Touched by Heaven by Nancy Ravenhill

This is a beautiful story and is highly recommended to read.

I enjoyed reading this wonderful story by Nancy Ravenhill which

Is the story of her life since she was a little girl, her life of missionary work, being married to a pastor and her encounters throughout her life with  Jesus.  The story also takes the reader to places in New Guinea when Nancy and her husband were working for Youth With A Mission and also to Great Barrier Island in earlier times in New Zealand and also Christchurch, New Zealand.

This book has recently been published this year and I found this gem of a book on a shelf of the librarian’s choice at the library.

My Two Heavens by Jo Crabb

This book is a wonderful story of living in two countries, New Zealand and France.  It is also a testament to the power of positive thinking and that it is possible to achieve goals which a person sets out to do with perseverance and a positive attitude to life.

 

The book is also a travel memoir of various places travelled in earlier years and an exotic mix of wonderful recipes of the Mediterranean and the Middle East as well as for France and New Zealand.

 

There are fascinating anecdotes, drawings and words  of sound advice and descriptions of beautiful scenery.  Above all, there are the magnificent recipes which look wonderful.

Included in this book are the many varied and beautiful illustrations by Stephen Allwood, which are quite magical.

 

The Robert Louis Stevenson walk in the French countryside is included as well as The Chemin de St Jacques Walk, which was also fascinating to read  about the life of a pilgrim on the journey from a little place in France to San Compostela in Spain.

 

This book is well recommended as it is a joy to

read.

 

 

 

 

The Jewels of Paradise

This is rather an unusual story by Donna Leon which is set mostly in Venice.  It tells the story of a researcher who is employed to find out the testamentary wishes of a composer who lived three hundred years previously. 

I quite enjoyed the story as the researcher set about her work in the

beautiful city of Venice where she would often go out for a coffee

with a friend or visit her parents who also happened to be living there.  Scenery and the backdrop of the little lanes and streets of Venice appealed to me as I was reading this story.

The conclusion of the story is quite unexpected and in a way it may be a story regarding the corruption and greed which can be associated with acquiring great wealth.  The reader is led to believe

that the jewels of paradise may be great wealth for the two cousins

who have employed the researcher and there is an uncertainty

regarding a very suave lawyer whom the researcher also befriends

at one stage until she realises his true intentions.

On one level this story may appear to be mundane and very humdrum as the researcher goes about her work and has interactions

With family members and a friend who is a co-worker and yet on

Another level this book is quite enthralling.

Because of the academic nature of the research, which I did find quite fascinating as it delved into the history of Ernst August, the Elector of Hanover,  and his son who became George I of England,

the story may appear at times to not be going anywhere and may

not appeal to all readers.  However, this story appealed to me as it

was also a mystery story with a unique ending and was interesting to

read of the varying emotions of the main players when the jewels of paradise were finally discovered.  The expectations at the conclusion of the story were so vastly different from what actually transpired.

 

 

 

Moonlight over Versailles

Moonlight over Versailles

The moon, the light, the beauty.

Imagine a beautiful moon over Versailles: the light glinting off the spray of the fountains,

the magical moonbeams playing over the gardens, the flowers and tree-lined avenues.

I have not attended any of the night shows at the Chateau of Versailles but I can imagine

how wonderful they must be.

 

I have attended an afternoon baroque music show where all of the fountains were playing

and it was beautiful. 

Even at closing time on an overcast day the flower gardens are enhanced and look beautiful.

 

 

The Light

This is a poem which I wrote in 2004. 

The Light

The beautiful still moonlight shines brightly over the landscape

No shadows veil this serene beauty

Why cannot I be so still and silent, like this beautiful moonlit night?

Hush, whisper the sounds of the night

Lest this wish be granted

Wait, I say how do I ease my pain

And find my gain

Is it only to be found in truth and light?

Wait until the morning, I hear

See the light glinting on the leaves of the trees

Know the sun will shine brightly

And enhance the beauty which nature decrees

Day and Night

Night and Day

Chasing each other away

Time never stood still

Now there is another will

We sang and we died

The never ending pattern of life-

The Light of Day and Night

So fleeting,

The sunny days of youth passed us by

How deep the yearning cry

Of Childhood Dreams

And of lives unredeemed

Reflecting on lives well spent

And better times which went

Of Long Forgotten yesterdays

Hush whispers the mother to its young

Stay calm until the morning comes

Watch the bird swoop in the morning sky

In the clear blue light of another day

So graceful in its flight

In the early morning light

See how the sun sparkles on the crest of a sea-wave

Filtering its way

Through clouds

And forming a stream of light

So bright -

For now

From the time

When we are born

There is a New Light on the morn

The glorious light of a New Easter Dawn

And in the pale moonlight

I looked out upon this Land

Which cast in this ethereal glow

Seemed etched as though by an Angel’s Hand

Listened to the sea-waves lapping upon the sand

It all became so clear

A beautiful landscape within my sight

I knew such beauty bestowed upon us

Came from the Grace of light

Against the Wind "Six Ribbons"

Against the Wind is a made for television series of 13 parts which I have recently viewed on you tube.
This series is well recommended and describes the difficulties encountered by the early immigrants and
convicts in New South Wales, Australia.  It is quite compelling viewing and I enjoyed watching this series.
The first episodes are set it in Ireland and thereafter in the new colony of New South Wales.
 The characters needed to be quite strong to survive the rigours of their ordeals at sea, as convicts in the new land and also as new colonists at the time.
A theme song of the series is "Six Ribbons" which is quite beautiful by Jon English.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9W5lQNFb-M

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

This wonderful story appealed for its beautiful story line and also for

the magnificent descriptive quality of the prose.  A Paris book-seller

had been in love with a woman and the story details

his love and loss and how he eventually comes to terms with his grief

for the loss of his love which endures for many years.

 

Jean Perdu ( John Lost) travels through France on a boat on the Seine River

traversing different regions and counties, rivers and canals and eventually

arrives in beautiful Provence.  There is a map of his travels by water and by road listed at the beginning of the book.

 

This is indeed a fascinating story of love and loss and also a story of great beauty,

the meaning of love and loss.  I enjoyed reading this story though I was surprised

at times to read the travel diaries of Manon, (Jean Perdu’s lost love) also included in the story.  This book

has been translated into English and was originally published in Germany.

 

There are interesting and fascinating characters in the story whom Jean

Perdu relates to well after living a life of seeming isolation for many years.

The characters also add colour and joie de vivre to the novel with their

myriad emotions, reflections on life, eccentricities and their joy of living.

 

To me the most beautiful aspects of the book are the wonderful descriptions

of river life while travelling on the barge, the little towns and villages and also

the beauty of the landscape under the skies of Provence.  The mountains,

the little villages and the greenery of trees and pasture and the beautiful lavender fields described almost as a chequered quilt, so beautiful!

 

This book also gives a great understanding of life and the turmoil some

people may encounter.  I enjoyed reading this book and it is well recommended.