May your holiday time be bright and happy. Feel
the love and joy with your dear ones.
Let the spirit of the season remind you of hope, kindness and compassion. Miracles.
source; Filip Bunkens on Unsplash
Wish upon a shining star and have a beautiful time.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
NETFLIX
– “The Christmas Chronicles” Movie
I recently watched “The Christmas Chronicles”
movie on Netflix. It’s a family movie with an unusual, uncouth Santa Claus. Two
children, Kate and Ted, have a big adventure with Santa on Christmas Eve. The
movie was entertaining, sometimes funny, and a little cheesy. There was some
singing with Santa in the police lock-up. A call to celebrate the good occasions
that happen in life.
Yay! This week
I get to blog about my own romance story. It's been a while since I published
the last novella, but the party continues. In the third book, the characters face a
night of extremes and shameless girl's fun.
Kyra and the
hero, Jovanni, have some emotional baggage from their previous relationships to
unload. Still their attraction to each other smolders and ignites despite the evening of mayhem at the hotel. The two love birds have found their perfect
match only getting alone time is impossible. And then there's Maddy pulling her
pranks…
Bad-girl Maddy,
continues leading all of the women astray while thinking she is giving the
bride-to-be the best night of entertainment ever. The tension has been building
between Maddy and Kyra during the last two books. Now the conflict escalates to
breaking point. Kyra stops being the target of Maddy's stinky jokes and pranks
and fights back.
Standing up to
Maddy is going to hurt. But there's also a reward for Kyra. She finally
understands how her demons weigh her down and make her depressed. Now she
values her family, friendships and love. Most importantly she realizes loving
herself is the beginning of a good life. She's ready to throw caution to the
wind and start an affair with Jovanni, but the best laid plans don't always
work out.
The poor
bride-to-be, Elin, is caught in the middle of all the hen party action. During
the biggest night of her life, her two lovely girlfriends start a war with each
other, and she must be peace-maker. She discovers Jovanni's true identity and
she's not accepting his interference at her party
The fun spirals
out of control. The party reaches a peak, a calamity, and the girls must escape
the hen party before it's too late.
I've made a
cheeky video introducing the romance hero of the story, Mr. J - Jovanni. I used
pop art and added some raunchy music. It's a giggle. Have a watch.
The Blurb
In the
Third Novella, the Hen Party action reaches a chaotic climax that you just
can’t miss!
Secrets
are never meant to be revealed…too bad.
Unlucky in love, Kyra Jamieson, is stuck in a rut. Her
career in Sales is stalled and she’s all but given up looking for Mr. Right. As
chief bridesmaid, she must put aside her failings, overcome her envy, and
ensure her best friend, Elin’s hen party goes off without a hitch.
It should be a happy celebration if the crazy
girlfriends don’t play tricks on her. And the racy entertainment doesn’t get
out of hand. Who knew a gorgeous mystery man was going to invite himself to the
girls’ night out?
CEO, Jovanni Tisci has a shocking agenda—to stop
Elin’s wedding from going ahead without losing smart and beautiful Kyra, the
woman he desires.
One kiss from seductive Jovanni and Kyra is caught in
his sexy trap. He heats up her lust and turns her heart renegade. She is going
to unravel his shocking agenda bit by bit, and kiss by kiss. When she calls him
out on his secret manoeuvres, there'll be consequences...for everyone.
My Paris Bone Crypt blog for this year is about
a 2014 American horror thriller movie that was filmed down there, in the place
of the dead. So far, I’ve been too scared to watch the trailer.
But I’ve read about the movie plot on Wikipedia and it
seems interesting enough. A young woman, Scarlett Marlowe, goes searching for a
philosopher’s stone. A magical object which can turn metals into gold and also grant
eternal life.
source; wikipedia
Scarlett’s quest leads her to the catacombs of
Paris, which she enters with a team of people. I guess the tunnels are
naturally spooky for this documentary-style, movie-making. She eventually finds
a tomb filled with treasure and the philosopher’s stone.
Then the only way to get out of the crypts is to
go deeper into the tunnels. From my other Paris Bone Crypt posts, I discovered
the oxygen starts to run out the deeper you go into the no public access areas.
The story continues with various demons chasing
the group, visions and past traumas are reflected back to them, violence, injury,
death, and eek! Removing the philosopher’s stone from the tomb was a bad idea.
Scarlett has to return it, if she ever wants to leave the Paris crypts alive.
