The devastating Texas drought of 2011 causes hardships for all living things. Secrets of the past are exposed as the lakes go dry. The skeleton beneath the lake has secrets extending back in history to the suffering endured by German immigrants who escaped the persecution of Bismarck in the 1870's. A modern Texas rancher faces the challenges of the drought as she unravels the secrets that have been hidden beneath the lake for decades. The natural partnership between the rancher, a Tennessee Walking Horse, and a German Shepherd dog is key to surviving the drought and discovering the clues needed to understand the mystery surrounding the skeleton buried beneath the lake. This book is dedicated to the natural partnership between animals and humans. Understanding the theme of romance versus reality is an important aspect of providing forever homes for animals. The contrast between the romance and the reality of developing a natural horse and human partnership is explored in this book.
Life is a journey full of mysterious detours and partnerships that I could never have imagined even in my wildest dreams. This book is the true story of a natural horsemanship journey and the horse - human partnership resulting from one of those unplanned detours. Rocky was a very angry horse when we bought him in 2003. I didn't understand what Rocky was trying to tell me with his expressions; but, I did understand that he could be very aggressive toward humans when he was angry. Rocky was screaming for help and no one was listening. This book is a training manual documenting the natural horsemanship methods that I used to understand Rocky and his innate left brained introverted personality so that we could bond with a powerful horse - human partnership. This book is dedicated to the natural partnership between animals and humans. Understanding the reality of developing a partnership with a difficult horse is essential to providing forever homes for horses that deserve another chance.
In 'Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality (King Arthur)', the editors have masterfully curated a collection that spans the rich tapestry of Arthurian legend, intertwining the valiant narratives of chivalry and adventure that have captivated audiences for centuries. This anthologys strength lies in its diverse literary styles, from the noble prose of Sir Thomas Malory to the engaging retellings by Charles Morris, offering readers a comprehensive view of the enduring appeal and complexity of King Arthur's tales. The selections within highlight the versatile ways in which the Arthurian legends have been approached, reflecting both the medieval imagination and its lasting influence on Western literature. The inclusion of both seminal texts and lesser-known gems provides a unique opportunity to explore the depth and breadth of the Arthurian world. The contributing authors, Sir Thomas Malory and Charles Morris, bring distinct voices to the collection, rooted in different historical periods yet united by their fascination with Arthurian lore. Malory's 15th-century work provides a foundational narrative for the genre, while Morris's 19th-century contributions reflect a Victorian fascination with medievalism. Together, their works exemplify the evolution of Arthurian legend across centuries, embodying shifts in cultural values, literary styles, and historical contexts. This anthology is a remarkable feat, bridging the gap between scholarship and accessibility. It is an essential addition for those eager to explore the multifaceted narratives of Arthurian legend, offering insights into heroism, morality, and the human condition as depicted in these timeless stories. Readers are encouraged to delve into this collection not only for its entertainment value but for a deeper understanding of the cultural and literary significance that the legend of King Arthur continues to hold today.
Journeys on the Silk Road Through Ages—Romance, Legend, Reality is a compelling narrative about the legendary Silk Road, down the ages. It takes us back to the nearly forgotten times when the dusty, long road was discovered by herders and nomads in search of pastures and oases. It was a long trek into the unknown. This gradually turned into the fabled ‘Silk Road’ spanning from China and across Central Asia, with its numerous trade routes, staging posts, caravanserais on the one hand, and the rugged landscape through steppes, across mountains, deserts and nations on the other. The Silk Road stood out like a great artery, that sustained for centuries. The Road with its routes conveyed not only commerce but also ideas and philosophy of the far-east China to the far-flung Roman Empire in the west, drawing from and contributing to other regions and countries that fell along the way – Turkestan, Afghanistan, India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Phoenicia and Anatolia, thus, linking the ancient and the medieval worlds. It was an enterprise of gigantic proportions; the great highway witnessed trade in almost all products, with silk, precious stones, porcelain, metals, and horses as chief commodities. Of these, silk was the foremost merchandise that merchants transported on camel caravans and upon mules from the Land of Serica. Slaves too were traded. Monks and warriors also walked along the trodden path. Merchants exchanged goods which made trade possible bringing in a flow of wealth, while monks and warriors exchanged philosophy, ideas, and statecraft, despite conflicts and wars. The narrative travels back to the times when the road started making history by joining imperial Xi’an with imperial Rome – a distance of more than 8,000kms – during the period of China’s Han Dynasty, sometime around 200 BC. This strangely endured till the present days of Communist China and OBOR, deliberating the Chinese Puzzle. The book is an adventurous amalgamation of history, travel and the unanticipated, and not merely a clichéd travel account. It presents a fascinating story of realms, rulers, travellers and merchants, both ancient and modern, with captivating collection of anecdotes, lores and current realities, from far and wide. Its brilliant web makes the book immensely readable.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anathem, Reamde, and Cryptonomicon comes an exciting and thought-provoking science fiction epic—a grand story of annihilation and survival spanning five thousand years. What would happen if the world were ending? A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space. But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain . . . Five thousand years later, their progeny—seven distinct races now three billion strong—embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown . . . to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth. A writer of dazzling genius and imaginative vision, Neal Stephenson combines science, philosophy, technology, psychology, and literature in a magnificent work of speculative fiction that offers a portrait of a future that is both extraordinary and eerily recognizable. As he did in Anathem, Cryptonomicon, the Baroque Cycle, and Reamde, Stephenson explores some of our biggest ideas and perplexing challenges in a breathtaking saga that is daring, engrossing, and altogether brilliant.
