quote of the day - a better you

"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man."

~Benjamin Franklin



http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - the results of your thoughts

"You cannot escape the results of your thoughts... Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain or rise with your thoughts, your vision, your ideal.  You will become as small as your controlling desire, as great as your dominant aspiration."
- James Lane Allen



http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - the value of action

"All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action."

- James Russell Lowell



http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - to be a great person

"The great man is he who does not lose his childlike heart."

- Mencius



http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - accomplishing the great and noble

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble."

- Helen Keller



http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - what peace is

"Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.

- Baruch Spinoza



http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - how some succeed

"Some men succeed by what they know, some by what they do, and a few by what they are."

- Elbert Hubbard



http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - invincible

"In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.

- Albert Camus



http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - we are happiest when...

"We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we've established for ourselves.  It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep.  It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile."

- Earl Nightingale



http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - seeing your goals

"Before you begin a thing, remind yourself that difficulties and delays quite impossible to foresee are ahead... You can only see one thing clearly and that is your goal.  Form a mental vision of that and cling to it through thick and thin."

- Kathleen Norris

quote of the day - achieving joy

"There are two things to aim at in life:  first, to get what you want, and after that to enjoy it.  Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second."

- Logan Pearsall Smith

quote of the day - be what you are

"Just be what you are and speak from your guts and heart - it's all a man has."
- Hubert H. Humphrey

 
 
 
http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - joy or power

"You should have joy, or you shall have power, said God; you shall not have both."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

 
 
http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - far more courage

"Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed."

- Dale Carnegie



http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - who acts from love

"Greater is he who acts from love than he who acts from fear."

- Simeon Ben Eleazar



http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - changing ourselves

"Everyone thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself."

- Leo Tolstoy



http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - who we really are

"Somehow we learn who we really are and then live with that decision."

- Eleanor Roosevelt




http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - the test of a vocation

"The test of a vocation is the love of the drudgery it involves."

- Logan Pearsall Smith



http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - what wise men do

"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."


- Epictetus

quote of the day - turning evil into good

"Whatever evil befalls us, we ought to ask ourselves... how we can turn it into good.  So shall we take occasion, from one bitter root, to raise perhaps many flowers.

Leigh Hunt

quote of the day - looking for opportunity

"We must look for the opportunity in every difficulty, instead of being paralyzed at the thought of the difficulty in every opportunity."

- Walter E. Cole


http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - too much caution

"If one is forever cautious, can one remain a human being?"

- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

quote of the day - a truly peaceful mind

"Do not confuse peace of mind with spaced-out insensitivity.  A truly peaceful mind is very sensitive, very aware."

- Dalai Lama

quote of the day - who you are

"Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have."

- Doris Mortman

quote of the day - everything has its wonders

"Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content."

- Helen Keller

quote of the day - why do some see beautiful skies?

"Why do some people always see beautiful skies and grass and lovely flowers and incredible human beings, while others are hard-pressed to find anything or any place that is beautiful?"

- Leo Buscaglia



http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - finding what you need

"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it."

- George Moore



http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/

quote of the day - happy is...

"Happy is he who learns to bear what he cannot change!"

- J.C.F von Schiller

quote of the day - dancing in the rain

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... It's about learning to dance in the rain."


- Author Unknown

quote of the day - when Thanksgiving comes

"Thanksgiving comes to us out of the prehistoric dimness, universal to all ages and all faiths.  At whatever straws we must grasp, there is always a time for gratitude and new beginnings."

- J. Robert Moskin

quote of the day - how to have a friend

"The only way to have a friend is to be one."


- Ralph Waldo Emerson

quote of the day - expressing gratitude

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."

 ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

quote of the day - the whole world is my family

"The whole world is my family."

- Pope John Paul XXIII

quote of the day - sticking with it

"Diamonds are only lumps of coal that stuck to their jobs."

- B.C. Forbes

quote of the day - the road to happiness

"The road to happiness lies in two simple principles: find what it is that interests you and that you can do well, and when you find it, put your whole soul into it - every bit of energy and ambition and natual ability you have."

- John D. Rockefeller III

quote of the day - what is useful

"'Tis not knowing much, but what is useful, that makes a wise man."

- Thomas Fuller

quote of the day - life is like a ten-speed bicycle

"Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use."




- Charles Schulz

quote of the day - three words

"There are three words that convey the secret of the art of living, the secret of all success and happiness:  One With Life."

- Eckhart Tolle

quote of the day - we are loved

"The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved -- loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves."

- Victor Hugo

quote of the day - wealth is a relative thing

"Wealth... is a relative thing since he that has little and wants less is richer than he that has much but wants more... A tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander."
- C.C. Colton

quote of the day - doors of happiness

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; But often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us."

- Helen Keller

quote of the day - truth is a deep kindness

"Truth is a deep kindness that teaches us to be content in our everyday life and share with the people the same happiness."

- Kahlil Gibran

quote of the day - making peace

"How to be at peace now?  By making peace with the present moment.  The present moment is the field on which the game of life happens.  It cannot happen anywhere else."

