Archive by Author

Window Wonders~Disturbing and Disconcerting

31 May

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

Louise Gibson

 My window wonders this week

Have become a bit disturbing.

What used to be a heartwarming scene

Has become very disconcerting!

I have a most unusual guest,

Who really is quite rude.

He appears uninvited at meal time

And devours all the food!

Lord, I need your help.

I really don’t want to be mean.

But that cute raccoon is gaining weight,

While my cats are looking lean.

I said he is “cute” because

His habits are disarming.

He picks his food up with his “hands”-

I must confess he is charming!

I take out fresh water for my cats,

But our visitor is quite pristine!

You see, he “washes” his food in it.

He is the original “Mr. Clean”.

And Lord, you see the other problem, too, I know.

How he trashes up my patio?

I get so tired of using my broom,

I moved the garbage can to the utility room.

Lord, I have a question, please

Was this your plan from the start,

To  put me “under pressure”

To tenderize my heart?

Raccoon (Procyon lotor) 3

Raccoon (Procyon lotor) 3 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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BLOG TOUR – LITTLE NANI REVISITED

30 May

Banner

 

I am so pleased today to welcome author Cinta Garcia de la Rosa to Old Things R New-Onisha

Thank you for visiting this wonderful blog today so you can know a bit more about Little Nani, her stories, her world, and her author. OK, her author is not as interesting as Little Nani, but what can we do? They go hand in hand, so please bear with her.

Why are we here today? Because Little Nani is suffering a series of changes. “The Funny Adventures of Little Nani” was published for the first time last September 2012, both in print and in ebook form, on Amazon and Createspace. However, along the months, I started feeling less enthusiastic about my book, thinking that the cover was dull and boring, and also thinking that the stories could be improved, maybe going through some extra editing and proofing. So that’s what I did, and now I am much happier about the result and I trust that I will start getting many more sales. Why? Because I will make the books available not only on Amazon and Createspace, but also on Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, and Feed-A-Read.

There will be also many different options to buy the books. Do you want to buy the whole set of stories? You can do it. Do you want to buy just some stories, the ones you think you would like? You can do it too, since I will publish the stories individually on Smashwords. So you see, different options to match different customers, different readers.

Once all this is settled and the books are republished on all those retailers, I will start to do the same process with the second book in the Little Nani series, which will be available next Fall.

Follow the whole blog tour since I will be announcing all the news in the different blogs!

NewCoverAmazon

BLURB

Little Nani is a little girl who likes helping people. However, when she helps people the results can be a bit unexpected. Why is that? Little Nani is a witch! Or at least she wants to be a witch. With her magic wand, she will try to cast different spells to help her friends, but she won’t be successful all the time.

Follow Little Nani in her funny adventures and meet her extraordinary friends. Funny ostriches, horses that love reading, super-fast turtles, grumpy zombies… Little Nani has lots of friends! You can also draw your own characters!

Little Nani is willing to become a good witch. Will she manage to do it? Who knows? Read the stories and discover what happens next!

AUTHOR BIO.

CintaAuthor

Cinta Garcia de la Rosa is a Spanish writer who has loved the written word since he discovered she was able to read books at age 5. Since then, she has become a bookworm and reads around 100 books every year. She also writes, every day, compulsively, even in the middle of the night. You cannot control when inspiration hits you, can you? She writes in English because she is convinced that in a previous life she was British, so writing in English feels more natural to her than writing in her native language. Yes, she is crazy like that. Cinta Garcia is the author of “The Funny Adventures of Little Nani”, a collection of short stories for children, and “A Foreigner in London”, a short story published on Smashwords. She is a member of Independent Authors International (iAi).

I love your book has drawing sections. Do you have any plans for children to be able to submit their drawings to a website devoted to Little Nani interactions?

 

Thank you! I really thought that including drawing sections in the book would be fun for the children and, definitely, it would also turn the book into an interactive entertainment. So I included them.

I have had thoughts of doing just that: creating a space for children to submit their own drawings and create a kind of “fan board” where I can pin all the pictures. But first I need a proper website for my stories. I am planning on creating a Little Nani website, fully devoted to the stories and to the children. On that website, I will include a section for the submission of the illustrations drawn by my little readers. Even for the big readers too! I know of a couple of my readers who are not so little and would like to draw some Little Nani pictures (yes, you all know who you are).

I am really looking forward to seeing pictures drawn by children who have read and enjoyed my silly Little Nani stories. I would display them very proudly on my website.