God is alive and personal, but he is also spirit. So having a relationship with God is different than having a relationship with any other person. This study will help you discover how you can grow and nurture your relationship with the living God. You'll learn how to study the Bible as you examine and discuss topics such as Encountering God, Knowing God, Being Sure We Know God, Learning about God, Conversing with God, Worshiping God, Following God. Each chapter has three main sections: Group Study (materials for a sixty- to ninety-minute small-group Bible study); Study Resources (notes and comments for use in both group and personal study); Personal Study (a series of reflection questions for use by group members on their own during the week). Extra help is available at the end of the book in the sections The Art of Leadership (tips on how to lead a small group) and Small Group Leader's Guide (notes on each session). The goal of PILGRIMAGE GUIDES is to understand what it means for us to meet and know Jesus. Through an examination of the spiritual disciplines of Bible study, prayer, and worship, we experience what it means to be a spiritual pilgrim--walking in a new way with God. And we look at how this new way changes the way we view others and live our lives in Christ. PILGRIMAGE GUIDES: Learning to Love God Learning to Love Ourselves Learning to Love Others
The year 1000 A.D. was one of strange history. Its advent threw the people of Europe into a state of mortal terror. Ten centuries had passed since the birth of Christ. The world was about to come to an end. Such was the general belief. How it was to reach its end,—whether by fire, water, or some other agent of ruin,—the prophets of disaster did not say, nor did people trouble themselves to learn. Destruction was coming upon them, that was enough to know; how to provide against it was the one thing to be considered. Some hastened to the churches; others to the taverns. Here prayers went up; there wine went down. The petitions of the pious were matched by the ribaldry of the profligate. Some made their wills; others wasted their wealth in revelry, eager to get all the pleasure out of life that remained for them. Many freely gave away their property, hoping, by ridding themselves of the goods of this earth, to establish a claim to the goods of Heaven, with little regard to the fate of those whom they loaded with their discarded wealth. It was an era of ignorance and superstition. Christendom went insane over an idea. When the year ended, and the world rolled on, none the worse for conflagration or deluge, green with the spring leafage and ripe with the works of man, dismay gave way to hope, mirth took the place of prayer, man regained their flown wits, and those who had so recklessly given away their wealth bethought themselves of taking legal measures for its recovery. Such was one of the events that made that year memorable. There was another of a highly different character. Instead of a world being lost, a world was found. The Old World not only remained unharmed, but a New World was added to it, a world beyond the seas, for this was the year in which the foot of the European was first set upon the shores of the trans-Atlantic continent. It is the story of this first discovery of America that we have now to tell. In the autumn of the year 1000, in a region far away from fear-haunted Europe, a scene was being enacted of a very different character from that just described. Over the waters of unknown seas a small, strange craft boldly made its way, manned by a crew of the hardiest and most vigorous men, driven by a single square sail, whose coarse woollen texture bellied deeply before the fierce ocean winds, which seemed at times as if they would drive that deckless vessel bodily beneath the waves. This crew was of men to whom fear was almost unknown, the stalwart Vikings of the North, whose oar-and sail-driven barks now set out from the coasts of Norway and Denmark to ravage the shores of southern Europe, now turned their prows boldly to the west in search of unknown lands afar. Shall we describe this craft? It was a tiny one in which to venture upon an untravelled ocean in search of an unknown continent,—a vessel shaped somewhat like a strung bow, scarcely fifty feet in length, low amidships and curving upwards to high peaks at stem and stern, both of which converged to sharp edges. It resembled an enormous canoe rather than aught else to which we can compare it. On the stem was a carved and gilt dragon, the figurehead of the ship, which glittered in the bright rays of the sun. Along the bulwarks of the ship, fore and aft, hung rows of large painted wooden shields, which gave an Argus-eyed aspect to the craft. Between them was a double row of thole-pins for the great oars, which now lay at rest in the bottom of the boat, but by which, in calm weather, this "walker of the seas" could be forced swiftly through the yielding element.
Colonel Ridge Zirkander isn’t the model of military professionalism—he has a tendency to say exactly what’s on his mind, and his record has enough demerits to wallpaper the hull of an airship—but as the best fighter pilot in the Iskandian army, he’s used to a little leniency from his superiors. Until he punches the wrong diplomat in the nose and finds himself issued new orders: take command of a remote prison mine in the inhospitable Ice Blades Mountains. Ridge has never been in charge of anything larger than a flier squadron—what’s he supposed to do with a frozen fortress full of murderers and rapists? Not to mention the strange woman who shows up right before he arrives… Sardelle Terushan wakes from three hundred years in a mage stasis shelter, only to realize that she is the last of the Referatu, the sorcerers who once helped protect Iskandia from conquerors. Their subterranean mountain community was blown up in a treacherous sneak attack by soldiers who feared their power. Everyone Sardelle ever knew is dead, and the sentient soulblade she has been bonded to since her youth is buried in the core of the mountain. Further, what remains of her home has been infested by bloodthirsty miners commanded by the descendants of the very soldiers who destroyed her people. Sardelle needs help to reach her soulblade—her only link to her past and her last friend in the world. Her only hope is to pretend she’s one of the prisoners while trying to gain the commander’s trust. But lying isn’t her specialty, especially when the world has changed so much in the intervening centuries, and if Colonel Zirkander figures out who she truly is, he’ll be duty-bound to sentence her to the only acceptable punishment for sorcerers: death.
