Smorgasbord Blog Magazine Weekly Round up – 17th – 23rd April – The Shimmy, Natalie Cole, Automatic Writing, Podcast, Book Reviews, New Books, Health, Funnies and Horse Therapy

Welcome to the round up of posts you might have missed this week on Smorgasbord…

I hope you have had a great week and for us Spring has definitely arrived. Three lovely days which enabled me to get on with the planting and also saw our trees showcase their blossom. Looks like a new kitchen is almost built and we should have it installed in the next couple of weeks. I am finishing off the packing of ‘clutter’ and crockery etc that we won’t be using in the short term and 30 boxes + 15 boxes of books are waiting to be put into temporary storage when the house goes on the market.

Here are a few photos of the before and after planting this week.

Also a couple of shots of the crows peanut gathering activities.

One crow will pick up the string holding the peanut holder and shake vigorously until small bits of peanut or even sometimes a whole peanut falls onto the grass. He then hops down and eats. However, his mates start hanging around underneath and he has to be quick to take advantage. Somedays it is better than Netflix watching them work out how to steal food.

As always my thanks to my friends who contribute to the blog…

William Price King joined me this week for the Big Band Era with Judy Garland, Victor Young, Cab Galloway and the Shimmy. On Friday William shared the nexgt part of the series featuring Natalie Cole.  You can also find William – Blog– IMPROVISATION– William Price King on Tumblr

Debby Gies​ washere on Monday with a post in the Spiritual Awareness series and this time an exploration of automatic writing. Also did her usual great job of finding some funnies to share with you. On her own blog this week you can find the first of her podcasts since her return with a blast at the scammers who target the vulnerable, especially those recently bereaved… also a special moment when she visited her husband’s grave. Also a lovely review for the inspiring memoir The Winding Road: A Journey of Survival by Miriam Hurdle. You will also find a packed Writer’s Links for April with helpful advice and tips for writers across the board and another entertaining and helpful post on vacationing in Mexico with some great photos of fun and sunshine. Follow the link to Debby’s blog to browse her archives …D.G. Kaye

Carol Taylor will be here on Wednesday with her A-Z of food and the letter ‘V’. On her own blog you can find out about the origins of boxing world championships, Soy Sauce and more on the ‘processed‘ foods that come with labels that qualify as novellas on Monday Musings. In the series of cuisines of the world, Carol explores the fresh approach to food in Greece that is up with there with one of the healthiest in the world… including my favourite Baklava.On Thursday thoughts a wonderful video on the production of the rarest salt from Bali and a duet by Andrea Bocelli and his daughter Virginia. Catch up with Thursday Thoughts and all of Carol’s posts this week at Carol Taylor’s blog

..Thank you very much for your visits, comments and shares to social media, as always it is appreciated ♥

On with the show…

The Big Band Era with William Price King and Sally Cronin – 1930s – Judy Garland with Victor Young, Cab Calloway, The Shimmy

William Price King Meets Music Legends – #Jazz #Collaborations- Natalie Cole – Part two – Into the 90s

Spiritual Awareness – Automatic Writing by D.G. Kaye

Podcast #Poetry – #Irish Springtime medley by Sally Cronin

The Body our Greatest Asset – The Skin – Eczema – Lifestyle or Genetics by Sally Cronin

Something to think about – The R’s of Life – Recognition by Sally Cronin

New Book on the Shelves – #Mystery #Paranormal – Seahurst (Salt Modern Fiction Book 0) by S. A. Harris

#Memoir – Before, Afdre, and After (My stroke … oh what fun) by Maureen Twomey

Book Review – #PsychologicalThriller #Mystery – Redemption: A Father’s Fatal Decision by Gwen Plano

Previous Reviews from 2022- #Poetry #Fantasy – The Garden Black and other speculations (Free Verse Poetry) by Frank Prem

#Psychological #Thriller Carol Balawyder, #Haiti #Thriller Mark Bierman, #Crime #Thriller Sue Coletta

#Prehistoric #Mankind Jacqui Murray, #WWII Marina Osipova, #YA #Dystopian Teri Polen Posted on April 22, 2023

#Writing #Spotlight by Andrew McDowell

Another Open Mic Night with author Daniel Kemp – April 2023 – Pulling a Wheelie and Helicopter Rides

Hosts Sally Cronin and Debby Gies – Birching and Ducks

 

Thanks very much for dropping in today and I hope you will join me again next week.. Sally

Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives 2023 #Potluck – Short Story – Carriage by Rebecca Douglass

Welcome to the series of Posts from Your Archives 2023 where I will be sharing posts from the last six months of 2022 I have selected from the archives of willing participants. We are coming to the end of the series but there will be another later in the year.

In this second post from author Rebecca Douglass I am sharing one of her short stories from December 2022.. a little out of season but I loved it and know you will too. Rebecca was participating in the weekly #WritePhoto blog hop at KL Caley’s New2Writing blog.

Photo K. L. Caley

Carriage

“Careful how you stow those things.” The order wasn’t necessary, but he gave it anyway.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” That was Crocus, always questioning his judgement. Questioning everyone’s judgement, to be fair. Crocus couldn’t take anything as a given, which he supposed wasn’t all bad.

“I’ve tested the horses. They’ll do.”

“Why can’t the reindeer—” Crocus started to ask.

“They need snow. The bare stones and pavements hurt their feet. Hooves,” he corrected himself. This business of having to find a new way to get around was nuts. He’d been using a basic sleigh since the beginning, and now they come along and tell him that there wasn’t enough snow most places to run on, and he needed to find something else.

He’d always had to work around the places that didn’t have snow, of course. You couldn’t count on every single person living where there was snow on Christmas Eve. There was the whole Palm Springs thing, for example. But this was a whole other matter, hardly any snow anywhere in his delivery area.

Of course, his brother who handled the Southern Hemisphere had never bothered with a sleigh. Christmas at mid-summer let that right out. He thought Kris used kangaroos or some such, and probably a two-wheeled cart.

He wasn’t going to do that.

This elegant carriage would be just the ticket, if only the horses—a team of six perfectly matched white horses that had taken a lot of hunting to round up, believe me—if only the horses would really do their stuff.

He was hanged if he’d tell Crocus, but the horses didn’t much care for flying. He could make them do it, but they griped. It wasn’t like Dasher and Dancer and the rest, who’d been as happy to fly as a flock of seagulls. These guys were more like Dopey and Grumpy and that lot. He was going to have to give them names that children could get excited about, though. Would you believe it, every one of the six horses had said its name was Whitey? What was wrong with people, anyway?

Maybe they could be… let’s see… drat, he’d used all the best names for the reindeer. He’d thought about calling the horses by the same names, just for this one night anyway, but Dasher put his foot down about that.

