Mom’s Favorite Reads eMagazine Fall 2019

Volume 2, Issue 10

October/November 2019

IN OUR FALL ISSUE...

Articles, short stories, recipes, travel, interviews, poetry, young writers, activities and book reviews. There is something for everyone in Mom’s Favorite Reads.

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Dirk Maggs Interviewed by T.E. Hodden .................................................................................... 7

Off the Beaten Track Autumn in Austria by Anna Rashbrook ....................... 18

Laughter is the Best Medicine! by Hannah Howe............................................. 22

Rock Art & Games by Melanie P. Smith ............................................................. 40 White to Move—Supplied by Chess.com ........................................................... 53

True Love by DM Wolfenden ............................................................................... 15 Trick or Treat by Sylva Fae .................................................................................... 33

Stan Phillips .............................................................................................................. 52

Traditional Sloe Gin by Sylva Fae ........................................................................ 34

Toffee Apple Bread_Butter Pudding by DM Wolfenden ................................ 45 Easy Baklava by Ronesa Aveela ............................................................................ 56

Me and My Stoma by Logan (Age 12) .................................................................28

Why You Should Eat Lots of Candy on Halloween by Christine Ardigo .... 12 Movie of the Month: North by Northwest by Hannah Howe ........................ 16 Nurturing Your Child Through Creative Expression by Denise McCabe ... 20 Billie Holiday by Cyrus Lucas .............................................................................. 23 The Plentiful Hedgerows by Sylva Fae ............................................................... 25 Internet Safety for Children by Denise McCabe .............................................. 30 Philippine Ethnic Dance by Grant Leishman .................................................... 35 Postcards from Spain by Hannah Howe ............................................................. 39 Gautama Buddha– A Philosophical Colossus by Jill Hughes ....................... 41 Book Spine Poetry: A Fun Activity for All Ages by Millie Slavidou ............ 44 Tongue, the Ultimate Word of Speech by Millie Slavidou ............................ 46

Podcast Reviews by T.E. Hodden ......................................................................... 47 Cultural Diversity by Ronesa Aveela .................................................................. 48 Pagan Samhain Celebration by Val Tobin ......................................................... 50 October — Fest by Poppy Flynn ........................................................................... 54

20% OFF First Book Promotion with the Fussy Librarian .............................. 58 Nicole Lavoie, Graphic Design ............................................................................. 58 Connections eMagazine ......................................................................................... 59

Dirk Maggs Interviewed by T.E. Hodden Dirk Maggs is a writer and director, with a career spanning the stage, screen, and videogames, but is perhaps best known as the driving force behind many critically acclaimed, (and fan favourite) audio dramas. He’s broken the Batman, killed Superman, given Sir Patrick Moore a fight scene with the aliens from Independence Day, taken us to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, and immersed us in Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere.

For Audible he has spearheaded ground-breaking productions with franchises like the X-Files and Alien.

I applied to the BBC to become a Trainee Studio Manager, working in radio studios on the sound desk and so on. From there I did various secondments to BBC TV and radio production and realised the place I most wanted to work was in BBC Radio Light Entertainment, where all the radio comedy programmes had loved as a kid were made.

Some early stand-outs of your career were the two productions celebrating the fiftieth anniversaries of Superman and Batman respectively. Is there anything you can tell us about those?

I reached out to Mr Maggs to discuss his career, the art of audio, and how he realised William Gibson’s unmade Alien film.

I got a job as a producer with BBC Radio Light Entertainment after submitting some programme ideas as part of the interview process. One of them was a 50th Birthday docudrama about Superman, because I'd always been a comic books fan.

To my surprise they accepted the idea and commissioned a programme - and then asked for a similar one about Batman a year later.

So, did you listen to a lot of radio dramas when you were growing up?

I mostly listened to BBC Radio Comedy as a child in the 1960s, thanks to my father's love for the medium. He was a big fan of a surreal comedy show during WW2 called 'ITMA' ("It's That Man Again"). So we listened to shows like 'Round The Horne' and 'I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again', which were very popular. My favourite though was The Goon Show, which had been and gone but could still be found on discs and BBC repeats. Spike Milligan's genius and visual use of sound to tell stories influenced me most, and comedically he influenced people I later worked with, like members of the Monty Python troupe and The Goodies.

Were these the stepping stones that launched into your run of superhero series with Adventures Of Superman?

Indeed these were the catalyst that led to actual series involving the DC superheroes. At first they were on BBC Radio 4, in 15-minute episodes, but later on when BBC Radio 1 had a makeover, the Network Controller asked for a Batman series running in daily three-minute episodes. It seemed an impossible task to fulfil - but then I though about how comic books packed an awful lot into relatively few pages, and from that point it just flew. Nowadays there are people in their late 20s who come

How did you first get involved in radio?

I trained as a drama teacher because I thought I might become a professional actor, but found out I wasn't terribly good at either teaching or acting. So -7-

up to me in BBC corridors and say they wouldn't have thought of working in radio if they hadn't heard those shows, which is a wonderful thing to hear.

Dirk went on to make Batman Knightfall (still a personal favourite of mine, by the way), The Amazing Spiderman, and Judge Dredd, but it was another Superman project “Doomsday and Beyond” that won not only critical acclaim, but awards from the American Bookseller Association, and Publishers Weekly.

Yes, under its US title, 'Superman Lives', the series won their 'Audio Of The Year' award, which was a big thrill. It felt like a validation to have a British production of such an American icon recognised in the States.

The show was broadcast pretty close to the comics. Were you making it while the comics were still being produced?

Your superhero series were often described as “audio movies”, and didn’t sound like anything else at the time. Was that because of the technology, or the ethos behind them? What made them so special?

Yes indeed, in fact towards the end I was writing from the writing team's typed scripts, with no artwork at all. It was very exciting and a little bit intimidating to be so involved, but Mike and the DC gang treated me as part of the creative team.

Well it was an interesting time because BBC Radio was operating with very dated analogue equipment and I was struggling to achieve the effect I wanted of basically creating the soundtrack to a film that didn't exist on celluloid (at that time), and for which you didn't need pictures because the entire story was conveyed through sound. I had to go outside the BBC to find a studio that worked digitally and had experience with Dolby Surround, which as Dolby Stereo was the cinema's principal sound system at that time. I was encouraged to do so by Douglas Adams, who I'll talk about more below.

How do you think those projects stand up today?

For myself when I hear a clip I just notice everything I could do better. But I still get emails and people contacting me on social media saying their kids have discovered it and are playing it on constant loop, so it seems to still work.

How did you get to be the man who killed Superman?

Can you tell us anything about An American Werewolf in London?

By 1993 I had made very good friends in DC Comics in New York, and I had the idea of making an audio movie of the latest Superman comic book stories *as they were being published*. The upcoming storyline was The Death Of Superman, and the editor of Superman comics at that time, Mike Carlin, was absolutely determined to help me do a good job. We have been friends ever since.

I am always reluctant to do an audio project that directly re-tells the story of a movie or tv show because the job has already been done, but in this case John Landis was enthusiastic at the idea of turning it into an audio movie and allowed me to expand the early part of the script to encompass how a werewolf arrived on the Yorkshire Moors. So we were able to add a new angle to the story, and Jenny Agutter, Brian Glover ad John Woodvine reprised their film roles brilliantly.

-8-

And of course, there was the one off Independence Day UK special. Do you remember anything of the production?

before we could actually get the original cast into a studio and record them. So it was a bittersweet experience, but the intervening years had brought digital technology to its peak and so we were able to work much more quickly than Douglas and Geoffrey Perkins had been able to in the 1970s, and be a bit more ambitious in terms of sound quality, which was always Douglas's Passion - including mixing the final product in surround sound, which we had long discussed as an option.

20th Century Fox heard my comic book stuff and asked if I'd like to do some kind of spinoff from their upcoming movie. I went to LA and met the movie's co-writer and producer Dean Devlin, who gave me permission to produce a radio adaptation provided that we did not reveal certain details of the movie's plot, and that we did not depict the British as saving the day. So I wrote an ending where a British character said "Oh I expect the Yanks will take credit for this as usual", which Dean thought was very funny.

Do you mind if I ask a little about your creative process? When you have a script in hand for something like Good Omens, or Neverwhere, how do you even begin to know what you need to build an entire fantasy world?

Controller Radio 1 liked the proposal so I conceived the resulting hour of radio drama as a bit of a homage to Orson Welles' Mercury Theater 'War Of The Worlds' which panicked the radio listeners of the USA in 1938 by treating H.G.Wells' story of a Martian Invasion as if it was actually happening during a news programme. So we concocted a story where (then-) Radio 1 DJ Nicky Campbell was presenting a 'UFO watch' programme live from an RAF early warning aircraft over London, with the legendary and eccentric British Astronomer Patrick Moore as his 'expert on the spot'. It was enormous fun and went down very well. The best part for me was spending a day at an RAF base recording aircraft and sitting in them too!

Generally speaking a script is like any piece of written work - as you read a novel, for example, your brain provides visual images to complement the text. Reading a script has exactly the same effect for me, except that the visual images I have in my mind's eye need to be rendered in such a way as to communicate themselves visually without actual moving pictures. That's really the point at which I have to think laterally about how a mixture of voices, sound effects and music can convey the same visual image in my mind's eye, and hopefully grip the listener. It is hard at first, and although it never gets easier, I am seldom frightened off by a script!

What do you think your biggest challenge has been?

Working on Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy must have been a daunting prospect, keeping the feel of the classics while maintaining the qualities and expectations of a modern production? How did you approach the project, and what was it like to make?

Without appearing to cop out on a specific answer, the truth is that I approach every new job wondering if I can pull it off this time. I suppose that's probably a healthy kind of doubt. Douglas once said that it was ridiculous how little people in radio (audio) got paid as opposed to those in television, because it's a much harder medium to write for and create in - I agree 100% with that sentiment!

I would never for a moment have considered taking on the Hitchhiker novels Douglas Adams wrote long after the first two radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy had moved on from radio.

But Douglas had heard my DC Comics stuff and, having finished writing the books, thought I was the person who could bring the story back "home" to BBC Radio. It was a long and tortuous process contractually and the tragedy was that Douglas died

Photos copyright Dirk Maggs http://www.dirkmaggs.com/ -9-

Does the challenge differ when you are working to compliment a visual medium, like an animation or a game?

Having pictures to work to can make life a little easier soundwise, in that an animation - even if only at the animatic stage, which is a series of pencil sketches strung together - can also have a certain timing built in, so in a sense one's contribution is guided by that. But when working on The Animated Mr Bean with Rowan Atkinson, if Rowan wanted to add some business then of course a way to do that would have to be found.

Games are trickier to work on - they are more granular, being so enmeshed in detail - it's not unusual to spend an hour finding 25 ways of getting an actor to say "Eh?". It's hard to preserve a sense of the overall drama when you're buried deep inside a two letter word!

Do you find yourself “hearing� the descriptions in books, or paying attention to the sounds of TV shows?

As I mentioned above, I work off the same visual stimuli which everybody gets when reading written material. The end result I'm aiming at is always a *visual* image - it just happens to be projected inside the brain by the listeners imagination, not on a screen. That said, a TV show or movie with exceptional sound design is always inspiring to me. Good

sound design is the key feature of a good TV or Movie production. Jurassic Park without a sound track is a lot less scary and suspenseful - it's a nature film.

In more recent years you have been making a lot of high profiles shows for Audible, with the likes of the X-Files, Unseen Academicals (a Discworld adventure) and a series of chillingly atmospheric Alien stories. Can you tell us how this relationship came about?

Audible were looking to expand from single voice reading audiobooks to full cast, exciting audio productions, and my production style fitted the brief. We started with Alien: Out Of The Shadows in 2016, which immediately hit the right note. The X-Files productions were already commissioned and David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were attached; I came aboard that to adapt the comic book scripts (as twenty-five years earlier with Superman etc.) and punch up the sound design. This has worked so well that I am now working mostly for Audible, who have share the idea that there are no limits to the stories that can be told in sound alone. In fact we are about to embark on a major series of comic book productions at this point which really are very exciting.

- 10 -

Is it fair to ask if you have a favourite?

'Podcasts' can basically be anything that's been committed to audio and posted on the web - from single voice readings to discussions to drama, which is my end of the operation. The mediu I love to work in has pretty much been saved from oblivion - certainly in the US - as a result and I'm enormously grateful.

I'm particularly proud of the work I've done with Neil Gaiman, in particular our BBC Radio 4 productions of 'Neverwhere' (starring James McAvoy, Benedict Cumberbatch and Natalie Dormer) and 'Stardust'. I think we hit real of magic on those productions and I'm looking forward to doing more with him.

Which of your works would you recommend to an interested reader, and where can they buy it?

A lot of my stuff is available on CD or for download - if you put my name into Amazon or iTunes' search engine, lists of the productons will pop up.

The rest depends on your taste!

