Hi everyone. Long time no write. I've been busy writing book two to the 360 series and hope to have it out soon. My kids have been taking up a lot of my time with school and homework and projects. Honestly, I don't know why I just didn't go to college and learn how to be a teacher. It seems like I'm having to explain almost everything to my girls when they come home from school everyday. Well, maybe not my daughter in high school but junior high-I just don't know. Anyway, they're both doing okay and I'm happy with their marks. My husband seems to have rediscovered his youth and has taken to going skiing every weekend this winter. He alternates between Sunshine and Lake Louise with an occasional trip to places like Castle Mountain and Kicking Horse. Good for him-I just hope he doesn't break anything. My eldest daughter had her showing at HeArtvark and was a success. She seems to be enjoying the art world more than ever right now and I can see her making a solid life out of it.

One more thing before I have to go: It's Read an ebook Week (March 3-9) and both my books Death's Promise and Wind will be availabe for free at the Smashwords site https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/twaddle I hope you go check it out.

It's A New Year!

Hi everyone and happy new year. I've gotten lazy with my blogging but, hopefully, now I can contribute my words a little more often. My fall has been busy with kids and school and writing. I've published a new book, again with Smashwords. It's called Wind and I hope that whoever reads it enjoys it. I started to think about what would happen if there were another world that existed beneath ours and in another dimension of course. What if it was exactly like ours except void of any modern technology? There would be no warm houses, no running water and it would be populated by people who have disappeared from their lives throughout time. Now, what if a teenager from the highly technical lifestyle we live in today was to join this world? Would she be able to cope without her cell phone, her computer or her ipod? That's the premise of Wind. It's the first in a series and I'm working on the next one right now.

I had some sad news over the past few weeks. My grandmother died at the age of 102 and, even though she lived a long and full life, I'm going to miss her. My mom came to stay with me over the Christmas holidays and I could tell that she misses her mother very much. She was very lucky to have her mother so long but sometimes I think it made it harder to let go.

My dog, Sheba, has hip dysplasia and is having a hard time walking around. She's only two and my husband is devestated. I've never seen him love an animal so much. They do everything together and now it's getting harder and harder to take her for her daily walks. They now go two or three times a week, that's it. We have her on supplements and special food and medicine. She's a very loving dog and never complains about anything. Her spirit is good and she gives lots of hugs to everyone.

I've had lots of happy things happen as well. My kids are still great as ever. Kayla played her flute so expertly in the Christmas pageant, Rebekah continues to get top grades at school, and Rachel has had her art accepted at an Art Show. She will have three paintings showing at Mount Royal University's HeARTvark event in February.

Camping in September

 Simon and Rebekah went back-country camping in Waiparous. These are some of the pictures.

 

Happy Anniversary!

When I was 23, God it seems like forever ago, my mom helped me get a job at the Holy Cross Hospital in Calgary. It was in the linen department and part of my job was to hand out uniforms to all the various employees who worked throughout the hospital. Each person was assigned a number and their uniforms were hanging in chronological order. Sometimes they only had one uniform hanging there and sometimes they had seven. My job was to put them away when they came from the laundry facility and to hand them out to people as they came to work. It was fun and I got to meet quite a few people. We were situated in the basement and often people would come by just to talk to us.

One day this guy came to get his uniform. He worked in the kitchen and wore all white with a blue head cap to cover his hair. He was nice, chatty and always smiling, and I thought to myself, "He's kind of cute even with that blue hat." When he left, I looked in my box of cards to see just who he was. I knew his uniform number, 217, it was easy to find his name. I found it and kind of cringed, Simon Twaddle, what a strange name, and never thought any more of it.

The days went by and Simon would come to get his uniform every few days. We would talk and laugh and I started to look forward to seeing him. We both smoked at the time and Simon would come and bum smokes off of me, which I gave willingly. He always paid me back and I was impressed that he always brought me back my brand. His dad worked at the hospital as a painter and I often talked to him about hockey and learned that Simon had a son named Dennis and still lived at home. I had noticed that he wore a ring on his finger and was okay that we would just be friends. Then one day he asked me out. Just coffee, he said, nothing more. I thought to myself, "How can he ask me out? He has a ring and a son. Of all the nerve.", and I said no. A few weeks later he asked me again and again I said no.

I eventually learned from his dad that Simon was not married and that the ring he wore belonged to his grandfather who had recently passed away. I was relieved but still said no when he asked me to go out a third and fourth time. At 23 I was really shy and had not dated since high school. I really liked Simon and was too nervous to actually go out with him. What if I made a fool of myself and he never wanted to talk to me again? I didn't think I could handle that. By then we were good friends and I enjoyed talking to him.

Then, one day, I had a safety pass. I was a huge sport's fan and had tickets to the Calgary Stampeders' football game. By chance there was an extra ticket and I decided to ask Simon if he wanted to go. He said yes but would have to meet me there. What I didn't tell him was that I wouldn't be alone; my four nieces and nephews were going along with my brother-in-law. It felt safe to me. I would be able to go out with Simon but still have family support around me. Simon didn't seem to mind and we had fun. He left the game early and said he'd call me the next day. He didn't and I was devastated.

Two days later, he called. I was excited. He asked me out and we went on a real date with two of his friends, payback time. We went to a club, my biggest nightmare, and he tried to get me on the dance floor. He didn't but we still had fun. From that day on we went out more and more and, eventually, became inseparable.

