Category Archives: writing

Holy Christmas Spirit Batman!!

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I initiated a Toy Drive at the Lodge where I work and this is the first year I have taken on such an enterprise.  Shamrock Lodge agreed to donate an off-season weekend for two as our way of saying thank you for donating to our toy drive.  Family names who have donated to our cause will be entered for a chance to win and a name will be drawn on December 21st.

The first picture is round one of the toy drive which was overwhelming in itself.  We delivered the first round of toys to the OPP Toy Drive last Saturday and made Natalie, the OPP officer, a bit weepy.

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Today I went shopping once again with the generous donations that continue to come in from all areas of our lives.  Friends, family, hotel guests and local residents have gone above and beyond to help us with our toy drive and make sure every child has something under the tree this year.

The next picture is only the beginning of round two.  We are still collecting for another week and I am already excited about donning the Elf hat again and delivering the toys to their rightful destination so they can find their way into the hands and heart of a child.

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I will definitely be making this an annual event!!  Have a great weekend everyone and when you are out shopping, be sure to pick up that one extra toy and donate it to a cause that wants every kid to have a Christmas!!

Let your heart be light

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If there is one thing the holidays should teach us, it’s to let our worries go.  It may only be for a few precious days while we focus on the things that are truly important but if we can embrace that serene feeling while it is in our presence perhaps we can carry that feeling within us for an extended period of time and not have it fizzle out with the digestion of all that turkey!

Every year it seems stress increases exponentially around the Christmas holidays.  The days that we get a reprieve from work are meant to be our “down time” but the pressure and time constraints of creating our own Hallmark  holiday are overwhelming.  The influx of family from all parts of the globe, the search and rescue mission for the perfect Christmas gifts and the attempts to give Martha Stewart a run for her money at the dinner table all compound to make the stress level reach its maximum capacity.

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I had the Christmas Carols gently soothing my mood the other day and I took a moment to really listen and absorb the words.  “Have yourself a Merry little Christmas,  let your heart be light”.   That was an “a-ha” moment as Oprah would say.  That simple string of words had such a profound affect on me and I realized that it doesn’t matter if the presents I wrap look like my dog wrapped them.  Nobody is going to care if I spend Christmas day in my pajamas and my hair looks like I stuck my finger in an  electric outlet.  The holidays are for just being, not for being perfect.

Take a moment to ask yourself what the holidays really mean to you.  Is your definition of Christmas a perfectly wrapped gift?  Or is it the precious moments when you share a laugh or a hug?  Let your heart be light and enjoy what the holiday is really meant to represent.  If you worry too much about the perfection of the celebration you’ll miss the beauty of the holiday.

Soul To Body – A book review

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I love to read.  I don’t make as much time for it as I would like because I am consumed with writing, but when I do ignore the incongruously fueled ideas that seep into my conscious hours I love to immerse myself in the written expression of others as consumed by words as I am.  I have been fortunate to meet many talented writers and genuinely nice people on this blog site.  And I also consider myself lucky to have read some of their published works.

I have written my amateur review on Amazon and wanted to share it with you in hopes that you would read the books written by this talented author, Lance Burson from My Blog Can Beat Up Your Blog.

Let me start this review by saying I began reading this book one evening after work and continued reading until it was finished.  I couldn’t put it down.

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Soul to Body is a compelling tale of love, loss and recovery.  Lance takes us on a journey through a memory portal and back as a man struggles with losing his wife and coping with raising a daughter while finding the strength to move forward.  Thoughts of his past sprinkle his present with poignant memories of his wife and he struggles to carve a path to the future that will please, not only himself but, his daughter and extended family.

It is a well constructed story of our connections to those closest to us and feeling lost within ourselves.  The characters Lance has created go beyond a mere story line and, as you delve further into the book, you become emotionally invested in the outcome of their journey.

If you haven’t already downloaded your copy, I highly recommend it!

Did you hear what I hear?

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So, the beginning of the subject line is a slight deviation from a Christmas song…but it is appropriate on more than one level.  For those of you who love Romantic Mondays as much as I do, I am channeling my inner high school geek and perpetuating a rumor that has piqued my curiosity.

Romantic Monday will breathe life once again this coming Monday, December 16th, or so I have heard and am hoping.  For those of you acquainted with this special day, I hope the holiday romantic in you will join me in making sure this rumor comes to life!  Be sure to stalk Edward Hotspur and let’s make this rumor a reality.

Merry Romancemas!!

