Under the Tuscan Sun

JB’s philosophy of ‘I choose how I will spend the rest of my life’ is always a warming hug whenever I visit. Choosing. It may be the best part of life. The choices may not sometimes be all that palatable, and sometimes consists solely of chosen attitude. How lucky we are to ‘choose’. Mandela chose a positive attitude in his years of prison, Hawking chose to move beyond physical restraints. Choosing is not wishing. I wish I were free. I wish I were rich. It is choosing a course of action, an attitude. A dear friend believes you don’t spend your time wishing but you play the hand you are dealt. That is not giving in to the hand or being happy with what you have. It is choosing. And choosing leads to action. That trip JB chose to take even when her plans fell apart and she would suddenly be doing it alone. She sold her house and made the move of a lifetime. A Septuagenarian Adventure. That’s my friend. An adventurer. Stroll around her blog and bask in the Tuscan sun, the New Zealand countryside, and the dance in the sea of her most treasured thing – words. Books, stories, poems. My friend. My treasure.

I choose how I will spend the rest of my life

On turning the calendar card I was confronted with this –

The wording on the card reads –

“The Italian enthusiasm for cycling come to the fore every spring during the Giro d’Italia, a three-week-long road race across some of the peninsula’s most challenging terrain. Thrills, hills, and spills aside, two-wheeled vehicles are an integral part of Italian culture and an uplifting fixture of daily life”

I was immediately transported back to my brief sojourn in Florence in 2013. Can it really be six years ago?

On October 23, 2013, I recorded Day 16 in Florence and noted that the World Road Cycling Championship had just been raced in and around Florence. Cycling memorabilia was on display and for sale everywhere one looked. I succumbed and purchased two little battery operated bicycles with pedalling cyclists whizzing around the footpaths. If you are interested, click here for that post.

Oh, how…

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It occurs to me…

*Two months since NY. Resolutions (called goals by some). Where are you on yours?

Last year I had an 80% success on my goals and pleased with the result set three more goals for 2019.

By January 22nd I scrapped all three and did a reset. Important to do this if you want to succeed. Sometimes our goals are just a wish list. It occurs to me the key to success lies in assessment and action. We either continue or reset. I reset to four measurable, attainable goals that deal with Finance, Healthy Eating, Business Development, and Writing. I did not just scrap them but took the time and documented exactly why they were being scrapped and what was replacing them.

* Business development is really quite a small thing, but I decided to turn my hobby time into a teeny tiny business. Having spent the last eight years in retirement doing what I loved, it occurred to me that I could assign an actual worth to what I do. So GCK was born. GrannyChrisKnits is being developed. Baby steps. GrannyChrisKnits@mail.com. Recent projects in demand:

Gryffindor has a new 11 year old Wizard

This hat is a warm chic favourite.

This sweater in both bulky and non bulky are in great demand

Lots of hats and mittens

*The Writing goal took a bid of serious contemplation. A love of words and intriguing story lines were not enough to drive me forward. My one underlying thought for this year is, ‘Enjoy what you do, and Do what you enjoy” I found I have a skill at reviewing books and articles and can present thoughtful and at times witty observations. I discovered this when I joined a Canadian Authors group where we write but also critique the works of other members. During discussions at month’s end I found I expressed some insights that surprised me. I stopped feeling guilty at what I had not written, and started to be excited at what I was reading and doing. I also belong to a book club that meets once a month called, Crime and Coffee.

My progress in all things this year was held up a bit due to the loss of a dear dear friend and Aunt who passed January 23rd. It occurs to me grief uses a lot of energy and whilst I have continued to move forward it has been at a slower pace. Her memory is an inspiration. Nuff said on that.

* I found myself wondering this week what the value of apology is. Aside from a public show of regret, that may not be at all sincere, but is required for political purpose (as we have seen on this week’s news), what truly is the purpose? If I feel guilt about something I did, and I approach the wounded party (no matter how much time has passed) and I beg forgiveness, am I really trying to make the other person feel better or just myself? It occurs to me that if I express regret at causing hurt that is fine. But if it is an apology that ends with, ‘Please please forgive me.’ Then I think that is a problem. I guess it is important to say you are sorry but it is not okay to saddle the wounded person with a demand for forgiveness. Hmm What think you?

*It occurred to me this week that Drama is over rated in our lives. I am wondering if great excitement is just an energy sapper. Spewers of drama are exhausting and I think sometimes the Message is lost is the Swirl of Energy. I recently read ‘Born A Crime’ by Noah Trevor about his life in South Africa. It was raw, real, and by being without great drama it encouraged serious thought and consideration. An excellent book.

I’ve been watching a lace curtain of snow fall outside my window this morning. It occurs to me that Spring will be most welcome.

On to another week. March 1st came in like a lamb. It occurs to me it might go out like a lion. Then again it might not,

EVERYONE NEEDS A HOBBY

I love every comment. Every word is True True True. I been knitting and cross stitching for decades and it only took forty years to become truly relaxing. When I was younger it was the Challenge of Creation, now, complicated patterns assure me I am compos mentis and avoiding dementia with each stitch. Each time I have to undo work I remind myself I am learning Patience. It is a necessary activity when watching TV so I do not feel I am wasting time. I give very few gifts as I have discovered not everyone appreciates the effort or the result. But I happily create for anyone who wants a creation. Thank you for an amusing poignant post!! Chris (AKA GrannyChrisKnits)

MorristownMemos

“You should take up knitting; it’s so relaxing”.

Those were the words of a former friend, whom I once mistakenly assumed had my best interests at heart. Now I rack my brain trying to understand what I could have done to her to cause her determination to turn my life into nerve pressuring misery. Knitting: Relaxing? Therapeutic? Really?

