Treachery at the Tailor’s Guild. Waylon was a changeling. Sold by the Church. Now a journeyman tailor. He journeys the world for three years and a day. Sleeping in ditches. Hedgrows are the best. But ditches can slay as well as shield. A twisted tale of trust and betrayal. “Waylon’s Way” by Alexandria Blaelock, is […]
Blog
I Got My Voice Back!
You may or may not know that when I had the stroke last year, my inner dialogue went missing. For a while I really missed it. But I got used to it. I consoled myself with the knowledge that people meditate for decades to achieve a quiet mind. And I got one overnight. And now, […]
2021 Summer Wardrobe Plan
It’s time to start looking at my 2021 Summer Wardrobe Plan. As I write, the sun is shining, and I’m putting on and taking off my fleece. The shops are frantically dispatching end of season catalogues, and soon they’ll be replacing them with new styles for warmer weather. 2020 Recap We’ll start with a recap […]
Monk’s Evening Routine
Having been intrigued by the Venerable Nick Keomahavong’s morning routine, it’s only a small step to wondering what’s the deal with a Buddhinst Monk’s evening routine. Similar to morning routine, most evening routines are focused on increasing productivity the next day. But the Monk’s purpose is to bring the mind back home to stillness and […]
Monk’s Morning Routine
Not sure what I was searching for on YouTube when I came across a new to me take on the morning routine – the Buddhist Monk’s routine as demonstrated by the Venerable Nick Keomahavong. I found it interesting because morning routines are usually focused on productivity; squeezing as much into the day as you can. […]
Embracing Fate
For better or worse. When Susan Grant died, Agatha was there; right next to the bed. Susan was stuck in the air-conditioned hospice room, slipping in and out of consciousness. In a world where even the Fates sometimes question their place. One orphan clings to the destiny her mother birthed her into. Because that’s just […]
2021 Winter Wardrobe Update
Winter has been a mixed bag in terms of clothes, weather and the pandemic, but now it’s time for my 2021 Winter Wardrobe Update. 2021 Winter Wardrobe Plan Recap Basically, I wanted a minimally viable winter wardrobe; as much warm clothing as I could get for $500. The plan was: 1 fleece-lined jeans maybe $100 […]
August 2021 Progress Report
Well, it’s August 2021, and I’m still here. Nothing much has changed since last month… Remember the good old days when something was always happening? Still in lockdown. Still confined to quarters. Discovered the fascinating world of C-drama (Chinese). Just as well – I’m having trouble concentrating on any kind of book that’s more than […]
Some Things to Live By
After another few weeks in lockdown, I’ve been thinking about “things”. Both the physical some things and the mental some things we accumulate as the days go by. This time has has seen us both tidy up and slob out. Sometimes at the same time. It’s a little bit funny how easy it is to […]
I’m Launching My eBookshop!
I just did something interesting and amazing, and today I’m launching my eBookshop! It’s a one-stop shop for all my books and short stories, and you can find it in the middle of my header menu. You’ll still find them at your usual eRetailer, and in print, but now you can buy from me as […]
The Joy of Freshly Mown Lawn
In a rare break of sunshine, we did a little yard work. A bit of pruning, and weeding, and lawn mowing. It’s amazing how much better the garden looks with a freshly mown lawn. And how much calmer you feel looking out over it. It must shake up the lawn dwelling creatures as well – […]
Thankful and Grateful
Despite the way it looks, this is a time to be thankful and grateful. Right now, in the midst of yet another Covid-19 Delta strain caused lockdown, many peple are out putting their lives on the line to keep essential services like supermarkets open. I’ve seen some shameful things happening in supermarkets. We ought to […]
The Significance of Sighing
DB commented the other day that I’ve been sighing a lot. I had no idea. But now that he’s mentioned it, I’m noticing I do it all the time! So I decided to find out why. The Medical Explanations According to Fiona MacDonald, you sigh every five minutes or so – it’s a reflex! But […]
Toy Soldiers
In the long dark night of the soul… Mikke squinted, but his eyes refused to focus. He blinked a couple of times, but they didn’t clear, so he rubbed them with the knuckles of his index fingers. Mikke can’t remember a time before The War. Can’t imagine a time after. Can he find hope and […]
Princess Jellyfish
I recently watched a Japanese show called Princess Jellyfish, based on the teenage girl manga of the same name. Tsukimi Kurashita, has been obsessed with jellyfish since her mother took her to an aquarium shortly before she died. Her life takes a new turn when she gets into a fight with a petstore assistant about […]
July 2021 Progress Report
Is it July 2021 already? It’s almost not worth ticking the days off the calendar – my life feels like one long hump day. Groundhog Wednesday… And yet somehow, I managed to roll my year over into the next financial year. And transfer from one journal into a new one. I even thougth seriously about […]
The Day Seems Bleak
We’ve had FIVE covid related lockdowns. Full of long, bleak days. So many that even I, an introvert who works from home, has about had enough. I find myself staring slack jawed out of the window, idly watching the turtledoves scramble around the deck looking for any seed the parrots might have missed. Now and […]
Do or Die
It feels like we’ve been in and out of Covid lockdown since before time began. But with so much time spent at home (where possible), many people have found this a good time to get a bit healthier. Do or die of a different kind. Take my friend Katy, who looks more radiant than at […]
Developments in my Lifetime
I had a gut ache the other day. And what with there not really being a pill you can take for gut aches… Assuming I could be bothered getting out of my warm bed to get one. I did what my mother used to tell me to do when I was a kid. I put […]
Serenity
I imagine you’ve heard of the Serenity Prayer, generally attributed to Reinhold Neibuhr? God, grant me the SerenityTo accept the things I cannot change… Courage to change the things I can,And Wisdom to know the difference. Turns out there’s more to it than that. The text continues: Living one day at a time,Enjoying one moment […]
Walking the Tightrope
It’s the time of year when I usually start to get a bit snaky. Walking the tightrope between the usual thing and the need for a break. For almost my entire adult life, this is the time of year I’d usually be putting the finishing touches on my holiday plans. When I was younger, driving […]
The Pseudonym’s Bride
Happily ever after… Or not Celeste Celeste Baillieu’s husband seems a perfectly normal person, but he has a secret. And it’s not that he’s rubbish at renovation. When she starts taking the cottage apart, she finds a body. And that’s just the start of it. Because it looks like she might be next. “The Pseudonym’s […]
2021 Q2 Review
The first quarter has been and gone, and now we’re doing the 2021 Q2 Review for, as Dean Wesley Smith calls it the Time of Great Forgetting. Q2 2021 Review 1. Husband Cooking his favourite meals. Sharing his concerns. Doing the chores that annoy him the most when they don’t get done. Still married, mostly […]
June 2021 Progress Report
June 2021. I’ve no idea how to describe June. Or where it went. Though I know I wrote a new short story a collection… After such a massively productive May, it feels a bit like I needed a month to recover. I started to update my end of the financial year records and set up […]
The Time Flew By
Have you ever lost yourself in some kind of activity and wondered where the time went? You say, “oh my gosh, the time flew by, I have no idea where it went!” Toseland recently created an emoji to represent himself. It’s an old man. I suggested that he wasn’t that old, and he should consider […]