A Stroll Through the Gilmore Car Museum with J.Q. Rose

Deadly Undertaking by J.Q. Rose
Cozy Mystery, Paranormal

Click here to find mysteries by J.Q. Rose at BWL Publishing

Hello and welcome to the BWL Insiders Blog! 

Do you remember when car manufacturers kept their new models a secret until the unveiling in the fall? My Dad and I could hardly wait to see the new, sleek vehicles for the coming year. The manufacturers made it a big event. I miss that now. But I still have my love of cars. And I especially enjoy the art of the car. Did you ever think of a car as being artwork? Especially the older cars, muscle cars, and vintage vehicles.

We are fortunate to live only a couple of hours from a fantastic car museum, the Gilmore Car Museum. They are an interactive walk through history with their displays and exhibits located in amazing old barns nestled in the rolling farmland near Kalamazoo, Michigan. 

Please join me for a stroll through the museum so you can see some of the magnificent machines on display. 

VIDEO: A Stroll Through the Gilmore Car Museum by J.Q. Rose

Curious? Make a plan to visit sometime. Click here for the Gilmore Car Museum website.

Do you appreciate the art of a car from its interior design to the lovely lines of the outside? I don't know a thing about the motor. I just want the car to go when I turn it on and press the pedal.!!! 

Thanks for stopping in today.

Click here to connect online with J.Q Rose.

Welcome to...Monkey Island! by Stuart R. West

Despite the banana in the title, this has nothing to do with Monkey Island except a whole lotta monkey business.

 "For you see, Mr. Bond, Monkey Island is a training ground for my personal army of monkeys where I shall eventually unleash them on an unwitting world to conquer...Disneyland! Mwah-hah-hah!"

Marvel at the cute, wacky antics of lovable monkeys!

Yes, Monkey Island sounds like a James Bond villain compound, a perfect setting for a future secret agent novel, one that has the creative juices flowing. And, yes, Monkey Island actually exists. Come with me now, intrepid explorers, as I recount more adventures in the Amazon ans we visit...MONKEY ISLAND!

Tuesday morning we set out by boat on the Nanay River, an Amazon River tributary. Where the tributary meets the Amazon River, a visually distinctive color change differentiates the two rivers from "black (that's what it's called, although it's not really. Hey, I don't make up the rules.)" to light creamy brown. Shifting sediment causes color change. 

Thrill at the incredible changing water color!

Which is just one of the many amazing things about the Amazon: the landscape changes constantly. (I saw a huge tree actually topple into the river as we traveled. And there are "walking trees!" They uproot themselves and move toward sunlight. Sure, they're slow, but they'd probably beat sloths in a foot race any day.)

See the incredible, uncanny tree that walks like a man!

Soon, we neared MONKEY ISLAND ("ka-blammo!"). My spidey senses tingled (or maybe that was water sickness). As we disembarked, I was quickly reminded of my lousy sense of balance and lack of grace. Pay heed, folks, for we'll be revisiting this theme many times.

Excitement swelled in our group as we walked the planks up to...Monkey Island! ("Bum, bum, bummmm...") 

Duck and cover from flying feces!

Another habitat (brought to you by the fine folks of the previous manatee habitat), Monkey Island personnel rescues rare monkeys and nurses them to health. Unlike the manatee habitat, though, the monkeys roam their island freely to mess with unsuspecting visitors.

Our host warned us to wash off all bug spray and sunscreen since there'd been an earlier incident where several monkeys died by licking toxic bug lotion. We were also told, "monkeys are curious. So watch your jewelry." Understatement.

Our group washed up, stripped down, and prepared to enter...MONKEY ISLAND ("Dun, dun, dunnnnnn...").

Three minutes into our tour, a woolly monkey approached my wife, crawled up her body, and tossed its arms around her. For twenty minutes, they were inseparable as the monkey licked and kissed her and tugged playfully at her necklace.

Get jealous as my wife finds comfort in the arms of a furry stranger!