Your production of Alien III has been getting a lot of buzz around the fandom, but it’s a very different beast (quite literally as it happens) from the script that became the movie. Can you tell us about that?

Do you have any advice for readers interested in working in audio, for drama or a podcast?

There are a great many 'unmade movie scripts that got away' which can be found on the internet, and one of the best is William Gibson's unused draft script for ALIEN III. The existing Alien 3 movie wasn't the success the studio hoped for and although it has its fans, is not 'up there' with the first two movies. So Audible asked if we could make Gibson's script into an audio movie and Fox agreed.

What was especially great was having Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen reprise their roles from ALIENS as Hicks and Bishop, who were pretty much the stars of the unused script.

Keep at it, listen voraciously to other people's work; join Facebook or other online communities of fellow creatives to exchange ideas and learn from the experts. Above all, don't be discouraged, even if you don't think anyone is listening - you WILL find an audience, and even if it takes longer than you expect, you'll have so much fun in the process.

Are there any other projects you would like to tell us about?

Yes, but sadly I'm not allowed to!

Is there a charity you want to mention to the readers?

We’re living in an age where computers and technologies are changing quickly, with the advent of podcasting, and home studios. Is this changing the way you work?

Well I support Save The Rhino, as Douglas Adams did before me. All endangered species, and our endangered planet, need support.

I don't think audio as an entertainment medium would have survived in anything like the great shape it is in now without the internet, smartphones, and so on.

Dirk Maggs, on behalf of myself and all in the Mom’s Favorite Reads community, thank you.

Thank you!

T.E. Hodden trained in engineering and works in a specialized role in the transport industry. He is a life long fan of comic books, science fiction, myths, legends, and history. In the past he has contributed to podcasts, blogs, and anthologies.

Discover more on Mom’s Favorite Reads website: https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/t-e-hodden/ - 11 -

Parents Have to Set the Example

Our school district forbids parents from bringing in treats on their children’s birthday. I understand food allergy concerns, but the main reason they gave was that it promotes obesity. Does it?

Is it a sin to eat a cupcake on your birthday?

Will children want cupcakes every day because cupcakes = happiness?

I talk to my daughters all the time about healthy eating and make sure they eat fruits and vegetables every day. The point is, cupcakes don’t promote obesity and Halloween candy is fine if it’s a once a year celebration. There are plenty of occasions we’ll attend like weddings and barbecues and baby showers and there will always be desserts. If our children, as well as ourselves, know the rules, we can indulge and have fun at these parties and not panic.

Will parents be defenseless against their seven year old screaming more, more, more! What if they demand cupcakes every day! Can we stop this madness!

They also say that if we bring in cupcakes on their birthday, they will think that whenever there’s a special occasion, we have to celebrate with dessert. Well isn’t that what traditions are all about? Pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving? Decorating homemade cookies on Christmas? Jelly beans on Easter? Rugelach and Sufganiot on Hanukkah, and Hamantachen on Purim? Carvel Ice Cream cake on birthdays?

I never understood why cupcakes on a child’s birthday promoted obesity, especially since the school has bake sales at every event and has chocolate fundraisers. You’d be chastised for sneaking in pink cupcakes on their special day but hey, there’s no problem if they want to eat Cheez Doodles and Doritos every day for snack.

Nope. None at all. And how ’bout that kid that brought in a Hershey’s chocolate bar in between two pieces of white bread for lunch? (true story). Not a problem.

Never mind that my daughter is the one bringing in yellow peppers and cucumber coins or strawberries for snack every day. It doesn’t matter that she just finished munching on her green apple or cantaloupe, if you try to sneak a bite size piece of Milky Way into her lunchbox, you WILL get a letter sent home stating NO CANDY!

My daughters also don’t spend hours ringing doorbells and return with a pillow case jam packed with enough candy to feed and entire town for two years. After an hour they’re bored and cold and have just enough to keep them satisfied for several days or possibly a week or two.

I talk to them about portion sizes and what happens when you eat too much junk.

- 13 -

I let them know how important fruits and vegetables are and they don’t mind eating them in school for snack. If they want dessert, I say “have a fruit or vegetable first” and they are okay with that too. I don’t serve starch (rice, potatoes etc) at dinner, but serve veggies or salad with our meat instead. They are both taking Health in school this year and the teachers are shocked that they know how to read a food label or that they know they need 5-9 fruits and vegetables every day. I teach them and so should you. I set a good example as well. They know they can have a dessert every day but they must also eat healthy foods too.

say have a glass of milk with it at least to get some protein and nutrients in you? Yes. Can I instruct them to brush their teeth extra-long, before they go to bed? Yes. I don’t buy a bag of candy unless it’s Halloween. I don’t give them chips to eat in school, nor do I buy chips when I have a party. At parties I do let them enjoy and indulge because there’s not that many parties to go to. Do we bake and have a dessert after school? Of course. Do I sneak cupcakes into the school on their birthdays anyway? Well, fortunately for the school, their birthdays are in July and August, but if they were during the year…..hmmmm. ᪈

If they eat too much candy on Halloween and don’t feel like eating dinner, will it be the end of the world? No. Will they gain 20 pounds by the end of the week? No. Will they demand I buy candy on a regular basis? No. When the candy’s gone, it’s gone. Can I explain how too much candy is not good for you? Yes. Can I

P.S. Enjoy Halloween this year with your kids and with the little Trick or Treaters. I love seeing them in costumes. Hand out candy (the cool kind) and have a piece yourself. Enjoy, and save the Almond Joy’s for me!

Christine Ardigo is a Registered Dietician / Personal Trainer who writes contemporary romance novels in her spare time. When weight lifting, rock climbing, white-water reafting, and jumping out of airplanes wasn't enough, she decided to fulfill a dream she had as a child: to write a book. She's lived in New York her entire life and can't imagine living anywhere else.

She has the beaches, the bay and the city, all a half hour away. She's built memories here with her husband, two silly daughters and a bunch of crazy friends, all whom she loves very much.

Discover more about Christine on Mom's Favorite Reads website: https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/christine-ardigo

- 14 -

True Love

by DM Wolfenden Anita can’t keep the smile off her face; today is the day she meets Jim; the man she fell in love with via an internet chat room. She has been talking with him for two years. They know everything about each other.

Her obsession with true crime and board games.

They’re both vegetarians, and their favourite pet is a dog. They plan on getting an English bulldog and naming him Frank.

The hairdresser cut her golden locks shorter than she wanted, but they still cascaded over her shoulders.

Anita applied the last touches to her make-up and smoothed down the little black dress that showed off her curves.

The bar at the hotel was quiet. Jim had chosen it because he had stayed there before. Anita ordered herself a martini. She was early so wasn’t too concerned about Jim not being there.

Her phone beeped. A message from Jim telling her to go to room 412. He would join her soon. A surge of excitement sent butterflies throughout her stomach.

Anita grabbed her drink and made her way to the lift.

The room was unlocked and when she entered a gasp escaped her lips. Dozens of red roses were on every surface. Her favourite chocolates on the bed with a note. Sweets for my sweet.

Anita sat on the bed and opened the box of chocolates.

She ate one, finished her drink and ate another chocolate.

Something wasn’t right, she felt strange. Her head began to feel woozy. Her eye lids were heavy. She leaned back on the bed.

When Anita opened her eyes, the room was dark. She shivered in the cold and tried to sit up, but her arms wouldn’t move.

Something tugged at her wrists. Panic set in, she tried to scream, her mouth wouldn’t open, her lips were stinging as they pulled on something. She thrashed about trying to loosen the restraints The light came on. It hurt her eyes. It took a moment to adjust. A man stood over her. She didn’t recognise him. She tried to mumble his name. She wanted to know where Jim was.

The man smiled. “Jim won’t be joining us today.” He looked over his shoulder at the on-suite.

Anita followed his gaze. The door was open, and the love of her life was unmoving on the floor. Blood was splatter as far as the eye could see.

“My cousin told me all about you. About your obsessions.”

Anita looked back at him “Now we are going to play a game. I’ll be the serial killer, you be the victim.”

Find more Flash Fiction from DM Wolfenden in her collection, A Sea of Monsters and other Tales available from Amazon.

Dianne Wolfenden writes under DM Wolfenden. I love all things dark and am a horror addict. I grew up watching the old British hammer horror TV movies.

Most of my stories have a dark side and one of my friends said they represent me pretty well; a little dark with a lot of heart. Discover more on the Mom’s Favorite Reads website: https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/dm-wolfenden/ - 15 -

Classic Movies: North by Northwest

By Hannah Howe North by Northwest developed from a series of conversations between Alfred Hitchcock and Ernest Lehman. Hitchcock wanted to make a movie that included a chase scene across the famous faces at Mount Rushmore, an idea Lehman liked.

Another scene that developed from Hitchcock’s fertile imagination was the aeroplane chase scene across a barren landscape. For the best part of eight minutes nothing happens in this scene, but it is gripping nonetheless.

The casting is excellent with James Mason and Martin Landau suitability menacing as the villains. However, it’s interesting to note that Jessie Royce Landis, who played Roger Thornhill’s mother, was only one year older than Cary Grant at the time (!)

North by Northwest is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s finest films. Released in 1959, the movie tells the story of advertising executive Roger Thornhill, a man mistaken for a non-existent spy.

The story, written by Ernest Lehman, is breezy entertainment, a series of stylish set-pieces. The central plot revolves around a roll of microfilm. However, that microfilm - a McGuffin in the words of Ernest Lehman - is largely irrelevant to the enjoyment of the movie.

Ernest Lehman made the story up as he went along and he freely admitted that occasionally he painted himself into a corner. However, he always managed to extricate himself, and his characters.

The finest example of this is the scene where Eve Kendall, Eva Marie Saint, pulls a gun on Roger Thornhill, Cary Grant. If you look closely, in the background you will see a young boy, one of the extras, as he places his fingers into his ears before the gun goes off. Clearly, this was not the first take and the boy was anticipating the noise. Nevertheless, Hitchcock selected this take for the final cut of his movie.

The star of the movie, in my eyes, is Eva Marie Saint. She doesn’t appear until a third of the way into the movie, but from then on her combination of beauty, elegance and vulnerability is enchanting. One of her first lines is, “I never make love on an empty stomach.” However, the censors changed this to, “I never discuss love on an empty stomach.” Watch her lips in this scene and you will notice the subtle difference.

Eva Marie Saint with Cary Grant in North by Northwest, 1959 - 16 -

While directing Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest, Alfred Hitchcock offered the following advice, “Lower your voice, don’t wave your hands around, and when you speak always look into Cary Grant’s eyes.” Advice that, in the movie, works to stunning effect.

North by Northwest was the working title for the movie. At one stage the title of The Man in Lincoln’s Nose was suggested, but thankfully that was rejected.

The movie includes many of Hitchcock’s trademarks, including a cameo appearance by the director at the very start of the film and his generous use of subtle lighting and overhead shots.

The film isn’t perfect, and the Studio worried that it went on for too long. The drunk driver scene at the start was inserted for humour, but it isn’t funny and it does go on for too long. The dramatic cliffhanger at the end, classic Hitchcock, is spoiled in my opinion by an abrupt ending and a cut that placed the characters on a train. That train then disappears into a tunnel in a metaphor for sex that was a cliché even in the 1950s.

Overall though North by Northwest is fine entertainment, and if you haven’t seen it you are in for a treat.

Alfred Hitchcock

Hannah Howe is the author of the Sam Smith Mystery Series, the Ann's War Mystery Series and the #1 international bestseller Saving Grace. Hannah's books are published by Goylake Publishing and distributed through Gardners Books to over 300 outlets worldwide. Her books are available in print, as eBooks and audiobooks, and are being translated into ten languages. Discover more on Mom's Favorite Reads website:

https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/hannah-howe - 17 -

Autumn in Austria

By Anna Rashbrook

Autumn with the turning of the stunning sycamores followed by the larches, often seems to be wonderfully warm weather - especially around the time of National day. When unashamedly flags are on buildings and people celebrate. There also seems to be a time in late August when you're suddenly aware of a change in the air, it’s a coolness and a yellowing of the light, to me that's the start of the fruitful part of autumn. We go regularly in the summer to the Mariapfarr church for 'Holiday maker' services. in here the windows aren't stained, the light is wonderful flowing onto the flower decked altar, and it’s here I've often first noticed the autumn light change. In autumn it’s cooler to walk and a completely different vista to the summer mountains.

There is a small village at the end of this valley and to here the sheep are brought down from the mountains, sold and taken home, a real party in Lungau style.

Early winter can be drab and dull but as I've blogged it has its own charms. There's the last riding festival, the St Leonhardiritt in Tamsweg. This was cancelled for a couple of years firstly I heard because of the bills and moaning about cleaning up the streets, and then the guy who runs it had a major fire at his stables and didn't quite have the time. It was back last year with a ride up to the Pilgrimage church of St Leonhard's and then back to the stables.

