Rose Anderson's Blog, page 31

Fun Day Sunday!

If you’ve been here before then you know Sundays on my blog are all about wonder and smiles. In honor of mentally kicking back once in a while, Sundays are Fun Days! Each Sunday, visitors will find a fun, interesting, or unusual something here. I’m a nerd with a complex sense of humor and absurd wit. It could literally be anything.

This guy just makes me smile. Some of his tips were a surprise, such as learning there are several AAA batteries inside of a 9-volt. Who knew? Some of his survival tips for the “zombie apocalypse” are pretty useful too. Butter candles and mayonnaise lamp oil? Very useful. You don’t want to sit in the dark during a Zombie apocalypse. lol  :D

Tomorrow ~ more weather deities.

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For 100 days, I’ll post something from my chosen topic: Clichés.

There are 86 entries to come.

Here’s a cliché for today:

Time flies when you’re having fun  :)

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Today is Author Desiree Holt’s blog day

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

The June contest is on Romance Books ’4′ Us and the theme is wedding. This month’s contest will have 2 winners who’ll each receive a $50 gift card for Amazon/B&N and a $10 gift card toward books from Secret Cravings Publishing. The rest of the prizes will be split between winners (randomly chosen by RB4U). http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Love Waits in Unexpected Places - Scorching Samplings of Unusual Love Stories

Sample my love stories for free!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/333971

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Blow ye winds…

As long as my bad weather lasts, or longer if this topic is interesting enough, I’ll be discussing the ancient gods and goddesses of many cultures who were said to influence the weather. I’ve started my series with the Theoi Meteoroi — the weather gods of Ancient Greece.

Here’s another~

Anemi ~

I’ve mentioned Boreas the North Wind twice now. Today’s post is about his extended family –the Anemi. The Anemi were the winged gods who controlled or used the winds and Greek winds came in all shapes and sizes. These gods and goddesses were often depicted as having either human bodies or horse bodies. I’ll post more on the Anemi next week.

Today I’m talking about the four directional winds. Boreas you know, and his brothers Euros the East Wind, Notos the South Wind, and Zephryos the West Wind. Their activity was closely connected to the seasons. Boreas breathed his cold wintery breath, Zephyros brought on spring breezes, and brother Notos blew in the summer storms. Euros, on the other hand, was the only one of the brothers not associated with weather in Greece.

We don’t get many easterly winds here and when we do it usually blows in a whopper of a storm. The east wind, not Euros per se, has been involved in some pretty epic things. Moses summoned the east wind to part the Red Sea. Synonymous with change, when the east wind blows, it really blows.

Unrelated to Greek mythology but interesting enough to add, I did find a few literary references, not of Euros per se, but to the east wind itself. Here’s a little bit from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — a conversation between his characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson on the eve of WWI:

“There’s an east wind coming, Watson.”

“I think not, Holmes. It is very warm.”

“Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age. There’s an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it’s God’s own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared.”

Tomorrow ~ Fun Day Sunday!

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For 100 days, I’ll post something from my chosen topic: Clichés.

There are 87 entries to come.

Here’s a cliché for today:

See which way the wind blows

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Today is Author Renee Vincent’s blog day

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

The June contest is on Romance Books ’4′ Us and the theme is wedding. This month’s contest will have 2 winners who’ll each receive a $50 gift card for Amazon/B&N and a $10 gift card toward books from Secret Cravings Publishing. The rest of the prizes will be split between winners (randomly chosen by RB4U). http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Author Jane Leopold Quinn has a new love story out this week ~

A Promise at Dawn

http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Dawn-Jane-Leopold-Quinn-ebook/dp/B00KX8KGL2/

Review~

Ms Quinn paints a detailed portrait of a woman re-awakening after the loss of her husband. Her emotional state is handled quite deftly. This story has pathos, passion and humor woven together. Gil and Faye’s story unfolds quickly and it’s a scorcher.



Yes that’s true.  :)

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Love Waits in Unexpected Places - Scorching Samplings of Unusual Love Stories

Sample my love stories for free!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/333971

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All in the family

As long as my bad weather lasts, or longer if this topic is interesting enough, I’ll be discussing the ancient gods and goddesses of many cultures who were said to influence the weather. I’ve started my series with the Theoi Meteoroi — the weather gods of Ancient Greece.

