Getting ready for writer’s retreat in Jaco
As the snow of the last few weeks thaws and we traditionally celebrate Christmas Day II, that is the Feast of Saint Stephan, my thoughts turn to Costa Rica.
The orchid collection on my studio windowsill will bloom any minute. I am looking forward to taking pictures of orchids in the rain forests of Costa Rica.
Follow me on EW Emma’s Writings as I prepare for my upcoming writer’s retreat in
Source: Visit Jaco, Costa Rica
Czech Christmas at the Palas
Note: This account of Czech Christmas contains excerpts from my memoir “Greenwich Meridian” © about the family immigration saga from former Czechoslovakia to the USA dedicated to my mother Ella.
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Lowell, MI – I carefully set my foot on the American soil for the second time on Dec. 22, 1989 at the frozen John F. Kennedy airport in NYC. I had two children by my side: daughter Emma, 10 and son Jake, 2.5.
With a shaking hand, I signed off on the US resident’s green card long before (Transportation Security Agency) TSA came into existence.
The night had already set in on the city with its million lights and bridges.
Before we headed out west like the early settlers, we stayed overnight at my parents friends’ house for some respite from the travel across the Atlantic.
In the meantime, my husband Ludek was waiting for us in Montreal, Quebec. He received immigration visa to Canada, while I received mine to the USA.
After two days on the road in a frosted car on the deserted turnpike, we arrived at our destination: the college town of Big Rapids in Northern Michigan on Christmas Eve.
Mom Ella had already prepared everything ahead of time as we picked up brother Vas in Roger’s Heights for my first Christmas.
Later, in the early years around holiday time, I would drive to the Gerald Ford International Airport in Kentwood and nostalgically dream about hometown Christmas in Czechoslovakia with all its magic under the chestnut trees. That meant treasures bought at the Zlin Christmas market. I brought a piece of that Christmas magic with me to the new country in 1989. This included the hand-crochet yellow doilies for afternoon high tea and tablecloths made by ladies from Slovakia.
Whenever I get homesick, and I still do, I pull these treasures out of their drawers at our Pala homestead in Lowell. I try not to use them so I can preserve them forever. I usually have a story attached to whatever I keep, and my adult children and friends can attest to that.
I think of that time long ago at the market under the chestnut trees. It must have been that first bronze shopping weekend in Advent when I walked past the booths with silver and golden coated mistletoe all piled up into these pyramids.
I was immediately drawn to a lady dressed in a folk costume called “kroje.” She was always there also on Saturdays throughout the year. I wish I had asked for her name.
“I am looking for a Christmas present for my mother,” I said.
“What does she like?”
That made me think; what does my mother like? Do I know her?
I picked up the yellow hand crochet doilies set and admired the craftsmanship that would become lost art. I looked up at the woman with an old wrinkly face from the sun in the Slovakian highlands.
“How much are they?”
“Your mother is going to love them,” she smiled as she held up the biggest met for the coffee table.
I was a student at the time, and I didn’t have a lot of money.
I remember exactly, they were 220 Czech crowns which was a lot of money for anyone to pay for a fancy fragile cloth.
“I’ll take them,” the lady wrapped them in a brown paper.
At our Southern Slopes apartment, I hid them in a closet. The Sunday after we came home from church, my mom made festive dinner and we sat down for desserts in the living room. We reserved Sunday afternoons for guests. Mom, like most women in the old republic, always baked for the weekends, not just around Christmas.
“You’re such a bake nut,” aunt Anna always laughed at mom because she was jealous.
I noticed the old worn-out coffee table met.
“Mom, I got something for you,” I said.
“Why? What is it?” she asked.
I came back and gave her the Christmas gift wrapped in brown paper three weeks early.
“That’s beautiful, but why?” she pursued. “It’s not Christmas yet.”
“Because I can’t wait for you to have it,” I said smiling. “I would die waiting. Please, please take it.”
That little episode still brings a smile to my face. Mom Ella knew how much I loved that set. When she moved permanently to the USA to join my father Vaclav in 1980, she left the yellow doilies set at home.
“Mom, you forgot your yellow tea crochet set,” I said in a phone call months later.
“I know, I left them for you.”
Merry Christmas 2016 and a sincere thank you to all my followers.
May peace prevail on Earth.
Czech Christmas to be continued……….Excerpts from the “Greenwich Meridian” © 2016-2017
Copyright © 2016 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
Let the light shine from within us in this holiday season.
Wednesday, December 21 Of Advent Zephaniah 3:14-18 Luke 1:39-45 What are those gifts that you want for Christmas? The older I get the greatest gifts I want is to be with family and friends…
Source: Joy in the light of Christ
The light shines from within us.