There is the new festival of Bauernherbst here, in an attempt to get farm produce sold. There are scarecrows all over the valley and more beer, music and sausage to go with it! Then as all gets colder, a lot of the people running Hotels take themselves off for a holiday somewhere warm.

The end of the year really seems to be coming when there is the sheep gathering at Goriach.

- 18 -

Waiting for the blessing at St Leonhardiritt

Before we know where we are, the far less commercial Christmas approaches in Advent, with homebaked wonderful biccies everywhere we visit, and not a single mince pie. Advent crowns are BIG here, but with only four candles for each Sunday before Christmas. Last year I attended a lovely service with folk Christmas songs as they blessed the crowns I didn't really see why they needed to unless it’s because as I've found by the Christmas the first candle has started to burn through the wreath and therefore the table and so on! The Christ child comes on Christmas eve, in a country where the Christ still is in Christmas, and it’s a time for me to see my kids.

All Saints and Souls is really celebrated, with the graveyards decked with dry flower arrangements, from heathers and dried plants. There's a big visiting of families, graves and a special currant bread is baked to share. No Halloween here.

Then we have to change the car tyres ready for the snow. I hate it when it comes too early, love it at the right time, though I must say, I didn’t make a snowman this year - maybe I'm growing up!

Kaesermandel comes in November, it’s another wonderful local custom. The Kindergarten children dress up as the farmer, his family and the cows, make little cakes and come around telling the poem about thanking the Mandel or spirit so he looks after their huts on the mountain in the winter.

My Lungau is a very Catholic area, in religion and tradition, but always something to look forward to on the horizon. It’s such a contrast with the UK where we’ve lost so much with our Protestant heritage. And we're famous too! It was here in Mariapfarr that Silent Night was written and in Obertauern (ok not quite Lungau) that Help was filmed by the Beatles.

Then comes St Nicholaus and Grampus in December with these evil devils trying to thwart St Nick, they never win, but it’s another excuse for a boozeup and a parade - often held behind security railings to stop people being beaten up and injured. It really is as if the devil is in the air.

Anna Rashbrook was born in Winchester (UK). Married for 36 years, she has two adult children who wouldn’t move to Austria when she moved there in 2007. She teaches English and is concentrating on her writing novels. Discover more about Anna on the Mom’s Favorite Reads website:

https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/anna-rashbrook/

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Nurturing Your Child Through Creative Expression

By Denise McCabe become more confident and all-round developed individuals. Improved critical thinking and problem solving skills can also be nurtured when children engage in and enjoy creative expression. This method is also great at helping children process and develop any emotions that they feel, which can help them cope with it better (especially if they’ve been through traumatic events). In addition, parents and teachers will be able to better monitor the child’s development based on the products of their creative expressions. It’s also like a self-appraisal of sorts that a child can do for himself.

What is creative expression and why practice it?

Creative expression is widely regarded as a way for people, especially children, to express their inner thoughts, opinions and even identities through forms of art such as painting, writing as well as music. A large part of one’s personal experience and knowledge greatly forms the basis of their expression, and can mirror or help them process their emotions or thoughts.

How to foster creative expression in children

Creative play is a very large part of creative expression, and involves allowing children to use familiar materials in a new way. This includes both role-playing as well as imaginative play.

Through these activities, children are able to face simulated situations of real-life issues, and can learn, in their own way, how to overcome obstacles that they might face. They can do this by going through numerous attempts at the same movements or skills as well as though processes.

Many scientific studies have shown that creative play cannot be replaced by any other forms of skills development when learning to relate into our great big world. The simple act of reading to or with your child can also have beneficial effects on them.

How does it benefit your kids?

The practice of creative expression has numerous benefits of your child. It first of all can help build and develop the fine-motor and language skills of your child, assisting them in growing to - 20 -

Inviting more of your child’s friends to join into their creative play time will add another important element of development – social skills.

Interacting with others will help them understand what theirs should be in different scenarios and allow them to work on considering the needs of others and building an understanding of morals and values different to theirs. This reinforcing of social skills is largely done through dramatic play or role playing, and allows children to act out life scenarios without worries or pressure.

Making the best of creative expression

With creative expression being a very large part of many education systems in the world, there is no doubt then that it is a crucial tool for every child in their develop-mental stages. Ensure that there is a variation on the types of play that your child goes through, as well as introduce diverse content or topics that appeal to them, yet educates. Schedule and make time for creative expression regularly and your child would have a great chance of developing in a more holistic manner.

—Denise McCabe, Children’s Books author

Denise McCabe is a children’s book author and blogger. She resides in Dublin with her two children. Her favourite pastime is writing, and reading with a cup of tea at hand. Discover more about Denise on the Mom’s Favorite Reads website:

https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/denise-mccabe - 21 -

How do you get a man to exercise? Tie the TV remote control to his shoelaces.

How do men exercise on the beach? By sucking in their stomachs every time they see a bikini.

A man walked into a florist and said, “I’d like some flowers please.” “Certainly, sir,” said the florist. “What did you have in mind?” “I’m not sure,” the man frowned.

“Oh,” said the florist. “Perhaps I can help.

What exactly have you done?”

What should you give a man who has everything? A woman to show him how to work it.

How can you tell if a man is sexually excited? He’s breathing.

Remember: a woman has the last word in any argument. Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

My husband and I lead a quiet life.

The last time we went out together was when the gas boiler exploded.

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Billy Holiday

By Cyril Lucas Billie:

What can have inspired Shaw to stage-manage such a disaster? Black bands, musicians and singers were accepted without question keeping their place as talented entertainers and – it had to be acknowledged as masters of their (own) music. But a black girl integrated in a white band performing in public? Before respectable ballroom dancers, husbands and wives out for an evening of relaxed leisure time together? – That was something else. An insult. An outrage,

Imagine the impact!

There is a storm of applause from the adoring dancers across the crowded ballroom as the last bars of ‘Begin the Beguine’ fade to a close. It’s a hugely popular number and has been in the charts for weeks.

When the bandstand lights are lowered Artie Shaw announces he will play “Any Old Time”, a new song he has written himself. It will be sung by his new vocalist. A spotlight picks out another microphone and shines on a young woman in her glowing prime.

She is truly beautiful. She wears a long formclinging white evening dress and her hair is gathered in a topknot on her head like a crown. Her smile is dazzling. She is thrilled with the excitement of the occasion. A hushed silence falls over the entire audience and astonished murmurs begin to change into calls of outraged protest. For she is Billie Holliday … and she is black. It is April 1938, this is Louisville and Jim Crow rules the South rigorously.

Shaw had greatly admired Billie’s 1935 and subsequent recordings with Teddy Wilson’s small groups featuring all the major instrumental soloists of the day – intended for the jukebox market - and thereby creating an incomparable and imperishable jazz library: a pinnacle of jazz history. He had taken part in one session himself. He signed Billie a month after she left Count Basie at the end of March 1938, no doubt with the best of intentions and high hopes for their collaboration. It was a typically impetuous decision. It could not and did not work because the social problems were insuperable. On tour Billie was not admitted to the diners where the band ate and had to depend on one of the musicians bringing a burger to eat alone in the bus. Back in their New York hotel she was not allowed to enter the bar or dining room and was obliged to use the freight elevator to reach her room. The constant problems and frustrations led to conflict in which Artie and Billie blamed each

To make matters still more provocative the song’s suggestive opening lines are: “Any old time you want me I am yours for just the asking, darling …”

Which unexpectedly proves, as the lyrics develop, not to be an invitation to casual intercourse but a lifetime of mutual fidelity.

“Any old time you need me, I’ll be there With love that’s lasting, darling, All through the years we’ll be together

Sharing the tears and stormy weather And the sunshine will be yours and mine …”

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Artie Shaw was not deeply into fidelity. He was married eight times. On one occasion, he claimed, he woke up to find he had married Lana Turner the previous evening.

At age 17 she was under prominent promotion by Warner Brother as the “Sweater Girl”. Go back to the Web and look her up too in Google Images – teenager section. In her tight cozy sweater, Man, was she prominent! Curiously, she also married eight times.

On the Hollywood merry-go-round respectability was important to a star. Them were glorious days.

other for lack of consideration and they quarreled sharply. Soon after the July 24th recording of ‘Any Old Time” she left the band, Thanks to the miracle of the Web you can hear it right now! Go to You Tube and enter ‘artie shaw any old time’. There is no video because the performance was not filmed but you should see the original Bluebird label spinning on a turntable, and hear the record in full. After the melodious introduction scored

by Jerry Grey the band’s altoist, Artie constructs a typically unique, imaginative and forceful solo on his Selmer clarinet. It’s a rich sound instantly recognizable as Artie and no-one else. Billie sings across the beat as only she could. Listen to the way she floats and stretches the words “sun – shine” and “you – ores ‘an mine” – to emphasize the positive verity of her offer. Finally Tony Pastor emulates his leader’s virtuosity with the rich open tone of his tenor sax. Despite the triviality of Artie’s lyrics it is a magnificent peak of big band music in the swing era.

Tragically it was the only recording Billie and Artie made together.

James Collier wrote in “The Making of Jazz” “Billie had discovered the secret which was to make her the greatest jazz singer who ever lived. It was the grasp of lifting the melody away from the beat. She learned singing from listening to the records of Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith and copied their phrasing. “I feel like I’m playing a horn and I improvise.

Like Lester (Young) or somebody I admire.” she said. This understanding was crucial to her effectiveness.”

Cyril Lucas, author of ‘A Windy Night’. Please message me if you have a comment on my book or my vignettes in ‘Mom’s’ newsletter. I will be delighted to hear your opinion. cyrillucas732@gmail.com.

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The Plentiful Hedgerows

By Sylva Fae Social media often gets bad press, but it provides a unique opportunity to meet people you otherwise would never have met, and on one of these occasions, I met forest forager, Leslie Swain. When Lesley became a moderator in a bushcraft and wild camping group I help to run, we quickly became friends and I grew fascinated with her extensive knowledge of wild edibles. While working at a Wild Festival this summer, I was lucky enough to go on a foraging walk with Lesley, her partner and apprentice Ali, and her dog Poopy. Poopy also proved to be a keen hedgerow forager, though I’m not sure everything she found was edible.

So, why go foraging?

Our ancestors foraged nearly all of their food, but this skill has fallen by the wayside. It’s just too easy to pop into the supermarket, and people have lost the knowledge of identifying edible plants and trees, moreover, people are nervous about picking and eating wild foods. Foraging is not just about finding free food, it has many other benefits. Foraging reconnects us to nature, getting us out in the fresh air, and helping to improve both our physical and mental health. Of course, it also provides a sustainable source of nutritious food for free. As a forager, you can greatly expand your plant-based diet, since nature provides considerably more variety than your local supermarket. Foraging also teaches us about food sources and how the flavours shift with each season.

Increasing your knowledge I’ve always thought I knew a fair bit about plants and trees, but time spent with Lesley Swain made me realise just how much more I have to learn. This time of year is a forager’s paradise, hedgerows and verges are bountiful, with bushes and trees laden with fruits, nuts and berries.

My children and I often go for an autumn ramble and come back with baskets full of blackberries, our redstained fingers and lips, evidence of the feast we had along the way. We carefully prize sweet chestnuts from their spiky cases to roast on the campfire, and race the squirrels to harvest ripe hazelnuts. We pick nettles and sorrel to make a delicious and nutritious tea, and nibble on hawthorn leaves as we wander through our woodland. Sloes and elderberries are always a great find, as they make delicious flavoured gin or wine.

We always stick to what we know though, a sensible attitude to adopt for a novice forager as not everything you encounter will be edible.

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‘When in doubt, leave it out!’

Thankfully for those who wish to learn more, there are many great books and courses you can go on.

Lesley Swain recommends Never Mind the Burdocks, by Emma Gunn, but she also recommends getting a good plant ID book. Her own library includes a vast array of books on plant and mushroom identification, edible and medicinal plants, wildflowers, and recipes.

What do you need to go foraging?

•

A pocket-sized guidebook

•

Gloves (if you’ve ever picked nettles without wearing gloves, you won’t forget them again.)

•

Scissors

•

A basket – a carrier bag will do, but a basket will help stop berries and fruits getting squished or bruised.

•

Wellies! Sturdy footwear is essential to protect your feet and ankles from thorns and spikes, and also because it’s likely to be wet and muddy underfoot.

So, what can you forage in Autumn / Fall?

Blackberries – These delicious berries are packed with vitamin C. You can eat them straight from the bush, or stew to make delicious pies and crumbles.

Don’t collect too close to roads because of pollution, or too close to the ground, especially where dogs are walked! Following the ‘when in doubt, leave it out’ method, here are some foods that are easy to identify:

Sloes – (also known as blackthorn) Fresh sloes contain vitamin C and vitamin E. They are also rich in other nutrients such as potassium, calcium and magnesium. The fruits are great for making sloe wine or gin. Sloes are also used to make jam and jelly. The flowers can be sugared for edible cake decorations, and a tea can be made from the leaves.

