Life in Color

Cabin on the lake painted by me shortly after my divorce and move to Norway

Life is like a canvas full of different colors that splash randomly, making surprises in life. Do you ever wonder what your life would look like if it were to be painted on a canvas? What are the colors of paint that would be splashed, and what forms would they take? As an artist and a writer I would like to show you my life on canvas and paper for one simple reason, to relate, to make a connection, to not feel so alone in this world. 

How many of you feel like your life started out in pastels, moved to black and white with some splashes of red and then a lot of white just to be painted over by black, making everything grey?

I am so sorry that I have not been around for my blogging friends lately; you all know that there are personal reasons for this. I am fighting through the grey, struggling to find some color to paint with again, struggling to find words that will make any sense.

 

Following a splash of pink created by the birth of my first granddaughter, today a bright white splashed its way onto my life’s canvas. My oldest daughter Nicole has started her own blog about food and family, please visit her and say hello.

http://nicolelindblom.wordpress.com/

Maybe pastels and light are forcing the way onto my life’s canvas again, blotting out the grey. As we all grow older less grey is good, right?

Wheels of Time

My mother and me in Central Park, NY  1959

Certain moments in my life have instantly snapped like a rubber band and I knew at that very instant no matter how hard I tried to fight it, that everything was about to change. It was like that the first time my mother gazed off in the distance, as she sat in her chair, and said to me in a childish voice, “Can you drive me home now? I want to go home but I don’t have any shoes so I can’t walk there.” 

My mother was home. She has been living with me and my family for the past 10 years. Snap goes the rubber band and I knew it was time to quite fooling myself. I had taken her to the doctor even though she had said she was perfectly fine. I was worried about the dosage of her medicine and forced her out of the house to see her doctor. His diagnosis was suspected dementia or another mild stroke. She seemed fine enough at the time but I was kidding myself, letting myself be deceived. Tell me, what child does not want to believe their mother? The rubber band snapped and in an instant I became the parent, my mother the child. My brother and sisters are in the states, so I am a so called single parent. I make the hard decisions alone with the support of my family here because they know firsthand the situation. I keep my sisters and brother informed as best I can, but as one of my sisters said, “What can I do?” She does the best she can by giving me emotional support and that is all I can ask for.

Yesterday after my husband and I checked my mother into a medical facility, where over the course of 3- 4 weeks she will be physically and mentally tested for disease, I felt relieved yet saddened. Relieved knowing that she will get the medical attention she needs yet has fought against. Saddened because I know this proud woman does not like to be where she is but has accepted the fact that she needs the kind of help that I cannot give her. Kissing her on the cheek and leaving her in the care of others reminded me of the first time I left my child in daycare. Strange how the wheels of time can turn and how the snap of a moment can change your life.

Be kind to the people you love because one day when you least expect it that rubber band will snap, and hopefully as your life is changed you will make the right choices.

Happy New Year my friends! I hope the choices you make this year bring you success and happiness!

Food and More Food

Christmas in Norway lasts forever, especially if you are working in the restaurant business. Since the middle of November I have been cooking Christmas dinner for hundreds of guests. Just look at all this food, and this is just the cold food. There are desserts and warm food as well. This has been a busy month for me, so sorry if I have been absent. The Christmas Buffet at the hotel where I work is a popular destination for businesses, families and friends. By the time Christmas is here I will have had my fill of food!

Not everything has been about food. If you remember from my last post, my daughter was expecting the birth of her first child. Guess what I did this Thanksgiving? I met my grand-daughter for the first time. Introducing Victoria, I think I will call her Tory. Both mother and child are doing well. Enjoy the rest of your week! I hope to get around to visiting my blogging friends soon.

Hope for the future

Here in the southern armpit of Norway called Larvik the weather has been surprisingly mild and there is still no sign of snow. The sun made a rare appearance today and nodded its head quickly before dissapearing once again behind the dark clouds stuffed with the promise of rain. It is a perfect day for contemplating--- for just sitting and staring into space, which is something that I find myself doing alot of lately.

As my mother falls deeper into a childlike state and I find myself her sole caretaker, my daughter awaits the birth of her first child which could happen any day now. Although I have two grandchilden in the states, this will be the first one born here in Norway and I look forward to having the chance to be a grandmother who is present-----not just the mythical grandmother that lives in a far off land and sends presents in the mail.

My daughter and future mother to be

As my friends in the states prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, (a holiday I truely miss) I can not help but contemplate the things that I am thankful for and there are many. This grandchild who is about to be born is a reminder that there is hope for the future and that the tree of life continues to bare fruit. As one seed withers and dies, another is born.

What are you grateful for?

Unfortunetly unexpected costs cut into my postage budjet so for those of you that are awaiting my book or other prizes that were won during my blog tour, I am late sending these out. I promise to get everything off in the mail this week. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful week-end!

Oh how I miss you!

Oh, how I miss you blogfest is hosted by Andrew Leon, Alex J. Cavanaugh, and Matthew MacNish make sure to stop by their blogs and say hello!

