What’s more exciting than winning a 2-hour consultation with Build the Fort author Chris Heivly? Actually having my consultation with him, at his headquarters on W. Main Street in Durham! That’s what.
Always aware of my surroundings, I was especially delighted in the set-up laid out before me. It is like a bee hive with all the different pockets of work spaces filled and everyone in them happily busy at work. This is a cheerful place, full of bright colors that instill confidence at first glance. It’s a place where dreams are confided and fulfilled. I’ve read the book (review posted already) loved it and now I am here to fill in the blank spaces. That’s with Chris’ guidance, of course.
The time has come to branch out, to make a plan to learn what avenues I need to travel in order to offer my talents and services to those who will benefit from them on a business level. I’ve been volunteering for many, many years now and it’s time to spread my wings and fly.
Chris is fabulous! He’s easy to talk to, immediately understands all my inadequate feelings of not knowing, how and where, to proceed next. We talked with comfort like I’d known him since he was born. That is very cool. He was also very helpful in getting me on my feet. I came home with a notebook loaded with ideas and scribbles that will direct me with confidence. I’m ready to set out and set the world aglow!
Thanks to LISA HAGAN BOOKS! For this great opportunity in winning this champion of wins!
A bunch of thanks to Chris Heivly, instructing me on how to Build the Fort! I’m on my way!
Category Archives: books
SNOW & READING. . .
If you are planning to cozy up with a good book after a day of creating snow sculptures, here is a brief excerpt from THE AFTERNOON CROWD.
THE HORSEY SET
Arlene S. Bice © 2016.1.24.
they came with bruised, calloused hands coarser than sandpaper
to lift a shot of whiskey chased by a cold mug of beer, a reward
for hard work done out in the elements, thanks not given, except
what they gave themselves; not a lot of time to linger; even on
Christmas Day horses had regular schedules to keep and these
workers were there to keep ‘em
they came from all parts of the country, from Canada, and the
Caribbean, landed here in the center of New Jersey, to work on
one particular horse farm or another; how did they find us,
I wondered
some from the west or mid-west; wasn’t that a
reversal of history?
They came as owners
foremen
trainers
drivers
jockeys
walkers
water boys
stable hands
more on the list
of guys & gals
hard working
no shifting duties
either you were good
carrying your own weight or you were out
the owners came more often in the evening, for dinner
when the daytime bar folks did not; or they came for a
few celebratory drinks after the races were over
one trainer/owner
who I happened to like above others
usually a pleasant fellow
a common sense guy
never nasty or stupid
always came in alone;
this day he came in, dragging
he carried the look of the lonely on him
I knew he was married and I knew not happily
and I knew this day that his trouble was the
wife, not the horses;
a man has a certain look about him when it is
a woman that weighs on his mind; my heart
went out to him as my ears just listened, that
was all he wanted and couldn’t get anywhere
else to go along with his shot and beer
a year later, when he came in our positions were
reversed;
“good god, you look terrible!” he said, “what’s
happened to you?’ etc. etc. etc.
STEEPED IN TEA by Annelies Zijderveld BOOK REVIEW
THE VARIETY
I confess. I’m a tea drinker. I was brought up on tea with milk and sugar with my breakfasts in the wintertime. As an adult, coffee entered the picture, even espresso (Loved driving to Little Italy on Canal St., NYC in past years) until about ten years ago when I returned to my first love, tea. A small collection of quality tea pots, fine china tea cups, tea mugs with infuser, and tea cups that fit over top of one-person tea pots when not in use, sit on my cabinet shelf, in full view. I LOVE TEA.
Herb teas (tisanes) were unheard of in our household. We drank English Breakfast Tea. Period. No choices.
Steeped in Tea is where Annelies Zijderveld shares her knowledge of a variety of teas, shows us what they look like, where they grow, and informs us on how they can be used in cooking. I also love to cook, especially new, exciting ways, and she offers Mint Pea Soup for these biting-cold days, made with Moroccan mint, green tea and Lapsang Souchong Salt. Recipes for Cauliflower Steaks with Tea Umami Sauce, Chamomile Risotto with Currants, Jasmine Cacao Nib Meringues, and so much more. The color pictures are for drooling over, calling me to get into the kitchen and fire up the kettle.