Thank you, Onisha, for hosting me on your blog!

GIVEAWAY!

Don’t forget to leave a comment, so you can enter the giveaway for the opportunity to win a signed copy of “The Funny Adventures of Little Nani”. If you leave comments in several blogs during the tour, you will get an entry for each comment. So don’t hesitate to comment!

LINKS TO THE BOOKS.

Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/3914481

Amazon (US): http://www.amazon.com/Funny-Adventures-Little-Nani-ebook/dp/B009YMBXJW/ref=tag_dpp_lp_edpp_ttl_in

Amazon (UK): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Funny-Adventures-Little-Nani-ebook/dp/B009YMBXJW/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Austenite78

MEDIA LINKS:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CintaGarciaRosa

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cinta-Garc%C3%ADa-de-la-Rosa-Author/333755993341596

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6470058.Cinta_Garc_a_de_la_Rosa

Amazon Author: http://www.amazon.com/Cinta-Garc%C3%ADa-de-la-Rosa/e/B009LHYYSM

Smashwords Author: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Austenite78

Website: http://www.cintagarciadelarosa.com/

Blogs: http://cintascorner.wordpress.com/ // http://icantstopreadingblog.com/ //

http://authorsyouwanttoread.wordpress.com/

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/CintaGarciaRosa/

Tumblr: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/cintascorner

About.me: http://about.me/cintagarcia

Authorsdb: http://authorsdb.com/authors-directory/1034-cinta-garcia-de-la-rosa

Askdavid.com: http://askdavid.com/reviews/book/children-book/3237

 

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Visits with Ivan & Dora Part 1

29 May

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

1

Ivan,father of DiVoran Lites

DiVoran’s dad, Ivan, was an avid fisherman, one of those “Lives to Fish” kind of guys.  During his working years, he spent as much time as his job permitted, fishing within a driving radius of his home.  When he and his wife Dora lived in Livermore, California, it was the San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento River where he did most of his fishing.

At that time, DiVoran and I lived in Los Angeles where I was attending Northrop University, and we made several trips to Livermore so Ivan and Dora could see their grandkids.  Now I’m not really much a fisherman, but I have fond memories of fishing with Ivan on San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento River.  In fact, I caught the biggest fish of my life, a 75 lb. Sturgeon, and Ivan caught a 104 lb. Sturgeon during one of our trips up the Sacramento River.

2b

On another trip to Livermore to visit Ivan and Dora, Ivan took me fishing on San Francisco bay where together, we caught the most fish (110 total) I can remember.  Of course, of those 110 Striped Bass we caught, we had to release 109 because they measured from 12“ to 15” long, and the limit was 16”, which left us with only one keeper, but boy was that a fun morning!

3Ivan and Dora retired in Vista, California and one of the first trips we made to visit them  there involved Ivan taking me to run his lobster traps.   He had obtained a commercial Pacific Lobster License with the idea of making a fortune selling his catches to the local area  restaurants.

The only trouble with that plan was that poachers were raiding his traps and running off with most of his lobsters.  He had tried everything he could think of to deter the poachers, including enlisting the local sheriff, all to no avail.  The traps were some distance off shore, and no one was able to keep watch on the traps 24/7, and he never knew when the poachers would strike.  But, the lobsters we were able to catch on that trip were delicious!

Bill Lites

Bill Lites

Vista was hot in the summer compared to Livermore, so to beat the heat and be able to fulfill Ivan’s fishing desires, they would pick out a nice “cool” campground at a good fishing location, buy a used 30’ travel trailer and set it up there for the summer.  If the location turned out to meet all Ivan’s “Summer Getaway/Fishing Requirements”, then they would leave the trailer for  the next year.  If not, they would hook up the travel trailer to his truck and move it to another “Better” location the next year.5

There were the memorable summers Ivan and Dora spent in the Puget Sound area.   Dora’s brother Smithy ran a beautiful trailer park and campground on Marrowstone Island.   From Seattle, we had to take two ferryboats to get to the island and then drive several miles to get to Smithy’s Trailer Park, but it was well worth the time and effort.

