Hello. I'm writer Antoinette Beard/Sorelle Sucere. Welcome to my blog, which is dedicated to all the loving, intelligent, brave, wise, strong, gentle, kind, sweet-and-geeky, humble-and-patient, --- whether they have hands, paws, hooves, wings, fins, or even, --- yes, flippers, --- and to all eager readers and hard-working authors, everywhere.
Meanwhile...
I love all creatures. I consider them, all of them, to be sentient beings... I write thrillers, fantasy, mysteries, gothic horror, romantic adventure, occult, Noir, westerns and various types of short stories. I also re-tell traditional folk tales and make old fairy tales carefully cracked. I'm often awake very early in the morning. A cuppa, and fifteen minutes later I'm usually writing something. ;)
Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Disney REALLY knows how to portray a narcissist! #2, --- The Evil Queen from "Sleeping Beauty"...
This transformation truly creeped me out when I was a child... 😨
People can be so quiet...
...about their pain that you forget they are hurting. That is why it is so important to always to kind.
One of the greatest awakenings comes...
...when you realize that not everybody changes. Some people never change. And, that's their journey. It's not your responsibility to try to fix them.
Let's face it...
People aren't going to love you if you're mean...
"Don't break a bird's wings then tell it to fly. Don't break a heart then tell it to love. Don't break a soul then tell it to be happy. Don't see the worst in a person tell expect them to see the best in you. Don't judge people and expect them to stand by your side. You can not expect to give bad and receive good. You can not expect to give hate and receive love."
Monday, January 30, 2023
Saturday, January 28, 2023
***I'd say that almost all amber jewelry being sold today is FAKE...
Above, --- a chunk of real amber.
Oooo, --- those fakes!!!... 😮😰😳😫😕😑😡>>>
That's right it's FAKE. And, you're paying high prices for those little dabs of plastic and resin!!!
***HOW TO SPOT FAKES...
Amber is so lovely. It is a traditional wedding gift for a bride. Golden amber is especially prized in amulets as a warm sun stone. BUT, the majority of amber for sale today in mainstream sales is fake...
What???!!!, you might say. Yes, it is... IF YOU ARE NOT BUYING IT FROM A TRUSTED GEMOLOGIST OR AN ANTIQUE DEALER, WHO WILL PERHAPS HAVE OLD AMBER JEWELRY, I'D SAY IT IS VERY LIKELY FAKE. For one thing, real amber, unless it has been treated and buffed, does not have a high shine. It is naturally quite dull and often opaque. It is often of an irregular shape. It is also light weight. At room temperature real amber doesn't have a cold feel, like glass or plastic does.
What is on the mainstream market today is either plastic, glass, copal, resin or amberoid, --- pieces of amber mixed with plastic or resin. If you are buying it from a trendy shop or even any modern shop of any kind, or online or at an online auction, I'd say it's fake. Is it very shiny, very smooth, very clear, very orange or round or does it have a big bug in the clear center of it? It's fake. Is it set in anything less than gold or silver? I'd say it's fake. Is it a large piece and less than $50? It' may be fake. Genuine good quality amber is expensive, especially cognac or green amber. Blue amber is incredibly expensive. Most of the blue amber for sale is museum quality, costing thousands of dollars.
Real amber often has many flaws, which is part of it's beauty. Much real amber is pitted and it is often not of uniform color. However, butterscotch and egg yolk amber is one color, --- gold. Amber looks like a hunk of tree sap. Otherwise, it has a primitive look to it. Forgive me; I don't mean to be rude, but... It doesn't look like a piece of orange, gold or brownish or greenish glass or plastic with speckles in it. Below, are some examples of typical fake amber.
Plastic, above.
Glass, above
Colored resin, above.
especially if it's very old, from before the time of easily obtained modern plastic.
I had a facebook friend who took her amber into a jewelry store to have it cleaned... The jeweler said, --- "What am I supposed to be looking at?" My friend was astonished. "Why, amber!," she said. The jeweler just laughed.
Below, is a beautiful piece of very red cognac amber, about the size of a dime, valued at over $150.
A beautiful piece of real amber, above.
If you want to get real amber I would recommend going to Etsy; seek out a reputable seller of antique jewelry who is from the Baltic area of the world, --- for instance, Lithuania, Poland or Russia, where much real amber comes from.
Above, an old brooch from Latvia, --- likely real amber.
Look at the clasp or pin. Does it look old? Since brooches are not as in style today as are necklaces and earrings, a primitive-looking brooch, simply mounted on a pin is more likely to be real amber,
especially if it's very old, from before the time of easily obtained modern plastic.
Or, go to a trusted antique dealer in your area, who might have some real amber from an estate sale.
A simple test for real amber:
Put 1/4 cup of salt in 2 cups of water. Dissolve the salt thoroughly. Put your piece in it. If it floats, it's amber. Or, you could simply rub the piece very fast on your hand. Does it give out a woody scent?
Good luck finding real amber.
