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| HarryG's blog |
| To celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, my wife, Linda, and I went to see NYC for the week of 8 - 12 November. I had been once before, but Linda had never been there. We had a fabulous time! We had good weather, mostly in the 50s with wind but no rain. We saw all the main tourist sights: Empire State Building at night, Macy's, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Times Square, The Hershey's and the M&M stores (Linda loves her chocolate!), Wall Street, Chinatown, Little Italy, Metropolitan Art Museum, Natural History Museum, Rockefeller Center with tour, Top of the Roc, the horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park, two Broadway shows (Phantom of the Opera, which was truly spectacular, and Chicago). We rode a lot of taxi rides. We were surprised how many New Yorkers said they had never seen the major tourist sights. Thousands and thousands of people make a special trip to NY to see these sights and these folks live there and never have bothered to go see them. Weird! Come on, folks, if you live somewhere with tourist attractions, go see them! As soon as we returned to Shreveport, both Linda & I came down with a bad cold with major congestion. Yesterday, after eleven days of coughing and blowing, Linda went to the doctor and got a shot, some antibiotics, and prescription-strength decongestants. She feels better already. I guess I will have to go see the doctor later today. This cold has been hanging on for twelve days now and doesn't seem to be going away by itself. I hate colds! This week is busy: today (the 23rd) is our 25th anniversary; on the 24th Linda turns the big 6-0; and then the 25th is Thanksgivings. My daughter Ginny will be here Wednesday but leaves early Thursday morning to attend the Dallas-N.O. NFL football game later that day. I think Linda went to the doctor's yesterday just because she wanted to be able to clean the house and do all the cooking for Thanksgivings. She decided she has too much to do to be sick any longer! Hope everyone has a great Thanksgivings. Overeat and enjoy yourselves! Cheers! Harry Published 2008: "Poetic Musings of an Old, Fat Man". A collection of my poetry. Lulu Press. 2008 Reader Views Literary Award winner - Honorable Mention in Fiction, Poetry category 2009 Readers Favorite Award winner - Honorable Mention in Poetry category |
| Tomorrow, 22 September 2010, is the first official day of fall. Here in Shreveport we are still having near record high temperatures in the upper 90s to 100 F. It doesn't feel much like fall! However, there are signs that fall is coming. College football is underway. On our last trip over to Ruston Linda pointed out several trees already beginning to turn yellow. And, the hummingbirds are swarming around my three sugar water- feeders tanking up for their migration south. All summer we have only two or three that visit these feeders at any one time. This morning we counted at least ten, maybe twelve. Five were sitting and drinking from one feeder alone. I love this time of the year when we have so many hummers visiting the feeders. Before too much longer they will all have left, not to be seen again until next June. I guess I had better enjoy them the next few weeks! I am ready, I said READY, for cooler weather to arrive. We had a near-record hot August, followed by another record hot September. Bring on the cold weather! Cheers! Harry |
| Alan Blinder, former vice-chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics and former advisor to Republican presidential candidate John McCain, have reported that econometric models confirm that the bailouts and stimulus packages saved America from suffering through another 1930s-like Great Depression. That is, the bailouts and stimulus packages worked! Without the bailouts of the five “too big to fail” financial institutions, followed by the stimulus packages, they predict the real gross domestic product would have fallen a stunning 12 percent instead of the actual decline of only 4 percent. Twice as many jobs (some 17 million) would have disappeared, instead of the job loss actually suffered. Unemployment would have reached 16.5 percent instead of the 9.5 percent it did. Furthermore, while the current deficit in fiscal year 2010 will hit $1.4 trillion, this amount is considerably LESS that what it would have been without the bailouts/stimulus packages. With no bailouts/stimuli, there would have been a severe lowering of tax revenue coupled with increased social spending requirements. Without the government spending that was done, they project that the 2010 deficit would have been over $2 trillion, the 2011 deficit would have reached $2.6 trillion, and the 2012 deficit would have been $2.25 trillion. Obama’s and the Democrats’ spending actually has resulted in lowering the deficit compared to what it would have been without this spending! (I continue to wax political in this entry into my blog at: http://harrygillelandwrites.blogspot.com/ should you care to read the remainder of my comments.) Cheers! Harry |
| It was hot this afternoon -- 96 degrees in the shade, 105 Humidex reading. About thirty minutes ago in late afternoon, the wind picked up and gray clouds blew in, accompanied by lightning and rolling thunder. I was watching TV when flash-boom and the electricity went out. Then the hard rain came, sweeping across the yard in blowing sheets of water. I went out and sat on the bench on the front porch to watch the show. I enjoy watching rain. It is a wonder of Nature. The temperature fell fifteen degrees. The parched vegetation stretched upward to welcome and soak in the nurturing water falling from the sky. Millions, nay billions of individual droplets of water, insignificant alone but life-giving together, splashed down to the ground. Then, as quickly as it arrived, the shower moved on, heading down the road to refresh & renew some other place. I love the rain! Cheers! Harry |
