Last April I did Camp NaNo for the first time, my sister Jane joined me in a cabin and we both reached and exceeded our word count goals. Camp NaNo is fun because you can set an achievable word count and watch your stats go up each day as you write more (and add you word count in). I was always scared of NaNoWriMo (Still am) But Camp NaNo is a good amount of scary, while still being possible because you don't have to write 50,000 words in a month. That is not something I can even imagine myself doing, and I have a good imagination.

The point of this post though it that there is going to be another Camp NaNo next month. It starts the first of July. This time we have created our own cabin, lovingly dubbed The Fellowship of the Keyboards and we need more cabin members. There are limited spaces (like 12 in all, if I remember correctly) but if you would like to join our cabin head over to my sisters blog and leave a comment on her post about this telling us your Camp NaNo username, first in best dressed. 

So far there are four crazy people already in there hiding behind cover names and profile pics of our characters. 

If you have never done it before and are somewhat of a writer, have a go! Set yourself a small goal of a few thousand words, and even if we do run out of space you can hopefully find some other cool cabin to join, or make your own like we did!

Have you ever done Camp NaNo?

Are you one of those amazing people who have actually done the full NaNoWriMo?

Don't judge a book by its cover.... Personally I really dislike the cover of Unlikely Hero: The Road to Extraordinary by Duncan Robinson. As you can see it is blood red with apparently a sling and stones on it, but when I saw it I thought: oh some nasty medical thing or maybe an eye patch or some glasses for a cyclops that got melted in a furnace. But I was given it for free so I started to read it.

I turned the crisp white pages and looked at the black text, nice and large and with lots of white space for easy reading. I read it, and it is worth reading too. The book is easy to understand and you can hear Pastor Duncan's passion for the topic. The book is challenging. At the end of each chapter it has really good reflection questions and the beginning of a prayer. It does not discus doctrinal things so far as I remember so that should not be a problem for anyone. 

As far as I remember I agreed with everything it said so I highly recommend this book. Oh and it also compares people to Han Solo, wookies, Yoda and had a few other Star Wars references so that made it even better.

I will leave you with a few of the quotes I wrote down in my "thoughts and quotes" book, some of them are exactly what was in the book but others were just what I wrote down.... but very similar to things in the book but I now can't remember which were which for sure.

Sometimes we have to spend time in the desert to become, improve or refine who we are destined to be. ~ Duncan Robinson (but slightly reworded)

When you focus on the bright spots in your life they become magnified. If you focus on the negatives, they will also become magnified. ~ Duncan Robinson (possibly an exact quote)

God has given us promises to help us endure hard times with real joy ~ Duncan Robinson......

Have you ever read this book?

Did you know that Duncan is an Australian who now lives in America?

This is not a good craft idea for the weak of heart or anyone lacking patience. This will at the least take three days...... I spent over a week making this tree. But you do end up with something really lovely and useless!

The book shop is the best shop in town.... and one of the most dangerous places for me to go, whether I have any money to spend or not. We are friends with the shop owner and I just enjoy being in there, with all the books! I may have walked out without a book once.... maybe... I took some photos last time we went, to go with a silly rhyme I made up. So come with me and take a tour of our local bookstore. Or at least many of the more interesting shelves.

The juices in my mouth stopped squishing in sweet flavoursome bursts at every chew and no longer slipped smoothly down my throat to fill my stomach in a satisfactory way. The soft pulpy fruit turned hard after a few mouthfuls and the liquid that ran from it, down my arm, began to feel sticky and dirty. 
I chewed harder; my teeth grating together, with a gulp, another mouthful of the fruit scratched its way to fill the pit of my stomach, sharp edges catching at my throat. Yet I cannot stop. My jaws keep working and again I swallow... I swallow what feels like rocks picked up from beside a path, gravel. 

Here is a small fact to think on:

~ You are going to live forEVER ~

Or to put it another way

~ Your soul is IMMORTAL ~

After you leave your body

you will continue to live....

but where?

there are only two options

and this is not an either or fallacy

it is fact

now is the time to chose where you will spend eternity

One candle stood in a corner. It looked silently out over the room; it could not see to the rooms extent, the candle did not even know if there were other edges. Hundreds of thousands of candles stood in the shadowy room.  A few of the candles had faint lights on them, some sputtered, but most were dark. In one place nearby, a group of lighted candles stood together right next to each other. Each little flame melded together to create one roaring tower of light that could be seen by many more candles. The group of candles dispersed, each leaving with more fire atop it than it arrived with. They went out and mingled with the unlit candles. 

