Tuesday Tunes—The Incomparable Franz Joseph Haydn

Tuesday Tunes—The Incomparable Franz Joseph Haydn

Today I want to explore popular music in Jane Austen’s time, specifically Franz Haydn, the composer often referred to as “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet”. He was born in 1732 to a wheelright and a former palace cook. Although neither could read music, his father was an enthusiastic street musician who taught himself to play the harp. In later years Haydn said his family was extremely musical and frequently sang together and with their friends…

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Funny Friday – A Catastrophe

Funny Friday – A Catastrophe

Today is Funny Friday! Today, I’m going to give a story from my life. There is an element of sorrow to it, but the humor involved made what was a sorrowful situation much more bearable. I once had a black-and-white cat named Minnie. Some family friends brought her to my house as a kitten when I was six. I believe she was part of a litter of farm cats that they were trying to get rid of. Naturally, I begged…

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A Glimmer of Gold – Self Publishing

A Glimmer of Gold – Self Publishing

I have been a self publisher my entire writing career. It started with my first release back in 2013, and snowballed from there, with a few releases here and there, what I could fit around my day job, until finally I decided to leave that job and become a full time writer. Only once did I submit to a publisher, and that was not accepted. The only things I have ever done that were not self published were audiobooks, which…

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Trivia Thursday-The Dark Side of the Moon

Trivia Thursday-The Dark Side of the Moon

As I have said before, I’m not a huge fan of current musical trends. Call me old and crotchety, but I prefer music with some depth to it and, as far as I’m concerned, there is not much of that to be found today, in any  genre. So why not explore one of the greatest and most influential recordings of all time? I’m referring, of course, to Pink Floyd’s 1973 release, “The Dark Side of the Moon”. Rather than boring…

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What’s Up Wednesday – Plugging Away

What’s Up Wednesday – Plugging Away

Though my brother spoke of the coming of spring, I have not seen anything of it yet. We are still cold and we are getting enough snow to bury us until June, as this photo from my front window will attest. As I spoke at some length about this in my last post, I will not bore you any further. But you can likely tell by my choice of image that I am eager to leave the winter behind and…

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Spring, glorious Spring!

Spring, glorious Spring!

Welcome to my favorite season, which this year begins March 20. Anyone who knows me is aware of my dislike, bordering on hatred, for winter.  Those months are depressing, with their colder temperatures and limited sunlight, but I think it’s the snow  that bothers me the most, probably because it needs the cold to exist. I’ve often said I might enjoy playing in the stuff if I could do it at 70° or 80° outside (that’s 21° or 27° Celsius)….

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A Glimmer of Gold – Writing

A Glimmer of Gold – Writing

Today, I’m supposed to do a glimmer-of-gold post. Looking back, I have already done one on kids, so I had to search for a different topic. I decided to go with writing! Writing is like a moving target. When you write something that you think is pretty good, you feel proud, right? Well, then you come back years later to it with the intent to make a few touch-ups here and there, and you end up completely rewriting each paragraph….

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Thursday Musings

Thursday Musings

Anyone who knows me well understands that I do not like winter. When I lived in Japan, people would not understand when I told them, given they knew I was from Canada. Being from Canada is exactly what has made me so contemptuous of the colder months. There are some definite benefits to living in a colder climate, such as fewer venomous creatures, less extreme storms and the like, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Thus, you will…

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Tuesday Tunes – From This Moment On

Tuesday Tunes – From This Moment On

For today’s Tuesday Tunes post, I decided to do a song that had romance. I further decided I wanted it to be a duet. I mentioned the notion to my husband, who immediately suggested “From This Moment On” by Shania Twain and Bryan White. We played that song at our wedding, so it has been special to us for a long time. I love duets in general, and this country pop song is the perfect one to use for weddings….

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Trivia Thursday – Echidna

Trivia Thursday – Echidna

For my Trivia Thursday post, I asked my eldest child what animal had a lot of interesting trivia concerning it. She suggested the echidna, and I thought that sounded like a good idea. So here are some fun echidna facts! There are only five mammals in the world that lay eggs (A/K/A monotremes), and those include four species of echidna and the platypus. Echidnas are named after a figure in Greek mythology who was half-woman and half-snake. (There is some…

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