M J Mallon YA Author and Poet

My Kyrosmagica Review of The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of The Window and Disappeared

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Goodreads Synopsis:

It all starts on the one-hundredth birthday of Allan Karlsson. Sitting quietly in his room in an old people’s home, he is waiting for the party he-never-wanted-anyway to begin. The Mayor is going to be there. The press is going to be there. But, as it turns out, Allan is not… Slowly but surely Allan climbs out of his bedroom window, into the flowerbed (in his slippers) and makes his getaway. And so begins his picaresque and unlikely journey involving criminals, several murders, a suitcase full of cash, and incompetent police. As his escapades unfold, we learn something of Allan’s earlier life in which – remarkably – he helped to make the atom bomb, became friends with American presidents, Russian tyrants, and Chinese leaders, and was a participant behind the scenes in many key events of the twentieth century. Already a huge bestseller across Europe, The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared is a fun and feel-good book for all ages.

My review:

I loved The Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson right from the start. The title itself just sums up the story so well, it is long, and diverse like the age of the main protagonist Allan, and it whets the reader’s curiosity by being so crazy sounding.

What’s not to love about a hundred year old man who climbs out of his old folks home to escape his own wretched birthday party?

The party organiser, Director Alice, isn’t exactly a bundle of riotous laughs, she’s a party pooper if there was ever one, so it’s no wonder that strong minded Allan opts out. There is something so appealing and admirable about this centenarian who still has that spirit of adventure well and truly centre place in his heart, even if he is not quite as quick on his feet and his bladder control is somewhat lacking!

The Hundred-Old Man had me chuckling, and thoroughly entertained throughout.

This is a very cleverly executed book, it manages to take us on a journey to diverse parts of the world, Sweden, Russia, USA, and encompasses such a wide range of genres in one book: humour, romance, an adventure story, shifting time periods, from orphan Allan’s present to his very fascinating past as an explosive expert, referencing major events and names in history and world politics, such as Stalin, Oppenheimer, Harry Truman, Charles D Gaulle, Lyndon Johnson, Winston Churchill, ….. which astound the reader with Allan’s part in them verging on the extreme scale of preposterous but somehow still manage to retain an element of far-fetched believability for the narrative to be successful. The author manages to carry this off by sticking to the novel’s premise and allowing The Hundred Year Old Man to be an extreme case of crazy from the very start to the finish line. I liked that!

WARNING: Readers beware, you must be willing to suspend rational belief, and join in this adventure in a light hearted way, or this novel will just not work for you.

Allan is on the run, (except he can’t run,) from the police after stealing a suitcase full of cash from a young man, his actions are justified in the following manner: “When life has gone into overtime it’s easy to take liberties,” thereafter the reader would suppose that the young man, (who turns out to be a criminal element,) would be a serious threat to Allan’s wellbeing. Wrong. Don’t let Allan’s age fool you, rascal Allan is not to be trifled with!!

On his crazy travels this non-politically driven, Vodka swilling ancient befriends a petty thief, a hotdog stand owner who has made it an art form to study as many subjects as he can, (the list of his almost occupations are long and varied!): a doctor, welder, vet, literature expert, etc, etc, and a red haired lady, renamed the Beauty, with a penchant for expressing herself with expletives, who is the proud owner of a dog and a pet elephant called Sonya.

A series of unfortunate events happen, which don’t seem to phase Allan at all, including several murders giving rise to wave after wave of black humour. So you name it, this novel has it all in extreme bucketful’s. In fact in my opinion, it packs an almighty explosive punch, that gets your belly heaving with laughter!!

So definitely without a doubt The Hundred Year Old Man is one to grace my favourites shelf, and if you haven’t read it what are you waiting for? Go get a copy….

My rating: 5 loud preposterous crazy chuckling stars!!

Doctors Prescription: Preferably consume with a strong shot of Vodka (Allan’s favourite drink,) to increase your reading adventure.

Have you read The Man Who Climbed Out of The Window? If you have do let me know your opinion…

Just some of my favourite quotes:

“Allan looked at the bus and then at the suitcase, then again at the bus and then again at the suitcase. It has wheels, he said to himself. And there’s a strap to pull it by too. And then Allan surprised himself by making what – you have to admit – was decision to say ‘yes’ to life.”

