Sunflower Serenade, book 12 in the Home to Heather Creek series released last month! I loved writing this book and I hope you enjoy the story! To celebrate its release I’m giving away the ENTIRE 12 books in the series!
Enter the City Girl Goes Country Contest for your chance to win!
Playing on one element of the book – big city entertainers vs. old county fair – share your funniest story (about you or someone you know) about a time when you as the “city girl” went to the country or the “country girl” goes to the city.
The best story (as chosen by me) will win an entire set of the Home to Heather Creek series and a selection of other great books from Guideposts – including my friend Dawn Meehan’s Because I Said So! Just leave your story here on this post!
Here are the first few stops on the tour:
8/10
8/17
I loved the gentle wisdom Charlotte used and shared throughout the book. There were also plenty of spots with humor to keep things light. While I’m not exactly a city-girl, I’m not as familiar with country life, so this book was like stepping into another world for me – it was refreshing and fun, and I’d like to think that I learned a few things along the way about country life, and that I’m feeling a little more inspired by the miracles and gifts God has given us.
8/18
Mikki at My Bible and a Cup of Coffee
This is great book to read to finish out your summer reading list. I enjoyed the light, but very interesting story and characters in this book.
8/19
Mindy at Ponderings of the Heart
For me, this story spoke to how God orchestrates things in our lives just Trica Goyer orchestrates the lives of her characters. Read this book. You won’t be sorry!
Margaret at The Cappuccino Life
We have another delightful book in the Home to Heather Creek series!
We are the ‘ultimate country folks’ in the city. Almost all of our relatives live outside our metro area, yet they come up and want to do things we have no idea is going on up here. My mother knows more of what is going on at the State Fair than we do. We’d rather be content hiking or walking, or working in our yard. It always cracks me up when they know more of what is happening in our back yard than we do. Please enter me. Thank you.
Is your book the last in this series?
desertrose5173 at gmail dot com.
I was born and raised in the country. The summer before I graduated from high school, my grandparents took me on a trip to meet some of my distant cousins who lived in Seattle. These two girls were teen models, and for a week they were sure to let me know that I didn’t measure up to their standards with my hand-me-down jean shorts and Wal-Mart purchased shirts. That was until we went on a road trip to see Mt. St. Helens. The first afternoon on the road, we stopped at a seculded picnic area, nestled deep into the woods. The trail to the tables was long, and damp, nothing like the concrete sidewalks my cousins were used to. The girls fussed the whole way about ruining their expensive sneakers. I had to giggle, there weren’t even any big puddles to wade through. I reached the picnic tables long before my cousins did, and was sent back to make sure that they made it safely. On the way back to meet them, I spotted a large animal track in the on the path. I bent down close to examine the find. My cousins rounded the corner at that moment.
“What are you looking at?”
I didn’t say anything, just waited for them to move closer. The squated down next to me and I pointed at the imprint.
“Looks fresh,” I said. “See how crisp the edges are? It hasn’t been long enough to erode yet.”
The girls look wild eyed at one another. “You mean it could still be close?”
“Appears to be.”
“But it’s so big!”
“It’s huge.” I admitted. “They don’t make them this big where I come from.”
The girls looked around nervously. “Are we safe?”
“I think so.”
“I’m not staying around here to get eaten by a bear.” With one accord, my cousins took off at a dead run toward the picnic area, designer clothing and expensive shoes forgotten.
I looked at the imprint once more time before standing and dusting off my knees. I grinned and shook my head. “I never knew an Elk could be so scary.”
Maybe I should have told them, but then again…
Please enter me in the contest.
