Our Hundred Mile Dinner Party

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Karyn Good

When my sister, mom, and I get together, look out! Let the adventure begin. We planned a treasure hunt and weiner roast for my nephews (7 and 4) and a Hundred Mile Dinner party. Tuesday night we’ll be talking about the book the female portion of this zany group read called The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin! Later still we’ll be trying our hand at making stepping stones. And last night we watched Woman in Gold with Helen Mirren. Despite the torrential rainstorm the night they arrived, the weather has been lovely; not too hot, not too cold, but just right.

But I really wanted to share the scoop on our Hundred Mile Dinner party, which was a success. Not that we didn’t learn a thing or two for next time, which is good because my sister-in-law has proclaimed it is now tradition. And not that we didn’t cheat, just the tiniest little bit. Particulary when it came to the booze.

We did some planning of what we wanted to eat (and what people would eat). We had an age range of four to seventy-seven and we wanted everyone to enjoy the experience. There is no use going to all the effort if no one is going to eat it!

The idea of a Hundred Mile Dinner is to use only ingredients produced or grown within a 100 mile radius. These means no salt, pepper, or sugar, and only locally ground flour. No vinegar. No to a lot of other things as well. But now that I have a better idea of what we can buy locally I’ve got some excellent ideas for the next one.

First off, a trip downtown to the Regina’s Farmers Market on Saturday morning with my Mom, my sister, and the Adorables. Defnitely within a hundred mile radius.

We already had potatoes, two types of lettuce, basil, dill, carrots, and nastrusms from my mom’s garden! So, it was stops for beets, more carrots, tarragon, more dill, and feta cheese. Wine, of course! Tomatoes, cucumbers, and honey. I managed to get a few other things that weren’t on the list. Then it was off to Butcher Boy Meats for the fresh fryer chickens.

We bought four 3+ pound fryers (from one of the Hutterite colonies found around Regina) but only roasted three. The product that saved us was the Three Farmers Camelina Oil. It is bottled in Saskatoon, which is a little further a field than 100 miles, but still Saskatchewan. After a sprinkling of tarragon, the chickens turned out great.

Next the veggies!

We roasted the beets with some camelina oil and then drizzled them with honey and sprinkled on a bit of feta cheese.

The salad consisted on two types of lettuce, tomatoes, basil leaves, feta cheese and tossed with camelina oil.

We boiled the carrots and potatoes. We splashed the potatoes with some cream and dill. We added a dish of cucumbers and a side of feta cheese. That was one of our cheats as I’m sure the cheese people didn’t find the salt in their backyard.

Dining al fresco! Wine from Living Sky Winery. Another area we cheated a bit, okay a lot, was the drinks. We thoroughly enjoyed the bottle of Apple wine from Living Sky Winery but at $25 a bottle it was a risk to buy three or four bottles of a wine we’d never tried before. Turns out it was delicious, especially if you don’t like super dry wine, which I don’t. But we served beer and other wine, plus ice tea for the kids. And all of those drinks, whether produced in Saskatchewan or not, contained ingredients not found in Saskatchewan.

Even the center piece contained nastrusms, carrot leaves, and dill from my mom’s garden! We used folding tables and hauled out all the dining chairs from inside the house. Spread out some tablecloths and with a mishmash of plates and glasses we dined out under a twilight sky that turned into a night illuminated by a blue moon.

I think it was right up there in my top favourite meals. A beautiful evening, comfort food, family, and conversation. What is one of your favourite food experiences?

I Have A Release Date For EXPOSED!

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Karyn Good

I have a release date for EXPOSED, Book 2 in my Aspen Lake Series!

September 11th is the day.

I’m so excited to be sharing Kate Logan and Seth Stone’s story with the world. Their happily-ever-after has been a long time coming. I wrote the first draft of this story for NaNoWriMo in 2009. I know, right? Yikes. But it’s almost here! And I love how Kate Logan and Seth Stone’s story turned out.

Coming on September 11th!

Someone’s always watching…

Kate Logan needs a safe haven, a place to start over after her modeling career disintegrates in scandal. But her hometown of Aspen Lake isn’t the sanctuary she hoped. Her vow of a low-key life is disrupted by a break-in and other strange happenings at her boutique. As the chair of Aspen Lake’s Gothic Revival Festival, she’s also drawn the ire of a religious fanatic. Kate is up to her stilettos in drama and intrigue including one sexy carpenter who’s determined to get in her way.