6

Ivan and Dora  parked their travel trailer at Smithy’s for several  summers, and Ivan usually helped Smithy with the campground maintenance, while Dora and  Smithy’s wife Waunita took care of the family Avon business.  DiVoran and I would rent one of Smithy’s permanent travel trailers during our visits with them, which was just like camping in a State Park, which as it happened, was just a few miles north of Smithy’s at the Fort Flagler State Park. 7

A day of fishing for Ivan and me on Marrowstone island was; out early at low tide, to collect tube worms, then set off in Ivan’s boat in search of the best Flounder fishing hole.  By the time DiVoran and I visited  them at Smithy’s the first time, Ivan had scoped out the best places to find bait, and also the most likely places to find good size Flounder.  And boy was that fresh Flounder some good eatin’!

8b

8a The other neat thing we did with Ivan and Dora while visiting them at Smithy’s was to go digging for clams.  Ivan knew just were to go at low tide for the largest clams.  We would walk along looking for the “waterspout” from the clam, then run over and dig it up.  It was amazing how deep we had to dig sometimes to get to the clam, and how long their siphon (leg, as Ivan called it) was that they used to spurt the water.  If you like clams, it would be hard to find better eating than those Puget Sound clams.

Ivan and DiVoran

Ivan and DiVoran

—–To Be Continued—–

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Timepieces

27 May

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and Artist

I received my first watch when my maternal grandmother went home. I was seven years old. The watch was beautiful and fragile, and of course it had to be wound. I was as careful as could be, and I had it for what seemed like a long time. I wore it on my left wrist so I could tell my left hand from my right. I thought about Grandmother Mabel every day.

But all that doesn’t explain the reason for my becoming practically obsessed about knowing what time it was. I have a clock or two in every room of the house including the bathroom and on the porch, I have four timers (one on my IPod) and five watches that work. Even I know that is excessive.

I read a book once about a boy in a mental institution who was obsessed with timepieces, but I don’t think I’m as bad as him. No, I more or less just love knowing what time it is and I love the wide variety of time pieces available. If it helps to know…I didn’t plan all this it just snuck up on me.

You’ve head the saying, “The unexamined life is not worth living?”

Well, to me the unscheduled life is full of pitfalls such as: T. V., computer dabbling, novels, eating chocolates, and others signs of enjoyable depravity. I get depressed if I give in to overindulge or get to feeling lonely because I’m not doing something that takes a bit of effort and thought. But that’s just me. You do what you like, it’s your life.

When Bill retired he stopped wearing a watch. He almost gave up looking at clocks, so we sometimes ran a bit late, which of course freaked me. Now I’m adjusting and I can even make myself late if I get absorbed in one of my projects. Maybe I need more timepieces or…maybe I shouldn’t care so much what other people think. I really like my timepieces and they all work. Three need the bands fixed or replaced, but I’ve figured out how to make that happen, at least for one of them.

All my clocks and watches are inexpensive except for the one in the picture. I wouldn’t want a fancy gold or platinum one with real diamonds because I’d have to wear it night and day in order to justify its existence. Variety is, after all the spice of life.

 

clock

 

“Hour by hour I place my days in your hand.”

Psalm 31:15

 

 

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More Window Wonders

24 May

My kitchen window

Never fails to excite my inner core.

Each tiny glimpse of nature

Whets my appetite for more

The behavior of the animal life

Is utterly absurd

The birds are eating the cat’s food

And a cat is acting like a bird.

Two cranes are walking slowly

Pecking down at the ground for food.

The cats are watching quietly

As is to disturb them would be rude!

I keep my camera by my window

To capture moments such as this

A cat is drinking from the birdbath

The absurdity is bliss.

 

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Our Trip to Italy~Part 12

22 May

A slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill

After a full day of viewing some of the most famous art treasures in the world, we made our way back to the convent for some much-needed rest. Then it was out again for a wonderful Salmon dinner at the La Vittoria Ristorante. The food was great, but our waiter was a sourpuss, and that wasn’t the kind of an end to our most interesting day in Rome we were looking for.1After a good night’s sleep, we were up and packed at 6:00 am for breakfast with the nuns. Then it was another “wild” taxi ride to the Roma Termini Railway Station for our 30-minute train ride to Rome’s Ciampino–G.B. Pastine International Airport.

3b

Johnny Depp

3a

DiVoran Lites with Marco Grimaldi

It was during our tram ride to the airplane that we met Marco Grimaldi, an Italian opera singer with the National Opera of Italy, and his 20-person entourage, who happened to be traveling on the same plane with us to Orlando. I told him that DiVoran thought he looked like the movie star, Johnny Depp, and that she had never had her picture taken with a celebrity, and wondered if he would mind if I took a picture of them together. He was, of course, pleased with the request and that’s when DiVoran struck up a conversation with him, and found out that he and his group were on their way to Tallahassee to start a concert tour in the U.S..

