For this year’s Valentine’s Day post, I decided to make a short video
about romance in a different era. Take a detour from the fast world we live in
and go vintage. The photography wasn’t great back then, but it’s an escape to a
simpler time. The cache of images shows what romantic love once looked like.
Think of those you love, and how happy you are to have them in your
life. St Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to remember love is special, and you
are special and loved. Cheers to more good and fun times from this day on.
Sending you the
sweetish wishes.
Take care, stay well,
♥ Ashlyn
Photo
Credits: Stock
Image used under Fiverr Licence
When the cherub Cupid shoots his arrow into the heart of his target,
they will fall in love. Cupid wasn’t always portrayed as a charming, little Renaissance
angel hovering around St Valentine’s Day lovers.
Cupid was the Roman counterpart of the Greek God,
Eros. Mythical Eros was a handsome, sexy, immortal manwith glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest
(Wikipedia).Before AI matchmaking
algorithms were created for dating apps, Eros had the daunting power in his
godly arrows to force people to fall in love by striking at their hearts. Which
sounds severe. Did he make random choices to match people or did his godly
insights into desire, passion, and eroticism keep him right on target.
Either way, Cupid on the loose would make me feel like a bit of a
nervous Nellie. How about you? With the most romantic day of the year
approaching, Eros can keep his arrows to himself, but a personal visit from the
sexy immortal man with wings would be special.
Watch a 1982 music video by the band, ABC, about Cupid shooting his poisoned arrow. It starts with a scene of the Greek Gods on a theatre stage. Does
anyone remember people acting as Singing Telegrams for special occasions like birthdays?
According to a new report, living arrangements are one way that romantic
relationships are changing in Australia. With the world-wide spread of the sick
bug, it’s easy to imagine that people’s living arrangements could be
affected due to self-quarantine, lockdowns etc. However, this information
pre-dates the onset of the sick bug.
The HILDA report collects
data on Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia. Based on the
findings of the Hilda Report 2021, there’s a trend among young people of not
living with their relationship partners. It’s a sign that romantic
relationships are drifting away from traditional pathways and forging a new
direction. You can read more about it here on womensagenda, How Australians are redefining what romantic relationships and families look like
Perhaps it’s time for romance novels with fresh (HEA) Happy Ever
Afters and (HFN) Happy for Now, where couples end their love stories with changes to
the norms. Is change coming to story worlds?
Recently, I started typing the word, Romance into an internet search
engine, and before I was finished, it was filling out the letters with the
word, Roman. I stopped typing and thought about it. Yes, that’s right, Romance is
made up of the word Roman with ‘ce’ added onto the end. Intrigued, I wondered
if Romance had a connection to the ancient Romans in some way, and started researching.
Yes, the history of Romance starts in the Latin speaking provinces of
Rome. Then a jump in evolution to the 1300’s and an old French version of the
word means—in the Roman style. In the 1600’s, Romance became associated with
love stories but not in the way we know them today. Romance conveyed a lively,
adventurous quality in a story or piece of writing. Finally, in the 1800’s, Romance
became associated with love affairs.
Interestingly, three of the most famous romance novels were written in
the 1800’s, and they were;
Today, Romance books belong to a best-selling genre with over $1
billion dollars in sales per year. The 1600’s lively, adventurous quality of
the writing can still be found in Romance books. A promise is also made
to the reader of modern Romance stories. Love will triumph, and the couple’s
troubles, obstacles, excitement and fun will lead to a happy ending.
Having a stash of romance novels waiting to be read, is one of the
pleasures in life to be enjoyed!
Watch the blog post in video format.
Take care,
stay well,
♥ Ashlyn
Photo
Credits: J
J Jordan, Rachel Cheng, Roksolana Zasiad, Tengyart and Les Anderson on unsplash.com
A new year brings hope and the opportunity to reset ideas, intentions,
goals and to dream a new dream.
Although the world is an unsettled place, things will change, and yet we
don’t know how or why or when, but the old year of 2021 has left. We can begin
again with a fresh start.
What would you like the new year to bring? Believe in yourself and
cheers to making it happen.
I wish you good health and wellness, friendship and prosperity. Keep
your loved ones close in your heart.
“You may encounter many defeats, but
you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the
defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still
come out of it.”
― Maya Angelou from
goodreads.com
Watch blog post in video format.
Happy New Year!
Take care
Stay well
♥ Ashlyn
Photo Credits: Marisa Howenstine & Mikel Parera on unsplash.com
Wonder Woman 1984
was an entertaining movie and worth seeing. However, the story of Wonder Woman
defeating crazed, arch villain, ego-maniac, Max Lord who’s trying to take
over the world and his cheetah woman ally, Barbara Minerva, didn’t captivate
me as much as I wanted it too.
There had to be
reasons why I didn’t enjoy the narrative as much as the origin story in the
first Wonder Woman movie. I like reading about history, and particularly
mysteries. The filmmaking showing the mythological roots of Wonder Woman being
an Amazon of Themyscira, living on Paradise Island was fantastic.
If you’d like to
listen to some mood music, the soundtrack from Amazons of Themyscira plays in
the video below.
In Wonder Woman
1984, the scene of the Amazons of Themyscira competing in a marathon was also
enthralling. So why wasn’t I as interested in the rest of the movie? I found
the answer I was looking for in the history of Wonder Woman.
