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

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

It is Howard Engel that I would love people to try. His work is so special. I will let me reviews do the talking.

"Good Witch" is always sweet and feel good. I am tired of it never showing the paranormal. Magic is implied too subtly, as of worrying about offending someone. I spell it without a "K" because little outcomes are of the universe alligning sort, not Wicca. I would enjoy plain Magick use but these really are wonderful feel good shows, if you know that up front.

They started as annual films, that I discovered on the satellite dish. They became a TV series. We cut back to save money for Spirit and no longer get their main channel. I can see reruns, which will include shows new to me. I did not follow it, even though I enjoy it. So much TV, films, and books. You can't choose when to watch, like people who download the torrent files or have Wifi based channels.

Shirin & I are starting "Shipwreck" today, who provided me with the PDF. I would love it if you can join us. It is short enough to include in this year's Canadian theme, even though I have to read from my PC at this desk. I will juggle read it with "Ghost Of James Bay", that I can bring to bed and outside. I will set-up a topic thread. It lets us to push back "Exit The Dying" by a few books, if that is all right. I always have a queue of non-Canadian books I am eager to jump into with joy, when the year has unwinded.

The service was very good: thank you, Kerri. Again, we used the library one-room building, so McCartney, Angel, & Petal were in close quarter attendance with us.

Yes, I have not been able to stand seeing our dearest Spirit's name on a temporary stick marking his resting place; now our dear Marigold rests there too. But it was a beautiful serivce with all of our hearts combined, for her and for us. More personal details for e-mail but thank you for the basic care right here.

You are opposite, hearing of the books. This show is so long-running and present, I can find it any time I turn on the satellite dish. I only indulged once, so I start from the beginning after I have the DVD set. The show I got was very tame, even with charm and a little humour. It is historical fiction, which reduces the shocking things. I shouldn't be as confused as TV fans, that the books have William's romance with a landlady instead of doctor colleague.

I did hear from Shirin: would you believe, half an hour before we held Marigold's service. It felt good and was another boost we needed. I will put this update in its own thread but to be sure you see it, she helped me obtain the "Shipwrecked" PDf and we will start with this one today. If you can do likewise, of course please do join us. Love and gratitude for good friends, Carolyn.

P.S. I hear McCartney giving us the Siamese trumpeting, so it is time to sprinkle arthritis supplement pieces into the second breakfast he is obviously eager to have.

Different from most Canadians including my parents, I am sure; I do not watch the longstanding detective television series "Murdoch". I figured I would eventually obtain the DVD set and see it from the beginning. I caught one episode from the beginning years ago and loved it. I loved the little appearance by the actress who plays the mayor in "Good Witch".

Round about next week, Shirin, Kerri & I will read the first story by Maureen Jennings': "Except The Dying" and we welcome everyone. There are complaints about liking the novels less, for personalities and details differing from the beloved TV show. Mahap that will not be no problem for us.

I would like to add that in the eulogy of the great Howard Engel, Maureen Jennings counted herself as a fan, along with Ruth Rendell, and said she considered him a mentor to herself! The adorable Benny Cooperman in Howard's hometown series near Niagara Falls, is one of my special favourites. I invite you to see my review of "The Suicide Murders" for something fun, intelligent, and different.

Here is the review that I have written of "Knots & Crosses". https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

It looks like I was the one who had not replied after April 17. I wonder what I was doing at the time. I often feel like I want to sit down to replies when I can jump into great conversations. Other topics must have distracted me. I would gladly take up the thread anew, when I have time next week.

It is a momentous, hard, memorial day for our dearest Marigold today. After her service, we must hug all our other cats. Then I will work on Canadian reading until the end of June. It so happens that I wrote my "Jekyll & Hyde" review yesterday. It is at this link and I like how it turned out. It doesn't cover much of the great questions you ladies raised because I allot 300 words for them. Thank goodness for these free reign threads. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I will read Maureen Jennings for next year's Canadian reading theme, starting anew on Canada Day. The cat trivia book is dragging, probably because grief is not a time for jokes or jocularity. I think I would find the presentation random and incomplete at the best of times. I have been craving novels, like the two short youth ones I want to fit into this year's theme. I keep falling asleep a few pages into that boring trivia. How did you hear of a Canadian series? The novels or TV show?

Ron & I have a funeral service to plan and put on today. I must write the best possible words for Marigold, on behalf of McCartney, Angel, Petal as well and for our dear Conan, who did not see him Mom or Spirit again on Earth. That is a shame but Ron & I will do our best to make this uplifting and bright. He is preparing her resting place.