From the corner the candle watched, many of the dark candles leaned towards a flaming candle as he passed them. The flaming candle stopped in amongst a huddle of dark ones, as he left the wick atop one he had just spoke with sputtered into life, a faint glow, but still a glow. 

Sadly some of the lighted candles walked about with their arms shielding their light as if they were afraid it would be blown out if someone else saw it. Others hid their light, ashamed of the shadows it seemed to cause, though really all it did was show the truth. Still others selfishly kept their light hidden so only they could use it to guide their path. Candles around these ones never had any idea they were near lighted ones. 

The candle in the corner stopped watching the others as she heard a strange sound. Following it she came to a small group of candles. Their wicks were faintly lighted or sputtering. With a smile she walked into the midst of them. They gathered round and gazed at her light. As the little group came together their wicks touched and a great tower of light shot up. They soon parted, but each candle now held their heads high, showing their light to anyone watching. 

The candle from the corner kept on moving through the darkness. At times she saw one of the candles beside her start to sputter, other times she had long passed on before her light lit theirs. Most of the time she only warmed their wax, but that prepared them for when another lighted one passed their way then they too burst into flame. 

One candle had time only to light one other before he melted away, but that other burned bright. The one candle that the candle of short time lit went on to light many others, and warm or bring to sparks many more. When others lights flared up, they too lit still more.

In one place, too many candles away for our corner candle to see, a bright burning candle refused to go out. Other candles entrenched in their darkness noticed his flame and for fear of it catching, took him away. Still his light shone. So they bent him, they battered his light. They failed their mission. The battering of his light only caused sparks to fly; the distances some of them went were incredible. Finally the dark ones smashed him to pieces until he was no more, but his light had already given many others light of their own.

One lighted candle can make a difference, yet each does in different ways. Let your light shine. Give the Light time to catch, light up the darkness.

I have accepted the challenge by Julia where she asked people to go to an interesting shop in their town and photograph stuff there, a shop they had not yet been into. After going into the antique store I took these photos at I can't believe it has taken me almost eighteen years to go into it! (Though apparently it has not existed that long.) Well I have lived in this town all my life....... so here are photos of some of the things I found in this not so little shop.

Seriously who collects cans? If you know someone who does please tell me!

A beautiful old sewing machine.... I always wonder at the story behind these sort of things

I put my hand into this bowl of buttons and ran my fingers through the buttons, so many and all so different.

There were shelves of lace and whatever you call the stuff in this photo.

This would be perfect for a newborn shoot..... if it were not so expensive.

I saw this one first then the one below and had to laugh.

There were more drawers full of silver, doilies, table runners and such things. 

I just could not stop looking at these pots on the stairs.....and upstairs there was even more!!

One room had mostly just clothing in it.

Pianola rolls. I have once seen a pianola played at out second cousins I think....

Very old copy of one of the Billabong books. These are so good!

I think I have the same edition of Wings Above Billabong.... except I had to stick it together with superglue......

Really cool suitcases.

I had to laugh at this.... A music stand! It looks just like the ones we have at church..... except maybe a little more sturdy...

More suitcases.

I have some books just like the ones down the bottom of this photo too.

Beautiful vases.

These cups were just so green and pretty.

I think some of these are hat boxes.

For these rather cool hats...

... and these hats.

Then back down the stairs,

past the jars again,

and then after about an hour I hurried home.

 I almost did not go into the shop that day, I just happened to drive past it and having nothing I had to do right then. I turned down the next road and went around the block and into the carpark of the shop. I got my camera and hid it under my jumper and ran out through the rain. I am so glad I did do that then, and considering the photos are all taken indoors and on an overcast day they are rather good, considering. Still, I mean to go back, with my sisters, and take photos again on a bright sunny day.... or at least another day, don't know if I shall post about that then but we shall see. I hope you enjoyed the photos and that you actually got to the end of this post!

Are there any small/not so small stores in your town?

You never know what is hidden there until you look!

Please take on the challenge!