“They aren’t us, and you can’t steal our names. They’re ours. Call these guys,” the large ungulate tilted his head back so he could look down his nose at the much taller horses. “Call them… Hoofer, Roofer, Lightlegs, Racer, Pacer, and, um, Twinkletoes.”

Well, it wouldn’t have the same ring, but Santa settled himself atop the carriage in the driver’s seat, above the toy-packed interior.

“Come, Hoofer and Roofer, Racer and Pacer. Up, Lightlegs! On, Twinkletoes!” He reinforced the command with a good bit of his special magic, and the carriage began to move, then to rise.

“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night,” he called back over his shoulder at the cluster of elves who had loaded the carriage and remained to see him off.

This just might work.

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2022

My thanks to Rebecca for inviting me to share posts from her archives and I know she would love to hear from you.

About Rebecca Douglass

After a lifetime of reading, and a decade or more of slinging books at the library and herding cats with the PTA, Rebecca began to turn her experiences into books of her own, publishing her first in 2012. That failed to quiet the voices in her head, but seemed to entertain a number of readers, so she wrote some more, which generated still more voices. Despite the unlimited distractions provided by raising sons to the point of leaving home (and preparing to move without forwarding address if necessary to retain that empty nest), not to mention the mountains that keep calling (very hard to resist the urging of something the size of the Sierra Nevada), she has managed to pen a total of 9 books plus a novella (which we suppose makes 10).

A selection of books by Rebecca Douglass

A review for Death by Library (Pismawallops PTA Mysteries Book 4) 

Christie72 VINE VOICE  4.0 out of 5 stars Charming Read!  Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 6, 2019 4.5 STARS

What a delightful, charming mystery with some light romantic elements!

JJ’s life seems to be falling into a rythmn even if it is busy! She has a new job she is enjoying at the library. She is rocking being a single mom to a teenage boy, and she is enjoying her time with her boyfriend, Ron, the police chief. She is busy with the PTA’s upcoming Holiday Bazaar and trying to get a swimming pool for the island.

Many people are in favor of the pool, except for one grumpy member, old Mr. Fingal, who seems more interested in getting a football team re-established…so he is a no. To add insult to injury, he is the one donating the land to the school. However, all that comes to a crashing halt when a woman, Jolene Smethers, claims that her family owns the land. The issue is tabled until the land dispute is settled.

JJ decides she is going to find out who this woman is. Days later, there is an earthquake with a victim’s body in the library, and it’s none other than Jolene Smethers. It appears she didn’t die from natural causes…in other words, the books didn’t kill her. Now, JJ has something else to add to her busy life…solving another murder. The list of suspects is long because Jolene had a habit of stirring up trouble everywhere.

The mystery is fast-moving, without losing any substance. The characters are fun as well! I love JJ’s spunk and determination. She doesn’t give up easily. There are some twists and turns in the book. Her personal life may be changing in a way she isn’t expecting, but isn’t that what life is all about anyway?

If you like a good mystery, with a spunky, strong female lead with some great secondary characters, and a lovely setting, give this series a try! 

Read the reviews and buy the books: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – Follow Rebecca: Goodreads – Website: Rebecca Douglass – LinkedIn: Rebecca Douglass –  Facebook: Rebecca Douglass

 

Thanks for dropping in today and it would be great if you could share the post.. Sally

 

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Weekly Round Up – April 3rd – 9th 2023 – Spring Festival, Pirate Ships, Big Band Era, Visitors in our lives, Digestive system, book reviews, Bloggers and funnies.

Welcome to the posts you might have missed this week on Smorgasbord.

Happy Easter and also to those of you celebrating Passover this week. Whilst I am not religious, for me this weekend each year celebrates the start of spring and the hope that it brings. The natural world is waking up and bursting into colour. The birds in the garden are in full courting mode and have been putting on some wonderful displays of athleticism which sadly often end up in rejection by the look of it, but they get A for effort.

A cat has taken to popping in several times a week and I think probably her owners go to work and let her out as she is absent at the weekend. She also disappears around 5pm when she does visit so I guess that his when her family return from work or school.

I will admit to shooing her out of the garden in the past because of the birds, but she started keeping me company when I sat outside or was doing gardening and was happy to follow me around and lie in patches of sunlight. She showed no inclination to chase the birds who were feeding, but she has taken a dislike to the crows who tend to mob the feeder, and she wandered over the other day and lay beneath it. The smaller birds took advantage of this whilst the crows voiced their disapproval from the telegraph wire at the back of the garden. She gave them a disparaging look and carried on with her guard duty and her company and affectionate behaviour are an added bonus.

This week with the dry weather we have been taking our morning walks down by the sea and along the edge of the harbour. Whilst it has been very windy it offered a chance to indulge in a little tomfoolery…..there is a pirate ship down on the point and I couldn’t resist taking it out for a spin lol. I am captain of my own ship as they say….

As always my thanks to my friends who contribute to the blog…

William Price King joined me this week for the Big Band Era with Tommy Dorsey, Glen Campbell and the featured dance The Tango. On Friday he shared the last post in the series on the music icon Stevie Wonder….Next week the start of another series featuring Natalie Cole.  You can also find William – Blog– IMPROVISATION– William Price King on Tumblr

Debby Gies​ was here on Monday with another of her posts in the Spiritual Awareness series and this time explores the impact of the people who seem to come into our lives at the right time and she also foraged for some great funnies during the week. On her own blog this week you can find an entertaining post with more adventures from her time in Mexico, a five star review for Lauren Scott’s heartwarming collection More Than Coffee, and also a lovely tribute to the love of her life ‘G’ who died two years ago this week. Follow the link to Debby’s blog to browse her archives …D.G. Kaye

Carol Taylor will be here on Wednesday with her A-Z of food and the letter ‘U’. On her own blog you can  catch up on all of Carol’s posts this week on Monday Musings a look at the natural world, the impact of Chernobyl and its devastation and a poem in the early 20th century which is still relevant today. In the Green Kitchen a recipe for Hot Cross Buns, so delicious they can be eaten all year… also a reminder that store bought bread, especially the cheaper brands have a great deal more salt in them than you think.. For this post and others this week head over to enjoy Carol Taylor – In my kitchen

..Thank you very much for your visits, comments and shares to social media, as always it is appreciated ♥

On with the show…

The Big Band Era with William Price King and Sally Cronin – 1930s – Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, The Tango

William Price King Meets Music Legends – #Jazz #Soul #Stevie Wonder – 1990s and Beyond

Spiritual Awareness – Life Lessons – Meeting People for Reasons and Seasons by D.G. Kaye