Rowan berries – (also known as mountain ash, witch wiggin tree, keirn and cuirn.) Do not eat these raw as certain varieties are toxic unless cooked. The berries are high in vitamin C. Rowan berries are best made into jellies, and served with meat.

Elderberries – do not eat when unripe or raw! Elderberries are high in vitamin C and packed with antioxidants. Cooked thoroughly, these little black berries are very versatile. You can make syrups, cordials, jellies, pies, or again, gin.

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Acorns – These nuts contain bitter tannins, so must be leached before they are consumed. Acorns are especially high in potassium, iron, vitamins A and E, and several other important minerals.

After leaching with hot water, acorns can be roasted and eaten, or ground into coffee.

Nettles – often thought of as a superfood or super herb. Nettles are high in many nutrients, particularly vitamin A, various B vitamins and vitamin C. They also contain numerous phytonutrients and antioxidants, and for this reason, nettle tea is widely appreciated as a healthful drink. Use the top, newest leaves for a nutritious snack, blend into a smoothie or make into tea.

Hazelnuts – We rarely beat the squirrels to the ripe hazelnuts; however, you can harvest them green, and leave them to ripen in a dry place at home. We did this recently and I was surprised just how flavoursome they were compared to shop-bought hazelnuts.

Wood sorrel – (Also known as cuckoo bread and fairy bells.) Wood sorrel is an incredible thirst quencher and is refreshing to eat. The leaves, flowers, and immature green seed pods are all edible having a mild sour flavour, that I liken to green apples. The leaves make a flavoursome tea, or they can be used in salads.

Sweet chestnuts – One of our favourites, roasted on an open fire. Make sure you have thick gloves for harvesting these though.

Cleavers – (also called goosegrass or sticky bobs.) Rich in vitamin C. As children we would have mischievous fun throwing the sticky bobs at each other, and would drive our mums mad as they had to pick them from our clothing. I never realised they were edible though. Lesley suggests making a pesto-type paste from them, but they can also be added to soups and stews, and the seeds can be ground into cleaver coffee.

Dandelions – Dandelion greens are an excellent source of vitamin A, folate, vitamin K, and vitamin C (in its raw form), and a good source of calcium and potassium. While I’m not keen on the bitter flavour, every part of the plant is edible, raw or cooked. The leaves can be used in salads, dandelion flower petals can be turned into dandelion wine, and dandelion root can be dried and roasted and used to make a dark, rich, bitter brew, similar to coffee.

As with all foraged foods, only pick if you can confidently identify it, and check first whether it needs to be leached or cooked to make it edible to humans.

Pregnant and breast-feeding women, and people with health conditions should check with a doctor before consuming any wild edibles. If you obtain a good book to aid identification, and use your common sense, foraging can be a fun way of supplementing your diet with fresh, nutritious foods.

Sylva Fae is a married mum of three from Lancashire, England. She has spent twenty years teaching literacy to adults with learning difficulties and disabilities, and now works from home as a children’s writer and illustrator.

Sylva has published several children’s books and also writes a blog, Sylvanian Ramblings. Her debut book, Rainbow Monsters won the Chanticleer Best in Category award. Discover more about Sylva on Mom’s Favorite Reads website: https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/sylva-fae/

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Me and My Stoma Submitted by Poppy Flynn Me and My Stoma by Logan age 12 Last year I told you about a time when I had to go to Great Ormond Street Children’s hospital in London to have a bunch of tests. A few weeks ago, I had to go back there again to have an operation called an Ileostomy.

In the operation the doctors take out part of your intestine and make it come through your tummy and make a stoma. Now the stoma has to be covered with a special bag to collect my poop.

To go with the stoma, I also have something called a mucus fistula. It’s like a second belly button just below the normal one. I call it fish.

Yeah, I know, people don’t really want to know about yukky stuff like that, but lots of people have to have it and I hope my story will help other kids feel better if they have to have it done. I had to have it done because my intestines have never worked properly. They get blocked up and stretched out of shape.

So, I’d like to share some stuff that happened to me.

First expect literally anything. With me the 1% chance something would happen, and it happened. I first went to the hospital in July – it’s 200 miles from where I live, and I had the pre-op the day before where they check everything is okay before the operation and take blood and stuff. Then the next day I went to the hospital with my Mum and Dad to get ready for the surgery. I was in the clean room and they drew on my tummy with a felt pen to mark where they were going to put the stoma. The nurse asked if I wanted a smiley face or a sad face and I chose the smiley face. I was really hungry because I hadn’t been allowed to eat for seven hours and I was wearing the funny hospital gown which is like a baggy dress. The doctor had come to tell us what to expect and we were waiting for them to take us for the anaesthetic when the doctor came back and told us there had been a problem with the operation before mine and they couldn’t fit me in for my operation that day after all. I had to go all the way back home to Wales. My mum cried, she said that was from stress, but I was pretty happy because I was a bit worried about having it.

The doctors hope that in two years I can have it reversed after my intestines have had a rest and shrunk back to the normal size.

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I would insist you bring slippers with you, cos the floors are really hard and cold.

I think you shouldn’t worry about anything because worrying is bad – although I worried a lot, but just so you know, it was okay in the end.

One more thing, when up and walking about, most important, if you get a real weird hurting pain on your left hip, don’t use pain killers. Don’t move too much, it will go away in about ten minutes.

We went back for the operation two months later. We met some really nice people and the nurses were absolutely amazing. There were volunteers who literally brought their own dogs in to see me. I was visited my Archie and Ariel. Ariel was my favourite, she laid on my bed next to me when I couldn’t hardly move or get up.

Oh, one more thing. If you get back, shoulder or leg ache just drink milk. The reason you’re getting the pain is because you’ve been in bed for a week.

You need to strengthen the bones and muscles. Get out and walk around. My mum took me around town. It was great to get out, even to Tesco’s, but I couldn’t go very far in one go so we stopped in the park at Queen Street and fed the pigeons. One came and sat on my hand!

Make sure you keep entertained with computer games etc. There is a TV there, but I used my tablet more. The Play lady came and also the people from Radio Lollipop.

They brought games with them and played Uno, Jenga and Boggle with me. Oh, I got a mould of my hand made with the play staff. It was made from plaster of Paris and they left me some paint so I could decorate it when it was dry. I was in hospital for two weeks.

If it’s sore or uncomfortable, ask for the little rubber rings to go around the stoma thing. We didn’t get them at first, but they really are amazing and ensure everything sticks well.

Absolutely amazing.

The last thing eat normally.

Literally my biggest fear was eating – I was scared about my bag filling up. Literally chew well, don’t swallow big lumps.

You have to eat to get things going again. Make sure you have milk.

I couldn’t get out of bed for a few days and I had to have a drip through a canula in my hand instead of having food and water and also for medicine. I had to have a catheter to pee into, since I couldn’t get out of bed. I didn’t like that much, but I didn’t want to move either, so I guess it was necessary.

Then there is Bob. Bob is in the fridge, slowly decaying.

Who is Bob, you ask? Well he’s the pineapple parrot designed and carved by my dad with a carrot beak, to cheer me up. In the parrot’s bowl was pineapple and carrot chunks, but the nurse that came told me I can’t have pineapple – a shame really, but I still have a picture of him.

When you feel ready to get up and move around, enjoy wearing your slippers! I only took one pair of shoes which I didn’t need anyway.

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Internet Safety for Children

By Denise McCabe The other month my 7-year-old informed me that he had his own you tube channel. When I say I was gob smacked, that was an understatement. I wasn’t aware of it at all, and I was annoyed at myself for not noticing. I felt like the worst mother ever! I had all sorts of thoughts of what he had on it, when he was recording it, was he talking to anyone and if there was any personal stuff going on in the background and more the fact, that all along, I was thinking he was playing away on games while I was pottering around the house. Thankfully there wasn’t much on it, as it was just a channel with his daily ramblings. There were a couple of idiotic comments from people, nothing derogatory, luckily enough but however I did notice though that some of the vocabulary being used was a little advanced which was quite worrying. I also showed him how to block people if there were any bad comments. It did get me thinking however of the safety of the internet.

When I first joined Facebook for example I had all sorts of creeps annoying me. One guy was sending pictures of him and his mother to me. Another offered me a car so I said “Yes, that would be nice” and gave him a PO box number to post it over to me. Thankfully I discovered the block button. As parents, it’s not a nice thought of children being exposed to that, so what we can do to keep our children safe?

Social media sites make it infinitely easier to communicate with other people and to share your life with the world. It is one of the best and most frequently used information tools in the world, making research and learning substantially easier. School curriculums across the developed world are taking this into consideration and using it to think of new ways to keep children interested. This is an era where too many kids prefer staying indoors and playing video games or surfing the internet to going outside and playing in the neighbourhood, where infants learn how to work a smartphone or tablet before they learn to talk. It is an era of technology, something that parents cannot ignore. However, the internet is also riddled with dangers for people, especially for younger children. As such, it is important that we as parents teach them how to safely use this fun and educational tool.

Be Open One of the most important things to keeping your child safe from predators on the internet is to be open with them. The children who are most vulnerable to online predators are usually those who do not have a good relationship with an adult they can trust, and are already troubled. Establishing a good, trusting relationship is key so that they feel welcome to coming to you with any concerns they may have. Be frank with them and talk to them about the

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dangerous and bad things they can find on the internet. Give them an idea of what is inappropriate and what is not, what is safe to do and what is not, so they are not confused if confronted with such a situation.

Transparency Make sure your child knows that they are accountable to you about their internet activities. Do not create an environment conducive to secrecy and privacy. Keep the computer in a communal room, such as the living room, so you can always check on them if need be. Do not give them access to the internet in their bedrooms, unless you can monitor and control their usage through your Internet Service Provider.

Impress upon them the need to come to you if they are approached by someone they don’t know, if they are harassed, or if they see inappropriate content.

Keep an Eye Out for Suspicious Behaviour If your kids start becoming more secretive, an alarm should go off in your head. If they shut a window or the device when you come into the room or approach them, ask them to show you what they were doing. If they start becoming distant from the rest of the family, spend inordinate amounts of time on the internet, or you see behavioural changes that are out of the ordinary, start keeping a closer eye on them.

Set Rules Give children a list of things they should not be doing on the internet. Be clear about the rules for using the internet. Make sure they know how important it is not to give out personal information on the internet. Furthermore, instruct them not to open emails from people they don’t know, especially not without you present. Forbid them from opening any links or attachments from people that they do not personally know, or if the email or link looks fishy.

When setting up the email and/or social media account, set the privacy settings yourself to the strictest possible, and keep a tab on their passwords. If possible, and especially with younger children, either have them use your account, or set up one that you know all of the information to and can access easily.

If your children like to game online, make sure that they only use those websites which do not require personal information, or where they can use anonymous usernames. Advise them not to open the links that appear on the sides of the pages and in advertisements.

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Privacy

Other Guidelines

Privacy is one of the biggest growing concerns in a world where it is practically impossible to wipe something once it has been put on the internet. People save pictures and documents, take screenshots of them, and some websites never completely delete your digital prints. Your children should be alerted to these security issues, and told not to share any personal information whatsoever on the internet without your permission. They should never share their pictures, names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, or anything else private on the internet, especially not on a public platform and to people they do not know. They should know that no matter how many privacy settings they have, nothing is ever really private on social media.

There are some things that you can do as well to protect your young children. Contact you Internet Service provider about setting up filters, or for a list of unsafe sites. If that is not an option, install parental block software on the browser so that you can control what content they can and cannot access, and vice versa. Filter settings on streaming sites such as YouTube, to restrict the results of searches. Make sure location services are off, and that you go through the internet history every few days to keep track of their browsing habits.

Internet safety is a growing concern in a world where it is almost impossible to live without some degree of access to it. To keep your children in touch with the world and technology, but while also keeping them safe, you should be sure to practice internet safety with them.

Cyber-bullying Your children should be aware of what cyber-bullying is, and how to respond to it. Teach them how people and things on the internet are not always trustworthy, and that the stranger they are talking to might not be a child. If someone sends them offending, hurtful, or disturbing messages or images, make sure that they do not respond, block them, and inform you.

—Denise McCabe, Children’s Books author

Denise McCabe is a children’s book author and blogger. She resides in Dublin with her two children. Her favourite pastime is writing, and reading with a cup of tea at hand. Discover more about Denise on the Mom’s Favorite Reads website:

https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/denise-mccabe - 32 -

Trick or Treat

by Sylva Fae The chocolate shop bell tinkled as she bustled through the door, hugging her warm woollen coat close to avoid knocking over the tantalising displays.

"Good timing, I was just about to close up for the night. How can I help you?'

The woman gazed at the vast array of handmade chocolates, a Halloween box, dark chocolates iced with pumpkins, skulls and coffins, caught her eye.

"Hmm there's so much choice and they all look delicious."