I haven't heard from Shirin about Marigold and am sure she would e-mail support right away, so I re-forwarded our announcement last night. McCartney is yelling for a second serving of breakfast, a happy sign from cats, so I shall indulge him. He is taking the herbs now and accepts it in his food, as well as the broken arthritis supplements. :)

Hi Kerri! When did you decide to join Shirin & I and order your first Maureen Jennings book? You had heard of it and marked it to read a year or so ago, so I am pleased. From where do you order? You are in good time, as long as I finish and review my ride along with William Murdoch by June 30. I want to fit in a couple of other Canadian novels on my own that are short and less well-known. Our conversations on any books past and present may certainly exceed it.

Gosh, I am sad that destiny and health change. I already received caring condolences for when Spirit ascended to the afterlife on January 14. I cannot believe that our precious, tiny Marigold also suddenly ascended to Heaven yesterday: June 21. Our dear, strong babies are well enough to enjoy life with us and engender hope, then have questionable health briefly and cross over.

Our Spirit is the grey tabby sitting on the drier in this group's photograph. The other boys sitting with him are Marigold's Sons, the missing Conan (orange & white) and the late Love (diluted orange). Marigold is the pure orange sweetheart in my profile photograph: next to Conan, Spirit, & I. In this group album, there is a darling photograph of her descending a ladder at a tree. That is how spry and agile Marigold was until the moment she ascended.

We will miss you and always love you and watch for your presence, my dear Daughter Marigold! Love Always, Momma & Dad

Shirin & I are shortly going to read "Except The Dying" by English-Canadian, Maureen Jennings. If I understood Kerri's "to read" entry, she has a copy too. I welcome anyone to join us, say next week.

I will certainly finish it this month, before concluding the Canadian reading challenge hosted by my friend, Shonna, who is in this group. The new year opens on Canada Day, July 1st, should any of you wish to hop aboard this time. All you have to do is review and link as many Canadian books as you can, with the target being 13 of them to match our 10 provinces and 3 territories that comprise our country.

They can be by Canadian born or residing authors, set here, or featuring Canadiana in some way. For example, "Back To The Future: The Story" is neither by nor about Canadians. However, it is unforgettably connected to Canadian Michael J. Fox, whom the photo album highlights.

To simply join our buddy read or conversation about "Except The Dying", please watch for a new topic by that name in this "Buddy Reading & Conversations" folder.

Dear Kerri, you are very kindly among the first to personally e-mail condolences for our precious Daughter cat, Marigold. Thank you for that. Please feel welcome to continue these book discussions and the rest of our e-mails. Sometimes people don't know if it is okay to return to normal topics. I am happy to have other things to enjoy during the toughest part of painful grief. I expect everyone else with whom I shared the news to e-mail me this week, which I appreciate. It is comforting to receive support and dismay over Marigold's important, dear loss, over several hours and days.

You have my first reply to your wonderful input here. I will get to your second entry soon. Today's book review covers most of it. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

It is funny, I never saw photos of P.E.I. and suppose our slow internet could show me that bright, unusual soil. I love Maud's description of contrasts and passion for her home province. Anne shared the passion and hastily said on the boat ride: "It is not my birthplace but it is Prince Edward Island for me". That was before she beheld Nova Scotia again. That is the place for me, second to Manitoba. If Conan were back, Dad not living, and the ascended cats laid to rest long enough ago that I could bear to leave that sacred ground; it is tempting.

Nonetheless, the strangely absent island ambiance is more extreme than Maud furnishing the autobiography with a description instantly. She insisted it is in their blood and they can't get away from it. She must either have been unaware that Avonlea was conveyed as "anyplace", not even Canada, or wanted it that way; which I presume the makers of "Schitt's Creek" did. Or Maud's habit as she said was to borrow from life but invent her art contents. I do believe she would want to share P.E.I. more than she did and venture to say she was unaware she fell short. She constantly spoke of beautiful wildflowers and streams but nothing identifiably island-like or Canadian.

What is it with words we hate, multiplying torturously? I had to go down to 4 stars immediately, when Maud insisted on using that damned "D" word for "lunch", instead of "meal" or "food" once in a while. Then she repeated the fucking word 20 more times in the next pages. And we ended up with the assumption that kittens "have to" be drowned. I get that there was no spaying & neutering then. Did we kill humans when there was no birth control? Don't deem life inferior and presto, we find solutions!

Like you, I loved the book. I felt that some childhood portions went on long but would have forgotten about it, if the things story readers need to know for balance and information sake had not been so grossly unfulfilled. I loved the snapshot and jokes about her newspaper days and the years she dared send poetry to magazines.

I loved that she spent a year with her Dad. Why did he not raise her? Where did he live in P.E.I? Not in Cavendish with the other relatives, like his Montgomery parents? Where was the sense of how much he and Maud saw each other, before he moved to Saskatchewan? At which point in her life did he move?