- Eckhart Tolle

quote of the day - simplicity

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
- Leonardo Da Vinci

quote of the day - thinking makes it so

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
- Shakespeare

quote of the day - peace is when...

"Peace is when time doesn't matter as it passes by."
- Maria Schell

quote of the day - you are the music

"Music is heard so deeply that it is not heard at all, but you are the music while the music lasts."
- T.S. Eliot

quote of the day - belief keeps us searching for answers

"It's so important to believe in yourself.  Believe that you can do it, under any circumstances.  Because if you believe you can, then you really will.  That belief just keeps you searching for the answers, and then pretty soon you get it."
- Wally "Famous" Amos

quote of the day - understanding ourselves

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves."

- Carl Jung

quote of the day - don't wait

"Don't wait. The time will never be just right."


-Napoleon Hill

quote of the day - life as a service

"Joy can be real only if people look on their life as a service, and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness."


- Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

quote of the day - on belief

"Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact."


- William James

quote of the day - knowing yourself

"Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself if Enlightenment."
- Lao-Tzu

quote of the day - lasting

"He who laughs, lasts!"
- Mary Pettibone Pool

quote of the day - sailing away from safe harbors

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.Dream. Discover"


-- MARK TWAIN

quote of the day - the beauty of your dreams

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
- Eleanor Roosevelt

quote of the day - problem resolution

"It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it."
- John Steinbeck

quote of the day - living your best

"You had better live your best and act your best and think your best today; for today is the sure preparation for tomorrow and all the other tomorrows that follow."
- Harriet Martineau

quote of the day - the wisest counsellor

"Time is the wisest counsellor of all."

- Pericles

quote of the day - a good life is long enough

"A long life may not be good enough, but a good life is long enough."
- Benjamin Franklin

quote of the day - the word that frees us

"One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love."
- Sophocles

quote of the day - impressions on the heart

"Whatever makes an impression on the heart seems lovely in the eye."
- SA'DI

quote of the day - great minds

"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

quote of the day - losing your woes

"The world has cares enough to plague us; but he who meditates on others' woes shall, in that meditation, lose his own."
- Cumberland

quote of the day - impelling faith

"It is faith, and not reason, which impels men to action....Intelligence is content to point out the road, but never drives us along it."
- Dr. Alexis Carrel

quote of the day - a loving heart

"A loving heart is the truest wisdom."

- Charles Dickens

quote of the day - to understand

"To understand is to forgive, even oneself."
- Alexander Chase

quote of the day - Hope sees the invisible

"Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible."


- Anon

quote of the day - the happiest of people

"Who is the happiest of men?  He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though it were his own."
- Johann von Goethe

quote of the day - belief vs interest

"One person with a belief is equal to a force of ninety-nine who have only interests."
- Peter Marshall

quote of the day - mastery and the butterfly

"What the student calls a tragedy, the master calls a butterfly."
- Richard Bach

quote of the day - focusing ambitions

"Acting was a way out at first.  A way out of not knowing what to do, a way of focusing ambitions.  And the ambition wasn't for fame.  The ambition was to do an interesting job."
- Harrison Ford

quote of the day - make your weather

"Each of us makes his own weather, determines the color of the skies in the emotional universe which he inhabits."
- Fulton J. Sheen

quote of the day - strength of your passion

"If we resist our passions, it is more from their weekness than from our strength."
- Francois De La Rochefoucauld

quote of the day - achieving the impossible

"We could accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible."
- C. Malesherbez

quote of the day - chisel vs artist

"Why should I deem myself to be a chisel, when I could be the artist?"
- J.C.F. von Schiller

quote of the day - our destiny

"We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny.  But what we put into it is ours."
- Dag Hammarskjold

quote of the day - everything changes

"You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are continually flowing in."
- Heraclitus

quote of the day - example moves the world

"Example moves the world more than doctrine."
- Henry Miller

quote of the day - losing yourself

"It is by losing himself in the objective, in inquiry, creation, and craft, that a man becomes something."
- Paul Goodman

quote of the day - responsible action

"Only the action that is moved by love for the good at hand has the hope of being responsible and generous."
- Wendell Berry

Quote of the day - taking time gently

"Time deals gently only with those who take it gently."
- Anatole France

quote of the day - results

"Results?  Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results.  I know several thousand things that won't work."
- Thomas A. Edison

quote of the day - what brings abundance

"Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away hunger."
- Saint Basil

quote of the day - the more one laughs

"The more one worries, the older one gets; the more one laughs, the younger one feels."
- Chinese Proverb

quote of the day - risking everything

"If you risk nothing, then you risk everything."
- Geena Davis

quote of the day - past, future and present

"The past exists only in our memories, the future only in our plans.  The present is our only reality."
- Robert M. Pirsig

quote of the day - inner and outer peace

"Inner peace creates outer peace."
- Remez Sasson

quote of the day - luck happens when

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity"
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

quote of the day - be glad of life

"Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars."
- Henry Van Dyke

quote of the day - the most beautiful things

"The most beautiful things in the world are not seen nor touched. They are felt with the heart."