New to town, Seth Stone is seeking inspiration and solitude to concentrate on his art. Short on funds, he agrees to take on a second job restoring the damage to Kate’s Closet. Trouble erupts along with the desire to get to know Kate better. When he’s used as a pawn in a smear campaign against his gorgeous boss Seth fights back. But now the whole town is watching. Including the man determined to further his own agenda. Time is running out with nowhere to hide.

Sneak Peek!

Kate put a hand to her throat. She was here. She was sober. She was going to stay that way. “Thank you.”

She sighed with relief and avoided searching the dull sky for signs of worse weather. No need to add more drama to an already crappy day. Not when she was expected to spend the evening at the local bar with a group of people who knew it was the last place she should be hanging out. But she’d chosen the location to prove a point. She was in control, temptation be darned. She could handle this. Had handled it for the last two years.

Seth shook his head. “No need to thank me. You give me a chance to design a new display case? I’ll be the one thanking you.”

Against her will, her lips twitched and she nodded. “Why don’t we see how the door goes first?”

“I’ll do my best to amaze.” He grinned. A heart-stopping, slow-spreading, deadly kind of grin. A slight lift of the corners until it gradually widened to reach all the way to his eyes. Eyes that hid a hint of jungle cat in them. The kind of smile that took forever to get where it was going, but when it got there you felt like someone had forgotten to yell “Clear!” before they used the paddles.

I’m still deep in Aspen Lake antics as I’m editing Grace Bighill and Constable Michael Davenport’s story. And these two…they are turning up the heat!

More to information to come on contests and prizes and other good things!

The Big Book Theory

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Karyn Good

Book buying theory: you get the one that fits your mood, your life really, at that moment in time. It’s not incredibly complicated. (Or you buy it because you need to read it for book club.) We all have a method of choosing what book we need. A system we use to whittle down the choices. Stories come in all shapes, sizes, and styles. We might go big, It might be small. Slow moving. Or rocket fast. Spicy or sweet. Happy. Sad. True. Or complete fantasy.

I need at least one book on the go at all times, for sanity sake.

So…I was in the bookstore the other day looking for some epic reads for our camping holiday. As I scanned the tables of books at Chapters (my local bookstore) I noticed a book I’d seen on Twitter by an author I follow. A suspense kind of book, which I love. Very interesting title. Attractive cover. I picked it up to read the blurb and goodness gravy the thing had to weigh 5 pounds. Not quite, but close. but it was Big. BIG, I tell you.

Not even Stephen King’s reassurance that it was a fantastic read and one should not be put off by the sheer number of pages convinced me to buy it. And it turns out it was the second in a trilogy so I need to read the first book, well…first.

Still, I feel kind of wimpy for basing my decision on page length instead of whether I’d enjoy the actually story in those many pages. I mean I read big books. Because hello, Kristen Ashely. She writes long stories and it’s kind of nice knowing you’re in it for the long haul. That you’re going to be engaged for awhile and you don’t have to worry about the story ending too soon. I’ve read Exodus by Leon Uris. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugnenides. I read Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. Heck, I was probably qualified to build a catherdral after that one. And I thoroughly enjoyed every one of them. I love picking up a Nora Roberts’ book because I know I’m going to sink in, relax, and enjoy.

I just don’t like them all the time. I’ve gotten into the habit of reading shorter books. Past paced, moving quickly, lots happening all at once kind of books, which I also love. And some big stories come in shorter books. I wasn’t in the mood for lengthy. I was looking for something else.

I made my selections that day and here’s what I ended up with: a romantic suspense (I think it was – warning; there is a lot of sex in this book. A LOT. Just so you know.); a colouring book which I adore; and 2 young adult books, one of which I’ve started.)

Do you read big books? Do you care how long the story is if it’s something you think you might want to read? How do you pick books?

Holidays, Inspiration, and The Best Of Times

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Karyn Good

We all need to fill that creative well so I guess it only makes sense that being on holiday inspires creativity. We absorb inspiration in through sight, sound, taste, and touch. We make memories. Have good times. If we’re lucky, the best of times. And sometimes the rough ones when things don’t turn out as planned make the most memorable holidays.

