Sconces, Kindness, & Dragons

Sconces. I have wanted a set of candle sconces since the hubs and I got married. That's eight years, a long time. Being frugal, I can't stomach the thought of paying full price for something that holds a candle. It's ridiculous.

This morning I visited my local thrift store in an effort to find my husband some work pants. No luck there, but . . . 


Ta-da!

It was half price day, so I got two for $1.50! They are also my favorite color, blue. Hooray! They're a little chippy. You can tell they were once gold. But I don't care. I'm totally digging the shabby chic-ness. Plus, it goes with the brass around my fireplace.

I left the thrift store feeling pretty good. I headed out to run errands, only for a guy to cut me in line at the bank and another person pull out in front of me. Cue panic. I drive my husband's old car and have yet to get used to where the horn is at.

I honked, a little delayed, mad at people's rudeness. Why are people so unkind? I pushed my cart around the grocery store asking myself just that. I've found that, as I've gotten older, I ask myself that a lot.

Why can't people be nice? Why are they so unnecessarily rude?

My mind was drawn back to my thrift store trip. Every time I go in there, the place is packed with volunteers. Most of them are elderly (and women), but they are nice! As I was checking out, I found I was part of a conversation with four or five other people. I wasn't a number. I wasn't a customer. I wasn't somebody to rush past or cut in front of because the other person was in too big a hurry to use their manners. I was a person.

*Sigh.*
Thank the Lord for these sweet ladies (and the man who jokingly told me there was a hundred dollar bill in the bottom of the one dollar purse I had purchased). They were the shining part of my errand running and a reminder that I need to be that for someone else. It was so timely. And isn't that how the Lord works? The moment you need a lesson or a reminder, He sends you something beautiful to bring it to the forefront of your mind.


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Yesterday, I finished The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli. It was scrumdiddlyumptious. 😋


This book had elements that felt like Disney's Aladdin, Sky in the Deep (Adrienne Young), and The Dragonriders of Pern (Anne McCafrey).


I haven't read Dragonriders of Pern since middle school, but this book has a similar bonding-with-dragons vibe.

I want to say so much about this book, but spoilers!

Asha is the Iskari, the dragon killer. She is also daughter of the king. Dragon killing is her way of earning redemption. When she was a child, her storytelling drew a fire breathing dragon close to her home. Many people were lost and Asha was left with a terrible scar (both inside and out).
Torwin is a skral, or slave. He is not allowed to touch Asha or look her in the eye. When she is injured, he breaks both rules.

All I can say is romance! Drama! Dragons!
And, oh, the character development . . . the things Asha knows about the people in her life and what she believes of herself will be tested.


The Last Namsara quotes:


"I am the danger!"


"When darkness falls, little sister, the Old One lights a flame."


"Greta used to say," he said as he played, "that every one of us is born with a song buried deep in our hearts. A song all our own. And our mission in life is to find that song."


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Blessings,
J

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