January ~ The Month with Two Faces

 

To see more of Nancy's work please click the cover. 

January, named for the Roman god Janus, he of two faces. One looking forward and one looking backward. January is the start of a new calendar year and we look forward to the coming year with expectation. As I grow older it, January is also a time for introspection and looking backward at the year that just passed and indeed, even further back at the long line of years stretching behind me. A time to remember those who have made the crossing into the Shining Realms. A time to give thanks for the joy and successes and a time to appreciate the trials and tribulations that have helped mold me into the person I am today. 

January is a time for planning and shedding thoughts and patterns that no longer serve us. And also, a time of welcoming back the strengthening sun. Each sunrise comes a little earlier, each sunset a little later. I watch the sun's journey as it slips ever so slightly toward the north, gaining a tiny bit each day. The sun, the moon, are constants. They make their seasonal journey through the heavens shepherded by the constellations. The Big Bear in her various identities - the Big Bear, the Big Dipper, the Ploughshare and a dozen other names, Orion with his hounds at his heels and his belt shining even in the deep dark nights of November and December. Constants that remind us we are part of the great All That Is, while also reminding us that humankind is a very small insignificant entity in the majesty that is the all encompassing space that surrounds our small galaxy.

On another note, looking forward now. Airdrie Public Library is hosting my book launch for Laurel's Choice on January 24th, 2024 from 6:30 to 7:30 MST. I hope anyone who is close enough can come out and say hi. It should be fun and there might be a surprise or two. 

Until next month. Stay well, stay happy

The Place that Held You by Nancy M Bell

 

Laurel's Choice releases December 1, 2023

For this and the other books in the series please click the cover. 

It hasn't been that long since Remembrance Day and my thoughts turn to those who went bravely into the unknown and never returned home. Some who came home did so injured both in body and spirit. When I was a child we lived with my grandparents. My grandfather served in WW1 with the engineering corps and his brother, my great uncle lost his life on August 8, 1918 at the Somme. Uncle Joe is buried in France near a small town called Marcelcave. My Uncle Jim, my mother's brother served in WW2 and spent time in a German POW camp before coming home.

There are so many stories that have never been told, and so many we are losing as these brave souls pass on. It is important that we and the younger generations remember those who gave their lives in all the past wars and those who are currently putting their lives in danger to protect us on home soil.

I love the initiative No Stone Left Alone where the graves of soldiers are visited by school children and others. I wish I could visit Uncle Joe way over there in France. But I hold him in my thoughts and I tell them all in my prayers "The Place that Held You is Still There and I remember you.

We will remember you, all of you.

This is poem I wrote for Uncle Joe.

Somme

Sleep

Nancy M Bell 

Crouched and ready we wait,

Dawn is late in coming

And when it does it is shrouded

In mist and fog

It is more than the damp and wet

That sends the shivers over our skin

Anticipation and fear war with each other

Where are the tanks that are supposed to support us?

 Sky and earth merge when we peek over the top

Stitched together by mizzle and mist

Yards away, across the trampled earth

The enemy crouch and wait as we do

Where are the tanks? The support?

Whispers and rumours run up and down the line

Then—suddenly the wait is over

“Over the top, boys,” the sergeant yells

 And we go

Surging out of our earthen burrows

Running, firing blind, blinking in the fog

No time to think, only to run and fire

Ducking bullets whining by our ears

Then—it stops

I open my mouth and spit mud

Blood, hot and cold runs through my fingers

The old guys were right

There is no pain when it happens

Just a mixed sensation of disbelief

And relief…

Even if I die right here in the mud

It’s over:

The fear;

the wet;

the lice;

the killing.

Somewhere my mates are yelling and shots echo

But around me there is an odd silence

A separation from the man-made hell

One hand clutching my gut,

the other somehow still wrapped around my rifle

I let the lark song sing me to sleep.

  

New News and All by Nancy M Bell

 

To find out more about Nancy click on the cover.

News, news, news. My latest novel Discarded released on September 1, 2023. It is part of BWL's Canadian Historical Mysteries Collection. I'm on a blog tour with Goddess Fish Promotions from September 11 to 22nd, you can find the links on my Facebook page each day for that day's post.

Come September 27 I'm off to London England to catch a cruise ship at Southampton on September 29. It's one we've been wanting to do for a long time, England, Scotland and Ireland. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. While in Belfast we're going to connect with my husband's cousins on his mom's side. We haven't seen them since the 1990s, so very much looking forward to it.

I'm still working on Laurel's Choice. I put it aside to meet the deadline for Discarded but I'm working on it now and having lots of fun with it. Horses and three-day eventing in England. Right now Laurel, as part of her working student gig, is grooming for her boss at Badminton. What a crazy and amazing cross country course! I can't wait to share a few bits of it with my readers. Then Laurel herself will compete at a local event and well...you never know what might happen. And then, readers of the Cornwall Adventures will be familiar with Gort and Aisling, Laurel is the maid of honour at their wedding which also takes place in Laurel's Choice not too long after she gets back from Badminton. And I have to say I really love the cover of Laurel's Choice. In case you've missed it...here it is! The horse Laurel is grooming for and who she gets to ride sometimes is a grey horse call Blue, so the cover is perfect. Til next month, stay well, stay happy and get ready for Hallowe'en or Samhain whichever you celebrate.