One of our traveling companions wasn't so lucky. Sara's monkey started off all cutesy, innocent and sweet, but within seconds "cute" morphed into stark-raving TERROR! The monkey climbed atop Sara's head, yanked at her hair, entangled its limbs throughout Sara's tresses, and held on tight. Like a victim in the film The Birds, Sara ineffectively tried to disengage her primate pal, plucking at it to no avail. That monkey wasn't going anywhere.

Elsewhere on MONKEY ISLAND ("Zinnnnnngggg!"), another fellow traveler, Liz, welcomed a monkey into her arms. But this monkey had a hidden agenda, an evil one. Feigning sweetness, it jabbed out, snatched Liz's glasses, and tore off into the bushes. Miraculously, one of the guides was able to retrieve the glasses.

Don't dare trust these little buggers!

Yet another monkey dragged one of our pals, Kelly, by the hand. We all thought it the cutest thing. Until the demonic beast's true intentions became apparent. The creature stopped Kelly by a small tree, positioned her oh-so-carefully, then used her as a ladder to climb into the tree's limbs.

Hold onto your wallets and purses!

Even the sloth appeared less than trustworthy, evil gleaming in its eyes. (But I wasn't too worried; even I could outrun a sloth should it come to it.)

Me? My only contact was with a parrot. Oh, sure, it was friendly enough as it roosted on the teens in our group, but when I approached, it pecked at me.

Beware the feathered face of evil!

Maybe these surface-cuddly beasts truly were a secret, evil army in training after all. 

Speaking of nefarious goings-on lurking beneath the facade of innocence, check into the mysteries surrounding the citizens of Peculiar County.

Visit enchanting Peculiar County today, just one click away.

What Do You Do When Research Hands You a Curve Ball?

 Egypt has always fascinated me and I have many reference books on my shelf. One period of the ancient land has always fascinated me and I wanted to write a time travel, taking someone from today back to the time when there were many men wanting to become Pharaoh. I also liked the idea of the Hyksos invasion. So I began my research, finding everything I could think of from customs, burial, daily life, the gods and goddesses. I had enough to begin and so I did

 

 

I had just finished the rough, rough draft when I was idly flipping channels on the television when I program about camels came on. Since there were camels in my story, I settled in to watch. Something jumped out at me. There were no camels in Egypt until around one AD. No! Now what was I to do? I couldn’t write this book the way I had planned. I needed an alternate universe. I had read a series on an alternate world taking place in Italy with the Pope and if I remember Venice. This is what I would do. To make my world an alternate one I had to change much. So the first book changed as did the hero and heroine. I also changed the gods, not really, just a bit giving three main ones Horu (Horus) Bast and Toth. And so the trilogy of an alternate Egypt was born. All because there were no camels in Egypt when I wante54r4rd them to be there.

The wilds of Georgian Bay and the North Channel by J.C. Kavanagh

Darkness Descends, 

Book 2 of the award-winning Twisted Climb series

It's been a spectacularly hot and sunny summer here in Ontario and I've been fortunate to spend much of it on my sailboat, Escape Route II, cruising Georgian Bay and the North Channel. It's been said that the North Channel is the Number One destination in the world for boating/sailing. Yes, it beats the Caribbean and Mediterranean for best cruising spots.

I can attest to the fact that the water is the clearest and cleanest of all the places I've sailed (including the Caribbean). The same applies to the scenery. Rock cliffs, boulders of every size and shape, quartz covered mountains, calm waters and savage, storm-wracked waves keep the views ever-changing. Me and my partner Ian spent a month sailing from Midland, Ontario (the southern point of Georgian Bay), up to Beausoleil Island, Hopewell Bay, Parry Sound, The Bad River (where you'll find the Devil's Door Rapids I write about in my book, Darkness Descends), Killarney, Little Current (which it's not), the Benjamin Islands, Wingfield Basin and Christian Island. We anchored 29 of 31 nights. 