“People could behave how they liked, but Allan considered that in general it was quite unnecessary to be grumpy if you had the chance not to.”

“Never try to out drink a Swede, unless you happen to be a Finn or at least a Russian.”

“There are only two things I can do better than most people. One of them is to make vodka from goats’ milk, and the other is to put together an atom bomb.”

“I shall destroy capitalism! Do you hear! I shall destroy every single capitalist! And I shall start with you, you dog, if you don’t help us with the bomb!’
Allan noted that the had managed to be both a rat and a dog in the course of a minute or so. And that Stalin was being rather inconsistent, because now he wanted to use Allan’s services after all.
But Allan wasn’t going to sit there and listen to this abuse any longer. He had come to Moscow to help them out, not to be shouted at. Stalin would have to manage on his own.
‘I’ve been thinking,’ said Allan.
‘What,’ said Stalin angrily.
‘Why don’t you shave off that moustache?’
With that the dinner was over, because the interpreter fainted.”

“Imagine that, death was just like being asleep. Would he have time to think before it was all over? And would he have time to think that he had thought it? But wait, how much do you have to think before you have finished thinking?”

Bye for now, hope to see you soon….

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Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Ronovan Writes Haiku Prompt Challenge: Crystal and Hope

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Well with a prompt like that from Ron there is just no way that I wouldn’t join in with the Haiku prompt challenge this week. Who could say no? Not me for sure.

Here’s a link to Ron’s blog if you’d like to join his weekly challenge:

https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-79-crystalhope/

I just love Crystals, and they feature in my writing.

Hope and Crystals kind of go hand in hand don’t they?

But perhaps with light there is always a touch of darkness, so with my haiku I am going to focus on the idea of unrequited love.

We all have at some time in our lives experienced differing degrees of unrequited relationships. In my experience I remember one such case when I was very young, it wasn’t love, it was a touch of infatuation. I fancied this young chap, and to be honest I kind of made it pretty obvious that I liked him. We did go out on a date but it was no fun at all, he just dumped me in the middle of the night in Edinburgh not caring how I got home or if I got home. In his eyes I think it was a bit of a prank to play on me, he must have thought I had been chasing him and perhaps he didn’t even fancy me. Anyway it was very upsetting and the memory of it still remains with me to this day. But it did teach me one thing, anyone that behaves in such an uncaring and unpleasant way can’t be worthy of my attention let alone of a relationship with me. So this curly haired young chap did me a favour in a way, his behaviour made me a little more reticent perhaps in chasing after a boy. I never went out with curly haired boys ever again! Instead I chose dark haired guys with straight hair, played it cool, let the boys do the running and the boys seemed to like that! So girls, take a tip from me, keep an aura of mystique and let the guy do the chasing.

Thereafter nobody broke my heart, not that he did, but he dented my pride. I have been lucky in love, and for that I am very blessed, so the haiku at the end of this blog post ends on a positive note.

So with that in mind let’s return back to Ron’s prompt words Crystal and Hope, by introducing you to a photo that I took of a very special crystal grotto, isn’t it spectacular?

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I wrote a post way back about this amazing place called Juniper Artland where I photographed this grotto, “The Light That Pours Out Of Me,” by Anya Gallacio, so perhaps if you’ve been following my blog for a long while you will remember it. If not, then here it is, (it’s always worth a multiple visit, so do click on the link):

https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2014/06/15/jupiter-artland-the-light-pours-out-of-me/

Juniper Artland is a must see recommendation f you are ever in Scotland, it really is an amazingly inspiring place, here’s some of the other links on my blog in which I feature my response to sculptures at this wonderful Artland (via my photography and poetry) :

https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/02/06/my-friday-image-juniper-artland-sculpture-firmament-by-anthony-gormley/

https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/my-friday-image-and-poem-landscape-with-gun-and-tree-cornelia-parker/

https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/my-friday-image-and-poem-a-worldwide-web-shane-waltener/

https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/02/13/my-friday-image-and-poem-the-weeping-girls-laura-ford/

So this is my haiku inspired by Anya Gallacio’s magnificent Crystal grotto:

The Grotto of Unrequited Love

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His promise ring sits,

Crystal bright on my finger,

Mockery of hope.

In tearful pieces,

Hope’s sweet embrace lost in stone,

Cruel, a clear cut edge.

