Other Pens – Page 5 – Leenie Brown

Music Monday: Angels from the Realms of Glory – The Piano Guys, Peter Hollens and David Archuleta

PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY PETER HOLLENS ON DECEMBER 14, 2014.

Christmas is almost here at the Brown residence. It won’t be an elaborate day of festivities. We tend to take a low key approach to the holiday. There will be presents — just a few, but not many — which we will unwrap once we ease our way into the day at a rather late hour. This will be followed by a Christmas breakfast with far too many indulgent items, and then later in the day, we will have a turkey dinner. It’s a lovely, relaxing day of rest for us — unless, of course, my husband has a job which must be completed when businesses are closed.

(He owns a cleaning business, and I have sat reading a book in the car as I waited for him to put a coat of wax on a floor before taking a drive to look at the Christmas lights while that coat of wax dries. Then, he’ll slip in another coat before we head home.)

For the next couple of weeks, I am intending to take it a bit easier than I normally do. I will still be writing and editing and such but at a more relaxed pace.

Music Monday: Always There (Canadian Tenors)

Walter looked up the hall and then down. Seeing it was empty, he pulled Grace into his arms for a quick embrace – not long enough by half but enough to assure himself that she was truly there with him. Two days of travelling and stopping at inns in search of her had been two very long days.

“Do not ever leave me again,” he whispered before releasing her. He grasped her face between his hands. “Promise me, you will not leave me.” He pressed a quick kiss to her lips. Again, it was far from how he wished to kiss her.

[from Her Secret Beau, Touches of Austen book 3]

Published to YouTube by LYRICS on October 10, 2014.

Sometimes when I am looking for a song to share on Mondays, I get sucked into YouTube for hours (and that is no exaggeration). I love music, and I find it very inspiring to my imagination. Tonight (Sunday night) was one of those nights. I finally came across this song about an hour and a half after opening YouTube. 🙂 On my home screen, YouTube likes to show me “The Best of…” for various talent shows. I occasionally give in to my curiosity and click on them. While I was listening to a group on one of those videos, I thought, “Oh, I haven’t listened to any tenors music lately. I should do that.” That is how I came to be listening to the Canadian Tenors. When I heard this song, I knew I had to share it with you because it immediately made me think of Walter Blakesley. The lines above the song are how tomorrow’s chapter of Her Secret Beau begins. Continue reading Music Monday: Always There (Canadian Tenors)

Music Monday: Tears of Joy (Joe Bongiorno)

It was lovely to be off the road again, and this inn was a touch nicer than yesterday’s, but none of that truly soothed her as it would have on her trip to Bath. Several days on the road when anticipating adventure were much easier to endure than the same number of days spent travelling while one’s heart was breaking.

She closed her eyes. A tear slid down her cheek, and she brushed it away quickly.

“Are you still so disappointed?” her mother asked from where she sat at a table with her needlework spread out. Felicity was flopped across the bed, and their father was below stairs, likely talking with some gentlemen at the bar.

[from Her Secret Beau, Touches of Austen book 3]

Published to YouTube by Piano Haven – Sedona on June 16, 2011.

I chose to share this song from my Spotify Music to Write By playlist because of the title. Tears and joy will be present in this week’s story offerings on both Tuesday and Thursday. 🙂 We only have three chapters left of each story, so the happy conclusion is upon us. Continue reading Music Monday: Tears of Joy (Joe Bongiorno)

Music Monday: Beauty of Grace, Thad Fiscella + a Free Book Day

He would have to present himself empty-handed to Grace, and that fact did not sit well with him. He had promised to discover what he could, and he had done exactly that. Yet, the fact that all he could discover was nothing did not seem a fitting way to keep such a promise. Grace would want to know more. She was a curious, caring sort. In his opinion, she owed her sister little, but Grace’s heart would not see it that way. No matter how much she disagreed or disapproved of her sister, Grace would do what she could to protect her sister from harm.

He chuckled, causing his horse’s ears to twitch in his direction.

“I was just thinking about your new mistress,” he said to his horse. “She is a unique lady.”

The horse blew a breath through its lips.

“I tell you she is. You will understand once you meet her.”

[from Her Secret Beau, Touches of Austen book 3]

Published to YouTube by Thad Fiscella – Topic on October 19, 2015.

The song selection this week is a bit of a play on words as I have read the story behind the writing of this song by the composer, and he was thinking of the beauty of God’s grace when he wrote it. Obviously, in the excerpt from tomorrow’s story above, Mr. Blakesley is thinking about the things which make Grace beautiful to him — not as it refers to her outer physical beauty but as it refers to her unique character — those things which make her, her. In that reflection, there is a hint of unmerited favour (aka grace) that makes up who Walter’s Grace is. So, being a teacher and a pastor’s daughter, I could likely draw that out into some sort of lesson, but I won’t. I’ll just let you ponder it and listen to this beautiful piece of music which has played nearly every day during my writing time this week.

During my writing time this week, my writing was focused on finishing Grace’s story. I’m almost there. I think one more chapter will do it (but then I thought that when I sat down to write the last chapter, so… LOL) It looks like both Mary’s and Grace’s stories will conclude during the first week of November. Continue reading Music Monday: Beauty of Grace, Thad Fiscella + a Free Book Day

Music Monday: Arwen’s Vigil, Original Tune (The Piano Guys)

…Grace sat up. Her heart was racing. “Why? What has happened? Tell me what has happened.”

Mrs. Love wrung her hands together – which Grace noticed were not gloved. Her mother never left her house without a pair of gloves on her hands. Something was most certainly wrong…

[from Her Secret Beau, Touches of Austen book 3]

Published to YouTube by ThePianoGuys on November 12, 2013.

I’m going to leave these here just in case anyone needs one or two of them this week when reading story updates. We’ve come to that part of each story. The good news is that it’s always darkest before the dawn — so the happy ending is coming… soon… ish. 😉

That is also why I picked a song with a melancholy tone for this week. It seems to fit the feel of the stories.

Now, for my writing news, which isn’t all that much this week. That does not mean I did not write A LOT this past week. I did. It just all happened to be for the same story. Continue reading Music Monday: Arwen’s Vigil, Original Tune (The Piano Guys)