-- Helen Keller

quote of the day - beauty revealed

"People are like stained-glass windows.  They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

quote of the day - a house where love abides

"But every house where Love abides,

And Friendship is a guest,

Is surely home, and home-sweet-home,

For there the heart can rest."

- Henry Van Dyke

quote of the day - the only true happiness

"The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose."
- William Cowper

quote of the day - appreciating what we have

"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have."
- Frederick Keonig

quote of the day - being a better friend

"One who knows how to show and to accept kindness will be a friend better than any possession."

- Sophocles

quote of the day - the pleasantest thing to do

"How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!"
- Robert Louis Stevenson

quote of the day - we can do anything

"We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough."
- Helen Keller

Quote of the day - working at your best

"If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry.  He should sweep streets  so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

quote of the day - actions of a leader

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."
- John Quincy Adams

quote of the day - what makes a wise man

"Tis not knowing much, but what is useful, that makes a wise man."
- Thomas Fuller

Quote of the day - The poor rich man

"The poor rich man!  All he has is what he has bought.  What I see is mine."
- Henry David Thoreau

quote of the day - truth and love

"Between whom there is hearty truth there is love."
- Henry David Thoreau

quote of the day - sweet simplicity

"It is the sweet simple things of life which are the real ones after all."
- Laura Ingalls Wilder

Quote of the day - inner peace

"If there is to be any peace, it will come through being, not having."
- Henry Miller

Quote of the day - the inexpressible music

"After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music."


- Aldous Huxley

Quote of the day - intrinsic worth

"To have that sense of one's intrinsic worth which constitutes self-respect is potentially to have everything."
- Joan Didion

Quote of the day - emancipate yourself from mental slavery

"Emancipate yourself from mental slavery.  None but ourselves can free our minds."
- Bob Marley

Quote of the day - through humor

"Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers.  And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it."
- Bill Cosby

Quote of the day - living in the future

"If a man carefully examines his thoughts he will be surprised to find how much he lives in the future.  His well-being is always ahead."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote of the day - taking each day rightly

"Each day the world is born anew for him who takes it rightly."
- James Russell Lowell

Quote of the day - today

"We can see well into the past; we can guess shrewdly in to the future; but that which is rolled up and muffled in impenetrable folds is today." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote of the day - one day at a time

"One day, with life and heart, is more than time enough to find a world."
- James Russell Lowell

Quote of the day - the adventure of aging

"Getting older is an adventure, not a problem."
- Antionio Pierro (at 110 yrs old)

Quote of the day - dreaming by day

"They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night."
- Edgar Allan Poe

Quote of the day - infinite hope

"We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Quote of the day - faith in others

"He who has no faith in others shall find no faith in them."
- Lao-Tzu

Quote of the day - Kindness and love

"Kindness is the ability to love people more than they deserve."- Anonymous

The quote of the day - love and admiration

"To love is to admire with the heart,to admire is to love with the mind."
- Theophile Gautier

Quote of the day - where happiness comes from

"Happiness comes more from loving than being loved; and often when our affection seems wounded it is only our vanity bleeding.  To love, and to be hurt often, and to love again - this is the brave and happy life."
- J.E. Buchrose

Quote of the day - your heart and understanding

"The heart has such an influence over the understanding that it is worth while to engage it in our interest."
- Lord Chesterfield

Quote of the day - conquering hate

"For hate is not conquered by hate; hate is conquered by love.  This is a law eternal."
- Pali Tripitaka

Quote of the day - strong marriage

"It takes a loose rein to keep a marriage tight."
- John Stevenson

Quote of the day - being loved and loving another

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."
- Lao Tzu

Quote of the day - Devotion

"The need for devotion to something outside ourselves is even more profound than the need for companionship.  If we are not to go to pieces or whither away, we all must have some purpose in life, for not man can live for himself alone."

- Ross Parmenter

Quote of the day - What experience shows us

"Experience shows us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking together in the same direction."
- Antoine De Saint-Exupery

quote of the day - you may be the world

“To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.”

- Brandi Snyder

quote of the day - coming alive!

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

- Howard Thurman

quote of the day - love until it hurts

“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”

- Mother Teresa

quote of the day - service to others with a heart filled with grace

“Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love”

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

quote of the day - attitude is king

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

Charles R. Swindoll

Quote of the day - we are not so different

“I laugh, I love, I hope, I try, I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry. And I know you do the same things too, So we're really not that different, me and you.”

- Colin Raye

Song of the day - Mary J. Blige, U2 - One

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpDQJnI4OhU

quote of the day - kindness to strangers

“If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut off from other lands, but a continent that joins to them.”

 - Francis Bacon Sr.

Song of the day - Beauty in the World, by Macy Gray

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qX7ZsxD3Ik

Quote of the day... to foregive

"There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness."


Josh Billings

Quote of the day... being present to what lies within you

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."


-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote of the day... getting the best out of life

Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.

- Jack Buck

Quote of the day... True Heroism

True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.  It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.

- Arthur Ashe

Quote of the day... discovering yourself

"You have to leave the city of your comfort, and go into the wilderness of your intuition.  What you will discover will be wonderful.  What you will discover will be yourself."

