Happy Thanksgiving to all my followers,who celebrate today and Happy Hanukkah to others

I hope that your day is lovely, filled with love, plenty of food and family.

 

Three Word Wednesday - The Answer to Heartbreak

If you'd like to read other authors' poetry and stories for Three Word Wednesday click.here

 Three Word Wednesday - The Answer to Heartbreak 

Prompts:  

Curious, adjective: eager to know or learn something; expressing curiosity; strange; unusual.

Inevitable, adjective: Certain to happen; unavoidable; informal: So frequently experienced or seen that it is completely predictable.

Wary, adjective: Feeling or showing caution about possible dangers or problems.

The Answer to Heartbreak

       How do you top a dog story about a heroic dog? You don’t but you can tell the story about the next dog that came into your life. Let me start this by telling you that my dad knew we were all grieving Shep’s passing and he didn’t want to replace him, but he thought children should grow up with a dog. Since we also lived in a small town near the highway he thought we needed a dog to protect us while he worked in the city.

      My Dad went to the animal shelter.since he wanted a full grown dog not a puppy. When he got there he asked if they had any Collies. Desperate to find a home for this one dog they said yes and that his name was Sam. My dad looked at Sam. He didn’t look like a full grown Collie, he warily commented. They said it was a six month old dog that would grow.  My dad went into the dog and he wagged his tale and then licked him that made him accept the dog and take him home.   I hesitated at first to bond with Sam but he seemed like a great dog and he was ours. My siblings all seemed happy. Still curious about Sam's true age, my Dad decided to take Sam  to get shots the next day at the vet. The vet said Sam was a year old dog and part Sheltie not a Collie. My dad just laughed about it and took him home.

         A first the only problem we had was Sam’s inability to accept the women in the family and that he peed in the house. He wanted to be the pack leader to the women so he snarled and bared his teeth. He even bit my sister Debbie, taking my brother’s part when they argued. My dad didn’t want to get rid of Sam, so he told us never to play with the dog and allow him to bite us. To always make the dog show us respect by scolding him when he did wrong and to always lead the dog. We should also tell him Sam no, when he tried to bite and hold his mouth shut with two hands when he tried to bite us, but to do so in a way that didn’t hurt the dog.

      This seemed to work, now Sam would growl only when we scolded him, but not bite us. The one thing that would make him growl more than anything was to call him a dog. He decided he was the youngest child of the pack. As for the other problem of peeing my mother laid down newspaper and Sam would try to go there.

     Now Sam was mischievous and did things you didn’t expect dogs to do.  My dad joked that he thought Sam must have been a circus dog because of some of the things he could do. He climbed ladders and got on roofs and he also climbed trees and then couldn’t get down.  We saw him walk across a  high wire one day, though he never did that again.

     We lived in a home that had a cherry tree beside a garage. A trestle lay up against the garage and Sam climbed it like a ladder, picking the ripest cherries and eating them. For some reason if Sam decided he was mad at you he would take things that you valued and hide them, or chew them up. So we tried to keep our toys hidden from him. One day after I scolded him for peeing in the house Sam took a imitation Barbie doll of mine and chewed off it’s head, then he returned it to me at my feet. Now it wasn’t only the children he did this to, he did this to us all, he even used to steal my Dad’s socks. This made my Dad utter where’s that damn Sam so much, that we started thinking that his name was Damn Sam.

     Obey did not seem to be in Sam’s brain. He had a mind of his own and he exerted it. Sam was an escape artist and could slip his collar and get out of any chain whenever he wished to a great inconvenience to us. No matter how many times you’d scold him. We’d be sure he was tied up inevitably he'd take off down the street into other people’s yards. He also had been trained in another life to retrieve ducks and other birds, so if he saw them even alive, he kill them bring them back and lay them at my dad’s feet. The problem with that was that he killed the neighbour’s chickens. My dad apologized and replaced them, but Sam got out and killed them again. The neighbour sent him back with a dead chicken tied around his neck. Sam didn’t do that again.

One day we came home and found out my mom had acquired a Labrador retriever. She told a story of the game warden finding an emaciated abandoned dog with three starving puppies. The game warden had regretfully shot the mother to get the puppies. One of the puppies had died the game warden took one but the other puppy needed a home. If he didn’t find a home he would put the puppy whom he called Mugsy, down, simply because no one wanted a female dog. My mother said she couldn’t stand that so she took the puppy. (Now the truth was that my mom wanted her own dog and fell in love with this obedient well trained pup. It had been found in the woods but the warden had wanted to keep the pup only my mother's begging had made him give the dog to her but we didn;t find this out until the warden came to the house again a week later.)

