Mind
body
and spirit
strive not to lose
the urge to explore
outside the barriers
created by young ageists
who dictate terms of existence
for those who have reached a certain age
How
quickly
they forget
who created
the technology
medical advances
and freedoms they now enjoy
are they scared that once set adrift
we might just show them a thing or two?
Welcome to the round up with posts that you might have missed during the week here on Smorgasbord.
I hope you are doing well.. lots going on in the world as usual, and Europe in particular appears to be struggling to contain Covid with many countries seeing a new wave forming. Unfortunately, as in the case of Paris.. giving the population even a few hours notice means that millions pack up and leave for rural areas.. but if it is a hotbed of infection that increases the spread of the disease further across the country. I know it sounds draconian but I don’t think you should announce there is going to be a lockdown in 12hours or three days. You just do it and stop anyone leaving. It would also stop the idiots who decide to throw a massive party the night before lockdown because of the restrictions coming in to force the next morning… The virus is not going to wait until the next morning to infect you.. it is an opportunist and will be very happy to join the party…Sounds like a recipe for disaster…
Ignore me I am just being a grumpy old woman this morning.
We have had a few days of sunshine and I have been sitting in the garden in the afternoons with my reader and enjoying living in another world.. that is the great thing about fantasy of all kinds, although kind of disturbing when you prefer the fantasy world to the one you currently live in! Apparently it will be a little cloudier in coming days but I hope to be able to sneak out for an hour or two.
And, I am so much luckier than many by having a garden to sit in and for us both to be in good health.. More or less as my knee dislocated two weeks ago.. it does that when it gets tetchy as I am missing a ligament.. however it pops back nicely. This time I was over compensating as I hobbled around using a stick, and this irritated my other hip and then my back went out in sympathy. I was pretty much immobile for the last 10 days but improving daily.This is not the first time and won’t be the last and it is mainly due to me not being able to swim everyday in a weightless environment, which keeps the necessary muscles tight and supportive.
Once the swimming pools reopen I will get back to it, despite my reluctance to be seen in public in a bathing suit and the necessity to wear a bathing cap that is dreadfully unflattering, and to my mind pretty useless at stopping hair clogging the outlets or spreading unsavoury particles. Especially when you think some men are extremely hairy all over including beards etc, and have far more follicles that I do on my head… perhaps they should be wearing an all in one rubber suit in the pool or clingfilm….now there’s a vision!
As always I am hugely grateful to William Price King, Debby Giesand Carol Taylor for sharing their love of music, humour and the environment with us.
I know that many of you already know that Debby’s husband has been diagnosed with advanced cancer and is now home with her. Whilst her focus in on G’s care and well-being, Debby is still visiting blogs, share posts and connecting with her friends in the writing community when she has some time to spare. Very important to have that small window of outside interaction when you are a full-time carer. You can read her latest update and I know she would welcome your comments – Update blogging, health and wellness
Debby would like the funnies that we collaborate on to continue, so I will be raiding the archives here and on her Facebook for upcoming posts and they will go out as usual on Tuesday and Thursdays.
Debby is working on her next Realm of Relationship Columnbut rather than have the pressure of a deadline, we thought we might share the first posts of the series which began in January 2020 every Monday to bring new readers to the blog up to speed. They start on March 29th.
I think that is us up to date… so on with the week’s posts.
Welcome to the round up of posts you might have missed during the week here on Smorgasbord.
Nothing new to report on the home front as we face another month in full lock down. Hopefully by the better weather (usually) appears in May we will be able to get out and about a little more.
On the blog frontthere are a few changes taking place in the next couple of weeks. The first is that the Cafe and Bookstore update has had a facelift and from Friday 12th March will go from three posts a week to one which is The Weekly News with more authors featured in the post but with just book covers their most recent review and their links.
I am hoping that with more authors sharing the post to boost their own featured review, the post will reach a wider audience.
I will continue to do a standalone feature for new books or new authors in the Cafe and to post regular features where everyone in the Cafe gets a showcase. With the past book reviews, current book reviews and the archive posts I hope that will offer plenty of opportunities for book promotions.
If you have a new book coming out in the next month then please let me know as I am working a couple of weeks ahead and I don’t want to miss any.
