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Wednesday, January 27, 2021

The Giggling Breedloves

 This was written years ago, probably in 1991 for 50th anniversary and was published in the Quanah Tribune Chief. I promised it to some friends and thought I'd like to have it here. Since I'd not posted here in a few years, I wanted to pop up here as well.

Some forty years ago our family walked into the sanctuary of First Methodist Church Quanah. Ross Berry Magee looked up and said, “There come the giggling Breedloves.” Probably Mother was embarrassed and Daddy didn’t care. For the four of us girls we’d found our definition. We remain proud to be the Giggling Breedloves and the nomenclature is proven true time and time again on every occasion we come together. 

Our childhood induced giggling, for we were a happy family. We remember car trips when Mother had carefully packed games and snacks, planning for all contingencies. When the games ran out and tempers grated we sang the songs Daddy had taught us on earlier trips: "Skinamarink," "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," "Down by the Old Mill Stream," "When We All Get To Heaven," "Row Row Row Your Boat," "When She Wore a Tulip," and many more.

Years later one of our mothers-in-law commented that we Breedlove girls didn’t think there was anything our parents couldn’t do. That’s not the truth. We remember a time Daddy took apart a Timex watch and was going to fix it but he couldn’t get all the parts back in. Mother told us for years that Aunt Lorice’s long socks remained neat all day while hers drooped, though we’d never seen it. Mother couldn’t do French braids but did plenty of pigtails. We don’t think either of them could get the hula-hoop going, but maybe Mother did. Daddy had trouble keeping stinkbait on a fish-hook, but that was long after we’d left home. No, we knew of things Mother and Daddy couldn’t do. We remembered them very plainly because they were so few and far between. 

We had a Golden Book called Fix it, Please! that wore out completely because we loved it so, but that described our relationship to our parents. When things were broken, we took them home and they were repaired, made new, or hugged away.

We learned other things, too. The English language was properly spoken at our home. If Mother wasn’t there to correct a blunder, the rest of us took up the chant. Complicated words found their way into our vocabulary because we were expected to know what they meant, and pretty soon we did. Interstices will always mean those places where there was room for homemade ice cream no matter how much else we’d eaten. 

We learned to cook because that was expected of girls, but we learned to repair things and take roles usually reserved for boys, too. We became leaders watching our parents lead not just in the family but in the community. We have leadership roles in our local churches not because we were told to but because going to church and doing your part was expected. When we’re Mother’s age we may still be teaching Sunday School just like Mother, and that certainly is a proper path to follow.

We learned the Bible says “But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children.” We learned that not just in Sunday School but in life, for we saw the strength of our family in our own lives and now we rejoice to see it in those of our children and grandchildren, too.

We are the giggling Breedloves. The joy that grows from the peace and love that are the foundation of our lives bubbles up, and we giggle.

Mary Ellen Breedlove Prescott

Barbara Breedlove Rollins

Carol Breedlove Truitt
Kathy Breedlove Gaebler




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Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Bugsy

I had thought recently I really needed to do SOMETHING on this blog since I had not since I was hurt almost three years ago. I should destroy the blog or use it. So.

I posted a picture of Bugsy today on Facebook and wanted to tell more of his story, but going back to the June, 2002 entry pictures are missing and it's not possible to link to just that story, so he's a good story to start back blogging. The picture today:
The 2002 story, but we later discovered Bugsy is a soft-coated wheaten terrier:


Today Bugsy, our 7-month-old all breeds dog, is a the vet's becoming a eunuch. Events like this evidence the differences between human males and females. For me, it simply racks up as another errand to perform. Any deprivation involved is that the genes that make Bugsy neat won't be passed on to other dogs and thus to other homes. For Mike, my husband, a sense of guilt balloons for depriving Bugsy of a fundamental right as a male. His words as we left were, "I told you to enjoy it while you could, Bugsy!"