- Alan Alda

Quote of the day... You are the master of your fate

Invictus



Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.



In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.



Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.



It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.



William Ernest Henley

Quote of the day... Girl Power

Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness,heart, talent, guts. That's what little girls are made of; the heck with sugar and spice.



Bethany Hamilton

(greatest female surfer of our time)

Quote of the day... Do the things that you fear

"Make it your practice to seek out and do the things that you fear. Look for those opportunities every day. By doing so, you will reveal your true strength and capabilities to achieve anything you commit yourself to."

- Scott E Hardy

Quote of the day... Learning from failure

If you have made mistakes...there is always another chance for you...you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down.


-- Mary Pickford

Quote of the day... Staying Young

"We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." Benjamin Franklin

A Hitch in Twilight - Book Review

A Hitch in Twilight is a compilation of stories of The Twilight Zone-Alfred Hitchcock variety. Most involve ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Lucifer appears in two. Most are set in New York, particularly Brooklyn. They are designed to make entertain and to foster thought. They are 20 tales of Warped Imagination.
Excerpt
Beneath the Boardwalk, somewhere along the Brighton Beach side, leeward of a dune formed by the bitter winter winds, lay a long, narrow cardboard box around which rats were scurrying. There was a restless, troubled murmuring within it. Suddenly the flaps flew aside and a man inside sprang to a sitting position like a jack-in-the-box, casting pages of a newspaper, his blankets, aside in his wake. He fought to regain his breath, muttering angrily, fearfully.

His attention was snared by a click. His paroxysm had been vanquished. His senses had never seemed so alive. He peered beyond the dune, past the small gap between its peak and the underside of the Boardwalk. A cigarette lighter flickered briefly, illuminating a hard though handsome face that featured a thick, neatly-trimmed black beard.
Review
Vic Fortezza writes about the trials and tribulations of life. Be it fiction or reality he captivates his audience with hard-boiled characterizations that catapult readers through drama and intrigue, at times with a touch of humor. Vic’s words flow with strength – he tells it like it is – through the eyes of a powerful, seasoned writer. By the time you’ve read the last page of A Hitch in Twilight, you’ll feel like you’ve lived each story.

Victoria Valentine, Editor Skyline Review.
To purchase A Hitch in Twilight, go here: http://www.amazon.com/Hitch-Twilight-Tales-Warped-Imagination/dp/0984098410/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1
Learn all about Vic at his website, read his mainstream stories, free: http://vicfortezza.homestead.com/
Follow Vic’s blog: Selling Books on the Streets of Brooklyn: http://www.amazon.com/gp/forum/cd/discussion.html/ref=ntt_mus_ep_cd_tft_tp?ie=UTF8&cdForum=Fx19PIWSO2UGA75&cdThread=Tx1J1SVA9V1ZPDV
See a video of Vic in action on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYv9k5Su3wA

Gratitude Sunday

Big sports weekend for my kids.  I thoroughly enjoyed spending quality time with my two girls in very different venues. 

With my 12 year old daughter, I went with her travel soccer team to see the Boston Breakers (women's pro team) play a Chicago team at Harvard stadium.  The photo to the left is the tunnel her team made (along with other teams) to welcome both teams to the field prior to the game. 

I am coaching my 9 year old daughter's softball team this spring and we had the little league kickoff day this Saturday.  The wonderful Scarborough varsity girls team lead a number of drills to help all the little ones develop their skills.  Great fun and team spirit!

Also greatful for:
- playing (and winning) my league tennis match tonight.  This was the last indoor match - moving outdoor for the summer - yeah!
- enjoying a wonderful BBQ's portobello mushroom meal with my family that my wife made - well, I did the BBQ'ing, but that was the least value add part of the preparation. :-)
- enjoying the company of Ray and Jen during the car ride down to the Boston Breakers game
- spreading lime on my hungry lawn today and then giving it it's first cut of the season.

Peace - Scott

Book Review

They Plotted Revenge Against America


An American attack on Baghdad leaves heartbroken and angry survivors. Two families, one Muslim and one Christian, are wiped out; their young adult progeny are determined to avenge the loss of their loved ones. David Levy, an Israeli Secret Service Agent with a grudge of his own, knows just how to tap into the vulnerabilities that grief leaves, and organizes the training of select individuals whose desire for vengeance is strong enough to consider a deadly covert mission in America. Trainees will learn to blend in, disappear in the multicultural mix of the US and then infest the food and water supply with a deadly flu virus capable of mutating and infecting the human population. The antidote - if it works - will only be revealed under strict demands. Some team members come to realize that they could ultimately be responsible for millions of innocent deaths. Their actions could break the stalemate between the Israelis and Palestinians - or bring on unparalleled tragedy.
(Excerpt – page 148)