One day, I remember it like it was yesterday, we had coffee in a doughnut shop. As we were leaving and walking across the road a car came. Simon quickly put his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him. I knew then, at that tiny gesture, that I would be with this man forever. I felt at home in that embrace and I never wanted to leave. On September 26, 1992, Simon and I got married and I became Mrs. Twaddle. That was twenty years ago today and the man I loved then is the same man I love now. Nothing has changed. We've been through everything together, children, teenagers, death and tragedy. Does he still give me butterflies when he walks in the room? Yes! He is my best friend, my older brother, my shoulder to cry on, my lover, my old faithful. He is everything I'm not and everything I am. We fit together and I don't think we could every be pulled apart.

I love you Simon. Happy Anniversary!!

My summer is over and it's time to focus on the fall. I haven't been doing too much lately and got stuck in the slow deep ruts of hot days and warm nights. I didn't plant a garden this year and found the prices of the BC fruit at the Farmer's Market too high to do any canning. Besides, my oven is broken and I don't really feel like baking apple pies on the BBQ. Both of my daughter's laptops broke down and, while I'm proud that my youngest made it through three months of no youtube, I have counted my pennies and replaced hers and will be purchasing one for my middle child soon. For now, she and my husband must fight over our desktop pc. If it wasn't for the teachers assigning every bit of homework on their home computers, I might consider a pack of pens and a scribbler as sufficient back to school necessities. I wonder how I ever got through school without any computers at all. Ah, yes, I remember-Encyclopedia Britannica.

Let's see what else have I been doing. Ahh, watching Big Brother three times a week-Ian won and, while I'm happy for him, I liked Dan better. Writing query letter after query letter and getting rejected again and again-publishing on Smashwords is looking pretty good again. I keep reading articles about how ebooks are growing in popularity and am seriously considering going back that way. All I really want to do is write and trying to research and query agents is really time consuming and depressing. I might just write and publish, write and publish. If people read, ok if they don't, ok. I camped a bit and cleaned a bit-the youngest changed rooms and furniture. I did a lot of nothing and now the kids are back at school and I can settle in at my computer and write and update my blog and check my Facebook and Twitter. This is fall and I can settle in my chair and wrap it around me, get a cup of hot coffee and enjoy.

The dog days of August are upon us and my summer is slowly coming to an end. It's been a pretty good summer for me. I went camping, totally ignored my garden (I guess I'll be visiting the Farmer's Market in September to buy my fruit and vegetables for canning and freezing), took my girls to doctor's appointments and dentist appointments (that is if I could get them out of bed), took the dogs to the river like every day (they're really starting to smell and I'll be bathing them at least twice a week come fall), watched movies, downloaded season 8 volume 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on my Kobo (it's not the same as holding the comic in my hand so I'll have to visit Chapters), and, of course, I watched the Olympics. Is it just me or did anyone else really, really hope that Harry Potter would suddenly appear on his Firebolt, point his wand and yell, "Incendio!" to light the cauldron. I think that would have been awesome. Our Canadian athletes didn't live up to their potential according to the experts but I don't think our experts ever live up to theirs so I guess they're even. Was I disappointed that Alexander Despatie crashed in the pool? No, I was amazed he even went back on the diving board after hitting his head and winding up in the hospital. I can't even look over the edge of the diving board let alone jump and twist and turn and land in water without making a splash. Besides, he's won so many medals for Canada before, he's got nothing to be ashamed of. I guess I could get all angry about our 4x100 relay team being disqualified but that's the rule. If we came fourth and the third place team got disqualifed for the same reason and we were given the bronze by default, we'd be so happy. Whatever, we came third and stepped on the line. It'll be okay. Our soccer team got some iffy calls but, hey, we won a bronze medal. We weren't even close to that before. I enjoyed watching Rosie Maclennan win her gold medal and wondered why our only gold medal athlete didn't get to carry the flag in the closing ceremony. I know we have this hockey minded mentality when it comes to sports and the women's soccer team ignited that but, come on, we only had one gold medal. Oh well. I think what I'll remember the most about the London Olympics is the 400m semi-finals in which double amputee Oscar Pistorius came last and evental gold medal winner Kirani James won. James took quick congratulations from the other athletes as he made his way over to Oscar. You could see the admiration in his face as he asked the South African athlete to trade name tags with him. You could see that, even though he was the world's best at 400 meters, Oscar was the world's best at never giving up and that is what the Olympics should be teaching us.

Summer Fun

Sorry I haven't written in my blog for so long. I've been busy with summer stuff like camping, cleaning, writing, olympics, etc. I've posted some pictures of what I've been doing. I hope everyone enjoys them and I'll try to write more often.

Willowrock Campground near Seebe, AB

Kananaskis River

Rocky Mountains from the Willowrock campground

Stairs leading down to the river

Kananaskis River

Kananaskis River

Sheba saved a rock

Pixie looking rather angry that we dunked her in the river to cool off

Simon and Rebekah go white water rafting on the Kananaskis River

Alberta wild roses

Peeking through the trees at the Elbow River

Rebekah and Kayla chillin' on the other side of the Elbow River

Sheba saving another rock

Kayla and Simon taking Pixie riverboarding on the Elbow River

Pixie heading down the Elbow River

Pixie riverboarding

A group of butterflies on the shore of the river

Simon teaching Sheba how to fix his Jeep

Simon and Sheba working on the Jeep

Sunrise from my living room window