C. (Comment, never msg).’s Comments (group member since Jan 30, 2014)

C. (Comment, never msg).’s comments from the Gentle SPECTRUMS group.

Happy birthday to our precious McCartney on this sunny day, June 13, 2023! Our McCartney almost reached 22 years-old last year.

Ron & I sang "Happy Birthday" beside two of his pictures this morning and will sing it one more time at suppertime. We will think of him all day, with a smile. Even though we miss him very much every day.

We love you and honour you, our sweetheart, McCartney! We are sure Mom is cuddling him today, exactly like in his baby photograph twenty-three years ago. Love's resting place, in the centre of McCartney, Spirit, and Marigold, has bloomed English daisies.

With all our love: Carolyn, Ron, Angel, Petal, Conan.

On a happy note, ** I love ** your contributions today, the kind of musings that make me excited about having conversations with everyone. I am glad you found some of New Zealand's ley lines and am interested in those Shirin can visit. Don't "wait until you are in the area". Make a trip and go to that Kura Tawhiti castle and Cape Reingais spiritual place! :)

You make an excellent point that the baby raven with her biological feeding and warmth needs, must be a magical bird. Yes, it is wonderful to think of how powerful and successful these friends and family will be in all their quests of the novels, with their combined abilities! Ronan's last name is Lynch, right? I know his ability is what drew his pet girl, weirdly named "Chainsaw", to him.

Ronan Lynch has a sub-series, starting with "Call Down The Hawk". It is in that shaky Awesome Books shopping cart queue for a good price as well, only $6.00 CDN. We three will want to read those too, won't we! His friends aren't in the synopsis, so I don't know if they are with him or why he adventures with someone else.

Herein, you raise a frustration. Awesome Books and other companies' websites are so cumbersome, it takes the equivalent of one or two work day hours to go through my wish list and build a sale. If I can't get the check-out to work (without asking Lygia to do it on her city internet), or I wait for a book I want to be available for a bulk sale, I spend additional days rechecking books because the cart and wish list views do not update prices. Picture me refreshing each page multiple times to get it to work at all. I spent this week at it!

After building 48 books in a shopping coup, at least on-line, I was elated that Awesome Books was also going to reimburse me 20% off. I was willing to buy that much because they have always had a flat $5.30 CDN mail fee and extra books per sale save you from repeating the mail fee. Books I have wanted for years were available affordably, including one by Donna Eden ("EFT Energy Psychology"). "Dream Thieves" was only $8.00 CDN and "Blue Lily" only $7.00 CDN but someone bought it last night. That is fine, Amazon.ca has it and "Raven King" at $14.0 00 CDN.

Last night, wanting to read and go to bed, wondering why Lygia was taking awhile to finish my sale; she reported an $84.00 charge for shipping! I e-mailed customer service about it and they replied this morning that they have added a pretty large fee PER BOOK on orders from now on! I wrote back that it is not good business sense. People buy more the less things cost and big buys should be rewarded by waived postage after a set sum. You don't charge more for buying more. Indeed, I am going to go through the SLOW shopping cart and webpages and choose only the most rare, affordable books I want most. Grrr! I was hoping to announce that "Dream Thieves" and "Blue Lily" were on their way. P.S. I wrote at our "Kerri" and "Carolyn" member folders.

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I am loving all your music writings today, Kerri! I love that Gordon Lightfoot was known by your family and the UK but is becoming a favourite of yours. You have several more songs now. I was hit by his death because I didn't know he was recently in Winnipeg and wanted to see him again. Yes, due to our music project, he was on my mind and then that music special drew me into him more.

Tina is the soundtrack of my 1980s childhood and many people's in the 1990s. I am not a fan of fighting movies but saw "Mad Max" and of course constantly heard its theme song when it was new. Hearing songs and artists come out in the 1980s was one of my greatest thrills and I still love them today. I think of it as the decade that was as modern as possible, before computers took people's attention. That is why I love novels published then.

As for Corey Hart, he is as personal as it gets to my music life. I have a Wordpress article about that and gave you the link for my first one. Haha, it is sweet for you to share in his birthday. Since I gave you almost every song he has made, you are about to get to know him better than you did before! I am keen to know how familiar your family is with him or his songs. I am guessing your parents are a bit older than me, which means they know all these artists. I love that you do too.