As always my thanks to William Price King for co-presenting the Breakfast Show with me.. we are having so much fun, Debby Giesfor the funnies…and Danny Kempfor getting the weekend off to a good start… and or course to you for your ongoing support… have a good weekend.
Here are the posts from the week you might have missed.
Welcome to the update of posts that you might have missed from the week here on Smorgasbord.
I hope all is well with you. Quiet here except for the noise of the wind howling around the house and the six inch puddle stretching across the front of the house. I know I wished I had a swimming pool but clearly the genie was having an off day.
The garden birds have been having a tough time of it with the winds and driving rain making it difficult to fly, particularly for the small birds such as the sparrows and tits. I usually buy my birdseed and fat balls at the garden centre or at a push smaller packs as the supermarket but of course the centres have been shut since the New Year and the supermarket shelves are bare of both seed and other products. One store has at least got some sunflower hearts and I have mixed that with sultanas and cooked brown rice.. They can at least digest that easily and it has nutrients for them.. The sunflower hearts provide the good fats and protein.
I have taken to put some on the ground as well as on our platform feeder and hanging baskets and hopefully they will get enough nourishment.
They are staying in the thick hedge in our back garden but when I got out (dressed in full wet gear) there is a sudden chorus of song and I can feel hundreds of eyes on me… as soon as the back door closes they are in the feeders and on the ground which is encouraging.
Anyway.. on with the posts from the week and as always my gratitude to William Price King, D.G. Kaye andCarol Taylor for their terrific contributions and to you for visiting, sharing and commenting.. it keeps me motivated..
The prompt words are Loose and Tight and I have selected Detached and Inflexible.
Here is my Butterfly Cinquain…
Fate’s Voice
Detached
the mind wanders
to explore the ‘what ifs’
of decisions made long ago
in life
designed to be inflexible
without the give and take
to allow fate
its voice.
I wrote this article in 2018 as a guest post on the blog of USA Today Bestselling Romance author Jacquie Biggar
Not everyone celebrates Valentine’s Day and I believe that romance is something that infuses every day of a relationship, but if receiving a card, or some roses, reminds someone of how much they are loved, then this is a good day.
Romance is one of the elements of our lives which is universal, and much sort after. People often ask what the secret to a happy relationship is… darned if I know. All I can offer you is some of the little things I have come to appreciate over the last 50 odd years of dating and relationships. Make that 58 as I had a crush on Peter Birch at primary school age ten which resulted in my first broken heart!
Because many of you who are reading this are writers, I thought you might be interested in a few statistics on the billion-dollar-a-year Romance book industry via Romance Writers
The annual total sales of romance novels per year is in excess of a billion dollars.
Romance novel share of the U.S. fiction market is approx 34%.
82% of romance readers are women.
84 % of romance writers are women.
Average age is 35-39.
What interested me about these statistics is that romance is a hot ticket item. It is also evident that romantic stories are very much sought after by women, but clearly not as high on the list for men. Something that those who feel men are sometimes not as romantic as they might be, would find interesting!
Another statistic is that the average age of those seeking out romance stories is between the ages of 35-39… which begs the question… Do women in their 40s, 50s, 60s give up on romance, or they are simply not catered for by the romance writers?
Like most young girls of my generation, I was infused with the myths surrounding love and romance at an early age. Between fairy tales and my mother’s desire to make the goal of romance clear cut in my mind, I surmised that at some point a Prince Charming, on a white horse, would sweep into my life, whisk me off my feet, and we would ride off into a future of bliss, children and Happy Ever After.
I was encouraged to take the available wisdom to heart, and with hopes and dreams of my own, embarked on my own dating adventures. The trouble with ingrained expectations is that they are not always as revered by others, particularly the opposite sex.
However, after some false starts, at the age of 20, a more mature Prince Charming of 26 did arrive, in uniform and driving a classic American sports car. It seemed that expectations had been met and exceeded, and it was crowned with a spectacular wedding with matriarchal approval on both sides. We drove off into the sunset with clanging tin cans behind the steed… which proved to be tolling bells of doom!
