Vacation Memories

We are coming to the end of our 2020 vacation. Though it has been a very different experience as a result of the pandemic, it has still been a blessing to be away.

We walked around a lot this year and visited a couple new places to eat. 

Whether we are on Cape Cod or at the Outer Banks, Theo loves the beach. 

I will be back to a more regular blogging schedule next week. Hope you enjoy your weekend.

Mailbox Monday - July 6

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Good morning from the Outer Banks. I hope you had a nice weekend. This is the second week of our vacation. I didn't get to the bookstore in Manteo yet, but I am looking forward to going today. Here are some photos from this past week.

Puzzle time

The Christmas Shop in Manteo

Theo getting ready for the beach

July 4 on the beach in Kill Devil Hills

I should have a book waiting for me in the pile of mail when I get home on Saturday. I also downloaded these two this weekend.

What arrived in your mailbox last week? 

2019 in Review

Another year has come to an end and a new one is just beginning. Is it a sign that I am getting older when the time passes so quickly?

I feel blessed that most of 2019 brought us good things and experiences. The speed bumps along the way make us stronger: the division in our church, the bullying of our daughter, and the challenge of caring for our elderly parents and hoping we make the right choices.

It is because of those obstacles, I often recite Philippians 4:13 to keep me focused: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It seems trite to say God never gives us more than we can handle, but it remains a truth that cannot be ignored. When I fear I can't go on, He lifts me up. As it says in Deuteronomy, It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.

As I reflect on 2019, I hope it has encouraged me to be more grateful and more at peace, and may I learn to find joy in something every day.

Last church bazaar at Living Gate

Visiting the Arizona Memorial

Lost our beloved Killer

Adopted Autumn and...

Travis

The Lil' Diva graduated with honors

Spent three weeks in North Carolina

Acquired and edited this manuscript as acquisitions editor for 4RV Publishing

Held my first workshop on book marketing at the local library

Held my first book reading

Named 2019 RAPV REALTOR of the Year

Cleaned out my office ... and a few other places in this house too

I hope you'll share some of your 2019 highlights. Here's to a fabulous 2020!

Mailbox Monday - Jul 15

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Hard to believe two weeks passed by so quickly. We arrived home Saturday morning. Almost wished we could have stayed another week, but three of us needed to get back to work.

Here are a few shots from our last couple of days in North Carolina.

My crew

Tired out from the beach

Patriotic sand castle

Lil' Diva and Theo with his new hat

The sky Friday night on our way out 

When the mailman delivered our stack of mail, I found this book for review in the pile. This is for a book tour I am hosting. 

That is it from my neck of the woods. Feel free to share some of your new books. Hope you have a great week.

Task it Tuesday - Jul 9

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task It Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

Happy Tuesday from the Outer Banks. Hope you're having a great week. We are enjoying our second week in North Carolina.

The Christmas Shop, Manteo

Top of Jockey's Ridge, Nags Head

Waiting for the fireworks on July 4th

Lil' Diva's boyfriend, Lil' Diva, Neighbor's kid (our third daughter), and Lil' Princess

I'm doing my best not to work much, but I have several deals in the works, so real estate has required some of my time. Hopefully, after today, most things will be wrapped up.

It's important not to forget my to-do list. Here is my list for the week:

• Read Bible daily (almost caught up)
• Blog
• Edit four chapters (two done)
• Read
• Enjoy the last week of vacation

Hope you have a great week.

Mailbox Monday - May 20

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Will someone please tell me how to freeze time--kind of like Mel does on Charmed. Honestly, I can't keep up. Right after I am done with this post, I need to finalize a listing presentation for tomorrow morning. The girls are getting close to the end of the school year, so there are a lot of activities going on. All our eyes are focusing on visiting the Outer Banks again this summer.

In my writing and reading world, I've increased my blogging a bit--not sure how long that will last--and worked to catch up on the reviews I have coming down the line this month and next. This year, I want to bring some books to read "just because I want to" when we travel. Nothing much going on with my middle grade novel. It is sitting around Chapter 21. Need to write one more chapter before the next writing group meeting. I also really want to nail down a couple of agents to submit Clever Tom to before we go away.

Only one new book this week, but it is a good one that was recommended by a trainer.

What was in your mailbox this week? Anything exciting you would like to share?

Heart in the Sand: A Valentine's Day Story by Cheryl C. Malandrinos

Heart in the Sand

by Cheryl C. Malandrinos

I tossed the ragged clam shell into the water and inspected my work. Satisfied, I slogged toward a bamboo mat a few yards away and plopped down. Leaning back on my hands, I tilted my head and breathed in the smell of the Atlantic.

The sun slunk to meet the horizon and cool ocean breezes caressed my cheeks. The Outer Banks of North Carolina always was our favorite spot. It didn’t matter where we stayed--Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head or Kittyhawk--this part of the Atlantic Seaboard begged for a visit at least once a year. 

It seemed fitting to return despite losing him. I fumbled through my beach bag for my journal and pen. I wanted to remember what it felt like to be here without him for the very first time.