Friday, January 27, 2023
Thursday, January 26, 2023
10 Top Werewolf Transformations In Movies...
...Including "Van Helsing" (Hugh Jackman, in his prime, as the handsomest, sexiest werewolf ever!!!)... 🐺💋💖😚
The Myth Of Bluebeard...
Immensely wealthy, he married several times, but what became of his wives?...
Monday, January 23, 2023
Learn to know the difference...
...between holding a grudge and holding a boundary in place. Only one of them can give you power, while the other, can only take it away. --- Madalina Coman.
By the time a woman reaches a certain age...
BY THE TIME A WOMAN REACHES A CERTAIN AGE SHE SHOULD HAVE ....
Enough money within her control to move out...
And rent a place of her own
even if she never wants to
or needs to...
or date of her dreams wants to See Her in an hour...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
A youth she's content to leave behind....
A past juicy enough that she's looking forward to
retelling it in her Old Age....
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .
A set of screwdrivers,
a cordless drill, and a black lace bra...
One friend who always makes her laugh...
And one Who lets her cry...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....
A good piece of furniture not previously owned
by anyone else in her Family...
Eight matching plates,
wine glasses with stems,
And a recipe for a meal that will make
her guests feel Honored...
A feeling of control over her destiny...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
How to fall in love without losing herself..
HOW TO QUIT A JOB,
BREAK UP WITH A LOVER,
AND CONFRONT A FRIEND WITHOUT
RUINING THE FRIENDSHIP...
When to try harder...
And WHEN TO WALK AWAY...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
That she can't change the length of her calves,
The width of her hips,
or the nature of her parents..
That her childhood may not have been perfect...
But it's over...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
What she would and wouldn't do for love or more...
How to live alone...
Even if she doesn't like it...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
Whom she can trust,
Whom she can't,
And why she shouldn't take it personally...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
Where to go...
Be it to her best friend's kitchen table...
Or a charming inn in the woods...
When her soul needs soothing...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
What she can and can't accomplish in a day...
A month...
And a year...
--- Pamela Redmond Satran.
I myself, am made entirely of flaws,...
...stitched together with good intentions. --- Augusten Burroughs.
When it comes to our love for cats, ...
...we cat people will put up a fight. We'll choose our cats over people who don't treat our kitties right. It is an unwritten rule, one we're not inclined to bend. Our cats will always come first. Tooth and nail, to the end.
Like people, cats come in different hair colors...
Siamese cats and white cats are blonds. Ginger tabbies are redheads. And, black cats are brunettes.
Saturday, January 21, 2023
It's very easy to make herbal vinegars...
I made herbal vinegars... Very easy, --- Giant Eagle & Amazon sell fresh herbs. I made oregano vinegar this morning(very early!!!) & I've made thyme vinegar & chive vinegar. Just heat red wine or apple cider vinegar to warm, bruise the fresh herbs slightly put them in a pretty bottle and pour the vinegar down over them to cover completely. Your vinegar will take a few weeks to "make up," to for the essence of the herb to go into the vinegar.
Wednesday, January 18, 2023
Monday, January 16, 2023
"The Ice Pirates," 1984...
(I don't endorse anything about this movie I just think it was weird, --- one-of-a-kind, for sure!!! 👈😬😮😳😵😆)
It was a science fiction comedy that would be considered very campy now, --- so bad it was good... I especially remember the space herpe. The plot explained, below...
AKKK!!!... The yucky space herpe... 😱🙈🙉🙊
Saturday, January 14, 2023
To make a difference in someone's life...
...you don't have to be brilliant, rich, beautiful or perfect. You just have to care.
The Oldest People In The World...
Frenchwoman Jeanne Louise Calment was 122 and 164 days when she died...
. "I'M ACTUALLY A YOUNG GIRL. IT'S JUST THAT I HAVEN'T LOOKED SO GOOD FOR THE PAST 70 YEARS." --- JEANNE LOUISE CALMENT.
💜💛💚💙😘... She was 14 when the Eiffel Tower was first being built.
She met Vincent Van Gogh and said he was "ugly, poorly dressed, dirty, reeked of alcohol".
The tallest she ever was, --- 4 feet, 11 inches. She remained mentally sharp until her death, rode a bicycle until she was 100. She took up fencing when she was 85. She never had measles or chicken pox, but she suffered from migraines in her young adulthood. She came from a family who were basically long-lived; she always looked young for her age. She ate a diet rich in olive oil. She lived alone until she was 110; then, she moved into a nursing home, where her health, which had been astoundingly good, began to fail. She loved chocolate, was never obese, had one child who died at the age of 36, was from a wealthy prominent family and never had to work. (Hmmm... Lack of stress about money, --- a big plus.) Her husband died of "cherry poisoning" at 73. She smoked since she was 21, but only one cigarette or a cigar, after a meal or at bedtime. She played the piano and painted.
At the end of one interview a journalist said, "Madame, I hope we meet again next year at this time." Jeanne Louise replied, "Why not? You're not that old."😄
Friday, January 13, 2023
The island Of Malta...
