As we bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, the upcoming year, 2024, holds the promise of a fresh start—a canvas waiting for us to paint our stories of growth, joy, and, hopefully, positive change.
In the spirit of moving forward and embracing the opportunities that lie ahead, let's explore some simple yet powerful ways we can make 2024 a year of kindness, tolerance, and authenticity.
Guidance for a Better Year Ahead
1. Spread Love Like Confetti
Imagine a world where love is the language we all speak. In the new year, let's make a conscious effort to spread love wherever we go. Whether it's a smile to a stranger, a kind word to a friend, or a small act of generosity, the ripple effect of love can create a chain reaction of positivity.
2. Practice Random Acts of Kindness
Kindness doesn't always require grand gestures; sometimes, the little things make the most significant impact. Consider doing random acts of kindness, like paying for someone's coffee, leaving an uplifting note, or offering a helping hand to those in need. These small acts can create a brighter, more compassionate world.
3. Cultivate Tolerance and Understanding
Tolerance is a cornerstone of harmonious living in a diverse and interconnected world. Let's make a commitment to embrace and celebrate our differences. Engage in conversations that promote understanding, listen actively, and seek common ground. By fostering tolerance, we build bridges that connect us rather than walls that divide.
4. Nurture Authentic Connections
In the age of social media, authenticity can sometimes take a backseat. This year, let's prioritize genuine connections. Be true to yourself, share your stories, and listen to others without judgment. Authenticity fosters a sense of trust and understanding, paving the way for meaningful relationships.
5. Celebrate Diversity
Our world is a tapestry of cultures, beliefs, and perspectives. Instead of focusing on our differences, let's celebrate the rich tapestry of diversity that makes life vibrant and interesting. Engage with people from various backgrounds, learn about their traditions, and find common ground that unites us all.
6. Practice Gratitude Daily
Gratitude has the power to transform our outlook on life. Take a moment each day to reflect on the things you're grateful for. It could be the warmth of the sun, the company of loved ones, or the simple joys of everyday life. Cultivating gratitude can bring a sense of contentment and positivity.
7. Set Authentic Goals
As you embark on the journey of a new year, set goals that align with your true self. Choose goals that resonate with your values, whether personal development, career aspirations, or health and well-being. Authentic goals are more likely to inspire and motivate you throughout the year.
As we enter 2024, let's carry the spirit of kindness, tolerance, and authenticity into a world trying to pull people apart.
By making conscious choices to spread love, celebrate diversity, and cultivate genuine connections, we can create a world that reflects the best in all of us. Here's to a new year filled with positivity, growth, and the beauty of authentic living.
Have a Happy New Year, Where Love Wins <3
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Admittedly, I am not much of a cake eater, preferring pies & puddings to any cake-like dessert. With one exception – the whipped cream cakes that a Rochester, New York department store my dad worked for used to feature in their bakery. They also made an eclair filled with real whipped cream that was to die for! But I digress!
Chantilly Cake
After dozens of years, I have finally found a cake every bit as good as that department store's whipped cream cake. It's called a Chantilly Cake and is exclusively found in the Whole Foods Markets throughout the countries of the United States, Canada, and the U.K.
The reason Whole Foods features this Chantilly cake is it was created for Whole Foods by Chaya Conrad when she was working in one of their New Orleans stores in 2005. Chaya now runs the popular Bywater Bakery in New Orleans.
Chantilly Cake ~ sometimes called Berry Chantilly Cake ~ is composed of white sponge layers with berries and sweetened whipped cream. The cake's name comes from Chantilly cream, which is a French term for sweetened whipped cream flavored with vanilla or liqueur. For the frosting, a combination of whipped mascarpone and cream cheese is used, with berries such as raspberries, strawberries and blueberries folded in and placed on top.
Chantilly Cake Recipe to Make Your Own Homemade Delight
There are several recipes online for making Chantilly Cake from scratch. My favorite is on the Preppy Kitchen website (PreppyKitchen.com), a blog filled with kitchen creations by John Kanell. John describes himself as a husband, dad to twin boys and an avid baker and cooker of all things delicious. John lives in Los Angeles.
Personal Reflections of Chantilly Cake
My first introduction to Chantilly Cake from Whole Foods was a year and a half ago at a birthday celebration for one of my grandsons. Since it is my son's favorite cake, it is frequently served at most of the family celebrations, as you can see below.
Summary
Once you have tasted a Chantilly Cake, you will wish to have it often. There is nothing like a whipped cream cake, especially one filled with fresh berries. The sweetness of the whipped cream/cream cheese/mascarpone frosting, combined with the tartness of the fresh berries, is an unbelievably delicious taste treat. Why not give Chantilly Cake a try for your New Year's Eve celebration?
Happy New Year!
