NEWSFLASH - Books and Birds

Years back I used to do a monthly NEWSFLASH update on life. The idea was started by another blogger, Jeff. I haven't used the concept in ages, but thought I'd give it a go again. :-) I'm changing one thing - I'm bunching up categories.

Nature Entertainment Wise words Spirit Family Lessons Art Smiles Health

Nature and Entertainment

The biggest entertainment this Spring has been the birds. We have at least four sparrows nesting in our roof as well as two crow families on either side of us. And then there's that very tame seagull, who keeps hoping for a snack...

Our garden is never quiet!

Wise words and Spirit 

My wise words always come from another blogger. This time I'm quoting the great queen of Blog4Peace, Mimi.This is from her gorgeous post, "What I Know About Love."

"Sometimes love comes to unravel us.
Let it."

 Family 

Not much to update. We all have the flu at the moment. Beyond coughing, sniffing and groaning we're enjoying a lovely warm sunny June as much as we can. 

Lessons and Art 

This past week I published a small book of poems. It's a simple book, made mostly so that those friends who like my poems will stop nagging. ;-) The longest part, and most fun, was creating black and white art to go along with the poems. Here's an example...

  This is Corrie, our little wild crow friend, from one of her baby photos...

 Smiles and Health

Biggest smile this month is also book related. I had a fantastic review of my book, First Light.You can find the entire review on So Bookalicious. Here's a small quote:

You know the feeling when you’ve only read a couple of pages of a book and you think “this book will blow away my mind”? That’s the exact feeling I had when I read FirstLight. 

This book made me feel overwhelmed at times in a good way because of its complexity. Michelle Frost is a master in developing plotlines....

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit for June

Happy first day of June!

June birthstone is Pearl.

Birth flower is Rose.

The zodiac signs for June are Gemini and Cancer.

A Bird's Eye View...

Of a bird's eye!

And who exactly does this beady staring eye belong to? A very bossy and rather overly tame herring gull. We call it "Quark", because that's the noise it makes when its happy.

Here is Quark, standing looking in the kitchen window while I try to wash the dishes.

It's hard to concentrate on dish washing when someone is STARING at you like that!

Even worse when they start to impatiently tap on the window and "tut-tut" because you haven't noticed them and offered a nice snack of stale bread or left-overs.

We have not been encouraging Quark. We are not feeding him/her, but that hasn't helped much. Quark is convinced we are wonderful people ready to share our food as long as we are reminded of hungry herring gulls. At breakfast time... Quark is there, peering in the dining room windows. During the day you'll find Quark trying to act casual as he/she stands on the garden bench (better view of the kitchen) or potters about the garden.

He or she? I have no idea, but Quark is fond of gathering twigs and moss for nesting... then forgetting it in the birdbath or one of our pot plants. A she, maybe? The bossiness and constant nagging certainly feels female! Maybe we should rename her  Quarkina or Quarkette.

Earth Mother ~ Planting New Seeds

A poem I wrote a few years ago, Earth Mother Prayer, has been used by the very talented Oribel Divine to create this lovely new video.

Do go look at Oribel's website and YouTube page. Her work is inspirational. :-)

Photos and Fun

I found some photos I took last summer that I'd forgotten on the camera. They were taken in Nairn, by the beach. I tacked them together to make a panorama shot. :) This time I haven't put it up on my blog. It's a little on the large size, as a panorama, so I've put it up on my Flikr page, along with photos I've used as banners on this blog over the years.

You can view all of the Scottish photo album HERE

it got me thinking... this could be fun and useful. So I put all my Blogblast for Peace art into another photo album and then did the same with the pictures I've made for my books over the years.

Blogblast Album

First Light Saga Album

I'm Number One :)

Well... in a manner of speaking. My book, First Light, is #1 in the Free Listings Best Seller ranking (ebooks) on Amazon.com...

For the next three days First Light will be available as a free download (worldwide on Amazon Kindle) before going back to the regular promotional price for the rest of the month.



It's also lying 1st in Amazon in Canada, 4th in the UK, and 2nd in Spain. Spain? Wow... :-)

Got to have some upbeat music to celebrate! 

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit for May

Happy first day of May!

May birthstone is Emerald.

Birth flower is Lily of the Valley.

The zodiac signs for May are Taurus and Gemini.