Pain’s ocean rages,

Knife to fortune’s longing heart,

Hope’s pathway crumbles.

Crystal deep ridges,

Bury far inside my soul,

Desire groaning.

Luminous moment,

Lips lock hope’s tomfoolery,

Final kiss goodbye.

Fool I, to want you,

Curly haired lover,

Hope’s cheeky prankster .

Reverberating,

Darkness fills my soul, echoes,

Past sorrows return.

Transient moments,

Now, forgotten, forgiven,

Replaced by love’s light.

In Crystal Grotto,

Forever, hope, sparkles bright,

Love finds its sweet way.

Do comment and let me know what you thought of my haikus, and of course the amazing Juniper Artland.

Today I’m off work, so I’m doing a bit of blogging this morning, then off to Tai Chi, later in the day I have lots of chores to catch up on, sigh, if only I could do them like this!

Bye for now,

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Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

David Bowie’s Top 100 Books

Source: David Bowie’s Top 100 Books

My friend Jade at Scatterbooker wrote this wonderful tribute to my hero David Bowie, which features his top 100 books, I just loved him and his music, he was such a creative and wonderful soul. So sad that he is no longer with this, but no doubt his music, and his special uniqueness will live on in our hearts. The world has lost a true artist, RIP David. x

https://scatterbooker.wordpress.com/2016/01/12/david-bowies-top-100-books/https://scatterbooker.wordpress.com/2016/01/12/david-bowies-top-100-books/

#Girllove Blog Challenge

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Thank you to Janice at On the Land for tagging me in the #Girllove Blog Challenge. You can see her awesome post about this here: https://ontheland.wordpress.com/2016/01/07/girllove-blog-challenge/

#Girllove challenge, launched by Lilly Singh, a.k.a. Superwoman, on her YouTube Channel. Lilly Singh is a Canadian vlogger, actress, comedian, and rapper, age 27. She is tired of ‘girl-on-girl hate’ in schools, workplaces, and social media, so she decided to reverse trends by promoting #GirlLove. In her empowering video young women speak out about their respect and gratitude for other women in their lives. Proceeds from video views will go to the Malala Fund to help educate girls around the world. The goal of the fund is to “enable girls to complete 12 years of safe, quality education so that they can achieve their potential and be positive change-makers in their families and communities”.

Lilly’s challenge was to compliment other women in social media using the hashtag #GirlLove. In the blogging world the challenge has become more detailed.

Here’s what you do for the #GirlLove Challenge:

Tell your followers who inspires you, a famous woman who may be dealing with negativity on a daily basis.
Tell your followers who inspires you in real life, a woman you always interact with.
Tag five women bloggers who you love. Compliment them and tell them why you love them, and comment under their latest post with the link to your #GirlLove post!

If you get tagged, do the post on your own blog. If you want to do it anyway, do it anyway! Add the tag ‘Girl Love’ to your post, so we can see them all! Let’s start 2016 with LOVE for each other!

Janice has a really wonderful blog so if you aren’t currently following her I would really recommend that you rush over there right now and remedy that.

Janice chose some wonderful female bloggers for the #Girllove accolade,so do visit their blogs.

I was so thrilled that she mentioned me! Thank you so much Janice. I think your blog is just wonderful too.

My favourite #Girllove celebrity is Bethany Hamilton who I have mentioned before on my blog. She survived a shark attack, was left with an amputated arm, but overcame this and went on to inspire young people with her amazing surfing skills. Do read about my tribute to her on my #WQW post for Colleen’s Writers Quote Wednesday: https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/?s=bethany+hamilton

My real life #Girllove person is undoubtedly my mum she is a rock,I have so much love and respect for her.

There is a wonderful list of truly inspiring celebrities on Marie Claire, my favourites are Aung San Suu Kuy, 1991 Nobel prize winner for peace, Madonna, Angelina Jolie, Lady Gaga, Shami Chakrabarti the director of Liberty and Oprah Winfrey. http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/celebrity/pictures/35170/30/marie-claire-s-most-inspirational-women.html

I don’t normally do tags any more but since it is a while since I’ve done one I decided it would be nice to take part and do a shout out for the fantastic blogging lasses out there, and when I got started I couldn’t stop! My first few names kind of grew to rather a long list, boy the sweat is dripping from my brow.

