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Dad’s Book
If you want to know how to live beyond the age of 99 with joy in your heart, then read this book. Share in the wisdom, stories, and adventures of a man living through the 20th century, who fought the Nazis first in Africa and then in Europe, never being able to return home in three years.
Born shortly after the First World War when peace was thought to be guaranteed, his exploits throughout his life rival any of today’s adventurers. This is also a story of a romance told in letters, the trials of a working-class family, and how friendships support us through the ups and downs of life. It’s a story of a seemingly ordinary man, the writer’s father, who did amazing things throughout his life.
His history is all of our history. Why? Because the 20th Century with both its fantastic achievements and terrible destructive forces has shaped our today. How do we look back to the past to help us prepare for our unpredictable tomorrow? Answering that question is vital to us all. What can we learn from the past and his life to help our futures?
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The Tale of a Tale
The Tale of a Tale is a companion to The Tale of a Hip (published 2018). It expands on the theme of taking up ballroom dancing seriously in middle age, and the problem of misaligned bones, a limiting factor in many aspects of Pamela’s life, leading ultimately to hip replacement. Despite difficulties, she and John go on to take professional exams in both ballroom and Latin American dancing, and teach for more than twenty years, offering the joy, companionship, and relief from worldly cares they have experienced themselves to a large number of people.
A second strand of the book follows major current events, notably Brexit and COVID-19, and shows an old person’s take on social change, and the march of technology. Controversial issues related to equality and diversity are explored from a then-and-now perspective, with humour, and respect.
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Sixteen Chickens on a Trampoline
Faye Lippitt is a journalist who found her inspiration in the happy chaos that enveloped their home as she and her husband raised their six children. The six arrived in eight years, sometimes arriving two by two, which made for interesting times.
This book is a series of snapshots of the family at their home in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. It is also about choices. As Faye puts it, when chaos rains, your response is your choice. Laugh? Cringe? Cry? Laughter feels a whole lot better.
It’s the author’s hope that busy parents will steal five minutes of the day to read one of the stories, and another five to write their own in the back pages of the book. For time flies, and memories fade and the things our children do and say are crazy enough and precious enough to keep forever.
Faye, and her husband Greg, now live in the Caribbean and are blessed with enough grandchildren to keep the laughter coming.
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Learning from Albi
Scruffy, deaf, and homeless, life on the streets is tough for young Albi. What could the future possibly hold for an abandoned Spanish Podenco puppy that has been hit by a car and can’t hear? Yet despite a traumatic start, Albi’s life changes when he is rescued, brought to the UK, and fostered by Lois Sinclair, founder of the rescue charity, Gracehounds, and a passionate dog lover who has shared her life and home with numerous canine companions. Before long, Lois and Albi’s lives become interwoven.
With Lois’s nursing background and Albi’s intuitive nature, the pair soon find themselves volunteering in the animal healthcare sector. Albi also develops a reputation as a transition dog, offering support to other dogs and their owners during times of loss.
But Albi is a free spirit. He also has health issues. And while his sensitive nature earns him many friends and admirers, there will be challenges ahead, including surgery. As Albi continues to enrich Lois’s life, questions remain. Albi may have found a forever home but can the love and hope which bind him and Lois sustain him? And does this unique animal have the strength to live the life that every dog deserves?