I bonded with Bugsy by email, which is amazing in that I'm not an animal person. The fact we have ample dogs and cats at our home before him resulted from my concessions rather than my advocacy. It wasn't hard to fall for him, though. The first introduction was from Jeffrey:


Sam has found a puppy that I would guestimate to be about 8 weeks old. The puppy is quite obviously a stray due to the lack of collar, general dirtiness (before Sam bathed him), and the fact he whined in front of our window for around an hour before getting attention.... He is quite possibly the most affectionate dog I've ever seen (i.e. climbed to my neck and rested his chin under mine).

The little guy is/has: 

  • Male (Sam looked at the paws)5-6" to the shoulders  
  • Proportionate length, approx. 8" from tail base to base of neck. 
  • Not terribly skinny, but not really healthy weight. (very obvious when Sam was giving him a bath) 
  • I consider the face somewhat short and stubby, but that's arguable. 
  • Primary colors are: Tan/gray body, black face and tail, white accents on paws, nose, between the shoulder blades, and tip of tail.Dark eyes.His fur is on the long side and slightly shaggy, especially around limbs. 
  • Ears are folded down and floppy. 
  • His tail's fur is laid down and the tail curls above him ending in a sharp point.
  • Generally cute. 
  • Characteristics: 
    • Sleeps a lot. 
    • Cuddles... see "Sleeps a lot". 
    • Playful when not sleeping. 
    • Teething, thinks a tied up rag is his ticket to heaven. 
    • Not potty trained.
Accurately,
Jeffrey
 

Jeffrey and Sam couldn't keep the puppy without a pet deposit, so they took him to David who had two cats and a pet deposit. David took a picture and said: 
Well I decided not to go into work today considering I had probably 1 hour's worth of uninterrupted sleep throughout the night. I forgot that puppies make a lot of noise when they are left alone. I have unofficially named him Duke. If he's going to mom and dad's then they can name him whatever they want. I was most amused after seeing the dog. Jeff's description of the cutest thing ever was underrated by the fact that he's not a cute dog. Just a puppy and most puppies are naturally cute. Well since I have the rest of the afternoon I'm going to work on the church's website, buy some new jeans, and get a collar and some chew toys for him to chew on instead of eating the cat's toys. Jeff put his finger really well on how my guys were acting to this new intruder. They act like they do when they have a bug or something in their house. Not quite sure what to do with it. Don't want to kill it because they can't play with it any more, but know it doesn't belong.

And that's how Bugsy came to our house and the source of his name. I hope the vet's taking good care of him.


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Thursday, February 23, 2012

In the Blood

The author in Hendrick Medical Center emergency room February 15, 2012
I've thought about my great-grandfather Sam Paisley Richards this last week, but perhaps not at the time I should have! Read more about Sam at my genealogy section. But the memory could have come in handy when I was bleeding out a liter or so, causing the first responders to hustle.

In my genealogy section, I say:




At the McCARLEY family reunion in June of 1991, Ray ELLIOTT and Sam BREEDLOVE were talking about their grandfather, Sam RICHARDS, and the following dialogue took place:

Ray:
Our grandfather Sam RICHARDS was a man of great faith and he could take fire from a burn if any one was burned and also he could stop bleeding. He could stop bleeding in animals and in human beings and used passages of scripture from the Old Testament. Now to take fire from burns he would recite this (hope I can remember it):
"Fire, I beseech thee in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost to come out."
and he'd say it again:
"Fire, I beseech thee in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost to come out."
and the third time he'd change it just a little:
"Fire, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost I beseech thee to come out."
Now to stop bleeding he would use this incantation I guess you'd call it:
"As I walked by thee and saw thee polluted in thy own blood yea I said unto them let thee in thine own blood live."
And he said this three times.
"As I walked by thee and saw thee polluted in thy own blood yea I said unto them let thee in thine own blood live. As I walked by thee and saw thee polluted in thy own blood yea I said unto them let thee in thine own blood live."
and the bleeding would stop.


SAM:

That's true!


RAY:
A neighbor of theirs who lived quite some distance from them had a mule that ran into a wire fence, a barbed wire fence and cut his shoulder severely and it was bleeding to death, and they called our granddaddy and told him where the wound was and he made this incantation and the bleeding stopped almost at the moment. They had their watches on either end and by the time our grandfather had finished saying these words, the people at the place where the mule was said that the bleeding stopped.

