Anita Birt's Note Book

This is a good night to stay home and read a book or watch an old movie (if you are older than  seventy or eighty!)

A howling wind is beating against my window and is threatening to bring down trees and cancel ferry sailings and whatever other nasty things this kind of storm brings. My bridge game was cancelled this evening because one of the players thought it best to stay home.

I am reading a book titled, "How to talk about books you haven't read." Very enriching. There are thousands of books I shall never live long enough to read so I shall pretend to have read "War and Peace," or "The Origin of The Species," etc.

I was playing Scrabble with friends this afternoon and put in the word, "eft," of which they had not heard and I couldn't remember the meaning but looked it up in my Oxford dictionary after they left. An "eft,"is a newt of some kind and if you happen to have copy of "Now We are Six,"by A.A Milne, you will find a lovely poem called "Down By The Pond," Second verse.

 " No. I'm not, I'm newting." Don't cough, anybody, don't come by! Any kind of noise makes a newt feel shy..." and on it goes.

 I shall now watch The Baltimore Ravens play against Pittsburgh.  After reading The Blind Side  by Michael Lewis, I like to watch big No. 74, Michael Oher play left tackle for the Ravens. I've talked about the book in a previous blog. You don't have to like or watch football to enjoy the book. It's a great human interest story that touches the heart. It touched mine.

Back to reading "The Soucouyant," Or "Sharp's Devil," or watching the news. There are peace overtures in the escalating violence between Israel and The Hamas. Let's hope peace will break out. There is enough killing going on in Syria. What a horror story.

Pick up a copy of my romantic suspense novel, TOO YOUNG TO DIE  and enjoy a page turner. My book is available as an e-book and in trade paperback.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com

Anita Birt';s Note Book

Buy it as a paperback book or read it on your e-reader, "In The Orchard, The Swallows," by Peter Hobbs. It is a beautifully written meditation on Love, Loss and the Joy of remembering.

I read it on my Kindle but have ordered a paperback copy so I can re-read it and mark places that touched my heart. It is set in Pakistan where jailed prisoners are brutally beaten and tortured yet one survived by remembering his beloved and has written his story of survival.

Another book I am ordering is, "The Annotated Archy and Mehitabel," by Don Marquis. I have a copy and want one for a friend who is an Archy fan. How can you not enjoy Archy, a cockroach, who was once a verse libre poet in a previous life? You can find more about Archy and Mehitabel on the Internet but the book is lots more fun and has gems of wisdom about ethics and morality. For instance, Archy would never drop into a blind man's soup for a bite to eat.

I hope you are buying my books and making me smile. Check my web site: www.anitabirt.com

Bye for now,
Anita

Anita Birt's Note Book

Keeping you informed of happenings out here on the west coast is important. A cougar has been sighted about one and half kilometres from where I live. A sign has been posted at the front door of the building, "Be cautious if venturing out." I guess so!

There are hundreds of deer roaming wild in Victoria so this cougar may be an advance scout sent to have a look at the territory. If cougars move in, God help us, there will be a bloody slaughter of bucks, does and fawns.

We are enjoying very, mild sunny weather for this time of year and other parts of Canada are buried in snow - Edmonton, for instance.

 And that is all for tonight I have a couple of books on the go and must see what is happening.

My contemporary romance, Isabelle's Diary, is a ghost story (or is it?) and there are twists and turns until the end.  My story is set in Wales and Wales is known for its tales of ghostly moors and the like.

Anita
 www.anitabirt.com

Anita Birt's Note Book

"Sex and Violence Down The Mine." Oh goodness me, have you heard or read the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore story of Sex and Violence Down The Mine? Google it and start laughing. I hope the "Sex and Violence" words are not covered by copyright or I might end up in the poor house or jail or on Devil''s Island. Does it still exist?

In the meantime the fog horn has been blowing off and on all day. The weather is very mild and fog rolls in and out. It's a comforting sound. However, I assume all boats have GPS and should know where they are and where other ships/boats are. I don;t trust GPS it's not fail-safe and can take you in a round about way to wherever you are going. I'd rather trust a road map.

Read my books and let me know how you like (or dislike them) God help me, I'm dwelling on the past and should now creating new words on page after page. My books are still well written with great plots with twists and turns. You will enjoy reading one or all five of them.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com

Anita Birt's Note Book

Tonight in Canada we turn our clocks back - except in Saskatchewan where they remain on Standard Time year round. They don't "leap forward' in spring. Something to do with milking cows or digging potash or something. There's a lot of potash in the province.

In the meantime, I am in a quandary, should I or shouldn't I write a book, (fiction, of course) titled "Sex and Violence in an Old Folks' Home. " On second thoughts, I can't imagine a lot of sex and  violence of interest to the aged among us. I mean whose got the energy? But it would give the middle aged among us something to look forward to when they reach those golden years so beloved of those who are young and haven't a clue about getting old. Sex and Violence are featured in hundreds of movie. Why not give the old folks a break?

So what do you think? Pursue the topic or let it lie fallow until something more interesting floats into my brain.

In the meantime, my books are waiting to be read.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com