The Lost Sheep by Geoff Cronin

The Body our Greatest Asset – The Digestive System Part Five – Pancreas, Gallbladder and Intestines by Sally Cronin

New Book on the Shelves – #Murder Death at the Asylum: Rhe Brewster Mystery Series, Book 5 by N. A. Granger

New Book on the Shelves – #1930s #Family Saga #Romance #Mystery -The Luck by Kathy Biggs

Book Review – #WWII – Code Name: Iron Spear 1941 by Allan Hudson

Previous Reviews from 2022 – #Psychological #Thriller – Where There’s Doubt by Terry Tyler

Meet the Authors 2023 – #Memoir D.G. Kaye, #Mystery #Dementia Sharon Marchisello, #Paranormal Marcia Meara

Meet the Authors 2023 – #Westerns #Romance Sandra Cox, #Family #Ireland Mary Crowley, #Fantasy Richard Dee

#Veterans Day 2022 by Gwen Plano

Four Summer Poems #TuesdayTidabit #Poetry #Inspiration by Abbie Taylor

#Writing – Great Ideas: Search and Find by Andrew McDowell

Hosts Sally Cronin and Debby Gies – Chat Rooms and The Ark

Hosts Sally Cronin and Debby Gies – Fries and Fish Heads

 

Thanks for dropping in today and I hope you will join me again next week.. Sally ♥

Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives 2023 #Potluck – #Writing – Great Ideas: Search and Find by Andrew McDowell

Welcome to the new series of Posts from Your Archives 2023 where I will be sharing posts from the last six months of 2022 I have selected from the archives of willing participants. If you wish to be included the information is at the the end of the post.

Today author Andrew McDowell offers some tips on gathering ideas for books and stories, even when you might think you have run out of steam.

Great Ideas: Search and Find by Andrew McDowell 

It is a question every writer is asked at some point in their careers: “Where do you get your ideas from?” It’s become a cliché, really. Still, there are others out there suffering from writer’s block who feel their well has gone dry, so to speak. Or perhaps you’re in the middle of an ocean of ideas and don’t know which fish to bait for. Well, I’ll elaborate on some familiar answers, which in my opinion aren’t always suited for every situation.

Write about what you know.

This has been said a lot of times, and it is logical. You’re pretty much guaranteed to do well with ideas you are knowledgeable about. The situations and experiences from your own life can help provide a far more solid base upon which to build a story. Such examples can include professional experiences (Jeremy Lloyd drew on his experiences working in a department store for Are You Being Served?) or places you have visited or lived (Stephen King’s stories are often set in his home state of Maine or in Colorado, where he went on vacation once he was financially able to do so). Then there are personal hobbies and interests, which leads to the next point.

Write about what interests you.

Writing about what you know won’t be enough if passion isn’t in it. It will show in your writing if passion was absent. Interests and hobbies are a great source of ideas because the writer can share those passions through stories and perhaps spark interest in readers. Plus, your passion can compensate because you will compel yourself to drive and learn more about your passions/interests in order to write a better story. Bram Stoker spent seven years writing and developing Dracula, and he never visited Romania, where a good portion of his book his set. He drew on research and his own imagination.

So perhaps in the end, perhaps you need to draw on a combination in order to make a blend. And in my case, certainly, I need to remind myself to not stress over it, which I admit is still hard to do. I must keep hope that ideas will come, especially when I’m not looking for them.

Further Reading 

1. Adams, Jamie. Where Can You Get Story Ideas From?
2. Aldridge, Alison. Where to find great story ideas.
3. Elliott, Anna. Summoning the Muse at Writer Unboxed.
4. Rodriguez, Asa. Great ideas.
5. Zikra, Nour. How To Have Fun Writing Again | Writing Advice.
6. Zikra, Nour. How To Brainstorm Story Ideas + Where To Get Started.

©Andrew McDowell 2022

My thanks to Andrew for inviting me to share posts from his archives

Andrew has published his first fantasy novel.

One of the reviews for Mystical Greenwood

Katie 5.0 out of 5 stars 5 Out of 5 Stars!  Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸

“The mythical Greenwood a mighty kingdom, where thy great magic doth abound…”

Between the amazing visual imagery and unique Celtic folklore, Andrew McDowell provides his readers with a spectacular literary journey from beginning to end. I found myself becoming lost in various passages, exploring the forest alongside protagonist Dermot and his younger brother Brian and impatient to know what perilous events or natural wonders would surface in the next several pages…

McDowell is a talented architect of entire villages and lands that make you believe they existed but a few centuries ago. I certainly do not want to give away any important pieces of the plot, so you’ll simply have to pick up a copy yourself!

I thoroughly enjoyed devouring “Mystical Greenwood” and look forward to the upcoming literary pieces by Mr. McDowell! 

A selection of anthologies Andrew has contributed to.

 Read the reviews and buy the books:  Amazon US– And: Amazon UK – Follow Andrew: Goodreads – Website/Blog: Andrew McDowell Author – Facebook: Andrew McDowell Author –  Twitter: @ammcdow – Youtube: Andrew McDowell Author – Tumblr: Andrew McDowell Author – LinkedIn: Andrew McDowell

About Andrew McDowell

Andrew McDowell became interested in writing at age eleven, inspired by childhood passions for stories and make-believe. By the time he was thirteen, he knew he wanted to be a writer.

Andrew studied History and English at St. Mary’s College, and Library & Information Science at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is a member of the Maryland Writers’ Association. He has Asperger syndrome.

 

Thank you for dropping in today and I hope you will be leaving with some books Sally.

 

 

Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives 2023 #Potluck – Four Summer Poems #TuesdayTidabit #Poetry #Inspiration by Abbie Taylor

Welcome to the new series of Posts from Your Archives 2023 where I will be sharing posts from the last six months of 2022 I have selected from the archives of willing participants. If you wish to be included the information is at the the end of the post.

Today in her second post from her archives, author Abbie Taylor shares four of her summer poems she wrote in 2022.

Four Summer Poems by Abbie Taylor

Summer’s almost over. Here are four poems I wrote that appeared in the September 11th issue of The Weekly Avocet, which you can download here. .

You can click on the title of each poem to download a recording to hear me read it. Enjoy!

Meadowlark

Its song rings out over the lake
on a sunny, cloudless Wyoming afternoon,
as our boat glides through smooth waters.
Dad and younger brother fish
while Mother and I enjoy the gentle breeze
that carries with it the scent of pine trees,
whiff of worms used for bait.
At the age of thirteen,
knowing little about the meadowlark,
I delight in the bird’s cheerful tune,
and the boat’s gentle motion,
observe, with my limited vision, the lake, grass, trees, sky,
happy in summer.