Here are my #Girllove nominees, I could have gone on and on as there are so many bloggers on WordPress and beyond that I admire and enjoy following, so I broke the rules and went beyond the five nominees. But, I had to limit myself a little so I decided to limit my choices to my favourite pastimes, so there are authors, book bloggers, photographers, artistic and creative bloggers, and jewellery enthusiasts. Oh and a humour choice blogger had to creep in, where would we be without a chuckle?

Here they are in all their glory:

Vashti, an enthusiastic and friendly writer who enjoys taking part in many of the on-line activities that I enjoy too, such as #WQW and Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge. She has such a lovely About Me page that by the time you finished reading it you feel as if you know her, and want to give her a big hug.

https://vashtiqvega.wordpress.com/

Lynz, this lady has a flair for real cooking but more that that she has a remarkably painful and captivating story to tell. She has just recently started a new venture on Fridays, doing a shout out to make us aware of other bloggers in the community that she particularly enjoys and likes. http://lynzrealcooking.com/

Colleen of Silver Threading is re-creating herself during her retirement, sharing, “stories, dreams, poetry, and good old-fashioned wisdom tempered by humor.” As well as this she is the coordinator of #WQW Writer’s Quote Wednesday, a contributing book reviewer and part of the team on Lit World Interviews and Authors Support Authors. Can’t get any better than that! This lady rocks, with a capital R!!

http://silverthreading.com/

Charley loves many things that are so dear to my heart namely: “books, baking, theatre, visiting places, home.” Perfect, bliss, such a lovely lass!!
https://booksandbakes1.wordpress.com/

Jade at Scatterbooker is a book reviewer who just loves books of all genres, hence the blog name Scatterbooker. She has a lovely cat called Zeus, and lives in Melbourne, lucky girl! A cat and the beach, I get so jealous of her cat and beach photos on Instagram….

https://scatterbooker.wordpress.com/2016/01/01/2015-review/

Heena is a lovely lass, a “Writer and Author. Her first book, “Deceived, a psychological thriller, is due to be published in the later half of 2016.” She has two blogs one of which is dedicated to her love of books :

http://heenarathorep.com/
and her book blog: http://thereadingbud.com/

Galit of Coffee and Notes is another fellow Instagram enthusiast, and a lovely lass,”a writer of Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, YA, Science Fiction as well as a blogger, book reviewer, a declared coffee addict, a gamer and an avid reader.”

https://coffeennotes.wordpress.com/

Helen is a writer, “When I’m not writing I like to walk, paint, shake my thing at Zumba class and study karate. I have a black belt (helpful when writing fight scenes) and a very nice husband (helpful when writing love scenes)” Blush, blush Helen!! I met the lovely Helen at the Bloggers Bash in August 2015 in London.

http://journeytoambeth.com/

Esther is ” a freelance writer, copywriter and writing tutor for The Writers Bureau.” I met her in person at the Bloggers Bash in August 2015 and she is as lovely in person as she is on her blog. There are many resources on her blog for would be authors so do check it out: https://esthernewtonblog.wordpress.com/

Sacha: Is the brain child behind the Annual Bloggers Bash. This lady does so much for the blogging community and works tirelessly whilst holding down a full time job and looking after her young son. So do check out her blog:
http://sachablack.co.uk/

Ali : Another star, this lovely lady is also an organiser of the Annual Bloggers Bash. What can I say? It was so lovely to meet Ali in person. Do pop over to her blog to say hi, you won’t regret it, Ali’s blog lives up to its wonderfully storytelling name….
http://aliisaacstoryteller.com/

Annika. Writing has been Annika’s passion since childhood. She has a fascinating blog, and is such a friendly, encouraging lady, a real Swedish gem:
https://annikaperry.wordpress.com/

Debby, is a “nonfiction memoir writer who likes to write about life, matters of the heart and women’s issues. Her intent “is to inspire others by sharing my stories about events I encountered, and the lessons that come along with them.” Debby has been a star, often retweeting me on twitter, thanks so much Debby for all your support.
http://dgkayewriter.com/

Sally has a truly eclectic blog and does so much to support and encourage other bloggers. Definitely one to follow. :