Trying to be open and fair minded, I consider the possibility that she has a good idea. As I look around wherever I go, I see women in lectures, on trains, and in recitals peacefully knitting. They appear to be relaxed as they demonstrate the art of multitasking. How hard can a little knitting be? I wonder.

You’ve always liked challenges, I tell myself, and I decide to try knitting. I’ll start with something small. Yes, I can do this! As I think about it I get enthusiastic about learning a…

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Book Review. Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly

Dark Sacred Night (Renée Ballard, #2; Harry Bosch, #21; Harry Bosch Universe, #31) 
by Michael Connelly (Goodreads Author), 

Christine Gingerich‘s review 

Jan 09, 2019  ·  

Some folk are put off by prolific writers as they often glaringly writing to a recipe, tried and true. This is not the case with Connelly. I first encountered Harry Bosch briefly when I was introduced to the Lincoln Lawyer, first as a movie, then the book.
There is a reality in the lives of Michael Connelly’s characters which guarantees no ‘happy ever after’, but which brings to life people you find yourself thinking about through out the day. Struggle, progress, success, failure, mistakes, humanness. All these things interwoven. 
Bosch forms a somewhat casual partnership with Ballard to solve another Cold Case. Justice for the long dead becomes an honorable venture.
Bosch’s relationships with past partners and associates, and family weaves a strong tapestry through each and every book, and they show up here and there, just like real life.
When I pick up a new Bosch book, it is with great anticipation, not just of a current adventure but wondering who will wander in with ties to a past story. Cisco, Lourdes, Mickey? Everything is connected and therein lies the deliciousness.

Junkie by Robert P. French

Book Review

Junkie
Robert P. French

Junkie is the first book in a series about Cal Rogan. I admit to some reluctance to read a book where our hero was in fact a Junkie. Encouraged by my friend Judith Baxter I turned to the first page and was hooked.

What’s makes Cal our true hero is the clear crisp writing, realistic and believable, without any of the self pity and whining and moaning often associated with first person addiction stories.

His path from functioning valued member of society to loss, homelessness, and recovery of sorts, whilst solving obvious and less obvious mysteries makes this a story difficult to put down.

His love/hate relationship with himself and those around him, particularly Roy, and his dead best friend whose relationship with him may or may not have been what he interpreted it as, strikes a chord of the reality we live with every day.

French puts a human face to a population in the shadows. Successes, failures, and in this case mysterious deaths.

The easy path to substance addiction is chilling and leaves one with a ..there but for the Grace of God…type of reaction, and an awareness that all that can change in a moment.

His relationship with his daughter and ex, his desire to be more, to be better is woven through out, partnered with the inability to succeed.

This is a story about perseverance, struggle, being right, being wrong, succeeding and failing. Failing is not the end of the story. This story is more than anything, about HOPE. The thing that drives all of us.

The humanness of the tale, and the characters, the truths both recognized and not recognized are the the truths of our own lives.

French is an excellent story teller, weaving suspense and surprise twists in a delicious fashion that is sublime.

Lockstep

I loved the first book, Junkie, and will catch up with this ASAP after Christmas! Thank you!

Books&morebooks2017

I’ve just finished Lockstep the third novel in the Cal Rogan series, and it was every bit as good as the other two.

Cal Rogan is an ex-detective and recovering heroin addict. He has left the Vancouver Police Department and with his friend, another ex-detective who is now wheelchair-bound following an incident in their last case together has set up a PI company, Stammo and Rogan.

Rogan has entered into a contract with Rebecca Bradbury to find her eight-year-old daughter who has been missing for several days. Ellie, Rogan’s daughter attends the same school as Ariel, the missing girl.

Meantime, Stammo has agreed to help a friend, yet another ex-cop, find his teenage son hasn’t been in contact for some time.

There is a third case that Rogan is working on that of a candidate who has received death threats.

Political blackmail, drug peddlers, paedophilia along with his desire for…

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Finally

Has the president of the United States finally confirmed the suspicion that he is an agent of Russia? Putin is very happy with his boy tonight.

Talking to the Trees

From a friend of many years who lives what is only fantasy for most of us. Originally written a few years ago.

Source of Inspiration

Sometimes I feel so weary.
Life seems hard to bear.
I take long walks in the floresta,
and share my sadness with the trees.
They sway with understanding,
pat my cheeks dry with new leaves,
shelter me as I nap beneath
loving outstretched boughs,
only to awaken renewed and
peaceful once again.

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Yes, It’s Me, Back Again

Wonderful!

I choose how I will spend the rest of my life

Well, where have all the months gone since my last post? I must tell you that each week I say that I will start blogging again and each week passes without a blogpost.

So today is the first day of the rest of my life.

Yesterday when I opened this post from Elizabeth at  Laughing  Cow in France, it took me back two years to when I had that awful misadventure. I hastened to assure Elizabeth that life does go on after a major accident, even if at a lesser pace.  Elizabeth then continued the next day with part two. It is well worth reading and reminds us how quickly life can change and how lucky we are to live in countries where medical assistance is readily available.

And my tale tells how very good our bodies are at healing themselves even if sometimes they need a little…

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Yes, I Suffer From TDS

TDS…sigh

This, That, and The Other

Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a mental condition in which a person has been driven effectively insane due to their dislike of Donald Trump, to the point at which they will abandon all logic and reason.

I admit it. I suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome. But it’s not because I’ve abandoned all logic and reason. It’s because I’m still clinging to logic and reason.

You see, I think any rational, thinking person should, as I do, believe that Donald Trump is a threat to our American democracy. I see disturbing connections between how fascism and authoritarianism took hold in other countries and what is occurring in the United States at present. And it scares the shit out of me.

And apparently I’m not alone. The American Psychological Association noted in a recent survey that 57% respondents said “the current political climate” was a top source of angst in their lives. More people…

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