About ribbons and books

Diane with green Lyme Awareness ribbon

Change of pace required! It feels as if I've been running a marathon these last few weeks, and I'm sure many others feel the same way. This month of May has surely been a busy one with Lyme awareness being pushed far and wide. Hoping and praying that there will come a change, soon, before more people have to lose their health, their sanity and possibly their livelihood!

I've been sending packages of Lyme Awareness bracelets all over the place and am waiting for pictures to arrive.

Here's Diane in England, a long-time friend who also spent time with her family of growing boys with us. That is almost a decade ago now!

Diane wore her green Lyme awareness ribbon and bracelet to work, making copies of brochures to hand out and generally spreading the word as best she could. Thank you so very much!

More ribbons and bracelets were sent to China, Sweden and elsewhere in Canada. Packages were also sent to South Africa, but oh my goodness, the postal service .... So far, nothing reported as having arrived. A birthday card I sent to a friend in November 2012 "only" took 6 months to be delivered, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Book giveaway

If you've been playing around on this blog, you might have noticed the headings on the right side, with favourite books, a personal Goodreads reading challenge, and so on. I've been using Goodreads for some years now to keep track of various books I read and still want to read, and especially of series of books by particular authors. The Lyme brain needs all the help possible!

Daughter-in-law Jenni, a graphics artist, does wonderful work and has been asking me to write down some of the stories I usually bored the family with at dinners or other get-togethers. She enjoyed the stories about growing up with meerkats, chameleons, hedgehogs, various cats and dogs and other critters. Our family was not the usual, I suppose. And I love all sorts of creatures, including bats, snakes, grasshoppers, colourful caterpillars, spiders and such.

So, for Christmas 2012, we put together a little book with about a dozen stories. She illustrated them beautifully, filled with joy and sunbeams. We printed copies to give to family and friends.

Front cover

The little booklets were received with much joy from kind people who supported our work. I couldn't believe how much work was involved and how many times the pages, stories, wording and more had to be redone, reread, checked and changed!

Below is one of the early versions of a page, showing one of Jenn's lovely illustrations. Some pages contain black-and-white illustrations.

If you would like to have a copy as well, three are up for grabs, available to Canada, USA, Australia and Great Britain. We don't choose the winners; they are chosen by Goodreads. Below is the information:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Tiny Tales

by Marlene Ziehl Spies

Giveaway ends July 27, 2013.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Various eBook versions
For an eBook version, you can buy a copy or give away as a gift to someone else if you wish. We've kept the price very low in order for more people to enjoy a copy themselves, to read while waiting for an appointment or in line. It is available in all the most popular versions, including Epub.
Buy from Indigo.ca ; or Kobo ; or  Nook  ; or  Certification
Various other formats, including reading online in HTML format: Tiny Tales 

Thanks for reading, commenting or not, and sharing this blog and my journey through the maze of Lyme Disease.

Goodreads to the rescue

I've always loved reading, since before starting school and am never without a book. Earlier this year I bought an Aluratek Libre e-reader to help with the eyes being affected by Lyme Disease, and to avoid having to hold heavy large-print books with the painful wrists. Falling apart and all that, you know!

It is becoming harder to keep track of books read, to be read, recommended, or read and enjoyed before.

For Christmas, the Hubby surprised me with a Lenovo Thinkpad tablet, which has a wonderful display for ebooks. I could download applications to add both Kindle and Kobo books, but am struggling with the Adobe Digital Editions installation. No matter, enough books bought and loaded through Amazon and Chapters!

If you're not familiar with Goodreads and like to read, check it out from the links here below! I'll try to add this widget or gadget or whatever it is called, to the right-hand side of this blog.

Anyone from South Africa reading here -- I've been trying for years to buy or order or find two books, both by Elsabe Steenberg: "Dat ek mag sien" and "Rooi Kanarie Hoepelbeen". Both have had a profound influence on me, and were never forgotten, even after decades. Years later I entered into a letter-writing with the author and we continued that until shortly before she died. So, if anyone finds any of those books in a second-hand bookstore or somewhere, let me know how I can pay for them, please! I did bring along another favourite, "Die Heuningwolk" by Maretha Maartens.

Let's see if this Goodreads widget works in the blog!

Meerkat's bookshelf: favourites

Sand and Foam

by Khalil Gibran

Confessions of a Shopaholic

by Sophie Kinsella

The Undomestic Goddess

by Sophie Kinsella

Mister God, This Is Anna

by Fynn

The Full Cupboard of Life

by Alexander McCall Smith