For the brave people, here’s the movie trailer
to watch.
This week I’m sharing a link about Lida Barmala.
She’s an archaeologist using a new frontier of study into ancient cultures. The
post about her which is called, "Spiritual Archaeology", was published in Nova Magazine
Australia, in March this year.
Archaeology has traditionally relied upon
digging up artifacts and analyzing them according to accepted knowledge in order to
understand their history.
The new frontier goes beyond the academic studies
and into areas of spiritual vibes and abilities to sense invisible or
non-physical things. Humans have long been told we are limited to awareness of
the world that our 5 senses brings us. Lida talks about special intuitive
abilities to sense knowledge beyond the material world. The energy connected
with people, places, things and past history.
Last week I featured a short story from 1845,
“All Hallow’s Eve Party”. It was about a welsh woman who married a ghost and lived with
him for nearly sixty years. It’s interesting that in 2018, women are still talking
about having relationships with ghostly lovers. How do they go about being touched by a ghost?
There's a place at the front of my house where an invisible ghost has touched me on the top of the shoulder a few times,
and also on the side of the waist. My reaction was frightened, not curious. Who
dunnit? Don’t do that! I don’t like it. I never even sense when this handsy
spirit is about until after I’m touched. I think this particular guy is just
saying hello, and trying to get my attention. My fear makes communication with
him/her impossible for now.
Another hard to explain experience is what
happens during our dreams, especially when a mysterious visitor comes to our
bedside. Have you ever woken up in the morning with a sense that you had sex with
someone during your sleep, and I don’t mean with a real person? How could that
be possible? Well, I guess, some people don’t believe it’s possible. But if
you’ve experienced lucid sexy dreams and orgasms, you know, there are other
dimensions to sex, namely sex as a form of energy exchange. Interested sex/love partners
appearing in non-physical form might include resident ghosts, visiting soul
mates, old flames, the one that got away, past life persons, and aliens. After
reading this paragraph, I’ll understand if you think I’m crazy or making this
stuff up.
Sian Jameson from London meet a 19th century ghost when she
rented a 16th century cottage. She woke up one morning to find a
dark-haired, good-looking man in bed with her. She thought she was still
dreaming, but she woke up in a hurry when the spirit touched her body. The sex
that followed was amazing, she says. Read more about Sian’s story here, Meet the women who claim they have sex with spirits
Amethyst Realm from Nottingham is a lady who
claims to have had 20 encounters with ghostly lovers. She met her latest
partner while bushwalking in Australia. She describes the spirit as very
ancient, very wise, very kind. Amethyst is not 100% sure of the gender of her
companion. She says ghost sex is deeper, more passionate and, oddly, seems more
natural. She would like to have a kind of spiritual marriage with them. Read
more about Amethyst’s story here, UK medium falls in love with Aussie ghost after meeting him on a bushwalk.
The two women found love with their spirit
partners.
I thought ghosts were connected to the land,
property and buildings. I didn’t know they could travel from Australia to the
UK. It’s a mystery of the supernatural kind.
Anyway, I'm making a video of 3 ghost jokes that I hope to post for Halloween.
October is Halloween month and it’s my fun time
to blog about strange and spooky things such as;
Going Down to the Crypts
For the last couple of years I have written
about the Paris Bone Crypts—the place of the long dead located beneath the city
of Paris. I plan to write another article about the history
of the catacombs.
Communing with the Dead
I will be sharing a link to an article about an archaeologist
who applies her spiritual gifts to open windows into ancient cultures.
Ghost stories – real and not.
My curiosity has been spiked by women in the
news who have relationships with ghosts in both fictional and non-fictional
worlds. In March 2018, I blogged about a woman who married a Haitian ghost pirate
called Jack in international waters, so the legitimacy of her matrimony
couldn’t be denied. You can read it here, Would You Marry A Pirate Ghost
Since then, other women have come forward to
speak to the media about their intimate experiences with ghosts. I will be
posting about a lady who fell in love with a ghost she met on a bushwalk in
Australia.
In the fictional world of specters, I found a
very old ghost story from 1845. The story is called, “An All Hallows' Eve Party” and was written by Miss Beale. The
haunted tale was published in a newspaper from Port Phillip in Victoria,
Australia.
I liked the olden and therefore unusual style of
the story-writing. It also touched a memory and a heart string. My grandmother
on my father’s side of the family was a welsh women, and she had the gift of the Fae (some sort of second sight, according to family members).
