Book of the Week

Suspended Animation by Sylvie Grayson
Be careful who you trust…

 Katy Dalton worked hard to save her money. And having her friend Bruno invest it seemed like a safe bet. But her job disappears and she needs her money back, everything Bruno has already loaned to Rome Trucking. When Katy insists he return it, Bruno stops answering his phone and bad things start to happen.

Brett Rome is frustrated. The last thing he wants is to leave a promising career in hockey to come home and run his ailing father’s trucking company. What he discovers is a company teetering on the very edge of bankruptcy and a young woman demanding the return of her money.

But danger lurks in the form of Bruno’s dubious associates. What secret are they hiding and why are they willing to kill Katy? Can Brett put this broken picture back together, and is Katy part of the solution or the problem?

A thrilling roller coaster of a story…

“Sylvie Grayson has found her niche, you’ll love this book…”

Click on the book cover to the left to purchase it.

Spring in the air?

I thought spring was in the air. I bought these at the grocery store, they are not from my garden. It isn’t that warm here. Aren’t they lovely?

But I was mistaken. Here is what happened on our deck tonight. The second time in a week

A dump of hail. Apparently spring is not in the air. What’s happening in your neck of the woods?

Spring Has Sprung

Spring has sprung, the grass has riz,

I wonder where them flowers is?

My father quoted this every year in spring, usually when the snow was still in the process of melting on the ground, no flowers in sight. However, wonder no more. Here are some flowers from around my garden. Can you name them? (the answers are at the end of the post).

The first one is  of daffodils, of course. I thought I’d start you off easy. 🙂 Next is heather. This plant likes less water than most of my garden so it grows on the side of the stairs going up to the driveway, where the irrigation doesn’t reach it. The third one is mahonia, or oregon grape, an extremely prickly bush that grows wild in the pacific northwest. The berries have a strong, slightly unpleasant flavour, but if you mix them with blackberry and a bit of apple, they make the best jelly. Next is hellebores. I have about six such plants in my garden, each a different shade of rose to wine tones–one of the earliest plants in my garden. After that is the trillium, you knew that. I don’t know the name of the following plant, but love the look of the little green buds in the spring. Perhaps you can tell me what it is. The last plant is a cranberry bush. I had one planted when the garden was first developed, but it died last year. I was devastated. the blooms are beautiful, have a lovely scent, and  it is the first bush to flower in the spring, usually in late February. I searched everywhere, no one knew what it was, let alone had one to replace it. Then a tiny bush bloomed last spring, and i realized the dead bush had populated a new branch below it in the garden. It is still small, but I will put some good earth around its roots to encourage it to grow tall like it’s daddy did.

Welcome to the New Year

We have had a dump of snow, huge for this part of the world. My patio table looked like it had a cake on it.

Then the snow melted and the rain began. The combination of melted snow and rain water started the small creeks running madly.

I call these the pop-up creeks, only active in the winter when heavy rains fill them up.

Now I have a cold, my sinuses ache and my teeth ache. I’ve used up boxes of Kleenex. But the good news is, it will likely improve after today and I’ll be on the mend! 🙂

 

Big Words- but write what you know

Do you ever come across a word that you’ve never heard before? One that sounds imppressive but you aren’t sure of the meaning? Here’s one — ultracrepidarianism. I heard it used on a Ted Talk and just had to look it up. It means ‘the habit of giving advice outside of one’s knowledge or competence.’ Great word, eh? (that ‘eh’ tells you I’m Canadian)

The challenge would be- how to use it? Can you imagine a situation where you might slip it into a casual conversation? For one thing, just pronouncing it means it won’t slip in anywhere.  However, my challenge this week is to use it without stumbling over my tongue. 

This is one thing about writing that I always expound on (but not ad nauseum, of course). Write what you know. That’s my rule and I think a good one. I have a background in business, law, hard work. When I read a book about business and find something silly in it, it means I have to stop reading and put the book down . Don’t speculate about what it might be like to be a business owner, a physician, a cop, a worker in a laundromat. Find out, check  your facts, ask someone with knowledge to help you out. That way you can form your story with confidence. Happy reading!