"Ah," she nodded, smiling and made her choice.

The chocolate instantly melted in her mouth. "Mmm, delicious..." She bit down to taste the centre. A feeling of euphoria flooded her body. The chocolatier watched in glee for her reaction. "I got a treat," she tried to say, but the words wouldn't form. The feelings of bliss simmered to a hazy calm, then nothing.

"I got tricked!" was her final thought as she faded from reality.

"Can I offer you a go on my Trick or Treat roulette?" said the chocolatier as he reached under the counter for a silver platter. "They may look the same but each one is as unique as you and me.

Choose a treat and you can pick any box free of charge."

"And if I get a trick...? she queried.

"Well, tricks for some are treats for others." The old man grinned as he pushed the platter towards her.

The chocolatier watched as the lady's body dissolved until only a wisp of smoke remained. It swirled from the bundle of clothes she once wore, dissipating in the cool October air. He reached into the clothing, drew out a chocolate and placed it in the space on the silver platter. Then carefully, he folded the woollen coat, and added it to the pile of clothes behind the counter.

The lady returned his grin. Never one to pass up a freebie, she leant forward to inspect the chocolates.

Just behind the counter, she spotted a pile of folded clothing, it looked incongruous next to the carefully crafted displays.

The chocolatier followed her gaze, "Been collecting clothes for the homeless. Going to take it down to the shelter tomorrow."

"Tricks for some are treats for others," he chuckled, and locked up the shop for the night.

Sylva Fae is a married mum of three from Lancashire, England. She has spent twenty years teaching literacy to adults with learning difficulties and disabilities, and now works from home as a children’s writer and illustrator.

Sylva has published several children’s books and also writes a blog, Sylvanian Ramblings. Her debut book, Rainbow Monsters won the Chanticleer Best in Category award. Discover more about Sylva on Mom’s Favorite Reads website: https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/sylva-fae/

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Traditional Sloe Gin

by Sylva Fae

Traditional Sloe Gin Recipe Ingredients • • •

300g sloes (frozen) 1litre gin 4tbsp of sugar, or my good friend recommends substituting half the sugar for honey, for a smoother taste.

Method 1. Take your frozen sloes and batter them with a rolling pin until smashed up, then transfer them to an airtight jar.

2. Add the sugar (and honey), and then pour in the gin 3. Shake vigorously and leave for a minimum of 3 months, but ideally a year.

4. Shake occasionally when you remember 5. Strain, bottle, taste and enjoy Makes: 1 litre

Sylva Fae is a married mum of three from Lancashire, England. She has spent twenty years teaching literacy to adults with learning difficulties and disabilities, and now works from home as a children’s writer and illustrator.

Sylva has published several children’s books and also writes a blog, Sylvanian Ramblings. Her debut book, Rainbow Monsters won the Chanticleer Best in Category award. Discover more about Sylva on Mom’s Favorite Reads website: https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/sylva-fae/

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Philippine Ethic Dance

By Grant Leishman Long before the arrival of the Spanish, in 1521 and their “civilizing” of the local “savages” with their religion and their western culture, the over 7,000 islands of the Philippines were inhabited by a vast array of indigenous and culturally vibrant ethnic groupings. The majority of these over one hundred and thirty different ethnic groups that made up the archipelago, originated from the hill tribes of Taiwan, migrating to the Philippines at the time of the Iron Age (Generally recognized as around the sixth century BCE, in Eastern Asia).

The common rationale among colonizing entities of the sixteenth century onward was this idea that the western civilization, the western God and the western way of life was infinitely superior to that of the aborigine peoples all over the world. The idea of “civilizing the noble savage” was the ruling paradigm of the period. It was believed that the indigenous people of Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, needed “civilizing”, they needed be “saved” spiritually and that their culture, as it may have existed, was nothing more than uneducated paganism. The Europeans would be the saviours of these “simple” peoples.

Q. “In what condition did the Spaniards find the Tagalog land when they came?”

Given that rationale, I just want to quote a particular invocation from the initiation ceremony of the Katipunan or KKK (Kataas-taasang, Kagalang -galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan) the secret revolutionary society formed in 1892 to overthrow Spanish rule. Literally translated the KKK stands for; “Supreme and Venerable Association of the Children of the Nation”. When a prospect for initiation into the KKK was presented, one of the questions requiring an answer was this;

A. When the Spaniards came to the Philippine shores on March 16, 1521, the Filipinos were already in a civilized state. They had freedom of government; they had artillery; they had silk dresses; they had carried on commerce with Asia; they had their own religion and their own alphabet. In short, they had liberty and independence.”

Clearly, the Filipino people felt they were already well civilized and certainly did not need the Spanish

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overseers and worst of all their corrupt friars to try to civilize them in their mirror image – to make “little, brown, westerners of them.”

The ethnic groups in the northern highlands and mountainous regions of the country, are generally given the overall generic classification of Igorots, comprised of around one hundred tribal groups.

Like those in the southern part of the country, they were a real blend of ethnic origin and include; the Bontoc, Ibaloi, Ifugau, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanaey, and Tinguian, who built the now world-famous rice terraces high on the mountainsides. Unlike their lowland ethnic brothers who come from an Austronesian ethnic background, the Igorots had long resisted intermarriage with their lowland counterparts and western interlopers, maintaining their unique culture and languages intact. Similarly, their isolation and inaccessibility, in the high mountains of Northern Luzon, meant they were less influenced and assimilated by initially, the Spanish and later the American attempts to turn them into “little, brown, westerners”.

Benguet. She was profusely apologetic for her and her fellow elders being so hesitant and uncertain about the procedure, in the particular ritual, she was performing. “Our parents knew this stuff perfectly but it got lost to us when we moved away and now, we’re trying to reclaim it and pass it onto the next generation,” she said. We were thrilled to see the young people of the village learning and actively participating in the rituals we were a witness to.

Certainly, up until recent generations, much of the Igorot uniqueness and culture was intact and practiced daily, not just on ceremonial occasions, or for tourists. Without a doubt, it was the Second World War, the Japanese occupation of the Philippines and the opening up of the mountain regions to tourism after the war that exposed the Igorot people to western ways and saw, within a generation, many of the cultural uniqueness of the region lost from the people’s consciousness. The latter half of the twentieth century, for the first time, also saw the mass migration of many Igorots to the cities (for education and employment opportunities) as well as overseas (also employment related). Fortunately, before it was too late, many of the elders (and thankfully the government – both local and national) realized the importance of their cultural heritage and began to fund and encourage local communities to relearn their culture before it was lost forever.

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt in my almost a decade living here in the Philippines it is this: Filipinos love to sing and they love to dance, so today, I’d like to just bring you a summary of some of the special tribal dances of the Northern Philippines, specifically, the group of tribes that make up the Igorot collective ethnicity.

Igorot dances are generally performed with gongs and bamboo instruments but can easily be performed without music.

I mentioned in a previous article a conversation I had with one 80-year-old elder during a wedding ceremony my wife and I attended recently in Kabayan, - 36 -

Ballangbang or Tallibeng:

Tebyag:

This is the most common of all dances and involves up to five or more male gongs players. Although it can involve just one dancer it is generally done as a mass participation dance and involves the male gong players moving in a circular direction with the female dancers following behind them swaying and moving their arms in an interpretation of the music.

A wedding dance it is performed just once, at the beginning of the festivities, with the playing of gongs. The dance is interspersed with prayers for peace for the celebration, for much fertility for the couple and for them to prosper. A woman dancer will shower grains of rice in all directions as a symbol of showers of blessings from God.

Bontoc War Dance or Pattong:

Da-ing:

In many ways this is similar to the Ballangbang although carried out at a faster rhythm but what differentiates it the most is the participation of two warrior dancers depicting a headhunter fighting his enemy.

The “winner” is predetermined and is outfitted with a shield and a spear – the intended loser having a shield and an axe.

The da-ing is a dance that allows men and women to debate an issue whilst dancing (perhaps we should try incorporating that into government – it may well improve the quality of debating). Male dancers knit their hands together on each other’s shoulders to form a semi-circle. The women also form a semicircle behind the males with their hands linked at their backs. Moving in a circular motion the lead male begins the chanting, followed by the lead female, around the circle as a subject for discussion is debated.

Takik: The Takik is a wedding dance from the Aplais of western Mountain Province. This is performed to the beating of a solibao (ethnic drum). A male dancer begins the movement and different ladies’ pair up with him, moving in a circular motion.

Dallok: The Dallok, another debating dance, sees the female dancers forming a line, holding hands and facing the male dancers. Led by one of the male dancers, they all chant together, moving toward each other and meeting in the middle, where they perform a “hopbend-raise” step before walking back to their original places, still chanting. The mastery of the chanting is considered just as important as the uniformity of the dance movement.

Palakis: This is a variation of the Takik but the beating of the gongs is faster and louder encouraging quicker dance step and body movements from the participants.

Eagle Dance: This is the dance my wife and I were fortunate enough to be participants in at the wedding talked about earlier. Requiring a minimum of three gong players the male and female participants dance in a rough circle moving their arms with what they interpret to be eagle-like movements. A unique characteristic of the Eagle dance is the fast entry of the dancers along with the bending of the body, the knees, and thrusting of the buttocks.

Sakuting: This is a dance, with music, performed with the rhythmic clicking of bamboo sticks, similar in many ways to calisthenic exercises. Dancers form up in pairs and click each other’s sticks in a predetermined pattern, often getting faster and faster as the dance progresses. A lot of practice is required to gain mastery of this dance as injury can result from the miscoordination between the two practitioners.

Pinanyowan: This is a courtship dance, using a handkerchief or scarf. Both the male and female dancers do fast, mincing steps, with the men beating the gongs in a stationary, kneeling position.

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These are just a few of the many ethnic dances of the northern Mountain regions of Luzon. If you would like to discover more, please don’t hesitate to check out the article where I gained much of the information here, written by Dr. Caridad B Fiar-od, College Vice-President of the MPSPC (Mountain Province State Polytechnic College) and chair of the Igorot Global Organisation-Philippines Education Committee. You may find his excellent article here, for which I am indebted: https://www.icbe.eu/ mprovince-articles/677-ethnic-dances-in-mountainprovince Before I leave this topic, though, I would also like to mention the one Filipino ethnic dance that is perhaps the most exciting and well-known, around the world (It is performed at just about every cultural exchange performance, I’ve ever been to) – the Tinikling.

Tinikling: Strictly speaking the Tinikling is not an ethnic Filipino dance at all but a Philippine folk dance that owes its origins to the Spanish colonial era. I only include it here because it is probably the most widely known dance from the Philippines.

The dance itself involves two people beating, tapping and sliding two bamboo poles over the ground and against each other, in coordination with one or more dancers, who step over and between the moving poles in time with the music, which is usually “rondalla” music, a type of serenade, played by stringed instruments that originated in Spain.

The dance began on the island of Leyte, in the central Philippines in the area known as the Visayas. It imitates the movement of the “tikling” birds as they hop in and out of grass stems. The aim of the dancers is to mimic the legendary grace and speed of the birds, by skillfully maneuvering between the long bamboo poles.

For participants it is physically taxing and can also be quite dangerous, especially as the tempo of the music often speeds up, the longer the dance is performed.

For spectators it is exciting and thrilling to watch the incredible skill of the participants as their legs skim in and out of the bamboo poles in a seemingly frightening blur, to the uninitiated onlooker. It is a wonderful spectacle to watch, especially for the first time and if skilled practitioners are doing it.

So, there we have it – just a few of the dances and culture of the amazing people that make up this gorgeous archipelago that straddles the equator and is now my beloved home. I hope you enjoyed the journey.

Grant Leishman is a fifty-nine-year-old full-time author and editor, domiciled in the beautiful island of The Philippines. After careers in finance and journalism, Grant finally found his true bliss in life writing. He is happily married to Thess and they have two daughters, Rose and Angeline. Discover more about Grant on the Mom's Favorite Reads website: https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/grant-leishman - 38 -

Postcards from Spain

By Hannah Howe An insight into the past shining a light on the present

The provisions included salt, wine, olive oil, hams, honey, flour, beans and peas.

In April 1937 four Welsh sea captains broke the blockade at Bilbao and delivered vital supplies to the beleaguered Republicans. Three of the four captains bore the surname Jones so the newspapers named them after their cargos: ‘Potato’ Jones, ‘Corn Cob’ Jones and ‘Ham and Eggs’ Jones. All displayed great courage and saved many lives during their missions of mercy.

Captain Roberts’ act of bravery was greatly appreciated by the people of the Basque Fifi Roberts country. Indeed, father and daughter were held in high esteem and entertained by the Basque Ministers of Finance, Commerce and Supply.

Four days later, Heinkels and Junkers bombed Guernica and two days after that Fifi photographed the aftermath of this barbaric act. She also sent reports to the News Chronicle. In her reports she noted that the fascist had killed 42 wounded men and ten nurses during the bombing.

