Thank you!

Thank you for your kind and encouraging support of Haven!

It has been exciting to read emails, Facebook responses, and a blog {endorsement} (Hey Susan!).
If you feel the love, and feel so inclined, please leave a comment on Amazon.
Thank you friends!

Otherwise, it is a somewhat normal time here on the border. Only in a bit of hyper-drive, since it is....
(dun-dun-DUN!)
Spring Break in Georgia.


I have stocked up the cupboards as a Good Mother would, I have made some plans, but most importantly - Gigee is here to visit. Yes!
I know you haven't heard tales of her in a while, and I will have to ask her if the guinea hen raising is going well. For this week, she will put her willpower to the Lear kid raising. Amen. When Mama visits, we all have something to say. Some of us more than others; some of us louder than others.

That concludes this service announcement, I shall return after Spring Break, if all goes well and I am still standing. Which reminds me - I said to a friend recently "Lord willing and the creek don't rise" and she looked at me as though I were An Alien. When you have to explain it, it is not so appropriate, right? So.
I will return, and Happy Spring Break!

Haven: the details

Here's the nitty-gritty, kids:
 Haven is here, in living color!
This morning I'm making links and buttons...
And here we have it, on the sidebar - applause for my restraint in not naming it the preshus...

A note for my non-Kindle friends:

Hi Friends,
I have started out simple, producing this project on one site only. Ebook conversion is tricky! Please forgive me. Love, B.

Kindle offers free apps for many other devices, though I have not yet found a way for my nook friends to make it work. There are apps for PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android devices, etc.:
Free Kindle apps

I have heard from iPhone and iPad users that the app is great, and the format works well
This has been a process of techie education, and in the process I have found that I am not so techie. (I die a little inside at the admission...) I'm capable of some things, sure - but ebook conversion across every app available? My head, my pounding head! I downloaded three different converters, testing and editing, and realizing along the way that each converter took my document and did wonky things with it. According to ebook advice sites, and Amazon itself, the conversion process is just "that way." One particular conversion randomly removed every "l" from most words. Freak out! Bethany Ear, I am not. So, this is why I have chosen to stick with one conversion that came through with relatively few kinks and cranks.

All that stuff aside...
What a week! Your comments, emails and encouragement have been the ink in my pen.
Bye for now...

steps and leaps: an announcement

Halloo good friends and people of the internetz!
I have been through the mood gamut today and have settled on pleased satisfaction. It is good, no?
I think this will sound like I am giving a speech.
I am trying not to sound like a speech-giver, speech-writer or anything of the sort.
Oh help, speech! Speech on the horizon!

"Begin at the beginning," the King said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop." (Alice in Wonderland)

If you have enjoyed the poems I write and post from time to time, then take note!
(Sing halloo!) On this day, that also happens to be my birthday, but is not coincidental to this announcement, I have N-E-W-S.
In 12-72 hours Amazon Kindle Store will have my very own collection of poetry listed, for procurement by poetry lovers the world over. What? Poetry, you say? Yes! I say!
If I could contain my excitement for 12 or possibly 72 hours, I would have waited and posted a link along with this news.
Alas. Alas? Alas, you say? Well, yes. If you say "poetry" you have to also begin to say "Alas." I think it's a rule. I love a good rule!
Alas, I could not wait. Consider it advance notice for my borderland friends. Beat the rush! Poetry is the new, umm, new, umm, well. It is what I have been given to do, and that is where we stand, friends.
Sing poems!
You know I have things to say about this. Dramatic, melodramatic, spirit-bringing, lovemaking things to say about this. For now: This poetry collection of mine is called Haven, and it is an assortment of 22 poems about life, love, friends, comfort and perhaps a lick of inspiration.
Links to follow, rambling to end now, birthday to continue in true 36 year old fashion.
Sing glory!