After a Summer Cold Front

The sun finally shines in a blue sky filled with white clouds.
A gentle breeze blows, as I sit in my back yard.
Birds flit about in branches above me.
With my limited vision, I can’t see them,
but I hear their wings and joyous songs.
A fly circles my head—I wave it away.
In distant places, forest fires rage.
But here, they’re momentarily forgotten.

Summers in My Younger Years (A Zip Ode)

I loved summers in my home town,
ice cream,
band concerts, swimming at the park,
picnicking and hiking in the mountains.
Joy!

Nature Hike

As I walk down the Braille Trail,
I must hold onto the rail
when it’s steep or else I’ll fail.
As I walk, the moisture stops
dripping from all the treetops.
Since there is no more spray,
I no longer need to pray
for that glorious sunshine ray.
I know I have nothing to fear,
but I listen with one ear
for the lumbering sound of a bear
or a moose with more than one ear.
Onward I boldly tread
till I come to a sign I can read.
It’s in Braille and print, and I feel
the dots that are unlike an eel.
I look for a place to stop
when I climb to the very top
of a hill where the view will arrest,
and there, I sit down and rest.

©Abbie Taylor 2022

My thanks to Abbie for inviting me to share posts from her archives and I know she would love to hear from you.

About Abbie Johnson Taylor

Abbie Johnson Taylor is the author of three novels, two poetry collections, and a memoir. Her short stories and poems have appeared in various journals and anthologies. She is visually impaired and lives in Sheridan, Wyoming, where for six years, she cared for her late husband, who was totally blind and partially paralyzed by two strokes soon after they were married.

Before that, she spent fifteen years as a registered music therapist, working in nursing homes and other facilities that serve senior citizens. She also taught Braille, facilitated a support group for the visually impaired, and served on the advisory board to a trust fund that allows people with blindness or low vision to purchase adaptive equipment.

Books by Abbie Johnson Taylor

One of the reviews for The Red Dress

Mar 15, 2022 Robbie Cheadle rated it four stars really liked it

The Red Dress is a lovely novel about a woman, Eve Sawyer, who has become a best selling author and has a devoted husband and three children, but who has never been able to move on from an unfortunate incident in her younger years when, in a fit of embarrassed irritation, she gave away the red dress that her mother had made for her to wear to her prom. Although Eve was goaded by her selfish roommate, Charlene, into giving her the dress, her mother has never forgiven her for this transgression and it has impacted heavily on their relationship. Her mother is now suffering from dementia and is being cared for in a home for the elderly, but she still remembers that Eve gave away this dress and holds it against Eve.

Eve wore the dress to her prom and she associated the dress with bad memories as her date had disappeared with her best friend, Adele, and she had found them in a compromising position in the back of his father’s car. Eve cuts Adele out of her life and has not contacted her in many years, even though Adele had returned to their home town to raise her son, conceived on the night of the prom.

The story starts with Eve receiving a Facebook request to connect with her old roommate, Charlene. She accepts the request, although she had doubts because she didn’t like Charlene. Before long, her daughter, Ashley, is in touch with Charlene’s daughter, Brenda, and the situation is irreversible. Eve is having her own problems with overwork and issues with her older daughter, Julie, who feels neglected as a result. Her husband is also irritated with her because he feels she favours their younger daughter and son and is harsh with Julie.

This is a story that tackles the themes of working mothers, unresolved grudges and situations from the past, raising teenage children, forgiveness, terminal illness, and death. The author does a good job of sharing Eve’s frustration at her mother and older daughter, irritation at Charlene for the trouble she has caused her, and hurt at Adele’s betrayal of their friendship.

Eve has to confront her negative emotions to resolve these lingering troublesome relationship issues from her past and move on with her future.

I enjoyed the character of Eve and found her to be realistic and relatable. Her situation vividly establishes the difficulties that can result from unsettled emotional problems from the past and juggling work and motherhood.

I enjoyed this story and would recommend it to readers of family dramas.  

Read the reviews and buy the books: Amazon US: Blog: Abbie’s Corner WordPress Goodreads: Abbie Johnson Taylor

 

How to feature in the series?

• All I need you to do is give me permission to dive in to your archives and find two posts to share here on Smorgasbord. (sally.cronin@moyhill.com)
• Rather than a set topic, I will select posts at random of general interest across a number of subjects from the second six months of 2022. (it is helpful if you have a link to your archives in your sidebar by month)
• As I will be promoting your books as part of the post along with all your information and links so I will not be sharing direct marketing or self- promotional posts in the series.
• If you are an author I am sure you will have a page on your blog with the details, and an ‘about page’ with your profile and social media links (always a good idea anyway). I will get everything that I need.
• As a blogger I would assume that you have an ‘about page’ a profile photo and your links to social media.
• Copyright is yours and I will ©Your name on every post… and you will be named as the author in the URL and subject line.
• Previous participants are very welcome to take part again.
• Each post is reformatted for my blog and I don’t cut and paste, this means it might look different from your own post especially if you are using the block editor
• If I do share a post which contains mainly photographs I will share up to five and link back to the original post for people to view the rest.

N.B – To get the maximum benefit from your archive posts, the only thing I ask is that you respond to comments individually and share on your own social media.. thank you.

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Weekly Round Up – 27th March – 2nd April 2023 – Reviews, Contributor News, Big Band Era, Stevie Wonder, #Writersblock, #Foods ‘T’, Bloggers, Health, Podcast and Funnies

Welcome to the round up of posts that you might have missed this week on Smorgasbord.

I hope you have enjoyed a good week and that you have been safe from the tornadoes in the US and other weather events. Dreadful to see the devastation and we are so lucky to only have to contend with such moderate mood swings in our own climate.

Nothing else to report on the home front as my packing continues with more boxes and bubble wrap arriving this week. We have scoped out a self storage complex close by and when we are ready to go on the market, the boxes and other items such as bikes etc will be put there so the house is as decluttered as possible.

