Thoughts Opinions & Memories | But I Smile Anyway...

Spidey’s Serene Sunday – Part 347 – Halloween!

31 Oct 2021 35 Comments

by Ritu in Spidey's Serene Sundays, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, halloween, Spiderman, Spidey, Spidey's Serene Sunday

“Sticky fingers, tired feet; One last house. Trick or Treat!”
Rusty Fischer

Thanks, Spidey for reminding me it’s spook day, today!

It’s funny, because the kids have hit that age, now, where they aren’t interested in dressing up and going trick or treating down the neighbourhood.

I quite enjoyed the whole thing. Only visiting houses of our neighbours that we knew and awaiting their tentative knocks on our door, in return.

The carving of pumpkins was an education, and became a joy, in the end!

This year, I’m not feeling it.

We carved pumpkins in school before we broke up for the holiday, and that’s about it.

The road we live on has very few young children, so I don’t know if we will have any visitors this evening but I’ll keep a bowl of treats ready, just in case. (Though I know they will be consumed by the teen horrors that live in our house, instead!)

It’s also raining like anything, right now. If anyone was to even try, they’d probably have to swim to the door!

Still, I hope those of you that do celebrate, have a fun time!

So, do you celebrate Halloween?

Wishing you a wonderfully peaceful Sunday, Peeps!

Spidey’s Serene Sunday – Part 346 – Sunshine

24 Oct 2021 39 Comments

by Ritu in Spidey's Serene Sundays, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Spiderman, Spidey, Spidey's Serene Sunday, Sunshine, Winnie The Pooh

“It never hurts to keep looking for sunshine.”
Winnie The Pooh (A.A. Milne)

Thanks, Spidey for finding a lovely quote from my favourite bear!

Yup, before you say it, I am late, again. That thing from last week? Time Management? Well, it was left totally unmanaged, yesterday! And when I woke this morning, the grocery shopping was calling, followed by grabbing a MacDonald’s breakfast for the family.

However, it is all done, my belly is full, and I am able to give you my full attention, now!

The thing about shunshine is, it is always there. The sun never goes away.

There are merely things that get in its way.

During the day, it’s still lighting our day, even behind the clouds that may try and mask it. At night, it may not be visible, but that sun is still busy, shining away, giving something else light, and working its way back to you.

Like life, and things you wish or hope for. uIt never hurts to keep looking for them, because they may be there, in front of you, but just masked by something else. And it’s our job to either move the obstacle, or have a little patience.

It’s all about our mindset. Things happen. Plans change. Every day. But, as long as we keep that level of positivity going, we will reach our goal, eventually. And we have to keep believing that.

So, do you have the patience to wait, or are you optimistic?

Wishing you a wonderfully peaceful Sunday, Peeps!

Spidey’s Serene Sunday – Part 345 – Time Starved

17 Oct 2021 38 Comments

by Ritu in Spidey's Serene Sundays, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Spiderman, Spidey, Spidey's Serene Sunday

“It is not that we have too little time to do all the things we need to do , it is that we feel the need to do too many things in the time we have.”
Gary Keller

Thanks, Spidey for that simple, but so true, quote!

Firstly, Peeps, I apologise for the late post.

That thing spoken about, above, time, got away with me, again, and I didn’t get our post ready, as I usually do, so here I am, actually typing it on a Sunday morning, instead of scheduling it, in advance, the day before!

I’m definitely one, firmly in that category of trying to do too much, constantly, and though it has tired me in the past, right now, I have another obstacle to contend with, too.

Before moving, we lived five minutes away from school.

Now, I have to factor in an hour, in total, to commute to and from work.

And that is five hours in a week, sacrificed to the Gods of commuting. Sometimes more, if there is traffic. It’s not even as if I could use it productively, and listen to an audio book, or call a friend, or even use my voice function to record thoughts for my WIP. because the kids are in the car, and they want to listen to music!

It means I seem to find less time to tackle the laundry when I get home, meaning a pile of ironing, and I mea a HUGE pile, on Sunday, grocery shopping, house cleaning, etc. And all those jobs you leave for the weekend, in general, too.

Like yesterday, after shopping, and sorting lunches out, I chilled for a while, then Hubby and Lil Man went out, so I tackled fixing together our new bedside cabinets. It’s not a hard job, just long. An ardous task that took me nearly four hours.

Back aching, one cut thumb and a scratched leg later, it was done.

By then I was too tired to actually get my laptop out and write even a little post!

I have got better at saying no to things, honestly. There was a time I felt compelled to agree to do everything I was asked, but now, I am firmer, if I know it is too much, but there are still jobs that need doing, and I really do feel like I need just one more day, every week, so I didn’t feel so rushed!

So, today, once all are up, will include a general house clean, and then I need to do some work, in preparation for school, tomorrow. But I will try and factor in some me time, too, promise! And time for words!

So, how good are you with time management?

Wishing you a wonderfully peaceful Sunday, Peeps!

Getting Published | Short Reading and Q&A session with author and Journalist Michelle Jana Chan

16 Oct 2021 14 Comments

by Ritu in Blog Tours, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Live Reading Event, Michelle Jana Chan, Song

Today, I am honoured to present you with an opportunity to sign up to a chance to hear award winning journalist, Michelle Chan talking about her new book, Song, with a chance to ask questions, after.