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/

Val like myself has Scottish routes, (my father is Scottish and I lived in Edinburgh as a child, and teenager.) Her blog is all about finding your middle ground, and a sense of the importance of balance in life. Being that when I was younger I trained as a holistic therapist and practised for a while, this message is dear to my heart:

http://findyourmiddleground.com/

Rachael, is the wonderful organiser of writing #Blogbattle that I enjoy participating in from time to time in this blog. She has a lovely About Me page, here is a short snippet that I particularly related to: “Who am I? Well, I guess I’m just a girl who grew up but isn’t growing old on the inside. I’m just a stubborn person who refuses to let go of some hopes and goals. I’m a faithful woman who desires to speak truth in love. I’m not special to everyone, but I’m worth it to someone.” You’re definitely worth it Rachael, so many times over…

http://rachaelritchey.com/

Lucy, at Blonde Write More loves a touch a humour and I do too, she is also a Bloggers Bash girl who I met in August 2015, and this talented lady won the Funniest Blogger Award. As well as this we both like to engage in Writing on Rachael Ritchie’s Blog Battle too.

https://blondewritemore.wordpress.com/

Ritu, “a working mum of 2, loving wife, daughter, sister, friend to many… I started this blog to just air views, and reminisce,” I’m all for reminiscing Ritu… especially with a smile…:

https://butismileanyway.wordpress.com/

Edwina likes to look at the lighter side of life, and I do too, at least most of the time! With delights such as Wacky Word Wednesday, and a shared enthusiasm for haiku too:

http://edwinasepisodes.com/

Diane is a Romance writer, who “talks to her cat, reads 2-3 books at a time, constantly searches for new vegan recipes and creates her characters. In her spare time, she loves camping and building dollhouses.” Do check out her friendly blog:

https://ddominikwicklesromance.wordpress.com/

Suzie: was at the Bloggers Bash in August 2015, and has an awesome blog, definitely one to follow. She is the face behind the #SundayBlogshare. As well as this she won the Services to Bloggers Award at the Bloggers Bash 2015 and The Most Inspiring Blog Award. Like me she likes to Instagram too. What are you waiting for, pop over to Suzie’s blog for a chit chat….

suzie81speaks.com/

Sarah of First Night Design shares my love of all things creative. Where would we be without these beauties? ” art, design, theatre, history, food, cinema and more.”

https://firstnightdesign.wordpress.com/

Inese is an incredible photographer, capturing those moments that mean so much and she is such a very friendly, chatty blogger, a definite delight to follow:

http://inesemjphotography.com/

Julia, has a truly sumptuous blog which features her love of the colour red. Take a glimpse at all she has to offer in terms of photography, fashion, yummy food to devour, movies, writing, and quotes:

https://myredpage.wordpress.com/

Irene shares my love of gemstones and jewellery. She lives in sunny Spain. Lucky lady! Do check out her lovely blog:

http://irenedesign2011.com/

All the above bloggers are totally awesome, friendly, lovely, supportive people so do check them out without delay!

I’d also like to mention that guy bloggers are incredible too and I do hope that one of the male bloggers might do a #Guylove post!!! To celebrate all those incredible male bloggers out there who do a fantastic job encouraging, and inspiring others in the blogging community……

Otherwise I’ll have to put on my suit and tie and pretend I’m a guy …. so I can do a shout out…

Any offers Guys?? …. Hurry, the alternative could be embarrassing!!

Bye for now, much love,

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Marje @ Kyrosmagica

Guest Post by Hugh Roberts – How to Become a Successful Blogger!

Source: https://jemsbooks.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/guest-post-by-blogger-hugh-roberts-how-to-become-a-successful-blogger/

Hugh is doing a series of guest posts on Janice’s blog Jemsbooks about blogging – this first one is all about creating a wonderful About Me page. The About Me page is and always should be your friendly welcoming page, and he explains how to achieve a first class About Me page and sustain it to the max in this wonderful post.

Ronovan Writes Haiku Prompt Challenge: Vast and Clear

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This week Ronovan’s prompt words are Vast and Clear let’s see, what can I come up with…. tricky… I’m feeling melancholy today, not a usual state for me, but one that often follows the aftermath of all the Christmas festivities. I tend to be prone to a large dollop of the New Year blues!

