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 late for the reasons explained. Here is the summary post for the 2014 Gentle Spectrums grand finale. Now all three of the groups can start their engines on current activity! https://cmriedel.wordpress.com/2015/0...

I've gathered so far, you're a Floridian who enjoys a good garden or landscape and loves physical books. I also gather you siphen out deals and have a healthy sturdy stock of unread material? I hope there's no moisture issue where you live. Manitoba is nice and dry, be it heat or cold.

Other than Florida and moisture, this describes me; past a modest point that astonishes everyone. Both our book gathering and how much we garden. :) I really have to get back to chatting with my groups (at the blog): initiating conversations and activities because.... there are pictures of some of our books.

On a serious note, my Mom has heart problems. She's only 70 but a scare with chest pain arose thrice, about three months apart. A hospital kept her in for observation this week-end. Bypass surgery of the heart's arteries, indeed open heart surgery, was recommended. It happened very quickly, from my perspective out of town, that she accepted. She just came out of the five-hour arterial operation, which is a success! It was scary but this should end the problems and risks. She is expected to do well for a long time to come.

You, my friends and peers at Wordpress, Goodreads, and via e-mail are my community. I associate with you more than anyone else in person, which is true for many of us who pursue writing from home. I've never cared for sports or tying my time up into anything resembling an appointment, which is why you are it for a public community; apart from friends and family in my region of course. So it made sense I would want to share my relief and gratitude: that Mom risked something big and is well! Carolyn.

I have only gotten a reply or too thus far, so I'd like to reiterate. I invite everyone - and have been doing so myself - to feel welcome to share thoughts here. Both book wise and personally. If you prefer to read rather than share: please let those who do, know they have been seen. ;-)

I edited messages #2, 3, 4 to remove authors I have read since posting these lists. It's fun and rewarding to see that they have whittled down nicely!

It is my pleasure to recommend. When you get a chance to browse my reviews, don't worry. They are careful to never be spoilers. That's a no-no to me. Congratulations on remodelling your home, Erin! Inconvenient but must be rewarding later. I'm busy too, by my non-whirlwind standards. I will be giving my groups due attention with discussions, if not mystery clues and prize events very shortly. Ethereal is merely transfering anything you've read that's spiritual, paranormal, fantasy, or witchy. Talking or very intelligent animals count. Gentle Spectrums is just matching 10 broad subject or broad colours (or both). You can even glance at them right here in the group to ponder what reading you've already done that fits.

Right now is central Canada's gardening season! If you look up 'hardiness zone 3', you'll see we ain't Florida! LOL! We have a short time before we get to a period, in September, that it is possible for overnight frost to ruin plants. This is after waiting for the previous frost dates to end: early May. EVERYTHING comes alive and bursts into colour here and I prefer growing absolutely everything right from its seeds. Flowers and as vegetarians: almost all of our food. :-)

HAPPY FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY today to our very dear Siamese, McCartney!!!! We love you very dearly and are having a very nice, sunny day with you.

Hi Erin!!!! :) Edit that to CAROLYN, will you? Rhymes with "gin", not "wine". Story of my life, *without* getting into the tiny little last name. LOL Wonderful to see your input, including MANY I too would drool for you to get going on. I haven't updated this and am thrilled to see you kick it into life. See my highly-recommended reviews on Juliet Blackwell, MaeveBinchy and you bet, Barbara Michaels. Finally, non-humorous ghost stories for grown-ups!

Lilian Jackson Braun is WAY better than you think too. See those reviews as well. They link to Amazon Canada, where 'helpful votes' really help me build a good reviewer rank. That's what we have, instead of a 'like' button. Funny about Juliet: I loathed her first witch novel, found her first ghost one so-so. Gave her a try because like many of us junkies, I already bought the set. A good thing: she is one of my two favourite US authors! Nancy Atherton is the other. http://cmriedel.wordpress.com/reviews...

Anyone interested in the conclusion of MY KIND OF MYSTERY 2014; a post about it is here at last. One more annoucement to go and then activities will pop up for all 2015 members! :) If you haven't already, it's worthwhile subscribing to my blog or alternatively, asking me for an e-mail when events are posted. Happy summer from me! https://cmriedel.wordpress.com/2015/0...

