My Celtic earrings.

My husband purchased my Celtic earrings when we were visiting Oban a few years ago. And the earrings reminded me of a story told by the bus driver as we toured around Mull on our first visit to the Scottish island.

He slowed the bus and pointed up a hill to the tumbled down ruins of a stone cottage. "A man died there," he said solemnly and proceeded to tell a story. The man worked on the roads. He had to clear away weeds and bushes from the roadside where a small rowan tree had taken root. He pulled up the tree and tossed it aside.

"Fairies live in rowan trees. If a rowan tree is cut down or ripped up by its roots the fairies escape into the world and will wreak vengeance on the person who dared to disturb them." The driver pulled into a layby to let a bus go past.

"Two weeks after the road worker killed the rowan tree a huge rock crashed down the hill, smashed into his cottage and killed him." The driver turned to his passengers and said. "Never cut down a rowan tree. It will bring you bad luck."

When our son and his family moved into their house in a town north of Toronto, there was a mountain ash tree growing in the corner of the back garden. Rowan trees and mountain ash trees are similar. I told Martin and Alana the story of the rowan tree and the fairies. They took the warning to heart and eighteen years on and counting the mountain ash tree remains in their garden.

My family has Celtic roots in Scotland and my husband's family, Celtic roots in Wales. So it's not a stretch for them to believe in fairies. As I do.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com

My life is on automated response

I spent a long time today trying to post this blog because I was having trouble with my Internet Service provider, and I discovered a very important fact - I am probably going to have a nervous breakdown if I have to go through one more automated response program to solve a problem. did you ever notice how man times you are asked for your telephone number? Like the stupid machine can't record it or remember it. Or how many ubttons you have to push on your phone and still want to know your name? Or the choices you're given to select don't fit the problem you need to solve? And I love that message - This call may be monitored to ensure quality of service. Exactly what service are they talking about? When I found myself yelling at a recorded voice for the tenth time today iIdecided this whole society has now structured itself so you can take care of every piece of personal business and never have to speak to a live person. And they call that an improvement?

Not one usually given to bitching, I have to say that I miss the good old days when you could dial a number, someone - a real person - answered, tou told them what youo wanted and they connected you with the person who could help you. Now they want you to fix the problem wiothout even talking to you.

So if you happen to be looking for me and wondering why you haven't heard from me lately, I'll be the person standing in my vloset banging my head against the wall and wishing for a live person to tell me to stop.

Need to talk to me? Push #1 for cursing, #2 for complaining, and #3 for throwing all automated response mechanisms in the trash.

How Rare and Unique Are You/ Am I?

I took a test at Blog Things this morning. The test was called "How Rare is Your Personality?" Why did I take the test, other than needing something to blog about? Well, I went to the doctor yesterday. I am healthy and even healthier than most - why, you ask ( if you cared about my health) Well, you see where normal people have one of this and two of that, I have double of that. (No I am not going to give gruesome details.)
I joked with the doctor about being a mutant - his shocked expression and attempt at telling me that so many in thousands had the same condition was amusing. I told him I write Sci-fi. the doctor agreed in that case "Mutant" sounded better.
This morning when I realized that A BLOG MUST BE WRITTEN I looked at Blog Things and found the HOW Rare test.
Not only am I a mutant, but I am rare.
Here are the results of my test:
***Your Personality is Very Rare (INTP)***
Your personality type is goofy, imaginative, relaxed, and brilliant.
Only about 4% of all people have your personality, including 2% of all women and 6% of all men
You are Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Perceiving.

If you would like to know how are your personality is check out
How Rare Is Your Personality?http://www.blogthings.com/howrareisyourpersonalityquiz/

As far as the mutant thing, you're on your own.