Instead of fighting against this like I usually do I thought it might be interesting to try to focus on this sense of sadness and despair because like an actor, an author has to get into role and use feelings to good effect!

I intend to utilise this in some of my New Year writing so please do forgive the less humorous approach! Kyrosmagica blog is all about the lightness and darkness in life, in my experience both go hand in hand, and the interplay between the two fascinate me.

I’ve called my miserable haiku Nothing New, Kills Me.

I made a mistake when writing this I thought the prompt words were vast and new instead of vast and clear so apologies Ronovan, I’ve edited most of the haikus with the word clear!!

Nothing New, Kills Me

Your words lodge bitter,

Vast oceans of clear sadness,

Nothing new, kills me.

New heartbreak lodges,

Vast cruel, unsurmountable.

Terrors playing friends.

A new morning comes,

Light Trickling through clear windows,

Whispering vast nonsense.

New and old mingle,

Clear, lengthy fragments, spoken,

Vast, unstoppable.

New light promises,

Vast, clear, illuminating,

Ruin of darkness.

New guilty footsteps,

Clear no one will find me love,

Vast oceans away.

Hope you liked the angst laden haiku! I feel a lot better, writing sad haiku is so therapeutic… enough melodrama for one day, now it’s time to do the washing…

Bye for now,

bitstrips melodrama

Marje @ Kyrosmagica x

https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/category/haiku-prompt-challenge/

Writer’s Quote Wednesday: Aging Disgracefully!!

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For Writer’s Quote Wednesday I want to highlight a book that I am currently reading, The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson to celebrate staying young at heart, and getting up to mischief for as long as humanely p0sssible!

Here’s the synopsis on Goodreads:

The main protagonist is a one hundred year old man, a downright ridiculously sprightly scoundrel.

Here are a few quotes to tempt you to read this novel, unless you already have! Do comment below I’d love to hear your opinion..

“When life has gone into overtime it’s easy to take liberties.”

The humour just keeps on coming, and coming even when the main protagonist Allan considers death:

So with the sentiments of this book in mind here’s a little quote I’ve written myself:

With each day we get a little older but our minds mock our creaking limbs by remaining youthful, that is the wicked truth of life, and there is no escaping it.

So, like the sea, my constant friend, drift with the tide of life, exalt in the highs and prepare for the lows, but remain in your heart forever young, a humorous scoundrel longing for your next adventure.

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To end my Writer’s Quote Wednesday I’m finishing off with these superb quotes that sum it up for me:

“At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.”
― Salvador Dalí

“It takes a very long time to become young.”
― Pablo Picasso

Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.”
― Franz Kafka

If you’d like to take part in Colleen at Silver Threading’s wonderful link up for Writer’s Quote Wednesday, and Ronovan’s Bewow, (Be Wonderful Wednesday,) here’s the link:

http://silverthreading.com/2015/12/16/writers-quote-wednesday-bewow-a-month-of-hanukkah-christmas-and-kwanzaa-quotes-reverend-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/

Bye for now, hope you liked my quotes!!!

Oh and by the way I’m on Instagram now too and if you’d like to see my recent photos here’s the link: https://www.instagram.com/kyrosmagica/

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Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #77 Year and New

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This week for Ronovan Writes Haiku Prompt Challenge I’m going to share with you some photos of myself and my family that I took on the 1st of January just before the fireworks were scheduled to be set off the award winning pier at Cromer. If you managed to see my previous post you will have seen that we are taking a short New Year’s break in Cromer. https://atomic-temporary-67364188.wpcomstaging.com/2015/12/31/happy-new-year-2/

The photo above is of one of the finale fireworks, isn’t it absolutely wonderful?

Here we are huddled together trying to keep warm, we stopped for a quick hot chocolate, just before the display.

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The fireworks were spectacular, and my only regret is that I didn’t have a good enough camera to do justice to their beauty but nevertheless here they are in all their wonderment:

I just loved how this one turned out, to me it looks like a pretty present with a sparkling lid, and the one immediately after it resembles some kind of beautiful sea creature.

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And this particular fellow is an explosion of flowers.

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And this the biggest fizzing lollipop you are ever going to see!

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As to this one, it looks like a giant creepy crawly to me!! What do you reckon?

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They were all so amazing that they inspired me to write a haiku with them in mind:

A New Year Divine

A New Year divine,

So sublime the heavens smile!