I decided to read the story aloud and record it on
my phone. Then I made a youtube video of the tale so others can hear what was
considered eerie and creepy in 1845. Perhaps, “An All Hallows' Eve Party” is a
little ghoulish, but not as frightening as Halloween celebrations of today.
Pally is the name of the lady in the story. She
recounts her scary experience of meeting the ghost of John Lewis, on Halloween
night. The audience in the story includes a footman who is not impressed by the
tall tale told by a Welshwoman. But Pally was a happy woman from meeting the
handsome spirit.
It’s a trip back in history on a boo-tiful
night.
Please enjoy & give it the thumbs up, if you like it!
It was my first time reading something on my youtube channel.
I was so nervous.
Thanks friends.
I hope you can join me again for more Halloween
posts.
I liked watching the “Ladies in Black” movie for its
women’s stories, vintage fashion and the dive into history. I’m not intending
to write too many spoilers in this post. The movie did make me think a lot as
you can probably tell by this long article. “Ladies in Black” is a quality
production and a companion for another great, vintage-themed Australian movie,
“The Dressmaker”. You can read the "The Dressmaker" posts here
the shop ladies dressed in black clothes
Patty (Alison McGirr), Leslie (Angouric Rice) & Fay (Rachael Taylor)
source; http://www.abc.net.au/
Coming of Age
The movie begins when a likable young woman,
Leslie (Angourie Rice), has finished high school and goes to work at the
women’s section of a Sydney Department Store. The uniform for the shop clerks
is black.
Leslie has weeks to wait to find out whether her
school results are good enough for her to be accepted to study at Sydney
University.
The story shows Leslie growing up in the company
of the older shop clerks. She changes her name to the more feminine, Lisa. Having
worked around the sophisticated gowns at Goode’s she’s not so keen on the fancy
dress her mother sews for her. A pale pink, innocent dress with a peter-pan
collar and a large ruffle hem.
Initially, her father doesn’t understand,
appreciate or support her ambition to go to University. She is a girl and what
relevance has university got for her. She’s only going to get married and have
kids in the future.
The continental people she socializes with,
change her views, and open her eyes to a richer culture, and a happier life.
Lisa’s coming of age story is mostly gentle and
sweet with no nasty surprises. Thank goodness! I was cheering for Lisa to
overcome her obstacles. Angourie Rice made Lisa a believable character and she is
a wonderful young actress.
The movie does not have a straight line progression
of plot with a dramatic climax and resolution. The movie showcases a different
type of story-telling. It’s a series of stories within circles. Each circle
tells of a woman’s relationships with herself, the other woman and men in her
life. The story circles intersect or overlap at the women’s workplace, a
department store called ‘Goode’s’ which is located in the middle of Sydney.
Shop clerk, Fay (Rachael Taylor)
is disillusioned with romance with Australian men. Magda (Julia Ormond),
the Slovenian fashionista refugee plays match-maker and introduces Fay to a passionate
Hungarian man, Rudi (Ryan Corr) who is going to make his
fortune in Australia, the land of opportunity.
There was a scene between Fay and Rudi that
really touched my heart. The scene was filmed at maybe the Blue Mountains
(beautiful), inland from Sydney. Fay was confessing very personal information
to Rudi. Rachel Taylor’s acting in the scene was superb. Some of the best acting I’ve seen,
ever.
this scene between Fay (Rachael Taylor) & Rudi (Ryan Corr) was special
source; http://www.abc.net.au/
Racism of the 1950’s
Some European people fled the Second World War
and came to Australia to start a new life. Initially, the war refugees were
housed in migrant camps, and later integrated into society. The movie portrays
the Australians as thinking the Europeans/Continentals were a strange mob they
didn’t understand. They were lesser, desperate people somehow.
The Hungarians war refugees in the movie
regarded themselves as having cultured tastes in food, wine, books and music. Whereas
they thought the Australians were descended from convicts, the lowest class of people
in Britain.
The racism themes in the movie were best
highlighted with food and fashion. The Australian sandwich for
lunch versus the salami, olives, fetta cheese and antipasto dishes of the
Europeans. Drinking Australian beer versus glasses of imported wines. Magda
(Julia Ormond) was in charge of the ‘Models’ section of women’s clothing in the
Department store. The cocktail gowns on display were elite, exclusive,
expensive, and only came in one size, model size. She sold the dresses with
European fashion flair, chic and her exotic accent. The other ladies worked in the
women’s clothing and accessories section of the store gazed at her from their
counters, watching Magda's behavior in puzzlement.
