What's in a Burrito

https://books2read.com/The-Baganti-Attack

I really like Mexican food. I love Mexican food. Especially burritos.

Most of the time I get them at a retail place (from a major chain or a restaurant. They were okay. However, there was usually too much runny beans mixed in with the meat and not enough veggies. The restaurant style is similar, but includes a chair and table service. That is worth at least two points.

My homemade burrito had considerably more vegetables and more cheese. They were wrapped like you would get at a fast food place-a soft tortilla wrap. 

I’ve discovered something that was out there but not something that stuck in my mind-texture.

One day I was in a commercial area outside of downtown Toronto with a friend. We stepped into a small burrito restaurant. Rickety chairs. A mixture of table styles. Large windows opened letting a breeze in. We had to order at the counter. While in line (a very good sign) I noticed that one person took the order and two people behind prepared the burrito.

I saw immediately that the meat was cooked fresh for each order. Thus, a ten minute wait. The cheese was fresh. Everything was fresh.

This burrito cost more than any I had ever bought outside of a full-service fancy restaurant.

We had a seat and waited. Our number was called and we picked them up. The foil rap was hot. Another excellent sign.

I took my first bit. Bang! There was that texture I mentioned earlier. The vegetables had a crunch. As did the tortilla wrap. It had been placed under something similar to a panini grill. Or, it was simply properly prepared on a grill.

Each bite was met with a crunch. And, no half-cup of juice dripping out. Just a small amount. A very small amount. I slowed down and savoured each morsel.

This weekends challenge. Duplicate the amazing taste and texture on my grill at home. Under the sun. But, with a small breeze. A very small breeze.

The Ley Of The Land

To Purchase this novel

The Ley Of The Land

We all know that Victoria is a wonderful place to holiday, right? But have you ever wondered why so many ghosts feel the same?
Readers of my novel, The Joining, and past blogs will already know that Victoria is reported to be the most haunted city in North America, perhaps the world. What is known about spiritual Victoria is that two Ley Lines intersect the city, one North-South, another East-West. I've plotted many of the haunted sites and they draw a clear line from the seventh hole at Victoria golf course, all the way west to the inner harbour, and up to the north from there.
So the question going through many of your minds is; "What the hell are Ley Lines?"
The term was invented by Alfred Watkins in 1921, who happened to notice that many of the ancient pagan and religious sites in England (many built over older pagan sites) all seem to follow straight lines. "Ley" is based on an Anglo-Saxon term meaning 'cleared strip of land'.

Ley Lines In England As Drawn By Marian

What we refer to as Ley Lines are known in many cultures worldwide. The Shamans of South America call them Spirit Lines. In China, Dragon Lines. To the Aboriginals of Australia, they are Dream Lines. Most sacred monuments in the world, including Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu, the Egyptian Pyramids, Easter Island and Stonehenge to name a few, are found along intersecting Ley Lines, like Victoria.
The ancient peoples of this planet knew of these Ley Lines. It is known that birds often migrate along magnetic meridians, which in essence is what the Ley lines are. The magnetic meridians of the Earth.
The Earth has a natural electromagnetic field, known as The Schumann Resonance, which registers at 7.8 Hertz. (To some, this is the heartbeat of Mother Earth.) Where Ley Lines are believed to cross, the charge is greater and causes a fluctuation in that field. (More of this to come in a future novel, working title Seeds of Ascension. You'll have to wait a bit though!).
Ley Lines are described by many Spiritualists as the energy chakras of Mother Earth. If you believe we are all connected to this realm, Mother Earth and the universe, and that in essence we are also a universe within ourselves, one can become in tune with this electrical current. Current that winds around the Earth like strands of DNA.
Yes, pretty heady woo-woo talk for a mere blog.
But I've been known to be a deep spiritual shamanistic person. So bear with my ramblings as we come back to Victoria.
What is known is that many of the First Nations graves (entire graveyards, back in the 1800's) were merely covered over as the city expanded. Even the entire Songhees village across the inner harbour was bought, the natives moved and the land paved over. Oh, yes, I've heard the money was supposed to go to them, but vanished into city coffers.
So what happened to the spirits buried within those coffins. Are they trapped here along with the later settlers? Can some pull memory or knowledge from these beings? Are they happy being trapped here?
This brings me to another point. Trapped within Victoria is a time vortex. Eerie I know. But many have reported to travel down Shelbourne and Hillside in the wee hours when the paved street disappears before them and they are instead travelling down an old gravel road. A minute later everything warps back to the present.  Yes, you read correctly.
So, bearing in mind the thirty or so well corroborated ghost stories I've researched, if anyone can claim that any city in the world is more haunted than Victoria, I'd be very interested to hear about it.
PS. If you have any ghost stories of Victoria and want to share them, let me know via email.
See you next month!