In 1941, Wonder
Woman first appeared in comic books. According to the DC fandom wiki, Wonder
Woman has been in comic books ever since 1941, except for four months in 2006. She
has an 80-year-old history and at least hundreds of comics and stories.
In December 2020, for
the second time, the comic book heroine was brought to life in a movie. Wonder
Woman 1984 is a legacy movie from the comics. A movie for the fandom who know
and like her stories, and that’s all right.
Take care,
stay well,
♥ Ashlyn
Movie Poster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Woman_1984
♥ ♥ ♥♥
From the Archives - More Wonder Woman movie posts
The Amazons from the island of
Themyscira change into Bikini Babe Warriors for the Justice League movie.
The movie was revolutionary in
its viewpoint of a female hero - the rise of the warrior - Diana, Princess of
Themyscira. Her life values were shaped by her mother, her aunt and the
Amazonian women living in the island paradise.
Last weekend, Wonder Woman from
the 70 year old comic book stories sprinted onto the movie screen with her
god-slaying sword, and gauntlets (wristbands) made from the Greek Goddess’s
Athena’s shield. Woo-hoo!
After the Google
Plus shut down, I stopped blogging for a couple of years. I had several major
life challenges to get through.
While I’ve
been away, I can’t believe how much the world has changed. The virus pandemic,
restrictions and social lock-down in Australia have never happened before. It
was mind-blowing and isolating as the government acted to slow infection rates.
Wherever you
are in the world, I send my best wishes to get through these difficult times.
“I
have come to accept the feeling of not knowing where I am going.
And
I have trained myself to love it.
Because
it is only when we are suspended in mid-air with no landing in sight, that we
force our wings to unravel and alas begin our flight.
And
as we fly, we still may not know where we are going to.
But
the miracle is in the unfolding of the wings.
You
may not know where you're going, but you know that so long as you spread your
wings, the winds will carry you.”
Google plus is shutting down on 2 April 2019. I'm sorry to say I won't be blogging for awhile. I will be trying to transfer some of my G+ collections to Blogger rather than losing everything.
Stay well,
and happy.
Until next time, ♥ Ashlyn photo credit; thanks to KS KYUNG on unsplash.com
Wow, did I get a surprise when I left my country town and
went to the city and saw Alien art work chalked on the footpath. I whipped out
my phone to take some photographs which I later made into a video.
I don’t know the story the unknown artist intended to tell with
their pictures. However, I was very curious, and my imagination conjured up thoughts
about the fall of Atlantis/Lemuria/Mu and the end of days marked by the arrival
of the people from the stars.
There are four photographs in the footpath scene. However, the pictures speak to you, you are
welcome to create your own story from the artwork.
The story I imagined goes like this;
The art possibly represents a time-line or time sequence
showing an early advanced civilization of indigenous earth people who were
wiped out by a fierce volcanic eruption. Afterwards, there was a new age of
crystal guardians and magic. The future shows the arrival of spaceships and
aliens.
The description in more detail... The first slide shows a living place perhaps from long ago in
history/mythology. The buildings are earthy looking, adobe-like. They have
geometric shapes like arches (portals/stargates), rectangles and triangles (the
power of 3) as well as curved lines that remind me of Mother Earth energy.
Geometry is a sacred/secret language of the earth and universe.
There is a slender tower with a red circle at the top which
could be a crystal or a light. It reminds me of Mother Earth (Gaia) energy
again.
In the sky there are blue flying ships. The people living
here had some advanced technology for their age. In the foreground there are 7
purple pyramids and some reddish mountains. A strange-looking hand holds a blue
seashell suggesting to me this living place was located near the ocean.
In the second slide we see a dignified and wise indigenous
woman standing in front of the ocean. Behind her, a volcano is erupting and
shooting flames into the sky. Her people live on the slopes and at the base of
the volcano. The signs point to a natural disaster, the forces of fire and upheaval
from Gaia about to devastate.
In the third slide and further along the time-line, the
volcano has gone extinct. The landscape is now calm. Two new women appear who
have a connection to blue crystal energy. They seem like guardians and magical.
One woman holds a crystal staff, and the other woman cups a large crystal in
her hands.
In the last slide, there is a break in the time sequence now.
Perhaps the artist was drawing the future of the story showing the arrival of the
spaceships. A blue lady with pointy ears and green hair is waiting to greet the
aliens. Could the next step in human evolution be to return to our very own star
people roots?
Australian Cockatoo
birds are rarely quiet and are known to have noisy screeches. Usually they are
not alone and travel in a flock. They can be funny to watch when they fly in
from the bush and hang from electrical wires in town areas.
I was able to video a
cockatoo playing a game with itself. A prankster. The wild bird has a lot of trouble
swinging on an electrical wire and trying to get upright again. The Cockatoo Bat!
Please enjoy the video from my Sacred Earth Youtube channel.
If you'd like to watch more videos after G+ shuts down please subscribe to my Youtube channel.
I've been waiting to hear news from Google about the G+ shutdown due in April, and what follow-on effect it will have on my blogger site.
In the meantime, I will be posting about youtube videos. Sadly, I it's only a matter of time before I have to made a decision about the future of my blogging. I hope to continue writing here, but we'll see what happens.
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.