…Now she expected to endure the same fate at the hands of the security police, as she would have expected in Russia. She bit her lip. Her face took on a determined look. No, she would not give them what they want and they would not break her. Without her knowing it, someone had been sitting in the room observing her. She was startled when the person said,
“How did you come to know David Levy?”
“Who’s to say I know David Levy?”
“Are you denying it?”
“I simply want to know who is saying that I know him. And why was I abducted?”
“I’m asking the questions. You will answer them.”
“I am not required to answer any of your questions. You have kidnapped me and brought me here by force. And why must I remain blindfolded. Are you afraid to show your face?”
“I ask you again, how do you know David Levy?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“You impertinent sow.” He slapped her across the face. Her head snapped back like whiplash. The stinging of the slap was nothing compared to the fury she felt. If only I could get my hands on that person ,he would never slap me again, she thought…

Review by Malcolm R. Campbell for PODBRAM

”Terrorism frightens people because it operates outside the traditional rules of war. It's hard to combat because the attacks are no longer limited to people wearing military uniforms at well-formed battle lines: they can happen anywhere, at any time, and they may well target people who don't have any direct knowledge of the peoples and issues involved. Part of the terror is the pervasive feeling that nobody’s safe.
This is the arena of Abe F. March's chilling novel They Plotted Revenge Against America. The novel is chilling, not because it's filled with “just more violence” in the Middle East, but because the story occurs on American soil as survivors of the American attack on Baghdad blend in to mainstream society to personally extract revenge against everyday citizens.
They Plotted Revenge Against America is a plausible, sobering, intricate and effectively plotted story about a group of well-trained, well-coordinated teams who slip into the U.S. with forged papers and then painstakingly work through a plan that will infect food and water supplies with a deadly virus.
These team members are not the gun-wielding, grenade-throwing stereotypical terrorists we see in most TV shows and movies. They are everyday people who have suffered personal loss and who want to fight back. Once their mission is complete, they plan, if possible, to go back to their normal lives. As the mission unfolds, they alternate between excitement and doubt while trying to avoid detection, and in the process, they discover while blending into community life, that Americans are not the monsters they expected.
March’s story tends to humanize both the terrorists and their victims, showing Americans as largely unconcerned and ill-informed about the agendas and issues involved in the long-time conflicts between Israel and its Arab neighbors. On the other hand, the terrorists see themselves not as criminals but as soldiers responding to what they view as acts of war taken against their communities.
Since the overall mission leader is a double agent working for Israel's Mossad, group members must not only avoid Homeland Security and other U.S. law enforcement agencies, but the highly effective Israeli intelligence agency as well. This subplot is a nice touch in a book that suggests we're more vulnerable than we suspect.,.”
For more information:
Author’s website: http://www.abemarch.com/
Author’s Amazon Profile page: http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A11FGLER5II4MU/102-7960507-0392150

Gratitude Sunday

As I start my day at my brother Brent's house in Morristown, NJ, I thought I'd share some of the things I am grateful for today.  I am grateful for:

• having two brothers who both love me as I am.
• Ross Whitaker's generaocity as he worked with my brother Brent and I yesterday at his home in Red Bank NJ to film and photograph me for my book trailer.
• my neices (Claire and Ella) who my whole family got to enjoy last weekend when we were all visiting Brent's family together.  I especially enjoyed walking together to a local park and playing on the swings, jungle gym and also kicking the soccer ball around.
• the wonderful dinner that my sister-in-law Margie made last night.  The main dish is called chicken=capers-olivers (served over rice) and was so tasty along with a glass of white wine after a long day.
• my old car that continues to be reliable and a pleasure to drive so that I can get from Maine comfortably to other areas of the country.
• my health
• for a job at a great company like L.L.Bean and all the people there who serve their customers so well
• My safe and comfortable home in the beautiful state of Maine

Book Review - Lily's Odyssey

Lily's Odyssey


ISBN-13: 978-0984098453

All Things That Matter Press

Carol Smallwood
Lily's Odyssey unfolds in three parts with the inevitability, impact, and resolution of a Greek play. The dialogue rings true, the concrete conveyed along with moods and half-tones to paint Midwestern middle class flawed characters with poignancy. The psychological detective novel explores the once largely unacknowledged: it is not only soldiers who get post-traumantic stress disorder and child abuse whether it is overt or covert incest is a time bomb. From daughter to grandmother, Lily's voyage is told with lyricism, humor, and irony using a poet's voice to distill contemporary American women's changing role in religion, marriage, and family.
Carol Smallwood has appeared in English Journal, The Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine, The Writer's Chronicle, The Detroit News. Short listed for the Eric Hoffer Award for Best New Writing in 2009, a National Federation of State Poetry Societies Award Winner, she's included in Who's Who in America, and Contemporary Authors. Writing and Publishing: The Librarian's Handbook, is one of her recent American Library Association books. Contemporary American Women: Our Defining Passages, co-edited, is her 22nd book.
From the Preface:
Weight of Silence, and Nicolet's Daughter were considered as novel titles but it remained Lily's Odyssey. Odysseus, the epic hero from Greek mythology in The Odyssey, helped by the gods with his band of men, maneuvers the Scylla and Charybdis passage as one of his many adventures in ancient times. Lily, from the Midwest, named by a gardener mother she doesn't remember, struggles with a subconscious she fears will destroy her. Her narrow passage is between reality and disassociation, her time the latter 20th and early 21st Centuries. Her odyssey without help from the gods, reflects a passage through linear labyrinths women interpret as round. Lily's fragmentation is echoed in the writing style.
Excerpts:
That evening after we saw Dr. Schackmann, Cal said, "You must realize that building my practice takes all my energy, and accept that as reality." He was mixing his martini before dinner on the glass-topped mahogany sideboard. As he spoke, I studied the sideboard's inlaid rosewood and ebony squares, again thinking he was a good surgeon, widely respected, and it must have been my fault that I wasn't a good wife.

