ANITA BIRT - WEAVER OF TALES

Seems a long time since I last blogged. I wanted to find people interested in the topic of aging. It happens to all of us, kings, queens. dukes and duchesses. You can let a few wrinkles bother you or make more by laughing at yourself. We do have choices. We can be sad or happy. Depressed or  optimistic. It's about dealing with life and how to live it.

Comments. Please.

Depressing article in The times Colonist, our Vancouver Island Newspaper. "SENIORS' HIDDEN DISEASE: DEPRESSION." Suicide among older men is not uncommon. Loneliness is a big issue. "Get out more." Easier said than done if you're basically a shy person who finds it hard to make friends or to mix in a group at a retirement residence. So much depends on your basic personality. And there may be financial difficulties and no way of earning extra money.

We hear so much about thinking ahead to retirement and making sure you'll have enough money to live comfortably. May not luxuriously but comfy.

Because I'm basically an optimistic person I find it difficult to get into the mind of someone how sees black when I see white or red or blue. I had lunch recently with an acquaintance who told me she was depressed, had been since her husband died two years ago. Our lives are never perfect. Loved ones die. How to get over the loss? Make a decision to do so.

Recovering from a devastating loss, the death of a child, for instance, isn't easy, but has to be done or stay stuck in the grief. And what is the point of that? Someone please tell me.

Enough of that. Sort it out and send a comment. Is there one single living soul out there who might come across my blog and comment, good or bad.

Could not walk this morning, strong wind and white caps on the sea . It's after two o'clock and I've lost the desire to put on my walking shoes, put on my coat and cap, grab my walking stick and take off. I walked the halls of the building where I live, that has to do for Sunday, March 30, 2014.

Buy my books.  A VERY DIFFICULT MAN.  ISABELLE'S DIARY.  ISABELLE'S STORY.  RING AROUND THE MOON.  TOO YOUNG TO DIE. Every story is different. Enjoy

Ania
www.anitabirt.com

ANITA BIRT - WEAVER OF TALES

Aging. I am aging too fast. Soon I'll be falling over the edge into immortality. Where there are no computers. No tired brain. Just me tuning my harp and singing loud and long.

Aging. A new movie called, Le Week-End. "Hard-headed look at 30-year marriage earns rave reviews." Here's a quote from the news paper article from the movie director, Roger Michell.
"I think old people are getting younger and old people have more time on their hands than they used..." 

Old people as described in the film are more ambitious for their lives. They want a third act in their lives, which they can now have."

My third act is to continue writing as long as the spirit moves me and fresh ideas spring to life in the stories I'm writing. I am blessed with good health now. I am blessed with a loving family. I  take long walks.

Now if I get my Ghost Writer Mystery e-published I will be renewed and will take some time off waiting for sales. If anyone is out there, watch for my news. I'll puts news on my Blog and on my Twitter account.

To go back to the beginning. If I sing loud and long the angels may beat their wings at me to shut me up.

 In the meantime, continue buying my books. I do love those small royalty cheques. (English spelling) that come in once a month.

A VERY DIFFICULT MAN.  ISABELLE'S DIARY.  ISABELLE'S STORY. RING AROUND THE MOON. TOO YOUNG TO DIE.

Enjoy.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com

ANITA BIRT - WEAVER OF TALES

I am losing my grip on reality trying to down load my mystery novel to Smashwords.Inc.

Just one damned thing after another and I'm about ready to pitch in the towel and go to Amazon.com with my handsome book cover and let them have my manuscript to do with what they will.

That's my miserable rant for to-day. After playing Duplicate Bridge yesterday evening I watched the news at nine o'clock. Suddenly rain is bashing against my front window. I get up to look out. There's a roaring gale blowing. More winter type storm than spring. I wake up this morning and all is calm and peaceful. Where did such a sudden storm come from? We are having weird weather.

But my family living in the Toronto area are having much much worse. Warm spring temperatures have not arrived, instead it's -13 at night!  I wonder if the Arctic ice is freezing? Or is the cold sitting on southern Canada and the northern United States?

Oops.I am supposed to be concentrating on AGING in my blog to lure interested thinkers. As I mentioned earlier, life is a terminal illness. Forget calling living an illness. Life terminates whether we like it or not. The best we can do is the "best we can do." Exercise if  you can. Laugh as often as you can. Smile at strangers. Some will smile back. Others might not. Too bad for them. A smile is like a loving pat on the back. Read a lot if you like to and your eyes are up to the task.

I read three newspapers a day - skim bits and pieces, of course. But the news is so bad. The mud slide in Washington State is a horror story and it's not over yet. I feel for the men and women digging through the mud and debris.

