Patricia Sands

Author

lifelong friendship

Channeling Mr. Rogers …

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Photo credit – Wikipedia

It’s a beautiful day in the neighbourhood, a beautiful day for a neighbour, would you be mine, could you be mine … *channeling Mr. Rogers* … and there’s a lot of blog-hopping going on today, which always guarantees a great time!

For some reason, I’ve been humming the theme song from  the Mr. Rogers show all day. But … hey … his show was all about friendship and that’s what I’m talking about with my friend Jess today.  I must be having some sort of psychic connection with Fred … goodness knows I watched at least a zillion of his shows when our children were small!

I’m hanging out at the Happiness Project with the fabulous Jess Witkins, a young woman with the most brilliant smile and a sunny attitude to match. How could you not want to rush over to a blog with that handle?

As well as spreading happiness, Jess is working on her first novel and we are all following her progress with great anticipation. Write on, Jess!

She’s been telling me recently about her fabulous book club and we got talking about friendship and  … well … click right here and hop on over to join our chat. You know I’m all about friendship! We would love to hear from you AND THERE’S A GIVEAWAY INVOLVED. See you there!

To make the day even better, best-selling author and dear friend, Steena Holmes … (um, she’s a bit on the shy side … could her photo be any smaller? Steena, we have to talk!)

Anyway, the awesome and talented Steena is here to share her exciting news! Her latest novel, “Finding Emma” has just won the 2012 Indie Excellence Award in the Fiction category. It’s a gripping, emotional story which I was privileged to read and review just as it was published and it is most worthy of all the kudos being received.

Along with that, Steena is contributing a portion of the proceeds from sales to the Missing Children Society of Canada.

If you haven’t read it yet, here’s the Amazon link. BUT WE ARE ALSO GIVING AWAY AN E-COPY HERE! Woohoo!

Steena has an amazing blog tour in progress, hosted by Women On Writing, and you can find a list of all of her stops on her website as well as details about a Scavenger Hunt … seriously!  Honestly, this woman is creative!  She has written some terrific posts that truly hit home about parenting … and the subject of chocolate does come up from time to time as well!

Just leave a comment below this post and then click here to go to Steena’s blog to leave a comment after you read her excellent post about her thoughts on winning an award. We will employ our highly scientific method of putting all the names in a hat and having my DH pick out the winner!

Ahem, pardon me for nudging Steena just a little to the side of the spotlight for a second to share the news that The Bridge Club was a Finalist in the Women’s Issues category for the 2012 Indie Excellence Awards. It was fun to find both of us there when they sent out the list of Winners and Finalists. Yay, us!

I know you are going to enjoy getting to know these two fine friends of mine. In the author/blogger community we often pop around to each other’s sites. It’s the cyber equivalent of meeting up at the local coffee emporium, martini bar, or chocolateria. Where do you like to hang out with your friends? 

How sweet is this?

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If it’s Friday, it must be France …

May 1st is celebrated in many different ways around the world. France has a particularly sweet custom and my friend,  book reviewer and blogger Claire McAlpine, wrote a lovely post about that very topic. I’m happy to share it with you today.

Au mois de mai, fais ce qu’il te plait.

In the month of May do what your heart fancies.

Provencal proverb

So today I feel like sharing a little bit of French culture with you, the 1st of May is a public holiday in France for the Fête du Travail and the day you will find people offering Le Muguet (Lily of the Valley) to their friends, neighbours and acquaintances, a tradition that began during the Renaissance in 1561, when Charles IX offered them to his subjects as a symbol of porte-bonheur or good luck.

Now associated with the Fête du Travail on 1 May, anyone can sell the flower on the street without requiring a licence or permission. Today I walked into the centre-ville and came across many people who are spending their day, sharing the magic of Le Muguet with the public.

The first year I came to live in France, I learned of the tradition when my next door neighbour knocked on the door and presented me with this delightful flower, explaining its significance.

Six months into adapting to this life, language and culture, it was a welcome gesture and reminded me how important it is to reach out to others, even if they appear to be coping, we can all do with a little ‘porte-bonheur’ from time to time.

Claire was a special guest on my blog a few weeks ago. If you haven’t had time to visit her wonderful Word By Word  blog, I hope you find the time soon. You’ll be glad you did!

Isn’t that a lovely custom? Lily Of The Valley is one of my favourite flowers and something I eagerly anticipated discovering in bloom in my garden when I lived in the country. I would pick a sizeable bouquet and deeply inhale the intoxicating perfume. It was such a harbinger of spring!

This year I spent May 1st, like every other day right now (except for Tuesday when I golfed  – YES! I took a day off and it was heaven!)  at the computer madly attempting to get closer to the end of my WIP … I’m SO close I can almost touch it. How did you spend the day? Does your community celebrate in any special way?

KIDS HELP PHONE-how you can help!

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Today I’m reblogging Patricia Caviglia’s latest post. Patricia is a very talented writer – a WANA112 Alum – and great friend and, YAY, we actually get to see each other in person!!! Whether we are attending our local Writers & Editors Network monthly breakfast meeting together or a 6-hour outdoor rock concert in a park (seriously … and she didn’t care that I was the oldest person there … neither did I!) , we always have a lot of laughs and great conversation. Besides that, I’m here to attest to the fact she makes a mean gnocchi tricolore from scratch! I’m happy to support this latest project of hers and hope you might join in too and pass it on. Thanks!

This fantastic blogging community often talks about ways we can pay it forward. Here’s another opportunity for a very worthy cause. If all you can do at the moment is to spread the word, that in itself is an enormous help. Thanks!

To market, to market …

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If it’s Friday, it must be France…

Bonjour mes amis! Let’s go to the daily market in Nice. Whatever you want, they have! If you are a photo junkie like me, go crazy!  We can hang out and browse, conduct a little retail therapy, and then chill with a beverage of choice at one of the cool cafés bordering both sides of the market while we watch the action.

Speaking of beverages, you might want to take a minute to have one while you watch this slideshow. I hope you enjoy the trip.

First we’ll take the train into Nice and hop onto a quick and quiet tram down to Place Massena. Then we simply dive into one of the enticing laneways leading to the Cours Saleya in the old town and voila! When we’ re finished there, it’s simply a walk across the Boulevard Des Anglais to the Promenade so we can park ourselves beachside. You’ll be glad you came with me!

Did you notice the action at the mushroom stall? The customer chooses a mushroom and the vendor slices it open to show the quality. Those were some serious champignons!

Are your speakers on?

Do you like to spend time at the fresh markets where you live? Have you taken way too many photos of vegetables like I have? Where was the best market you visited?