When we got on the plane, I mentioned to the flight attendants that Marco was an opera singer, and that if they asked him very nicely, he might be coaxed into singing for us during the flight. Well, they did, and after they had served our meal, Marco sang “Volare” to all of us over the plane’s PA system. He got a “standing ovation” from the passengers and crew. We were glad we had told the flight attendants about Marco and suggesting they ask him to sing, as it put the finishing touch on our overall trip, and made up for all the cold weather we had endured. That was one of the most unique experiences we had on the whole trip.4

The flight west, to the U.S. took a couple hours longer than it did going east to Italy. We finally made it, and after a short layover in New York, where Marco entertained the flight crew again, it was on to Orlando and finally to our own quiet little Titusville home. It was hard to believe how warm it was in Florida, after the cold in Italy. But, we just cranked up the A/C and boy, it was soooo good to get home and sleep in our own beds after all those different Italian beds. It was the end of a wonderfully exciting vacation trip, which we will remember for the rest of our lives.

5

Nice to be home!

—–The End—-

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Book Blast

21 May

TITLE: Book Blast: Every Hill and Mountain by Deborah Heal 5/21/13 -$50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway!

Title:Every Hill and Mountain (Time and Again) (Volume 3)

By Deborah Heal

About the Book:

Every Hill and Mountain
Visiting another century…not the summer vacation she had planned.

Those who have read Time and Again and Unclaimed Legacy know that Abby Thomas is a college student on a summer service project with 11-year-old Merri. And they know that the summer is not going the way Abby had expected—but in a good way. For one thing, she meets a very nice guy named John Roberts. And for another, she discovers a strange computer program called Beautiful House that lets her fast-forward and rewind life. Not her own, of course, but those of the people who lived in Merri’s old house. And the Old Dears’ old house, and…well, any old house.
And since the program worked so well for the Old Dears’ family tree project, Abby’s college roommate Kate hopes it will help her find out more about her ancestor Ned Greenfield. And Kate’s fiancé Ryan thinks the program has lucrative commercial potential.

Abby and John reluctantly agree to help Kate, but only on the condition that she and Ryan promise to keep the program a secret, because if it fell into the wrong hands…well, no one wants Big Brother invading their privacy.

The two couples take a trip to the tiny town of Equality, set in the hills of southern Illinois and the breath-taking Shawnee National Forest. According to Kate’s research, Ned Greenfield was born there at a place called Hickory Hill.

The mayor, police chief, and townspeople are hospitable and helpful—until the topic of Hickory Hill comes up. They seem determined to keep them away, telling them, “There’s nothing there for you to see.”
Eventually they find Hickory Hill on their own—both the mansion and the lonely hill it sits upon. Built in 1834, Hickory Hill stands sentinel over Half Moon Salt Mine where the original owner John Granger accumulated his blood-tainted fortune.

Abby and her friends meet Miss Granger, Hickory Hill’s current eccentric owner, and they eventually get the chance to time-surf there. Their shocking discovery on the third floor concerning Kate’s ancestor Ned Greenfield is almost too much to bear. What they learn sends them racing to the opposite end of the state to find the missing link in Kate’s family tree. And there they are reminded that God is in the business of redemption—that one day he’ll make all things new.

Download on Kindle | Purchase Paperback

Deborah Heal
sticker picture
Deborah Heal, the author of the Time and Again time travel mystery series, was born not far from the setting of her book Every Hill and Mountain and grew up “just down the road” from the setting of Time and Again. Today she lives with her husband in Waterloo, Illinois, where she enjoys reading, gardening, and learning about regional history. She has three grown children, three grandchildren, and two canine buddies Digger and Scout (a.k.a. Dr. Bob). She loves to interact with her readers, who may learn more about the history behind the books at her website http://www.deborahheal.com and her Facebook author page http://www.facebook.com/DeborahHeal.

Follow Deborah Heal
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Cloudland

20 May

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and Artist

 

I was telling about Mother playing with us and training our imaginations by showing us how to find dogs, cats, and worlds of imaginary creatures in the clouds.

There’s a lot to be said about clouds, though, and I’m saying more. It occurred to me that electronic devices use Cloud technology and God uses it too, in a manner of speaking.