August 15, 2010

The ocean is just as beautiful as we remembered. The undulating waves crash down into the sand and wipe away the footprints of young lovers walking hand in hand along the shore. During the day, the sun is a fiery inferno melting us. By eventide, the orange sun is dulled by the majestic purple sky with its slivers of clouds, and a slight fog comes off the water. The seagulls screech all day as if they hadn’t stuffed their bills with unsuspecting ocean creatures and crumbs of bread tossed by tourists.

Do you remember how many young families we saw last year? Was it fifty? Looks like it doubled. What a difference a year makes. Who am I kidding? Sometimes even a few months makes a difference. 

I wish I knew you were going to leave me that day. There are so many things I hoped to say before we parted. I love you would be the first. I feel lucky to be your wife might be next. Thank you for filling my life with joy and happiness. Thanks for sticking by me when times were rough. 

We raised three wonderful kids. They are a living testament to the love we share. They are adjusting to you being gone, but they worry about me too much. Did you know they actually forbade me to come this year? Who did they think they were talking to? As soon as they told me not to go, I jumped online and bought the plane ticket. Someone once told me that my head was so hard it could crack a diamond. I'm sure that wasn't you. They have called every day since I arrived to tell me how inconsiderate I am. Is it bad that I chuckle a bit inside? 

Maybe I should say it was so much fun seeing you as a Papou. The little ones loved their Yia-Yia, but they adored you. You always had a special way with kids. Remember when five-year-old Janie got sick all over the carpet in the wee hours of the morning? You changed her and rocked her until she drifted off to sleep. I wish they had more time with you. 

I could go on and on, but you know you were my world for forty years. I'll cherish our time together until we see one another again.  

When you told me you rented the big house in Nags Head with the wall of windows looking out over the ocean, I almost fainted. We never spent that much money on a rental before. It was the second best Valentine’s Day gift I ever got. Your love will always be the first. Each morning I step out the back door and our beautiful Atlantic is only fifty feet away. I wish you were here to share it with me. It isn’t the same without you, but I felt I owed it to you to come.

I never was much of an artist, and my sand castles still collapse, but I etched this heart in the sand to let you know I think of you every day. I hope you can see it as you look down from heaven. I miss you.

All my love,

Vivian

Copyright Cheryl C. Malandrinos - All Rights Reserved.

Mailbox Monday - July 16

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists.

Happy Monday! I hope you had a lovely week. Here are some photos from our recent trip to the Outer Banks.

Our first visit to Miller's Waterfront Restaurant this trip. One of my favorites and views are awesome.

My favorite store - The Christmas Shop & General Store in Manteo

Listening to the 208th Army Band on the waterfront before the fireworks on July 4.

Tropical Storm Chris made it dangerous to swim the second week. 

The new bridge (to the right) they are building on Route 12 to Hatteras.

On the ferry to Ocracoke. 

Hanging out in Corolla.

Theo liked the beach in the evenings.

Big Bucks in downtown Manteo. Great ice cream!

The ride home on Saturday.

I managed to get a fair amount of reading done. Most of my reviews have been posted at The Book Connection. While we were away, I received a book that is for a book tour running in August and September.

In the novella, Appointment in Prague, one woman, a British secret agent, sets out in May 1942 to single-handedly send to hell the most evil Nazi alive—SS General Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the SD, the domestic and foreign counter-intelligence wing of the SS; second in rank only to the head of the SS himself, Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler; and the architect of “The Final Solution” that will send millions of European Jews to their doom.

When British Prime Minister Winston Churchill authorizes the SOE—the ‘Special Operations Executive’— in October 1941 to assassinate Heydrich, he is unaware that the entire operation has been conceived and is being run by his Scottish goddaughter, the former Pulitzer Prize-winning Hearst photojournalist Mattie McGary. The SOE is Churchill’s own creation, one he informally describes as the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and, at his suggestion, Mattie becomes one of its Deputy Directors.

Mattie has a history with Heydrich dating back to 1933 and a personal score to settle. In September 1941, when the man known variously as ‘The Blond Beast’ and ‘The Man With the Iron Heart’—that last coming from Adolf Hitler himself—is appointed Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia, the remnants left of Czechoslovakia after the Germans had dismembered it in 1939, Mattie is determined—now that he is no longer safely within Germany’s borders—to have him killed. She recruits and trains several Czech partisans for the task and has them parachuted into Czechoslovakia in December 1941.

An increasingly impatient Mattie waits in London for word that her agents have killed the Blond Beast. By May 1942, Heydrich still lives and Mattie is furious. The mother of six-year-old twins, Mattie decides—without telling her godfather or her American husband, the #2 man in the London office of the OSS—to parachute into Czechoslovakia herself and “light a fire under their timid Czech bums”. Which she does, but her agents botch the job and Heydrich is only wounded in the attempt. The doctors sent from Berlin to care for him believe he will recover.

On the fly, Mattie conceives a new plan to kill Heydrich herself. With forged papers and other help from the highest-placed SOE asset in Nazi Germany—a former lover—Mattie determines to covertly enter Prague’s Bulovka Hospital and finish the job. After that, all she has to do is flee Prague into Germany and from there to neutral Switzerland. What Mattie doesn’t know is that Walter Schellenberg, Heydrich’s protégé and the head of Foreign Intelligence for the SD, is watching her every move.

What was in your mailbox?