      This puppy, Mugsy, could shake a paw and would sit and come on demand. My dad amazed by this pup’s abilities, accepted the new addition hoping maybe some of it would rub off on Sam. Sam however was jealous. He hated that this new dog did what it was told and that we fawned over this new puppy. Where was all the love and adoration he always got? He decided to get rid of the problem. He slipped his new chain (the one that we were promised no dog could get free of) then he managed to get Mugsy free as well. The two dogs left the yard and Sam led the puppy by her ear some miles away. (we were told this by a neighbour who saw the two together)

The only problem with the plan? Sam outsmarted himself, he got lost and couldn’t find his own way back. Mugsy started sniffing and was leading them partway home when my dad found them and brought them home. He scolded both dogs. 

       Sam didn’t seem to learn and wanted to escape the next chance he got. Mugsy had gotten bigger in the meantime and was now bigger than Sam and Mugsy decided it was her job to make Sam obey so she pulled him back into the year by his ear.  He yelped all the way up the long driveway but after that he stayed home. Sam never learned to sit or come when told but after we got Mugsy, he didn’t pee in the house anymore and he never bit or took my Dad’s socks again.

    One time though my dad brought a chicken hatchery into the house because the power to the barn failed. The chick hatched while my mom and dad were sleeping and somehow managed to get out of the contraption. My mom heard snarling and came down to find Mugsey covered completely with yellow chicks against her black fur snarling at Sam who snapped at the chicks. Sam died at the ripe old age of thirteen. Mugsey died at seventeen years old. They were happy dogs and they are ever remembered by us their pack.

©Sheilagh Lee November 27, 2013

This is an out of an focus pic (sorry best I could fix) of Sam and I

                                                
                                                          

             









                                                                                                 Mugsy

Three Word Wednesday - Shep

If you'd like to read other authors' poetry and stories for Three Word Wednesday click.here

 Three Word Wednesday - Shep

Prompts:  

Bitter, adjective: Having a sharp, pungent taste or smell; not sweet; (of people or their feelings or behavior) angry, hurt, or resentful because of one's bad experiences or a sense of unjust treatment; (of a conflict, argument, or opponent) full of anger and acrimony; (often used for emphasis) painful or unpleasant to accept or contemplate; (of wind, cold, or weather) intensely cold.

Manipulate, verb: Handle or control (a tool, mechanism, etc.), typically in a skillful manner; alter, edit, or move (text or data) on a computer; examine or treat (a part of the body) by feeling or moving it with the hand; control or influence (a person or situation) cleverly, unfairly, or unscrupulously; alter (data) or present (statistics) so as to mislead.

Tight, adjective: Fixed, fastened, or closed firmly; hard to move, undo, or open; (of clothes or shoes) close-fitting, uncomfortably so; (of a grip) very firm so as not to let go; (of a formation or a group of people or things) closely or densely packed together; (of a community or other group of people) having close relations; secretive; (of appearance or manner) tense, irritated, or angry; (of a rule, policy, or form of control) strictly imposed; (of an area or space) having or allowing little room for maneuver.

                                                                          Shep

           When my mom and dad were first married, my dad took a job as an apprentice train machinist and had to work night shifts. This left my young mom all alone, something my dad wasn’t comfortable with. He spoke to a buddy at work about getting a dog and that man offered him a collie pup eight weeks old named Shep. Shep was called that because he shepherd the man’s children back to their parents.

          My mother knew on some level she was manipulated as my dad loved animals and money was tight, but she also fell in love with Shep and felt safe with him around. He protected his pack and would not let anyone in the house, or near my mother and then my sisters and other siblings after they were born.

          One day when my oldest sister was three years old and my other sister one, they played on the front porch of my parent’s house. My mom didn't want them to wake my dad up, as he slept days. My mother sat nearby darning my dad’s socks. 

        My second oldest sister grew cold and my mother wanted to take her in the house, but she cried wanting to play with her sister. My mom told the dog to guard which the dog had done before and the children never got by him. My mother then went into the house.  My mom, mere seconds in the house to grab sweaters, heard the sounds, first of a whoosh of air from truck brakes, then a bitter cry of Nooooooooooooo!!

       A second later even as her feet moved towards the door she heard a dog yelp and then the children’s cries. As her mind went to recriminations that she should never have left the children alone for a moment, she burst through her front door. There she saw Shep on the front lawn, his back end, twisted, bent and bleeding. Shep however still crawled to my sisters and put his broken battered body in front of them as the truck driver bent over them to see if they were harmed.