Yes, Tina is an example of a strong woman who took a life that started out rough and insisted on making it easy. This is a play on her sexy spoken version of "Proud Mary". :) I have fond memories of an Oprah Show fan getting to meet her in Switzerland and seeing how peaceful and vibrant she was in later years. I doubt I would attempt her vocals at karaoke but sure love her.

We thankfully never experienced fire. They can burn out. I will not contemplate trees, plants, or animals homes are lost. Yes, precipitation including snow and reduced wind are very important.

I wrote of Alberta's fires, which Ron heard ramped up, sadly. I was stunned to hear of a fire in Nova Scotia, right on the ocean but it is better, Ron thinks. I'm not a news watcher. A fire started in British Columbia. The heat wave has cool relief yesterday and today and the wind is down. May it be true in all the places that need it. We in southern Manitoba are very green and have rained enough to saturate the environment. We pray for more from now on, for everyone!

Please refresh me on the "Ulrich" part. I don't know if you caught my post. I answered Shirin that yes, the larger percentage of this book is in the past of numerous countries, very well done. I assume unnamed settings are in their author's country and wrote about a boss not adopting his kids because fostering them brought an income that helped afford their extended family.

It is against the law to drink and drive anywhere in Canada. I don't know if a lone driver would be charged for the presence of substances, if discovered after an accident. I think only if he had harmed someone else and usually, only if he is caught operating a vehicle "under the influence".

This is your show but when I have a few reminders of what you are reading, it is great fun to watch your reactions to them and to discuss them at last! :) Yes, Andrew's humour is very present. Do we know the protagonist's present day name? I imagine it is eventually used by doctors and Marianne but don't recall it.

Hi ladies! I don't remember a note about the monastery in the introduction. Rest assured this novel goes into impressive varieties of colourful, vibrant, historical storytelling. Those locations and time periods are so original, I loved them.

Everyone remembers the terrible injury descriptions. It is peculiar the protagonist was a porn actor. I doubt it is ever a valid choice. I'm trying to remember the reasoning. I think uncaring foster-parents, in it for the money, did not put him on a path to higher education. So work at an office or store, I say.

I imagine books to be set in an author's country, unless they say it is somewhere else. Canada does give foster parents money for care. I worked with someone who loved their kids and would formally adopt them if they had to but receiving government assistance helped them.

I wrote at the Raven Boys conversation page but have not reviewed the novel yet. You are funny, about your poor Mom noticing the difficult reading parts of "The Gargoyle"! Yes, he knew Heaven would have a beautiful sky, not metal.

Hi Kerri! I thought this was a nice place to praise and enjoy an addition to your profile biography! When did you make it? I visit your profile often enough that I hope I am noticing it currently.

"I enjoy the reading challenge but do not let it detract from my favourite aspects of reading: discovering a wonderful book, learning something fascinating, taking the time to live with a book and absorb as much from it as I can. Remembering that reading should be fun, exciting, interesting, mind-expanding, occasionally dull!"

Wow, this is an intelligent, inspiring explanation of something I feel the same about. I am blessed to have you as my friend, Kerri, who often impresses and elevates me by writing in a more apt and interesting way than how it came to mind for me to express it. Not wanting to be bothered by mathematical goal estimates is the reason I don't turn on Goodreads' badge until late in the year.

I have big books I want to read this year too and like you this month, I am gone nights without open the books by my bedside. The freedom to read whatever I want from book to book, is why I don't review for free copies (if publishers mailed print books to Canada) and why I quit the 30+ reading themes in which I used to participate. I choose each time entirely by mood and need. My annual quota is annoying enough in the background of my mind.

It would help if I did not see Shirin breezing through 50 books halfway in this year. ;) However, what I have read from you today is a boost for me to stem any intrustion and to not care a whit about how long I spend on any books - short, medium, or long; in any depth of contents. This is my favourite part of all you said, making me feel like it was stated for me and I agree with you, with joy! Love, Carolyn.

"Take the time to live with a book and absorb as much from it as I can."