Well, I decided to go the small press, traditional publisher route to get my latest romance/action-adventure short novel published. I submitted "Aldric and Anneliese" to 4RV Publishing, a small press traditional publisher ( http://www.4rvpublishingllc.com ). Now it's wait and see if they accept it for publication. I am an editor for 4RV, so I hopefully know what they will publish in their adult novel section. However, as an author, one never feels too confident upon submitting work any where.  Wish me luck, and watch for "Aldric and Anneliese" to be published in a few more months hopefully. Cheers! Harry |
| Greetings, All ~ This weekend I finished writing my latest novel. I had been "writing" it for the past two years on and off, much more off than on. LOL I had gotten so involved with reviewing on-line, editing manuscripts for 4RV Publishing, and writing poetry that the novel had been forgotten on a back burner for quite a while. Last January I cleared my desk of other activities and went back to my writing. I have written poetry as well as returning to the novel. After a few months work on the novel, I hit a roadblock and was uncertain what to do next in the story. Six weeks ago, the dam burst and the words have been pouring out. I rewrote a lot that I already had and finished the story to my satisfaction. You'd think it would be 150,000 words for the amount of time I have been "writing" on it. However, it is a "short novel" at about 42,350 words. It is a tight, fast-paced story, however. It is entitled "Aldric and Anneliese" and is an adult, fiction (action/adventure, romance, medieval warfare and nation building), short novel. The story takes place in late 6th century in what is now Eastern Europe but is in a fictitious country in the book. One chieftain builds a united country under his rule as king out of six regions each previously led by a chieftain; he does this by war and by marriage. Then comes the intrigue. The novel features kings, knights, lovely ladies, barbarian hordes, battles, love, marriage, betrayal, revenge, etc. It should appeal to reader of action/adventure, romance, medieval warfare, etc. It contains graphic violence during battle scenes -- heads and legs lopped off, blood spurting, etc. -- and mild sexual references -- erect nipples, hard 'members' -- but nothing too graphic sexually. It has some humor, as well as some romantic emotional moments. I'm hoping readers will find it an enjoyable read once it becomes available in print. I am not sure where I will submit it yet. I may go back to Lulu since I have five books published through them already. Or maybe I'll submit to 4RV Publishing ( http://www.4rvpublishingllc.com ). They have a new brick-and-mortar bookstore for their books now open in the Memphis area, by the way. It is called "4 Love of Books and Art" ( http://4lovebooks-art.weebly.com/index.html ). Check it out. It is run by Aidana WillowRaven as Shop Keeper. I'm also considering Createspace for publishing it. I'll decide this week hopefully. So, all you readers and book buyers out there in cyberspace, mark it down and be on the lookout for "Aldric and Anneliese" when it gets published. Cheers! Harry Published 2008: "Poetic Musings of an Old, Fat Man". A collection of my poetry. Lulu Press. 2008 Reader Views Literary Award winner - Honorable Mention in Fiction, Poetry category 2009 Readers Favorite Award winner - Honorable Mention in Poetry category |
| My daughter sent me this one: If: 2 + 3 = 10 7 + 2 = 63 6 + 5 = 66 8 + 4 = 96 ...Then, 9 + 7 = ?? Published 2008: "Poetic Musings of an Old, Fat Man". A collection of my poetry. Lulu Press. 2008 Reader Views Literary Award winner - Honorable Mention in Fiction, Poetry category 2009 Readers Favorite Award winner - Honorable Mention in Poetry category |
| In this blog I provide a link to a blog post in which I explain the idea and sources of inspiration behind my latest poem "The Roar of the Lion". People frequently ask me where I get all the ideas for my poetry, especially since I have a prolific output over the years. (My first poetry collection/book in 2003 contained about 175 storoems/poems; my second book in 2005 had about 150 new storoems/poems; and my latest book in 2008 had 82 new storoems/poems. I currently have 49 new storoems/poems on hand toward the next book. That totals over 450 storoems/poems since 2001.) I explain in my latest blog post ( http://harrygillelandwrites.blogspot.com/ ) the sources of inspiration behind the idea for my latest poem. You hopefully will find it informative. Cheers! Harry |
| A woman woke up one morning to find a ferocious-looking gorilla in a tree on her African plantation. She quickly phoned the local game warden, who arrived minutes later. In one hand he held a shotgun and in the other the leash of a fierce Doberman Pinscher. As they walked to the tree, the warden explained, "What's going to happen is that I will go up the tree, throw the gorilla out, and the dog will clamp his teeth on the gorilla's testicles to completely immobilize him." The woman nodded and was surprised when he handed her the shotgun. "You know how to use this?" he asked. "I do," she said, "but what's it for?" The warden replied, "Well ..... big gorillas like this one sometimes are pretty tough and will throw me out of the tree. If that happens, I want you to do one thing." "Shoot the gorilla?" she guessed. "No," he answered, "Shoot the dog!" Cheers! Harry |
| I wrote an opinionated prose poem recently about the BP oil spill currently befouling the Gulf. Living in Louisiana, albeit in the far northwest corner far away from the Gulf coast, I probably am more concerned about the damages done by the BP oil spill to Gulf coast fishing/shrimping and tourism, with more damage to come, than are some of you who live in far-off parts of the country. I follow the situation rather closely. I put my thoughts about the situation into a long prose poem that expresses my strong opinions. If you care to read the poem, please visit my port for my latest poem.
Cheers! Harry Published 2008: "Poetic Musings of an Old, Fat Man". A collection of my poetry. Lulu Press. 2008 Reader Views Literary Award winner - Honorable Mention in Fiction, Poetry category 2009 Readers Favorite Award winner - Honorable Mention in Poetry category |
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