          Seeing my mother the truck driver cried, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I shut my eyes for a moment and veered off the road. The dog saved them. He pulled those little girls of yours out of the way.”

          My mother bent over Shep tears in her eyes. By this time my dad had heard all and woken up from his sleep. He strode outside and saw what had happened. He was angry and yelled at the truck driver as he ran to the dog and his children. The truck driver left abruptly. 

         My dad checked over their small bodies and then he checked Shep’s injuries. He wrapped Shep in a blanket and took him to the vet only to be told the dog had to be put down. Shep's left back leg was severed and it would be in a pain from an injured right one. My dad loved this dog and after it had saved his daughters, he was not about to put this animal down, so he begged the vet for any hope. The vet said it was a long shot but my dad could take it to the new veterinary college in Guelph and see what they could do.

          My Dad drove the two hours to the college and begged them to save his dog. The college came through amputating part of Shep’s left leg, putting pins in both his left and his right hip and fixing internal injuries. Shep came through the complicated operations and somehow my dad raised the thousands of dollars to save him paying in installments for a year. 

         Shep still ran nearly as fast as he did on three legs, as he had on four. He never whined or complained about his injury. He wore woolen socks and boots knitted by my mother in the winter, which kept his pain away that the cold caused. He played with and protected not only my older sisters, but four other children that came along. Wherever we went Shep would follow in our childhood adventures. 

        Yearly check-ups with the vet yielded nothing but amazement that this animal wasn't in a pain still lived and was incredibly happy with us, as we were with him. He didn't seem to suffer any other after effects from his inuries. After seventeen years of playing with us and being part of the family Shep grew ill and passed away, but to us his family, he was one of the kids and the best dog we ever had. 

©Sheilagh Lee November 20, 2013

Excerpt from Dreams can Kill

This is an excerpt from my latest book e-book Dreams can Kill. 

          Searching to retrieve memories Sharron Alexander, (recovering from a bullet wound to the head) does not know who to trust. As she struggles to recover her assailant’s identity, the assailant plays cat and mouse with her searching to retrieve something else she doesn’t recall. Sharron must fight and remember or she will find out Dreams can Kill.

Chapter 1 - Survival


     The rain pelted down on me, as I struggled to come to my senses. My head felt like it had split in two, as if little lumberjacks had taken up residence. I opened one eye. The world spun sideways like a ride at the fair. I tried shutting one eye, then the other. I nearly fell back to sleep. I opened my eyes again, fighting the sleep which wanted to overtake me. I shuttered my eyes again, as my stomach protested. My whole body manipulated, bruised, bent and broken like some old rag doll discarded.



      Sleep...sleep would solve my problems, my brain protested. No! I had a reason I needed to stay awake and alert...A little sleep, a part of me protested again. No, I must stay conscious. But I remained so tired. I dragged myself across the pebbled ground. My right leg stuck out at an impossible angle, obviously broken. I saw by lifting my heard slightly and turning it that there appeared to be a road up ahead. I had to get to the road. If I dragged myself that far, surely I would be rescued?



     But it was oh so hard, to drag yourself backwards, when you couldn’t perceive where you were going. Oh no, what if he came back. He would finish me off...finish what he had started.



      He who? Who was this person, who left me to die? Why couldn’t I remember? Don’t panic… the thing to do is right now is to reach help; then and only then would I be safe. I caressed large pieces of gravel which cut into the back of my head. I sensed I was close to the road. I reached out with my good hand and touched a paved surface. I knew I didn’t have much strength left. I experienced the energy drain quickly leaving my body. I tried to fight the drain, but the world faded to black.

ڿڰۣ--ڰڿ--ڿڰۣ--ڰڿ

©Sheilagh Lee October 31, 2013

If you'd like to read more please go buy the e-book at

 Amazon or Smashwords

Happy Birthday Mom

Today would have been my mother’s birthday unfortunately  for us, her children, she died in 2001. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of her or remember how lucky I was to have her as a mother. 

Mom at 17                                                                            Mom later

            My mother had a hard life, with not a lot of money and a lot of strife but she never let anything get her down.She was always there if you needed a smile or a little bit of cheer. Though as I said we never had a lot of money growing up she always found something whether it be food clothing or funds to help someone who needed it. As she put it they needed it more than we did.  The greatest, most patient teacher, I ever had was my mother who taught me to read and how to do fractions and other math equations.

         Her heart as big as the ocean, her kindness knew no bounds and we still have people with no blood ties that we consider family just because mom had them stay with us when they had trouble at home. Our friends were always welcome and they'd even go to her for advice. 
          When ever I needed her she was there even if she struggled health wise herself. I know everyone says they had the best mother in the world but we really did. 