... A small island country with no vegetation, entirely urban, --- ancient buildings made of cream-colored stone, crammed together in a tiny space. Fascinating.
Malta has been inhabited since approximately 5900 BC. Its location in the center of the Mediterranean[has historically given it great strategic importance as a naval base, with a succession of powers having contested and ruled the islands, including the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Knights of St. John, French, and British, amongst others.
With a population of about 516,000 over an area of 316 km (122 sq mi), Malta is the world's tenth-smallest country in area and fourth most densely populated sovereign country. Its capital is Valletta, which is the smallest national capital in the European Union by area and population. According to the data from 2020 by Eurostat, the Functional Urban Area and metropolitan region covered the whole island and has a population of 480,134,[ and according to the United Nations, ESPON and EU Commission, "the whole territory of Malta constitutes a single urban region". Malta increasingly is referred to as a city-state, and also listed in rankings concerning cities or metropolitan areas.
"Life is a cabaret, old chum..."
"Come to the cabaret..."
💔💋👀👉
It was a time of gloom and doom in Berlin in 1931...
The Musical Cabaret...
Cabaret is a 1972 American musical period drama film directed by Bob Fosse and written for the screen by Jay Presson Allen. It stars Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem, Marisa Berenson, Fritz Wepper and Joel Grey. Set in Berlin during the Weimar Republic in 1931, under the presence of the growing Nazi Party, the film is an adaptation of the 1966 Broadway musical Cabaret by Kander and Ebb, which was based on Christopher Isherwood's semi-autobiographical novel The Berlin Stories (1945) as well as John Van Druten's 1951 play I Am a Camera, which was itself adapted from Isherwood's novel. Multiple numbers from the stage score were used for the film, which also featured three other songs by Kander and Ebb, including two written for the adaptation.
The 1972 film was based upon Christopher Isherwood's semi-autobiographical stories about Weimar-era Berlin during the Jazz Age. In 1929, Isherwood moved to Berlin in order to pursue life as an openly gay man and to enjoy the city's libertine nightlife.[ His expatriate social circle included W.H. Auden, Stephen Spender, Paul Bowles, and Jean Ross.[While in Berlin, Isherwood shared lodgings with Ross, a British cabaret singer and aspiring film actress from a wealthy Anglo-Scottish family.
While rooming together at Nollendorfstrasse 17 in Schöneberg, Isherwood and Ross met John Blomshield, a wealthy playboy who inspired the film character of Baron Maximilian von Heune. Blomshield sexually pursued both Isherwood and Ross for a short while, and he invited them to accompany him on a trip abroad. He then abruptly disappeared without saying goodbye. Following Blomshield's disappearance, Ross became pregnant with the child of jazz pianist and later actor Peter van Eyck. After Eyck abandoned Ross, she underwent a near-fatal abortion facilitated by Isherwood who pretended to be her heterosexual impregnator.
While Ross recovered from the botched abortion procedure, the political situation rapidly deteriorated in Germany. As Berlin's daily scenes featured "poverty, unemployment, political demonstrations and street fighting between the forces of the extreme left and the extreme right," Isherwood, Spender, and other British nationals realized that they must flee the country. "There was a sensation of doom to be felt in the Berlin streets," Spender recalled.
By the time Adolf Hitler implemented the Enabling Act of 1933 which cemented his dictatorship, Isherwood, Ross, Spender, and others had fled Germany and returned to England. Many of the Berlin cabaret denizens befriended by Isherwood would later flee abroad or perish in concentrat These factual events served as the genesis for Isherwood's 1937 novella Sally Bowles which was later adapted into the 1955 film I Am a Camera and the 1966 Cabaret musical.
The Sally Bowles Character...
Sally Bowles (/boʊlz/) is a fictional character created by English-American novelist Christopher Isherwood and based upon 19-year-old cabaret singer Jean Ross. The character debuted in Isherwood's 1937 novella Sally Bowles published by Hogarth Press, and commentators have described the novella as "one of Isherwood's most accomplished pieces of writing." The work was republished in the 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin and in the 1945 anthology The Berlin Stories.
In the 1937 novella, Sally is a British flapper who moonlights as a cabaret singer in Weimar-era Berlin during the twilight of the Jazz Age. She is depicted by Isherwood as a "self-indulgent upper-middle-class British tourist who could escape Berlin whenever she chose." By day, she is an aspiring film actress hoping to work for the UFA GmbH, the German film production company. By night, she is a mediocre chanteuse at an underground club called The Lady Windermere located near the Tauentzienstraße. She aspires to be a serious actress or, as an alternative, to ensnare a wealthy man to keep her as his mistress. Unsuccessful at both, Sally departs Berlin on the eve of Adolf Hitler's ascension as Chancellor of Germany and is last heard from in the form of a postcard sent from Rome, Italy, with no return address.
From the 1972 musical, "Cabaret"...
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