Patricia Garry

I Am Starting Over with Blogging Again!

By

Hey, Friends –  

It’s amazing to me that things I really love to do – blogging / writing / thinking and feeling my way through my life – can just slip away in the busy-ness of it all!   I always get so much support from all of you when I am writing – your questions, your understanding, your eagerness to read more – and that all makes it so worthwhile and so FUN!  Which is always my main goal –  fun to me means I am operating at top efficiency, everything is humming along perfectly, life is as it should be.  

So here we go again – writing at least one piece every day, about everything that is interesting to a Double Gemini like myself – which means really everything!   Let me know if there’s a question you have been thinking about, or something you are trying to figure it out.  We can work on it together!

Much Love – Patricia

New Zealand Photos of Last Night’s Super Blood Moon Eclipse!

By

My friend Teresa, lives in New Zealand – and I knew she would have a perfect look at last night’s events in the sky – which happened in her part of the world first.  And of course with no pollution and no cloud cover.  So I emailed her to ask for pix – turns out she was on her way up and out – going higher up and even farther out from any towns and light sources.  It was cold, so she took these pix while in her sleeping bag!  Enjoy!!

Short and Sweet Astrological Sign Definitions

By

ARIES is super quick and in a hurry – has an idea which need to be implemented now!  Maybe our fiery one should take a breath first.  :  >

TAURUS wants to think it over first – smart move, but not for weeks on end.  Make a choice and get going, Sweet Bull.

GEMINI wants to make all the choices at once – and then two seconds later is sure something else will be more fun.  Focusing on just a couple of things will work better.

CANCER wants to peer out of that beautiful shell and see what’s going on.  All that sensitivity and artistry will go to waste.  Please share it with the world.

LEO loves everything, and wants to take care of all that is.  And all needs to be done the big cat’s way. A step back would be good.

VIRGO is so smart, and great with all the details.  Worrying and being critical might get in the way of all that creativity.

LIBRA wants everyone to be happy and comfortable.  Please don’t give up your own joy to try to make the world better.  That won’t work.

SCORPIO wants to get at the core issues.  Use those skills to heal your part of the world for maximum impact.

SAGITTARIUS is the traveler and philosopher, always moving ahead.  Noticing the state of the world where you are would be helpful.

CAPRICORN wants to climb that mountain step by step.  That’s a good way –  but flying might work as well.

AQUARIUS moves always toward the Shining City on the HIll, which is beautiful and worth aiming for.  Maybe some energy could be used to fix your present place.

PISCES wants all the beauty, and can be melancholy when there are so many directions to go.  Maybe paint the vista you are now looking at first.

The Hidden Messages in Water – an oldie but a goodie!

By

I was looking for another book entirely about a week ago, when this one fell out of the bookcase. Published in 2001, and written by Masaru Emoto, the major premise is that beautiful frozen crystals can be created from clear springs and quality water, which has been talked to with love, encouragement, and appreciation. And that dirty, un-fresh water, spoken to disparagingly, only forms incomplete crystals when frozen. The pictures are incredible – bright, colorful, full of beauty!

Dr. Emoto believes that ‘our emotions and feeling have an effect on the world moment by moment.’ My life tells me the same thing. Approaching the world with ease, gratitude and love, expecting joy with each breathe, gives us that world.

Beauty begets more beauty, smiling creates more smiles. Practice and play with these ideas. Your amazement at how well that works will create even more amazement! xoxox

Book Review: Death Comes to Pemberley

By

Noted and long admired mystery writer P. D. James, in 2011 expressed her lifelong passion for Jane Austen by writing Death Comes to Pemberley. It is a wonderful book, with all the great characters from Pride and Prejudice. Darcy and Elizabeth have two wonderful young sons, Jane and her husband are close, their father visits often – life is idyllic. They are preparing for their annual autumn ball – when murder erupts in their quiet life. Not surprisingly, it involves Lydia and Wickham.

The book is great, with a prologue and epilogue carrying it to this story, through and on into the future. The mystery is also powerful, deep and intriguing. I felt sorry for Lydia, since she still did not have her life together. The English courtroom scenes and much of the other detecting was very good, as well as the descriptions of life in a great manor. My only complaint it that there was not enough of Jane and Darcy in it, save for that epilogue and prologue, tying it all together.