Here’s another~

Chione or Khione – both pronounced with a K and silent h

Chione/Khione was the daughter of the god mentioned in yesterday’s post — Boreas the North Wind and Oreithyia, the lady of cold mountain winds. She was also the goddess of snow, in fact her name comes from the Greek word for snow. As is it for her mother, several immortal figures bear this name. That muddies the waters a bit research-wise. Very few myths actually mention this particular goddess, though the name does turn up for the others.

In some stories Khione the snow goddess becomes the lover of Poseidon and bears him a son. So afraid of her father’s wrath, she throws the babe into the sea. Poseidon rescues the boy, names him Eulompus , and takes him to Ethiopia to be raised by his daughter Benthesikyme. Eulompus thrives and grows up to be one of the first priests of Demeter and also one of the founders of the Eleusinian Mysteries. From here his story takes a fascinating direction, but I won’t go there today.

In one story Khione bears a child by an unknown man and the Fates kill her immediately after her daughter is born. In another story, Khione isn’t the daughter of Boreas, but rather his consort. In yet another version, because Khione was raped by a peasant in Egypt, Zeus commanded Hermes to transport her to the clouds. When he did, snow fell on the desert.

Tomorrow ~ more!

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For 100 days, I’ll post something from my chosen topic: Clichés.

There are 88 entries to come.

Here’s a cliché for today:

A snowball’s chance in hell

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Today’s guest -  Author Denyse Bridger

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

The June contest is on Romance Books ’4′ Us and the theme is wedding. This month’s contest will have 2 winners who’ll each receive a $50 gift card for Amazon/B&N and a $10 gift card toward books from Secret Cravings Publishing. The rest of the prizes will be split between winners (randomly chosen by RB4U). http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Today is release day for A Guy and A Girl

Author Victoria Adams newest contemporary romance.

Check out the tagline:

Lies, deceits and secrets – not a good way to begin a relationship.

Ah, now I’m curious. :)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L2GRD1U

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Love Waits in Unexpected Places - Scorching Samplings of Unusual Love Stories

Sample my love stories for free!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/333971

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The goddess of cold mountain winds

We’re having a stormy week in my corner of the Midwest and it’s given me an idea for a short series. As mentioned yesterday, humans have been at the mercy of weather since the very beginning. Imagine hearing thunder roar overhead. How could you not picture something huge and powerful stomping through the heavens?

Fear of the unknown being what it is, I’m sure it didn’t take long for all manner of  weather deities to appear on the scene. If you knew who your gods were, you could make offerings and pray they’d go easy on you where extreme weather was concerned.

As long as my bad weather lasts, or longer if this topic is interesting enough, I’ll discuss the ancient gods and goddesses who were said to influence the weather. I started my series yesterday with the Theoi Meteoroi of Ancient Greece — the weather gods.

Here’s another~

The flight of Boreas with Oreithyia William Mitchell – 1893

Oreithyia

Apparently Oreithyia was a common name to the ancients as several figures go by it.

The Oreithyia who influenced the weather was a mortal woman, a princess born to King Erechtheus of Athens.  As the story goes, she caught the eye of Boreas the North Wind and the blustery god attempted to woo her. Here’s where the story splits…some versions have him stealing her away and forcing himself on her. Another version has him stealing her away and she falls to her death.  Nothing to do at that point but give her immortality.

However it was, she eventually gave Boreas four children: two daughters Chione and Cleopatra (not the famous one), and two sons with wings like their father named Calais and Zetes (the Boreads). Both sons joined the Argonauts on the quest for the golden fleece.

Oreithyia later becomes the goddess of cold mountain winds. She’s also credited with helping her husband wreak weather havoc on the barbarian ships during the Persian War.

Tomorrow ~ more!

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For 100 days, I’ll post something from my chosen topic: Clichés.

There are 89 entries to come.

Here’s a cliché for today:

Don’t rain on my parade.

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Today is Molly Daniels/Kenzie Michaels’ blog day.

