AT LONG LAST!!

At long last; I must have really been having fun, as the last 10 months have literally flown by. 

I finished and published my third story "The British Import," available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle also available on B & N Nook.  I was somewhat delayed in publishing as I had a minor medical set back but all is well now.

I am busy working on two projects at the moments:

• The story of my eldest nephew migrating from England to Australia in the 1950's with his parents and brothers.  We are collaborating via email.  Life at that time in Australia was not easy as in essence they were one of the many "families" needed to populate and build Australia after World War II. 
• My sister-in-law has collected some short stories from her friends; the stories are "telling tales" about their husbands.  I am working to publish them all in one book.  This again is being done by email with my sister-in-law who in turn is relaying everything to the story tellers.  A long process.

These projects are keeping me busy and my mind active.  The first one I am doing a lot of research on Australia which is very interesting.

My buddy Monte is doing well.  We just got back from our afternoon walk and ran into several friends both human and canine which always makes the walk more enjoyable.  The weather is (hopefully) settling down into winter temperatures and it has been forecast that we are going to get a little, very badly needed rain over the next 10 days.

Finally, I am back; what with the scorching summer sun raining down on me from August thru October (2012) and computer problems I have had a very lazy 6 months in the area of computing.

I still needed to walk my dog, Monte every day; even in the 95 degree plus weather.

January 11th 2013 saw the arrival of one of my nieces and her husband from the UK.  They visited with us for 9 days, not really long enough to catch up on 18 years however we had been emailing and telephoning over the years.  We were about in the "middle" of their epic holiday which started out with 2 months in Florida, 9 days Los Angeles, 6 weeks touring New Zealand in a motorhome then to the land of OZ for 6 days to visit more relatives before heading for Singapore for 3 days, then home, makes me exhausted just thinking about all of it.

Now my computer: it finally died in February 2013 after all it was a "hand me down" and 11 years old.  I am now working with my new computer which of course came loaded with Windows 8 operating system.  This system is quite a shock as it is a lot different to the other Windows operating systems but I am happy to say I have figured out how to use the "quick" keys to navigate to where I want to go.  I have been able to set up my own personal Desktop plus screen saver, at my age I feel this is quite an accomplishment.

I am starting the researching and writing of my third story.  I have no excuse now that I have a new computer.  My first two stories are published with Amazon - paperback/Kindle also Barnes and Noble on Nook.

www.amazon/com/author/tonibyrnes

I will talk to you soon dear Blog.

HOW TIME FLIES

Well, 2 + months have gone by since I last put fingers to keyboard to put my thoughts into published copy.

I have not been idle: I have now 2 stories on Amazon.com - soon both will be on Kindle and Nook.

I have located a cousin of my husband's on his biological mother's side of the family.  The cousin gave me some information and I located 5 biological siblings of my husbands': 2 brothers, unfortunately both deceased - one in 2003 and the other just this year, 2012.  Still working on the 3 sisters, this is a little harder as woman change their last names through marriage, sometimes more than once. It is back to the drawing board to locate children of the 2 brothers.  Hopefully I can find them with the help of our newly found cousin.

I am working on another story and have another one in the research and gathering information stage.

Well dog days of summer are upon us. Time to be lazy and keep cool.

Monte and the Car Show

Once a year Culver City closes streets to traffic close to "our" Starbucks, usually on that day we go to a Starbucks a little further away.  Today is the day the streets are closed; my husband and I decided to walk to "our" Starbucks, it is only 3 blocks way and of course Monte joined us.  Monte being a terrier has to stop and sniff every blade of grass and tree trunk on the way, which makes walking a fairly slow process.  He also does not like crowds and big dogs.  We took his stroller with us and when we got to the crowds we put him in it - as you can see I really does not mind being in the stroller.  He was the talk of the Car Show and the smiles it brought to peoples faces, especially the children made the walk around well worth it.  My husband and I were able to enjoy the show also as we did not have to worry about Monte getting underfoot or barking at some of the other dogs.  We took him out of the stroller once we had cleared the cars and people and he walked home. I should write to Pet Gear and thank them for the stroller, it really was a good investment, maybe Monte could be their poster dog?!!

Ah, A Dog's Life!!!

My dog, Monte does not get very excited or show emotion about anything. When do we know he is excited, he dances in circles otherwise known as his “happy dance”. These are the only times he does this.
• Seeing his leash and knowing he is going for a walk or just out.
• Seeing a dog that he likes.
• That “special” blue bag; he cannot see the color but he somehow recognizes “that” bag.
That bag is his overnight bag. When my husband goes out of town and is able to take Monte with him I pull out the “special” bag and he sits and watches me while I pack it. He knows he is going on a trip. The trips are mostly to Palm Springs in California; Monte loves Palm Springs, it is very dog friendly. My husband usually will get a room on the lower level with sliding glass doors opening onto the grass area surrounding the pool. Monte loves to run on the grass then he will lie down in the sun and soak up the rays. The pool – forget it he doesn’t like water. If he is out walking and someone’s sprinklers are on, he wants to cross the street to avoid the water. He will lie by the pool if my husband decides to go for a swim.
Monte’s overnight bag contains of course his food and “goodies”. A must is his suntan lotion – oh yes dogs do get sunburned, his sun visor and of course his sun goggles. I haven’t told him yet but tomorrow his bag is coming out of the cupboard as he is going on a trip.

Talk again real soon.

What a nice surprise

I have just finished reading a very exciting book called "Once On A Cold and Grey September" written by Brendan Gerad O'Brien. This is a MUST read; although some details may be a little upsetting to some, especially people in the UK who are of an age that they remember the happenings of World War II. I chose to read this particular book, not just for the subject matter but - call me strange - September was the month one of my sisters was born. This particular sister also lived in Los Angeles (close by)sadly she passed away very suddenly December of 2004.

My surprise: I logged onto the website for Brendan and left a comment on the book, lo and behold I received a PERSONAL email in return from him; I replied to his email enquiring about a sequel to the above mentioned book and he informed me by return email he is working on one!!!! My reply email to Brendan included links to a couple of articles I had written for a community website where I lived in England before immigrating to the United States and a link to my blog. Brendan read my blog which in one of them I mentioned my book and he thought it was great that I was also an "author".

Well duty calls; namely Monte my dog who needs me to take him for a walk.

TTFN

Toni

Wonders of Modern Technology

Ah, modern technology what did we ever do when I was growing up and a teenager without these wonderful "inventions".

New Year's Eve at 6:30pm in Los Angeles, California, I sat at my computer and "up pops" my nephews name in the land of OZ. I clicked on his name and "Viola" there he was in front of me, sitting in his tank top and shorts explaining that it was 41c or 105f at that time 1pm New Year's Day in the land of OZ. My husband and I had the pleasure of seeing my nephew and his wife in 2005 when they stopped briefly in Los Angeles at the end of a vacation. This New Year's Day I was introduced to his children and their children.

I also, with my husband and dog got to see my sister-in-law - I had not seen her since they immigrated to Australia in the 50's. Sadly my brother had died shortly after their arrival in Australia but my sister-in-law is still going strong at 92 years old and she doesn't look/sound or think any different to people I know at the age of 80 years old, God bless her.

Now that I have experienced this I will have to get the rest of my family or at least some of them to invest in a camera for their computer and register with Skype as it is free to register and subsequent calls are also free. WOW what a bargain, talk and see people FREE.

Well must close this as I still need to work on the last chapter of my book, hopefully this will be totally finished in a few months. I also need to send a few emails - another wonder of technology - no need to wait for "snail-mail".

Toodles - will talk again soon.