Ray and the others around continued talking in conversation I didn't record word for word, and he was asked to recite the blessing Sam RICHARDS always used, which he said was, "Our dear Heavenly Father, we thank thee for these and all other blessings in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord."
I've thought about Sam Richards and my father's "That's true," a great deal since 1991. I've had a persistent thought - conviction? - that I might have healing as a gift. Since I'll spend the next year or so recuperating and mending nerves and tendons, perhaps I'll find out or draw closer to an understanding and acceptance of whatever that truth is. Meanwhile, I'll share a poem of mine in From the Porch Swing - Memories of our Grandparents and be crass enough to suggest you support the book, one of five finalists as the About.com Readers' Choice Award as 2012 Best Grandparenting Book.

A Modicum of Faith
Barbara B. Rollins
page8image5944


Newborn as Shiloh roiled, Sam modeled wisdom, grace —
an unpretentious man. They trekked to Arkansas then on,
set up a church and scattered seed; a place
in Texas dawned a home, a farm from faith and brawn.
Sam served and sowed from youth through eighty years of love,
attuned to all of life, revered for prayers he spoke.
His unobtrusive faith invoked response above
the ken of prouder men while healing hurting folk.
Sam melded foot and severed toe, stanched blood
with words and healed a distant mule by speaking through a phone.
Example etched in children trust that undergirds,
and evenings he would sing, a radiant baritone.
A simple righteous man, a man I never knew —
Pacific battles raged as Sam progressed in peace,
a saint. And now Sam’s grandson’s daughter finds it true
that mountain-moving faith exists and shall not cease.





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Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Sixty in January

I started January not with resolutions but with 60 goals to meet during January. The list has evolved. Some differ - are completely new - from those on the original list. And the parts of the list I wrote on January 1st that aren't done yet haven't been abandoned and will be completed. Some actually were completed but were private enough I didn't include them in this list for hordes in perpetuity. It is 12:16 a.m., February 1st. These are things I have accomplished in January, 2012. Those not completely finished may be listed, but noted.
  1. Write a list of 60 things to accomplish in January
  2. Flashlight Memories in Kindle format
  3. Survived to Love in Kindle format.
  4. Writing Toward the Light in Kindle format.
  5. White Elephants in Kindle format.
  6. Poetry Floats in Kindle format.
  7. Add Kindle books to SilverBoomerBooks.com. (http://silverboomerbooks.com/sbb/wp/buy-a-book/buy-our-ebooks/)
  8. Revise the logo for Silver Boomer Books
  9. Revise the logo for Eagle Wings Press
  10. Revise the logo for Laughing Cactus Press
  11. Substitute new logos for old on websites, etc.
  12. Read twenty submissions for On Our Own
  13. Read twenty submissions for On Our Own
  14. Read twenty submissions for On Our Own
  15. Read twenty submissions for On Our Own
  16. Read twenty submissions for On Our Own (I read a total of 84 out of 145)
  17. Write a submission for On Our Own
  18. Read through and edit Crazy Lady in the Mirror (http://silverboomerbooks.com/sbb/wp/our-books/crazy-lady-in-the-mirror/)
  19. Read A Poetic Creation and respond to author
  20. Read A Heart on Hold and respond to author
  21. Set up a marketing calendar
  22. Create brochure for Retirement University (http://silverboomerbooks.com/retirement-u-jan30.pdf)
  23. Create poster for Retirement University (http://silverboomerbooks.com/retirement-u-poster.pdf)
  24. Get review copies of Crazy Lady in the Mirror to reviewers. (They're being bound. I tried to pick them up on the 31st and they were not ready yet. Will go out Feb. 1st)
  25. Send Crazy to Library of Congress (Will go Feb. 1st)
  26. Get new business cards designed and printed 
  27. Bookmarks for Crazy
  28. Push cards for Crazy
  29. Set up Insights from the Jobsite
  30. Meet with potential editor for SBB, agree to trial.
  31. Meet with another potential editor for SBB, agree to trial.
  32. Investigate alternative to Lightning Source for printing large print books (I've done this only because it just says "investigate" - not have an answer.)
  33. Put up call for submissions for Times to Remember  (http://silverboomerbooks.com/sbb/wp/for-writers/times-to-remember/)
  34. Design website to show separate calls for submissions
  35. Send copies of Slender Steps to Sanity and A Cloud of Witnesses to Mardel
  36. Publicize Kimble version of A Time for Verse (which was uploaded 12/30/11)
  37. Speech for Buffalo Gap Republican Woman's Club
  38. Write article for BG paper on speculation
  39. Inventory books on hand 1/1/12 
  40. Copies of Retirement U brochure and poster to Wisteria Place 
  41. Copies of Retirement U brochure and poster to Wesley Court (appointment made) 
  42. Copies of Retirement U brochure and poster to Mesa Springs 
  43. Copies of Retirement U brochure and poster to University Place (contact made) 
  44. Interview with Fearless Fernandez (on radio January 5th, scheduled for tomorrow, Feb. 2nd, then March 1st - 7:45 A.M., Kean 105 (Listen online.)
  45. Fix the RSS feed for Recovery Daily Dose 
  46. Five sections of new book on Galatians (this done with OAStepper)
  47. Set up This Path for Kindle, help Becky get author permissions (authors notified, most have given permission, two have not, more have not replied. It will be published without those not granting permission. Some bios to be revised before publishing it on Kindle.)
  48. Design cover for large print version A Cloud of Witnesses
  49. Revise Kindle version of Slender Steps to Sanity (revisions have been done, still working on some polishing, will be up and out by Friday.)
  50. Get a security package for office computer
  51. Do a redirect on each old page on the websites to get all links to go to the revised websites
  52. Send Milagros to Barnes & Noble for sale in stores (in progress, nearly done, need a permalink that I've asked for)
  53. Send White Elephants to Banes & Noble (in progress, nearly done)
  54. Sales Tax Report and payment
  55. Write Recovery Daily Dose every day, publicize
  56. Walk at least 25 miles
  57. Contact Quanah CofC about Fall Festival booth
  58. Contact Western Heritage about booth
  59. Attend Abilene After Hours
  60. Hire part-time help

