Good Friday in Modern Times                  

I was out getting my ninety one year old mother-in-law her breakfast this morning when she came up with the question,”What’s good about Good Friday?” Well, I looked at her kinda funny and not being a very active Christian, I gave her the only answer I could think of, “Well, I guess it’s all about the hope for resurrection, that Jesus died for humanity, that we would be forgiven for our sins and there would be something beyond death.” This didn’t go over at all with the old lady, who insisted, “Yes but they crucified him, put him to death on the cross.”

Riiiigggghhhhtttt, well, it got me thinking, aside from the obvious (?) religious significance, (at least to Christians) what really is good about Good Friday in the modern day?

I started making a mental list:

Good Friday is a statutory holiday in Newfoundland and most people have FRIDAY OFF!!!

Good Friday falls on April 3rd this year.  If you live somewhere sensible (not Newfoundland) Spring is here and the grass is getting green and the birdies are chirping and the tulips are blooming.  (Not here – we had ten centimeters of snow last night, temperature is -12 degrees celsius, you can hide Easter eggs all right IN THE SNOWBANKS!!! Ughh.)

In the days of my parents, they would attend a 3 HOUR LONG CHURCH SERVICE!!!  At least some folks had a good nap, even though they came out with their arse’s paralyzed from sitting on the wooden pews.

It’s the best day in St. John’s for a feed of fish and chips!

It’s a THREE DAY WEEKEND.  It’s like having two Saturdays, cos you wake up on Friday and it’s a holiday, then you wake up the next day and it’s a holiday again, and it’s not even Sunday!!

Good Friday is supposed to be like Sunday on steroids.  To the old folks, Sunday is the day of rest, you know what that means!!!  NO HOUSEWORK!!! (no dancing, card playing, sports or general fun either, however.)

Stores are closed on Good Friday, so no blasted trips to the mall to buy last minute Easter crap that nobody needs anyway!!!

That’s the best I could come up with.  Feel free to add to the list by commenting.  I will add to the list and give you full credit.

I hope  I haven’t offended anyone with my slightly irreverent take on what I know is meant to be a solemn and holy day in the Christian calendar!  Don’t tell my mother, for she will be sure to scold me and kick my ass for being a heathen.  But then, I figure, if my mother-in-law who used to walk ten miles to church and back three times on a Sunday doesn’t know what’s good about Good Friday, then I didn’t miss much by skipping Sunday school.

(I’m gonna roast in hell)

 

 

April Fool’s, the Sadist’s Holiday

Yeah, so, did any of you guys get pranked on April Fool’s Day?  Being the Queen of Gullible, I was amazed to have gotten away scott free this year.  My husband always gets me every damn year.  It’s because he goes to work at seven o’clock in the morning, and I don’t start till nine, So, his perky phone call at nine o’clock sometimes finds me in my usual early morning fog, before I have Tassimo’d my first cup of coffee, at which time it is sometimes possible to get one past me.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to fall for stuff like, “We’re out of oil and there’s no hot water, so don’t plan on getting a shower today, and oh by the way, when did you pay the oil bill last?” Believe me, I am the chief bean counter of this operation, and it would be a rare day that I would forget to pay the bills.

“Can you check the mail box, today?  I’m expecting something to come.”  Dead giveaway!  All that comes in the mail is woe and misery, I would be instantly suspicious and would approach any locked boxes with extreme caution on the FIRST OF APRIL!!!

Last year, I’ll admit, I was a bit of a pushover, being that he called me all excited that a moose had been spotted trotting down Portugal Cove Road and  if I looked out the back window, I could probably see it.  Now being that last year there was a lady moose and her calf grazing on our front lawn one Sunday morning, I just might have found that scenario believable.

So, I’m needing ammunition for next year!  Please comment and tell me your best April Fool’s trick.