This blogfest is all about the bloggers we really miss…and the ones we would really miss!

Do you have a couple blogger buddies who aren’t posting as often? Those who’ve pulled back and seem absent from the blogging world? Do you have blogger buddies you are grateful they are still around and would miss if they vanished? Now is your chance to show your appreciation and spotlight them! Just list one to three bloggers you really miss and one to three bloggers you would miss if they stopped blogging. Then go leave a comment on those blogs.

Our blogger friends are special – time to let them know!

Melynda Fluery had a blog called Crazy World. Her world was crazy, chaotic, fun and full of humor. She was one of my first blogging friends and my first critique partner. Unfortunatley after she lost her eyesight, the struggle of maintaining a blog became too much for her and she had to stop. Melynda, if you happen to trip over this post, I MISS YOU!

It goes without saying that everyone would miss Alex if he stopped blogging. There are two special men  that I would miss terribly if they stopped. One is my cyber brother Michael Di Gesu and the other is my spirit brother Roland Yeomans. I hope neither of you ever stop blogging, but if you do, I know you will be my friend forever no matter what. If you haven't already checked out these incredibly talented writers you will find them IN TIME and WRITING IN THE CROSSHAIRS!

So who would you miss? Hope everyone has a fantastic week-end!

IWSG-Pot of Gold

The first Wednesday of the month and time for the Insecure Writers Support Group, the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh, everyone's super ninja friend. Please go to his blog to find out details on how to join, or just to say hi! All writers need support, insecure or not this is the perfect group for encouragement and lasting friendships.

Not many writers publish their work expecting to find a pot of gold, riches, fame or fortune. I know that I didn't. I just like to tell stories and share them with others. Hoping to put a smile on someones face or touch someones heart was good enough for me, but after publishing three short stories and one book I still have no idea how many people I have reached. All profits from my short stories went to charity and I am still waiting to here from my publishing company for a sales report on my book.

It is frustrating to wait and I wonder if I can really call myself an author, when I have spent alot of money and time writing but have not earned one single cent. Writing is a lonely business isn't it? I doubt there will ever be a pot of gold but I still would like to know that I am being heard. Can you hear me?

November is a dark, stormy, cold time of year and this year is especially hard for me. My writing has to wait for now, as with most everything else in my life. I face my mother's slow disappearance into dementia and I fight the health system alone. It is very hard to live on the other side of the world from the rest of your family when this kind of thing happens.

Pot of gold? I would settle for just a little sunshine.

Come back on Friday for the Oh, How I miss you Blogfest. Until then my friends, give your mother a kiss while she still remembers who you are!

Some Trolls do Eat Children and a Cover Reveal!

 Today is the cover reveal of Ribbon of Darkness. There are little tidbits about elves or Christmas on each cover reveal post. Check out Summer Ross's site My Inner Fairy for more details.



Short book blurb for Ribbon of Darkness: 

An old family secret draws Ribbon into an Elven world while Draven is forced to find a way to drag her back home to save Christmas magic. Don't you just love this cover!

Book information:

Ribbon of Darkness (erotica) is set to release December 13^th 2013

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Find out more about the author, Decadent Kane:

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DecadentKane

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DecadentKane

Blog: http://decadentkane.blogspot.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/23398789-decadent-kane

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Here are some Troll tidbits about eating children from an excerpt of my book Secrets of the Ash Tree:

       The journey down the mountain was much different from my journey up, and when we finally arrived at the bottom, we took a different path than the one I had taken before. We traveled the path of the trolls, and toward the end of the day, we headed straight into a forest that was full of them. The Brising brothers assured us that it would be safe and that we would get to where we were going much faster. I confess though, since I was a well-known troll hunter, his words gave me little comfort, and I was nervous. Some trolls are known for their taste in babies as well, and I did not want my daughter to be on any troll’s dinner menu.

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      The cottage was much larger up close, and as we reached the door, eleven small troll children came running out from behind to great us. They fought each other to get closer to Runah who held our baby even tighter as they hopped up and down trying to catch a peek at the small bundle.

      “Is it true what the lady goddess said?” asked one of the small trolls. “Is that a real goddess troll baby?” They giggled as they waited for us to answer. Freya came out from behind the children together with a rather large female troll covered in baking flour, wooden spoon in hand. Thor and I stepped in front of Runah as she brushed her children aside and demanded to see the baby.

      “You’ve nothing to fear from us. We don’t have a hankering for any kind of baby meals in this house. You’re all welcome to find a spot on the floor for the night.” The troll mother raised her voice an octave and asked while she tried to look over my shoulder, “Does she have a tail?”

      Runah smiled and approached the other mother. “No tail, she looks quite human . . . See?”

Gently, she folded back the blanket and uncovered a smiling Liv who showed no fear at all toward the huge troll women standing over her. The other children gathered around to have a look as well. They all agreed that the baby didn’t look special at all, and slightly disappointed, they ran off to play.

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Hope everyone has a wonderful week-end!