oldest book you have ever owned? Have you rescued books from a dump before?

Able to Give So Much More

October 7, 2019 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

7 Oct

Don’t you love it when some words just seem to speak out to you when you read them in the Bible? You can read the same passage many, many times—but then in that moment of inspiration, it comes alive to you, and you’re given something to ponder for the next little while.

This morning, it was 2 Chronicles 25:9 that spoke to me:

“And Amaziah said to the man of God, ‘But what shall we do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?’ The man of God answered, ‘The LORD is able to give you much more than this.’” (ESV, emphasis mine)

This past week has had a lot of unanswered questions for me as I’ve been seeking God’s direction in my life. I’ve been looking for a new job, but nothing has happened yet in that direction, so while a lot of thought has been put into that, I haven’t seen results (partly because I ended up getting a touch of laryngitis early last week, and couldn’t call about jobs—thankfully that’s over now!).

Whatever I do, I want to serve the Lord. So with this morning’s passage, I was quite encouraged. Whatever happens in this next week, no matter where I end up working (or not!), He is going before me. He is well able to give me much more than I can imagine, and that gives me an immense measure of hope for the future. I know I can rest in His plans for my life.

Whether that ends up being cleaning motels this summer, spending my time here at home with my family, or doing something further afield.

“The LORD is able to give you much more…”

I can just imagine the prophet standing there before the king, having just delivered his message, and hearing the king’s response. He sounds shocked, as he turns on the king with a disappointed tone, “but don’t you know…that the Lord can give you much more than this!? Who is He, anyway?”

I needed that rebuke to my faithlessness this morning. Perhaps you did, too. 🙂 Keep trusting in Him, dear friend!

What verses have stuck out to you lately? What “much more” are you looking for from Him right now?

A Shout-Out to All Creators!

October 4, 2019 by Esther Filbrun · 1 Comment

4 Oct

I don’t remember now how the conversation first started, but I got to talking with my younger brothers about a particularly annoying dragon in one of the stories I’d written. When met with blank faces, I realized they hadn’t ever heard the story, even though I wrote it for my siblings, intending to read it to them later!

My youngest brother immediately started campaigning for me to find it so I could read it to them, so over the last few weeks, I’ve taken time to do that now and then. We’re about half-way through the story now, which is significantly longer than I thought it would be (turns out it’s just under 20,000 words long!).

There have been two, no, three things that have struck me since starting to read this book aloud:

It’s not a bad thing to wait for a while to read through a book. I thought it was a fairly mediocre story soon after I wrote it, but waiting nearly two years to read it has changed my perspective quite a bit. I don’t know if I’d recommend waiting that long before you even read through your work for the first time, but you get a great perspective on the story—so much is new again!
I can write semi-funny things. I’ve laughed out loud several different times at unexpected happenings, and that’s a really fun discovery!
Some of my story ideas actually work. At least, for me and my family, which is the most important thing to me. I don’t know if this story will ever see the light of day in any editing/publishing roles, but I enjoyed the creation process, and I’m enjoying the sharing process, too.

Are you creating anything right now? Does it feel like absolute junk—like mine did? Keep working at it. Finish it. You never know what kind of gems you might find in your files years down the track!

Keep creating!

Haven of Rest: Blog Tour and Giveaway!

October 3, 2019 by Esther Filbrun · 2 Comments

3 Oct

Today, I get to share with you a book from a series I’ve really been enjoying lately: Haven of Rest! It’s book #4 in the Tales of the East series by Faith Blum, and guys. I think this has to be my most favorite set of books I’ve seen from Blum so far. I’ve really appreciated her other books, but this series has something special about it that I love. She shares the Biblical world in such a matter-of-fact, yet interesting way, with some intriguing plots. (If you’re interested in reading my review of book #1 in the series, Trust and Obey, go here.)

The funny thing is, I really don’t know why I love them so much—just that I do. So when I saw the opportunity come up to review this one, I knew I wanted to do that, too. And here we are!

Note: Some links in this post are affiliate links. Your purchase through these links doesn’t cost you any extra, but goes toward keeping this blog going. Thank you! Also, I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for my review. I did end up buying my own copy, but thought you might want to know anyway…. 🙂

About the book:

Ignored by her father…

Adah was neglected by her abba and her brother. She must do something. All her previous plans have failed, but she won’t slip up this time. Since her abba is King David, author of many songs, what better way to gain his attention than pulling off a concert featuring twelve of his daughters?

As she plans, Adah’s discontentment grows. She throws herself into the work but worry edges into her heart anyway. Can Adah learn to rest in Adonai as her father? Will she learn contentment in all things?

Click here to get your copy!

My review:

It’s so hard to sum up a book you both enjoyed and didn’t! I’ve loved the whole series so far. The plots are fairly simple, but definitely enjoyable. I love Faith Blum’s perspective on what the Biblical times would have looked like, and that admiration has stayed fairly steady throughout the series.

This book, though, was both good and challenging. I loved how music—a central element to King David’s life—played a major role in the first part of this book. I also loved seeing the main character work through accepting a decision she didn’t agree with, and learning to yield herself to the Lord’s greater plan.

Unfortunately, I struggled to see an overarching theme in this book—I can see how they go together, in a way, but it felt like you were all set up for one thing to happen and all of a sudden the story took an unprecedented turn in another, completely different, direction. Also, the way the characters related with each other didn’t seem very likely to me—the wives of David seemed to be portrayed as living in their own spaces (huts or assigned rooms, I’m not sure which), and not interacting much at all. Cooking separate meals, working on separate projects inside their own rooms, etc. I believe as part of David’s family, they would have had a lot more interaction, living in more of a communal lifestyle—the values and ways of living life are quite different than portrayed here (or maybe I just picked it up all wrong—I have no idea!).

In saying that, I still enjoyed the book. There were some good thoughts in here. It just wasn’t one of my top favorites of the series. I’m looking forward to seeing what the next book holds!

About the Author:

Faith Blum is a small-town Wisconsin girl. She has independently published over 25 books in over five years. Most of her books are Christian Historical Fiction with an emphasis on Westerns. During an eBook sale, she was #1 in Christian Westerns and Christian Western Anthologies on Amazon. During that sale, she sold over 3,000 copies.

Faith currently resides in Central Wisconsin with her husband and their cat, Smokey. When not writing, you can find her cooking food from scratch due to food allergies, doing dishes, knitting, crocheting, sewing, reading, or spending time with her husband. She loves to hear from her readers, so feel free to contact her on her website: https://faithblum.com.

Blog Tour Stops:

Comment on these to get extra entries in the tour giveaway!

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, September 21
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, September 22
All 4 and About Books, September 23 (Author Interview)
Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, September 24
Wishful Endings, September 25 (Author Interview)
A Reader’s Brain, September 26
Inklings and notions , September 27
Through the Fire Blogs, September 28
Mary Hake, September 29
Lukewarm Tea, September 30 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, October 1
Purposeful Learning, October 2
janicesbookreviews, October 3
Just the Write Escape, October 4

Giveaway!

And, finally, the giveaway! This looks like a very fun set to win.

To celebrate her tour, Faith is giving away a themed basket with two plastic canvas heart bookmarks, a paperback copy of the book, and a crocheted doily (I’d love to see how the doily is made…I’ve been dreaming of making one sometime soon when I can get the right thread)!

Be sure to comment here and on the other blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Go here to enter.

What Biblical historical fiction have you been reading lately? Who is your favorite author that writes in this genre? (I think mine is probably Connilyn Cossette at the moment, but Blum is a close second!)