A little while ago, I wrote about signs and omens and the need to pay attention to simultaneous or concurrent events in your life.
So I am trapped at the moment in two events which have meaning but the message is not clear.
Two friends recently travelled to Africa. They did not go together and don’t know each other at all. They went to different places for different reasons. Both returned with a cloth gift for me. I was surprised and pleased by both.
One was a cloth purse made in Kenya. It had a simple shoulder strap, was big enough to hold a couple of books, could be closed with a zippered edge. As a purse lover, really I have lots of bags and costly ones too and yet I adore the simple function of the gift from Kenya.
My other cloth gift was a Masai Shula in a red and blue plaid. It doesn’t have the same look as a tartan but the colours are similar to the MacGregor Clan which is featured in my new book. The second friend travelled to Tanzania on a humanitarian effort. Why she thought to bring something back for me, I don’t know but I was surprised and pleased to have a gift from the continent of some of my ancestors.
So what does it mean to have a simple purse and a simple piece of material to wrap my body? Don’t know. but if anyone out there has an idea…..?
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Oh how lovely. Now I am delighted with the outcome of the Academy nominations. 12, count em, 12 nods for my, so far, favourite! I love that guy, Colin Firth, more and more every day.
So even when I thinking like the big guys and swimming with them, in reality I was on a surf board, well ahead.
What lovely way to end my night work and start a new day.
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I feel like I am on a roll, although it’s not about me. Colin Firth won the Golden Globe! Poor Johnny Depp. He at least deserved a better fate but I suppose everyone can’t win. I am happy about the outcome. Mr Firth’s speech was lovely and inclusive. Keeping my fingers crossed for future awards. Now I feel like I am swimming with the big guys.
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I wrote ‘The Will to be True’ and finished it with every intention of putting the darn thing away. It was nicely bound in a three ring binder (ugh!) with some old black and white graphics as a cover. The idea was to write and not necessarily publish. Publishing came later…much later. It took twenty years in fact to get that book to press. For one thing, the story was incomplete, too short, and the characters were not well rounded. Now a days, I consider that merely a draft. then, I thought my life was complete. Writing for Dummies says that there may be many drafts before the final product is ready to go to market and in hindsight, they are right.
Taking two years to get to a final product was the best thing that could have happened. I wrote 7 other stories in the meantime and got a feel for how I would really like to present a book to the world.
Another book which I wrote soon after The Will to be True is also now complete and on its way to the printer.
I don’t have the same angst about sending Suspect, Love out. It is not as long as the first book. It is complete and a story which I have longed to tell. Fated love! I believe very strongly in that principle.
I was deeply inspired to flesh out that draft and get it to press by thoughts which come to me from some other source. In book 8 of the Beauty and the Beast stories on fanfiction, I wrote this exchange between two of the seconday characters.
‘Because, I firmly believe in the power of fate to draw the right people together at the right time and I truly believe that fate and faith takes us to certain places in this life which will provide the opportunity to grow and learn. If you had a clear vision when you first saw your wife, you will know what I am talking about. Do you remember the moment you felll in love with her?’
‘The instant I saw her on a horse. When I watched her ride, she was without equal. It was as if she and the animal were one. The raw potential of it generated feelings in me which I had never experienced.’
There may not be many people who experience that kind of love at the outset, but if we think about it, many of us know in the instant when the love is for real if we open ourselves to it the insight. I will never be able to craft a story which doesn’t have some secondary issues of trouble or trauma but the love will always transcend the setbacks.
My dear brother in law has provided me with the most fitting photos for the cover. I am very excited about seeing the finished product.
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For a movie lover, I am stunned to think about how long it has been since my last trip to an actual cinema. I have been content to sit and wait until a new release comes out on DVD. Perhaps, in my mind not much has been worth the time and effort and money. I suppose a willing companion would have been helpful but not necessary.
My hubby and I often sit and watch movies marathon fashion over a weekend if I am not working. We used to rent three or four and spread them out over the two days. I had a Blockbuster Gold CArd. Even though I don’t want to give a plug to Rogers communications, they do make it easy to download and watch movies at my own convenience. Bell, not so much.
So. my last cinema movie was X. Yes indeed the biopic of Malcolm X starring Denzil Washington. The story and the lead actor were worth the effort. What would draw me to another show after all these years?
It can’t just be the actor. The movie itself has to contain an element of history which is meaningful to me. Colin Firth starring in the King’s Speech was more than worth it. I have seen most of his movies. He really engaged my heart while speaking Portuguese in Love, actually.