Happy Eating!
For more Food Reviews on Review This Reviews, click here
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I love it when a book makes me laugh! In "A Suitable Arrangement", Martha Keyes created the
characters with wit, sass and just enough spunk to really bring them to
life. They seemed to step right out of the pages of the book to share
their thoughts, conversations and actions in my presence.
I really liked Juliana Godfrey. She held her head high and dared
anyone to challenge her simply because she was not born into nobility.
I especially liked the way she handled the head housekeeper who was
constantly reminding her that she was not worthy of the title
"countess". I could almost hear the housekeeper's fit of temper when
she discovered her sleeping in an "important" place one
morning.
I also liked the way Juliana defended the injured one who she thought was
being bullied by his sibling. She did not hesitate to take action and
stand in his stead.
Juliana respected the unique cultures and practices of the brothers of
Lochlarren Castle, but after a while, she did suspect they might not be
authentic. I must admit, horse races in the castle would be rather
funny, but a bit hard to believe it to be a normal activity. Still, she was willing
to rise to the challenge.
Synopsis of A Suitable Arrangement Castles & Courtship Historical Fiction Series
Juliana Godfrey was very practical. Her mother had died when she was
young and her father worked hard to provide for them. His hard work
paid off! As a wealthy merchant, he was able to provide Juliana with a
hefty dowry which would purchase her a place in society. The right
marriage could open more doors for her father and his business, in addition
to giving her a title which would require acceptance into the
aristocracy.
A marriage to a Scottish Earl that needed money was a suitable arrangement
for Juliana. At least she thought it was until she arrived at his
castle and was not well received. Clearly, it would take a get deal of
the fortitude she learned as a child to survive the Highland Scots.
She was determined to adjust and embrace their culture.
______
As his father was dying, Sandy Duncan learned more about the deep debt he
was inheriting as the new Earl of Lismore. He also found out that he
was no longer considered an acceptable suitor for the woman he had always
thought he would marry. Even though the family liked him, once her
father discovered he could not bring money to the marriage, he was informed
that he would not be considered, even if he did bear a
title.
Sandy is also informed that his father has made a marriage arrangement for
him that would provide the money Lochlarren Castle, and it's dependents, required. Sandy's days of
freedom ended with his father's death. He now had to shoulder the full
weight of the Earldom.
When his bride-to-be arrived at the castle 2 days late, he was in no mood
to greet her with a hardy welcome. Neither he, nor his brothers or
household, stepped outside of the castle to give her a proper welcome.
This lack of courtesy set the tone for the minutes, days and weeks that
followed.
_______
When an earl needs money to pay ancestral debts, restore his castle and
care for family & staff, he marries for wealth instead of equality.
However, Sandy Duncan, Earl of Lismore, has met his match!
My Recommendation
The humor in this book gave a wonderful balance to the antagonism between the characters. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.
Books by Martha Keyes Previously Reviewed on ReviewThisReviews.com
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I consider every year to be part of my photography journey, where I learn some new techniques, enjoy new photographic opportunities, and hopefully increase my knowledge and skills. 2023 was no exception. During the past year, I got out of my comfort zone and photographed four big events, I attended a photoshop summit where I learned a lot of new techniques and I even went back and reedited some old photos using what I have learned in the past 17 years since I started this journey. The photo above is one of my past photos taken in 2010 and reedited this year.
Education
I always try to take a class each year either in person or online. There are so many available, along with many You- tube instructional videos. This year I listened to many free videos I found online and this fall I attended a Photoshop Summit online that had five days full of speakers all instructing us on various aspects of Photoshop. They were very interesting and informative. One of the subjects I found most interesting was about the new "generative fill" feature in Photoshop. By just circling an area in a photo, you can remove an item or add something new. Here is an example of a Halloween photo where I used this feature. The first photo is my original photo.
In the next photo you will see that I first used generative fill to remove the mailbox and then added several additional items to the photo. See if you can find all the additions.
I also used what I learned in the seminars to redo some older photos. In this one the original photo had lots of people on the sidewalk leading to the lighthouse. I used generative fill to remove them.
Special Events
Sometimes I find I learn more when I take myself out of my comfort zone. This year I was asked to photograph four major events. Two of them were weddings of family members and two were events at church.
Both of the weddings were casual. The first was held completely outdoors at my brother's home and the second was held at a small historic chapel with the reception being an outdoor event. I was a little apprehensive at first, but the casual settings helped to put me at ease. I carried two different cameras each with a different type of lens and settings and I was pretty pleased with the results. Here is a photo from each of the weddings.
The church events included the ordination of our newest pastor and a 20 year celebration of our senior pastor. For these occasions I sat in the balcony and was able to photograph the ceremonies from above. I used my camera that is a Sony mirrorless one that does great with lower light and inside photos without using a flash. Here are two photos from those events.
