What a Year!

I was just looking back through my calendar and thinking what a strange year this has been.

I published a second book (WISDOMS OF THE LIGHT) in December-January and I joined the Visionary Fiction Alliance.

In February I gave an author interview for a book blogger and she kindly made my book covers into bookmarks. :-)

From March I was pretty quiet on my blog, because mid-year was taken up with other people's books. I did a few reviews, I helped a friend by proofing her book for publishing and I helped someone else ghost-write another book. And in between we had another friend come stay with us for a week's holiday! 

In April one of my poems went to LA with a photography exhibition by Katherine Cooper...

In May another lovely lady (Oribel) made one of my poems into an inspirational video...

...and for a brief while the e-book of FIRST LIGHT was number one on amazon.com! 

In June I published a little book of my poetry and blog stories for friends and family. Including all the poems that had a very busy 2015. ;-) In July we dashed about Scotland with our friend, so there are no July blog posts, but loads of August posts of the photos we took that wonderful summer. 

 

September was a whirlwind of emotions and happenings as I took part in the "60 ways to Peace" and Scotland steamed towards the independance referendum. I can sum up both of those events with a poster from the referendum.

September ended with me more active in politics than I have ever been in my life and I'm not the only one. The Scottish referendum set the country on fire and the blaze is still burning. It has led me to new friendships and helped inspire my Blogblast for Peace entry this November 4th.

I made another of my peace poems into a graphic for Facebook and blogs.And in October I lived up to that poem by joining several groups and organisations involved in positive change. :-)

In November I finally finished a video for my second book, WISDOMS OF THE LIGHT. 

Here's a slide from that video...

This year has had some lows as well, including the sudden death of a friend and fellow-blogger's husband. 

For Jurgis...

 

 

And for all those loved ones (friends or family) that we remember at this time of year...

All you Need is...

I had an epiphany on Christmas day. It made me laugh till I was breathless, which is the way of all great life moments, and that's why I think it's worth sharing. ;-)

It started with frustration and irritation. My dad was trying to reply to a text message on his new mobile phone. The message was from a friend in South Africa and for some unknown reason the reply feature would not work. Hubby has the same phone, but he never texts, so he wasn't able to instantly offer advice.

Eventually, hubby decided to try sending a text message to our home phone, to see if it was perhaps actually sending, but not saying it was sending.  (don't you love electronic gadgets?)

 He was right. Although neither his phone nor dad's stated the message was sent, our home phone rang instantly. Hubby picked up, confirmed it was the message service and hung up. The good news was that dad's message had sent... probably about seven times, since he'd kept trying again when it gave no sign of having sent! Which was the bad news for his friend in Africa who must have wondered why dad wished him Merry Christmas over and over... and over.

And that wasn't the only phone message sending over and over. Our home phone rang again and I was the one to answer. It was a recorded voice from BT telling me we still hadn't listened to our sent message. Because while hubby picked up he never bothered to listen to his own sent text.

I figured I better listen to the thing, or that recorded voice "She" would be back nagging and nagging. I pressed #1, as requested and she told me (in her weird stilted recording voice)...

"Your text message is... uh?"

Uh?

I was so puzzled I asked for a repeat, went back to press #1 again and she said (again)...

"Your text message is... UH?"

I put down the phone and went to find my husband. I asked him what exactly he'd written. He was surprised I'd heard anything. All he'd sent in his test text was one letter of the alphabet.He'd sent an R.

"R?" I asked.

"R!" he replied.

 I started to giggle. Because depending on the emotional emphasis to your voice that one letter takes on an entire different meaning! Try it for yourself.

Say it as I did, and it sounds like a puzzled question, just like the phone recording voice!

 

Say it firmly and it sounds like a confirmation.

Say it in a seductive voice and it suddenly sounds flirtatious.



say it sweetly and you'll sound like an angel.

Best still - say it when you're angry. Give it depth and RoaR from your gut.

Better than a swear word and it won't offend anyone. ;-)

There's an R for every mood and human moment. All my years of talking, writing, and trying to communicate with others and all I needed was an R. It's so simple! All I can say is...

Winter Wonder by The Florin Street Band

Merry Christmas!

glitter-graphics.com

Tree Time!

We put up our Christmas tree and decorations last week, but I haven't got around to putting up photos until today. I used clear lights and red and gold decorations.

I took some close ups of the tree decorations. I made the gingerbread men years ago (15+). They're still my favourites.

I put Santa and the reindeer down by the fireplace this year. :-)

My Favourite Time of Year by The Florin Street Band

A new Christmas song to start this December. I really like this one! :)