Dear Kerri, if you want to find an aeroplane deal and fly over here to help Ron & I with OUR summer cleaning, it would be a big help and a hoot! You would find your nose in books often but could have them as recompense! With love and not really joking but knowing money is tight for most of us at the moment, Carolyn.

May we all always have dear trees gracing, enriching, protecting, and beautifying our lives; my good friends! Finding natural gum and taking any school trip in New Zealand sounds like fun. Oh, there is a thunderstorm approaching so I had better sign off to preserve our internet modem.

Yes, appreciating a financial boost from an abundant or lucky source, is fine with me like I wrote. It certainly wouldn't make Adam feel like a loser to take what Richard Guansy has much of to spare and pay some back, if he felt like he must. At least accept the safe place to live, study, rest, eat, and go to school. I agree definitely.

The Aboriginals of this region are the language that would be the most ancient but yes, Latin or Welsh are what the Raven King's magical situation brought along to the trees around him, I guess.

Ladies, let me know which ley lines are near you and which special sites are around them, like petroforms or interesting buildings.

I will never forget receiving a phone call from my Mom, in her birth province, the day Ron & I were led to that very special Spirit Tree. We had sought it on the wrong trail last time, on an unclear map. When at last we were there, sitting to enjoy her, there was my dear Mom on my phone. Love, Carolyn.

Hi Shirin, yes I added a Manitoba artbook to go with the history of an Ontario gold rush. The history was authored by my Mom's highschool friend, for they are from that town! But since it is serious detail and there has been a heat wave for two weeks, I slowed down. Also ready for me to read is the third Robert A. Arthur mystery but I paused it because I do not have the next novel! Shirin, we had a little more to say about "The Raven Boys", so please check the group. :)

"Hello Lassies" is very fun, Shirin! I love your Scottish salutation and am part Scottish & Irish myself! Your friend, Carolyn.

Happy birthday to my childhood hero, Corey Hart! As a child, I would play his whole catalogue of the 1980s and 1990s, which is the bulk of it. Now, a tune or two today will do, for "the man in shades". :) Love, Carolyn.

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/20...

I saw New Zealand's wonderful tree here. They are associated with the Maori but it sounds like they grow abroad, perhaps with different language names, because this is called the largest in the world. I am glad their health and roots are protected. There must be an effort to propagate them. The sole question remaining for me is how far they are from Kerri's home. :)

Nearby on a beautiful Kenora, Ontario trail, Ron & I visited a special tree in late 2019. A bald eagle nests at the high top, too far to stretch your neck and see. I wonder how old she is. She is called "spirit tree". Ontario is Mom's birth province and even though Kenora is close to Manitoba, we always lovingly remark that we are in "Mom's land".

My Mom was out of the hospital for the last few months, supposed to get better. The hospital had not tested for mini-strokes, the most common illness! That terrible affliction cramped her focus and she eventually only picked up phone calls. She stopped having the concentration to use phone numbers. That day, sitting at the spirit tree, Mom phoned me herself for the last time. We had a nice talk about how she was. She was also happy to hear what we were enjoying and seeing in good old Ontario. I told her how special it was to receive a phone call from her there. Love, Carolyn.

>I keep picturing Tāne Mahuta, which is this ancient Kauri tree here in New Zealand. Not so much the look of the tree but the age and size of it and the presence that has an energy that is amazing to be around. It would be incredible to be able to directly talk to them.>

Good morning, ladies! I have looked forward to going back and talking about other wonderful things with which you have enriched our great conversations together. Kerri, please tell us more about this tree! How many, which regions, age, fruit, height, width, anything you think of. In this day & age we can look up pictures and descriptions but that is nothing compared to someone telling us about such a fantastic sounding presence. It is on my wish list to see those Kauri trees!

I have always loved the presence of trees, as much in my parents' yard as in my forest now. When I drive down the highway along our old neighbourhood, I can recognize our dear, fluffy, tall tree and get excited to see him again. I planted some of his branches when they moved in 2017, when Conan vanished and most of them worked awhile. I will see if the last live branch is still budding. I need to learn how to get it to grow and flourish into a tree.

