Back in July, Sandra Byrd‘s rich new novel Heirlooms released into the world. I told you about it in this blog, but due to my flurry of summer pics in that same post, some of you missed it.

This tender story has a permanent spot on my bookshelf, and I’d like to mail you a copy for yours! To enter this week’s GIVEAWAY, drop me a note through the contact page link above, or HERE. I’ll announce the winner in next Saturday’s letter to you.

Here’s what I wrote.

If you’re looking for more PNW summer, Sandra Byrd’s new novel Heirlooms will take you to Whidbey Island (also in Washington State)—and another country farm. In its pages you’ll enter a story of intergenerational and cross-cultural friendships as lovely as any I’ve read.

Here’s the gist:

Two Navy widows—one of Korean lineage—find solace in each other after their husbands’ deaths. Estranged from their mothers, the two become family-of-heart. Those women have passed when their granddaughters follow attic clues to sleuth the details of their shared histories—and honor the legacies of their remarkable grandmothers.

I hope you enjoy it. This story is so rich and warm-hearted, you’ll be weeping by its conclusion.
I was.

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Thin Moment -TB 2019

“Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down!”

—Psalm 144:5a

First thing.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light on my path.”

—Psalm 119:105

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Ever been here? See any CRAYFISH?

Introduced into Crater Lake to feed fish (also introduced) in the early 1900s, crayfish have multiplied like . . . well . . . crayfish, and are displacing the native salamander.

Wizard Island in the Crater Lake caldera.

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Pluots.

On our Crater Lake trip, THESE . . . along the Columbia River, in orchard full of this plum/apricot cross. Sweet, sweet, sweet.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

—Galatians 5:22-23

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Thanks for stopping by, friends. So glad you’re here.

Watching Nature, Seeing Life: Through His Creation, God Speaks.