Group Support
I find photography groups to be a great way to meet people with similar interests and share ideas. I belong to two different groups; one Create 52 is an online Facebook group and the second is an in-person photography club in our town.
Create 52
This online group challenges us to be creative in both our photography and in our post processing. We are given a topic each week and then we create a photograph to match the topic. An example of this is during the week before Christmas our topic was Christmas card. For this topic, I took a photo of our Christmas tree and then took it into Photoshop. In Photoshop, I added an artist filter and placed it on a textured background. I then added lettering and finally used generative fill to add stars around the lettering. Here is my result.
O'Fallon Photo Club
Our in-person photography club meets once a month. In this group we share ideas with other photographers, and we also bring photo files to get constructive criticism. We share ideas for places to go for photography and we take a few field trips each year. At the end of each meeting, we are given a topic for the month, and we post photos of that topic in the clubs Facebook page. This fall several of the club members met at our local botanical gardens on an evening photographer's night, where we were able to bring in our tripods and capture some low light photography. There was a Chihuly exhibit going on at the gardens so there were lots of great opportunities for nighttime photography. Here are a couple of photos I took.
Mentoring
I volunteer with a group called Willows Way that provides support for challenged adults. This group has a photography club and I serve as one of the mentors for the group. Each month we take several of the participants and their aids to a different locale to photograph. We have gone to local parks, museums, and farmers markets. I love to work with these wonderful people and find I get as much from them as I give. It is a wonderful opportunity. This summer we went to a farmers market that also had a sunflower field. We talked about unique ways to capture the sunflowers. Here are two of my photos.
As I close, I Wish You and Yours a Very Happy New Year. May your year be filled with joy and peace and lots of new things to learn.
Here are a couple of my favorite photos this past year.
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
The Taverner's Son is a well written deeply moving novel that has a beautiful story line that everyone can really sink their teeth into. Family secrets, tragedy and a small village help to make this book a real page turner. I love the characters and each one of their with own "quirks".
What family doesn't have some sadness and misunderstandings that get in the way of family connections? I don't think there is one family out there who can't relate in some way.
So it is with Will Kendrick. He has lived most of his adult life away from the small town that was his home. Misunderstandings and pride make it difficult to get through to the part where we still love each other. And sometimes it's too late to do anything about it!
Will gets a phone call letting him know that his father has passed away. Living on the west coast for many years, Will had not given his father too much thought. Now he is in shock and trying desperately to make sense of it all, realizing that there is no more time left.
Will makes the plans to return to the little fishing village of Apalachicola. First he had to make his way from California to Tallahassee and then drive from there to what had been his home. As he drives the roads back to his "home" memories come flooding back to him.
Of course there are the people of the town whom he had known growing up and many that had left the small town for bigger and better opportunities. But there was also one of his oldest and dearest friends from his childhood who remained. Jess, his long time friend from grade school, who had always been there during his childhood, made her life in the small town of Apalachicola.
Will is making his way around town and sees the tavern where he spent many days helping his father. Homework was done on one of the small tables in the back. Penny, the cook and keeper of the kitchen took Will under her wings when Will's mother had died. Will was only 3 years old when his mother died. Penny and her husband were the imaginary parents that Will wanted. His father had become distant and depressed, withdrawn from his son and anything that reminded him of his beloved wife. Will was the spitting image of his mother. So that made things even harder for Will's father. And now Will is standing in the Tavern that now belongs to him.
Will has a lot to learn about the father he didn't know so well and more about his mother too. When you lose your mom at 3 years of age, you really don't know too much about her. As you get into the book, the story takes on a life of it's own and you will be hard pressed to put the book down. So many questions that Will has and so few answers, yet, there is something going on that doesn't make sense.
I don't want to give too much of the story away, but, I would encourage you to pick this book up. It really is a riveting story of family, family secrets and how they impact the people who are being "saved from the truth". This book is masterfully written, a love story with twists and turns that you will not see coming. It is a page turner that you won't want to put down.
I received this book from VoraciousReadersOnly with the promise of sharing a review. It was my pleasure to read this book and review it for you here.
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
I hope you all had a wonderful, Peaceful Christmas.
Now feels like the time for me to start the gardening year. At first the
feeling is slow, almost imperceptible, but its there and each day the days are getting just that little bit longer and the
prospect of getting out there more appealing.
The shortest day in terms of daylight hours where I live is over
and despite the cold weather and seemingly bleak outlook, if you listen and
look carefully you can feel nature starting to wake up.
Now is the day if I am home, that I venture out into the
garden. During most of December I rarely go into the garden, we have heavy, wet
clay soil and when rainy it only gets muddy and then compacted if I tread
on it. In freezing weather it really is hard like a stone. I can do a lot
more harm than good gardening at this time in our
garden. So generally for most of December the garden and I have a break from each
other.