I’ve been bitten

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The Christmas spirit bug has ruthlessly stalked me and finally dug its long incisors into my flesh.  I feel like the Grinch after his “A-Ha” moment and my heart has grown three sizes and then some.

As you may have read in an earlier post, we came up with the idea to do the first ever toy drive at Shamrock Lodge this year and the response has been overwhelming, to say the least.  Not just toys have entered our Muskoka lodge, but monetary donations have been flowing in from all over the map.

I had the fun of shopping on Thursday at our local toy store where ALL toys are 50% off – so not only did we get to buy toys for the kids, we got twice the number of toys than originally anticipated!  Win, win.

Today is the day we deliver the first round of toys to the OPP Toy Drive and make what will be the first of two contributions this year.  The money is still coming in and people have until the 20th to drop off toys to the lodge.

I hope this bug bites me every year!

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Waterfall, what? – Trifextra challenge

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The basin at the bottom of the waterfall would always dazzle my reality and expand my myopic view of what beauty can truly look like.  The naked man swimming there didn’t hurt either.

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(image credit: hunkdujour.com)

And on again to the weekend Trifextra Challenge:  On to the weekend prompt. This weekend we’re asking you to add thirty of your own words to the following three words for a total of thirty-three. Good luck!

myopic
dazzle
basin

– See more at: http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/#sthash.xTpk2xs6.dpuf

100 Word Song – I nearly lost you

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You left so quickly.  I didn’t have time to say goodbye and, in my misery and grief, I nearly lost you.  But your voice permeates my dreams.  The sound of your laughter echoes in my memory.  Those idiosyncracies that used to wear thin are now the moments I cherish the most.

A rider may have fallen, but the ghost of you still navigates those winding curves in my memory.  You will never cease to exist and, although I may have thought you were gone, you will always live on because I choose to remember you.

I hear your distant cry.

~

Written for the 100 Word Song Challenge – one of my new favorite challenges.  If you haven’t tried this yet, I thoroughly recommend it!!

The real me

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If you want to know the real me, the true essence of my being, read my words.  I live in a world of people.  I engage with people every day of my life and I present a mere part of myself but, if you want to know me to the core of my vitality, read the words that I have written.  Those words are me.  Those idioms and poems somehow define me by using words I could never use on a daily basis.  Those phrases and ideas bring more of me to the surface than simply seeing me in three dimension.   Those words are my truth.

I connect with people emotionally and physically but, on a much deeper level, I spiritually connect with words.  Their subtle nuances paralyze me.  Their deep meanings leave scars that carve a map of my journey.  Their richness fills me and leaves me satiated.  I could be poor in monetary means the rest of my days but I will be rich if I still have words.

I am a slave to my passion, a victim of the alphabet that forms phrases in my mind.  Words wake me from slumber and force themselves into my conscious thought.  They wrap around me, enlivening me with their embrace.  They saturate the white noise in my brain.

Words will always bring the real me to the surface.

Karma – Trifecta Challenge

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Karma.

Fickle mistress.

Rewarding good deeds

and laying in wait to punish evil.

Just desserts served with panache

and a side of impartiality.

A vibration of kismet.

You found me sooner than anticipated.

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Written for the weekend Trifecta Challenge: On to the quick and dirty Trifextra.  This weekend we are assuming that many of you are slogging your way through leftovers and family bickering (or is that just us?) and thus we’re going way easy on you.  This weekend we are asking for a 33-word free write.  Give us whatever you’ve got. – See more at: http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/#sthash.p013Fbnp.dpuf

(image credit: getinvolved.ca)

Tomorrow’s Outlines

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This is my first poetry duet with Hastywords and hopefully not my last.  She is truly a talented writer and beautiful person.  I’m sure you’ve already clicked follow on her blog, but if you haven’t you are missing out!

~

I found myself wandering aimless

between several different worlds,

in and out like a homeless ghost

my mind splitting, fracturing

and my perspective splintering

Lost in a cavern of realities

whispers of promise echoing

taunting, just out of reach

unsure of which path to choose

I float in a sea of uncertainty

bleeding colors

The colors of my past are bleeding

hiding lessons learned in a foggy gray

feelings and emotions are muddled

until I feel I may drown, breathless

inside all my lost yesterdays

The canvas of my life stares blankly

looking back at me with ambivalence

urging me to lift my head

beckoning me to not just tread water

but to thrive and embrace what lies beyond

Before despair takes me asunder

I focus only on paths ahead, determined

blurry lines begin to sharpen, harden

into black and white, new outlines

new paths, waiting to be colored in

~

(image credit: Stina Persson)