As the Seven Seas Spray arrived in port, war correspondent George Steer reported: “There were tens of thousands of them watching the ship. They cheered and shrieked. One could hear cries of ‘viva la libertad’, though the women shouted, ‘vino y aceite’, ‘wine and oil’!

The Seven Seas Spray in Bilbao, 1937

The fourth captain, the man who first broke the blockade, delivering 3,600 tons of provisions, was Captain W.H. Roberts who along with his twenty year old daughter Florence ‘Fifi’ Roberts sailed on One of Fifi’s photographs of Guernica The Seven Seas Spray, a cargo steamer, was based in Porthcawl, three miles from my home.

Fifi returning to Guernica 45

One of Fifi’s photographs of Guernica

Hannah Howe is the author of the Sam Smith Mystery Series, the Ann's War Mystery Series and the #1 international bestseller Saving Grace. Hannah's books are published by Goylake Publishing and distributed through Gardners Books to over 300 outlets worldwide. Her books are available in print, as eBooks and audiobooks, and are being translated into ten languages. Discover more on Mom's Favorite Reads website:

https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/hannah-howe - 39 -

Rock Art & Games

By Melanie P. Smith Common rocks make great craft projects for the kids and once you’re done, utilize them to keep the kids entertained.

Rocks should measure approximately 1.5—2 inches in circumference. River rocks are best because they are smooth, but smooth rock will work. Once you’ve gathered your rocks, clean them with warm soapy water and scrub any caked on dirt lightly with an old toothbrush, rinse them in cool water and pat them dry with a towel. Once they are completely dry, Paint rocks with acrylic paint. You can also use acrylic paint markers if you have them. Once painted rocks dry completely, apply spray sealant.

GAME IDEAS Tick-Tack-Toe - Use tape on an old piece of cardboard to create a Tick-Tack-Toe board.

Then identify rocks as X’s or O’s. You can also use a Burlap bag and draw the board right on the bag with a sharpie. It’s also a handy storage container once you’ve finished playing.

Scavenger Hunt - Create hints that match the image on the rock. Some examples…

•

To start the hunt you will need to find, a Christmas tree that is one of a kind.

•

Happy Halloween to you, get your flashlight and look for a clue. Don’t get scared when the ghost goes boo! Look under the leaves for your next clue.

•

A Reindeer hid this clue, don’t stub your toe when you look in the shoe.

•

Spiders are scary as you will see when you find the next clue near a fruit tree.

Story time— Place the rocks in a bag, on their turn each child will pick a stone at random and tell a story about the rock that was chosen. It’s fun, and educational. This game encourages creativity, promotes language growth, and strengthens social communication in children.

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Gautama Buddha — A Philosophical Colossus

By Jill Hughes Gautama Buddha (born Sidharrtha Gautama).

There is plenty of argument about when Buddha was born and when he died but there is little argument about the difference he made in the society of the time.

Born sometime between 583 and 480 BCE, Buddha is said to have died somewhere between 483 and 400 BCE at age 80 but his legacy stretches across the centuries, to this very day. He was born in Lumbini, of the Shakya Republic in what is now modern-day Nepal, into a wealthy influential family but as he grew-up he became especially upset at the extent of suffering in the world, so he renounced his privileged life. Buddha [which means Enlightened One] became a monk, a mendicant (a beggar), a sage, and whilst sitting in contemplation under a fig tree – (the Bodhi tree of Awakening) he had insights that became the basis of his philosophies, teachings and religious/spiritual leadership.

Five hundred years before Jesus Christ first dipped his toes into the Sea of Galilee and a full two-and-a-half-thousand years before Rhonda Byrne brought us all the precepts of “The Secret”, as delivered to us through the internet, a book and a film, one man strode this earth, like a colossus, spreading his message of love, understanding and inner strength. That man was Gautama Buddha – the founder of Buddhism and one of the first of the great philosophers and leaders of world thought.

This is not an article about religion, per se, but rather a look at the cultural philosophies of an incredible human being and how his overarching theme of love has shaped the cultural outlook of not only his followers but also humanity in general.

I want to introduce you to the simple philosophies of this great man and demonstrate the impact he has had on our modern-day world with many of his ancient precepts which are now taking deeper root in our consciousness. I am looking at the precepts of Buddhism, not as a religion, but as a way of living and interacting with the Universe. Buddhism, like Hinduism, which was beginning to emerge at the same time, both have their roots in Vedic principles.

His main impact on the society of the time was to teach that there was a “middle way” between typical sensual self-indulgence and severe selfdiscipline and denial, which was the common belief amongst the people of the region. The basic concept Buddha brought to the world was - 41 -

the idea that the purpose of life was to seek “ultimate enlightenment” as described in Buddha’s discourse – “The Noble Eightfold Path”.

There are many tales of Buddha’s life. How many of them are true or not is perhaps moot; what matters most are the teachings and the philosophies he has left behind. One particularly famous event occurred, it is told; of Buddha seating himself under a “pipal [old sacred fig]” tree, in Bodh Gaya, India. He vowed to never arise from that tree until he had found the “truth”. His companions decided Buddha had just given up and left him to it. After forty-nine days of meditation, at the age of thirty-five, he was said to have attained “enlightenment” at which point he became “The Buddha” or the “Awakened One”. It is said, at that time, that Buddha completely understood and had insight into the “Four Noble Truths” and thereby achieving freedom from the endless cycle of rebirth, suffering and dying again, which is a key concept in Hinduism. He would later develop this idea into training the mind (meditation or “dhyana”) as required to take a person to nirvana. Nirvana is characterised as the process of extinguishing the fires of desire, hatred, and ignorance that keep the cycle of suffering and rebirth going. Once Nirvana has been reached it is said a person has lost all personal identity and no boundaries remain to the mind. In this state the person is said to possess the “Ten Characteristics” belonging to every Buddha.

Suffice it to say that Gautama Buddha and his Buddhism; like Jesus Christ and Christianity, and Muhammad and Islam, has stood the test of time. After two-and-a-half millennium have passed there are said to be almost five-hundred million practising Buddhists in the world, the bulk of them in Asia. That makes it the world’s fourth largest religion behind Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.

Meanwhile, it is deeply sad to witness, some of the ways in which humanity has perverted his pure thoughts, and ideals for life, to their own means. Buddha’s teachings of peace, love, respect, and self-introspection have, in some instances, come to be totally ignored, by some of his followers, intent on racial or cultural genocide. The same points can be made about the other religions also. It is deeply disappointing that a religion which greatest precept is; “love thy neighbour as thyself,” should use their beliefs to subjugate, dominate, or completely eliminate whole other classes of humanity. We are surely reaching a stage on this beautiful planet where religious tolerance needs to flourish, and we focus on our commonality, community and connectedness rather than our divisions/barriers and illusions of separateness.

Finally, I want to share some of Buddha’s insights that have made a direct impact on my life. Like Einstein, Buddha is one of those historical figures who are attributed with many more “quotes” than they probably ever made in their lifetime. That aside, however, these ten quotes that I share here are, in my opinion, guidelines for life and for achieving personal fulfilment, whether or not, you follow the full precepts of the Buddha’s teachings. I’ve always said; “if just a large enough proportion of humanity followed these precepts, what a wonderful world we would live in.”

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1. You will not be punished for your anger – you will be punished by your anger.

2. He has the most, who is most content with the least.

3. Every day is a new day! No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again.

4. No one saves us but ourselves. No one can

and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.

5. Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world .

6. Pain is certain –suffering is optional.

7. The only real failure in life is to not be true to

That last quote is one that took me, personally, a while to come to grips with but when I finally realised that I had to let go of my anger, what an enormous difference it made in my life.

When we let go, we create space for something new and better to arrive!

the best one knows 8. Give, even if you only have a little.

9. Happiness does not depend on what you have or who you are. It solely relies on what you think.

As you may have guessed, I’m a big fan of “The Buddha” and this article has just brushed the surface of his teachings. Even if Buddhism doesn’t appeal to you, personally, as a religion, I firmly believe there is so much benefit to be gained from the precepts that Buddha teaches us.

10. Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.

Gautama Buddha

J.J. Hughes is an English visionary fiction writer whose "whodunit" mystery novel, "Spirit of Prophecy" is a number one, Amazon Best-Seller and has already garnered several awards including first place in the Audiobook section of the Royal Dragonfly Book Awards. Born in Cottingley, West Yorkshire, Jill was a successful Investment Banker in London before turning her back on that and training as a Life Coach and Passion Test Facilitator. In addition to her novel, Jill has also co-authored a No. 1 Best -Selling Spiritual, Self-Help book; "Inspired by the Passion Test". A lifetime lover of horses and all animals, Jill is a committed vegan who believes vehemently in following your passions and doing twhat you truly love in life. Discover more on Mom's Favorite Reads website:

https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/j-j-hughes - 43 -

Book Spine Poetry

By Millie Slavidou A fun activity for all ages I first discovered book spine poetry some years ago, while I was reading Stan Carey's blog Sentence First. I instantly loved the concept, and started experimenting with my own.

The concept is simple. You take your books, and line them up with the spines together, using the titles to form the poem. Choose your titles carefully, so that they go together well, and the poem makes sense. You can experiment with any type of books, from novels to reference books; from children's stories to cookery tomes. The choice is yours. And you can make your poem as long or as short as you like.

Here are a couple that I have put together.

Once your poem is ready, you photograph the spines in a pile, perhaps placing the book or books that make up the title of your poem at a slightly different angle. The photograph then accompanies your poem, and you are ready to go with your first book spine poem. Don't forget to add your punctuation!

Dark Moon Wildfire at midnight, This green land, Across the flame, The shadow of the lynx, Burned alive, Dead heat.

The Unquiet bones.

The Geneva Deception A dangerous fortune, Double deal; The poisoned chalice!

The accusers; proof.

Fire and sword!

Avenger.

A certain justice.

Millie Slavidou, author of the Lucy Evans Instaexplorer adventure series for preteens, featuring little snippets of language, and Sparky, a first chapter book for early readers.

Discover more about MIlle on the Mom's Favorite Reads website:

https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/millie-slavidou

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Toffee Apple Bread & Butter Pudding Submitted by DM Wolfenden

Bonfire Night Treat I got the originally recipe from the BBC Good Food website and the recipe was By Cassie Best but adjusted it to my taste as that one was far too sweet for me.

3 large apples juice ½ lemon 3 tbsp caster sugar (if you have a sweet tooth add a little more).

1 400g can of sweetened condensed milk for caramel 6 brioche finger rolls, 3 eggs 400ml milk 200ml double cream

Layer the brioche and apple rings in the dish in overlapping lines and sprinkle about half the sugar over them. Dot spoonsful of the leftover caramel here and there, leaving bits of apple poking out.

Boil the unopened can of condensed milk to create your caramel, ensure the can is always completely covered with water. Once the water is boiling, simmer for 2 and /2 hours. Leave to cool before opening. (Only use a can of condensed milk that has a sealed lid for this method: do not use a can with a pull-tab lid).

Whisk the eggs, milk, cream, and 1 tbsp sugar together.

Pour the mixture over the brioche and apples, making sure it’s all well covered, then wrap in cling film. Set aside for at least 30 mins in the fridge (can be left overnight).

Slice your brioche finger rolls to required thickness (depends on your individual taste how think, I slice into 3)

Heat oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3. Uncover the pudding and scatter with the remaining sugar.

Bake for 45-50 mins until the top is golden and the custard has set. The caramel should be bubbling around the edges and the pudding puffed up. Goes great with ice cream.

Core your apples and slice (you can add lemon juice to the slices to stop browning if you want).

Spread half of the caramel over the bottom of your baking dish.

Dianne Wolfenden writes under DM Wolfenden. I love all things dark and am a horror addict. I grew up watching the old British hammer horror TV movies.

Most of my stories have a dark side and one of my friends said they represent me pretty well; a little dark with a lot of heart. Discover more on the Mom’s Favorite Reads website: https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/dm-wolfenden/ - 45 -

Tongue — The Ultimate Word of Speech

By Millie Slavidou This seems to me to be the perfect word to study.

Why, you might ask? It's simple. The tongue is where it all began. With no tongue, there can be no speech, and although there are other forms of communication, for us human beings, speech is our primary communication. In some languages, the words for language and tongue, the organ in the body, are one and the same. And indeed in English, we can use tongue to mean language too. So where does it come from?

I can readily understand it, and it seems that the meaning of the word is unchanged. But where did it come from? Not, it would seem, from French, where the word is 'langue'. Instead, our answer lies in Old English, where we can find the form tunge (in the examples below it appears as 'tungan' in the accusative and dative cases).

On seeing the spelling of the word, with the -gue ending, you may be forgiven for wondering if it derives from French, as this continues to be a common ending in that language. But spelling, as we have seen before, may be deceptive, and it seems that in this case the spelling does not reveal the origin. Indeed, in Middle English, it may be spelt variously tung, tong, tongge, tungen, tongan, among others.

