Thursday 27 July 2017

Congratulations to Me

I'm very excited to celebrate 25,000 views on my blog. Thank you so much for your continued support.



Monday 24 July 2017

Sleeping With the Enemy Flashbacks

Big Oops. When I originally posted this I had the movie as Pretty Woman...what was I thinking? Thanks to my brother for pointing out my mistake. 


Do you remember the movie "Sleeping with the Enemy"? I haven'y see it in years, but strangely enough, think of it quite often.

The movie starred Julia Roberts as an abused wife, who faked her own death to escape her rich and powerful husband. Of course, he found her, and she had to escape once again, but this time she had someone on her side to help.

Her husband was very demanding, and anything, like the towels hanging crooked on the rack, could set him into an abusive rage. When he found her, he stalked her first, giving her little clues, just enough to increase her fear.

There was a scene when she was on her own, where she straightened out the towels, then laughed at her self and messed them up, just because she could.

My towel rack, with the hand towels, a match to my shower curtain, is situated on the wall to the left of the toilet. Out of habit, I straighten the towels when I'm sitting there, and than laugh at myself, remembering that scene from the movie.


I'm not all OCD about it or anything, and probably wouldn't bother at all if I had a magazine rack or a book nearby.

That's one of my paintings, by the way, and have a close up for a better view.


Thursday 20 July 2017

Spelling Mistakes

My nine year old granddaughter is arts and crafts crazy.  When she was here the other day she borrowed my laptop and was researching  'How To' art videos.

We didn't have a lot of time together that day, and I wasn't prepared to get into a larger project, so I directed her to Pinterest, and told her to look at my board of painted rocks. I knew there was a pile of washed and ready rocks in the corner of my garden.

She found my board and I could see her interest was piqued. I suggested she do a search...painted rocks...where she would find even more inspiration.

I glanced over, saw a confused look on her face and looked at the screen. Oh No! How did you get there, I asked, and quickly corrected her mistake.

Her search was for PANTED rocks, instead of PAINTED rocks. A simple spelling mistake, and this is what her search came up with.


She found my stash of acrylic paints, my box of brushes and went to work. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture when I had the chance, but she did a great whale, in blue of course, her favorite color, and a Minion.

"Did you know you have black board paint?" she asked. 

"Yes," I answered, "did you want to try it?"

She selected a large flat rock and went home later with her chalk board rock. I kept the others, and put a coat of Modge Podge on them to preserve her work.

I see some art lessons in my future, and love it. Finally, I have found someone in the family with the art gene.

 My grandfather was a chemical engineer, but also a painter and gifted photographer. My mother was a very talented artist, oils for the most part but she tried many other mediums.

My brother also went the photography route, and in this modern era, has further developed that talent with digital art and photo shop.

I paint, mixed media collage, crochet like a demon and write, both this blog, one other and works of fiction.

I'm delighted to see these artistic endeavors come to light. Who knows what the future holds, I have six other grandchildren. Their inherited artistic talent may yet come to be.

Prenuptual Agreements

I had the opportunity to read, more like scan, a bunch of those trashy, full of gossip, innuendo and absolute lies kind of magazines. I like to look at the pictures...now isn't that the opposite of what men say...about only reading the articles?

I like those pictures about who wore it best, or the series of women wearing similar outfits and the rating given from sloppy, to sexy, to too little...you get the idea.

I came across an article about Miley Curus and her fiance Liam Hemsworth. This is the second engagement for this couple, and they may be heading for a breakup for the same reason they broke up the first time, according to the magazine.



The article states that Liam was insulted that he was asked to sign a prenup. The people managing Miley's money were trying to protect her, and her assets.

They broke up, got back together and now the question of the prenup raises its ugly head again.

Miley is worth, estimated in the article, something like $160 million, if I remember correctly. He's worth a measly $19 million. I suppose, if they marry with no prenup, and later divorce as celebrities are known to do, he could claim a portion of her assets. And that's not chump change.


If he loved her, I think he should sign, no hesitation, no qualification.

I am a big fan of the 'In Death' series of books, which now number over forty, written by J.D. Robb, otherwise known as Nora Roberts.

These books are about a New York city homicide detective in the late 2050's, married to one of, if not the richest man in the world. A couple of years after their marriage, the subject of prenups comes up in a discussion related to a current case.

Roarke, the husband, says something about lawyers having reviewed the prenup before marriage, assuming his wife had done so, as had their suspect. Eve, his wife. tells him she never had a lawyer review their prenup, she just signed it unread.

As a very successful businessman, Roarke is stunned that she would sign any kind of legal document without reading it. Eve had the best explanation. Roarke Industries required the prenup as there were a countless number of businesses, with countless employees that needed to be protected.

She goes on to tell him that they, Eve and Roarke, didn't need an agreement, and as she had no interest in his money, or in taking over his empire, she signed the needed document.

She did clarify that if she didn't have a lifetime supply of coffee ( the real stuff being very expensive in the future) that she wanted an amendment to their the prenup.