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

The June contest is on Romance Books ’4′ Us and the theme is wedding. This month’s contest will have 2 winners who’ll each receive a $50 gift card for Amazon/B&N and a $10 gift card toward books from Secret Cravings Publishing. The rest of the prizes will be split between winners (randomly chosen by RB4U). http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Love Waits in Unexpected Places - Scorching Samplings of Unusual Love Stories

Sample my love stories for free!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/333971

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A new series ~ Rain Gods & Goddesses

It’s an achy day today. That’s one thing that drives me crazy, living with rheumatoid arthritis like I do. There are days when my best laid plans simply don’t mesh with my physical reality. Sometimes low pressure systems move slowly as they pull the rain along. The bigger they are, the more they drag it seems. The more they drag, the more they bother the nerves in arthritic joints. When the barometric pressure drops immediately as the front moves in, joint pain tends to rise. Blah. The old dog and I will spend the day not moving much and feeling sorry for ourselves.  ;)

This picture from yesterday’s news shows rare double or twin tornadoes that struck Nebraska. My heart goes out to those affected. I witnessed one of those once but the twin was small and tracked ahead of the larger one and teased the ground with the tip of its tail. It may not have been the monstrous or menacing twister seen in this image, but for a person with a decided tornado anxiety (like me) who was standing in the open with no place to take cover, just seeing two at once funneling down from the sky was more than enough.

Humans have been at the mercy of weather since day one. Thinking on this fact, a few weather deities come to mind. While this week of bad weather lasts or beyond if this topic is interesting enough, I’ll discuss the ancient gods and goddesses who were said to influence the weather.  I’ll begin with the Theoi Meteoroi of Ancient Greece — the weather gods.

Hecatoncheires

The three Hecatoncheires were giants born among the first children fathered by Uranus the sky and born to Gaea the earth mother. And all of the first children had forms and faces only a mother could love. (Gaea later birthed the beautiful Titans.) Uranus thought his first children all hideous to look upon, so he forced the giant brothers and the rest back into Gaea’s womb. Of course this upset her greatly for she loved all of her children equally.

The giant Hecatoncheires– Aegaeon, Cottus, and Gyges, each possessed 50-heads. They also had one hundred-arms apiece. (Their name actually means 100 hands.)



When Zeus overthrew his Titan father Cronus, he released the Hecatoncheires. They joined their nephew Zeus in battle and gained him victory over the Titans. The edge in the conflict no doubt came from the trio’s 100 arms flinging three hundred boulders at a time. 

After, Zeus had the Titans imprisoned behind the gates of Tartarus, and placed his giant uncles to guard them. From their post they influenced the weather, earthquakes, and roiling seas, and became the gods of violent storms.

Tomorrow ~ more!

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For 100 days, I’ll post something from my chosen topic: Clichés.

There are 90 entries to come.

Here’s a cliché for today:

Any port in a storm

 

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Book Hooks

http://calliopesotherwritingtablet.blogspot.com/

Horny Hump Day

http://theancillarymuse.blogspot.com/

Hump Day Blurb Share

(open promo opportunity)

http://exquisitequills.blogspot.com/

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Today we have guest Author Suz deMello.

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

The June contest is on Romance Books ’4′ Us and the theme is wedding. This month’s contest will have 2 winners who’ll each receive a $50 gift card for Amazon/B&N and a $10 gift card toward books from Secret Cravings Publishing. The rest of the prizes will be split between winners (randomly chosen by RB4U). http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Love Waits in Unexpected Places - Scorching Samplings of Unusual Love Stories

Sample my love stories for free!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/333971

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In the eye of the storm

I won’t be online much today. I’m taking advantage of a break in the bad weather to walk the dogs and fire off a quick blog.

<<< Take a gander at that image. I’m in the doughnut hole. In the eye of the storm. Did you ever just feel trapped? lol That mess to the west is nearly overhead. The mess to the east came in the night. It’s been raining here since the wee hours and storms are expected all. day. long.  Iowa had golf ball-sized hail. I’ve seen quarter-sized hail but never larger, other than in photos. A few weeks ago I saw pictures of cars with their windshields smashed by baseball-sized hail. Can you imagine? It makes me worry about farm animals and wildlife.

I wondered how hail got to be that size and found a few explanations. This hail link says it all without heavy science.  