A reminder to let me know if you have a new book out in the next few weeks so I can schedule a promotion…email me on sally.cronin@moyhill.com

I was out and about this week with a lovely review by Joan Hall on her blog in the great company of Marcia Meara, Priscilla Bettis, Harmony Kent, Gwen Plano and Tony Hillerman. Also on Harmony Kent’s blog where she shared her review for Variety is the Spice of Life a lovely end to the week.#BookReview: Variety is the Spice of Life – I would also like to thank Pete Springer for his wonderful review this week on Goodreads

As always my thanks to my friends who contribute to the blog…

William Price King joined me this week for the Big Band Era with Charlie Barnet, Glen Gray and the featured dance, The Quickstep. On Friday he continued the series on the music icon Stevie Wonder….You can also find William – Blog– IMPROVISATION– William Price King on Tumblr

Debby Gies​ was here on Monday with a post on Writer’s Block and with the funnies during the week. Tomorrow morning, Debby resumes her series about spiritual awareness exploring the reasons people appear in our lives. Having returned from her winter break last week you can find posts on some of her adventures on getting to Mexico and meeting new friends, her March writing links and her book review for Cheryl Oreglia. Follow the link to Debby’s blog to browse her archives …D.G. Kaye

Carol Taylor was here on Wednesday with her A-Z of food and the letter ‘T’. On her own blog you can find  to catch up on this and all of Carol’s posts this week on Monday Musings a fascinating link to a post by Pete Johnson on vending machines in the early 20th century forward and the amazing things they sold, and thoughts on last week’s hour change, do we need it? On Thursday thoughts some important issues raised… trees and their protection, the young and their protection against the often violent content across the media they are exposed to and an antidote in the form of music. Head over to read this post and the other’s this week Carol Taylor’s Thursday Thoughts

..Thank you very much for your visits, comments and shares to social media, as always it is appreciated ♥

On with the show…

The Big Band Era with William Price King and Sally Cronin – 1930s – Charlie Barnet, Glen Gray, The Quickstep

William Price King Meets Music Legends – #Jazz #Soul #Stevie Wonder – 1980s

Writing – How to Deal with Writer’s Block by D.G. Kaye

Carol Taylor’s – Culinary A – Z Rewind – ‘T’ for Tea and Toast, Turmeric, Tobasco, Tahini, Tamarind and Elephant’s Ears (it is a T)

Podcast #Poetry #Flash Fiction – Changing Seasons and Crab Apples by Sally Cronin

The Body our Greatest Asset – The Digestive System Part Four – The Liver, Cirrhosis, Hepatitis by Sally Cronin

Contemporary #Thriller #Suspense #Loss #Love – All That Was Taken by Lisette Brodey

Book Reviews – Round Up – March 2023 -#Portugal #Dogs Alyson Sheldrake, #YA #Dystopian Teri Polen, #Crimethrillers Rebecca Bradley, #Africa #Poetry Robbie Cheadle #Historical #Family #Romance C. E. Robinson

Meet the Authors 2023 -#Flashfiction Annette Rochelle Aben, #AfricanWildlife Robbie Cheadle , #Suspense Alex Craigie

Meet the Authors 2023 – #Suspense Joy York, #Dystopian #Thriller Terry Tyler, #YA #Dystopian Teri Polen

#Potluck – Patty Fletcher’s Grapevine Blog – Guest Post – #Poetry – Wedding Day a Poem by author Trish Hubschman

#BookMarketing – Designing a Bookmark by Jemima Pett

#Ekphrasticpoetry – Chaos by Yvette Calleiro

Smorgasbord Laughter Lines Extra – Host Malcolm Allen – March 2023 – Medical Appointments and Earl Grey

Hosts Sally Cronin and Debby Gies – Freezers and Tall, Cool and Full of Gin

 

Thanks for dropping in today and I hope you will join me again next week… Sally ♥

Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives 2023 #Potluck – #Ekphrasticpoetry – Chaos by Yvette Calleiro

Welcome to the new series of Posts from Your Archives 2023 where I will be sharing posts from the last six months of 2022 I have selected from the archives of willing participants. If you wish to be included the information is at the the end of the post.

As well as writing popular novels, Yvette Calleiro is also a talented poet and for her second post I have selected another one of her entries for Colleen Chesebro’s weekly challenge.

Hello, beautiful readers! Life as a teacher has left me with very little time to read and write. With the new school year commencing, I’m trying to adjust my sleeping patterns as well as reorganizing my time around work and my son’s busy football practices. So, if you don’t see me commenting on blogs as much, please know I’m still helping to promote them on Twitter. I just need to pick and choose where to give Tanka Tuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge is an Ekphrastic prompt. Reena has provided us with a beautiful piece of her own artwork to inspire us.

I’ve chosen to write a cinquain. Truthfully, I chose this form because the first word that came to me when I saw this art has two syllables in it. Lol! So, I found a form that would allow me to start with that word. I hope you like what I’ve drawn from her work. (Thank you, Colleen, for the title suggestion!) 🙂

Chaos Tamed

chaos
unravels me
life is messy sometimes
we can choose how to handle it
now, calm

©Yvette Calleiro 2022

My thanks for Yvette for inviting me to share posts from her archives and I know she would love to hear from you.

About Yvette M. Calleiro

Yvette M. Calleiro is a heavily addicted reader of both young adult and adult novels. She spends most of her time pseudo-living in paranormal worlds with her fictional friends (and boyfriends). When she’s living among real people, Yvette M. Calleiro is a middle school Reading and Language Arts teacher. She’s been sharing her love of literature with her students for over twenty years. Besides writing about the various characters that whisper (and sometimes scream) in her head, she enjoys traveling, watching movies, spending quality time with family and friends, and enjoying the beauty of the ocean.

Yvette lives in Miami, Florida, with her incredible son who has embraced her love for paranormal and adventurous stories. She also shares her space with an assortment of crazy saltwater animals in her 300-gallon tank.

A selection of books by Yvette Calleiro

One of the reviews for The One Awakened (Book 5 Chronicles of the Diasodz)

Jose Loxodonta 5.0 out of 5 stars It was kind of like a griffin, fantastic and majestic. Reviewed in the United States

Pliny the Elder wrote that where griffons would burrow into the ground and lay their eggs, one would find gold. I feel like this finale is a very fitting conclusion, and as a reader, I too found gold.

My feelings for the characters has increased by orders of magnitudes since the first book. Now that this part of their story and struggles has concluded, I find myself not only reflecting on their experiences, but thinking of my own life.

There are so many times reading that I would stop and wonder about all those Jungian things like relationship, experience, balance, and what gives things meaning. While it was fun to escape into a rich and diverse fantasy world as this, the Diasodz were such a heartening and uplifting people to read about. Even in the darkest and direst of moments, they would cling together, and embrace each other in love and hope.

This story has been a real treat, and there are times when I feel like I couldn’t read fast enough as I flew from one page to the next. I really loved seeing the story play out on such a grand scale, but also all of the smaller scenes as characters changed, grew, and transformed themselves with their relationships and challenges between each other. I couldn’t help myself from cheering them on from the sidelines as it were, and wishing them all peace and good things.

Overall, the entire series has been a real treat to read, and I know I will be telling everyone I know that enjoys fantasy to check it out. It’s left me feeling inspired, and wanting to hear how others think and feel reading this wonderful journey.

Yvette M. Calleiro is such a gifted writer, and I hope to read more of her works. I hope you join me in supporting our storytellers! 