Have you ever been concerned that you didn’t pray hard enough or long enough about a situation or that you had to constantly remind God of a need or your prayers wouldn’t get answered? Well, my printer set me straight on that one. I realized that all I had to do was hit, click, or press print and the item I wanted would store itself in the printer and, all things being equal, not go away until it was printed. I began to know that God was like that too. He doesn’t forget. In fact, the Bible says He, or Jesus, or The Holy Spirit, or all three pray diligently for us all the time. Yes.

When I was looking at the clouds I took it a step further. I have a computer, an IPod, and a Kindle. I no longer have to worry about having enough Gigas or whatever it was that happened when I first got a computer. All my devices have lots of room and if they run out of room, it can all go to the cloud and be there if I ever need it again. I guess God has enough memory too. And the thought went even further to trying to remember what I need to do, and ideas I have about things I’d like to do or write or whatever, it gets to be a lot, but hey, maybe all that is in God’s cloud too.

I have one technical question. If God can handle all that “stuff” and God lives in me, does that mean that there’s a place in me that keeps it all and that if I need it, He can make it available to me? Hmmm. Experiment time.

Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good.

 

Cloud

 

 

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THE SAILBOAT

19 May

MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

Growing up in New Mexico, there wasn’t a lot of water around – no swimming pools (except at the public ones), no ponds or lakesides, no oceans, etc. So, consequently, I was not really familiar with boats of any kind. That really didn’t bother me too much I had a lot of other interests.

If you have ever lived in government quarters – as we did on any military base where we were stationed – then you know that, when you leave that posting, you are required to have those same quarters absolutely immaculate! Better than when you moved into them! And there would be an inspection of those quarters by an official inspector. If they found anything wrong – you were required to “fix” it before you were allowed to leave the base.

We had lived in quarters on Tyndall AFB, Florida for five years. That’s almost too long, actually. Our usual moves were about every three years. I told Fred that we needed to leave soon, because I was beginning to put down roots – in a government duplex!!

He was finally given orders to relocate. So then the work of packing up and moving out began. After the movers had taken our belongings away, we started cleaning the unit. We had always thought we could do that ourselves, rather than hire someone to come in and do it for us. So I set Fred and the girls to cleaning, and I thought I would tackle the kitchen. I had planned on the weekend to do the entire kitchen. Unfortunately, the stove was so old that, in taking it apart and cleaning it – it took the entire weekend just for the stove!

By the time we had finished, we were exhausted.
Now….you may think there is no connection to cleaning and boats…but wait….

page1image16592 There was a gentleman who worked in the Weather Station with Fred, who LOVED boats! And especially sailboats. Not being able to purchase one for himself, he had contracted with another gentleman from Alabama to care for his sailboat.

It was a 33-foot Hunter that would sleep six people. It had a full galley and full shower. It had a small auxiliary engine to get us in and out of port. It was set up for ocean voyages and was one-person configured. Whenever the owner wanted to “play” with it, he would call and come down and retrieve it. That usually only happened once or twice a year. The rest of the time, our friend could take it out whenever he wanted.

And that’s what happened with us. He had offered to take us out for a sail, on the last day we were in town. And so we did. I was a bit confused when we motored out of port, thinking “what does this have to do with sailboating?”

But then he cut the engine and unfurled the sail. It was the most wonderful thing – so very quiet, and peaceful, and RESTFUL…just exactly what we needed after all that cleaning.

He even let our 8-year-old handle the wheel for a while. She loved it!

We’ve never purchased a boat of our own – never felt the need to. But it was an experience that we savored and have remembered all these years.

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The Tapestry of Our Life

17 May
   From the Heart
   Louise Gibson
Louise Gibson
The Tapestry of Our Life
                        God sees all of time from beginning to end-
                        He sees what we cannot.
                        He fashioned us in our mother’s womb-
                        We were skillfully wrought.
                        Psalm 139 is powerful-
                        It describes life in the womb.
                        Skillfully wrought means “embroidered”
                        But “How” and “By whom”?
                        We are part of God’s tapestry –
                        He weaves all things together for good
                        For those who are the “called
                        ” According to His purpose.”
                        It’s His design for brotherhood.
                        You have a place in that design
                        Far greater than you can know.
                        As a single thread in the tapestry,
                        Your influence will continue to grow.
                         The full scope of the legacy you leave
                                 Is beyond your ability to see.
                         You must believe, on the basis of scripture,
                         Your thread extends throughout eternity.
Persian tapestry.

Persian tapestry. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

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