Then there's the missing plane and the search for it in the Indian Ocean. And the Russians playing hard ball in the Crimea and so on and so on.

My son just phoned. He calls every day. Such a lovely man. All the men in my family are loving. So on that happy note I shall go somewhere.

Remember to buy my books. A VERY DIFFICULT MAN.  ISABELLE'S DIARY.  ISABELLE'S STORY.  RING AROUND THE MOON.  TOO YOUNG TO DIE.

Go to my website to read reviews. www.anitabirt.com

Anita

ANITA BIRT - WEAVER OF TALES

Life can be difficult. I wrote a long and interesting Blog about Happiness. The health benefits of smiling. About "High energy is usually a sign of very healthy mitochondria." inherited from mother. I've been  high energy person all my life, even now as grow very old, my energy level is reasonably high - it's also important to exercise. That is why I take long walks.

I wrote abo9ut toilets, fancy new ones that washes from behind and from the front. Better rmodels allows for temperature control, direction and pressure control, retractable spritzer wands and automatic driers as well. No more toilet paper. Imagine. I really think I'd  do without "spritzer wands." Imagine one of them losing control and waving madly around the basthroom.

I'm sad about losing my last blog. Can't think what I pressed that wiped it clean off the map. I'm away to think about having wine with my dinner. Comforting. Don't  you agree?

Anita
www.anitabirt.com

ANITA BIRT - WEAVER OF TALES

HAPPINESS. What is it? Who has it? How do you find it?

Think of Happiness as a secret. Hidden in a dark woods. If you're afraid of the dark  close your eyes then open them wide. Look around you. What do you see? People enjoying themselves and ...

Where are you in this picture? Hiding out. Afraid to let others see you. It's a mind game you're playing. Other people don't care a hoot about the game. You can change the rules so you win or you can stay in the dark place.

Truly. Take a risk. Smile at the first person you see to-day. It's good for your lips to smile. Try it. Now.

And that's my lecture for to-day. I ventured downtown this morning - easy to do in Victoria. Easy to park. Easy to find what I want. I found everyone helpful. I thanked them.

I Tweet now and find it difficult to do. It's not like my Blog where I can meander hither and yon. It's a new way of communicating and I'm not sure what I'm communicating and to whom.

But what the hell, it's like this Blog where no one comments. Or expresses a tiny bit of interest. Tomorrow I may Blog about what it feels like to grow old. I'm there. So what is it like?

My books are out there in e-format and trade paper back. A VERY DIFFICULT MAN. ISABELLE'S DIARY. ISABELLE'S STORY. RING AROUND THE MOON. TOO YOUNG TO DIE.

A Very Difficult Man is a historical romance set in England, 1854. 
Isabelle's Diary is a contemporary romance with a mystery or is it a Ghost?
Isabelle's Story. Takes place in England and Wales, 1899. Did he abandon her after their lovemaking?
Ring Around the Moon. A time travel with a difference. He comes from two hundred years in the past to the present time. Problems mount when he falls in love with an American visiting Cornwall.
TooYoung To Die a contemporary murder/mystery. The heroine has a three month old baby to look after and escapes from murderous thugs in the dead of night into the dark forest deep in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. Baby in her arms she stumbles on until ...

Buy my books and enjoy good reads.

www.anitabirt.com

ANITA BIRT - WEAVER OF TALES

Life is full of surprises. I copied my St.Patrick Ode to my blog. It used all the space and there was nowhere for me to comment. I hope someone enjoyed reading it. I enjoyed writing it. Now to serious business. My blog is a complete failure because it wanders all over the place. I do not have a theme. Have I some expertise about some thing I could build on? Like. How to grow old gracefully or not as the case may be. How to continue writing as I grow older and older? Those are the two themes that come to mind.

Aging is a fact of life. Life is a terminal illness. How to make those last years memorable or interesting not just for me but for others growing old. The trouble is I can speak only for myself. I can't speak for someone wrestling with painful arthritis, for instance. Or having to give up walking unaided. Or how to remain reasonably cheerful when you are stuck in a wheel chair for ever and ever.

I am an optimistic soul most of the time unless something makes me temporarily grumpy. So how does someone face the final years of life with a negative attitude? Getting out of bed in the morning is an effort and hardly worth doing at all because the day ahead is not every interesting.

Oh dear, this sounds so dull. Getting old, as I said above, is a fact of life. So how does one greet each day? Try a smile. I'm not kidding. If you can, stand up straight arms above your head and smile. Do this a few times and I guarantee you'll feel better.

