Celebrate the Small Things: Lightning

People are being struck by lightning ... a lot! California being one of many states that has felt the wrath.

About a month and a half ago, on my way to work one morning, lightning was whipping through traffic. Yes. You read right. It was streaking through traffic as cars were driving and stopping at the traffic lights.

Before I turned down the main drag, a long electrical whip raced across the hood of my car and the woman's next to me. We both looked at each other to confirm we weren't seeing things. Mind you, I live in Florida, the lightning capital.

A week later, on a Tuesday evening, I witnessed lighting stretching out of the night sky with intention. It was as if each strike had fingers zapping the road. In all my life I've never seen lightning with a mission.

What could this mean?

Are they yet more signs from the heavens that God's not happy with the humans on planet earth? Could it be a sign that we need to get our crap together? Does he use nature to show Himself?

In, The Science of God, Gerald L. Schroeder explains it as: 'We are told that two aspects of a transcendent infinity labeled as God have been "condensed" and projected into our spatially and temporally finite universe. One is revelation, written in words, that we call the Bible. The other reveals itself in the wonders of nature and the laws by which nature functions'.

He also quotes Exodus 14:21, where God used wind that blew all night to split the Sea of Reeds. The sea Moses led the people of Israel through. This of course is only one of many instances where God uses nature.

And with God anything is possible. But I'm still wondering if He is trying to get our attention through nature. Here's a video to think about before I Celebrate the Small Things:

What do y'll think? Ooky-Spooky, eh?

Now for my celebrations on behalf of VikLit, at Scribblings of an Inspiring Author .

* No-No and Ya'akov are staying safe. HAMAS shot fifty rockets on Wednesday. Only one landed near Tel Aviv, exploding on a main highway. Thank God it was in the middle of the night. No one was hurt.

* Sunday, I get to pick up the Glowstick for a sleepover and a shopping day. YAY!

* This week, instead of getting majorly depressed and giving up on the Killer Stilettos dilemma, I worked on another project and have come quite far with it.

* Hubby's cancer scans came back clean again. YAY!

* And I've dried quite  a few herbs from my garden this week, collected five more tomatoes, and six peppers.

Hope everyone has a chocolate filled weekend. Happy Shabbats if you practice!

Hugs and chocolate!
Shelly

Sometimes God Throws Us Baby-sized Curve Balls More Than Once

Hey, everyone! I know I’ve been MIA lately. A lot has happened since I last posted here. The state is now involved with my grandson. For now, I’m considered temporary shelter for the Glowstick. But I’m also looking at retaining custody of him.

Last week, I managed a 1000 words on Killer Stilettos. I’m working on the ending. I also have another short I want to release, but I’m finding it hard to find TIME to do it.

And I’ve barely gotten around to read other blogs. Apologies. I feel like a rat turd and I think I’m losing my Wonder Woman status.

Hugs and chocolate,

Shelly

My Field Trip to A Gun Shop

I’ve been meaning to do this post for weeks now, but once again life has weaved it’s tricks in. 

Several Mondays ago, my critters informed me that I didn’t know jack-squat about rifles, shot-guns, and handguns. Well, to be honest, they were correct. A gun is a gun to me. It doesn’t matter how it operates, it still fires holes into things, animals, and people.

Lila, the main character in this novel, doesn’t know anything about them either but gets a fast lesson on them from her best friend, Cynthia. If you’ve read her character blog, you’ll learn she’s got herself in a pickle jar. Her life is in danger.

So I visited my local gun shop slash shooting range, The Firing Line, located on 6123 Ridge Rd., Port Richey, Florida. Their hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 10 AM to 8 PM, Saturday, 10 AM to 6 PM, and Sunday, 10 AM to 4 PM. Phone number: 727-849-7457.

I wanted to shout out a big thank you to Rob for showing me the difference between a shotgun and rifle.

For your information:

Rifles have metallic cartridges that look like little missiles. They are single projectiles and the caliber tells what size it is.

Shotguns have many shots. They're encased in a cylander with many pellet-type objects. A gage determines the size of the bullets.

Either of these can be loaded via a magazine clip.

A small handgun is also known as a glock. One must aim and fire unlike the shotgun and rifle. When holding the handgun pretend your hand is entering a handshake. This can also be loaded with a magazine clip.

These are a few things I learned. This information helps when I watch YouTube videos on the subject.

And before I close this post, I can't stress enough on research for your fiction novels. Do not bullshit your way through a novel. Readers get mad when you do. Become as knowledgable as possible on anything you have no clue about. Yes, it takes time but better to be safe than sorry. You want happy fans of your novels, not ones that will have your head on a platter.