Yes, I intend to make a February list. No, it will not have 60 - or even 58 - things listed. But I will accomplish great things in February as well, God willing.


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Sunday, October 30, 2011

A Year of Beginnings

Grandmom with Jack (L) and Justin
Five-sixths of the way through 2011, I look back on the momentous journey of the year with gratitude, joy, and fond memories. Two have been very public. One I wish were more public, and the third the "courthouse crowd" and some of my friends know, and I'm telling the rest of you today.

January 1st I watched as Sam Carroll was sworn in as Judge of County Court at Law No. 2 of Taylor County. I had participated in a similar ceremony April 1, 1988. Twenty-two years, nine months leave vivid and delightful memories, good friends, and pride in a job well done. I've never regretted the decision to step aside, but I very much miss the daily contact with all the good people there.

On that day the third event (the one I wish more people knew of) also happened, for I became a full-time author, editor, and publisher. I emphasize the publisher part of the description, because I continue to be surprised how many people don't know I'm doing that and don't even know Silver Boomer Books is an Abilene publishing company. We've got 18 books published now, and our office is in the Commerce Plaza building. I'm there most days, 1290 S. Willis, Ste. 210, but call before you come to make sure (325-518-5108). My partners are Becky Haigler and Ginny Greene, and we publish nostalgia and memoirs at Silver Boomer Books, poetry and fiction at Laughing Cactus Press, and 12-Step Recovery and spiritual writing at Eagle Wings Press.

You can follow us on our Facebook page, which is echoed on Twitter. Our books are at Hastings and Texas Star in Abilene, or by contacting us. They're on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com and available for order at any bookstore.  In an effort to get the word out, we've very recently contracted with Sandra Minnick for a media blitz.

The second, fairly well known, event you've already ooohed and awwed over, my twin grandsons Jack and Justin Rollins, sons of David and Dezi. They are such a joy. Dezi says they're working on eating their first solid food, rice, today, and I'm really tempted to get in the car and follow the already-worn track to Frisco and their house! They were born June 9. (I've realized there's a problem seeing this year's archives on this blog, and I will see what I can do to fix that soon. Here's the post I wrote just after they were born.)