I loved the character of Magda, with her
womanly, sensual, fashionista flair. Julia Ormond’s acting was a pleasure to watch.
Set in the summer of 1959,
when the impact of European migration and the rise of women’s liberation is
about to change Australia forever, a shy schoolgirl (Lisa) takes a summer job at
the prestigious Sydney department store, Goode’s. There she meets the 'ladies
in black', who will change her life forever. Beguiled and influenced by Magda,
the vivacious manager of the high-fashion floor, and befriended by fellow sales
ladies Patty and Fay, Lisa is awakened to a world of possibilities. As Lisa
grows from a bookish schoolgirl to a glamorous and positive young woman, she
herself becomes a catalyst for a cultural change in everyone’s lives.
Have you ever read a fantastic romance novel and
wished someone would make the story into a movie or perhaps a television
series? With romance being the top-selling genre of books world-wide, I have to
wonder why we don’t see more books adapted for the small and big screens. It
doesn’t make sense. Readers love their books, and watching the character’s
romance brought to life would be a sweet luxury, addictive...binge watching…lots
of heroine-led stories…won’t complain.
I’ve watched a few of the cable channel Hallmark movies in my time, because I didn’t want to watch violence or crime shows. During
2018, I strayed over to Netflix to check out the entertainment program there.
Anyway, there’s good news coming out of Sony Pictures Television and “The Ripped
Bodice” bookstore in Los Angeles. Yay! The two have partnered to
develop romance-focused projects for television. Woo-hoo! The sister duo of Bea
and Leah Koch are romance book sellers who have a unique connection to romance
readers and authors. Romance novels are waiting to be made into shows and the
Koch sisters are poised to make a difference.
After I wrote the post aboutQueen Hatshepsuta couple of
weeks ago, I couldn’t stop thinking about Egypt and how I would like to travel
there.
In the 1980's, I first learnt about the great
engineering project to build the Aswan Dam. During the 1970's, it took
the work of an international team to relocate the Temple of Isis on Philae
Island to another island of solid rock and save it from being flooded by the
new dam across the Nile River. I wanted to travel to Egypt to see the temple
back then, but I wasn’t able to live that dream.
One day, I will travel to Egypt, the land of ancient wonders.
This week, I have a travel video from an Australia television show called Getaway, which offers information on
holiday destinations around the world.
The hostess in the video is Catriona Rowntree. She has been
travelling for the show for 20 years. Her love of travel began in Egypt. She
went there on a school excursion with her ancient history teacher. A classroom with a difference!
The video below is part 2 of 3 video episodes made
about Egypt and Jordan. I selected it for Catriona’s visits to three different
temples—Hathor, Isis and Edfu. Some of the temple footage is very brief.
Temple of Hathor
Temple of Hathor, Dendera.
Some visitors say there is a soft, sweet and loving atmosphere inside the temple.
source: Google Earth
The Goddess Hathor is a reason to smile and be happy.
She was associated with love, joy, beauty, dancing, singing and music. She
was represented with cow ears. There are lots of images of her face near the
top of columns.
Hathor, Cow Goddess, nurturing Mother
source: Google Earth
Her images were allegedly defaced by Christians in antiquity,
to kill the spirit of Hathor. Her temple is one of the best preserved in Egypt
and is a popular attraction today.
Vivid, turquoise blue color is featured in her temple which dates back to the
Old Kingdom (thousands of years ago). She was the patron saint of turquoise
miners.
Inside the temple, Hathor columns and turquoise blue artwork
source: Google Earth
Hathor was also a Goddess of fertility,
sexuality, nurturing, and a divine mother. The temple walls have information
about the feminine principle, and help raise consciousness into the divine
wholeness of creation.
People
also visit the Temple of Hathor to see the melted granite stone steps leading
up to the roof. The light bulb carving—did the ancient Egyptian have
electricity a long time ago? The zodiac signs painted on the temple ceiling
after Horus, derivative word, horoscope, Horus, god of sky, god of kingship. Finally,
the site has the last remaining image of the famous Cleopatra standing with her
son, Caesarion, who was fathered by Julius Caesar.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
After
visiting the Temple of Philae, Catriona stays at the legendary Cataract Hotel
which is famous for inspiring crime author Agatha Christie. She wrote, “Death
on the Nile” while she stayed at the hotel.