Ian has such a great sense of humour and is a superb captain. Being in such close quarters for a month can be trying for some couples, but not for us. Below is one example of how every day is an adventure with Captain Ian.

When I asked for more cream cheese

Yup, we like to keep things fun!
If you like to see pics of nature and the beauty around us, including native animals and birds, and believe that vacation pics are not punishment (as per Betty White), check out my photos below. You'll see from the scenery that many parts of Georgian Bay and the North Channel are still wild and untamed.

A curious porcupine near Parry Sound, Ontario

A pileated woodpecker at Kilcoursie Bay, near Parry Sound

A pair of loons and their babies, north of Beausoleil Island

Cell Tower - they should all be made like this (outside the Shawanaga Inlet)

Granite cliffs are the backdrop to the 

Escape Route II at anchor, The Bad River 

Part of the Devil's Door Rapids at the Bad River

Mountains surrounding Baie Fine, North Channel

Beavers at dinner, Covered Portage Cove near Killarney

Executive beaver lodgings

Overlooking The Pool anchorage, North Channel.

Me and Topaz Lake

Storm threatens at the Benjamin Islands, North Channel

The Screaming Tree (not The Scream by Edvard Munch) at Covered Portage Cove

Anchored at The Cove

My 27" pike - was a yummy dinner!

Morning mist over the mountains of Killarney, Ontario

Navigating waves and the 40 knot winds. 

When you're sailing, every day is 'bad hair' day :)

Georgian Bay waves at 

Wingfield Basin near the tip of the Bruce Peninsula

Remnants of the Gargantua, 

a barge built in 1923 and sunk in 1952 in Wingfield Basin

The Gargantua in 1923

J.C. Kavanagh 
The Twisted Climb, voted BEST Young Adult Book 2016, P&E Readers' Poll 
AND 

The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends (Book 2) 

Novels for teens, young adults and adults young at heart 

Email: author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com 

www.facebook.com/J.C.Kavanagh 

www.amazon.com/author/jckavanagh 

Twitter @JCKavanagh1 (Author J.C. Kavanagh)

The Banyan Tree

Today, I write about one of the enduring metaphors of India. In a passage from the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna states that “There is a banyan tree which has its roots upward and its branches down and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas.”

The verse refers to the reflection of the tree upon water, where it appears to be opposite to reality—that is, the reflection shows the branches down and the roots going up. The original tree, growing on land, is compared to the spiritual world whereas the reflection is seen as the material world. The tree of this material world is only a reflection of the real tree of the spiritual world.

The name Banyan has an interesting origin. In the Gujarati language, baniya means "grocer or merchant," not "tree." The Portuguese observed that the shade of the tree was frequented by Banyans (a corruption of Baniyas, a community of Indian traders,) and confused the name of that community for the tree. By 1634, English writers began to tell of the banyan tree, a tree under which Hindu merchants conducted their business. The tree provided a shaded place for a village meeting or for merchants to sell their goods. Eventually, "banyan" became the name of the tree itself.

The tree is also mentioned in other texts and traditions. In Tamil texts, Shiva, as Dakshinamurthy, is nearly always depicted as sitting in silence under the Banyan with Rishis (Seers) at his feet. The tree is thought of as perfectly symbolizing eternal life due to its seemingly unending expansion.

Shiva under the Banyan Tree

The banyan tree is the national tree of India. It is also called Indian or Bengal fig. It is considered sacred and can be seen near a temple or religious center. An old custom offers worship to this tree.

The metaphor of the Banyan tree suggests the following: that to attain spiritual realization, one has to understand the flickering nature of the material world. Sometimes, as waters move on a lake, the reflection of the tree appears and disappears. One who transcends material existence is able to understand this, and focuses his gaze on the real tree instead of its reflection. Thus, according to the passage, one who knows this truly, knows the Vedas (the texts of spiritual wisdom.)

The Yoga Zapper

Mohan Ashtakala is the author of "The Yoga Zapper," published by Books We Love.