Sept. 22- Book Release Day At Last

Tomorrow is the first day of Fall, and Sept. 22 is the official release day for my newly re-written Peaks Trilogy.  Three separate books that won't break your pocketbook or your arm.  In other words, not 500-plus-page monster books!

You can get them in paperback or hardback on Amazon.com, or any bookstore can order them for you.  Just remember my author name is M.F. Erler.  And the books are "The Peaks at the Edge of the World"  Book 1, "Finding the Light"; Book 2, "Searching for Maia"; and Book 3, "Mountaintops and Valleys".  E-books will be on Amazon, too.

And over the course of 2019, there are four more in the Peaks Saga to come.
Questions?  You can reach me at mferler@peaksandbeyond.com

You Get a Better Deal if You Pre-Order

At last!  The first three books in the new Peaks Saga are available to pre-order.  My publisher just told me today that the prices are at their lowest right now.  They may 'go up a bit' (that's a quote) when they are released in September.

So now is a good time to get ahead of the game.  If the link below doesn't work, try copying and pasting it into your search engine.  Or type it.  Or contact me.  :)

https://bookstore.firststepspublishing.com/product-tag/the-peaks-saga

https://bookstore.firststepspublishing.com/product-tag/the-peaks-saga

New Offspring

Can't believe we've spent almost ten years in this house now.  Ten years ago this month, we were beginning the indoor finishing work.  As all the trees we planted then have grown bigger, I realize that children are like trees.  When they're small, we can care for them, feed and water them, spray for bugs...try to keep them from being vulnerable.  But when they grow bigger, they're out of our reach, and we have to step back and let nature take its course.  Hard for a parent to do, whether it's a child, a pet, or a tree.

Maybe that's why I have turned to the books I'm writing.  They're my children, too.  It's been a long gestation period, but I think they're finally ready to be born.  And believe it or not, I'm having septuplets!  Books 1 through 3 will be released this fall.  Book 1, "The Peaks at the Edge of the World" is already available for preorder.  Check with Amazon, B&N, or your favorite bookstore.  Ask for books by M.F. Erler.

Watch Out for The Trams in Amsterdam!

My biggest adventure in Amsterdam was riding the tram, which is an electric train system.  You need to buy a pass card and put it past a scanner each time you get on and off.  Luckily we got day passes that could be used more than once, because…

When we got back to our B&B’s stop, riding the tram from downtown, Paul got off ahead of me, and then another person.  When I got to the door, it wouldn’t scan my card, and there I was, stuck behind a closed door.  Paul was in as much shock as I was (he told me later) as the train took me away. 

In a panic, I thought perhaps I could get off at the next stop, find the main street and work my way back.  I don’t know the address of our B&B, though.  Then a very nice young woman on the tram told me how to take a pedestrian overpass at the next stop so I could catch the next tram coming back.

Several others in the car were also helpful.  I have good impressions of the Dutch!  When the tram finally stopped, I scanned my pass and headed up the stairs they pointed out.  Just as I came to the stairs going down, the tram was pulling in, so I ran.  I didn’t want to miss this one.

When I got off at the correct stop—finally—Paul was there waiting for me.  The first thing I said was,

“This is the kind of thing we will laugh about later.”

It certainly was an adventure!  And I saved those tram passes as a souvenir.

In a strange sort of way, it made us look out for each other more on the rest of the trip.  And even though it may have seemed to be a bad start, it actually wasn’t.  I learned to appreciate and take everything in stride, more than I used to.

Reflections from Our Baltic Cruise 1

We are back from the cruise of a lifetime, from Amsterdam, around Denmark, and up the Baltic Sea to Estonia and St. Petersburg, Russia. 