Yes, our precious Marigold, Spirit, & McCartney had great lives and experiences for us to be joyous and proud of! Angel & Petal are careful around wildlife, as you can tell by Angel's fast flee in June 2021. However, they have been comfortable approaching whitetailed deer since they were babies, therefore I watch them to be extra safe; especially if a neighbour's dog were loose. Shirin, I am happy you saw our absolutely beautiful Rose-breasted Grosbeaks as well as the very pretty Baltimore Orioles!

Chickadees are my favourite birds, whose sweet "beeping" voices make me happy no matter how glum I might feel. They land right on your hand if you have food and they are strong little animals, around all year even in Manitoba's winters. They are pretty to me, their simple black masks and caps with their grey and white feathers.

The day my Mom went to the afterlife in winter 2020, I had to get outside to breathe after making phone calls and sending e-mails. I needed to hear the chickadees before sunset for relief. I was rewarded, for the chickadees were more numerous and singing the most loudly I had ever heard before.

We three love animals and nature. It doesn't matter that Shirin & I were raised in cities. Thus, it occurred to me that another thing Maggie's book makes us feel good about, is nature featuring prominently in her story. Yes Kerri, you can converse with trees the same as with animal communication, aka telepathy. It was part of my course in 2006 to try talking with trees and writing down what came to your mind. I still have my sheet of paper from a sweet little guy next to the hostess' barn. It was raining lightly but I loved our little session together. I have asked deer and trees to help lead our Conan home to us, sending a picture of him from my mind. They will see him somewhere and they can communicate as a group. They will keep him company all the way home, if it is a walk of any distance.

Shirin, your similee of water rippling with the energy we add to our world is refreshing. In our heatwave, I am glad to think of water and grateful it shall be raining starting this afternoon, all week. However, I will only go on-line carefully so that no more storms ruin my internet modems. I have no Smart Phones or anywhere but our PC, modem, & phone line to go on-line.

Yes, Shirin, speak to your cats and parents aloud. Your parents too will try a little English. It is very good that you hear English daily. Now pronounce it yourself, even if you pause some parts of a story and repeat it aloud.

Blue never met Noah or any raven schoolboy until 2012, when she was 16. She was only 9 when he died. I meant if he freely goes around town, why didn't his parents see him while the ley line was strong? Was this a mistake in the novel's logic? Kerri has great theories for the average person not noticing him but his parents might have seen him from afar. I think a spirit must have visited his family and home, until he met and befriended those younger boys. I don't recall reading a description of their meeting.

After some orientation in Heaven, I think spirits can manifest any time their loved-ones need them a lot. If the loved-ones are willing to see spirits. I wish I saw Mom and our cats but I *have* dreamed about them after asking strongly to see them. How Maggie's fiction world interprets these logistics will be fun to see, including about getting physical life out of dreams. Thank you for waiting for me to get a good deal for book 2 because we are all eager to race into it.

Ron & I have brought our new furniture into our house. He has two more days of holidays from work. Our 3 gardens were planted last week-end, nice and early. Today, I will plant herbs, fruit, and vegetables that we want in pots or boxes; followed by flowerbaskets in a few days. I also have a lot of cleaning up to do in our crowded house but I made a start yesterday. Tomorrow, we will go book shopping. Afterwards, I will order my on-line shopping cart, where I found good prices on several wonderful books.

Well Shirin, now that you know about ley lines and petroforms, see what there are in Manitoba, New Zealand, and Iran. :)

Yes, Adam's Mom needed to do much more to protect her Son. I know anyone's plan is to eliminate the problem without people knowing but we didn't see her making any changes. Her method of trying to avoid a maniac, wasn't getting them anywhere.

I agree that Adam's wariness of Guansey's wealth was exaggerated. Having your own income and respect from your independence matters but you know I have no trouble sharing resources. If anyone offered "I have a lot of money. Could you use some?"; I would gratefully say "Swell, thank you for the boost!" All the years I had outside jobs, I wasn't paid what I deserved. I appreciate the advantage of a lift up here and there. I had friends who moved out young and struggled with their incomes. I picked them up and paid for our outings. Whomever has more money picks up the tab, so that we all can go out together. When I get somewhere with my writing or bookselling, I will gladly treat Ron to the benefits.