Back in 2010 we camped at Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada. Hauling our trailer around has been one of our favourite ways to holiday. And I would call camping at Writing-On-Stone one of our best times. The Milk River runs through the campground. I guess, for us, that was unique because we’re used to camping by lakes. The Milk River was given its name by Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition who described it like this:

“the water of this river possesses a peculiar whiteness, being about the colour of a cup of tea with the admixture of a tablespoonfull of milk. from the colour of its water we called it Milk river.”

Milk River is a slow moving river that you can raft lazyly along. There’s a beach and the mixture of clay and sand makes for awesome sandcastle building. There are sandstone cliffs called hoodoos to climb all over. It’s peaceful and quiet with a first class interpretive center/museum that gives a wonderful look at the history of the area. The perfect holiday.

It’s a beautiful spot, where people have been camping there for 3,000 years. For centuries native people camped along the Milk River, where they found shelter, water, and an abundance of food. They also found inspiration here. They believed this wide, lush valley with its hoodoos was charged with supernatural powers and was home to powerful spirits with the ability to help the people who journeyed to this scared place to pray.

They were so inspired that they documented the importance of this place. Writing-On-Stone park is home to petroglyphs (rock carvings) and pictographs (rock paintings) that tell explain their history, beliefs and way of life on the sandstone cliffs.

If ever there was a place to inspire a story…

Where have you found inspiration? What are some of your favourite holiday locations?

Fictional Settings: More Than Time and Place

Posted on July 2, 2015 by Karyn Good

Setting transports readers to a different time and place. I recently saw an article on what reading does for anxious people. That’s me. I’m a worrier. Reading transports me to another place in the blink of an eye. The setting can be familiar or exotic. But it always has to be meaningul to the characters, which in turn makes it meaningful to me, the reader.

As a writer setting is a tool used to enhance characters and their actions and reactions. It drives suspense. It supports the political and social environment of the story. Setting creates a mood or a feeling in the reader. Or I should say this is a continuing work-in-progress.

My fictional setting of Aspen Lake is that of a small resort town on the prairies. It is modeled after a real-life resort town. A place that is near and dear to my heart. I spent many sunny beach days there as child. I worked in the park for a couple of summers as a teenager. I met my husband there. Have camped their with my own family. It is important to me.

But in BACKLASH, Book 1 of my Aspen Lake series, that isn’t the case for my hero, Constable Chase Porter, who grew up with an abusive father and couldn’t wait to leave. Now he’s back and picking up the trail of wanted gang leader and living next door to the girl he left behind.

And damn his scheming excuse of a realtor to hell. A quaint, post-Victorian home, his ass. Unless crumbling and broken-down constituted quaint. In that case, he’d nailed the description. Fine by him, he didn’t have forever in mind. A couple years tops, unless he hit the transfer to anywhere else lottery. He hated tranquil and quiet. He preferred noise and movement. Life after nine in the evening. Anonymity.

EXPOSED is Book 2 in the Aspen Lake series and will be released sometime this autumn. Seth Stone is the new guy in town. He’s downing a good job of keeping his head down until Kate Logan, boutique owner and head of Aspen Lake’s annual Gothic Revival Fair (which includes the Mad Man’s Ball), becomes the target of a fanatic.

More lights, more candles, more pumpkins decorated the impromptu ballroom. Tables covered in white linen with bronze runners held vases bursting with fall flowers. Swags of purple hung down from the roof. It should have looked cheesy, but somehow it all came together with enough shadow to be mysterious and enough light to cast a spell. Seth focused on the nooks and crannies and the plenty of places to hide and countless ways to make trouble.

MIKE and GRACE’S story is the third book in the Aspen Lake story and a work-in-progress. Their pattern of avoiding each other is broken when a cold case pushes local Grace Bighill and Constable Michael Davenport together. Rumors threaten secrets which in turn tests the loyalty of all involved.

Her head swivelled owl-like. The rest of her was scared to move in case any dust escaped her person and landed on any one of numerous pristine surfaces. He seemed to have a thing for beige. Beige furniture. Beige lamps. Beige carpet. Okay the carpet probably came with the place so technically not his fault. But still…Grace made a mental note to clean her whole house which at the moment looked like a yarn factory and pastry shoppe had a war to which there was no clear winner.