Being in Estonia and Russia was an eye-opening lesson.  We are blessed here in the USA, but often take it for granted.  Seeing the "Breshnev Era" apartments in Russia--all gray and bleak, looking like the"projects" in Chicago...and hearing of the Soviet restrictions on housing--only one bedroom and bathroom allowed, small house, small yard (if any), no bright colors... I realized how bleak their lives were back then, before the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

No wonder the Estonians invite tourists to tour their new homes, gardens, and farms!  Things we take for granted are newly-found luxuries to them.

St. Petersburg, with all its beautiful gardens, churches, and palaces, is like a phoenix risen from the ashes of 2 World Wars and the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.  The change from Leningrad back to its original glory as St. Petersburg, (Czar Peter the Great's city) is amazing.  More beautiful than Moscow, I hear.  It's amazing they've spent so much money on the restorations.  But I understand.  The Russians are an ancient people reconnecting with their heritage, which was almost lost.  It reminded me of what we saw in China, as it moved from the early 1980's to 2006, the two times we visited.  (As it recovered from its own Cultural Revolution).

Our guides told how churches and palaces had become storage barns and museums, during the Revolution.  In Estonia, our guide mentioned one church turned into a roller-skating rink.

Now, here we are 100 years after the 1917 Revolution, and churches are restored.  But I wonder if attendance is up at all, or low like it is in neighboring Scandinavia--state religions and crosses on their flags, but maybe not too many practicing Christians.  Our guide in Estonia even said that in her opinion, It does 't matter what you believe as long as you believe in something.

Sad.  Many in our Western World would agree, I'm afraid.  Still, people in the former Soviet Union have more freedom to choose.  I pray for them, like I do for my own people (especially my children) to make 'good choices.'  That's a phrase my daughter uses a lot with her kindergarten students.  It applies to all of us, though.

Looking for the LIghthouse

In a few weeks, we'll be setting out from Amsterdam on a cruise of the eastern North Sea and the Baltic.  Busy thinking about what to pack, and having to deal with overseas security regulations regarding how much shampoo, etc. I'm allowed to carry.

Last time I traveled in Europe was 1973, and that trip ended in Amsterdam, ironically.  It will be interesting to see how much the city has changed.  And travel.  Back then, I carried a backpack and hitchhiked most of the time.  Occasionally, for a break, I'd take a night train, in lieu of paying for a youth hostel.  In that backpack I carried, along with essentials, a full-sized hardcover Living Bible.  I read it almost every day and it was worth the weight.  In fact, I still have that Bible and can look back at the notes I made in it then.

Times have changed.  Now I can fit a Bible and a whole bunch of other books in my Kindle.
But, as the physical size of my Bible has shrunk, so has my faith, it seems.  Forty-five years have passed, and the storms of life have taken their toll.  The sails of my ship are tattered, and the masts are leaning, and some are broken.  Somewhere out beyond the clouds around me, I remember seeing a lighthouse on the distant shore.  I can't see it now, but I hope and pray it's still there.

So I sail on, hoping it is out there, beckoning me to that heavenly shore.

Happy Beltane and May Day

Happy Beltane!  Otherwise known as May Day, Mayfest, Volksfest, Beltyne, etc.  It marks the halfway point between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice.  For those of us living in northern climes, though, it's more like the first day of spring.  It probably came originally from a pagan fertility rite, since it is near planting time in many places.  Tho in others, it's when the first fruits of the garden are coming on.  In ancient Israel it was Pentecost, the Feast of First Fruits.  When Christianity came along, Pentecost became the day God sent the Holy Spirit to dwell with all believers.  Before this, visits by the Spirit (and often the accompanying miracles) came only at random, according the God's purposes.  But now, this indwelling of the Spirit is available to all believers in God's Son.  What an amazing thought!

So, May 1 to me is much more than May Baskets and May Poles, though they are nice remembrances of the coming of Spring after a long Winter.  It is also a chance to erase the slate of all the old grime and grit left under the melting snow, and make a fresh clean start, with the greening of the hills, the budding of the trees, and yes--my daffodils are finally beginning to bloom.  Love their sunny yellow color!  A color of joy.