If you can't stand up straight (you're in a walker for instance) sit up as best you can. Raise your arms as high as you can. Smile. Your can add to the smile by saying. "I'm not perfect but I'm okay."

Do you have friends? Friends are important to me as I grow older. With whom do you share laughs? Or tell jokes.

Do you play any games? Bridge. Scrabble. Chess. Something to tease your brain into thinking and paying attention.

That is it for to-day. Next blog will focus on what makes you happy? If no one comments I'll figure no one cares about happiness. So I shall care  about myself and bore you to tears. Are you buying my books?  A VERY DIFFICULT MAN. ISABELLE'S DIARY. ISABELLE'S STORY. RING AROUND THE MOON. TOO YOUNG TO DIE. There's a book to suit every taste. Dip in. Try one or two.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com

ANITA BIRT - WEAVER OF TALES

ODE TO St. Patrick

By Anita Birt

There once was a boy named Patrick

Who lived most of his life in an attic.

On a bright summer day

He went out to play

Saw a snake in the grass and smashed it.

Patrick puffed up his chest

And said loud and clear

“I’ll kill all the snakes in less than a year.”

He set out on his task

With a bat and an axe

And killed all the snakes

Without shedding a tear.

While he was away for a year and a day

The slugs and the snails and various bugs

Ate up the crops

With nothing to stop them.

“Bring back the snakes,” hungry people cried

“We need potatoes to bake potato pies.”

They chased Patrick back to his home in the attic

Where he sat with his head in his hands.

“I’ll do better next time,”

He said to himself.

“I’ll pray for the people.

I’ll build a church with a steeple

And God will take care of the rest.”

Moral: Beware of Unintended Consequences.

ANITA BIRT - WEAVER OF TALES

Did anyone miss me? My computer was away being serviced. Altogether I had no computer for ten days. I felt as if I'd lost part of an arm or half a foot. What to do with spare time? I read. I thought about "Phyllis." the name of a strange book I'm writing. Also about "Norah," next in the Ghost Writer Series. But until I'm sitting at my computer with the story in front of me, my creative brain turns off.

Sort of like the missing aircraft when someone, (one of the pilots) turned off all the communication equipment. Now I'm back I shall get to work. But - The Ghost Writer Mystery manuscript is formatted and read for uploading to Smashwords. Big Sigh. I don't know how to do that.

Our resident librarian asked us to write a limerick about St. Patrick, on March 17th.  I wrote a limerick and then went on writing, in rhyming lines about the good saint. He made a mistake and hunger stalked the land. It was fun to write. I shall copy it on my next blog.

I'm on Twitter now and am now sure how to Tweet and what to Tweet about that might bevaguely interesting to another Tweeter..

Spring is not doing it's springy thing on Vancouver Island. Yes, we have daffodils blooming in fields and on hillsides. but we need sun and a rise in temperature. We are better off than my family who live in the Toronto area. It's been a cold, cold winter with no relief in sight. Niagara Falls is mostly frozen! Canadians can tough out the wretched cold but how about giving us a break, weather god.

I have to Tweet!!!

Anita Birt,
www.anitabirt.com

ANITA BIRT - WEAVER OF TALES

Just look at the date. My last post was back in February. I do have an excuse. I am trying, without success, to up-load my book, The Ghost Writer Mystery, to Smashwords. They're supposed to be the place to go toget extensive marketing of e-books. I am hitting my poor head against a wall day after day. I write long and short blurbs to go to retailers with my book. I write my profile. I price my book. I do everything except sing and dance and plead for assistance. And I need an ISBN.

I'm going to type the link to my cover and see if it works. If it does please let me know ASAP. Here it is:  theghostwritermystery_cover1.jpg  Try it on Google, it might work there. I'd better test it.

The daffodils are blooming along the edge of a stand of bushes and tress across the road. They propagate and more and more appear every year. The flowering trees lining our streets are all pink and pretty. As the weeks go by different trees bloom until May when the dark pink flowers appear.

Daylight Saving Time starts on March 9. Spring your clocks forward one hour.  Why can't we stay on Standard Time all year round?

Must go and go head to head with Smashwords for a half hour or so. I'm sick of them. I'm sick of trying.

There, I got that off my chest. I'd make a cup of tea but I don't have any milk and I like milk in my tea. I'll have wine with my dinner this evening and smile, as I'm doing now.

Keep buying my romance novels. They are never out-of-date. A VERY DIFFICULT MAN, ISABELLE'S DIARY.  ISABELLE'S STORY.  RING AROUND THE MOON.  TOO YOUNG TO DIE.  The two Isabelle stories are published together in a trade paperback titled. ISABELLE. A super gift for a reader in your life or for yourself. Indulge.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com