dr(dot)mrs(dot)banks(at)gmail(dot)com
When I was in elementary school I got special permission to attend the school in town. I think I was the only country kid, living on a horse farm, that attended that school. I remember once in third grade we were giving our information to the teacher and when asked where you lived the teacher said to just say the name of your subdivision and that would be good enough. I promptly raised my hand and asked about what I’d need to put since I didn’t live in a subdivision. The teacher told me of course I did, and about this time the kids started getting involved. They started naming theirs, but I’d just say no I lived on a farm. The teacher looked at me like I was spouting tales a mile long. And I elaborated that I lived on a horse farm as well. Now she was sure I was just saying fanciful dreams and pretty soon it was no you don’t coming from the teacher, and yes I do coming from me. Once I’d had it, I started looking around for anyone I knew that had been to my place. I think it was the parapro that finally clarified everything, since she’d talked to my mother before, and said that I did live on a farm. And not too long after my mom came in with a plaid t-shit, full length fur coat, and cowboy boots looking like Annie Oakley come to life and confirmed that I sure did. Also, in fifth grade we had a pet project for chorus where we brought out pet for a commercial type thing. I brought my chow chow, and all the kids just knew I’d brought a bear.
gasweetheart211[at]netscape[dot]net
Before I married I was a “city girl” I had no intention of ever living in the country. I loved the malls, the freeways and being able to speed, hee…And my hard-rock radio stations.
So you can imagine my surprise when I moved to a very small town in Arkansas. I saw things that would make any city girl shiver. Men in overalls, camoflauge and AHH! Hunting!! The worse part was the radio stations for me, most were country music!! Just kill me now…were my thoughts.
Then there was the mall! Yep, one mall, with less than 20 stores, and one level!! I could have cried. Actually, I think I did.
Then my biggest shocker was finding out that my new husband was an avid hunter along with his family. So there I was in the deer woods for the first time and not realizing until it was too late that there was no running water, no BATHROOM! And we slep in a camper. Seeing a dead deer was a living nightmare and I punched my husband in the stomach and cried like a baby.
However, I did get one pleasant surprise, the annual county fair. I loved it! All the gorgeous animals and I fell in love with funnel cake, mmmmm…yummy. I was an instant fan and I really enjoyed perusing the booths and collecting note pads, pens, pencils and ree samples of stuff. Needless to say I look forward to the fair every year now.
It has been 16 years and guess what Tricia? I am officially a country girl, down to wearing overalls in public! Hee… I am now a fan of country living and wouldn’t go back to city life, ever. I love the woods, and lakes and the beautiful animals and birds.
Congratulations on the book’s release! Beautiful cover!
I, a city-girl, had never received the acceptance of my father-in-law until the summer of ’81. We had bought he and Mom Cavitt a microwave. You would have thought his electric bill would be the highest in the country. After Al got it all hooked up in their mobile home, I announced we needed to go into town and get some microwave popcorn and some potatoes. He got out of his easy chair with a thump, pulled up his pants so the belt was right under his belly, and opened the door. “Missy, you are going to get those city fingernails dirty.” He led me to the garden. “Now find the potatoes.” I didn’t know where to look in the half acre garden. The only veggies we had ever grown were tomatoes, green beans, carrots, and corn on the cob. When I admitted politely that I had no idea. Dad Cavitt smiled and stood taller. “Well let me teach a college graduate city girl what’s on each row.” He did too. As I got a fistful of white potatoes, he got a fistful of sweet potatoes. We walked back laughing and talking. Once inside, we cooked those spuds. The rest of the week, I spent a lot of time in the garden. It was the last time I saw Dad Cavitt. He passed away that November.
I was about 9 when we moved out of the city into the country for good, and we got teased about being city girls, which is funny because I think now we would get teased for being country girls!!
We met our neighbors though and were planning on moving near them and to our shock discovered they had never had burritos before! I am not sure if it was a country thing or an ex-Amish thing, but it sort of went along with the no electricity they had in their house as well.
I think though the biggest shock was driving on country roads. We went of the road three times the first winter. The first time, we almost went off a small cliff and a guy came along and helped us out. A couple weeks later we slid off the road again and are stuck in a ditch, sideways and a car is coming…and would you believe it is the same guy!!!
He coerced a snowplow into pulling us out that time and we made our first good friend!
martha(at)lclink(dot)com
When my husband chose to pastor a little country church, I was terrified of the commute from the city we lived in up into the hills. Unable to move due to a small parsonage and a large family, I knew we’d be doing a lot of driving, and winter was heading our way, which meant fog.
As we drove up into the darkness one night, our headlights flashed on a sign that read “Deer Crossing” and before I could stop myself, I blurted out “Boy, I sure hope those deer up here can read!”