I had a hard time narrowing my favourite fictional settings down to three. But this post is long already. If you’ve made it this far – thank you for sticking with it. I decided to pick a book from my childhood, one book pre-kids, and one I read with my book club and is also one of my all-time favourite books.

I can’t think of a book in which the fictional setting impacted me more than Room by Emma Donoghue. Told from the point of view of five-year-old Jack. I was captivated from page one.

I flat the chairs and put them beside Door against Clothes Horse. He grumbles and says there’s no room but there’s plenty if he stands up really straight.

We’ve all met at least one five-year-old along the way. They’re not the most reliable of narrators. But seeing things through Jack’s viewpoint, his thought process, his dialogue, is what makes this novel the incredibly moving and dramatic work of fiction.

In The Mists of Avalon Marion Zimmer Bradley takes us back to Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table. The Arthur legend is a favourite of mine and has been since forever. But Bradley’s version is very different and told from the perspective of the women of Avalon. it is a powerful look at double standards, male dominance, and the idea of predicting the future.

And then, in one great act of Druid magic, to protect the last precious refuge of their school, they had made the last great change in the world; that change which removed the Island of Avalon from the world of mankind. Now it lay hidden in the mist which concealed it, except from those initiates who had been schooled there or those who were shown the secret ways through the Lake.

It’s tempting to think of adjectives holding the power when describing setting, but in the above it’s the verbs that grab your attention and hold it.

It was Canada Day yesterday and I can’t think of a more Canadian setting than Green Gables as found in Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. One of my most beloved stories.

To the west a dark church spire rose up against a marigold sky. Below was a little valley and beyond a long, gently-rising slope with snug farmsteads scattered along it. From one to another the child’s eyes darted, eager and wistful. At last they lingered on one away to the left, far back from the road, dimly white with blossoming trees in the twilight of the surrounding woods. Over it, in the stainless southwest sky, a great crystal-white star was shining like a lamp of guidance and promise.

It’s a panoramic look at what Anne, an orphan, thinks is going to be her new home given to us through Matthew’s eyes. The beauty is in the details.

What are some of your favourite fictional settings?

Me! Standing on the spot that inspired Lover’s Lane!

The Act May Seem Random, But Kindness Is Purposeful

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Karyn Good

It’s true, don’t you think?

“Practice random acts of kindess and senseless acts of beauty.” Anne Herbert

Kindness is considered a virture. In that it is defined as being “helpfulness towards someone in need, not in return for anything, nor for the advantage of the helper himself, but for that of the person helped”. Or so Wikipedia insists. But I don’t think anyone would dispute it.

“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” Lao Tzu

But when I got out of bed this morning my first thoughts weren’t how can I be randomly kind today. They ran more along the lines of the huge rash my daughter has, the dishes from the Father’s Day celebration held here yesterday that are still spread all over my kitchen. I remembered I had to pay the Weed Man. Make a doctor’s appointment. That I have a another appointment later on today. A meeting tonight.

And random acts of seneless beauty? What is that even? I thought I should be checking Facebook. Instagram. Twitter. And how I really needed to write a blog post. So people will notice me and like me and I’ll sell more books.

Me. Me. Me.

Good gravy, marketing is exhausting.

Sounds a tad whiny, doesn’t it?

It’s okay, you don’t lose points for agreeing. Then I saw something about kindness. A light bulb went on and I was all “Thank you, Universe. For providing.” I needed to work some kindness into my day. For others. And myself. Attitude adjustment time.

I scrolled through websites and Pinterest, in the name of research of course, and I came across what I thought was a gem of an idea from a 30 Day Kindess Challenge. It suggested you “Leave a funny note or a little bit of cash in your favourite library book.”

Isn’t that the sweetest idea? Perhaps not the cash bit. A little bit of cash would probably be considered a dollar or two. I’m from Canada, we don’t have one dollar bills anymore. We have one dollar coins we call loonies and two dollar coins we call toonies. I don’t think that would work, nor would the library police enjoy coins taped to the inside of their books. And call me cheap, but leaving a fiver or a ten seems a bit much. But a note? Or a quote? Or why this particular page is your favourite? Or if you like this book you should try this other book? Or just a scribble. I think that’s an awesome idea. You could slip a note in books you loan out. I could slip them in books I sell. In fact, I think I will.