In this free online session, Michelle Jana Chan will give a short reading from her book ‘Song’ and then a Q&A session.

Sign Up Link: https://www.meetup.com/The-Writers-Initiative/events/280961013/

Time and Date: On Sunday 17th Oct from 1 pm to 2 pm.

Event Agenda:

Michelle will give a short reading from her book ‘Song.’
After this a Q&A session of around 25 minutes for questions in relation to her creative writing process, the book and the publishing process.

SONG:

A sweeping historical epic following one boy’s long journey from rags to riches, by the award-
winning journalist and travel editor of Vanity Fair.

Blurb

Song is just a boy when he sets out, in the year 1870, from Lishui village in China. Brimming
with courage and ambition, he leaves behind his family, hoping he’ll make his fortune and return
home. Chasing tales of sugarcane, rubber, and gold, Song embarks upon a perilous voyage
across the oceans to the British colony of Guiana, but once there he discovers riches are not so
easy to come by and he is forced into labouring as an indentured plantation worker.
This is only the beginning of Song’s remarkable life, but as he finds himself between places and
between peoples, and increasingly aware that the circumstances of birth carry more weight than
accomplishments or good deeds, Song fears he may live as an outsider forever.
This beautifully written and evocative story spans nearly half a century and half the globe, and
though it is set in another century, Song’s story of emigration and the quest for an opportunity to
improve his life is timeless.
Chan’s own family lineage lays the path for the tale of Song, as she is descended from
indentured Chinese immigrants who immigrated to British Guiana in the mid-1800s. Her father
grew up there but left in the 1960s—searching, in turn, for a better life in England.

“A wonderfully lush and atmospheric of survival against all odds.”
—Bernardine
Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other

About the Author

Michelle Jana Chan is an award-winning journalist and travel editor of Vanity Fair in the UK, where she presents the magazine’s digital Future Series. Formerly, Michelle was a BBC TV presenter, news producer at CNN International, and reporter at Newsweek. She was a Morehead-Cain scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The Impossibe Truths of Love by @hannahbeckerman #BlogTour #Book Review @fmcmassociates

13 Oct 2021 4 Comments

by Ritu in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blog Tour, Blogger, Blogging, Book Review, Hannah Beckerman, The Impossible Truths of Love

Today, I am delighted to be a part of the Blog Tour for Hannah Beckerman’s newest release, The Impossible Truths of Love.

First things first, the Blurb!

From bestselling author Hannah Beckerman comes a moving story about memory, secrets, and what it really means to feel that you’re one of the family.

When Nell’s father makes a deathbed declaration that hints at a long-held secret, it reignites feelings of isolation that have plagued her for years. Her suspicions about the family’s past only deepen when her mother, Annie, who is losing her memories to dementia, starts making cryptic comments of her own.

Thirty-five years earlier, Annie’s life was upended by a series of traumas—one shock after another that she buried deep in her heart. The decisions she made at the time were motivated by love, but she knew even then that nobody could ever understand—let alone forgive—what she did.

As the two women’s stories unravel, a generation apart, Nell finally discovers the devastating truth about her mother’s past, and her own.

In this beautifully observed and emotionally powerful story of identity, memory and the nature of family, Hannah Beckerman asks: To what lengths would you go to protect the ones you love?

My Review:

The Impossible Truths of Love by Hannah Beckerman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having read one of Hannah Beckerman’s previous novels, I was excited to dive into her newest release, The Impossible Truths of Love, knowing it would be good.
However, I didn’t realise it would be that good, that I would devour it in one sitting!
Nell’s father whispers a statement to her, on his deathbed that stays with her. Unfortunately, he is unable to ever clarify the meaning.
She watches her mothers mental health deteriorate, due to dementia, and the odd little comments she makes, cause Nell to stop and think.
I am not sure exactly how to word this review, without giving away the story too much, but suffice to say, my reader detective antennae pricked up, as soon as I realised there was something hidden, and there were several ideas running through my mind, as to what the outcome would be. Some were close, some not so close, but the twists – WOW!
All I can say is that there is always right and wrong in any decision we make.
Sometimes love is the reason we make those decisions. Can any decision made with parental love in mind, ever be wrong? Of course, they could, and this novel explores that in a way that tugs at the reader’s heartstrings.
Nell’s discoveries and trauma are told in a parallel storyline to her mother Alice’s, in a Then and Now format of chapters. Each layer is unwrapped and reveals another piece to the jigsaw puzzle of Nell’s life, rather like an elaborate Pass The Parcel.
I truly loved this book, and it will be one that stays with me for a long while. Stunning read!
Thanks to FMCM Associates and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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About Hannah Beckerman

Hannah Beckerman is an author, journalist, event chair and broadcaster. In the UK she writes for a range of publications including The Observer and The FT Weekend Magazine, and appears as a book critic on BBC Radio 2 and Times Radio. She regularly chairs at literary events and panels across the UK and has judged numerous book prizes including the Costa Book Awards.

Before becoming a writer, Hannah was a TV and film producer both in the UK and the US.

She lives in London.