I like her attitude, and if two people love each other I think the signing of such documents should not be an issue. If one person is richer than the other, I would be making an assumption to say that the other would be provided for in the event of a divorce. But then you you what they say...to assume is to make an ASS out of U and ME.

When divorce is an issue, previous good feelings and intentions go out the window.


This is the first book in the series. It's best read to read them in order as then you get to see the growth in the characters and understand new characters who are introduced and become regulars.


Monday 17 July 2017

Beer Pong

I know I may be old, but then so is my brother, and he knew what beer pong was. How did I miss this in my misspent youth?

I have to admit I gave this some thought and realized how this came about.

Going back many years, decades even, I remember a party where my spouse got very inebriated and got into a fight with his good friend. In the course of this fight, outside in the winter, he hit me across the face and knocked my glasses off and into a snowbank.

After that, our party habits changed. We might still go to a dance where, when he got inebriated, the worst thing he did was roll up his sleeves and pant legs when he danced. Those country dances can be wild. LOL

I never realized until now, but we avoided the big, wild parties where anything can happen. And as we got older, had the kids, it was more a case of a few drinks, (okay, sometimes a lot of drinks on his part not mine, the Mom, watcher of the kids and designated driver).

So, I missed out on this game called beer pong. Glasses of water set up on opposing ends of the table, teams at each station. The goal was to get a ping pong ball in one of the cups. If you did, someone drank, I got confused with the details of whether you drank when you got a ball in the cup, or when you didn't. It seemed to me that people drank whichever way it went.

I can now say I've seen beer pong, though I have yet to experience it.

Must say, when my daughter was in the store with me Friday looking for ping pong balls, this was not the game I imagined. My first thought was drinking with a ball in the glass, or heaven forbid, in your mouth. Then the idea of tossing them in a cup of beer just seemed...a waste of beer.

Should have know these beer drinkers wouldn't waste their brew.



It was a good party,pong and all.

Tuesday 11 July 2017

Free Book Offer

I was visiting me daughter, and heard the gentle coo of pigeons, and found her neighbor has a coop in his garage.

I once did a great deal of research about pigeons, for a book. The idea came to me when I was driving through Oshawa, along Bloor Street when I approached the light and saw a house with its roof covered with birds.

Of course the movie The Birds came to mind, but then I saw the very large pigeon coop in the back yard. Pigeons, I thought. And didn't that old coop look like a very good spot for a murder.

I thought about this all the way home, and immediately researched about these birds. Afraid the only real thing I remember is that pigeons can't poop when they fly, so that bird crap on your car window is not from them. But, they can and do poop on window sills, which is a whole other issue.

The book I wrote had me doing research for another topic, PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The book I wrote is titled Hiding from the night. Thanks to John Kerns for the cover art.

The book is free for Kindle readers from July 11 to July 13. Don't forget there's an app so you can download books to your computer.

Here's the link

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00M4RQOH0

Saturday 8 July 2017

Tennis Anyone?

Roger Federer
Rafael Nadal




It's no secret I love tennis and am right now watching the Federer/Zverev match.

I am a Fed fan, love that he is a family man, with eight year old twin girls and maybe four year old twin boys.








I also like Rafael Nadal, another well known player. I like that both of these men have won so many tournaments and have fought back from numerous injuries to have a magnificent year so far.



But, I have to say, after watching the Murray/Fognini match yesterday...there's another player I will keep my eye out for and that is Fabio Fognini from Italy.



As I'm watching all I could think about was he was perfect for a handsome, brooding, leading man type character. I may just have to study him some more (and the naked fund raiser picture he did for Cosmopolitan magazine) and create a story worthy of his dark and dangerous look.


Monday 3 July 2017

Wimbledon and Memories of Dad

I watch tennis quite often, but always at this time of year when the Wimbledon Tournament is played in England. This tournament is filled with a sense of history and tradition, and 2017 is the 140th year of this Grand Slam event.

Grand Slams are like majors in golf, there are only about 4 a year and they are not easy to win, so, if you do win, it has special meaning. Not to mention the points and winnings.

I like all the pomp an ceremony with Wimbledon. The players all wear the traditional white, which was the norm for tennis many years ago.





My Dad played tennis, and was a member of a club that had a grass court, and celebrated their own Wimbledon tournament, ending with the traditional strawberries and cream, champagne tea.





Dad was a big guy, and after a few rounds of tennis he could be...sort of ripe. Mom refused to do his tennis clothes as they were a damp and sweaty mess, so Dad did his own laundry, his own load of whites.

I used to laugh to see him come out of the laundry with his T shirt, shorts and socks all neatly folded for his next match. But, being a thoughtful guy, he'd throw in whatever other whites were in the laundry basket, to make a full load. Usually that was Mom's unmentionables, that he would fold and leave on the foot of her bed.

I can remember all those players from that time spent watching tennis with Dad, like Connors, Bjorn Borg and Agassi to name a few.

Today, my faves are Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Both of these players have been plagued with injuries, and both have made a fantastic comeback this year. I watch tennis, or have it on in the background, and feel like Dad is right here with me.

Roger Federer



Game, set, match. Good luck guys.