June 28 . Issue 169 - Paul Yanuziello

“Friends, sun, sand, and sea, that sounds like a summer to me.” Author Unknown

Welcome to my monthly journal. The place for me to share five points of interest. The things that have motivated me kept me involved and provided some joy.

This month’s featured photo is one I managed to capture at the Toronto Jazz Festival, Chief Adjuah and the Wisdom of Orixa.

1. Summer is on, and festival season has begun in earnest. This summer, I have a few events booked, and I hope to meet up with lots of readers. As mentioned in last month’s issue, I have joined the Blue Mountain Foundation For the Arts – BMFA and will be attending the Thornbury Farmers Market representing the BMFA. My dates are July 21st and July 28th, I’ll have all my books available and on sale at festival discount prices.

This week, I attended the last Wasaga Beach writer’s group meeting; the group takes a summer hiatus and resumes again in September. I received lots of positive critiques on my writing; my new book will have an acknowledgment of this wonderful group of writers.

We will be seeing each other during the summer as afternoon lunches and impromptu meetings have been planned.

2. On the writing side of things, I write every day, and most of this writing is simply a stream of consciousness. However, there are times when the beginnings of great stories or, if not great, at least interesting stories germinate. I had written about a red-tailed hawk who had visited my sanctuary near the river. She had caught another creature, a blackbird, and was taking her feast on a large boulder within my view.

My new book, Life on the Beaver River, has a couple of chapters about this hawk. On many occasions, I have made stories from my daily writing. I call this writing “My Morning Pages.” It matters not the time of day when this writing occurs. It will always be my morning pages in reverence to Julia Cameron and her wonderful book The Artist’s Way.

3. Meet Reddy, a principal character in my new book, Life on the Beaver River; enjoy this introductory chapter. I will share other chapters in the next couple of issues of my monthly journal.

4. During the week of June 2nd, the same week as my event at the Aurora Street Festival, I had the chance to entertain a cousin from Italy; she was born in Italy but is currently living and working in Madrid, Spain.

It was lots of fun showing her some of the sights of Toronto. Her father had lived in Toronto as a child, in the College and Dufferin part of town. We went to Greek Town, Little Italy, and Midtown, Toronto.

I had another event planned at the Wasaga Beach Library, so taking her on a tour of the Grey Highlands seemed like a good idea. On the way, we stopped in Barrie and had lunch with another cousin who happens to be a master chef. After a wonderful lunch, we went for a tour of the beach area and visited nearby Johnson’s Beach.

In Wasaga Beach, she got to admire the longest freshwater beach in the world, see the Blue Mountain area, explore Collingwood, and dine at one of the great local restaurants. Other cousins took over for the 2nd week of her visit, and she experienced more great tourist activities.

5. My reading has taken me to visit new authors, for me at least. I just completed reading a Ruth Ware novel, In a Dark, Dark Wood. I liked it. It is a riveting novel about a writer who gets herself invited to a party in a huge glass house in the dark woods. Lots of twists and turns, with fantastic character building.

My current read is by Elizabeth George, another new author for me and one with a great Agatha Christie style of writing. This one is named In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner. Ms. George would appear to be a master at the psychological thriller. She takes her reader for a deep dive into the workings of Scotland Yard.

Music is also a major theme in my life; I have just experienced an amazing musical/dance/spiritual performance as part of the Toronto Jazz Festival featuring Chief Adjuah and the Wisdom of Orixa.

Thank you for reading; if you know of someone who may be interested in this Monthly Journal, please share. And be sure to check out my newest books, a children’s picture book, Samba in Switzerland, and a middle-grade reader, Dojo in the Woods. All my books are readily available online through your favorite bookstores.

Be well, stay safe, and keep reading.

paulyanuziello.com