A very good mystery, nonetheless.

Book Review: Mysteries by Sheila Connolly

By

A woman with several different series going at one time, Sheila Connolly is a busy mystery writer!

The two series I am following right now are set in different places – one in rural Ireland, centered around a small town pub, and the other set in an apple orchard in New England. Both feature single and fairly independent women – who have met great modern guys. In the case of the apple orchard, Meg Corey has met just one. In Ireland, there are two – one a pretty accessible police officer, and the other a traditional Irish musician. So Maura Donovan has a choice to make down the line somewhere, but she’s in no rush.

These are good, well-plotted and intricate mysteries – clues to solve them are more easily seen at the end than during the story! These stories are also easy to ‘see’, with good detail and atmosphere. And I very much like the detail and characters – these are really community mysteries, set in fixed places with interesting and engaging people who return in mysteries as the series goes on.

So when I need to turn my brain off, and go somewhere else in my mind – I’m very likely to pick up a Sheila Connolly. Might work for you as well.

Play Review: Sleeping Beauty

By

So my honorary granddaughter, Bryce, and I, and her mother went to see Sleeping Beauty at the Ensemble in early December. But first we went to lunch at Taste of Belgium right next door. Which is always wonderful, but was absolutely a madhouse at noon-ish on that Saturday. A delightful madhouse, but nonetheless….

And Bryce, not quite 4, had announced that she was scared to see a play – that she had been some performance, and it was scary. I watched Frozen with this little person, and she didn’t bat an eye. Her mother was carefully saying – let’s just try it and see. I pointed out that there was a dragon in it, and that we both loved dragons.

Bryce had dressed like a princess for the play – she was a smash hit with the audience before the performance, and the cast really loved talking to her in the lobby afterwords.

Yes, she did get through it and we all had a great time. (Though I did not care for their version of a dragon.) And afterwards Miss Bryce and her mom went down the street to meet some friends and watch Santa rappelling down a building at Fountain Square. Quite a busy day.

Restaurant Review: Maury’s Tiny Cove

By

One of the first restaurants I ever patronized in Cincinnati, lo these many years ago, was Maury’s Tiny Cove. I lived in Western Hills then – and I ate meat – so the mock turtle soup was one of my favorites, and a good reason for showing up.

In the last few years, I have a friend who lives in Westwood, and she and I have gone to Maury’s several times. It has changed very little – same leather or faux leather seats in the booths, now split very badly. Same lighting, only dimmer – which is not necessarily a good thing.

The food is actually pretty good, if you eat regular American food, which I seldom do. But it is a good restaurant of its type – just needs freshened up, with fresh dollars.

And now a movie being filmed here is evidently causing that to happen. So I will have to check it out again soon.

I Fixed My Dragon!

By

So several years ago, I had a pillow a dear friend had given me – needlepoint, with Fruits of the Spirit: Love, Patience, Peace and Joy. But the colors were icky, pale and pink and purple. Nothing like that in my entire house. So it mostly lived in a closet. I looked for a pillow to take its place and never found one – and complained to myself and others about it. Until one day, having whined enough, I picked up permanent markers and fixed it. Deep greens, bright oranges, some deep purple. Wow.

So yesterday, I realized that the little stuffed dragon who lives by the front door had also never totally pleased me. A bit of green, but mostly blues, grays, browns.

This morning, he is vibrant oranges, deep greens and more limey greens, the brown now works. And he is much happier, holding his head up high! Hurray!

Book Review: Bury Your Dead

By

Whoever heard of a heart-breaking cozy (more or less) mystery? But that’s what this Inspector Gamache novel by Louise Penny is.

It starts out mysteriously – we’re not sure why Chief Inspector Gamache is in Montreal, but we enjoy getting to know the city. Then he tumbles into a mystery there, while the mystery surrounding the previous investigation that had gone wrong unfolds. So we end up solving a four hundred year old mystery, and learning the results of that investigation. We find out why the Chief Inspector needs to bury his dead.

It’s awful, it’s beautiful, it’s powerful, it’s haunting. All those things. What a writer she is.