Pleasant Living Magazine

There is a voice that cries out from the dust.  It is filled with stories of dreams and adventures and trials and sorrows; of tears and sweat and agony and song.  It speaks from a past that mingles with the present and rises up from the ground like a fog on a windless morn.  It is the voice of the land that is embedded with tales of the past.  The stories are hidden from all except for the few that take time to discern its clues.  One such clue is its names.  These are names neither decided upon by a committee nor instituted by Congress.  They have an origin more powerful than mere governments can institute.  These names arose from the land itself.  At some point in history they originated and were carried along through the generations from parents to children like an unbroken chain.  They live amongst us today all across our land and are as varied as the folk who have worked them.  The “Long Cut,” the “Milton Field,” the “Quarter,” the “Grasshopper” and the “Clubhouse Field” are just a few of the thousands of titles given individual fields.  They are now part of our language and carry each field’s unique personality.  The “Long Cut” has long rows, is high on each end and wet in the middle.  I know this for it has told me so, just as it informed my father and grandfather.  The Clubhouse Field has long lost its clubhouse.  It was a gathering place for my grandfather’s generation when fences were few and foxes were not.  Some days I still hear them on their horses in the chase.  And it will always be called the Clubhouse Field.

Activist Advises Pet Lovers How They Can Help

Sharon Langford doesn’t want to focus as much on the overly-publicized crisis facing animal shelters today as she does on the joy that the loving animals housed there can bring to people’s lives.
What’s more, she’s willing to put her money where her mouth is when it comes to letting people know what they are missing by not having a pet in their lives. Langford, author of Living with the Rescues – Life Lessons and Inspirations (http://www.livingwiththerescues.com/ ) a love letter to the pets she’s had in her life -- is donating all the proceeds of her books sales to animal rescue charities. But she also knows that not everyone who wants to help these pets can dedicate the same time and effort as she can, so Langford also offers tips on how all animal lovers can help, without having to write a book to do it.

“Just as a pet can make an incredible difference in someone’s life, so can one person make a difference in the lives of pets waiting for adoption,” she said. “If we can each do something small, in our own ways, together we can help bring these animals together with owners so they can enrich each others’ lives.”

The Great River Disclosure begins with mysterious events in South America and Utah, but most of it takes place in Virginia, along the banks of the Great Wicomico River. In the world of this suspenseful thriller, by first time novelist Larry Holcombe, the tranquil Great River Resort is the perfect front for a top secret government facility known only to the President, high ranking government and military officials, and resort owner Bill Russell. Retired Navy SEAL Ted Carter works as resort CEO and golf coach. As the action accelerates, Bill Russell, Ted, and Ted’s fiance find themselves in the middle of a deadly confrontation between the White House and the military industrial complex.

   Virginia Novelist Mary Lou Gediman

“I don’t think a writer ever stops writing,” says Mary Lou Gediman, Providence Forge resident and author of the recently published novel, Journeywoman. Whether she’s taking a walk or watching TV, she’s always thinking of ideas. Sometimes she has to stop what she’s doing to dash upstairs and write her thoughts down. She carries a notebook with her and is always listening and writing down what she hears. She says she’s learned that when it comes to balancing her life as a writer and all the other duties that come along, “creativity comes first” and “priorities are just a matter of perception.” If she has a good idea, whatever else she’s doing can wait.

That attitude of seizing the moment played into her writing of Journeywoman. “I’ve worked in administrative offices for most of my adult career. And one day, after getting a big jolt of creative inspiration, I just decided to write a book. So I quit my job in 2007 and started to write, and I haven’t stopped since.”