Theological Viewpoint

Churches can be very nice, but they are not sacred unto themselves. A church is a meeting place, not where God's lives.  God does not dwell therein or thereon. God is uncontained.  God is everywhere. Thus no place or site is any more sacred than any other.

All places are sacred.

Mysteries and Romances

Mysteries and romances are alike in that the protagonists in both genres have to uncover secrets and defeat evil-doers.  But they differ in the way the stories are told.  In mysteries, the beginning of the book--where all the questions are asked--and the end of the book--where all the questions are answered--are vital. In romances, the beginning of the book--where the main characters are introduced--and the middle of the story--which documents the characters' journey--are most important.  The end is obvious.
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Fiorella used to read mysteries, but now she reads romances because then she isn't tempted to flip to the last chapter right off the bat.

HAPPY BD, SON!

Today is Minnesota Son's birthday, and, for the first time in years, Husband and Fio will be able to celebrate it with him.  Yes, Son and his lovely wife are in Texas right now.

The nuclear family got together last Sunday for a pre-birthday celebration at Longhorn Steakhouse in Georgetown.  Then yesterday, Son and his wife, Fio and Husband met with part of the extended family at Frisco in Austin.  And today Fio and Husband will again have most of the nuclear family together, this time for cake and ice cream.

Yeah, birthdays are a big deal in Fiorella's world.

Unclean

Now that Ebola is loose in the United States, how can we protect ourselves?  Maybe we should seal off Dallas,  But, no, already people who had contact with that Liberian guy have traveled to other cities in the state.  Well, how about sealing off Texas, something Rick Perry has been trying to do for years?  Won't work--people who were on the same plane as the guy, but traveling to other states, have already landed.

In fact, some of those passengers may have been heading to other countries too. Let's face it, Ebola is worldwide now.  It's a new form of plague.

God help us.

The Ceremonies of Morning

Fiorella has her habits.

She rises at approximately eight in the morning, uses the bathroom, brushes her teeth, applies deodorant, smears on sunscreen, fixes her hair and inserts her earrings, gets dressed, makes the bed, looks around for what else needs to be done, then walks downstairs to put on lipstick, check out Google news to find out what's been going on in the world, skim Facebook and email, and read the newspaper and work out the anagrams.  After that, she raises the blinds to let in morning, takes Sonia Dog for a double walk around the driveway, and eats breakfast.

Now she's armed and ready for the day.

Refill

Fiorella has discovered an old friend--reading.  She's often said that she's spent half of her life reading, and now she's pouring it all back out in her books, but somewhere along the line, she got depleted.

Time to stoke the coals again.  Yes, right now Fio's devouring every book, romance or not, that she can get her hands on because she needs to feed the fire.

Happy Dance

Fiorella is dancing, Fiorella is singing, Fiorella is walking on air!  Her cardiologist's nurse read the book and loves it!  In fact, she said she couldn't put it down, that Fio had her from the first "Hello," and she read it straight through!

Fio needed that reassurance because she has no earthly idea whether WHAT THE HEART WANTS is selling or not.  There's probably a way to get that information, but Fiorella wants to dwell in possibility (a fairer house than prose) for a while longer. Besides, she doesn't know of anything further she could do to promote the book.  At some point, it's got to develop its own legs.

And Fio hopes those legs can travel.