Frank Talaber
Email: twosoulmates@shaw.ca
Writer by Soul.
A natural storyteller, whose compelling thoughts are freed from the depths of the heart and the subconscious before being poured onto the page.
Literature written beyond the realms of genre he is known to grab readers; kicking, screaming, laughing or crying and drag them into his novels.
Enter the literary world of Frank Talaber.

My Publishers Webpage:
http://www.bookswelove.com/authors/talaber-frank-paranormal-suspense-romance/
My webpage
http://twosoulmates.wixsite.com/frankt-author-blog
My novels and reviews on Amazon are at:
https://www.amazon.com/Frank-Talaber/e/B00UC407R0
My Facebook Published Author's page.
https://www.facebook.com/FrankTalaber/
My Facebook short story page
https://www.facebook.com/franktalaberpublishedauthor/
Twitter: @FrankTalaber
https://twitter.com/FrankTalaber
Links: #urban fantasy  #books  #author #paranormal thriller  #soul #muse  #fantasy  #Vancouver  #Victoria #BC #British Columbia

The Hanging of John André by Diane Scott Lewis

Spying for the British. In my novel set during the American Revolution, Her Vanquished Land, (Sept. release), I came across the many men and women who spied for the British and lost their lives. The main person, a man even showcased in the TV series, Turn, was Major John André. Since my heroine Rowena Marsh wishes to join the spy ring of her cousin, Major André is mentioned a few times. Especially his ignoble end.

John André

André was the man who corresponded with Benedict Arnold, aiding in his betrayal of the Americans.
When André was captured carrying letters that pointed to his involvement in this betrayal, General Washington offered him up for trade for Arnold. The British refused. André was doomed.

André was born in 1750 London to wealthy Huguenots. Well educated, he joined the British army at age twenty. By 1778 he was a major, had already been captured by the American rebels, and released through a prisoner exchange. In his off hours, he was a great society favorite with a lively personality and a talent for drawing.

In 1779 he took charge of the British Secret Service in America. He began negotiations with Benedict Arnold, a dissatisfied general in the Continental Army. Arnold said he was owed back pay and wasn't recognized as the patriot and hero that he should be. He wanted to defect to the British.

After his meeting with Arnold, André was given a safety pass by him to travel through the American lines, yet he also carried details about the fort at West Point (the one Arnold planned to turn over to the British). He was stopped by the Americans, searched, and captured. General George Washington wanted to do a prisoner exchange with André for the turncoat Arnold, but the British refused. The major was tried and convicted of spying, especially since he was wearing civilian clothes.

Sentenced to death, André was hanged at Tappan, New York, October 2, 1780. Both sides lamented the death of the amiable young officer who made friends wherever he was.

Self-portrait of André on the night before his execution.

I researched many aspects of spying during the American Revolution; brutality happened on both sides, and my heroine Rowena Marsh must find her place and make her mark. She strived to be as brave as the men.

To purchase my novels at Amazon or All Markets: Click HERE

 

 

For further information on me and my books, please visit my website: www.dianescottlewis.org

 Diane Scott Lewis grew up in California, traveled the world with the navy, edited for magazines and an on-line publisher. She lives with her husband in Pennsylvania.