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For 100 days, I’ll post something from my chosen topic: Clichés.

There are 91 entries to come.

Here’s a cliché for today:

It’s raining cats and dogs

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Today is Author Jean Hart Stewart’s blog day.

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

The June contest is on Romance Books ’4′ Us and the theme is wedding. This month’s contest will have 2 winners who’ll each receive a $50 gift card for Amazon/B&N and a $10 gift card toward books from Secret Cravings Publishing. The rest of the prizes will be split between winners (randomly chosen by RB4U). http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Today, EQ member and Author Michelle Zurlo releases the long anticipated second novel in her Kiss Me series. KISS ME BY MOONLIGHT

An Edgy Contemporary Mainstream Romance (with Heat) Check it out!

http://www.amazon.com/Kiss-Me-Moonlight-Book-ebook/dp/B00L1MSPPS/

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Love Waits in Unexpected Places - Scorching Samplings of Unusual Love Stories

Sample my love stories for free!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/333971

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Singeing my wings…again

I have yet to read George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, the story adapted into the HBO series Game of Thrones. Who has time for multi-book sagas anymore? I certainly don’t.  I have a stack of books waiting as it is. One day I’ll read them because I am a Game of Thrones fan. I admit it.

The complex story on screen pulls me in again and again despite the fact I must look away when my screen fills with death and loss. After last season’s bloody finale, I said I was done. Then I wondered about the characters and had to see what was happening  in their lives. The same thing happened after the first season, and the second. Intrigued I’d watch, feel revulsion and vow no more, then I’d wonder about those characters and come back in. Like a moth coming to the flame to get its wings singed again and again, that’s me. Despite the darkness, I’m drawn to the light that exists in the tale because I’m a sucker for a hero quest.

In the Game of Thrones story, the bastard nobleman Jon Snow is the reluctant hero and his character illustrates the traditional hero in a hero’s quest more than any other. The hero always steps up to the plate for the greater good. Even when death and personal tragedy waits there. Now that I have a pretty good idea who he is, I’ll continue to singe my wings to watch his life and destiny unfold.

Heroes and anti-heroes.

My son is an author and we talk writing all the time. He laughs at me when I say I can’t kill off my beloved characters and cautions me against writing the “Mary Sue”. This Mary Sue character is written to be a sacrificial lamb, his/her sole purpose is to die so beloved characters don’t have to. A classic example can be found in Star Trek. They’re usually wearing red shirts. lol If the “away mission” has people wearing red shirts, expect them to be eaten by an alien or blown into space. To some, the Mary Sue is the perfect flawless character– a sort of wish fulfillment by the author. Yeah I can see that too.  We writers can’t help but insert our ideals into our characters. I do. People who know me can see me in my novels if they look hard enough.

My son is all for upping the stakes in a story and using sacrifice to make a point. It took him five years to convince me to watch Breaking Bad. Though reluctant, I gave the saga a go then lost interest after two seasons. A meth-cooking, drug-riddled world of destroyed lives doesn’t entertain me for long. But my son convinced me it was worth my time to check it out because of the “writing genius” involved. I admit it was good storytelling regardless of a repugnant storyline. He just wanted me to “see the anti-hero in action”. I knew what a hero was, all of my novels have them. But an anti-hero? Anti-heroes are big right now apparently, but with no clear image to go by I sought the dictionary.

The World English Dictionary defines the anti-hero as a central character in a novel, play, etc, who lacks the traditional heroic virtues.

I recognized what an anti-hero was after reading the definition. They’re the one you find yourself rooting for regardless of their dubious qualities. Robert Louis Stevenson’s Long John Silver is one of these anti-heroes. So are Scarlett O’Hara, Severus Snape, Captain Jack Sparrow, and Game of Thrones’ Tyrion Lanister. They’re sort of nebulous-personality persons. You can’t quite decide if they’re good or bad, but somehow they strike a chord and you mysteriously end up cheering for them.

Last night’s Game of Thrones was as expected — colored red with pain and loss. And once again I couldn’t look away.



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For 100 days, I’ll post something from my chosen topic: Clichés.

There are 92 entries to come.

Here’s a cliché for today:

A necessary evil.

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Today our guest is Author Kat Martin.