Yes, Maud is a gorgeous writer and refills my vocabulary supply. It seems odd she doubted herself. I could not get over how stupid it was to throw away doodlings, before she submitted work samples, nor the ones that were rejected so far. Writing is always worth something for ourselves, those close to us, and posterity. I loved hearing that fresh paper was rare and that she loved using long post office record slips.

Here is a fun fact: I use the back of any 8x11 paper as scrap printer paper; old bill summaries or flyers by mail. If it is not handed in formally, like book shopping lists or notes Ron & I make around home, scrap paper will do. I have printer paper for years.

The same as you, I loved the background of her family and did not expect it. I had the idea Maud lived apart from her relatives; now we know her Mom ascended when she was little. The thrown in comment that her Grandfather ran the post office was annoying. While you were constructing the family portrait, could Maud not have said "Grandfather and Father do X for a living"?

I wonder if she kept things short, because this autobiography was for a serial magazine. Shortness can comprise a fully balanced story. Had Maud gone back to fill in gaps (she was a tried & true newspaper editor!), we would have had chronoligical character presentations; not "By the way, Grandfather did this and Father moved there" annotated abruptly when she unexpectedly needed supplemental details further in.

Some people of any age are sensitive and that it isn't about children, as Maud thought. We grow better able to handle malicious or unintended ribbing but I would still hate unwanted nicknames or certain attitudes. I had to walk away from someone at a friend's birthday part a few years ago. I made a joke to keep it gracious: "Woops, I see I am at the wrong table" and left them to animal-killing remarks. That visiting man Maud abhored, as Anne abhored Gilbert needlessly for the furation of their childhood, came across as a sweet man to me. Except that he needed to take the hint if he could see Maud's nicknames were angrily received.

I did not relate to names and addresses not being the first things you exchange when you befriend someone. It was a sweet tale about instantly enjoying someone, touching that she ever remembers their conversation. Perhaps Diane arose from her. I felt critical of some things you found endearing through and through. Still, four stars are high praise. Great pleasure, smiles, and inspiration offset dubious frowns here & there. I loved knowing people's presumption to know whence her characters come, are erroneous. Details about "Anne Of Green Gables" seem few & far between, when these are largely what many people want.

I am certain it is inarguable that the most touching part that you & I read at this point was Maud's memory of her precious ascended Mom. The whole episode was touching and also, that such a young toddler could have that memory at all. My Uncle says the same of my Great-Grandma. He is a lot younger than Dad and their eldest brother, the Uncle we lost at the same time as Spirit & Jimmy. The elder two recalled their Dad's parents but my younger Uncle only recalls Great-Grandma's funeral service. I think remembering the love and sadness surrounding people is something and good for Maud and my Uncle to have had.

We thankfully don't know what it is like to be only children, Kerri. But it often works out, like it did for Maud, that they had cousins, neighbours, or friends with whom to grow-up and that was nice to see. I will see if you have any more to say about this first half, then answer the rest of your observations. I love know I haven't steered you from what might have occurred to you, even if they are the same. At this point, I had not minded the length of pre-success recollections, because I surmised the part we are waiting for, the road to and road after success, would be just as detailed.

Hi Kerri! Happy Father's day, Dad figures of the world! Including mine, whom I have phoned, Ron to our kitties, and McCartney to our second generation of kitties.

We worried about Marigold, so I delayed message #5 impressions. I will continue those early ones, followed by later chapters. Between a pill with our usual care yesterday and fluids and rest this morning, with some encouraging hints; Ron & I feel certain Marigold has what she needs to be set to rights again.

Kerri, please take the lead to continue our conversation. I will reply to message #5 soon. I am done the book too, so please delight me with whatever comes to mind.

Thank you for your lovely e-mail this morning, with well-wishes for McCartney, as well as in my "Carolyn" member folder. He had a great celebration and is lounging in the livingroom sun today.

You, Shirin, Leeanne, and any member is welcome to create your own folder and post whatever you like. News of your countries, yourself, or favourite things would be enthralling to me.

Ron & I worked to replant some garden rows and pots and I must plant the flowerbaskets while he is at work. I fell asleep after only starting the foreward and Maud's introduction. I guess folks called her Maud instead of Lucy. But it was striking that there were a lot of impressions to have even then, didn't you think so

She goes on and on about what a strong island life is Prince Edward Island, where you can't get away from seeing or feeling the water. Why did not that convey to her novels, even these red roads, only mentioned as Anne et al left for Nova Scotia? It sounded like my prairie province actually. If no one fished, which I wouldn't like anyway, surely there are certain birds, animals, and temperatures typical to islands. I guess all she wrote about were beautiful trees, lakes, flowers, and chores; neutral everywhere.