Kindness doesn’t have to be complicated. (Unless your Miriam Toews and your novel is called A Complicated Kindness and the story has to have conflict and be, you know, complicated. AWESOME book by the way!) It just has to be heartfelt. It has to be about the other person. And maybe that’s what marketing myself should be about, with the focus being the reader. What helps them? What would make their day better? Make them smile? Feel engaged. Connected. Important.

In case you’re wondering where to begin you can go here: How to Practice Random Acts of Kindness.

Taking Safety Seriously

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Karyn Good

I came across this article on Pinterest. You can check out the article here: Ten Self Defense Tips For Women. I’m not going to talk about all ten, and if you do check out the article there may be some points you agree with, some you may not. For example, I have a huge issue with No. 9. Some of you may not. That’s fine. But there is one I want to talk about.

So…let’s talk about No. 7, shall we.

7. ANSWER THE DOOR

Typically, we’ve been told, “If you’re home alone and someone knocks, don’t answer – they’ll go away.” Recent events, though, are showing that more and more, burglars are doing home invasions assuming that if no one answers, it’s safe to go in. Locally, we’ve been told by our police department to answer with a call for who it is, and let them know you’re on the phone or won’t be answering the door or other ways to let the person know you aren’t going to be opening the door. Never actually answer the door even for a service person you are expecting until you’ve been able to confirm that they are actually who they say they are.

Do not invite a predator in.

I have a little bit of personal experience with this one. One day the doorbell rang. I was a little slow to answer it. The door knob rattled but didn’t open because for once it was locked (which didn’t happen a lot). Weird, I thought. You have to know at this point that at the time I lived in a reasonably safe neighborhood of my city. I wasn’t thinking anything bad. I was just thinking strange. Possibly, I’d watched too much television. Because, hello, don’t criminals case a joint before they rob it. Make sure it’s empty? And who would rob our house. We had nothing worth stealing. This was in the days before huge televisions that weighed next to nothing, computers, cell phones, iPads, etc. We were young, had a young family; all our money went to food and shelter. We had one small 15 inch television.

And it was the middle of the day.

But I digress, so what did I do. I OPENED THE DOOR. Wide open without a ‘Who’s there?” or “Who is it?” And there stood a young man in a track suit over six feet tall, looking quite presentable, and clean cut if a little shocked. He eventually smiled when I looked him in the eye and said, “Hi there, can I help you?”

That’s me. Still not having a clue. Did I mention that I’m a very trusting person?

He fumbled around for something to say. And finally settled on, “I’m looking for Broad Street.”

So…Broad Street is a VERY major street in my city. And it’s nowhere near my house.

Now I’m starting to get suspicious. But I still explain to him where Broad Street is just in case he’s actually lost. I know! Polite to the bitter end. Which thankfully it wasn’t.

And he said, “Okay, thanks for your help.”

Because he was polite too. This is Canada after all. Those rumors are true.

I shut the door. They drove off. Yes, there were more men in the car outside. It’s okay to think what you’re thinking. I have more sense now.

By then I’m thinking maybe I should call the police. Because that was really, really weird and obviously he wasn’t looking for Broad Street and they were scouting out empty houses. The police took my call very seriously. They took down my information and checked to see if a car similar to my description had been stolen recently. Probably not a good idea to go about robbing houses with your own vehichle.

They called back not fifteen minutes later asking more specific questions and looking for more details because apparently they just drove further down the street and found a house where someone wasn’t home and broke in. A neighbor spotted them.

Now, I didn’t invite him in. But, if he’d have wanted to come in without an invitation, he could have pushed his way in. Easily.

And that was a humbling thought.

I like to think I’m more careful now. Better at keeping the door locked and asking who it is if they’re unexpected. But I did get a scolding in the grocery store the other day for leaving my purse unattended in my cart. By a well meaning guy who said I really shouldn’t walk away and leave my purse, wide open, for anyone to snoop through or steal.

I thanked him. What he said was true.

So…just remember, stay safe.

Monday, June 1st we’re hosting a Facebook Party (my first one): Romance: Past, Present and Future from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm MST.

The Grand Prize is a $30 gift certificate. There will be prizes, trivia, games, snippets and lots of laughs. There’s a little bit of something for everyone, romance and some stories with romantic elements. Everything from historical (1940s), to contemporary, suspense, paranormal/urban fantasy, and science fiction. Join us!