This is a delightful book for anyone who enjoys tea, cooking the un-ordinary, or who would like to explore in an area they have never been before. It also makes a beautiful, everlasting gift.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR,Part 255.
Filed under book review, books, cookbooks, SPEAKEASY, tea,, tea,, Uncategorized
A Year of Summer Shadows by Alice Orr
Alice Orr was a workshop leader at the International Women Writers’ Guild when I attended annually for ten years. Her book No More Rejections was a fine non-fiction book that I offered to my writing groups. Now she has some top selling fiction under the heading of Romantic Suspense. These books are in a series settled in the North Country, a small town of Riverton.
After reading The Wrong Way Home it was only natural that I would want to follow up with Book 2, A Year of Summer Shadows. These are Alice Orr’s romantic suspense stories on the Kalli family in the North Country. The first book covered the romance of oldest brother Matt, Book 2 is all about Mark and Hailey.
Her childhood friend is in trouble. Even though they have been estranged for years, Hailey is there to help her. Mark comes back into the picture, yet he has no idea that Hailey wants him there. He, in turn thinks she despises him.
The mother in the Kalli family is wise in the way of womanhood as she looks out for her boys, welcomes their loves into her home and does her own to tighten family bonds. A good read for romantic suspense lovers.
Filed under book review, books
JERSEY BUZZ RADIO SHOW 920 AM
Doug Palmieri, owner of the Old Bordentown Bookshop at 200 Farnsworth Avenue, will be a guest on the Jersey Buzz Radio Show this week. He’ll be talking about ghosts and hauntings and the upcoming Annual Ghost Walk in Bordentown, NJ on Sunday, the 25 Oct. from 6 – 9 pm.
He will have copies of the new book by Arlene S. Bice, Living with Ghosts ($15)that include true stories of Bordentown, Burlington City, and Mercer County, all NJ. This is her latest book that brings you many new stories never told before, plus an update on the haunting of her former home in Bordentown.
Resident writer, Susan Von Dongan, holds a guest spot in the book with a personal paranormal story of her own.
Info from Downtown Bordentown Association: Hear true ghostly tales of Bordentown City on this one-hour guided walking tour of the colonial town’s historic district. From the “woman in white” to the haunted Clara Barton schoolhouse, this after-dark tour is sure to provide great stories, chills and fun! Appropriate for all ages.
Stories and routes change each year. Tours happen rain or shine – so come dressed for the weather.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $6 for children under 8. Advance ticketing strongly suggested. Ticket sales begin Oct. 3. Call The Old Book Shop at 609-324-9909 for info and tickets.
Filed under books, Bordentown, Ghost Walk, hauntings, living with ghosts
SAVE THE DATE! FRIDAY, 23 OCT. 7 – 9 BOOK READING/SIGNING of THE AFTERNOON CROWD at the American House Tavern * A Warren Artists’ Market Event
Warren Food Works 108 So. Main Str. Warrenton, NC252-257-1239.
In the worst of times, a barroom can be a dangerous place, in the best of times it can be fun, educational, and a good source of income. My few years tending bar at the American House Tavern, in the middle of horse country in the 70s, were the best of times. Some of the people I met became dear friends, some were dark horses, and some just had plain old good stories. I love a good story.
A tavern, with their daily regular customers and the newbies that walked in for the first time, is like a small neighborhood. You get to know some very well and others only their façade. But people reveal more than they realize when they are in public. Many stories didn’t get into the book. I’ll talk about a few of them.
Come out, bring your book to be signed, or you can purchase one for $10, or just come to hear the stories.
Filed under books, booksigning, historical taverns, Warren FoodWorks
Book reading/signing at the Vance Co. Genealogy Society, Henderson NC
Author Arlene Bice in Colonial garb.
Come out to hear the unprinted, inside story of The Afternoon Crowd at the American House Tavern program, written by Arlene S. Bice dressed in colonial garb. The program is hosted by the Vance County Genealogy Society during their monthly meeting on Monday, October 12, 2015 at 6:30 P.M. in the Farm Bureau room of the Perry Memorial Library in Henderson, NC.
This is a fun book as well as recording the history of the 70s, set in the middle of horse country. Bring in your book to be signed or purchase one there for $10. Please plan to attend this informative meeting. All VCGS meetings are open to the public.