Kerri, I loved my Hermetic Code, grand birthday outing, which by coincidence was the publishing year of this book. :) I added a few photographs to the memory stick I am about to mail with additional goodies. I hope you e-mail to verify a few details. I think the point of ley lines is that spiritual human structures are laid along them. Think of a sacred New Zealand place and seek ley lines. I am interested to know what is there. I think Iran's spiritual connections would boggle the mind, since I have read Katherine Neville's "The Magic Circle".

Finally, while I am using the internet on a storm free afternoon, I will conclude with replying about languages. The easiest way to register how late Latin is, without browsing any details, is to recognize that it precedes our modern languages: all of them using the Greek alphabet; romance and slavic languages. It occurs to me that I do not know how Hindi and Sikh are written. However, consider that Shirin's Farsi / Persian, Japanese, Madarin, Cantonese actually write hyrogyphs like on cave dwellings. THIS has to be one way to tell a language's age! Even Roman, as old as it seems to us, is a romance language, which you can literally tell from the 5/7 letters of the name.

As I hypothesized, if North American trees aren't using Aboriginal languages of their land, Maggie's story must be an environment in which the Welsh king has included a small area in his presence. Mayhap these trees, water, and land are supposed to help solve the quest to wake him. You would think he would speak Welsh but Maggie needs her pupils to understand him, so making things up comes in handy. Love, Carolyn.

I knew Tina Turner was in Switzerland at an impressive age but she was so strong, I am surprised she is gone at 83. May we all avoid kidney problems and learn to do our energy balancing and healing exercises. Medical health knows how to cure so little, we need the legs up that eastern medicine brings.

The transition of someone whose records, tapes, and CDs I have had a few of since my childhood feels personal. Her work, performance energy, and voice were phenemonal. She was strikingly beautiful and fit all her life. Rest in peace, Anna Mae Bullock. Our condolences to her three Sons and husband of 10 years, Erwin Bach.

You are welcome, dear Kerri. I am happy to know that. I hope you two can handle, as well as I managed to, the topic of burned skin. We guess what those patients go through is painful and perception altering but we learn the details of how hard it is to overcome. I can't wait to be refreshed about the rest of the novel through you.

Shirin, it isn't like Kerri can't finish the 7 other books she has on the go, right! If she didn't see messages earlier about you reading this together, I am glad she knows now. We're still talking about "The Raven Boys" with pleasure. :) Love, Carolyn.

I am unsure this is on a ley line but it was part of an article about them by a Canadian history authoress I have read before. When hoping Manitoba was a part of her discussion, she honoured us by mentioning a place I have been and visited for a great length of time! The Whiteshell forest district is close enough for us to visit any time we wish, much closer than when we lived in Winnipeg. Have either of you heard of "petroforms"? I wonder if Stonehenge is one or if it is too large for that qualification. Here is the part I copied for you.

"Petroform Site: In Manitoba, a large, nine-acre site exists in the Whiteshell Provincial Park that may be North America’s largest, intact petroform site. It includes human-made boulder outlines, effigies, large carved boulders, stone circles, medicine wheels and rock art. Medicine wheels and petroforms are also found in Manitoba’s Turtle Mountain Provincial Park".

About languages, Shirin is in a better position to tell us more about the ones from far back in time. The land around her was populated by record-keepers of many forms for centures, from cave drawings to scrolls. She knows I would love to visit Iran at least, when it is safe for women! I believe Shirin has seen her share of sacred, old archaeological sites. I can't wait to see what she knows of ley lines.

I looked them up and found to my surprise, that Winnipeg is on intersecting ley lines and in fact, I have been to the legislative building ("the leg") over some of them. I took a tour of it to learn about unexpected ancient Greek symbols and the like that are carved into it. Why are there Hermetic Codes and such, we wondered, when it is all the way in the Canadian prairies?

This is what I did with family and friends, when choosing something special to celebrate my 40th birthday! My parents, Brother & Sister-in-law and one friend joined us for an elegant supper afterwards, at the Fort Garry Hotel. It is Mom's favourite place to dine and that place has both national historic significance and well-known paranormal lore. I suppose Kerri has learned a fair bit about Upper Fort Garry, the wall left next to it and Lower Fort Garry, old trading posts in the "Haunted Manitoba" book she read! I did say the author's history was magnificent even if he downplayed spirit matters.