Eek! If there's one frustrating thing, it's going into detail and the information not being absorbed as I hoped. Perhaps the two who lately said "sorry to hear about PC problems" were being general and do understand. My concern isn't a PC problem. My concern is that 'windows' 7 & 8 themselves, are terrible operating systems. Yes, the PC 'worked' so to speak when we tried it years back. Anyone who doesn't know a great deal about computers, or for whom whatever 'win 7 / 8' comes with is all they need: they wouldn't notice a problem. Folks using computers since way back, with older software for all kinds of things like editing PDFs, vintage games, creating videos.... programs more than a few years old? The new 'windows' won't let them work.

Yes, we had a tough virus. But I knew I could erase and reinstall our harddrive to get rid of it if I had to. I'm glad I found another way, because I couldn't have reinstalled 'win XP'. THAT was my worry. Our CD is from 2002. They stopped making XP. I can't update 10+ years, on dial-up internet! My 'problem' was, possibly being forced to use 'win 7'! Unless I have the latest of every program that are my REASON for having a computer.... I don't look forward to the switch making the software I need obsolete. 'Microsoft' likes to make things useless so that you're forced to buy new versions of products. No thanks! I think everyone will understand now, especially if they use programs beyond the usual (ie- not 'miscrosoft' products at all and a few years old).

Nice to hear from you, Shonna! Yes, I got a suntan early from 30ish weather in April, maybe even March. Then suddenly snow. Melted. Lately the grass is green after rains and stable summer temperatures.... But one day of small sprinkling snow, to our surprise. Then three nights, including tonight, of sub-zero weather. Not by much but only the perennials are safe, so it's good nothing is planted. Gute reise! I love Alberta, including Calgary and Edmonton. Bring a little of everything! Happy Mother's day, if you are a Mom of any kind. I look forward to my parents visiting tomorrow.... cleaning time.

Let's clear out those crickets. Further to wishing everyone a happy St. Patrick's day, happy spring, and a happy Easter: perhaps this one garners replies. I wish my best to everyone who is a Mom in any way; such my regard of my beloved kitties as our children with all of our hearts. Biological or in any way that matters: Happy Mother's Day to all of you Moms!

My folks are coming to our country home Sunday for a nice vegetarian meal, berry pies that Ron picked personally (last year), and a nice fresh outing from the city for them overall. They got a major gift for Easter that includes Mother and Father's day but there are pretty wrapped treats for Mom to open on Sunday as well. Yours truly, Carolyn.

I didn't need to rebuild our harddrive and switch to 'win 7'! I found a way to fight a stubborn virus and won. Downloading solutions on slowspeed takes days. So we get to use the version of 'windows' a while longer, that works smoothly with all of our best used programs ('XP'). That's the only hesitancy for the switch, for those not in the know. We have the 'win 7' disc and saw that is renders much of our older software unusable. Of course you need the programs that are your reason for HAVING a computer! Download newer versions of our ware? Read the portion back, where I say we access the internet on slowspeed. Q;->=

No one need stop chatting. I solely forewarned that if response from me were delayed: the above reinstallation would have been the reason. I have much catching up to do at my blog; announcement posts, games, my regular writing and none are forgotten. However please know that I watch all reviews coming in, with pleasure and would answer your comments with even greater appreciation. I think we're all a little quiet as spring settles into our countries of the world.

It's saying peek-a-boo in south central Canada. I am wonderfully tanned and Ron & I have garden and flower seeds ready to roll. Many perennials are up, some even blooming; including wild strawberries! But suddenly, it's below 0C overnight and today we had a sprinkling of snow. It's a bird frenzy at our feeders, I can tell you. Most of our summer friends arrived and are needing the food energy! So.... this is why we're a 'hardiness zone 3'; why we wait to plant no matter how warm it is at first. How are the rest of you? At the blog or here, I'd love to hear your news. :) My blog catch-up is forthcoming. My own reviews? Oy, do I need to work at THAT!