Charlene Leatherman
Prophecy of Vithan available now at CerridwenPress
Defeat the Villain, Destroy the Monster, Deliver the Hero and Never Break A Nail

Boji Stones

The Boji Stones a story about a modern day woman with a centuries-old secret is released today at cerridwenpress. Here is an excerpt, hope you enjoy:His trembling fingers rested on the keyboard as he leaned toward the monitor, an uncontrollable twitch running through his misshapen body as he devoured the article with the greedy need of a child offered chocolate.'Legend has it that out of all the mortals on earth five women found favor with the gods—Sophia whose face was pitted and ravaged by pox,Zoe a young queen whose village was razed and plundered and she herself taken as slave,Pelagia who had the body of a woman and the mind of a child,Olympia a poor widow with children to feed,andHelen, who’d lost four children to the plague and begged the gods to spare her remaining child.Moved, the gods created five special amulets.To Sophia they gave an amulet forged with beauty and creativity.To Zoe an amulet forged with power.To Pelagia an amulet forged with knowledge.To Olympia an amulet forged with wealth.And for Helen they forged a copper amulet with a beautiful amethyst at its center. Two plain stones the size of small coins flanked the amethyst. The female stone smooth, the male stone’s texture rough. Then they fused the amulet with healing.Or so legend has it…'

September Reflections

One thing I enjoy about living where I do (Michigan) is the change of seasons. Now, I’d be perfectly happy to make summer two months longer and winter two months shorter, but I do love the transitions—both spring and autumn. We’re just now getting the first cool days, and as much as I love my summer uniform of shorts and flip-flops, I’m actually excited to be getting out a couple pairs of jeans and those cute ballet flats I bought last spring and haven’t worn since.

Maybe it stems from having spent too long in the academic world, but I tend to think of fall, rather than spring, as a time for fresh starts and new adventures. That crisp chill in the air makes me want to go for long walks after the lazy heat of summer. I stock up on notebooks and pens right alongside my kids. (Being a writer is a great excuse for buying office supplies!)

So now I’m hoping that the change of seasons works its magic on my writing. The end of summer was a real slow patch for me, between vacations, viruses and having the kids overrun the house. Now that the routine is back in place, I’m hoping the crisp autumn breezes bring a new breath of inspiration. And maybe a swift kick in the pants.

To honor those who honor us

Tomorrow is the sixth anniversary of one of the most horrific moments in the history of this country. We learned with shocking immediacy that we were not safe on this soil from the attack of terrorists, nor would we ever be until those who would attack us were defeated. I'm a Texan by marriage by definitely in my heart. My husband is a sixth generation Texan. And so, for us, the support of the battle for independence begins with the famous Battle of the Alamo, where men from many states and many countries gave up their lives so that Texas might be free. That same dedication to freedom can be seen in the men and women of our armed forces who have the same commitment to freedom. I think this is a good time to reflect on those men and women, who stand at alert at outposts in places we've never heard of. Who fight battles that will never be written about. Who give their all, including their lives, that we may be safe in our homes and our beds. There are those who would denigrate the efforts of this country to ensure our safety and the safety of those in other countries. But without these proud men and women the liberties guaranteed to us in the constitution wouldn't be worth the paper they're written on. There seems to be an explosion of authors lately whose heroes are Force Recon Marines, SEALS, Army Rangers, Delta Force team members, Special Ops team members. And so on. It is their way of honoring these people who fight for our freedom. I applaud them and hope that others of us, as writers, will also find ways to do the same thing.

Desire

It can take many shapes and forms and affect you in different ways. Lately I have a burning desire to do something crazy. To experience for one brief moment that euphoric feeling that comes with the heady sense of doing something you shouldn't. But I reign it in and channel it in other directions. Harnessing some call it. Yes, desire is many things to many people. Lately I am trying to live vicariously through the characters I create, to plunge into a world of passion, danger and carnal sex. As a newly divorced woman that is the closest I'm getting right now. LOL But it works for me. It is the escape that I need. Those breathless moments when I am riding a horse in the desert with a sheik on my trail, or chasing bad guys with a strong, sexy cop that is determined to make me his. Isn't that what we all want? Isn't that why we read and write as we do? For the sheer joy of those few moments spent as someone else.
My grandmother once told me as a rambunctious child that the greatest adventure I might ever take could be as close as opening the cover of a book. She was absolutely right. I've rarely been to any place exotic except in the stories that I read and most of my history has come from the stories that brought it to life for me. I only hope that there are those that can read one of my books and find those stolen moments as they become one of my characters. To me that is the mark of a fantastic author.
So what do you desire?

Lacey Thorn...Your world unlaced at www.lacythorn.com