Read the reviews and buy the books: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – Read more reviews: Goodreads – Author Blog: Yvette M. Calleiro Blogspot – Twitter: @YvetteMCalleiro – Facebook: Yvette M. Calleiro

How to feature in the series?

• All I need you to do is give me permission to dive in to your archives and find two posts to share here on Smorgasbord. (sally.cronin@moyhill.com)
• Rather than a set topic, I will select posts at random of general interest across a number of subjects from the second six months of 2022. (it is helpful if you have a link to your archives in your sidebar by month)
• As I will be promoting your books as part of the post along with all your information and links so I will not be sharing direct marketing or self- promotional posts in the series.
• If you are an author I am sure you will have a page on your blog with the details, and an ‘about page’ with your profile and social media links (always a good idea anyway). I will get everything that I need.
• As a blogger I would assume that you have an ‘about page’ a profile photo and your links to social media.
• Copyright is yours and I will ©Your name on every post… and you will be named as the author in the URL and subject line.
• Previous participants are very welcome to take part again.
• Each post is reformatted for my blog and I don’t cut and paste, this means it might look different from your own post especially if you are using the block editor
• If I do share a post which contains mainly photographs I will share up to five and link back to the original post for people to view the rest.

N.B – To get the maximum benefit from your archive posts, the only thing I ask is that you respond to comments individually and share on your own social media.. thank you.

Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives 2023 #Potluck – #BookMarketing – Designing a Bookmark by Jemima Pett

Welcome to the new series of Posts from Your Archives 2023 where I will be sharing posts from the last six months of 2022 I have selected from the archives of willing participants. If you wish to be included the information is at the the end of the post.

In this post from the archives of author Jemima Pett shares how to create a bookmark as a giveaway for your books at shows and to be honest, you can leave them discreetly in other places too. My dentist in the UK actually let me leave some copies of my health books in his waiting room as well as some bookmarks, and my local pharmacist put some on his counter. They are a very good marketing tool.

Bookmarks for the Viridian Series by Jemima Pett

I was beginning to run low on bookmarks for my stall at the craft fairs. It acts as my business card, and judging by my online sales, it does have some effect. I wouldn’t say they have shot up, but I am selling more online than usual. And the increase is in the UK, so that is more likely to be down to the book fairs than anything else.

And I reckon I’ve given out around 400 bookmarks in the last year. That’s roughly 30 a show. So before I ran out (100 more or so in the box), I decided to get more – and do them for the Viridian series.

Designing a bookmark

The original bookmarks I put together to print off at home were okay, but they looked homemade. I only printed off a few at a time, and then had to guillotine them, which is what makes them look homemade, really. You can tell by the edges and the paper quality. And the finish.

In some ways my Princelings bookmark I designed once all the covers were done had the same feel. The front is good, but the back a little amateur, shall we say?

Princelings bookmarks on display

I design them all on Gimp, which I’ve been using for covers and stuff for years now (probably since I first released White Water Landings). Gimp is a free bit of software, which has some limitations. Or at least, as I haven’t upgraded it because I was scared of not being able to figure out how to use it again, maybe it now has overcome what I now find as limitations. I should explore this. But given I can’t afford Photoshop, it does what I want, and does it quite nicely. Actually it does a whole load more than I might want but don’t know how to find. And it now seems to have become Figma, so I can’t just upgrade it…

So I designed the new bookmark for the Viridian series on Gimp, using the templates provided by my printer.

Solopress

Lyndhurst 5th June

I started using Solopress for my display requirements way back when I first did a banner for Princelings, and then for White Water Landings. A UK company, they give excellent service and are perfectly happy to talk through jargon I don’t understand. They were also not too expensive.

They are now pretty cheap (£35 for 500 bookmarks, inc tax and delivery). They still give excellent service, and they have a whole range of ‘green’ print options – eco-green not viridian green! The banners I did for Viridian and for the Twisty Tales were half the cost of the other two. The construction design is not quite as good, but someone somewhere who’s six foot tall and has three hands probably found it easy.

I send the files and they send back the banners within a couple of days. I have no idea how they do it so fast. Especially when I can’t get Gimp to get the files to their exact spec. They manage brilliantly.

The new bookmarks

So I turned on Gimp, found the files for the book covers and the background, put them into the template provided by Solopress, and thought it looked nice. Then I played with them for a couple of days to see if I could make them better.

Then I had a brainwave, and redesigned the back, turning the background around (which also meant flipping the addresses from left margin to right margin).

Why? If you hold the bookmark, with your thumb on the sun in the background, and turn it over, the sun is in the same place – under your finger.

I was so pleased with this tiny detail of design. To me it’s awesome. To anyone else it’s ‘duh’ I know, but little things…

These eco-bookmarks, as well as being on fully recycled paper, acid-free, veggie inks and something else (and they do a carbon fund too), also have a sheen to them which is veg-based, not plastic. No sheen is the thing I feel detracts most from the Princelings one (the other is the reverse side). I’ll be doing some new Princelings ones in the new year, I expect.

Meanwhile, I hope you like them.

©Jemima Pett 2022

My thanks to Jemima for inviting me to share posts from her archives and I know she would love to hear from you.

A selection of books by Jemima Pett

One of the reviews for The Princelings of the East the first book in the series.

Julie Grasso Five Stars on Goodreads

We follow Fred and George, Fred who is the thinker or Philosopher and George who is the Engineer, but the totally unique and endearing thing about these two totally lovable characters is that they are in fact Guinea Pigs. But not just your average guinea pigs that eat lettuce and live in a cage, they are Princelings and they live in a castle, contribute to its fine tuning and banter with the humans.

Fred and George remind me of an English cartoon that is currently showing on Australian television called Country Mouse and City Mouse, which I recently realised is a retelling of Aesops Fable.
The two mice are intelligent adventurers who travel around, but they have different likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses which help them along in their adventures.

Similarly, Fred and George are brothers with very different talents and interests but they work together on their adventures, that’s until they get separated and have to work apart to solve the mystery of the Energy Drain.

I enjoyed this book very much and I was intrigued the whole way, itching to find out the answer to mysterious energy drain. I won’t spoil it but there may be some wibbly wobbly timey wimey shenanigans ( sorry that is a Dr Who quote which I realise if you aren’t a super nerd like me, Yes I own a Tardis, you won’t have a clue what I am talking about lol.) I loved the reference to Wozna Cola which sounded an awful lot like a certain dark coloured liquid that has taken the world by storm for about 4 decades

This was a clean read, with no violence at all which I think is such a credit to the author as I feel quite passionate about this very topic when considering if a book is for a Middle Grade audience. I would recommend this to 10+ plus due to the intricacy of the plot and there is quite a cast of characters to follow. I also feel that this story would be more appealing to boys than girls.