Wednesday, December 21
Of Advent
Zephaniah 3:14-18
Luke 1:39-45
What are those gifts that you want for Christmas? The older I get the greatest gifts I want is to be with family and friends. Our readings today speak about the importance of relationships.
In our first reading, the prophet Zephaniah tells the people, the greatest gift is that the Lord God is in their midst, and he is filled with great joy. We should always remember that God does desire to be with us! This should be our great joy!
In our Gospel, Mary is a pure gift to her older cousin Elizabeth who is pregnant. Mary goes in great haste, meaning she goes quickly, across the hill country to be with her cousin. Mary would have traveled about 90 miles, traveling by donkey, and making 9 to 10 miles a day. The terrain would have been…
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I could not have expressed “Fishing” better. I’ll pursue “Fishing for Life” just like Christ apostles were “fishers of life.” I’ve always like that.
Thank you Emotions that matter for inspiration.
Fishing for something blue,
Fishing for the ultimate clue,
Fishing for compliments, around,
Fishing for opportunities home bound,
Fishing for adventure and spice,
Fishing for something nice…
P.S. This is my response to today’sdaily prompt
This post is in response to the Daily Post Friday prompt Anticipation.
So, Santa. We’ve been waiting and waiting for you to come down our chimney. We’ve swept and cleaned, and baked and shopped.
We’ve been good in our own way. You know, the kiddie way you love. We wrote letters to you to the North Pole @NorthPole, and you never responded. Your elves told us that you were too busy making gifts.
I Josephine Marie Palova of Hastings have been named the person of the family for 2016.
I asked grandpa Ludek why?
“Because you didn’t bug me,” he said. “You left me alone.”
I Ella Chavent of Fixin, France was also picked for this 2016 Anticipation series even after I told grandma Em that she annoys me.
Why was I picked?
“Because you made your first stay with us in the USA this summer very special and we anticipate another one,” Ludek said.
Dear Santa, we all believe you will come.
We anticipate Your coming.
Do you believe and tell us why?
Copyright (c) 2016 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
I am very proud to be a part of the global WordPress community. Stay tuned for my 2016 Year in Review of emmapalova.com. What a journey it has been.
It’s been a year of highs and lows, but one thing is certain: all of us at WordPress.com’s parent company Automattic are proud of what this community has accomplished in the past year. Your work is supported by a company of more than 500 people in over 50 countries, dedicated to democratizing publishing. We hope we’ve helped to bring your ideas, your creativity, and your businesses to life on the web.
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Annie plans to blog for 1001 days
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Lowell, MI- It is Day 395 of the 30 Day Content Challenge that officially ended last year in December.
But, Annie Conboy of Hebden Bridge, United Kingdom is still burning the midnight oil as she cranks out post #395, “Dreaming of a Peaceful World.”
Conboy is a medium and the founder of “Down 2 Earth Medium.” Her major focus is to channel for energy beings, such as angels, archangels and fairies.
She reached her one year anniversary of daily blogging on Nov. 15 with post #365, “First Year Done and Dusted.”
“I need to clear my head, so I can sleep,” she said in a recent Skype interview about her writing schedule.
“It’s felt a bit strange today. I’ve done something I’m really proud of. My writing has been happening for a full year. I have written every day than just the monthly articles I started in June 2015.”
Annie Conboy
Before starting the challenge in November of 2015, rookie writer and blogger Conboy wrote a few pieces for Valley Life.
“Then out of cyberspace I got an invite from my lovely friend Jan to join her in a 30 day blogging challenge. And I said yes. Now I’m a year on and amazed that I had all those words inside me. I have to say I don’t feel like I’m done yet either,” Conboy wrote in the anniversary post, “First Year Done and Dusted.”
Conboy has realized the challenge came at the right time for her.
“I was invited, it felt good, I was supporting a friend,” Conboy said. “I knew there would be discipline because it was every day, and I wrote every single day.”
And when she couldn’t physically write on the computer, Conboy wrote a post on a piece of paper.
“It helped me make a commitment to me,” she said.
Like for many writers, the first challenge was to find the right time to write. Conboy chose to write as the last thing at night.
“The clicks came quickly,” she said, “as I continued through the month I was sleeping better because I was clearing up the clutter in my head. I was clearing the day of everything that had happened.”
During the last week of the challenge, Conboy felt she had acquired a distinct voice in writing that was very specific.
“If I was to continue to write, I needed a commitment, a goal,” she said. “I decided I was going to blog for 1001 days.”
“Why in the world,” I asked, “Would anyone want to take part in the challenge beyond the designated 30 days?”
