Creating Sparks and Sentences - and Happily Ever Afters

With a Sixties Queen I'm back in the land of Aus but I’m not the same person I was when I left. I had setbacks and delays before our holiday and now I know why. Timing is everything. Everything. I had no choice but to sit back and let the delays shape our days. And I am so glad I did. It meant that I got the unexpected delight of celebrating my 60th birthday with my family overseas. I was treated like a Sixties Queen!  It changed my perspective and segued me into my 60th era with confidence and flair.  My sister, brother-in-law, and mom get all the credit for creating an extraordinary birthday celebration for me! My actual celebration at home was spectacular too. After f our decades together , my husband never ceases to amaze me. He organised a Scavenger Hunt for the entirety of my birthday day, without any assistance. These were just  some of the clues: - After your husband, your second love I confess my first answer was coffee. Then chocolate. Then, dear reader, I reme...

And Book News 🎉🎉🎉  We have officially entered the month when I join the Sassy Seniors Circle ! I probably shouldn't be shouting this out for all the world to hear, but here we are 😆😄😄 Anyway, it's not for a couple more weeks yet, but I'm excited for the first of my 60th celebrations and wanted to share that excitement with you. I tend to celebrate birthday month so early parties are not unusual for me. I'm sure you're aware by now (if you've been following along; if not, 'Hi!'), that I'm currently holidaying with family overseas. And to be celebrating my 60th with my family, was definitely not something I foresaw at the beginning of this year. It was an unexpected, but not shocking, trip to South Africa that brought many blessings to us.  I'll be sharing cake and other treats under the trees for my first celebration and I couldn't think of a better way to begin my sixties. It's a time in life when I feel self-assured in exactly who ...

And now I have minty smelling toes And my shoes are still muddy.  I made the decision to buy white running shoes knowing the risks, which, incidentally, manifested themselves on my first walk. My white shoes were no longer white and no amount of scrubbing would make it so. But here’s the thing; I regret nothing! My muddy white shoes have shown me places of wonderment like a hidden birdwatch where we delighted in watching an array of birds eating, chirping and splashing about. Those shoes took me on a walk to visit a loved one across a park of healthy mud mounds created by happy earthworms! But now came the time to wear them to posher places - I’m overseas right now and packing shoes is tricky, so I opted for runners as casual attire, don’t judge me LOL, or do, whatever haha! But white shoes are not casual attire if they’re muddy.  So this is where the toothpaste came in. It’s white toothpaste and I thought it was a brilliant idea to clean my shoes with it. It was not. I now ha...

As if I needed more reason to love trees.   I mean, we all know trees technically grow books, and from books grow connections, bringing  readers together. Sure, there are e-readers and audio books, but I’d be surprised if there was anyone out there who’d never read a paper and print book they didn’t love. Surely? Even a text book; research papers; medical journals, if not a bona fide paperback. More than that; there are our book besties, book boyfriends, reading retreats - I mean, I could go on but you get the idea. You can’t have books without trees, and without books, we wouldn’t have any of the aforementioned. And that’s why I headed today’s article ‘ Trees, Books and Branching Out ’ because I just could not imagine a world without books. And trees. And the reading joy they create. Recently, I had a four-day round trip to nowhere. Ha! Sounds odd, I know, but I was delayed by something unexpected. I immediately sought refuge amongst the trees, and they did not disappoint. He...

  BOOK REVIEW:   Your Happier Life Toolbox How a Data-Driven Dad Cracked the Code on Happiness (And How You Can Too) By Billy Marshall    Today's blog post is a rare opportunity to shine a light on a book that may very well change how you think about life, love and the choices we make. I know it changed mine! My review reflects my own opinions, and I want to thank the author, Billy Marshall, for gifting me with an ecopy of  Your Happier Life Toolbox .    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐   5 stars from me     I'll begin my review with a quote from the book:   "Becoming happier is a journey we can all start today."   Simple, yet packs a punch. There's no urgency for immediacy; there's no unattainable expectation of utopia.  Just real and reachable reassurance for everyone.   That brings me to: What I loved about this book: What it promises, is a becoming, a starting, of journeying toward a better way of l...

I'll show you how they fit together hand in glove:  I have a few tricks up my sleeve when it comes to keeping a story flow alive while travelling away on holiday. My current work-in-progress has me inspired to keep writing every day, trouble is, we had an extensive holiday planned long in advance.   Not a sit and stay type holiday, but a hop and a skip to new places every day kind of holiday . Still, I managed to fit in a writing sprint every single day, and enjoy our holiday adventures to the full! How? Come with me: I used Pockets of Productivity (PoPs) in 10 minute writing sprints on my laptop: • My PoPs included at a cafe sipping an extra shot small skinny latte while waiting for vehicle feedback. • In the evening instead of watching television (hubs preoccupied with rugby). • In the campsite while admiring the view when my husband read his book (I had time to read too). • Early morning with birds twittering in the background before breakfast. • Basically any time you can ...

February Delivers February is often touted as the month of love with its infamous Valentines Day midway through, and what better way to celebrate than with a free romcom novella! Yes, you read that right! The first book in my Midlife Romcom Series, Love & Laughter (and other disasters) is free for 48 hours only from today! Free ebook at this link:  Love & Laughter: Follow the link to your country. An added bonus is the second book in the series, Marriage & Mayhem (and some pandemonium) on sale for just .99c - yes, you read that right too! But Amazon has only allowed 24 hours on  1 February 2026 😭 Reduced to just .99c ➡️ Marriage & Mayhem   on February 1st only. Check back if it’s not showing as .99c yet. Two books for just .99c - that's a Valentine bargain if ever I saw one.     In keeping with both previous book titles, I have a tentative title for the third book which I'd love your help with. The working title has been Friendship & Fun (...