Author: Books & Bonsai

Anita Speaks…

/ Books & Bonsai / 2 Comments

I don’t know if its old age, pushing inspiration so far back, but my mind has this large empty space. It keeps telling me I will never write a new novel. That those 400 white pages scare the bejesus out of me.

So, I tell myself, try a novella, as it seems weeks ago when I last held the pencil. It would seem I am only good for short pieces and poetry. These, I still love to do.

Words press against my mind, asking to be written. Late at night, there are different kinds of thoughts. Words that do not want to be read by anyone.

Thoughts I must keep to myself. The kind of things you wouldn’t speak in daylight. They pop up like some kind of evil demon, a black shadow most of us would rather deny. Keeping the beast well caged, we try to get on with the day.

The rains stops, there is a rainbow. Sunlight through your window reminding you of the magic this world has to offer.

Old age disappears for a while. I grab at this new enthusiasm with both hands, wondering what I will make of it.

Watch this space! They are right, old age is just a number.

It’s as loaded as you want it to be…

© Anita Dawes 2021

#Whatdoyousee ~ #Keepitalive ~ #WDYS ~ #Poetry

/ Books & Bonsai / 3 Comments

What do you see # 77 – April 12, 2021

Image credit; Andrew Morris @ Unsplash

( For the visually challenged reader, the image shows a lantern sitting on the wet sand of a beach. There are fairy lights inside the lantern)

An age-old magic lantern, full of mystery
Stories long forgotten, of wishes made.
A land where people hide from evil genius.
Grown from mind in need of magic
Of miracles, of wonder, to be carried to a land
Where blue horses roam on desert sand
Where angels sit and chat with wings folded
Time to pray another day they say.
The Lord is patient
He will not mind your prayer delayed
It shall be answered in a time that is planned
By mind conceived before the pure light
Of our spinning world that shines through dark space
Out from old lanterns, remembering
The lady of the lamp, Nightingale
From patience made to soothe my savage mind
With light that sprang from before time began…

© Anita Dawes 2021

Sue Coletta Talks Crows and I AM MAYHEM #newrelease

/ Books & Bonsai / Leave a comment

Staci Troilo

Ciao, amici! If you read my review of I Am Mayhem last week, this post is no surprise to you. I told you Sue Coletta would be visiting, and I always keep my word. Sue is an accomplished, award-winning crime-fiction author who made a huge splash last year with her first nonfiction true crime book. I’m so glad she didn’t give up on her novels, though. She’s releasing book four of her Mayhem series on April 20, and she’s returning today to talk a bit about one of the most fascinating characters. I’m super excited about the book—and the post—and I hope you are, too. Please join me in giving her a warm welcome.

Thanks for having me, Staci!

Crows. You’ve heard ’em, you’ve seen ’em, you may’ve even tried to chase ’em out of your yard. But have you ever taken a moment to watch, with no preconceived notions…

View original post 1,010 more words

Don’t Give Up, Patience and Time Sometimes Rewards You with Glorious Green – Daily Quote

/ Books & Bonsai / Leave a comment

Jo Hawk

Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love! Sitting Bull

I love starting vegetables for my summer garden from those cute seed packets. Every spring, I purchase envelopes with pretty pictures, consult the Farmer’s Almanac for the last expected hard frost, calculate germination times, and coordinated planting dates with my schedule. This year, I am reworking my landscaping, so, I opted to limit my spring plantings to tomatoes and basil. I have major changes planned in the yard, and I needed to concede to a lack of time and space for a more ambitious undertaking.

The Farmer’s Almanac called for sowing both tomato and basil seeds for indoor germination anytime between March 24th and April 7th in my zone. True to my nature, I pushed the window and delayed setting up my table until the last possible day. Tomatoes typically germinate in 5 to 10 days and basil in 5 to 7 days. But I’m not patient. As soon as…

View original post 226 more words

Making sense of it – hidden capabilities

/ Books & Bonsai / Leave a comment

Sun in Gemini

Our five senses may not be five at all… It turns out we have far more capabilities than we thought…

(800 words; a seven-minute read)

We all have our favourite concepts of physical capability – breathing, flexibility, strength and such like. But what if the power of our senses extended far beyond what we know? This is not about the historic idea of a sixth-sense, though that can be entirely valid. I’m referring to the kind of synthesis that enables things to work together as a ‘whole system’, in the way that the science of Emergence has shown us that ‘mere matter’ can become self-organising and apparently exhibit ‘intelligence’; the very same way that the first protein-based RNA molecules formed into life-repeating chains and gave rise to our DNA, the very substance of life’s persistence…

In a age of fast-paced scientific discovery, we are learning that what we think of…

View original post 954 more words

DON’T HATE THE PLAYER, HATE THE GAME

/ Books & Bonsai / 1 Comment

Zoolon Audio

A local cemetery I never knew existed

DON’T HATE THE PLAYER, HATE THE GAME

I liked you so much better
When your story was untold
Now you go backward looking forward
Believing all that glitters is really gold

You keep your demons in a suitcase
An arrow in your heart
You’re crying out for plan B
But the game has yet to start

You’re trapped in endless dreamland
I don’t understand one half of what you say
You think you are the hunter
You can’t see that you’re the prey

I remember when you were someone
There’s still time for you to be so much more
You’ve a heart and soul inside of you
Just don’t leave them at fame’s door

I don’t know if you’re listening
But it matters all the same
When I tell you what I’m thinking
Don’t hate the player; hate the game

An easy to…

View original post 211 more words

Stones and orchids

/ Books & Bonsai / Leave a comment

France & Vincent

north 014

After self-indulgently breaking the two hundred mile journey to Sheffield with a walk over the hills on Thursday, followed by another long drive to Ilkley to walk over more hills, climbing rocks and waterfalls on Friday, the sensible thing, we thought, would be to rest a bit on Saturday. So what did we do? Climb hills.

It was an accident, sort of. We’d only been going to have a better look at a rock formation in Cressbrook Dale and maybe a better photograph for Doomsday the new book in progress … but we got a little carried away and the brief excursion took most of the day. Well, to be fair, with that landscape, who could help it?

north 009
It was a beautiful day, with the sun streaming into the sheltered valley. The dale is teeming with early purple orchids, wild violets, cowslips, speedwell, patches of bluebells and hawthorn blossom. On…

View original post 408 more words

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie ~ Wordle #236 #Poetry

/ Books & Bonsai / 2 Comments

The mournful sound of seashell held to the ear
Being carried upward by memory
Cold arms, the odour of sea salt
Stirring the motion as he rocks me
Whispering how he no longer thinks of his life as a loner
I feel his brass buttons press against my chest
As he promises, this will be his last trip at sea
On his return, we will marry.
Weeks pass before news arrives
The Marie Celeste has been found with no one aboard
My love is lost at sea, no wedding veil is needed
No vows to make
Just tears to wash sea salt from my face
That feeling of having lost my mind…

© Anita Dawes 2021

Eugi’s Weekly Prompt ~ #Poetry

/ Books & Bonsai / 7 Comments

https://amanpan.com/2021/04/08/eugis-weekly-prompt-playful-april-8-2021/

In the long diamond years of my life
I wonder how it is I have fallen into a world
Of ever-changing butterflies
That like to flash and change before your eyes.
Something, I am sure, no human has seen before.
They fly beside you,
their tiny wings like fans, cooling the skin
No need to rush or hurry life, they seem to say.
I wish I had this whispered to me years ago
I would have slowed down, making time for life’s wonders
The magic and splendour we so often let pass by…

© Anita Dawes 2021