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

The June contest is on Romance Books ’4′ Us and the theme is wedding. This month’s contest will have 2 winners who’ll each receive a $50 gift card for Amazon/B&N and a $10 gift card toward books from Secret Cravings Publishing. The rest of the prizes will be split between winners (randomly chosen by RB4U). http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Love Waits in Unexpected Places - Scorching Samplings of Unusual Love Stories

Sample my love stories for free!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/333971

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Fun Day Sunday

If you’ve been here before then you know Sundays on my blog are all about wonder and smiles. In honor of mentally kicking back once in a while, Sundays are Fun Days! Each Sunday, visitors will find a fun, interesting, or unusual something here. I’m a nerd with a complex sense of humor and absurd wit. It could literally be anything.

Have you ever seen poi spinning or fire dancing? It’s my understanding this skill originates with the  Māori people of New Zealand. It consists of graceful dance movements enhanced by twirling lengths of rope or chain that have little blazing kerosene-soaked wicks at the ends. We’ve had dancers spin fire to our drumming and what a dramatic sight it is after dark. I’d love to learn how to spin fire. I have a practice set that is basically a pair of tennis balls on ropes. Alas, I’m not that graceful and my timing starts out ok but quickly falls apart. I’ve coshed myself in the head more than once. Practice makes perfect or just gives you a lumpy head. lol

Here are two interesting clips for today — the first with fire poi and the next with the gentler Buugeng.

I’m thinking Buugeng is safer than poi spinning. Though I could end up breaking my thumbs. Perhaps I’ll just stick with making the music so other people can dance.

; )

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Happy Father’s Day to all you dads, uncles, grandpas, and other wonderful men who care for, mentor, and nurture.

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For 100 days, I’ll post something from my chosen topic: Clichés.

There are 93 entries to come.

Here’s a cliché for today:

Burn the midnight oil

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Today is Author Fran Lee’s blog day.

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

The June contest is on Romance Books ’4′ Us and the theme is wedding. This month’s contest will have 2 winners who’ll each receive a $50 gift card for Amazon/B&N and a $10 gift card toward books from Secret Cravings Publishing. The rest of the prizes will be split between winners (randomly chosen by RB4U). http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Love Waits in Unexpected Places - Scorching Samplings of Unusual Love Stories

Sample my love stories for free!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/333971

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Honey Moons & Circuits

“The night walked down the sky with the moon in her hand.”

~Frederic Lawrence Knowles

What a wonderfully evocative quote.

Last night’s full moon was the Honey Moon. Named so for the amber color we see at moon rise.  The celestial orb takes on a honey glow because it shines through the thick layers of atmosphere at the horizon as it sits at one of the farthest points south on its orbit.

We didn’t see moon rise and witness Night walking down the sky with the moon in her hand, but last night as we left our friends’ house, the moon shone bright between dramatically moonlit clouds. I just love when it does that ghostly galleon thing. I refer to The Highwayman – a poem by Alfred Noyes (1906).

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,

The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,

The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,

And the highwayman came riding—

Riding—riding—

The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

Boy does that imagery tickle my imagination. It always has. That was one of my favorite poems when I was a child because the illustrations that went with it were just perfect. I can’t believe I found a page from the old Childcraft book online to show you. Proof again that the internet eventually has everything.

I mention the full moon because tonight we’re hosting our second Full Moon Labyrinth Walk of the year. Back in 2001, we built an 11 circuit Chartres-style labyrinth (patterned after the Chartres Cathedral labyrinth in France) one stone at a time — 1004 stones to be exact. I’ll do a post sometime on the various studies done that show “for a majority of walkers (66% – 82%), labyrinth walking increased levels of relaxation, clarity, peace, centeredness, openness, quiet, and reflectiveness, and reduced levels of anxiety, stress, and agitation. The experience of labyrinth walking supports recovery, renewal, integration of the whole person, and facilitating a sense of harmony.”

There’s just something about the switch backs on the path that do a left/right massage on the brain. Our reasons for building it weren’t to get those results, they’re just a bonus. I’ll share why another time.