I avoided hearing any details about Maud and only caught wind that she lost her parents young. I was relieved that the beginning includes a strong sense of family and heritage ties going back a ways, that is well-known to her.

I love that she cares about helping writers navigate the terrain of success in this do-it-yourself field. We should copy her poem here, for it really does inspire one, in any field of our dreams.

These are my impressions and while you are an absolute ace at replying to other people, I look forward to being surprised with your observations as well! :)

We are grateful Marigold is eating, mobile, happy, and here on Earth with us! She gets picky meal moments, where perhaps toxins not cleaned well enough by kidneys feel unsettling, or low red blood cells. Some habits are a little off but I would sleep high up, if I were unsure you wanted to snuggle or give medical care. Marigold lounges, explores, plays close to the house, and regenerates from laying against the Earth. No surprise this turned out to be an energy healing technique.

We are very grateful for and proud of our McCartney too! Here he is at twenty-one years old, without ailments or pills. He can do with athritits supplements, when manufactuerers make them smaller, chewy, and tasty.

We took wonderful photographs together and stayed close to McCartney around home. We sing "Happy Birthday" a few times, starting at midnight of a birthday. I will tell him he has received well-wishes from New Zealand, Kerri! He is happy to know he received them from Ontario and Iran and of course Dad.

We don't take our health for granted. We are so grateful that our McCartney & Marigold keep on living happily and well. May Angel & Petal continue to be well and Conan come home soon too. Summer, my birthday month, and Jesus's, are for smiling! :-)

The cats & I started a Canadian cat trivia book yesterday evening, for McCartney's special birthday! I will switch to Lucy's book tonight.

I imagine a birthday well wish from his Aunt Kerri in New Zealand is coming one way or another. :) That day of turning twenty-one has been here, with Marigold to share it! We miss Spirit like crazy. I got a photo with his portrait in the background and others with Lovey's portrait, of the four kitties relaxing in the bedroom.

Ron helped us take our annual portraits with the birthday boy outdoors too, always with a proper digital camera. We always ensure there are some professional quality portraits. And all of the cats savoured the treat of different foods! I will take more photos if the cats ramble around nearby, when they go out later today. Warmly, Carolyn.

😍😍🌻🌼

Thank you, dear Shirin and Leeanne! I will tell McCartney, with whom Ron & I are going outdoors to take digital camera photographs, that two of Momma's friends wish him happy birthday today! Being twenty-one is wonderful for a cat and promising for the future! Yes, we are blessed that Marigold is feeling great and sharing this day, too.

When I find her and Angel (Petal is asleep), I will snap photgraphs of them with McCartney too! I will tell my Dad that you wish him well also. With gratitude for all, Carolyn and my family.

Please join Kerri & I, Carolyn, to read Lucy Maud Montgomery's autobiography and reflection on her writing life.

Dad's recovery is not easy and we hope that clears out soon. However, it is important that he be cancer free and he is. Marigold is still here too, another miracle answered prayer. I am grateful because today is a special day.

It is McCartney's twenty-first birthday! We are grateful for our proud dear Siamese and love him very much! The cats including Marigold, shared tuna bisque catfood with him just now. Something new and fun occasionally keeps her interested in their regular food. Everyone but our indoor preferring McCartney is prancing outdoors. He is free to step out for munches of grass, sun, and fresh air too. He likes knowing the door is available to go back inside when he wants.

Spirit, whom we miss like crazy on this milestone day (and for his birthday next month) shook off his apartment childhood easier than McCartney. However, you don't need to be far from our front and back doors to see the birds, including turkeys, deer, and occasional painted turtle and black bear.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, OUR DEAR, ADORABLE McCARTNEY! Love, Momma, Ron, Marigold, Angel, Petal, Conan, and with light & love from Spirit, Lovey, and Grandma.

Yes I know you are rushing onward. I try not looking at your number so I am not bumbed out by that! I chuckle to myself "Maybe focusing on e-mail will slow her down and allow us to be at an even pace again". I started out with a few more books this year and it is too bad my pace had to drop. But you know the year this has been in more ways than Spirit's ascension in January.

We can start "The Alpine Path" tonight if you like. It is funny, I chose "Bathroom Book Of Cat Trivia" as one of my closing books for the Canadian reading challenge of my friend, Shonna's, that ends this month. I momentarily forgot about Lucy Maud Montgomery and was wondering this morning, what thin book would do well. Haha!

The thin healing one I started last night, "Your Body's Telling You: Love Yourself!" is a manual listing problems. I might ask Shonna if I can count it if I read the written descriptions besides the list of problems, only looking-up a few that pertain to our family. The root causes and advice are repetitive after awhile.

I am replying to the wonderful, personal part in my own group folder. Please find a celebratory entry there!