Trouble was, I was half serious!
I grew up in the country. My parents took me and my sister to the city for a dinner play. We were all dressed up, sitting down to dinner when my sister loudly asked why we needed two forks. My mom was mortified.
wsmarple(at)gmail(dot)com
I was a Colorado Springs city girl, but loved visiting relatives in the small town in Kansas where my mom grew up. On my new husband’s first trip to Kansas, he was introduced to coyote hunting. As the “boys” (my uncle, cousin, husband and farm hands) drove through the fields, CB in one hand, gun out the window in the other hand and both knees on the steering wheel, us girls listened to the action over the CB base station in my aunt’s kitchen. The voices got loud and excited as my cousin spotted a coyote and was after it. My cousin’s 2 year old little boy was sitting on his mom’s lap with a very serious expression and eyes as big as saucers, trying to figure out what to make of all the commotion he was hearing on the radio. Suddenly, as he recognized the voices of his dad and grandad, his face broke into a big grin and he started pounding on the table hollering “Do (go), Daddy, Do (go)!! We all started laughing, and he started crying! Ahh, you just can’t beat small town entertainment!
This story isn’t mine, but actually my husband’s who is a city boy living in the country.
We had supper with my parents one evening, the entire time my husband was complimenting my dad, who had cooked the meal, on how great the good was, including the chicken n dumplings we had devoured.
There we were sitting out on the porch, enjoying the evening air, when our dog game running through the yard carrying what looked like a red wig in her mouth. She was having fun, shaking her head, tossing it up, laying on the ground and wallowing on it. My husband looks at me and says “what in the world does she have?” My dad replies, “why, that’s the feather off that chicken we just had for supper”.
Without leaving his chair, my husband leaned over the edge of the porch and lost every bit of that chicken, and hasn’t been able to enjoy chicken to this day, that was about 20 years ago! Now, before he eats anything at my parents his first question is “did you buy this already killed at the store?” lol.
My story, we lived in the country, then moved to a small town. We lived right on the main street of town, and everything we did was in plain view. Come county fair time I did the 4H chicken scramble, and caught a rooster. I was so proud of myself, however the neighbors were not. There weren’t complaints (yet) but soon Mom and Dad decided it was time for the rooster to go live at grandmas. So we took him, and everytime we visited I was happy to see him, until one day he wasnt there. We had chicken for dinner that day
:-O Yes you can imagine my distress to discover we were eating Roy the Rooster.
As a city girl I should have had my eyes opened when my hubby-to-be was late for our wedding rehearsal because he had to finish weeding the tobacco beds! But, he did show up on time for the wedding, and afterwards I moved from the largest city in Kentucky to six miles outside a small town of around 6,000 people, from a population of around 1 million to a population of 2 in our mobile home on our 65 acre farm, not counting the cows, of course. My college roommate came to visit that summer and has never returned after looking outside her bedroom window and coming face to face with a loud mooo-er. In the early years, some of my most embarassing times concern picking up tractor or truck parts for my hubby. He would tell me the year, make and model and insist that was all I needed to get the right part. Then at the parts’ store, they would inevitably ask questions like “Does it have a dual-carburator?” “Is it flat-head or slant?” I finally solved that problem by having him call the place and tell them exactly what he needed and that his wife would be by to pick it up. That still works after 41 years of marriage. I walk in, the men recognize me and they hand me a box or even carry it out to my car if it is heavy. Hey! Whatever works!
I love all of Tricia’s books, and would love to win! crmcc at setel dot com
I was thinking when I was about 10or 12 yrs old, we went to visit my brother in Denver, Co. I had never been to a city and was amazed at the buildings that told the news going around the OUTSIDE of the building! We came from a small town and didn’t see much of anybody but the neighbors which if you kept visiting up the street, you would know everybody for miles because you talk to your neighbor and he would tell you about his neighbor and so on and so on.. lol So, the bright lights, t-a-l-l buildings and rush of the city blew me away! I loved it but was glad to come home to our little 7’x7′ porch to look out on MY worid. LOL Please enter me in the contest; would love to win the drawing. Thanks!
gammawfox (Lela)
bubbysgammaw@peoplepc.com