BACKLASH

When dedicated teacher Lily Wheeler interrupts a vicious gang attack on one of her students, she vows it won’t happen again. But her rash interference puts her in the path of a cold-blooded killer and the constable tracking him — a man she has little reason to trust, but can never forget.

Constable Chase Porter returned to Aspen Lake to see justice done, not renew old acquaintances. But when he rescues the woman he once loved from a volatile situation, he realizes his feelings for Lily haven’t lessened over the years.

Now, the dangerous killer Chase has sworn to capture has Lily in his sights. Can Chase and Lilly learn to trust each other again before it’s too late — or will old insecurities jeopardize their future?

Available Now

Do you have any safety tips you’d like to share?

My Efforts to Declutter My Office and My Life

Posted on May 17, 2015 by Karyn Good

Sexy Suspense

I’m this close to getting a release day for EXPOSED, the second book in my Aspen Lake series. I can’t wait. I love this story.

Kate Logan needs a safe haven. A place to start over after her modeling career disintegrates in scandal. But her hometown of Aspen Lake isn’t the sanctuary she hoped. Her vow of a low-key life is disrupted by a break-in and other strange happenings at her boutique. As the chair of Aspen Lake’s Gothic Revival Festival, she’s also drawn the ire of a religious fanatic. Kate is up to her stilettos in drama and intrigue including one sexy carpenter who’s determined to get in her way.

While that’s happeing, I’ve been on a mission to declutter my office. It’s working. Things are looking good in here. I even dusted. Threw more stuff out. I seem to need to do this in stages. I can’t do it in one big surge of elimination. It’s too traumatic. Especially with the amount of things I still have in here of which of my kids had a hand in creating. But as they grow older, and I grow more mindful of being in the moment, it’s easier to celebrate the people they are right now. Even if it means they are seperating from our nest and that makes me want to hang onto their childhood memories harder.

The other part has been deciding what works for me in terms of organizing my very day life. I tried desperately to use my iPhone to organize appointments and make lists. That doesn’t work for me. I need to use a paper and pen to do these things. Old school, I know. But something about writing it down versus typing it in helps me to remember.

Important papers have been filed. Systems created to keep track of stuff. Now to remember to use them!

But there’s still work to be done. I’ll let you in on a dirty little secret. In my basement are two GIANT bins of my kids’ art, schoolwork, and various projects. HUGE. I’m going to go out on a limb and say they don’t want to keep their math worksheets from elementary school. And most of this stuff is elementary school age. In high school at the end of the year, my son took all his papers out to the firepit and burned them in celebration of the year being over. Yeah, that’s my kid. My daughter’s high school story is a whole different book I’ll write someday.

But I found a blog post that address this in a simple, clear, reasonable way. How To Decide What School Papers to Keep from 365 Organize. It also doesn’t involve spending a lot of money.

Another little gem of advice I found – Keep it if…It’s sentimental gold. “The more memorabilia you have, the less emotionally valuable each individual item becomes,” says Emily Wilska, an organization consultant in San Francisco. Instead of saving every card your beloved uncle ever sent, pick the one that captures his spirit best.

And the cutest decluttering advice: Toss: Yarn and string scraps in your yard. Bits of leftover twine and yarn are perfect liners for a bird’s nest or robin roost. Place these bird goodies on bushes in your yard as the weather begins to warm, and odds are that you’ll be keeping a feathered friend and her brood a bit toastier this season.

What are your decluttering tips? What is one of your favourite momentos?

K Is For Kites! #AtoZChallenge

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Karyn Good

Sexy Suspense

A to Z April Blogging Challenge

I have a daughter who loves kites. And what’s not to love! It’s an excellent stress reliever. One can’t downplay the importance of stress relievers these days. I recently read an article on the effect stress is having on women and their health. I imagine men too.

“Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.” Anais Nin

“You will find truth more quickly through delight than gravity. Let out a little more string on your kite.” Alan Cohen

Hard to be stressed when you’re watching your kite soar and circle. It’s forces you to look up. And the sky is right there. So big and wide. The wind takes it and all you can do is hold on or let out more string. It’s hard not to be present in that moment. To just breathe it in and wonder.