Sandra Cox's Blog, page 20

Weekend Wishes

 

IWSG Wednesday and Did You Know

 

 

The firstWednesday of every month is officially IWSG day. IWSG was formed by NinjaCaptain Alex Cavanaugh. Members post about their doubts and fears, discussstruggles and triumphs, and offer words of encouragement to others who are struggling.

 

Twitter handle: @TheIWSG  

Hashtag: #IWSG 

The awesome co-hosts for theMay 1 posting of the IWSG are Victoria Marie Lees, Kim Lajevardi, Nancy Gideon, and Cathrina Constantine!

Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post.These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experienceor story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let itinspire your post if you are struggling with something to say. 

Remember,the question is optional

May 1 question - How do you deal with distractions when you arewriting? Do they derail you?

Yup, pretty much derailed.You?

April/May Reviews in noparticular order.

*Disclaimer. If I run into an occasional typo, I ignore them and don't factorthem into my review.

 

AFESTIVE VERISIMILITUDE by Paul Stanton

Acaptivating take on Christmas…and the devil

 

Thisis the second in the Festive Series and I enjoyed it every bit as much as thefirst.  The author gives a uniqueperspective on the role of the devil, especially on the days before Christmasas he goes through London and gives people who are on the edge of eternaldamnation a chance to change their ways, showing them what awaits them if theydon’t.  And in some cases, just spreadingmagical goodwill. From an old man at Charing Crossing to a good Samaritan atSt. Paul’s Cathedral, each narrative holds its own charm.

Ifound these stories to be well-written with fascinating bits of London’shistory sprinkled throughout. Each tale held a hint of dry humor and a dollopof goodwill and hope.

Recommendedreading that’s not limited to the Christmas season.

Available at Amazon

 

 

THESHADOWSPELL ACADEMY: THE CULLING TRIALS, Book 1 by Shannon Mayer and K. F.Breene

Wild,a young woman growing up poor on a ranch, must face the culling trials of amagical school, if she wants to save her family.

Agreat read for YA fantasy fans. Highly recommended.

THESHADOWSPELL ACADEMY: THE CULLING TRIALS, Book 2 by Shannon Mayer and K. F.Breene

Theculling trials begin and Wild must save not only herself but her group as well,that includes a goblin, a necromancer, and a shapeshifter.

THESHADOWSPELL ACADEMY: THE CULLING TRIALS, Book 3 by Shannon Mayer and K. F.Breene

Inbook three, kids are going missing and it’s up to Wild to find them and savethem.

THESHADOWSPELL ACADEMY: YEAR OF THE CHAMELEON, Book 4 by Shannon Mayer and K.F.Breene

TheCulling Trials are over, but the danger remains.

THESHADOWSPELL ACADEMY: YEAR OF THE CHAMELEON, Book 5 by Shannon Mayer and K.F.Breene

TheShadowkiller and Frost, both chameleons, are both after Wild.

THESHADOWSPELL ACADEMLY: YEAR OF THE CHAMELEON, Book 6 by Shannon Mayer and K.F.Breene

Wildhas learned a shocking discovery about the Shadowkiller. Now she must figureout who is friend and who is foe AND save her family, the academy and thestudents and teachers in it.

Available at Amazon

 

 

MARTINVAN BUREN     by Ted Widmer

VanBuren was the eighth president of the United States and I knew absolutelynothing about him before this read. He was a professional politician and anarchitect of today’s Democratic Party. Those two items were my main takeaways.I really would loved to have known more about his wife and family. They werebarely mentioned, except for his son John who he had high hopes would somedaybe president. Oh, and the other take away, the term OK came from OldKinderhook, Van Buren’s nickname. 

Available at Amazon

 

ZODIACACADEMY: Book 4 SHADOW PRINCESS by Caroline Peckman and Susanne Valenti

Whenthe twins, Orion and Darius enter the shadow world they make a stunningdiscoverDiy.

ZODIACACADEMY: Book 5 CURSED FATES by Caroline Peckman and Susanne Valenti

Thestars are definitely not aligning for the twins and the men they care about.

Iam very torn about this series. The authors have done an amazing job with it.The emotion is raw and elemental. There is conflict aplenty. Great characters. Andthe action just keeps on coming. Definitely my kind of read, EXCEPT its erotic and I just don’t doerotic. Just let me say that by the number of reviews they’ve received thatplenty of folks do and that’s just fine, it’s just not my thing. So, I findmyself flipping through a huge number of pages without reading them. Also, Ifeel the e’s are priced a bit high. By the time you’ve read the whole series,you’ll have spent some coin. That said, I’m still hooked 😊

Available at Amazon 

 

NEWRELEASES

POETRYTREASURERS 4: IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

WordCrafterPoetry Anthology compiled and edited by Kaye Lynne Booth and Robbie Cheadle

Available at Amazon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOM’SMEMORIES AND REFLECTIONS ON MOTHERHOOD - A guided journal - by J.Q. Rose

Available at Amazon

 

 

 

 

 

AND

Did you know, among many others, the phrase 'in a pickle' came from Shakespeare?

For more information:

List of Phrases Shakespeare Invented (thoughtco.com)

 

 

 

 

Ketch-up Day

 How are you? We are perking along here.

The HH got me this T shirt.  Ever feel this way?

AND

Pics of The Eternal Garden

And

A couple critter pics😊

As you can see, not a lot going on here. What about on your end?

Weekend Wishes

 

Writerly Wednesday AND Did You Know

 What is your synonym, sentence or meaning for:

Example:  That speaker was truly bodacious.

 AND

Did you know that MLK paid for Julia Roberts' birth?

 

For more information:

Julia Roberts' birth was paid for by MLK. Yes, really : NPR

 

Ketch-Up Day

 

 

Did you have a good weekend? Having a good week? 

I'd like to share with you an experience a wildlife rehabber I know had years ago.

She had taken in a litter (passel) of orphaned possums. One of the youngsters became friends with the dog. They ate together, slept together, and played together. Friends.

When it was time to re-home the possums, she took them into the woods and let them go. The little possum who was friends with the dog came back. This happened several times before it finally acclimated to the wilds and wasn't seen again.

A couple of years later the dog died unexpectedly and they buried it on the property. That evening, at twilight, my bud (the rehabber) looked out the window and to her stunned surprise saw the possum sitting on the grave. 

I have to believe it came to say goodbye to its old friend.

ANDThe Eternal Garden pics 
 


 

 

What about you, blogger buds? Got any unusual critter stories? Is your garden blooming yet?

Weekend Wishes

 

AND

Writerly Wednesday and Did You Know

 What's your synonym, example or sentence for:

Example:  The protesters staged quite a ballyhoo.

AND

Did you know, dogs can sniff out cancer in humans.

 For more information: The science of sniffs: disease smelling dogs :: Understanding Animal Research

Ketch-up Tuesday

I hope you had a grand weekend and your week is off to a great start.

We scattered Penny's ashes in the backyard where she spent many a happy hour. I made a point to have some of them  scattered in my flowers she'd trammeled:)

Friday we went to see the baby boy graduate from the NC Community College Leadership Program he'd participated in. What about you. What did you do over the weekend?

Now back to our regularly scheduled program of cats and flowers 😄

 

That's all for now, blogger buds. Have a week filled with fun and creativity.

Weekend Wishes