Our Chartres is large enough to be seen with Google Earth. I’m of two minds on that. On one hand how cool to have your creation seen from a satellite and projected around the world. On the other hand how creepy and invasive to have your creation seen from a satellite and projected around the world! Here’s a winter view from orbit. Notice the size compared to the garage. It’ll take us about an hour to light the candles that illuminate every turn and corner. Imagine it outlined by little flickers of light at night.
:)



My fingers are crossed for a breezy evening even though that may snuff out some candles as soon as we light them. A nice breeze will keep the mosquitoes at bay though. There’s no contest as far as I’m concerned — lighted walkway vs. newly hatched mosquitoes. Like I said, no contest. But the weather is on my side tonight, not theirs. The forecast says breezy and a cool 55°. I couldn’t ask for better. I’m sure we’ll have a lot of walkers.

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For 100 days, I’ll post something from my chosen topic: Clichés.

There are 94 entries to come.

Here’s a cliché for today:

Walk on the wild side

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Today is Author Marianne Stephens’ blog day.

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

The June contest is on Romance Books ’4′ Us and the theme is wedding. This month’s contest will have 2 winners who’ll each receive a $50 gift card for Amazon/B&N and a $10 gift card toward books from Secret Cravings Publishing. The rest of the prizes will be split between winners (randomly chosen by RB4U). http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Love Waits in Unexpected Places - Scorching Samplings of Unusual Love Stories

Sample my love stories for free!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/333971

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Name That Tune

I may have mentioned here or there that I live on a hill surrounded by acres of wildness. The land around my home actually consists of several complex biomes, that is, I am surrounded by natural communities with specific and particular plant and animal species living in them. I have just about everything here in this corner of my state– oak hickory woodlands and barrens, savannas and prairie. I’m also surrounded by wetlands,  bogs, marshes, and rivers. Everything else tying these biomes together is tucked in between. Rolling farm lands and pastured hillsides are my neighbors. I won’t linger on the gravel pits and urban sprawl just minutes away from my door.

We have so many birds here from rare to common, both large and small, colorful and drab. And I have my favorites. Were I to make a life list, one of those check it off when you see it, lists of birds, I’d have just shy of 400 species in the acres around my home. Some live year round, some are just passing through. Most come to nest and raise a brood or two before flying north or south for the winter. We even have bald eagles and whooping cranes on occasion. It’s worth mentioning how several years back, the guy who flies the ultra light aircraft with the whooping cranes followed the flock here. What a job he has. The birds bedded down for the night beside the marsh and we took him to dinner.  I just love when people share their stories and add to the tapestry of my life. My husband and I both collect stories. Retelling them keeps them alive.  :)

Have you ever heard a bird song and wondered what kind of bird was singing?

You’ve probably guessed by now, given my wide range of interests, that I am a life-long learner. I just love learning new things. One of the nicest things about my husband is he understands this about me and goes to lengths to find new things we can share. When he came across a terrific online program designed to teach how to identify bird songs quickly, he sent me the link with one sentence — “Look up potoo.”

lol You don’t hear that everyday!

This nifty tutorial, one of several interesting bird-related things from Cornell Lab of Ornithology , quickly teaches you how to identify bird song by giving you a visual graph to compare to the sound you’re hearing. This thing is very cool. In the end, you should be able to identify at least 50 birds by their songs.

I haven’t discovered just yet if this tutorial can be set up to learn the birds by region. The South American Potoo sounds great (and looks freaky), but bird songs east of the Mississippi would serve me better.

If you enjoy wild birds, give it a try. You won’t be disappointed.

http://biology.allaboutbirds.org/features/bird-song-hero/bird-song-hero-tutorial

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For 100 days, I’ll post something from my chosen topic: Clichés.

There are 95 entries to come.

Here’s a cliché for today:

Birds of a feather flock together

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Today is Author Cindy Spencer Pape’s blog day.

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

The June contest is on Romance Books ’4′ Us and the theme is wedding. This month’s contest will have 2 winners who’ll each receive a $50 gift card for Amazon/B&N and a $10 gift card toward books from Secret Cravings Publishing. The rest of the prizes will be split between winners (randomly chosen by RB4U). http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Love Waits in Unexpected Places - Scorching Samplings of Unusual Love Stories

Sample my love stories for free!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/333971

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