March 11 . Issue #134 - Paul Yanuziello

“To be a well-favoured man is the gift of fortune, but to write and read comes by nature.” Shakespeare

Hello all and welcome to my weekly journal. A place for me to share with you 5 points of interest. Things that motivated me, events that brought me some joy, some happiness or delighted the senses. This week celebrating women and International Women’s Day events, jazz music icons, in-person writing workshops and more…

1. International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8th with events from all over the world. Here in the Blue Mountains, I took in a virtual event. 24 Women – 24 Hours, Local Canadian women who achieved great things going back to the 17th century.

Fascinating to discover these incredible women who gave so much of themselves to their communities. Leaders, authors, chefs, artists, journalists, athletes and so much more.

2. Wes Montgomery, the renowned jazz guitarist was born this week, March 6, in 1923 and I listened to his music to celebrate his birthday.

Wes Montgomery – live in 65, this is a classic, delightful performance care of Jazz Icons – Holland, Belgium and England. The DVD movie opens with Wes joined in performance by musicians Pim Jacobs, Ruud Jacobs & Han Bennink.

The Belgium performance sees him joined by musicians he is familiar with, Arthur Harper (Bass), Harold Mabern (Piano) and Jimmy Lovelace (Drums). In England, Wes is joined by Rick Laird (Bass), Stan Tracey (Piano), Jackie Dougan (Drums).

3. Blue Mountain gets more than its fair share of snow and this winter I have done plenty of relocating of this white fluff from a place where it is not wanted to a place of less undesirability. What I look forward to after all this working out in the cold is a big mug of matcha white hot chocolate.

My favorite recipe for matcha white hot chocolate is courtesy of Love and Lemons.

4. Live events are coming back after two years and I am excited to take my creative writing workshop to the library. The East Gwillimbury Public Library has asked me to facilitate a workshop as part of the upcoming children’s March Break on Thursday, March 17th – 6:30 – 7:30 PM.

Write Your Own Story – Facilitated by WCYR and author Paul Yanuziello – For More Information and to register for the event go to Eventbrite.ca.

East Gwillimbury Public Library has always encouraged young writers to imagine and create and once again, students in Grades 3-8 are invited to submit their creative writing for inclusion in the 2022 Write On! Anthology. This year’s theme is Out of This World!

If you are in the area – Holland Landing, East Gwillimbury, sign up for the workshop and join me for a fun evening of creative writing.

5. Write what you want to read and what makes you happy. I am passionate about martial arts and I have trained with many international masters of martial arts, here in Canada, in Europe, Japan and the USA.

Last week I shared Part 1 of a short story entitled Man of the Everglades. Please enjoy Part 2 right here.

Thanks for reading, if you think someone you know would like to read my newsletter please share it with them.

If you are looking for a great children’s book check out one of my books, including my new children’s early reader chapter book Scratchy the Squirrel: A Time for Friends. Paperback version, on sale for a limited time.

Or one of my other children’s picture books, Samba on a Snowy Day or the Brazilian/ Portuguese version Samba em um Dia de Neve. Or you may enjoy Samba in Brazil or the Brazilian/Portuguese version Samba no Brasil.

Stay safe, stay well, stay strong and keep going.