My computer is going to be under reconstruction but it shouldn't take long. I'm a little nervous and share this warning because removing win 7 and returning to XP a while back; was shaky! We did it when we saw win 7 & 8 exclude most of our top-used programs from working. Those programs, like video-editing, are why we have a computer. Getting our PC's basics, like sound and internet connectivity to work, was hairy! And we're only on dial-up with which to download updated software. For years, we've postponed replacing XP with 'win 7'; which microsoft forces, by no longer supporting updated virus protection for XP.

We knew we'd have to use win 7 and find ways to make our stuff work, so we bought time getting people to help us obtain what we need and very slowly downloading some ourselves. I appear to have a virus this morning and it appears microsoft doesn't give squat about XP customers, so I suppose today I'm going to bite that bullet. I haven't seen a lot of traffic here but should you not have the usual fast response here or at my blog: please leave a comment or some sort of note, letting others know why. :) And wish me luck please!

If it isn't clear, I'm not tacking the new windows onto our system. To eradicate a hardward glitch we've had and of course to eradicate the virus, I have to erase our harddrive and rebuild. We've very glad to have a second harddrive, external drive, and are prepared and ready to do it. Yours Truly, Carolyn.

I'll say it louder: HAPPY EASTER, everyone!

Hello to my friends, following as they wish and to members of my groups! I'm behind on blog posts, prize-winner news (except for Ethereal), reviews, and I'd prefer to step up even my reading. Our first year closed oddly late (Feb 28) which we correct this year two, it was my fiancé's birthday late last month, and we're having my folks over for Easter tomorrow; along with having done indoor planting of some garden produce. I live in "hardiness zone 3"; which you'll see needs all the head start it can get, if you look it up. We're also watching over a cat that comes and goes.

I haven't forgotten you! :-) I check for comments, questions, e-mails every day and every time you add a review to our linky buttons; I have a look and am pleased. It's just writing posts and reviews really that takes me longer to get around to. As a writer hoping to do so as a trade, I take everything attached to my name seriously and don't whip anything out. I like to do it well. For now: I wish A HAPPY EASTER and God's blessings on all of you! Yours Fondly, Carolyn.

Music lovers, I composed an article that might resonate with you. https://cmriedel.wordpress.com/2015/0...

In case you aren't subscribed yet, my blog has released a nice summary and the winner for the ETHEREAL grand finale! This post lets you browse all 2014 activities. https://cmriedel.wordpress.com/2015/0...

"CHESTITA BABA MARTA!"

There is a celebration of spring and positivity for our new year, that is special because it is entirely Bulgarian. It isn't an event celebrated all over the place like many, perhaps because they are religious-based rather than culture-based. However Bulgarians invite others to join them for MARTENITSI from March 1 to March 31!

It is about wearing red & white symbols to draw happiness, health, luck, and fertility of yourselves and your homes each year. I know about it because our reading peer, Nina has shared her tradition with me from home! We have exchanged red & white tokens, called "martenitski" like the holiday and will begin to display or wear whichever trinket we select. She sent Ron & I extras to give away and we did, so the tradition and quest for positivity in 2015 spreads to others. You wear your red & white trinket, originally woven threads, until March 31.... or until you see a sign of spring.

I joke that I am glad for the month end alternative because it could be awhile in central Canada! A spring bird returned, perennials beginning to bud, or a stork (that especially won't be appearing here). Ron thinks he saw pussywillows beginning to reform but there was no way I was closing this nice new custom the first day we wear our Martenitsi threads! We'll watch for more definitive signals! Nina gave us wool-made traditional dolls too, which are prominently standing in our living room. I love celebrating eclectic aspects of life with other people and don't remember the last time I discovered an occasion that was new. It isn't often, is it? "Chestita Baba Marta, everyone!"

Our opening year for all three RIEDEL Challenges concluded on Saturday. I met a lot of people, figured out things that we're doing differently, and loved to see much of my vision working very well. Thank you, everyone who was a part of my first three groups!

Those returning and newcomers too this 2015, mean a great deal to me. It shows me you liked the groups and I will post an opening "hello" for 2015 soon. I am closing the inaugural year first. That post hasn't been forgotten and will be up as soon as possible. ~Yours Truly, Carolyn~