Sunday, January 23, 2011

Mamma Mia and the marvels of Nature

Book News:

BradysChoicecover.jpgI'm delighted to announce that my first short story of 2011 is now published and therefore Brady's Choice is now available at Amber Allure Press at a discount price during the first week. And I do love that cover - it's perfect. Not only that, but today you can win a free copy at Jessewave Reviews and so there's definitely still time to have a go.

EDPone_small.jpgAnother publication this week, and one I also feel very pleased about, is The Best of Every Day Poets Anthology One, which includes two of my poems and has a lovely cover as well. It's nice to be part of a poetry publication as well as a fictional one, that's for sure - I do enjoy the balance.

Speaking of fiction, I've just started the third story in the Delaneys series, which I'm calling The Art of The Delaneys. It's at the very early stages at the moment, but it's great to be on the way - to somewhere and very very slowly ...

There's one meditation today:




Meditation 488
The bronze snake waits
to be broken
and its spirit released

to whisper
in the ears of men
its ancient story again.


And the Sunday haiku is:

May I always dwell
in that deep silence before
the music begins.


Life News:

Today I am still in recovery from spending the day in London with Mother yesterday and will no doubt continue to be in recovery for several more days to come - in the end it was actually surprisingly enjoyable but as always very full-on and insanely intensive. Much like being put through a mangle at very fast speeds over and over again. Hmm, does that description actually fit me? Very possibly ... K is keeping sensibly quiet. Anyway, my eyes are now permanently wide and my hair standing on end - or would be if brushes and exhaustion hadn't been invented. During the day, Mother and I managed to do battle with the Tube which failed constantly to understand the validity of tickets from Essex, we shopped in John Lewis (I spent her vouchers on things for me but gave her the money for them as even I am not that mean!), had lunch in the National Gallery cafe, wandered round the National Gallery and had the best seats in the house for the very wonderful Mamma Mia at the Prince of Wales Theatre. So I think I'm safe in saying she thoroughly enjoyed her 80th birthday Mother-and-Daughter experience. I may even have those elusive Daughter Points, at least for a while ... You never know. Roll on the 90th is what I say, hey ho ... The utterly fabulous thing however was when I finally returned, bloodied and fairly bowed, to Guildford Station, K was waiting for me at the exit carrying a huge bunch of flowers and a hip-flask of almost pure gin. How I needed both! K's first words of greeting: was she still alive when you put her on the train?... Anyway, I drained the gin before we'd got fully out of the station concourse and had another large one (as it were) the moment I took my coat off at home. What a super-hero indeed.

Sad to say though, K is at work today sorting out the IT system ready for tomorrow so a super-hero's work is never done, really. In his absence, I attempted to go to church and be holy, but it was obviously not in the universal plan as the car wouldn't start, so I had to ring the RAC man to come and sort it out. Which they did very efficiently, I must say, but not in time for me to be holy. When I explained this to K when he rang from work, he asked if I wanted to confess my sins to him instead, but I fear he doesn't have enough time in his working day to hear them, alas. Not if he wants to mend the IT system as well.

The great news of the day and my definitive grand finale is that our silver birch sapling now has six twigs and three buds on it. Spring must be well on the way to being sprung at last, hurrah. Nature is indeed a marvellous thing.

Anne Brooke

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