His role in the King’s Speech engaged my heart once again. I have grown up with the story of Queen Elizabeth. I was a little girl when she was crowned queen. She has been a role model of sorts but her father’s story was so much more compelling. We can assume that divine right gives royals special powers but that simply isn’t true. They are lucky or unlucky (fated) enough to be born into a family line which carries immense history. Bertie was not meant to be King but his fated royal birth took him in another direction. (Losing the right of free will is distinctly unlucky)
Watching Firth negotiate the painful passage was worth every minute of the movie. No wonder Elizabeth is such a great feminine role model for the world. The constraints of her office might make her seem distant but her parents gave her such a model of strength to use in the discharge of her duties.
The saddest thing I have observed in the story of George V!, is the day he went to the airport to say goodbye to his daughter as she travelled to Kenya. His face spoke volumes. There was a sad and worried quality about it. I always think that he knew it would be the last time he would see her and regret for the awful burden he would place on her young shoulders with his death.
A great movie…go see it!
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I am home now and really happy to be back in my own surroundings, although the cold and snow leaves a lot to be desired. It could be worse. The weather is actually better than when we left. It is Christmas eve but there is enough snow to get Santa across the world. I have asked old St. Nick to give this house a pass if someone more needy can get a bit extra. I will give him a helping hand today.
When I left Jamaica yesterday, the young man who checked me in was the same one who had been responsible for helping passengers to complete and process their missing luggage form. He smiled in recognition as I approached the check in counter. I thanked him again for being so polite and respectful on the day we arrived. Just as he did then, the booking-in details were done quickly and efficiently. I would not have expected less. My original seat was moved to allow me to have a row all to myself as the aircraft wasn’t full. That was a bonus courtesy of the young man. I slept for 2/3’s of the flight, undisturbed.
Before we took off, and I don’t know if this is by design, I was seated over the hatch door which takes in luggage. Through my window, I could clearly see both of my two cases being loaded. The sight of them was reassuring. How often does that happen?
It wasn’t busy in Toronto when we arrived. I got through customs and immigration quickly. I made my way to the carousel to collect my luggage. It hadn’t come up yet. We were that quick. Of the first four bags to come out of the shoot, both of mine were included. Divine intervention or help on the ground? I don’t know. For me at least, alls well that ends well.
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As one would expect, the arrival of the luggage was frought with anxiety and disappointment. I received the long awaited call early on Friday. ‘Your luggage has arrived in Kingston.’ What sweeter words could there be? I didn’t even want to think about the journey the suitcase had undertaken. The caller gave me a range from today or tomorrow. I stated unequivocally, tonight please.
Since I had already discovered that the office closes early, I was waiting until the 5 o’clock hour before allowing anxiety to set in. If the luggage didn’t arrive, there would be no one to call. As the evening wore on, hope faded along with the setting sun. No one does business after dark and driving around the Island with luggage from abroad seemed to be almost asking to be hijacked. By nine, all hope had gone and I resigned myself to a surety on Saturday. Not long after the release of my last sigh, the phone rang. In a house with two women having the same first initial and last name, the call taken by the youngster of the house was precariously handed to the elder. She was probably the best person to answer anyway. The driver was lost. Could he get directions?
We stood at the metal grill, which protects most homes on the island from predators, and waited for the van to arrive. Indeed, he was not long. The young man stood in the pouring rain and unloaded quite a few suitcases in the dark, using a simple flashlight to search for the missing case among many others. Our own special markers helped him to find it quickly.
He was clearly wet and hungry. He admitted to having many miles to go before he would get his own rest, but we were grateful for his efficiency and good manners.
This is the end of my saga. A happy ending to be sure. Others may not have such luck but in everything I found the manners to be respectful and outstanding, something I miss in the easy going cultural climate of the north.
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One thing I hope to do, this visit, is to be re-acquainted with the area where a part of my story takes place. In book two, “In the Shadow of the Blackbird”, our heroine travels to the island to recoup. It has been quite a few years since I have actually been on the north coast in St. Ann’s Bay. The area has history and is dear to me. Part of my mother’s family originated there and I have had two of the most wonderful vacations in the area.
I hope tobe able to write another story at some future time which will feature the island and its seductive beauty. In the meantime, we are under water and still without luggage.
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Thinking like the big guys
January 12, 2011 by vetivera24
Last night, when I really wanted to be asleep, I stayed up to watch the Daily Show. Why not? He’s pretty funny and I have found it better to go to sleep after a good laugh than to sleep after some intense crime drama.
I didn’t know it but my current hero was the guest. Although he had a brutal throat, just as I did last week, he was there to shine and plug his new movie, The King’s Speech.
Jon Stewart was also suitably impressed. In the introduction, he spoke highly of Colin Firth and the progress he has made as an actor. Stewart said this is Firth’s best movie yet and indeed it is.
It’s good to know that I am thinking like the big guys, at least on this one day.
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