Filed under American History, books, booksigning, historical taverns, Memoir
more on WRITING DOWN YOUR SOUL by Janet Conner
If you have been awake at all, you must have heard that writing is healing. You don’t have to be a writer, or English teacher, or a good speller, you just have to put your pen/pencil in hand and put it to the paper. No PC or Mac or word processor for this one. Paper & pen. That’s all. No one else is going to read or critique it. You can throw it away when you are finished if you like.
Why write? Because it works. More than the writing, being healing; Conner leads us to do the writing we need. She leads us to emotions even if we don’t know how to get into them, she does. Writing is visual-we see it on the page and what we are writing is pictured in our mind; auditory-we hear what we are saying as we write; and sensory-we feel the pen, the paper, the physical act of writing.
Writing is a mystical experience. Conner takes us into forgiving those who have cut us deeply. You know, the ones that left us scarred for life. The scars may be hidden from the public, but we know they are there. Plus, she shows us why we must forgive, how we benefit by this act as well as the person who hurt you. Conner is extremely honest in her writing, allowing her anguish to fall onto the pages. She holds nothing back. Compassion comes out of that.
If I haven’t convinced you yet, I may do another post on this book. That’s how important I believe it is, to spread the word. It’s my way of helping someone as I have been helped. I uncovered events that I had thought I’d forgotten-thought I’d healed. Surprise! I had just buried them. There is a big difference.
I have had miracles to prove it.
Filed under book review, books, First Friday Poetry Night
WRITING DOWN YOUR SOUL by Janet Conner
This book came to me highly recommended. It is so much more than what I expected. Author Janet Conner says: Show up. Open up. Listen up. & Follow up. Miracles will happen. I can attest to that.
Too often, I have read books without doing the writing exercises. Not so with this one. This time I did all the writing exercises requested. I even bought the companion workbook. That’s something else I don’t usually do, thinking that a ruled notebook is sufficient. It may be, if your budget is pinching you. But the workbook offers so much more and it will continue to offer more as I return to it for the quotes, thoughts, and suggestions that will continue to inspire me even now that I have finished the book awhile ago.
This time, I wanted to see if it really makes a difference; if completing the writing exercises in the book is that wee bit extra that makes a giant difference. IT DOES.
Janet Conner put me in touch with my spirit guides. I’ve known for a long time that we all have spirit guides and angels that hang around us, keeping an eye on us and getting us out of trouble from time to time. I didn’t know that they were waiting around for us to actually ask them for help! What a difference that makes!
Thanks to Janet, I found my guide, Timothy who said to me, “It’s about time. I get bored with nothing to do. I cannot do things for you unless you do your job of ASKING for guidance, help, and/or answers.”
Whoa! I never knew that I could actually talk to my guides and get actual answers from them!
There is so much more that I want to tell you about this book. So I am going to end this post and write more in the next post.
A word to the wise, first; when you buy the book be prepared to write on the pages! Yes, this is something else I never allowed myself to do. I’ll be returning to this book over and over again. My writing in the margins, underlining, drawing little attention-getting icons and doodles, are an important part of the education of me, Arlene. WOW!
Filed under book review, books
JENNY GORDON GRAY BOOK READING/SIGNING FOR SIR ARCHY
The Warren Artists’ Market is hosting a Book Reading/Signing on Thursday, May 28, at the Warren FoodWorks, with Jenny Gordon Gray featuring her first book Sir Archy. Her book is about horses, in particular about the greatest sire the USA has ever known. Sir Archy was born as Robert Burns in 1805. One partner is his ownership, Col. John Tayloe III, changed his name to Sir Archy. These were the days when horse racing was for the gentry only and races would commonly last for four miles. It wasn’t long before no one would race their thoroughbred against him.
It was William Ransom Johnson who brought Sir Archy to Warren County, North Carolina in 1808. That’s when Sir Archy’s fame would become even more so; that’s when, in 1810, he became a stud horse. He was farmed out from one place to another siring more than 400 winners. His bloodline includes such champions in the Racing Hall of Fame as Man O’ War, Seabiscuit, Native Dancer, Secretariat, and Seattle Slew. While Ms. Gray is not into thoroughbred racing, she does own a descendant of Sir Archy and does dressage riding
The public is invited..
Filed under American History, books, booksigning, Warren FoodWorks
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