However today I look and listen and I can feel my soul wanting to
reconnect with the garden. There is often not too much to look at now and all the winter jobs are
done. However, as I gaze around I look for tiny signs of growth and appreciate the bones of the garden.
The evergreens that are always there, are so reliable, so constant and
without the distraction of colour and flowers, they come into their own
right now.
Holly Types And Growing Needs
The best at this time of year is the Holly. Although Holly can be
deciduous, we grow only the evergreen type. The Holly tree is a symbol of
winter and festivity and many of us cut and bring in Holly branches to decorate our homes in
winter.
The holly tree,common Holly, or to give it is rather pretty Latin name Ilex aquifolium, is an evergreen shrub or tree that can potentially
grow up to around 15 meters plus or about 50 feet tall though you can prune to
keep it more manageable.
There are also many smaller varieties reaching up to half that size such
as Ilex aquifolium 'Silver Mermaid' 6m x 4m (approx 20 x 13 feet) or
even smaller sizes suitable for a pot like Ilex aquifolium
'Hascombensis' 2.5m x 1.5m (approx 8 x 5 feet). These are more suitable
for a small garden or if you simply want a smaller tree with less
maintenance. Some even have lovely variagated leaves such as Ilex x
altaclerensis 'Golden King' 6m x 3m (approx 20 x 10 feet), which is a female
variety and does produce red berries.
Holly Berries can be colours mostly from red to yellow and orange on
different varieties. A Holly Plant is generally either male or female so to get those beautiful
berries you will need a female tree with male tree nearby. However
some of the male varieties even though there are no berries, have really
gorgeous leaves and habits and are worth growing.
Holly is grown in gardens both domestic and stately, woodland and hedgerows
mainly. It can be a specimum plant glorious on its own or grown as part of a pretty
inpenetrable spiky hedge which is excellent for security. We grow it alone
and as part of our mixed hedge. It is also found in the wild where the
common Holly can grow very tall and wide indeed if unchecked.
Holly is beautiful with often very dark green, glossy, and usually very
spiky sometimes variagated leaves. It can have small white flowers in Spring, though most will not be grown
for the flowers. The main feature of the female Holly is the beautiful berries that really brighten up the day and look spectacular against the dark
green leaves.
It prefers to grow in a sunny or semi shade position on moist but well
drained soil. It is not fussy about soil being happy in loam, chalk, sand or
clay and acid, neutral or alkaline soil type. It can cope well in an exposed
site or a sheltered position and is content to face any way except
north.
I have only space to mention a few varieties of Holly here. If you want
Holly in your own garden there are so many varieties offering different
sizes and features it is best to research what is suitable for your garden
and needs.
Uses Of The Holly Tree
The Holly tree is a very valuable tree for its many uses.
As the wood is hard, heavy, and fine-grained, it is good for making
furniture, carving, and inlay work. Leaves and berries are wonderful for
crafting projects whether it is using real Holly or artificial
Holly.
It can be used for Christmas or New year decorations including wreaths, and table centre
pieces or a winter display to brighten up a dull corner.
At a time when flowers are rare in the garden and expensive to buy, a
display of Holly in a vase is a beautiful alternative through out
winter.
Holly For Nature
For nature Holly is an extremely valuable tree. The spiky leaves provide
safe shelter all year round and nesting sites.
The Winter time berries are food for birds and small mammals and
the flowers in Spring attract bees and pollinators.
Even its roots help to stabilise the soil and prevent erosion.
Holly In Mythology and Symbolism
The Holly tree has a rich history of mythology and symbolism.
For many of us Holly is a part of the Holiday festivities bringing in
boughs of Holly real or artificial for home decor and is a symbol of
joy. When we bring in Holly into our homes it is also supposed to
protect from evil spirits and lightning, and to bring prosperity and good luck!
Holly has associations with the sun god and the winter solstice, and was considered a sacred plant by the Druids, Romans, and
Celts. It was believed to have magical powers, such as healing,
protection, and fertility. It was also a symbol of peace, joy and goodwill, and was used to
make crowns and gifts.
The Holly was adopted by Christianity, as a symbol of Christ's birth, death, and resurrection with the crown of thorns
representing blood and eternal life.
We even have songs about Holly such as "The Holly And The Ivy", perfectly
performed here by Kings College, Cambridge UK.
So the holly tree is a stunning plant in nature and in our gardens that has
history, mythology and many benefits for us and wildlife.
To step outside into the garden on a crisp cold day in the midst of
winter or wrap up and enjoy a winter walk and see a glorious Holly tree
covered in gorgeous berries is a highlight of the season and one I always
look forward to.
