Jaye Marie's Blog, page 10

End of the road…

This isn’t me, I wasn’t laughing!

I might have known I would end up here again…

Turns out the excrutiating pain in my back and legs, is down to a seriously compressed nerve in my spine. I immediately thought the worst, that surgery was likely.

But there is a drug that can slowly kill an awkward nerve. Along with miles of physiotherapy, of course.

I must spend a few days in hospital while they make sure they have the answer. What seems to be the problem, is they cannot find any reflexes in my legs. They seem dead and very heavy. They are worried that I could be on the verge of paralysis.

Hell of a way to spend the weekend…

Back soon! Jaye

A Tribute to my Sister…

My sister has been an angel, looking after me in my hours of need. This is my tribute to the genius that is my sister, starting with one of my favourite poems…

Anita has been taking such good care of me, better than my mother ever did.

More patient than I have ever seen her. She knows how much I appreciate her, and now the Universe knows too…

Jaye

What does normal look like?

I am trying to look and feel like a normal person today…

Failing miserably of course, as I can’t walk, but the thought is there.

I saw a flash of green through my window this morning. Such a glorious colour.

Spring is well under way, isn’t it?

Then I caught the blue of my water bottle, gleaming in the light, as if trying to tell me something. My memory has more holes than a colander, so it would have to try very hard.

I have been talking to my very wrinkled koi fish lately, on my wrinkled old hand and it occurred to me that he hasn’t been outside to play for ages, instead of keeping me company in here.

I see the consultant this week, and I wonder if he has figured out what’s wrong with me yet?

So far, I have refused to consider that there might be another way out of this, but something has woken up and wants to be heard…

PS I have had to relearn everything, so please be patient with me?

I hate to say this, but I have done it again… #Pain

I hate to say this, but I have done it again…

I always seem to suffer after most of the jobs I do, especially the ones that push me to the limit of my strength and patience.

I keep being told that I am 8o and not superwoman anymore, but it’s so hard to ignore the things I have always managed to do. Our family’s long-standing joke is that ‘the impossible jobs are always Jaye’s jobs’.

I did expect my muscles to have a bit of a moan the day after the new bed/couch arrived, but I wasn’t prepared for the pain that greeted me when I opened my eyes the following morning.

I seem to have either pulled or twisted something in my right hip, which is causing pain to course down my leg to my knee. Despite copious amounts of stretching, I can’t seem to release it.

I cannot sit, stand or lie down without this pain, and when I could feel the beginnings of muscle spasms, I knew I had really done it this time.

The thing about intense pain, it renders everything else obsolete. Thinking of any kind just isn’t happening, much to my annoyance. I am taking a hefty dose of turmeric, and some magnesium to offset the spasms. I stretch regularly, even though it hurts like hell.

Three days of this and I think I might be losing my mind, but it can’t last forever. My body will heal itself eventually.

Today, I am determined to have a normal working day, and I hope for a much better weekend!

Why Write Short Stories

Why Write Short Stories

Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver #Review #Epic Fantasy #Fiction

The dust is finally beginning to settle after the last few weeks of chaos, and I have been taking stock and checking that everything is as it should be.

Imagine my dismay to find our review for one of my favourite books this year had been missed. Huge apologies to Diana!

“Already the animals starve. Soon the bonemen will follow, the Moss Folk and woodlings, the watermaids and humans. Then the charmed will fade. And all who will roam a dead world are dead things. Until they too vanish for lack of remembering. Still, Weaver, it is not too late.”

In the frost-kissed cottage where the changing seasons are spun, Erith wears the Weaver’s mantle, a title that tests her mortal, halfling magic. As the equinox looms, her first tapestry nears completion—a breathtaking ode to spring. She journeys to the charmed isle of Innishold to release the beauty of nature’s awakening across the land.

But human hunters have defiled the enchanted forest and slaughtered winter’s white wolves. Enraged by the trespass, the Winter King seizes Erith’s tapestry and locks her within his ice-bound palace. Here, where comfort and warmth are mere glamours, she may weave only winter until every mortal village succumbs to starvation, ice, and the gray wraiths haunting the snow.

With humanity’s fate on a perilous edge, Erith must break free of the king’s grasp and unravel a legacy of secrets. In a charmed court where illusions hold sway, allies matter, foremost among them, the Autumn Prince. Immortal and beguiling, he offers a tantalizing future she has only imagined, one she will never possess—unless she claims her extraordinary power to weave life from the brink of death.

In the lyrical fantasy tradition of Margaret Rogerson and Holly Black, D. Wallace Peach spins a spellbinding tale of magic, resilience, and the transformative potency of tales—a tapestry woven with peril and hope set against the frigid backdrop of an eternal winter.

About the Author

D. Wallace Peach

A long-time reader, best-selling author D. Wallace Peach started writing later in life when years of working in business surrendered to a full-time indulgence in the imaginative world of books. She was instantly hooked.

In addition to fantasy books, Peach’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of the arts in her local community, organizing and publishing annual anthologies of Oregon prose, poetry, and photography.

Peach lives in a log cabin amongst the tall evergreens and emerald moss of Oregon’s rainforest with her husband, two owls, a horde of bats, and the occasional family of coyotes.

For book descriptions, excerpts, maps, and behind the scenes info, please visit http://dwallacepeachbooks.com.

For her blog on all things writing, please visit http://mythsofthemirror.com.

Our Review

The world you enter when reading this story is in so many ways, far more real than the one we inhabit.

So many strange and wonderful creatures are beautifully created and described.

Erith Morningstar has been tasked with taking over her mother’s job of weaving the seasons into existence. It is not an easy job when there is so much at stake and so much opposition to it.

Enchantment, magic, romance, and danger—this story has it all. It would make a wonderful movie.