I got a coaster and placed it on the sideboard. He frowned and turned it so the pheasant on the coaster squarely faced him. "You don't even know why you're so dissatisfied," he said, and laughed. "How can you not even know that?"
At the luncheon, I made as many trips as I dared to the restroom without causing people to wonder if something was wrong with me. Inside the unheated cement block room, my long deep breaths came out like smoke signals when I opened and shut my mouth to relieve my clenched jaw, shake my head in disbelief. Each time I went in, I saw cracks in the ceiling that I hadn't seen before. Some natural light came through a small casement window dotted with snow, and I recalled making dots of snow on windows into fairy tale pictures when a child.

When people had complained about the cold rest rooms to Father Couillard, who was the priest before Father Mulcahy, he'd say, "Enjoy the cold while you can, my friends. Where many of you are headed, it will be plenty hot."
Comments:
Smallwood is a watcher. Her eyes are unblinking. And her ears can detect the mercurial ticks of a heart. As a storyteller, she's as sure as any Preakness jockey. She knows when words need to clip-clop up to the gate, when to bide, and when to unfetter them, to let the truth loose. Truth thunders in Lily's Odyssey.

-Katie McKy, author of Pumpkin Town, Houghton Mifflin, and Wolf Camp, Tanglewood Press.
Smallwood is an incredibly gifted author with a broad range of experience. She demonstrates commitment to conscience in her work through Michigan Feminist Studies, The Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine, and Best New Writing 2009.

-Sandra Potter, CEO & Founder, Dreamcatchers for Abused Children, http://www.dreamcatchersforabusedchildren.com/; co-author, Unnecessary Roughness: Till Death Do Us Part; The Child Abuse Survivor Project.
literary novel



http://www.amazon.com/Lilys-Odyssey-Carol-Smallwood/dp/0984098453/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271336237&sr=1-1
http://allthingsthatmatterpress.com/

www.linkedin.com/in/carolsmallwood

Shooting Angels

"Shooting Angels" by Nicolas Sansone
A NASA Space Shuttle plummets to Earth. A team of eight rescue workers plunges into a treacherous Texan wilderness to recover the wreckage, and become entwined in a cosmic conspiracy. An uncouth disembodied head enslaves an elderly rancher and uses his cellar as the war room of its campaign against God, a noir-style slickster with a buxom blonde wife and a taste for margaritas, who rockets down from the suburbs of Heaven on a comet to do battle with metaphysical evils. "Shooting Angels" races from the jungles of Texas, to the dark corners of undiscovered space, to the innermost reaches of the human mind, to the smoggy streets of Central Heaven, where people are free to give in to their most detestable urges. The novel asks its characters to confront their ordering theories of the universe, and raises questions of how we are to envision divinity in a technological age.
Review from amazon user S. Lemme: "Shooting Angels" is an immensely creative and eminently page-turning first novel from Nicolas Sansone. Sansone's imagination delivers a world in which the outrageous is entirely believable, the everyday and mundane are eerily unnerving, and God (as well as Mrs. God) is a truly relatable being. This fast-paced and quick read allows readers to readily consider the "big" questions of faith and reality with good measures of humor, compassion and irreverence. Sansone's tight depiction of his large cast of characters, who range from the ordinary to the downright bizarre, contributes to his characters' accessibility and believability (in the face of the extraordinary). After this read, I can only look forward to what will come next from Sansone's rich imagination. Though his characters and their predicaments may be out-of-this-world, to quote the novel, "They are born of the imagination, but so is everything real".
Links:

Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Angels-Nicolas-Sansone/dp/0984098488/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

AATMP e-store: https://www.createspace.com/3402575

My web site: http://nicksansone.yolasite.com/

My blog: http://ikillcutebunny.livejournal.com/

My web site is up!

Please visit http://www.theinsearchofsite.com/ and let me know what you think. 
This site is really my first draft and I will be adding more, but I wanted to get a base out there.

Peace - Scott

Another great book!

Shaman Circus by Gail Gray
In New Orleans following Katrina all bets are off; all masks dissolved. “Don’t forget the sham in shaman,” Jacob Laguerre lies to his new apprentice, Alex Hampton. When Alex, a twenty-eight year-old anthropology professor goes on field-study to post-Katrina New Orleans, he enters a chaotic and altered landscape where he’s psychologically, physically and spiritually challenged by the sarcastic mentoring of the mulatto, Laguerre, a current day voudou shaman.