And the fourth. I moved into an apartment in July and filed for divorce this week. It certainly was no easy choice to made - I'd tried to make it for years. But it is the right decision for me, and I am fine and thriving. Contact information can be hard to come by, so use the address and phone number stated above for the partnership and for me individually.

It's been a VERY good year.

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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Get Your Books Read

Problem: You’ve got a great book and 10% of your friends and family members to whom you didn’t give a free book have bought, and that seems to be all. You have no marketing budget and really need to move more books. Besides, it NEEDs to be read because it's a GREAT book! How can you get people to read it?

For purpose of an example, I'm using our Silver Boomer Books anthology FROM THE PORCH SWING - MEMORIES OF OUR GRANDPARENTS.


1. Blog about it, have a web presence, get on Facebook and other social media. Then have contests (answer a question or give the best example or some such - or just a random drawing of those who "like" the book), ask questions (what's your favorite part of this anthology?), and keep updating, keep people coming back or being aware of the book. Keri Mathews has done a marvelous job of doing just that for our anthology Flashlight MemoriesGet other people (those who owe you because you gave it free) to comment about your book and share it on their pages.

2. Push your book on other people’s blogs.

  1. Google search, blogs about grandparents:
    1. GrandmaStories.net has recent posts on adult education, eating healthy on a budget, and facts and recipes for quinoa. (Keen-wah). Nope.
    2. GrandparentsTLC.com has two posts since last May. Probably not many people reading this.
  2. Search for keywords grandparents on blogger.com: On google home page, under “more” select blogs then search.
    The first one, www.igrandparents.com looked promising. They have a long list of grandparent names, and we’ve got names used for grandparents we feature in talking about FROM THE PORCH SWING, so a comment there about another name works. Gonnie is one not listed there and included in our book.
  3. That blog didn’t have a lot of comments, so it doesn’t help a lot, but if you do something cute enough and put it there then share the post you commented on to Facebook, etc., and see if you can draw some more traffic to that and to your comment. Do it on several blogs, and go back and work it into the conversation several times. You’ll find those blogs with the most comments, so concentrate there.
3. Set up a website to talk about books in general but yours fall in the list. You can do a site that reviews anthologies. Include other people’s anthologies, but yours as well. You don’t have to identify yourself as the author of the book to have the site.
    A page about your favorite Small Press Anthologies with critiques of:
    FROM THE PORCH SWING 
    ECHOES OF THE OZARKS IV 
    BOTTOM DOG PRESS POETRY ANTHOLOGY 
    THE RED ANTHOLOGY OF HITHERTO UNKNOWN WRITERS, v1

     You may realize I threw in another of ours. Hehe. 

    Then do something to keep people coming back to that page. New news on recently published anthologies, etc., but have the home page prominent when the search hits so yours show up.
Don't you need to read FROM THE PORCH SWING?

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Monday, September 26, 2011

Recommending Robyn Conley's PRAY THE BIBLE

I would love for people to review my books – not just those with my name on the cover but all of Silver Boomer Books' titles. Yet it occurred to me over the weekend – I don't do that for other authors. So, I'll be featuring other writers' books here occasionally.

I've had Robyn Conley's book Pray the Bible With Paper and Pen - Growing an Everyday Relationship with the Lord since it first came out a couple of years ago, and I highly recommend it. Somewhat similar to Robyn's What Really Matters to Me, it's a book and workbook in one, but Robyn's text plays a larger role in Pray the Bible. She talks of the ACTS method of prayer – Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Surrender &ndasy; then starts through the Bible, speaking of Adam's conversations with God, the awe he must have felt and what would be necessary to pass that and move on to real communication, highlighting the need for absolute honesty with God - who already knows all the things we think we want to hide anyway. Moving on, she speaks of Abraham in the second chapter, Moses in the third, and progresses through the Bible.

Pray the Bible with Paper and Pen is a helpful, simple book by an excellent writer on a subject dear to her heart. I recommend you get to know Robyn and that you get Pray the Bible with Paper and Pen.

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