Trouble is what you see is not always what you get! And when compounded with differing expectations of what a relationship is supposed to be, and a lack of commitment of one of the participants, things tend to fall apart. After four years, some interesting life lessons, and an expensive legal intervention which took three years, I finally managed to extricate myself with a vow to never marry again.
Then wouldn’t you know it, six months later, into my life walked a softly-spoken, unassuming guy who took me out on a date and asked me to marry him before the night was over. Five weeks later, without any ceremony, and with just our parents in attendance, we exchanged rings and our own vows.
The last 40 years have taught me that romance is not one-size fits all, is unique to two people who love each other, and is not always about red roses and chocolates.
Some of the elements that spell romance for me.
As Jeremy Taylor quoted ‘Love is Friendship set on Fire’. Of course there is that initial, and amazing firework display of hormonally induced physical attraction, which then evolves over the years into a familiarity that can still be breathtaking. However, without the essential elements of like-mindedness, shared moral code, sense of humour, and appreciation of another’s unique personality, the fire of romance slowly dies down to embers.
An analogy I often use for romance between two people, is that it is like an extended ballroom dance that flows and whirls with two partners in perfect sync. Always staying within the limits of the dance floor, allowing other styles come into play, with fiery tangos and playful sambas as the tempo of the music changes. Even when there is a momentary loss of connection, there is a coming together again, and the dance always finishes in a firm embrace.
Whilst there may be the occasional extravagant gesture when a special event warrants it, mostly it is the small things that keep romance alive and flourishing.
Red roses are wonderful, and we all love to receive a bouquet on Valentine’s Day or an anniversary. But it is the odd flower brought in from the garden and laid on a breakfast tray, a small tree planted in the garden that blossoms every spring, or the paper flower, misshapen and oddly coloured that appears by a bedside, that really help to keep romance alive.
Romance is waking up on every birthday to find cards hand-made from images of sea, sunflowers, cats and dogs, golden sunsets with handwritten verses inside that come from the heart. It is also those few minutes on your wedding anniversary when you sit silently, holding hands and remembering that special day and the people who are no longer there to share the memories with you.
True romance flourishes when you are unwell and scared and a strong hand holds yours and a voice close to your ear, tells you that it will be alright, that you are safe. It is when you suffer a loss and cry together and heal together. It is when you walk through the door and someone says, ‘hi love, how was your day?’
Romance is when the last words before you go to sleep are ‘I love you’
Romance does exist after 40 years old, whatever the statistics might say.
Romance and love go hand in hand, and as I watch very old people together, you can tell the ones who still adore and respect each other. It is easy to still see that spark and twinkle in the eyes, the small touches of a hand or brush of lint from a shoulder. That unity has been welded from years of life, laughter, sadness, joy, disappointment, excitement and love. Thousands of cups of tea, breakfasts in bed, dances in the kitchen, date nights, holding hands in the movies and vigils by a sickbed, have gone into the rich tapestry that is romance. There might be a faded red rose pressed between the pages of a diary, or a diamond ring that comes out on special occasions, but it is these small daily gestures that will have kept the romance alive and will continue to do so long after one or both of them dies.
Romance is also about the things we don’t do in a relationship.
We don’t belittle someone we love in public and then say ‘But you know I love you’.
We don’t bully them and then say we are doing it ‘Because you know I love you.’
We don’t marry who we believe is Prince Charming or the fairy princess, and then set about changing them by saying ‘You know it is because I love you.’
We don’t take the actions of those we love for granted, and saying ‘thank you’ for a meal, a wardrobe full of clean clothes or for being a great mum or dad, goes a long way to keep romance alive.
Romance is not about making someone happy or expecting them to make you happy. Your happiness is your responsibility and choice. Putting the onus for your happiness on someone else is a very quick way to lose them.
Here is one of my favourite poems on romance from Elizabeth Barrett Browning courtesy ofThe Poem Hunter
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of every day’s Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love with a passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints, — I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life! — and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.
As a writer I enjoy creating romantic relationships across the ages and you can find my short story and poetry collections, novels and non-fiction books with recent reviews:Here
Our hope
springs eternal
each day with the sun rise
and when the goddess moon shines down
at night.
Hope is also found in people
who gift love and kindness
to us and to
others.