Fireworks in motion.

Followed by a Tanka:

A pretty present

All wrapped in shimmering light

Perhaps it is real?

A momentary delight

Sending our senses reeling.

A tanka consists of 5 lines and 31 syllables.

Each line has a set number of syllables see below:

Line 1 5 syllables

Line 2 7 syllables

Line 3 5 syllables

Line 4 7 syllables

Line 5 7 syllables

Here’s the link to Ronovan’s blog to join in with his weekly haiku prompt:

https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/category/haiku-prompt-challenge/

And his excellent advice on how to write a haiku, I like to refer to this from time to time to refresh my memory:

https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/how-to-write-a-haiku-poem/

Bye for now, hope you liked my haiku and tanka.

A most glorious and Happy New Year!! I know Christmas is over but I couldn’t resist this farewell cartoon!!

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Love Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Happy New Year !!

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This is the view from our holiday apartment in Cromer, yesterday we arrived to a lovely surprise, a free bottle of Prosecco, as well as some chocolate biscuits and tea and coffee!! As you can see the sky is blue and so is the sea in the distance. I’m looking forward to going out with the family later to explore the surrounding area.

We went on a search for a Fish and Chip shop, and eventually found one in Sheringham.

After a tour around we arrived back at Cromer and went for a walk down to the pier.

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Then on the way back to the apartment we popped into Cromer church and I had this spooky feeling that we might get locked in. Sure enough we nearly did get locked in, as we were leaving a young man arrived and began locking up! I said to my husband what would have happened if he hadn’t noticed we were there? Perhaps we would have spent New Year’s Eve in the church (our daughters were back at the apartment. ) He replied that he always fancied a night in a church, particularly on New Year’s Eve! That thought didn’t appeal to me !

Tomorrow there are to be fireworks in the early evening in Cromer, what a wonderful way to welcome the New Year in. Lucky residents of Cromer!! How are you spending New Year?

Have a very Happy New Year, thanks for all your support and encouragement following, commenting and liking posts on Kyrosmagica, it means so much to me.

Bye for now see you in 2016!!!

Love Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

#BlogBattle Week 42 Theme Gift

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Week 42 Theme will be Gift

Date to Post: Tuesday, December 29th, 2015

Rules:

1000 words max
fictional tale (or true if you really want)
PG (no more than PG-13) Content – let’s keep this family friendly!
Your story must contain the word(s) from the theme and/or be centered around the theme in a way that shows it is clearly related
Go for the entertainment value!
State the Genre of your story at the top of your post.
Post your story on Tuesday, by 11:59 PM PST
Use the hashtag #BlogBattle when tweeting your story, put a link back to your #BlogBattle Short Story in the comments section of this page, and/or include a link to this page in your own blog post (it creates a “ping-back” which will alert me and our friends to your #BlogBattle post)
Have fun!

The inspiration for this story came from a missing present on Christmas day, not an unusual event in our house as I tend to be a bit scatty and sometimes I forget where I have put all the presents! It eventually turned up, luckily I hadn’t thrown it into the rubbish by mistake but it just got me thinking…… what might happen in different circumstances if a touch of fantasy made its way into Christmas Day. Who knows where a missing present might lead you ?

Read on and find out…

Genre: Fantasy/Romance/Christmas

The Secret Santa Gift

The envelope was white, plain apart from the printed letters marking her name. Ellie opened it and found a white and gold gift tag inside bearing the words: Happy Christmas, love from your Secret Santa, followed by two golden criss-cross kisses. The envelope was empty, no present, no gift voucher, nothing.

Ellie didn’t mind that there was no present inside, that just made her even more curious. She lifted the envelope to her nose and inhaled the masculine scent within. This succeeded in making her knees go all weak.

She dropped the envelope and a flurry of gold dust appeared, scattering a trail that extended towards the front door. Ellie didn’t hesitate for a moment she liked an adventure so she followed the trail. The gold dust continued for several feet and then vanished. She spotted another tiny envelope. Ellie leant down and picked it up. Inside she found the tiniest folded envelope that she had ever seen, and within this envelope there was an even tinier painting of a heart. Ellie blushed.