Both Laguerre’s and Alex’s psyches struggle through stages of transition and rebirth as their lives are enmeshed with a group of quirky fringe-dwellers, as colorful and eccentric as New Orleans itself. Lily Hampton, a sculptor, torn between her love for both men; Mavis, an artist who spent nights in her attic, but survived the floods; Perry Laguerre, Jacob’s hermaphroditic twin, and Bad Jacqui, lesbian owner of a French Quarter bar: are pulled together to form the cynical but ultimately idealistic team who vow to stay in post-Katrina New Orleans.

They all follow a taut path between madness and redemption in the no man’s land of Refrigerator Town as they assist in the aftermath and healing of both the city and those who remain.

Shaman Circus is a magical realism/dark urban fantasy approach to the failure of the levees. This raggle-taggle group discovers how devastated and government-abandoned New Orleans leaves no quarter for societal charades and consumer societies. Cast adrift and crashing together they attempt to make sense of both internal and external wastelands, ultimately leading to transformation and sanctuary.
Review by Steve Lindahl, author of Motherless Soul

"Shaman Circus is a story of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The writing has great detail and provides an understanding of what life was like in that city with clarity that wasn’t in either the news media statistics or the graphic pictures provided at the time of the storm. I was especially affected by a section where an artist was cleaning her studio. When she discovered that one of her works was only half destroyed from water damage, she ripped off the ruined part and kept the rest hoping she could recreate the painting someday. Gray’s images of huge out of control trash fires and colorful Louisiana Voodoo rituals performed in half destroyed warehouses, pulled me into her story and held me there. There was also a fascinating love triangle between Alex, Jacob, and Lily. Their relationships swirled around with almost as much destructive force as the hurricane. Shaman Circus is the type of book that makes its readers want to slow down to carefully pull in every word. It is more than a good read. It is a wonderful journey." -
To purchase Shaman Circus:

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/yk6b26v

ATTM Press: https://www.createspace.com/3426747
For info on Gail Gray: http://theshamanpapers.blogspot.com/
For info about ATTMP: http://www.allthingsthatmatterpress.com/

Motherless Soul

Motherless Soul is the story of Emily Vinson, a woman whose entire life was impacted by the loss of her mother when she was 2 years old. At 82 Emily contacts a hypnotist hoping to draw out hidden memories and to discover as much as possible about the short time she spent with the woman who gave her life. Glen Wiley, the hypnotist, teaches her more about herself than she had expected. He helps her bring out memories of many past lives, including an experience that took place on a smoke filled battlefield. All of Emily's lives have had the same tragic outcome, the loss of her mother at a young age. Her soul is caught in what Glen calls circularity, meaning that the tragedy will occur again and again unless she can break the pattern. She and Glen must revisit her past lives and use what they learn to find the other souls who are part of the circle. They must use the past to change the future. Emily's stubborn desire to know her mother is realized in intricate and unsettling ways no one could have imagined possible.

Excerpt (from Chapter Four)
Glen asked her to count backwards from one hundred. When she passed fifty-nine he started to guide her saying, “Go back, back further to a time before you were Emily Vinson. Keep going back.” His words seemed to run right through her body, like a shot of whiskey. Glen seemed to be growing distant, although she knew he was right next to her. She kept counting toward zero, even as he spoke.
Emily lost track of the counting. She was certain she’d repeated some numbers, but she tried to keep them coming. She knew she had to do what Glen told her to do. She closed her eyes. Shortly after that the dim light she could make out through her lids faded into absolute darkness.
“You’re slipping through time and space into a place that’s been buried in your heart for ages upon ages. Something important happened to you in this place. You’re starting to remember what it was like: the smells, the sounds, the texture of the world around you.”
Her eyes started to burn. Memories were flowing into her head after a period of nothingness and those sensations were different from what she’d experienced the day before. This time it was as if she were two people. The person she had been before the session began, the old woman nearing the end of her life, was now watching someone else from inside that other person’s body. The other person was very young, but in trouble.
“Talk to me, Emily. Let me know what you’re feeling.”
Emily started to cry. She wasn’t able to hold back. Her cry was the loud wail of a hungry baby. But Emily knew what she felt wasn’t only hunger. Something was very wrong.
Review: Jen Knox (Author of Musical Chairs)

This is a profound work about the cyclic nature of pain and one woman's desire to confront it and move on. The story begins with Emily's search to demystify the mother she never knew, the figure whom she believes to hold the secret that will break a cycle of discontent. Where this leads her is on a journey of self-discovery that begins with a trip to a hypnotist and introduces Emily to generations past. Emily's journey is filled with realizations that grow exponentially, and ultimately lead to a philosophical and spiritual awakening. This book is phenomenal. The chapters are short and engaging, and the writing is fantastic.
For a video reading of an excerpt go to - Motherless Soul
For more information about Steve Lindahl go to - http://www.stevelindahl.blogspot.com/ or http://www.stevelindahl.com/
To purchase Motherless Soul go to - Amazon, All Things That Matter Press, or Barnes and Noble