I like the cover, but I do wish that it had pictures of Fred and George as I think that would totally appeal to kids to help them visualise these completely adorable guinea pigs.

I am looking forward to reading the further adventures of Fred and George.

Read the reviews and buy the books: Amazon US – And:Amazon UK – Blog:Jemima Pett – Goodreads:Jemima Pett – Twitter:@jemima_pett –

About Jemima Pett

When I discovered the words ‘portfolio career’ I realised I was trendsetter – having not only a number of different jobs, but in totally different fields. These included social work, business management, computer technology, environmental research. The thread running through all of them was communication – and that continued in my spare time with writing and editing club magazines, manuals, reports… I loved words, loved to learn and to apply my learning to the real world.

Eventually the world just wasn’t big enough, and so I went back to inventing my own, as I had as a child. First came the Realms, the setting for the ten-book Princelings of the East series. It’s a feudal England run by princes in castles who just happen to be guinea pigs – although you can read them as people equally well. Then came the Viridian System, a planetary area on the outskirts of known space where a frontier mentality mixes with big business and tourism.

I wrote some shorter stories featuring characters from the Princelings series, recently published as Messenger Misadventures. This features Dylan and Dougall, and their friend Deirdre, who unfortunately did not feature with them in Book 8 of the Princelings series. Two more characters that are asking for their own book are Roscoe and Neville, who turn up in book 10.

2021 saw the publication of five short story collections. Most of these originally appeared on my blog between 2012 and 2020, but are no longer there. Several new stories appear, especially in the seasonal special Snowflakes and Shivers. I still blog short stories, usually once a week.

The third and final Viridian System was published in Feb 22. There’s a snippet at the end of that which may lead to another scifi story, but not set in the Viridian System.

How to feature in the series?

• All I need you to do is give me permission to dive in to your archives and find two posts to share here on Smorgasbord. (sally.cronin@moyhill.com)
• Rather than a set topic, I will select posts at random of general interest across a number of subjects from the second six months of 2022. (it is helpful if you have a link to your archives in your sidebar by month)
• As I will be promoting your books as part of the post along with all your information and links so I will not be sharing direct marketing or self- promotional posts in the series.
• If you are an author I am sure you will have a page on your blog with the details, and an ‘about page’ with your profile and social media links (always a good idea anyway). I will get everything that I need.
• As a blogger I would assume that you have an ‘about page’ a profile photo and your links to social media.
• Copyright is yours and I will ©Your name on every post… and you will be named as the author in the URL and subject line.
• Previous participants are very welcome to take part again.
• Each post is reformatted for my blog and I don’t cut and paste, this means it might look different from your own post especially if you are using the block editor
• If I do share a post which contains mainly photographs I will share up to five and link back to the original post for people to view the rest.

N.B – To get the maximum benefit from your archive posts, the only thing I ask is that you respond to comments individually and share on your own social media.. thank you.

 

Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives 2023 #Potluck – Patty Fletcher’s Grapevine Blog – Guest Post – #Poetry – Wedding Day a Poem by author Trish Hubschman

Welcome to the new series of Posts from Your Archives 2023 where I will be sharing posts from the last six months of 2022 I have selected from the archives of willing participants. If you wish to be included the information is at the the end of the post.

Patty Fletcher is the host of the Writer’s Grapevine magazine which is published monthly free to subscribers and whilst you can find great posts from Patty about life and her promotion of the authors she works with, I have chosen too guest posts to share with you. The second post is a poem by author Trish Hubschman

Wedding Day a Poem by author Trish Hubschman 

They got married on the beach,
Standing at the water’s edge.
Waves lapped against the rocks.
It looked so pretty,
Sounded so pretty.
There was a full moon in the sky.
Stars twinkled overhead.
It was beautiful and romantic.
Memorable for all that were present.
Now, thirty years later, on Valentine’s Day,
He gave her a cute, cuddly teddy bear.
It says I love you.
It was perfect.

©Trish Hubschman

About Trish Hubschman

Trish Hubschman and her husband, Kevin, along with their dog, Henry, recently moved to northern Pennsylvania. They formerly lived on Long Island, New York. Trish is a graduate of Long Island University’s Southampton Campus and has a Bachelor’s degree in English/Writing. She is the author of the popular Tracy Gayle mystery series.

Books by Trish Hubschman

You can find the books and their reviews on Goodreads

©Patty Fletcher 2022

My thanks to Patty for allowing me to share posts from her archives… and I know she would be delighted to hear from you.

About Patty Fletcher

Patty Fletcher is a single mother with a beautiful daughter, of whom she is enormously proud. She has a great son-in-law and six beautiful grandchildren. From April 2011 through September 2020 she owned and handled a black Labrador from The Seeing Eye® named King Campbell Lee Fletcher A.K.A. Bubba. Sadly, after a long battle with illness on September 24, 2020 King Campbell went to the Rainbow Bridge where all is peace and love. It is her hope to one day return to The Seeing Eye® for a successor guide.

Patty was born one and a half months premature. Her blindness was caused by her being given too much oxygen in the incubator. She was partially sighted until 1991, at which time she lost her sight due to an infection after cataract surgery and high eye pressure. She used a cane for 31 years before making the change to a guide dog.

Currently, Patty lives and works in Kingsport, Tenn.

She’s the creator and owner of Tell-It-To-The-World Marketing (Author, Blogger, Business Assist), The Writer’s Grapevine Online Magazine and the creator and host of the Talk to Tell-It-To-The-World Marketing Podcast.

Patty writes with the goal of bridging the great chasm which separates the disabled from the non-disabled.

Books by Patty Fletcher

A review for Bubba Tails

Robbie Cheadle 5.0 out of 5 stars A lovely book that all ages can read and enjoy  Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2020

Bubba Tails: From the Puppy Nursery at the Seeing Eye is a delightful story for all ages, told from the perspective of King Campbell, an older and more experienced Seeing Eye dog (trained to guide the blind). King Campbell appears at night to the puppies at the Seeing Eye School, and their mothers, and tells them stories about how he came to be selected for the school, his training process and meeting his forever mother. His stories help to allay some of the puppies own concerns and anxieties about the future when they undergo their training to be Seeing Dogs and eventually become companions to a blind person.

This is a most insightful book about how Seeing Dogs are selected, including the qualities they need to have to do this job, as well as the training process they go through before they are matched with a blind person. I say matched because that is exactly what happens, the person is paired with a suitable canine companion. I thought this was very interesting as I had never really thought about how close the relationship between a blind human and their Seeing Dog is prior to reading this book.

