About renewal

Frosty fall morning

I will probably never leave Indiana--for long. We may find a warmer place we can both live with to spend a few winter months, and I am perfectly willing to travel at least a dozen times a year (Duane thinks that's eleven and a half too many), but when it comes down to it, my home is always going to be a place with four sharply defined seasons. It wouldn't have to be Indiana, but hey, we're here. 

The reasons I want these changes is because, at the risk of sounding hopelessly sappy (even though I am hopelessly sappy), it is because seasonal change also means renewal. This is easy to understand in the spring, when everything actually is renewed, not so easy the rest of the year. 

It has to do with things like wearing a different wardrobe, even if you're only hauling it out of the back of the closet. It has to do with sensory gifts. Been to an orchard lately? They are one of autumn's most splendid offerings, and they are new every year. They may be the same as last year's at this same time, but they feel new. Making and eating soup brings a special kind of comfort.

Even winter does that. It must be admitted that I'm not fan of wind and I'd just as soon never again drive on ice, but it must also be admitted that I like snow, at least until after Christmas. It is a time of jigsaw puzzles and board games and drinking wine and laughing hard with friends and family because it's warm and cozy inside.

Summer is summer and I love it, although excessive heat is not my friend, and if it were summer all the time, I wouldn't love it anymore. I have always said I won't buy expensive furniture or clothing because the truth is I don't want it to last forever--I get bored with it and want change. New colors and textures. 

And there it is--there is the biggest thing about the seasons. They offer those new colors, textures, scents, and tastes. They awaken things inside of you that have gone dormant. They renew you.

And now, for a nifty little segue, here's my Christmas book--one of the 12 Days of Heartwarming Christmas. Our stories are full-length (albeit short) this year, and the seasonal return to Christmas Town, Maine is as much fun as it always is. I hope you join us there. If you want your books in print, wait a week or two--they're not quite there yet, but they will be soon and oh, wouldn't they make great gifts? (So would Nan's A Small Town Christmas--that cover is gorgeous.)

Here's the blurb and buy links. Thank you so much for coming by today. It's a new day and I'm still finding my bearings. 

In THE DARK HORSE, widowed Chloe Brewton has made a life for herself in Christmas Town, Maine, teaching literature and being the drama coach at the high school. Although she’d loved her husband and their life in the army, she doesn’t really want to start over with someone else, but when she meets Major Row Welcome, in Christmas Town to spend the holiday month with relatives and decide about his future, she feels stirrings of old wishes for happily-ever-after.

The attraction is mutual, although the last thing Row wants is to try marriage again, plus he’s about as interested in having a family as…well, he isn’t. 

But then there’s Connor Michaud and his three younger siblings. Oh, no. What now in Christmas Town?

Buy links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FFN41ZD

B & N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dark-horse-liz-flaherty/1129076892?ean=2940162061731

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-dark-horse/id1411802325?mt=11

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-dark-horse-16

Oops, I should have offered this up earlier, but...if you want a free introduction to this year's Christmas Town collection, A Christmas Carousel Proposal is free from Christmas Town's web page. It's only 99 cents everywhere else, but...you know, free's better.