I have a sluggish tongue

Ic hæfde ðe lætran tungan This comes from the Junius Manuscript, a collection of poetry in Old English telling the Biblical story of Exodus dating to around 930. Another example, from just a short period earlier: Mid tungan fácenfullíce dydon they used the tongue deceitfully

If we take a look at how the word was used in Middle English, we can compare with today's usage:

This is from the Old English Psalterium, which was written some time during the late 800s. So it would appear that this word comes from a Germanic root, and indeed the theory is that it derives from ProtoGermanic *tungon, which would also be the source of Dutch tong, German Zunge, and others. The meaning remains the same – 'tongue' in the sense of both the organ and speech. Stepping back a little further, the proposed root in Proto-Indo-European is *dnghu, which would also have meant 'tongue'.

We gladly opyn oure tonge largely forto speke We gladly use our tongue, largely in order to speak This is taken from A Deuout Treatyse Called the Tree and xii Frutes of the Holy Goost dating to 1460. You can see that while the turn of phrase may have moved on, the meaning of the word 'tongue' is the same. Going back a few hundred years, to Early Middle English in the twelfth century, we can see something similar: Nim þisse wyrte leaf, leȝe under þa tungan Take this root leaf and place under the tongue While I am not in the habit of placing leaves under my tongue,

Millie Slavidou, author of the Lucy Evans Instaexplorer adventure series for preteens, featuring little snippets of language, and Sparky, a first chapter book for early readers.

Discover more about MIlle on the Mom's Favorite Reads website:

https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/millie-slavidou

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Podcasts of Interest

By T.E. Hodden It’s time for another of our irregular reviews of podcasts that may be of interest to writers and readers.

This issue we look at some podcasts returning for new series, that should be perfect times for new listeners to give them a try, and one brand new show ripe to be discovered.

The Unexplainers, BBC Wales’ own paranormal investigators are back from their television foray to their regular podcasting beat, investigating the unusual and the paranormal, in their own… unique way.

Mike Bubbins (comedian of impressive facial hair, and rationalist sceptic) and John Rutledge (yes, the Goldy Looking Chain rapper) start their new series by investigating if poltergeists can move objects, through their usual comedy, bickering and experiments.

TV Cream’s What We Just Watched is back for a new run, and the format remains a fun and funny way of discussing Cult TV of all shapes and sizes. A pair of comedians surprise each other with a TV episode, that they then watch and make the other talk about. Always funny, and informative, this is interesting, even when the TV wasn’t.

We end on another BBC podcast, and this time one that is brand new, if instantly familiar. “You’re Dead To Me”, is a show written by, and starring, Greg Jenner, the chief ‘writer and nerd’ for the TV adaption of Horrible History. Each week he is joined by a genuine expert, and a comedian, to discuss something from history: From LGBT history, via Boudicca to the Witch Trials, the show takes a subject, starts with what you probably already know, then makes all the rest exciting and funny enough for anybody to be interested in.

Returning from a somewhat longer gap is the Pod Delusion a magazine show, about “interesting things”, by James O’Malley. Full disclosure: I was a contributor on a few episodes of the old Pod Delusion, but you will be glad to hear, they are rather more discerning these days, and all the articles seem to be O’Malley himself (an amiable and enthusiastic host) interviewing the contributors directly, about a wide variety of topics (occasionally aided by the wonderful Doctor Liz, who is always engaging).

The feeling now is far less a home spun podcast that gives the professionals a run for their money, and much more of a slick, professional, job that has kept its homely charm.

Trust me, I am not doing the show justice. It is far better than I can describe. Give it a try!

T.E. Hodden trained in engineering and works in a specialized role in the transport industry. He is a life long fan of comic books, science fiction, myths, legends, and history. In the past he has contributed to podcasts, blogs, and anthologies.

Discover more on Mom’s Favorite Reads website: https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/t-e-hodden/ - 47 -

Cultural Diversity

By Ronesa Aveela People who believe in evil spirits may be more cautious around others. In the above story, Maria is constantly giving Stefan charms to ward off the evil she believes intends to harm him. As an outsider, Stefan reacts differently to her actions than people who have lived with her in the village.

Wouldn’t it be nice if your children grew up in a world where one group of people didn’t hate another? Where we didn’t think of those who are different from us as all being “terrorists” or any of the many other derogatory names people call each other?

This goal of accepting cultural diversity is probably easier to obtain than making politicians work for the good of the people, rather than mainly for those who donate the most money for their campaigns.

Is either of them right or wrong? No. Different cultures shaped their view of what evil spirits are, or if they even are, or if they even exist. Will living in a place that is vastly different from your own change your perception? Quite possibly, yes.

But, I don’t want to talk about politicians or politics. Not even about religion or nationalism. I want to tell you the wonderful things you can learn about this world when you get to know people born across the globe—or even those in your neighborhood whose upbringing differs from yours.

Then the question arises: Should people who move to another country forget about their heritage and immerse themselves in their new culture? Or should they retain the purity of their traditions, ignoring all else? Or perhaps a bit of both - creating new traditions from each culture? This is a topic of a book I’m currently working on: The Wanderer – a Tear and a Smile: Confessions of a Bulgarian Immigrant.

Why is understanding culture important?

If you take away all the national pride, political agendas, and religious (not spiritual) dogmas, you have the core of who we are. Not that these ideals are wrong when properly understood and implemented, but they can promote so much hate and antagonism by extremists that they really don’t define who we are as individuals or as a community.

Think of all the wars started on the premise of each of those three ideologies.

Learning about cultural diversity can be such a wonderful adventure. The common experiences that people share influence their perception of the world and consequently how they behave with each other and those outside their community.

For example, I’ve researched Slavic folklore for the books I write. Many old “superstitions” exist today (much like we have superstitions about walking under a ladder and avoiding black cats). But, to understand the people who practice rituals around these beliefs, you have to go back many, many years to understand the origins of these beliefs, and how they may still affect the way people behave today.

I’ll give you an example from my debut novel, Mystical Emona: Soul’s Journey.

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Consider these thoughts about culture.

•

•

•

Provide comfort and security: Customs, traditions, and beliefs give people hope for a better life for themselves and their children.

Pass on cultural and religious heritage: Traditions are a great way to teach children about the family’s cultural and religious history, giving them personal identity.

Connect generations: Spending time with older generations is a great way to build memories and enables people to learn about beliefs, traditions, and heritage.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Mystical Emona where Peter is telling Stefan about Sultana, a znahar, a woman who heals with herbs. Many people considered her a witch.

“When people don’t understand things, they call them bad. Miracles still happen, but you need to believe deep in your heart before you can experience them.”

So, culture is about believing.

Sometimes, perceptions are too deeply ingrained into adults to ever hope to change their way of thinking. Our children are the hope for a better future for not only them, but for generations to come. When we can teach the young to accept others, and not to fear or hate them, we can take a step toward a brighter future for everyone.

There is no set answer. Everyone is different, so what works for one person or family may not be appropriate for another. Some beliefs may be so strongly ingrained into people’s personalities that no amount of time can erase them. While other beliefs may pass by the wayside, people may openly embrace new beliefs, or incorporate them into what they believe, thereby creating new traditions.

Teach them to read. Teach them to accept our differences.

Ronesa Aveela is “the creative power of two.” Two authors that is. The main force behind the work, the creative genius, was born in Bulgaria and moved to the US in the 1990’s. She grew up with stories of wild Samodivii, Kikimora, the dragons Zmey and Lamia, Baba Yaga, and much more. She’s a freelance artist and writer. She likes writing mystery romance inspired by legends and tales. In her free time, she paints. Her artistic interests include the femal figure, Greek and Thracian mythology, folklore tales, and the natural world interpreted through her eyes. She is married and has two children.

Her writing partner was born and raised in the New England area. She has a background in writing and editing, as well as having a love of all things from different cultures. Together, the two make up the writing of Ronesa Aveela. https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/ronesa-aveela/ - 49 -

The Wheel of the Year — Pegan Samhain Celebration

By Val Tobin Opposite to Beltane on the pagan Wheel of the Year and celebrated on October 31, Samhain is a time of drawing inward and connecting to the spirits of departed loved ones. The progression toward winter is more pronounced, though some years it is mild enough for more daring celebrants to step into the circle barefoot one last time. Most often, though, it is cold enough to see one’s breath and a sprinkling of snow covers the ground. The darkness creeps in earlier each day, and the time of introspection has begun.

Culling the Herds to Survive Through Winter In the past, Samhain was a time when herds were culled. With the approach of winter, people had the difficult task of deciding which animals to try to keep through the winter for breeding stock and which to kill off and preserve for the lean, cold months ahead. They had to strike a balance between killing too many and killing too few in order to survive the winter. If they made the wrong decision, it could cost them their lives.

Crops had to be harvested before Samhain, as, according to Janet and Stewart Farrar in their book A Witches’ Bible, a hobgoblin called the “Pooka” would ravage whatever crops had been left in the fields on Samhain night (122, Farrar). Traditionally, food and drink were left out for wandering spirits on Samhain night, and candles were left lighted in windows to help guide ancestors home.

Food and Drink for Samhain

Courtesy of Bob Tobin and The Hedge Witch

In the past, Samhain was a time of feasting because there was plenty of fresh meat and crops from the fields and also because it was a time of uncertainty as well. McQueen says, “So there is the feasting due to the fact that you’ve culled all the animals; there is the uncertainty of not knowing if you’ve balanced it properly; and then there is the question of whether you will see friends and relatives come Beltane.”

Today, while most people don’t have to cull their herds to make it through the winter, many still draw friends together to celebrate Samhain, calling their ancestors to the feast. When asked what foods and drinks are popular at this time, McQueen responds, “Food-wise, obviously meats, from the whole aspect of culling your herds. Definitely apples. Pumpkins are popular and mulled cider. That’s a tradition at our rituals, starting at Samhain and going all the way through almost to Beltane. We’re outside no matter what the weather, so mulled cider in the chalice works well.”

The Thinning of the Veil at Samhain For many pagans, November 1 is the start of a new year, and they celebrate Samhain as New Year’s Eve. Samhain is also referred to as the “Feast of the Dead.” The period between the dusk and dawn on Halloween night is a time when the veil between this world and the next is thin, as it also is at Beltane, purportedly allowing the spirits of the dead to walk the earth.

Jeff McQueen, first-degree priest with the Wiccan Church of Canada, explains: “Samhain is all about ancestors — major about ancestors. It’s about going from light to dark and from living to death if you will. There’s a huge changeover. At Beltane, you’ve gone from dark to light, from death to rebirth or to birth.”

Colors for Samhain are oranges, reds, and blacks — the colours of Halloween. Decorate your circle or home with these colours, and carved pumpkins are mandatory. While, traditionally, lit candles were - 50 -

used in pumpkins, battery powered tea lights are cheaply available at dollar stores and are much safer to use when people walk around in a ritual circle or trick-or-treating kids come to the door down a darkened path.

Samhain is a favourite celebration for many pagans, who look forward to connecting with their departed loved ones, including any pets that have passed.

This time of looking inward helps participants to reflect on their lives and on the lives of those who have gone before. While many spend Halloween in more lively pursuits, such as trick-or-treating or visiting home haunts, others, such as those in McQueen’s group, spend it in quiet celebration. The next ritual, Yule, will be more festive.

A Circle for the Living and the Dead McQueen sets up two circles for his Samhain ritual.

The main circle represents the side of the living and the secondary circle represents the side of the dead.

The two circles together form a figure eight, or the symbol for infinity. This ritual is McQueen’s most popular of the year, with perhaps only Beltane, with its maypole, drawing as many people. People step through the western gate into the realm of the dead during the ceremony.

McQueen explains: “As people come through the western gate and step over the besom, I light each one of their candles, and I give them the light to go in. On the ancestors’ side, we have a very large table/shrine. Then each individual, if he or she wants to, comes up and gets an apple. They make an offering of the apple; they take a bit for themselves and also a drink from the chalice. They hold onto their candle because their candle can’t go out. Once it’s all said and done, they come back through the gate, and I extinguish each of their flames as they go back to the other side.”

In this way, participants share a feast with their departed loved ones. In McQueen’s circle, each person silently calls in any loved ones they wish, but this is optional. The candles light the way through the circle of the dead and are extinguished as participants return to the circle of the living, where it is much brighter. Chanting accompanies the ceremony and contributes both solemnity and reverence to the ritual.

References Farrar, Janet and Stewart, A Witches’ Bible: The Complete Witches’ Handbook, Custer: Phoenix Publishing Inc., 1996 edition.

McQueen, Jeff, Priest, 1st degree, the Wiccan Church of Canada.

Val Tobin writes speculative fiction and searches the world over for the perfect butter tart. Her home is in Newmarket, Ontario, where she enjoys writing, reading, and talking about writing and reading. Discover more about Val on Mom’s Favorite Reads website: https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/val-tobin

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Poem

by Stan Phillips This is another autumnal offering that I wrote some time ago. But as the seasons come and go to be repeated again with each fresh year, so perhaps can my poem be.

