HI THERE! I'M BRIANNE TURCZYNSKI, FREELANCE WRITER, HISTORICAL RESEARCHER, & PERPETUAL SEEKER OF THE HUMAN CONDITION. WELCOME TO MY SPACE WHERE I SHARE THE BOOKS I'M READING, MY SPIRITUAL FINDINGS, FLOWERS IN MY GARDEN, AND LOST STORIES. ALL ARE WELCOME HERE.
Catching up with my old friend today, Mr. W. Somerset Maugham. His short stories are just as entertaining as his novels. This is a collection of some of his earliest work. . . Today I read The Punctiliousness of Don Sebastian. “The duke and his wife, who was not his duchess, lay side by side … Continue reading Seventeen Lost Stories of W. Somerset Maugham
Today is Good Friday! I feel so much joy today I can barely contain myself. My heart feels so full of love, as if it glows. The light of Jerusalem seems to be with me today. Do you ever feel this way? “Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer … Continue reading The Book of Nehemiah on Good Friday
Contemplative Vision by Juliet Benner is a book about contemplating religious art with prayer in mind and using it to expand our prayer life by gazing at the face of God through it, seeing His face and meditating about the art’s purpose/story, and the artist’s time creating it. The book discusses using art as a … Continue reading Contemplative Vision by Juliet Benner
I thought time in quarantine would allow me moments of quiet reflection, new creative projects, and the ability to find myself, but instead I seem to be lost. The anxious energy of the world is such that it has penetrated not only my home but my peaceful mind and spirit. The darkness has sought out … Continue reading The Book of Ezra
Just turned in the manuscript I’ve been writing about the Poletown neighborhood in Detroit for The History Press!! Can’t wait to see it on the shelves!! Time to catch up on my reading and quietly celebrate—alone. .
For months I did my own personal study on tears, because I was crying everyday for various reasons, mostly for other people. Not really knowing what would come of it, I began journaling my experience and realized that my tears for others and tears for my family were a form of contemplative prayer for them. … Continue reading Tears Today
A SONG OF FREEDOM by Alice Mulligan . . . In Cavan of little lakes / As I was walking with the wind / And no one seen beside me there / There came a song into my mind / It came as if the whispered voice / of one, but none of human kind … Continue reading Irish Poem…
Maybe this will be white noise today, but maybe it will be some relief. I recently watched a documentary about Lorna Byrne, the woman who sees angels. She has seen them her whole life. They speak to her, they tell her things. They are with everyone, she says. Everyone is born with a guardian angel … Continue reading Lorna Byrne: The woman who sees angels.
These are my own contemplative thoughts. You might disagree and that's OK! . . "...Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so I may know how many there are." —1 Chronicles 21:2 . . Most of the first part of Chronicles is a genealogical list, which I skipped … Continue reading The First Book of Chronicles
One more tidbit... possibly more as these letters are hilarious. To his best friend, Sir Horace Mann, who apparently had not responded to his letters for two weeks so Walpole became “angry” and wrote that he won’t continue to give news reports to Mann, because “he’s not a newspaper.” And he repeatedly told his friend … Continue reading Another Hilarious Tidbit from the Letters of Horace Walpole
BRIANNE TURCZYNSKI 