My heart still broken 

With words unspoken

Words reverberate in the stratosphere

Of wisdom and love

Coming down through the breeze

I’ll see you in the morning sun

And in the morning dew

As it glints over the grass

And over the time and space

I feel your presence

You haven’t left me

You’re with me still

And as I navigate through life

Your love will see me through

I will think of you mom

Dream of better times

Having fun chatting,dancing

Singing, while doing chores

Seeing the good, in even the bad,

For there's always tomorrows in store. 

Mother you taught me well,

For your kindness reverberates

In everything I do

My children remember you 

In deeds too.

You will live in our memories.

For one day we will see you again, Mother,

This was never adieu,

So Happy Birthday Mom.

I love you still~
©Sheilagh Lee  November 15, 2013

My Books now available at Amazon and Smashwords

All my six books available now at Amazon http://amzn.to/1aSE939

those with V check marks appear at Smashwords http://bit.ly/1czWPUH

1) Love's Labours Won   

Sarah is a young single woman in dire straits. Her rent is due, she was fired from her last job and she has no family to turn to. So she accepts the fateful offer of a mysterious job interview, which turns out to be a ruse to steal gifts that she never even realized she had. As she set upon this journey Sarah will discover a world of magic, mystery and the supernatural. As Sarah learns about this new world she is exposed to adventure, danger and intrigue...and romance in the form of the mysterious Demetrious Blackstone. All the while Sarah must learn to control her gifts and suppress her own demons to defeat the perils that await her. Only then can she discover her inner voice and follow her own path that will lead to the true love she knows she deserves.

--ڿڰۣ--ڰڿ

2) Christmas is Calling    

A collection of heartwarming stories to warm your heart all year round

--ڿڰۣ--ڰڿ

3.) Reborn 

2 stories Tainted in the Blood  a werewolf story & To Love and Disobey, of love, lust and war in the vampire and Magik world. Not currently available at Smashwords

--ڿڰۣ--ڰڿ

4.)  A Stitch in Time     

A Stitch In Time is a prequel to A Penny Saved A Murder Earned .It is the story of Emmett Rogers in two thousand and four. Emmett is considered a hero for his actions in Afghanistan but all Emmett wants is to forget the battle there and get on with his life, in his new job as a police office. However coming home is as idyllic as Emmett hoped. His seventeen year old sister is pregnant and his father threw her out echoing another incident in Emmett’s life. Emmett must fight the battles he now faces on the home front and face his own demons, before he can move on with his new life.  Not currently available at Smashwords

--ڿڰۣ--ڰڿ

5.)A Penny Saved A Murder Earned   

Lily Kelly, her adopted daughter Rose Brooksfield ,her Great-Grandma Katha, and Amelia, her cousin all feel like they are under a curse; but appears to be the work of a serial killer that people around them having been falling like dominos. Amelia’s parents and siblings, Amelia’s husband and son, and Lily’s first husband all have been targeted by a killer. Now as Amelia’s store clerk, a homeless man, Lily’s present husband the Mayor, and Lily’s mother-in law are targeted. Lily and her cousin Amelia, under suspicion by the investigating officer Emmett Rogers, must fight the impulse to blame the curse and get to the bottom of who caused all their woes, before the killer targets them.

--ڿڰۣ--ڰڿ

6.) Dreams can Kill      

Sharron Alexander, recovering from a bullet wound to the head her memory a blank, she does not know who to trust. As she struggles to recover her assailant’s identity, they play cat and mouse with her searching to retrieve something Sharron doesn’t recall. Sharron must fight and remember or she will find out Dreams can Kill.

--ڿڰۣ--ڰڿ

With more to come 

Winner of Unravelled by @MKTod

Drum roll please...

The winner of this giveaway is  Joy K. Mills. 

Congratulations Joy. She has been notified of her win. Thank you all for participating and reading about UNRAVELLED. 

Unravelled is available in paperback and e-book formats from Amazon (US, Canada and elsewhere), Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In anticipation of the 100th anniversary of WWI, introducing a debut novel by Canadian author M.K. Tod.

UNRAVELLED by M.K. Tod      

Two wars. Two affairs. One marriage. Set at the intersection of love and war, Unravelled delivers a page-turning mixture of emotion and sacrifice.

A book launch event for UNRAVELLED will be held on October 8, 2013 starting at 7 p.m. at the Duke of York at 39 Prince Arthur Avenue in Toronto, Canada.

 Visit A Writer Of History for more information. 