I loved it so much, I know I will be reading it again and again!

The magical enchantment in this story will break your heart with its beauty and make you believe in the power of magic again…

Excerpt from Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver

Movement in the dark periphery of my vision sent a bolt of fear up my spine. A second eerie note joined the first. I pushed through the drifts. Broken branches snagged my blanket, and brambles formed impenetrable barricades, forcing me to forge paths around them. Rancid breath whistled against my neck. Something scraped my shoulder, ripping my skin like a rusty blade. Pain flashed, hot as an iron-tipped scourge, second only to the terror that drove me crashing into the undergrowth. I whimpered to the trees, “Naggris, help me. Help me.”

The ground rumbled. The forest churned and thrashed. I staggered, my balance upturned as my vision flailed. A path opened, and my feet responded with a mind of their own. I darted into the gap, hoping the Tree Folk would seal it behind me. No time for a glance back, I fled through winter, searching for autumn’s gate, one pair of trees among thousands, a single horizontal branch in a sea of branches. My lungs ached from the cold. Flashes of white sparked in the corners of my eyes. But unlike the wylyali, they didn’t vanish when I shot a look their way. Wolves. A cry burst from my lips. Weregield hunted me. A wylyali ghosted into my vision. Paces to my left, twice my height, horned and gaunt, it leered at me through large, sullen eye sockets, their black depths pinpricked with spectral light.

Then, it vanished. My panic flared, and I surrendered to its power to propel me through the snow. I squinted into the forest for any sign of the gate or the weregield, and for a split second, I caught a glimpse of the wylyali standing in my path, arms open to snare me. I halted, panting. Fear whipped away the last shards of reason. Frantic, I yanked the sun’s tapestry from under my arm and flung it to the ground, unleashing a cloud of steam. Through the haze, I slanted a look at the unnatural creature. Ash gray skin stretched across its protruding bones. Unblinking, it stalked toward me, skirting the sun, its jaw slung low and lined with a trap of broken teeth…

One very Special Moment…

One very Special Moment…

Everything is finally beginning to look a lot better around here!

Just a few more tweaks, and our site is good to go. Believe it or not, I have been making headway with my latest story, Swan Song, too. This is wonderful, considering the amount of problems we have had to wade through.

My sojourn (is that the right word?) to the office at night has turned out better than I thought it would. Although I shouldn’t really be surprised, for I love being in my office, so 24/7 isn’t a problem. It’s the one room in our house where I can always find peace.

Yesterday, the temperature rose to a very comfortable level, and it turned out to be a lovely sunny day. I noticed the bird feeders were empty, so I wandered down the garden to fill them up. It was good to be outside without freezing my fingers and toes, and everything seems to be waking up out there.

As I was filling up the feeders with those popular fat balls, the branches above my head were alive with movement and I realised I had company. Something was watching me, obviously waiting for their lunch.

“Wait a minute, I have nearly finished…” as I said this, I looked up into the beady black eyes of our regular visitor, the robin.

He was so close to me, nearer than an arm’s length, and we were looking at each other, eye to eye. I held my breath, not wanting to spoil such a magical moment.

We have had many special moments over the years, like whenever I dig, he’s there looking for worms. He often visits my bonsai and that is so lovely to watch.

I have been told it can’t be the same robin, but I like to think he is because he seems to know me very well!

Thanks to everyone for all your good wishes and encouragement. it is so good to be back to normal!

Is a change as good as a rest?

(those sticky out bits will be removed!)

Is a change as good as a rest?

I took a day off from my endeavours to create a better website yesterday.

I probably needed a break, but not quite the one that arrived, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers, right?

Let me explain how this all came about.

I am a terrible snorer. I can remove wallpaper from the walls and drive anyone in earshot crazy. There was a family pow wow, and it was decided that I should be banished to the office. I offered to sleep on the couch in the living room, but this proved impossible, for my six-foot frame didn’t fit, no matter how I tried.

It was agreed that the table in my office would be removed to make way for one of those couches that transform into a double bed. I wasn’t completely happy with this idea, for I use that table a lot. It’s very useful for craft work, fabric cutting, and general office use. It has become a dumping ground for just about everything lately, so maybe we should try to do without it.

The new couch arrived and was unceremoniously dumped in our hallway in a big cardboard box.

This was when the fun began.

We dragged the box into the office and prepared to do battle.

To cut a long, arduous story short, we managed to get it out of the box and get it wedged it in the doorway. After much dragging, swearing, and frustration, we had it face down on the floor, ready to attach the legs. It is a little too long for my tiny office, but I’m sure we will cope.

Right now, the fabric is the only thing it has going for it. A beautiful blue velvet (that shows every mark)

Secretly, I am looking forward to sneaking the odd forty winks on those days when my eyes won’t stay open.

Update on my snoring: They can still hear me, all the way upstairs!

Calling Time?

As you have probably noticed, everything is far from right.

But I’m not ready to quit just yet, (getting pretty close though).

Giving up on anything has never been an option, even when life would be easier if I did.

But, it could be time, time to stop experimenting. To stop seeing if this or that would work better, or pretending everything is hunky dory.

Because most of the time, it just isn’t.

At our time of life, everything should be sorted. We should be moving forward, not desperately trying to understand where it all went wrong

Having said all of that, one of these days our ducks will magically begin to fly in a straight line…

I hope everyone is having a much better week than me…

Disaster!

You have probably noticed that the brown stuff has hit the fan!

I have tried so hard to figure out what I am doing wrong, but I just can’t do it. I follow instructions, but things are never as described, or simply don’t work.

This could be the end of the road, for I can certainly see it from here, but I have my fingers crossed that a miracle will happen…

I will try to keep you posted… wish me well?

Best wishes from Jaye…