Luck o' the Lears

All of this luck could have been yours. The house across the street sat empty for two years, until finally George moved in. Now, he is sitting on a lawn full of luck. Behold, the luck of the Lear children, as they plunder George's clover patch:

 And, my professional natural clover press. Good thing this is not a cooking post! That would not be lucky, not lucky at all my wee friends. Trust that Lucky Rickey had this in his possession well before I came along.

This press cookbook is good for many things, as you can see by the word "supreme" in the title. But it is most often used for clovers. (Maybe there's a recipe in there for them, I wouldn't be surprised.)

Your next question may echo my own: What the heck kind of chemical has been applied to that lawn, to have it produce such massive quantities of mutant multiple-leaf clover? Jadyn & Cole both found FIVE leaf clovers this week, and at that point, I said "Enough! Enough already! This suddenly does not seem lucky anymore! Wash your hands with soap right now!" Or something to that effect, but definitely at that decibel level. 

My next thought: Just wait, a clever and botanically-trained reader, will email me to inform me and my lucky offspring that these are not in fact clovers at all, but some other common weed. I'm ready.

Until then... Happy St. Patty's Day! You would truly be lucky if your yard had my kids pile into it every day looking for these elusive little buggers!

Fever time

It's time again, that fever time. The kids all know it, the kids all feel it. When I walk with my 1st grade reading groups at school, they are all eager like puppies, leaping and jostling and telling me stories. No more quiet, whispered tales. They sashay, skip, leap the cracks, stay on the white tiles, hug the wall and most importantly - do not ever simply walk to the library. (Unless you are Sam. Reliable, constant, controlled Sam.) I tease them, I call them "Dude!" and I tell them to zip their lips. "Let's all do it together, and this time... make it stick! Zip! Dude, I'm here to r-e-a-d!"
It is impossible. Spring is coming. It is coming out their pores and dribbling from their mouths and most of all wiggling through their entire bodies. They are sincere in every way: Sincerely the Best at Reading. Sincerely the best at Basketball. Sincerely the Most Well-Read. Sincerely the Most Bedecked with Jewelry, and they must convince me at every turn of this ultimate standing. Unless of course, they are not the Best and instead are the Quietest. And to the Quietest, I squeeze small shoulders and whisper sweet praise, for being Quiet is an honor all it's own.
My 1st grader watches all of this hullaballoo. My other 1st grader also watches. One claims her place at my side. The other smirks and claims my hand. It is the only time they do not vie for attention. They own it. These are not siblings to compete with, all is well. My 1st grader has grown 3 and a quarter inches in the past year. I look longingly at the small ones; I look wonderingly at the giant one. True to her nature, she is best friends once again with a small one. Small and bossy goes along with gentle giant. My other girl has chosen a chatty one. The listening one goes along with the chattery one.
All is well.
Balanced.
Yet...Out of whack, because remember?
Spring is coming!
Sing cuckoo!

A Boy and His Reward

There once was a boy

who had a weather curl

right on the side of his forehead.

When he was good, he was very, very good

But when he was bad he was horrid.

(couldn't resist that classic!)

**************************************

The boy would toilet here and there

But most often chose his underwear

The Mommy would plead, then scrape and clean

Promising treats and toys in between

the washing and drying, the scrubbing and spray

The boy made a game of it, most every day

'Til finally, Eureka! 

Success and a cheer!

The boy made his choice

to earn a toy he held dear.

He made his deposit, day after day

Excitedly pleading and ready to play

The Mommy held firm, unsure of her win

She made him prove it, again and again

Then one day, long after the scene of delight

The process was finished, (who knows who won that fight...)

The reward was obtained and presented to the boy

With ceremony, clapping and great sibling joy

I did it! I did it!

He pumped his fist and cheered

And an awesome Buzz Lightyear 

For takeoff was cleared.

(And irony of ironies, Buzz Lightyear says: "Reporting for duty, Ranger!" and the echo we hear: 

"Haha! He said Doody, Ranger!"