CONNECT WITH M.K. TOD 

Blog: A Writer Of History

Facebook Page: M.K. Tod Author

Twitter: @MKTodAuthor

GoodReads: M.K. Tod

Blog Tour Book Giveaway and Book Review of Unravelled By M.K.Tod

In anticipation of the 100th anniversary of WWI, introducing a debut novel by Canadian author M.K. Tod.

UNRAVELLED by M.K. Tod      

Two wars. Two affairs. One marriage. Set at the intersection of love and war, Unravelled delivers a page-turning mixture of emotion and sacrifice.

Book Review -Unravelled by M. K. Tod

         Unravelled is the story of a couple Edward and Ann Jamieson and their relationship and how it is impacted by two world wars. The author delves into both husband and wife’s reactions to difficult conditions and distance war can bring to a marriage. The writer has done a lot of research and it shows with the attention to small details about the husband’s jobs in the wars and other character’s occupation’s descriptions. Reading about war is often fraught with tears for the reader, due to the carnage done in the two world wars and this book is no exception as the reader gets to experience the war through the writer’s character’s eyes.  While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I felt the book could be divided into two parts. The writer could have started with Edward participating in in World War 1 and it’s aftermath on the main character afterwards and then the second book starting with World War II and how it affected the couple. 

   Anyone who enjoys character rich and historically accurate world war books will enjoy this novel. This manuscript shows the gritty underside of war and how it affects not only soldiers, but those left behind and how we struggle to make sense of it all, while still trying to maintain relationships in a crumbling world.

31/2*** out of 5***** 

 Check back tomorrow on Well Read for your chance to read an excerpt for Unravelled but if you'd like to win this book scroll down to the bottom of this post and follow the Rafflecopter instructions below.

More from the author on Unravelled-

Toronto, October 1935. An invitation to the Vimy war memorial dedication unlocks Edward Jamieson’s memories of WWI and of Helene Noisette, the French lover he left behind.

France, July 1936. Amidst mounting fears of Hitler’s intentions, Edward and his wife Ann travel to France where a chance encounter with Helene has fateful consequences.

Toronto, June 1942. Edward has been recruited to serve with an espionage training camp while Ann runs a support centre for women who have lost husbands and sons. The war grinds on. Losses mount. And secrets invade the couple's marriage.

  

Did you ever wish you had asked your grandparents about WWI or WWII? Did your grandfather refuse to talk about it at all? These wars are distant and yet oddly tangible for we all know people who lived through them. Unravelled offers insights into the heartbreak, turmoil, deprivation, and incredible stress of the men and women who struggled to survive.

  

PRAISE FOR UNRAVELLED

'A sweeping story of love and war with much of the style of Brief Encounter and the passionate intensity of Birdsong.' Jenny Barden, author of Mistress of the Sea

Unravelled 'deftly illuminates the subtle stirrings of the human heart as movingly as it depicts the horrors of battle.' Barbara Kyle, author of Blood Between Queens

'A beautiful rendering of the healing journey of two war torn hearts.' Elisabeth Storrs, author of The Golden Dice

'A compulsive and convincing read.' Helen Hollick, author of historical fiction and historical adventure

'M.K. Tod's Unravelled beautifully evokes an era of heightened tension, in which her characters' decisions become all the more heart-rending.' Anne Easter Smith, author of A Rose for the Crown

'An engrossing historical saga.' Sarah Johnson, Historical Novel Society Book Review Editor and author of two historical fiction guides

~~~~~

M.K. Tod had a successful business career until a move to Hong Kong prompted an unexpected hiatus. Using that time to research her family history ultimately resulted in Unravelled and a new career as a writer. Beyond her debut novel, Mary has written two other novels with WWI settings. She blogs at awriterofhistory.com and is a book reviewer for the Historical Novel Society. In 2012, Mary conducted a unique international reader survey on the topic of historical fiction. 

UNRAVELLED release date: September 19, 2013. 

A book launch event for UNRAVELLED will be held on October 8, 2013 starting at 7 p.m. at the Duke of York at 39 Prince Arthur Avenue in Toronto, Canada.

 Visit A Writer Of History for more information. 

Unravelled is available in paperback and e-book formats from Amazon (US, Canada and elsewhere), Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. 

CONNECT WITH M.K. TOD 

Blog: A Writer Of History

Facebook Page: M.K. Tod Author

Twitter: @MKTodAuthor

GoodReads: M.K. Tod

If you like to win this book in your choice book or e-book form from the author and Bookalicious fill out this ballot following instructions.Contest runs from September 24, 2013 to October 1, 2013

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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