Book Review - Musical Chairs

MUSICAL CHAIRS, by Jen Knox, has hit the memoir scene with a splash. The book has many great reviews which point to the great writing style, honesty, courage and inspiration displayed by Jen
Musical Chairs explores one family's history of mental health diagnoses and searches to define the cusp between a '90s working-class childhood and the trouble of adapting to a comfortable life in the suburbs. In order to understand her restlessness, Jennifer reflects on years of strip-dancing, alcoholism, and estrangement. Inspired by the least likely source, the family she left behind, Jennifer struggles towards reconciliation. This story is about identity, class, family ties, and the elusive nature of mental illness.
Excerpt
(Prologue)

Throughout the summer of 2003 I repeatedly underwent what psychologists have since diagnosed as post-traumatic stress and panic disorder. A spiritually-inclined friend refers to the same summer as my rebirthing period. Still others, who claim to have had similar experiences, tell me that such episodes were probably a warning, my body’s way of telling me to adopt healthier eating habits, exercise more or quit smoking. At the time, all I knew was that the onset was swift.

“[Musical Chairs is] well-written, which means Jen Knox knows how to string words together into comprehensible sentences. And her ‘voice’ is honest, unapologetic and – vital! – likeable. In other words, she’s like the Apostle Peter in the Bible. She’s a weak, frail, vulnerable human being, who makes lots of mistakes. Which means – thank God – that she is human. Which means that despite all her flaws and failures, she is not a fraud or a charlatan. She’s not pretending to be someone who has their ‘shit’ together.

Jen and most of her family are gloriously dysfunctional – just like most families. And they have a tendency toward mental illness. And – shockingly – she talks about it. Which is what makes her story and her book so wonderful. It’s downright refreshing to read a book that acknowledges what most people know is true, but are afraid to confess: Most people are one brick short of a load. Which is what makes them and life so interesting.”

To watch the Musical Chairs Trailer, go to Knoxworx Multimedia.
To purchase Musical Chairs, go to Amazon, ATTM Press, or Barnes & Noble.
For more information about Jen, go to http://www.jenknox.com/ or http://jenknox.blogspot.com/
For more information about ATTMP, go to http://www.allthingsthatmatterpress.com/%20or%20http://allthingsthatmatterpress.blogspot.com/
BUY NOW FROM AMAZON AT: http://www.amazon.com/Musical-Chairs-Jen-Knox/dp/0984259422/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268347842&sr=1-1

Losing

I'm 45 years old, in very good shape and lost to a guy in my tennis league who could be old enough to be my father (maybe). I let my ego driven mind get in the way. Instead of just being present to the task at hand, I let thoughts creep into my head like "you can relax a little now, you're ahead" and "how did you blow that lead?" and "I can't believe this guy is on the verge of winning - I'm so much better than he is!" Needless to say, it is hard to achieve peak or even near-peak performance with all of that chatter racing around inside your head.

Peace starts with making peace with yourself. When the match was over, I congratulated my oponent and genuinely told him he played a great match. On my drive home, I thought about how grateful I am to have the ability and fortune to play the game of tennis, and how much I appreciated the fact that my employer can allow me to leave work early like I did today to squeeze this rescheduled league match in. And I repeated a couple of my favorite affirmations including "I love you Scott" and "I approve of you Scott". Feeling at peace with myself, I am able to be at peace with my family, my neighbors and my brothers and sisters around the world.

Hello Again

It’s been a while since I last posted – April of last year to be exact. Things got a little difficult for me and my family as my severance from the job I had been laid off from back in December of 2008 ran out. Unemployment started in April, but in the state of Maine the maximum weekly payout did not come close to paying the bills. My wife Nicole, after many years of being an at-home mom, luckily found a part time job managing a small retail store. Still, we were not paying the bills.
In June, I finally was offered a job and would be working for L.L.Bean (I’m assuming you know who this is). Great company, but entry level job. I went from being a senior director for a midsized company to being a front line supervisor for a large company. But we could now pay the bills! Then a month ago, Nicole lost her job. C’est la vie!

“When life offers you lemons, make lemonade.” I know that is cliché now but it is so relevant to my life right now. In many ways, my family has become much closer as a result of having less. Less dinners out, less downhill skiing, fewer TV channels, less extravagant vacations, fewer trips to the mall, less digital entertainment. Less. Another cliché, “sometimes less is more”. We now have more time to play games such as Pictionary and Rummy 500. We have more appreciation for our strength as a family to get through the tough times, we better recognize our relative wealth still compared to the majority of people in the world. We talk to each other more, and listen more. More.

I have also found more room in my life now to share the lessons I’ve learned and the knowledge I’ve gained in my 45 years of living, and 45 years of searching for answers. Since I graduated from college, I’ve been asking myself “What am I here to do on this Earth?”, “Who am I really?”, “Why is the world such a violent place?”, “Why is there so much sadness and suffering?”, “How do I know I am the best parent I can be?” By no means however am I suggesting I now hold the answers to life’s questions. In fact, I am still in full search mode but I am at the point where I at least know what I don’t know… you know what I mean?

So I am hoping that this blog can serve as an exchange – an experience-based idea exchange of sorts. I’m not talking about looking for ideas on how to solve world hunger, rather I am looking for ideas to help us all live with more peace, love and joy – one individual, and one relationship at a time.

In the mean time, think about this: “The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt.”  -  Frederick Buechner