A brief world of wonder as still day follows still September day, and stray leaves begin to randomly fall, a small soft carpet to crunch beneath passing feet.

The wild winds blew frantic last night.

But the majority cling on, reluctant to fall, till that one day when the inevitable storm comes to cast them adrift in that strange quest to create new life.

And those leaves that still clung to the branches of Autumn trees sighed their farewell to summer, and allowed themselves to be flung into a vast unknowable new universe.

Nature's odd gamble that one or two will fly far enough, determined enough, lucky enough, to root, to make a new tree, a new woodland, a new forest.

A home for a million unborn generations of home coming birds.

It happens every year, as bare branches acquire ambitious buds, small growth becoming abundant, turning to leaf in the late spring, abiding, becoming beautiful, hiding birds flown home from distant shores, shading nests from fierce sunshine, protecting the new life that emerges from those nests, and becoming glorious as summer spreads it's way across the world.

But I look out at the trees this day, sad and strangely naked they are as they stoically await the onset of winters cold embrace.

Stan Phillips(C) 2019

Becoming mature and golden as the season of the Fall creeps surreptitiously into the woodland turning it to a symphony of magic.

Stan Phillips is an 80 year old poet, musical podcast maker, part-time wannabe male model, and occasional stand up comedian. “I used to be a psychotherapist/counsellor when I had an honest job. I was born into prewar London, and attended 17 schools (my father believed they couldn’t hit a moving target) and I eventually finished up here in Ireland. Still wondering what I will be when I grow up — but enjoying writing my quirky poetry as I do so.”

Discover more about Stan on Mom’s Favorite Reads website: https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/stan-phillips - 52 -

Chess: White to Move Supplied by Chess.Com The concept of removing the defender is fundamental to tactics. Sometimes you might identify a crucial defender, the removal of which may allow you to carry out a tactic. In some cases, it can even be worth it to sacrifice material to remove that defender.

In this position, you might notice that a certain black piece is preventing you from carrying out a deadly fork. Try to find that piece and destroy it, allowing you to win material.

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October —Fest

By Poppy Flynn Now the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars, October, like many months, gets its name from its placement in the old calendar of Romulus circa 750 BC where it was placed as the eighth month. Likewise, October retained its name, originating from the Latin and Greek word ‘ôctō’ meaning eight. The name October replaced what the Saxons called Winterfylleð - Winter full moon - with the spread of Christianity in the early middle ages.

The month of October is probably most commonly associated with the season of Autumn or Fall in the Northern Hemisphere; leaves changing colour, the weather starting to chill and of course Halloween. But in the Southern Hemisphere it is the north’s equivalent of April, so Springtime.

Dave Jones

While October boasts two birthstones, the tourmaline, said to promote healing and the opal, which is considered lucky, it has only one birth flower, the Calendula. More commonly known as the marigold, it is associated with love, warmth and creativity.

The zodiac signs for this month are Libra which runs until October 22 and Scorpio thereafter.

Of course, while the children are anticipating all that candy for Halloween and the lure of trick or treating at the end of the month, beer lovers are probably a good deal more interested in what’s happening at the beginning of the month – Oktoberfest!

This long running beer festival has soared in popularity around the world, but the true Oktoberfest is located in Munich, Germany, where the festival has been going strong for over 200 years since 1810!

Oktoberfest celebrates the start of a new beerbrewing season, when the cooler temperatures create ideal brewing conditions and it has been a longstanding tradition to finish the remaining beer from the previous year in order to prepare the casks for the new draught.

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A multitude of different things are celebrated in October. In the Catholic church it is the Month of the Holy Rosary, and the twoday celebration of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, is celebrated in September/ October, although like Easter, it constantly moves, occurring 163 days after the first day of Passover. There is also Diwali, the Indian festival of lights which is celebrated in the Hindu month of ‘Kartikamasam’ which falls during October or November.

Other worldwide observances include: •

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

•

Health Literacy Month

•

International Walk to School Month

•

World Blindness Awareness Month

The Statue of Liberty was opened on October 28th, 1805 and on October 1st, 1949 the People’s Republic of China was declared while on October 14th, 1964 Martin Luther King Jr won the Nobel Peace Prize, which is declared every year in October.

On October 20th, 1973 the Sydney Opera House was officially opened, October 29th, 1929 saw the Wall Street Crash, starting the Great Depression and on October 31st, 2011 the world population was declared to have officially reached seven billion and counting…

Historical Events include the reunification of Germany on October 3rd, 1990, the launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth on 4th October 1957, the Battle of Hastings which started on 14th October 1066 and the death of Admiral Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21st, 1805.

Poppy Flynn was born in Buckinghamshire, UK and moved to Wales at eight years old with parents who wanted to live the 'self-sufficiency' lifestyle. Today she still lives in rural Wales and is married with six children. Poppy's love of reading and writing stemmed from her parents' encouragement and the fact that they didn't have a television in the house. "When you're surrounded by fields, cows and sheep, no neighbors, no TV and the closest tiny village is four miles away, there's a certain limit to your options, but with books your adventures and your horizons are endless." Discover more about Poppy on Mom's Favorite Reads website:

https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/poppy-flynn - 55 -

Easy Baklava Submitted by Ronesa Aveela

Prepare Shells

Easy Baklava

∗ ∗ ∗

1 package puff pastry shells (6 shells) 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 cup chopped mixed nuts 1/2 cup butter, melted 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup water 1 teaspoon honey 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

∗ ∗ ∗ ∗

Baklava is a well-known dessert served not only on Koleda and Survaki, but also throughout the year. The dessert was listed in a thirteenth century Turkish cookbook.

The following is a modern recipe I invented that saves time and hassle.

Butter a round shallow baking dish.

Toss together cinnamon and nuts in a small bowl.

Break open a package of pastry puffs along the pre-scored lines to separate the shells. Take them out of the freezer at least 4 – 5 hours prior to baking.

Place the puffs onto the baking sheet with their tops up.

Brush them generously with melted butter.

Sprinkle 2 – 3 Tablespoons of the nut mixture on top.

Bake for 20 minutes, until puffs rise and are crisp and golden.

Prepare Syrup ∗

∗ ∗

STEPS Preheat oven to 385˚F (200˚C).

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While the puffs are baking, combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil.

Stir in the honey, vanilla, and lemon zest.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Final Steps Remove the puffs from the oven and let them cool for 15 – 20 minutes. Spoon the syrup over them. Let them cool completely before serving. Store uncovered. The best way to bring out the flavor of baklava is to let it cool for about 24 hours. When it is dry, make an additional syrup mixture and spoon it over the top of the shells.

Variation Use puff pastry sheets. Spread the nut mixture onto a sheet, patting it down with your hands. Sprinkle melted butter on top.

Start rolling the log from the filled edge until you have a firm even log. Using a sharp or serrated knife, cut the log into 1/2 inch slices.

Place them on a waxed-paper lined tray. Preheat oven to 385˚F (200˚C). Bake for about 15 – 20 minutes or until golden brown. Prepare the syrup and the rest of the recipe as described above.

This recipe is copyright Bendideia Publishing. It originally appeared in Light Love Rituals: Bulgarian Myths, Legends, and Folklore and is also included in a separate cookbook, Mediterranean and Bulgarian Cuisine: 12 Easy Traditional Favorites.

Ronesa Aveela is “the creative power of two.” Two authors that is. The main force behind the work, the creative genius, was born in Bulgaria and moved to the US in the 1990’s. She grew up with stories of wild Samodivii, Kikimora, the dragons Zmey and Lamia, Baba Yaga, and much more. She’s a freelance artist and writer. She likes writing mystery romance inspired by legends and tales. In her free time, she paints. Her artistic interests include the femal figure, Greek and Thracian mythology, folklore tales, and the natural world interpreted through her eyes. She is married and has two children.

Her writing partner was born and raised in the New England area. She has a background in writing and editing, as well as having a love of all things from different cultures. Together, the two make up the writing of Ronesa Aveela. https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/ronesa-aveela/ - 57 -

We are excited to announce that Goylake Publishing has teamed-up with the Fussy Librarian and in partnership we are offering you 20% off your first book promotion with the Fussy Librarian. To qualify for this promotion, your book must be either permafree or listed free during a special offer.

In our experience, the Fussy Librarian is the best book promoter in the business. When we promote with him, our free books always reach the top five of Amazon’s genre charts, most often they reach the top three. We promote with the Fussy Librarian every month and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future.

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And, at the checkout, be sure to enter this code: goylake20 to claim your 20% discount.

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Brought to you by...

The November issue of Connections eMagazine is dedicated to the holiday season, new releases and amazing authors. I hope you will take a minute to check it out.

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Connections eMagazine is a FREE quarterly publication founded by authors Melanie P. Smith and Rhoda D’Ettore. It is currently produced entirely by Editor, Melanie P. Smith. Over the years, the magazine has evolved, and it now features promos, freebies, blog articles, and short stories in every issue.

Discover more about Connections eMagazine on their website here: https://melaniepsmith.com/emagazine-landing/ - 59 -

Editor In Chief—Hannah Howe The Editor-in-Chief is the key figure in every publication. Hannah Howe works closely with the editorial staff to ensure the success of each publication. She is the author of the Sam Smith Mystery Series, the Ann’s War Mystery Series and Saving Grace. Get to know more about Hannah, her projects and her work on Mom’s Favorite Reads website here: https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/hannah-howe/

Executive Editor | Graphic Designer—Melanie P. Smith The Executive Editor / Graphic Designer is responsible for developing the layout and design of MFR eMagazine. In addition to the editorial staff of Mom’s Favorite Reads, Melanie P. Smith also produces Connections eMagazine. She is a multi-genre author of Criminal Suspense, Police Procedural, Paranormal and Romance novels. Get to know more about Melanie, her projects and her work on Mom’s Favorite Reads website here: https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/melanie-p-smith/

Managing Editor—Ronesa Aveela & Denise McCabe Our Managing Editors oversee the physical content of the magazine and coordinates the production schedule. There are two Managing Editors for Mom’s Favorite Reads; Ronesa Aveela and Denise McCabe. Get to know our Managing Editor’s on Mom’s Favorite Reads website here: Ronesa Aveela— A freelance artist and author of mystery romance inspired by legends and tales. https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/ronesa-aveela/

Denise McCabe— A children's book author and blogger. https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/denise-mccabe/

Cover Designer—Nicole Lavoie Our Cover Designer works closely with Mom’s editorial staff to create a design that captures the essence of the each publication. Nicole Lavoie developed the initial layout for MRF eMagazine,. She specializes in book layout and design with an emphasis in Children’s books. Get to know more about Just Saying Dezigns on their website here: https://justsayingdezigns.com/

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Art Director—Sylva Fae, Kelly Artieri and Christine Ardigo Our Art directors are responsible for organization and commission of all the art work that will be included in the publication We are lucky enough to have three talented and creative individuals who work hard behind the scenes to make our magazine creative and professional Get to know our Art Director’s on Mom’s Favorite Reads website here: Sylva Fae—Mum of three, fairy woodland owner and author of children’s books. https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/sylva-fae/

Kelly Artieri— Western New Yorker, lover of animals (especially dogs) and author. https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/kelly-artieri/

Christine Ardigo— Registered Diatrician/ Personal Trainer and author of contemporary romance novels https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/christine-ardigo/

Feature Editor—T.E, Hodden As Feature Editor T.E. Hodden works diligently to provide content that is interesting, informative and professional. He is a trained engineer and a life-long fan of comic books, Sci-Fi, myths, legends and history. Get to know more about TE Hodden on Mom’s Favorite Reads website here: https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/t-e-hodden/

Marketing Director—Grant Leishman Our Marketing Director, Grant Leishman, oversees marketing campaigns and social media engagement for our magazine. After an exciting career in accounting and journalism, he now focuses on his true calling—writing. Get to know more about Grant on Mom’s Favorite Reads website here: https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/grant-leishman/

Content Editors—Rachael Wright, Poppy Flynn, Elizabeth Hull and Kate Robinson Our Content Editors are responsible for acquiring articles, short stories, etc for the eMagazine. We have four content editros who work hard to make our magazine interesting and professional. Get to know our Content Editor’s on Mom’s Favorite Reads website here: Rachael Wright—Journalist and author. Believes in Big Ideas, Helping Others and Soulful Conversations https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/rachael-wright/

Poppy Flynn— Mother of six, lover or readring and author of Romance, Erotica and Contemporary novels. https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/poppy-flynn/

Elizabeth Hull— Blogger and author (CN Lesley) of Fantasy and Science Fiction books https://cnlesley.com/

Kate Robinson— Kate is the Children’s book author of the Breezie Boo Adventures. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17661436.Kate_Robinson

Discover more amazing authors… https://moms-favorite-reads.com/moms-authors/ - 61 -

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