Blowin' in the Wind

It's F*U*N Friday!

I love looking at the patterns on
the earth below from high in the sky!

Gorge Marina on
Cortez Island,
British Columbia

And I am so excited about getting to post on Fun Friday, having just returned one week ago from an incredible month long vacation in the San Juan Islands then hopping on up to the Canadian Gulf Islands. For this once-in-a-lifetime adventure, I can give all the glory to my Heavenly Father for arranging it…completely complimentary to Ron and I via his brother and his wife who own the yacht!

Underwater Garden!

 I saw sights I never would have dreamed I'd see and got to do so many

Gorge Marina from the restaurant.
Our yacht, Lone Star Main II, in center of photo
Quite a climb!! And a long way, too!

fun firsts, too! I’d never flown “first class” (flew to Seattle that way and wrote THE END on The Bedwarmer’s Son on the plane!). Never been on a cruise. Never been on the Pacific. Never flown in a small airplane. Never sang Karoke (I KNOW! Can you believe it?) Never had a passport before. Never been to Canada. Never got seasick (Praise the Lord!)

Chatterbox Falls at
Princess Louisa Bay

The boat had mirrors on a lot of
ceilings to make it look bigger

After three ER visits followed by three admissions earlier this year. I was getting the message, God wanted me to slow down. Then this trip came up. I figured things were surely looking up! :)

Now y’all know I’m a busy author lady :) with lots of things to do. New Covers and Reveal Party - August 16th 10.am. CDT with CelebrateLit! And New Releases - The Bedwarmer’s Son coming in September with its CelebrateLit Blog Tour September through the )…but I thought I’d be fine…able to work online a little in the evenings when we moored into ports along the way.

Our bed...front of the yacht;
windows on both sides

View from the dock out our wee window,
looking toward Nanaimo, 

What a shocker to discover the marinas—though wifi was advertised—had terrible reception and connections…much to my dismay.

Princess Louisa Bay, GORGEOUS

The Lone Star Maid II moored
behind Ron and I :)

But we are to rejoice in the Lord always, right? So I did. I mean, every day held new adventures and so much to see and do. I got more exercise than in the whole of last year, I’m sure.  When you’re on a boat, and you dock, to go anywhere, it’s on foot! Though I got way off my weight loss program, I only gained five pounds of the seventy-five I’ve lost this past year! Thanks to all the hoofin’ it, I’m certain!

Arrow points to where we're docked at the Wharf
Street Marina in Victoria from the Otter plane!  

Ready to board this 'Otter' 1st time to
fly in a small plane! Vancouver Island tour!

 But, the answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind...the answer is blowing in the wind :) And so is my hair here. The temperatures were in the 40s at night and 60s during the days--much better than the 100 degree Texas days we missed! And there was always a stiff breeze. I usually kept my hair twisted so it wouldn't tangle. But here...well...it tangled! :)

I pray you all are given the opportunity to go and see and do things you never imagined. And I covet your prayers that I will be obedient and slow down and get more rest! Oh! And I did get thirteen chapters written of Covering Love, book eight in my historical Texas Romance series written on the boat! ;)
I want to testify that God is good ALL the time!

So what have you been doing so far this summer?

Bio: Caryl McAdoo loves God and currently writes four Christian series: the historical ‘Texas Romance’ family saga; a contemporary ‘Red River Romance’; The Generations, her Biblical fiction, and the newest Days of Dread Trilogy for mid-grade readers. A.K.A. the “Singing Pray-er” loves praising with new songs the Lord gives her and prays her story gives God glory! In 2008, she and high school sweetheart-husband Ron moved from DFW to the woods of Red River County. Caryl counts four children and sixteen grandsugars life’s biggest blessings, believing all good things come from the Lord. Besides glorifying Him, she hopes each title also ministers His love, mercy, and grace to its readers. The McAdoos live in Clarksville, the county seat, in the far northeast corner of the Lone Star State with two grandsons.