The second part of the story when Campbell meets his new forever owner was the most meaningful for me. It was a wonderful experience for me to learn about how the Seeing Dog and their new owner must adapt to working together. The Seeing Dog needs to learn to read their human owner’s body language and respond to subtle signals. The human must also learn to trust their dog and this is quite a difficult thing to do. I can understand that putting your faith in a dog, no matter how much you love it, must initially be difficult when you are unable to see and protect yourself. I loved reading about how this amazing trust developed between Campbell and his owner.

This is a book that everyone can read and enjoy for the story and also appreciate for its detailed insight into the relationship between Seeing Dogs and their owners, and also the world at large. 

Read the reviews and buy the books:Amazon US – And :Amazon UK – Follow Patty: Goodreads – Website and Blog: Patty’s World – Twitter: @Bubbalee04

How to feature in the series?

• All I need you to do is give me permission to dive in to your archives and find two posts to share here on Smorgasbord. (sally.cronin@moyhill.com)
• Rather than a set topic, I will select posts at random of general interest across a number of subjects from the second six months of 2022. (it is helpful if you have a link to your archives in your sidebar by month)
• As I will be promoting your books as part of the post along with all your information and links so I will not be sharing direct marketing or self- promotional posts in the series.
• If you are an author I am sure you will have a page on your blog with the details, and an ‘about page’ with your profile and social media links (always a good idea anyway). I will get everything that I need.
• As a blogger I would assume that you have an ‘about page’ a profile photo and your links to social media.
• Copyright is yours and I will ©Your name on every post… and you will be named as the author in the URL and subject line.
• Previous participants are very welcome to take part again.
• Each post is reformatted for my blog and I don’t cut and paste, this means it might look different from your own post especially if you are using the block editor
• If I do share a post which contains mainly photographs I will share up to five and link back to the original post for people to view the rest.

N.B – To get the maximum benefit from your archive posts, the only thing I ask is that you respond to comments individually and share on your own social media.. thank you.

 

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Weekly Round Up – 20th – 26th March 2023 – De-Cluttering, New Releases Promotion, Big Band Era, Stevie Wonder, Podcast, Health, Reviews, Bloggers and Funnies

Welcome to the round up of posts you might have missed on Smorgasbord this week.

I hope you are not caught up in some of the dreadful weather this week including tornadoes and more heavy snowfall. This winter seems to be dragging on and we do thank our lucky stars our weather is moderate without the extremes. We might moan about the rain, but we do appreciate how lucky we are.

I am in the process of clearing out all the cabinets in the kitchen, decluttering and packing most of it in to boxes. Some of the utensils have not been out of the cupboards for seven years so I guess we don’t need them.There are some items that hold sentimental value, such as the crockpot we bought when we got married 43 years ago. We were pretty broke so I would make a big stew with lots of vegetables and meat and it would last four days from Monday to Thursday and then we would treat ourselves to fish and chips and a pint of beer at the pub on Fridays. Saturday and Sunday we would a roast chicken. Simple days but happy ones and I will hang on to the crockpot always as a reminder.

Also once the new kitchen is finished and we do the last round of touch ups I will be stripping out the rooms to minimum decoration and clutter. It also means that we can store the boxes and there will be less to do when we sell the house making that less stressful. My next major job is to tidy and refill some of the 30 pots in the front and back of the house once the last predicted freeze is in the next couple of weeks so that the garden is looking its best by May.  At the very least it should keep me out of mischief (perhaps not entirely!)

I know that some of you have new books on the horizon and it would be great if you could email me on sally.cronin@moyhill.com once you have a firm date either for the book to be on pre-order or available to buy on Amazon.  I am scheduling a couple of weeks ahead so it would be good to have the dates as soon as possible.

If you have featured here before I only need the date, but if you are new to the promotions then please include Amazon link, Goodreads,Blog or website, and two or three social media links.

As always my thanks to my friends who contribute to the blog…

William Price King joined me this week for the Big Band Era with Count Basie, Bunny Berrigan and The Boogie Woogie dance. On Friday he the series on the music giant Stevie Wonder….You can also find William – Blog– IMPROVISATION– William Price King on Tumblr

Debby Gies​ joined me in the funnies posts this week and will be here tomorrow with a post on Writer’s Block. More good news is that she returned to Toronto yesterday from Mexico and will be back with a new post in April.  I am sure she will also be sharing some adventures from her vacation on her own blog in coming days. Follow the link to Debby’s blog to browse her archives …D.G. Kaye

Carol Taylor will be here on Wednesday with her A-Z of food and the letter ‘T’. On her own blog you can find Monday Musings with some interesting innovations such as
how single-celled yeasts are doing the work of 1,500-pound cows! How to preserve food during a power outage and some music from Ed Sheeran…If you are planning a trip to Europe, including a stop in Germany then you will find this post from Carol  very useful as she explores the cuisine of the country.. Beerfests and Sausages are not the only treats in store. Thursday thoughts with the bravery of a pigeon that saved hundreds of lives, the benefits of cider vinegar and some wonderful music to catch up on this and all of Carol’s posts this week Carol Taylor’s Weekly Posts

..Thank you very much for your visits, comments and shares to social media, as always it is appreciated ♥

On with the show…

The Big Band Era with William Price King and Sally Cronin – 1930s – Count Basie, Bunny Berigan, The Boogie Woogie

William Price King Meets Music Legends – #Jazz #Soul #Stevie Wonder – The 1970s

Podcast #Poetry #Flash Fiction – Seasons and Murmuration by Sally Cronin

The Body our Greatest Asset – The Digestive System Part Three – The Liver by Sally Cronin

#Review – #Africa #Wildlife #Poetry – Lion Scream: Syllabic Poetry About Southern African Wildlife by Robbie Cheadle

#Historical #Family #Romance – Three Years of Her Life by C. E. Robinson

Previous Reviews from 2022 – #Contemporary #Romance – Maggie’s Way by Linda Bradley

Meet the Authors 2023 – #Thriller #Supernatural Dan Antion, #Romance Ritu Bhathal, #FamilyDrama Lisette Brodey

#writing #StoryEmpire – Characters and Diversity. Part 2 – Wealth by Gwen Plano

– #Joy #Cats #Inspiration by Abbie Taylor

#Teaching – My Preschooler, Then and Now by Jennie Fitzkee

#SpiritualGuides, #Poetry – Animal visits and their meaning—plus a poem by D.L. Finn

#Writing Plotting and Planning by Rebecca Douglass

Hosts Sally Cronin and Debby Gies – Voodoo dolls and marriage one liners

Hosts Sally Cronin and Debby Gies – Dogs and Therapy

 

Thanks very much for dropping in today and I hope you will join me again next week.. Sally ♥