I participated in the original 30 Day Content challenge along with some 600 other bloggers from around the world, including Australia. Sometimes, Bradley Will, the founder of LearntoBlog, posted the daily guidelines and the themes 24 hours early “for the Ozzies.”
But, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I wrote posts in the morning, just like my regular writing. Every morning a new theme for the day awaited in the inbox. That part was exciting.
And the time was of the essence for the challenge due to the intensity and the synergy of the group. I felt like back at the university cramming for the final exams. Also the timing was unbeatable, since the challenge ran in a framework when all the catastrophes in this world seemed to happen, and during the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA.
To be continued………………..
Copyright (c) 2016. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
Warm thoughts spread under full moon
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Lowell, MI- I woke up this morning at 4:30 a.m. shivering with cold. I slept covered by two blankets and it was 13 F outside. I quickly turned on the additional water heating we use on top of our wood stove and propane. It was still cold.
The forecast called for the extreme chill, coming over the North Pole from Russia, but that didn’t make it any easier. Ludek hauls in the wood before he heads off to work. That helps, I don’t have to go out to the shed in that cold.
Luckily, we didn’t cave into the Arrowhead Meadows neighborhood association’s pick of Darin, the snowplow man. Two years ago when we had the polar vortex, the snowplow man plowed, after everybody got home from work including himself.
Although, Darin didn’t plow on weekends, he managed to pound on the door on a Sunday morning to pick up his check. So Ludek finally said, “I’ll do it myself, we got the jeep.” My 1998 Jeep Wrangler, our workhorse came in handy again. Now, I call it the “Blades of Glory.”
I sat by the wood stove in Ludek’s wicker rocking chair to warm up and to clear up the sinus cold that’s been gripping me since last Friday. As I watched the flames I contemplated today’s writing strategy.
“No, I am not going to check my e-mails, because that either makes me angry or puts me behind in writing.
“However, should I or should I not fill out a slip of paper with today’s predictions and seal them into an envelope only to read them tonight?” I asked myself.
Instead, I picked up the phone to check the notifications on Facebook. I kind of knew about the upcoming full moon from friends in Europe, but it was my Arizona friend and owner of Beutiful Body, Mind, Spirit Nan Raden who confirmed with the beautiful pictures of the moon over the majestic saguaro cacti with the following post:
“Full moon in Gemini-on December 14th. This full moon is occurring on the cusp of the Winter Solstice, which is Dec. 21st.
“Gemini rules the mind and is mentally razor-sharp. It is inventive, playful, childlike and communicative. Gemini loves to widen your perspective by integrating information. Mercury, the ruling planet for Gemini, will be going retrograde five days after this Full Moon, right before the Winter Solstice.
“Your thoughts, ideas and how you think about life are going to deepen, while you integrate a new heart-centered awareness.
“This Full Moon in Gemini happens on Dec. 14th at 12:04 a.m. in London, England and in the Americas on Dec. 13th in the late afternoon and evening.”
According to the full post, year 2017 is the Year of Money, Miracles and Manifestation.
“With number 17 activated, you will get a preview of the leadership, abundance and immortality themes that will inspire us all next year.”
And now, Nan asked:
“How are you going to share in a way that allows you to feel happy and empowered?”
The post continued: During this Full Moon thoughts will be transmitted very quickly and effortlessly, so you want to listen in and tune in to new perspectives and your perception about life.
“Have a happy and engaging Gemini Full Moon.”
As I sat by the wood stove, of course I didn’t read the entire post. I just glanced at the beautiful photo that warmed me up. I shared it, and that was it. And I didn’t fill out the prediction slip, because predictions were already piling up in my head.
“Oh, I am going to face another long phone call, and I’ll have to deal with IT stuff. I am not going to finish the story about blogger “Annie.”
For the rest of the morning, I continued to work with my back to the wood stove sitting on the brick ledge; my mind spinning. I did all the social media marketing work, I needed to do for the day.
I took a photo of the wood stove and I posted it enhanced on Instagram with this caption:
“My work station by the wood stove, until May.”
My friend, a Gemini, responded with:
“LOL.”
And after her, many others followed.
I found a way to make a miserable cold wintry morning in West Michigan dissipate in warm thoughts, and I shared them.
And after that I discovered Nan’s Facebook post in its entirety and wrote all 779 words of “In my winter dreams.”
Well. there goes my answer to Nan’s question.
“Thank you, Nan for sharing. Thank you, Full Moon.”
For Nan Raden’s Beautiful Body, Mind, Spirit go to http://www.beautifulbodymindspirit.com
Copyright (c) 2016 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