Welcome to the weekly round up with posts you might have missed on Smorgasbord.
Thanks for taking time to drop by and I hope you are having a good weekend. Things are much the same here so nothing new to report. I am however in full writing mode so spending a little less time on social media except for topping and tailing the day.
A warm welcome back to William Price King after his summer break and I am sure you will enjoy his first post in the new season.
Carol Taylor was also here with her A- Z and this week she has some amazing foods, methods and recipes beginning with the letter ‘Q’.
The first guest in the new Author Spotlight last Sunday was Harmony Kent who shared her remarkable and challenging journey to being the person she is today.
Coming up tomorrow – D.G. Kaye shares how her ingenuity and perseverance landed her a fabulous job that was career and life changing.
I hope that you enjoy the posts from the week and as always thank you for your support that keeps me motivated.. Sally.
Cholesterol plays a vital role in a number of key functions within the bodyyet it has been demonized and come under attack for the last twenty years. For the majority of the population, heart disease and coronary heart disease is lifestyle related and can be reversed by making changes to diet and lifestyle.
Thanks very much for dropping in today and I hope you have enjoyed catching up with the posts.. and that you will join me again next week.. thanks Sally.
Welcome to the round up with post you might have missed on Smorgasbord this week.
I hope everybody is doing well.. I am sure that like me you are watching the headlines and keeping up do date with not just your own country’s progress with the pandemic but also on a worldwide basis. At this point all we can do is remain safe and avoid covidiots that seem to think social distancing and masks do not apply to them.
On a positive note...I have made a few tweaks to new book releases from August 26th that I hope will increase exposure for the authors concerned. If you are already in the Cafe and Bookstore you new book announcement will be added to the Cafe Updates on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. I hope that the fact that there are four authors in the post, it will generate more views for your new book. Over a period of a couple of weeks they usually generate an average of 150 views and multiple shares on Twitter and Facebook.
If you are a new author to the Cafe and Bookstore I will post the usual introductory promotion with bio etc.
This is the latest way to share your work and I now have some wonderful stories of defining moments in the lives of authors in the Cafe and Bookstore. It would be wonderful to share your stories too so perhaps you could read the post and read my story so you can see how it will look. The series begins the last Sunday of August and I am now booking for the second week in October.. Look forward to hearing from you.
If you missed them here are some posts from my contributors this week that you might like to head over and read.
Debby Gies interviews Adele Marie Park about her childhood on the island of
Rousay part of the Orkney Isles where she encountered tales Finn Folk,
Selkies and mermaids.. Adele has just released her latest book, Sea Dragon – Wisp II and shares what is coming next. As always Debby’s questions are tailored to her guest and the interview makes for interesting reading.D.G Kaye interviews Adele Marie Park
Carol Taylor with her Saturday Snippets with posts ranging from Bees and their importance to our environment, Lemon Meringue Pie, National Afternoon Tea Week, Music from Jimi Hendrix, Rooftop farms, removing hooks from shark’s mouths and respect for those who died during the holocaust.. As you can see a varied and interesting post.. please head over. Saturday Snippets with Carol Taylor
Time to catch up with the posts from the week here on Smorgasbord.. thank you for all your support and also to Debby Gies and Silvia Todescofor their wonderful contributions this week. William Price King is back with a brand new Music Column on September 1st.
This week for Colleen Chesebro’s Weekly Tanka Challenge 190 Colleen has given us the prompts ‘Circled and Squared‘ and I have chosen the synonyms ‘Embraced and Balanced’ for my Butterfly Cinquain.
Embraced
Embraced
and protected
within their mother’s arms
babies view the world in safety
and calm.
Supported then by loving hands
balanced on two small feet
first steps are made
in life.
Welcome to Writing Through the Soul. Every writer writes through their soul and I understand. Here you can read about anything having to do with writing. I share my writing tips and prompts. Enjoy reading my poetry, short stories and what's on my mind in the Writing Through the Soul section. I have something for every reader and writer out there.
Inspirational stories and motivational quotes about Life In Africa how people struggle just to survive and how hard it is to make a living.Here we are teaching people skills and crafts business ideas and survival tactics in third world countries