She paused, wondering what to do next. The tiny folded envelope began to spiral round and round twirling, lengthening and widening, flattening and folding into a succession of beautiful origami flowers. First, an exquisite rose, then a vibrant lotus flower, followed by a proud orchid, and then the origami flower took flight turning into a bird of paradise that flew up into the air and finally flattened out, folding into a pocket heart than lingered like a tender caress within the palm of her hand. Ellie couldn’t believe her eyes, how extraordinary!

She unfolded the origami pocket heart and saw that within it there were three paper puzzle pieces with the words:

Love and kisses!

From your …..

Secret admirer.

How strange! She heard a rustling sound and looked up, just above her sat a tiny elf on a branch of an overhanging tree. He smiled at her, and blushed so much that he turned the tips of his pointed ears a spectacular candy floss pink.

Ellie realised that her secret admirer was in fact one of Santa’s elves. He was tiny, but had the most handsome face that she had ever seen. He was dressed to impress, his clothes were smart and shiny, his hair sleeked back. He jumped down from the tree with the agility of a dancer and bowed down so low that it looked like he might scrape his nose on the ground.

“So pleased that my gift reached you Ellie; I’ve been saving up Santa points for good behaviour for years so that I could be your Secret Santa!”

“Goodness, that’s so sweet of you… ”

“Eddy the elf, at your sweet service,” he said bowing again, even more theatrically than he had done before.

“I’ve never met an elf before,” said Ellie, reflecting that she had never met such an imposing fellow in such a tiny but perfect muscular frame.

“Well, you’ll have lots of opportunity to meet all of my elf friends,” said Eddy, “We’re off to help Santa with the last minute wrapping.”

“You’re kidding me,” said Ellie, wide eyed with excitement. She couldn’t believe her ears. She thought she must be dreaming, this couldn’t possibly be real.

“No, I most certainly am not kidding! You are to be my new bride, so I must make a special elf speech. Here goes,” he cleared his throat for special effect, several times before continuing, “Every year one elf must choose a human bride so that we will be on the pulse of what youngsters want today. Will you marry me, sweet, beautiful, exquisite, Ellie? ”

“Your bride!” said Ellie in surprise, “But I’m still in secondary school, I’m way too young to marry.”

“Not in Elfland. Elves marry really young, you’re the perfect age for a love match,” said Eddy with a grin, “We seal the match with a very special kiss. That is how we show love in Elfland, we kiss and kiss and kiss and kiss! We are the kissing champions!”

Eddy took a massive leap catapulting himself up to land a kiss in a million on Ellie’s lips before she could even think to reply.

The kiss was beyond magical. It lingered for ages, long after he had landed back on the ground, tingling and caressing her lips. At the same time Ellie felt a strange sensation, as if someone was pressing firmly, but gently down on her head, squeezing her oversized body into her shoes. She looked at Eddy. Eddy’s nose and her nose were on a level, Eddy’s lips and her lips were at exactly the right point, and she was now the exact same height and proportions as him.

He gave her a huge hug. “Welcome to Elfhood my love,” he said.

Ellie no longer had the feeling that she didn’t belong in her tall, gangly human body. She wanted to screech with joy but she thought that might not be the best example of elfish etiquette.

So instead she said, “Thanks for rescuing me Eddy,” and with a demure lady like smile, she continued,” I always felt out of sorts, a stranger in my gigantic, gangly, human body.”

“I know,” said Eddy, jumping up and down with excitement, as if he was on a super charged pogo stick. “I have always been sure that you are the one for me.”

Eddy and Ellie danced around and around, twirling faster and faster until Ellie’s head felt as light as the lightest Chocolate Whip.

“Hurry, Santa’s nose will be getting redder by the moment, his nose goes as red as his Santa’s top when he’s cross, we’d better go, or we’ll be late for the present wrapping ceremony.”

Off they went, their hands swaying together in perfect joyous unison. Ellie grinned, squeezing Eddie’s hand. Eddie tickled her hand, and Ellie laughed, an unrestrained elfish laugh that started deep in her soul and never ended just like those tasty Elfish lingering kisses!

I hope you liked my story, a bit of a Christmas theme!

Bye for now,

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Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Do share your views I’d love to hear your opinion on my #BlogBattle story.

If you’d like to join in with BlogBattle or vote for your favourite entry here’s the link to Rachael’s blog:

http://rachaelritchey.com/blogbattle/

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