Latest release: AT LIBERTY TO LOVE, book 7, Texas Romance series / Obedience is better than sacrifice…and trumps romance, no matter how sweet. Profound loneliness propels a childless widow west with the idea of choosing an orphan to share her life. On the way, a fellow traveler takes her by surprise. She never dreams, is unprepared, doesn’t need another man, but can’t get him out of her head…or heart. He’s so perfect—every bit the one she’d searched for as a young woman—except his mistrust of God has erected a wall she cannot breach.
     Marcus Ford blames God and struggles for peace after losing his wife and baby. Not once has he considered another woman could be the answer, but the widow is like none other he’s ever met. He falls hard, but plans are taking him east. Hope dashed sends two hearts into the pit. If only Ford could forgive God or the widow ease up on her adamant resolve.
Will God’s mercy shine a beacon in the fog of despair and prove sufficient to heal their souls? 

Oil Paints in the 1800s

In AT LIBERTY TO LOVE, book seven of the Texas Romance series and my newest release, my hero Marcus Ford is an artist. This gave me cause to investigate the early history of oil painting.

It surprised me to discover that my Marcus couldn’t go and purchase tubes of color at the nearby general store. He couldn’t even order them through the catalogues. Instead, he purchase powered pigments and blended them with his own bases.


The first patent for a pigment with zinc and linseed oil—closet to what we know today as oil paints—came in 1865, the year Marcus met my heroine Rebecca Rusk. So he didn’t have access to it yet, but would in the years soon to come. However my story only covers 1865 and 1866, the years succeeding the Civil War, resulting in the necessity of him mixing his own colors with pigments and a solvent.

Up until that time, the colorings were ground into a fine powder by stone, and men used various vehicles such as linseed, coconut or soy oils to blend their tints into their oil-based paints. Later poppy seed oil became a popular base. Most mixtures also involved petroleum mineral spirits to get the desired consistency, which varied from artist to artist. The spirits were also used to clean the brushes.

The thick, greasy consistency of the paint caused it to dry slowly, allowing pigments to be blended, worked, and corrected right on the canvas. This simplified shading and modeling for the artiest.

In AT LIBERTY TO LOVE, Mary Rachel’s husband Jethro Risen commissions Marcus to paint a family portrait. He used a stretched canvas and painted on an easel from sketches of both the people and backgrounds. He also earned money to pay passage from painting landscapes and ceramics. Selling his early works, including portraits of his dead wife, caused him much regret.

I should think that would be hard for any artist. If I loved a work, I’d want to keep it…or give it away. I’m blessed as a novelist I get to keep it and share it! Same with my new songs the Lord gives to me.

Speaking of which, I hope you’ll visit my YouTube channel and hear a couple of them. Subscribe while you’re there so you won’t miss any of the new ones

BIO: Born in Long Beach, California, Caryl got to Texas at the too-young-to-remember-anything-else age of six months then celebrated her first birthday as a Texan. In Northwest Dallas, the Letot Elementary seventh grader wrote an essay on ‘What will you be doing in 2000?’ Looking into the future, the imaginative girl saw herself as an inter-galactically famous author, streaking from planet to planet to sign books. writers' c     She married her high school sweetheart Ron forty-eight years ago, and they enjoy four children and sixteen grandsugars.
     God directed her to the DFW Writers’ Workshop in ’93 where published authors took Caryl under their wings and mentored her. Six years later, her first non-fiction was published, and for the next nine years, attending weekly read and critique sessions, she averaged a title a year from four presses: two non-fiction, four novels, and three mid-grade chapter books.

     In March, 2008, she and Ron left Irving to follow God’s leading to Red River County in far North East Texas. They founded the Red River Writers’ Workshop, met Mary Sue Seymour--NY agent--at a writers' conference, then The Seymour Agency sold her historical romance VOW UNBROKEN to Howard Books, an division of Simon & Schuster. 

     She's dedicated to serving God through her writing and praise and worship—He frequently gives her new song. Caryl believes all good things are from Him and prays that her books will minister His love, mercy, and grace to all of her readers, young and old.  


Links:  All Books   At Liberty to Love   BookBub   Website   Newsletter   Facebook    Blog   GoodReads    Google+    LinkedIn    Twitter    Pinterest   YouTube Hear the new songs God gives Caryl!