The Lion’s Den Cover and Description

 

Della Rawlins is not long back from Afghanistan, where she and her partner, Aaron have joined the throng of photojournalists, reporters and bounty hunters in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. When the trail leads them into Pakistan, things get complicated and while Della makes it out before the net tightens around the American nationals, Aaron is captured and detained. It is unknown where he is being held, or if he is still alive.

Needing some distance from the problem to deal with the horrors she had been witness to, she takes a photographic assignment into the Canadian wilderness to clear her head. It isn’t long before her peace is invaded and she comes face to face with a tall dark stranger who tries to save her from haunted memories.

Della longs to leave the world of foreign conflict and political intrigue behind and to start a new life with her new man, Brad, but she is shackled to the past by a secret that puts her in the cross hairs of a vicious enemy. It will take all of her courage and determination to face the terror that awaits her. Trusting in Brad’s love and protection along with the support of an elite militia, Della fights for the integrity of her country and for her own personal freedom against almost insurmountable odds.

From the desert of Pakistan, to the wilderness of eastern Canada, to the rich man’s playground of Mallorca, Spain, follow Della and Brad as they take the journey that leads to the Lion’s Den.  Lives, hearts and the future of a presidency hang in the balance.

The Lion’s Den, coming April 30th

Just Get Through It.

Hi Friends,

Just a shout out from the writing cave, where I have been hibernating for the past two weeks.  One must write when the inspiration flows! I met with my “Romancing the Rock” writers group last Sunday.  Nothing makes you get off your arse like talking to an author who has seventy-plus books in print!

 It seems that March is the one month in the year that has to be “gotten through.”  From the business perspective, you are trying to stretch those “ends” like a too-small pair of pantyhose, trying to get them to meet.  In our biz, customers want sixty days to pay, while suppliers want to be paid in thirty.  Coming out of the short month of December where you lose so many production days makes your February remittances lean, while your expenses are as big as dogs.  What do you do? You just have to get through it.

My mom has been needing back surgery since December.  After her third trip to Emergency, where all the staff would do was give her a shot of Morphine for the pain and send her home, I finally had to get an ambulance and take her in again because she had deteriorated to the point she couldn’t walk and the pills were not cutting the pain.  They admitted her on December 27th, and kept her medicated to try to reduce the inflammation in her spine.  After six weeks of that, with little easing of the pain, they sent her home with five hours of home care a day, and no booked date for her surgery.  It is unimaginable cruelty to send someone home to suffer in agony with pain that is so intense that she sobs and talks about taking her own life. I have phoned the surgeon’s office three times, each time becoming more desperate, until finally, they have her booked for April tenth.  Two and a half weeks away.  The only thing I can hope is for her to just get through it.

Oh the weather!  March is the time in Newfoundland that you might get a few days of nice weather, and you think, “Maybe we’ll have an early spring this year.” Then old man winter drops a snow bomb on us and we get a two day blizzard, dropping 48 centimeters of snow. “Oh, that’s just Sheila’s brush,” you think until the next day you get another 10 centimeters, with more coming for the weekend. People are opening their front doors to a wall of  the white stuff, and having to get out a window to shovel themselves out.  Your car is buried up to the roof and  trying to get around town is ridiculous.  The calendar is saying the first day of spring was last Friday, and we’re locked in the deep freeze. What do you do? If you don’t have the cash to fly south, you just have to get through it.

My book, The Lion’s Den is due to launch the end of April.  I am so excited.  I got the cover design proof the other day, and it is stunning!  Both of my publishing/advertising  mentors took off on holidays, just at the time when we are going through the editing/formatting/printing process, and I am biting my nails on getting the marketing machine fired up, or else be prepared to lose my shirt!  Being my first book, the wheels seem to be rolling….ever….so….slowly….right….now, but what can you do? You just have to get through it.

Wherever you are, I hope that you are “getting through it” too, and by the time Easter rolls around April 5th, we will all be able to think about bunnies, chicks and sunshine and the renewal of life.  Until then, stay warm, stay positive, and just get through it!

Love,

 

 

 

 

 

Happy in my den!