As discussed before, trees and nature share telepathy as their natural language. However, since no one was speaking with trees anywhere else in Maggie's story, I guess she chose Latin for those ones because they were drawn into the proximity of the Welsh king's enchantment.

The way Ronan left a note to guide them in their quest is one of my favourite parts. It is a smart thing to do, presume that time would wrap around them flexibly so that they were likely to see the note and understand how it was there! It reminds me of the hilarious "Bill & Ted" trilogoy, Keeanu Reeves' earliest films (next to "Youngblood", haha). In it, they know the convenience of leaving themselves not merely directions but dropping items and tools with which to escape from odd situations! Ron & I watched the DVDs gradually last year, a gift from me.

Your remark about having no interest in werewolves couldn't have been put in a funnier way. Thanks for that laugh. Certain neighbours have tanked our patience for canines and I less attracted to hairy people, so my conversation would such a one would have concluded curtly too.

Kerri, I don't think Adam's Mom said anything about abuse being his fault in any part. I think it was a common plea to try to avoid that temper. The problem was everything set that creep off. In that family, it was not possible to tiptoe any more. Yes, most certainly police were needed. They had to ask what good avoiding fines or jail would do for a person who was berserk and needed anger management seriously to be around them. For some people, there are problems that can be resolved much better without police and that is why they hold out. For example, addicts have recovery programs, a step best made without jail jeopardizing their jobs or fines worsening financial stress.

I noticed that the Father was already home after his arrest and wonder if Maggie looked up their State's laws. Thankfully in Canada too, you are only in jail overnight and can keep going to your job while you await a court date. In some screwed up provinces as you know, a restraining order is forced on families even if they wanted police assistance without pressing charges. It seems the Father was allowed back to his trailer without a restraining order, or maybe Adam stated he was leaving the residence.

When Adam was hurt more than usual, at least as far as readers knew, I hope he would have said "Enough is enough" and called police as soon as he could reach a telephone. I love that Ronan helped. I have tried to tell certain friends that there is a difference between helping when you can do good and leaving people to struggle with relatives who are overstepping even verbally, without a fucked up idea of imposing on someone's privacy. Even verbal bullying among family should not be allowed and I told former friends I was pissed off for them saying nothing to my Dad and Brother in the past. For example, all they need have said was "Come on, that is not nice" and my relatives would have been startled by the outside view of how they were behaving. Outside witnesses, perspectives for bad habits that went on for years, could have changed tracks.

While hopeful Adam did not only get his Father arrested to preserve Ronan, who was obviously helping him, I am glad he was pushed into speaking up and getting outside help. His Mom made the call, thinking to stop the squirmish with Ronan and the Father, which must have seemed additionally ugly with an outsider. While she probably only wanted the fight stopped and would not have implicated the boy helping her Son, she did not dream Adam would report the man and we are glad he did. Readers do not abide injustice and we needed that break for our character.

Of course I appreciate modern times for numerous reasons: loving animals like family without hesitation publically, openly standing up against prejudice, and the ease of communication, travel, and cooking. It is when it presumes to replace or forget about something that was far more valuable that we have to use our intelligence and think outside the presently popular box. I love that this series of stories are modern so we can relate to the people, their situations, and humour! :)

Ron is sensitive to moods but has not yet presumed to feel subtle energy or spirit presences. I do not read anything specific but did feel that being in those surroundings was strong and magnificent. I was in awe and gratitude for being there and am glad I have active amazement in wherever I go, including priviledged historic places like Mayan and Druid momuments. It is my pleasure to share them with you. Love, Carolyn.

I am happy and proud that two of my international, close friends are eagerly reading a small town Manitoba author. Andrew Davidson was born in Pinawa, a picturesque drive from here that we made once. He grew up in Winnipeg and went all over to study literature, which is very obvious. Our easy prairie humour is evident, mixed with dark situations; probably sustaining this injured protagonist through them.

I can't wait to read and participate in your reactions and observations, my dears! I have said with admiration that I have never seen multiple cultures so well researched for a novel, besides from Katherine Neville. Into this strange but riveting labyrinth you go, Shirin & Kerri! Love, Carolyn.