Book ~ "The Girl He Left Behind" (2016) Patricia Kay

From Goodreads ~ It should be a dream come true for divorcée Eve Kelly. After a dozen years, her high school sweetheart Adam Crenshaw is back - and sexier than ever. But Eve has a problem. Two problems, to be exact. Her eleven-year-old twins. Twins their secret daddy can never know about.

Home to care for his ailing mother, the big-time country music star didn't expect to fall so hard for the small-town single mom… again. But Eve isn't the same woman he left. It's as if she's hiding something. Adam is used to getting what he wants - and he wants Eve. This time, though, instead of a fling, he just may get a family - a family he didn't know he had. 

Twelve years ago Eve and Adam were dating.  Her parents wouldn't have approved so she kept it a secret from them.  He wanted them to leave town when they graduated from high school.  He waited for her at the bus station but she never arrived so he left without her.

Twelve years later, Adam is a famous singer and is back in town because his mother is sick.  Eve is divorced with twins ... twins who everyone thinks are fathered by Eve's ex-husband, Bill.  Adam and Eve are still attracted but Eve made a deal with Bill twelve years ago that he would marry her if she promised to never see Adam again and didn't tell anyone that he's not the father of her children.  Things get messy when Adam and Eve run into each other and the attraction is still there.

I don't usually read this kind of book but it was in my April Boomerluxe box so I brought it on vacation with me figuring it would be a good book to read by the pool. ... and it was.  As a head's up, there is some adult activity.

Jamaica - Thursday

After I got back from Ocho Rios, I hung out with Sister Sarah by the pool.

We headed to our rooms to chill before meeting for supper.  I watched the sunset from my balcony just after 6pm ... it's gorgeous but it happens very quickly.

We went to the large buffet restaurant for supper ... the theme was seafood.

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Ocho Rios is about a half hour away from my resort and I caught the shuttle ($15US return) in.  Newton, our driver, would take us back in two hours.

I checked out the large flea market.  It was quite intense with vendors constantly trying to lure me into their narrow dark stalls for teeshirts, wooden ornaments, bags, etc.  Or ladies wanting to braid my hair.  I walked around for a bit, politely declining their invitations.

Book ~ "The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don't Have with People You Don't Like Doing Things You Don't Want to Do" (2015) Sarah Knight

From Goodreads ~ Are you stressed out, overbooked and underwhelmed by life? Fed up with pleasing everyone else before you please yourself? It's time to stop giving a f*ck.

This brilliant, hilarious and practical parody of Marie Kondo's bestseller "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" explains how to rid yourself of unwanted obligations, shame and guilt - and give your f*cks instead to people and things that make you happy.

The easy-to-use, two-step NotSorry Method for mental decluttering will help you unleash the power of not giving a f*ck about:

• Family drama 
• Having a "bikini body" 
• Iceland 
• Co-workers' opinions, pets, and children 
• And other bullsh*t!

And it will free you to spend your time, energy and money on the things that really matter. So what are you waiting for? Stop giving a f*ck and start living your best life today!

The title attracted me and that's why I wanted to read this book.  Then I read that it is a parody of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō, which I haven't read.

The book starts out why discussing giving a f*ck and not giving a f*uck ... that is, why should you give a care and why you shouldn't, who doesn't give a care, not caring what people think (you can't control their feelings ... only they can), etc. and ends with a visualization where you list all the things you give a care about and those you don't.

You then categorize your f*cks into (1) things, (2) work, (3) friends, acquaintances and strangers and (4) family and the author tells you how to deal with each category.  You discover what you gain (time, energy and/or money) by not giving a care.

I enjoyed the writing style.  I found it amusing and sarcastic.  Yes, there is a lot of swearing but you figured that out by the title, right?

It's part time management and part cutting out things that annoy you to add things that bring joy.  I already practice a lot of what the author advised (my time is very precious to me) but it was a good reminder.  Though it seems to be written in fun, I found there was a helpful message.

Jamaica - Wednesday

I slept in this morning and headed to the pool to spend the day (Sister Sarah felt like spending the day at the beach).  It was sunny and 27C (but felt like 29C) when I got up and was supposed to be 29C (but feel like 34C) this afternoon with a 40% chance of rain and a risk of thunderstorms.

My plan for the day was to relax.  Not a bad place to spend the day!

There are lots of Canadians here

I had lunch in the small buffet restaurant by our pool.

The jerk chicken was hot off the BBQ ... yum!

Bob Marley excursion, Nine Mile, St. Ann, Jamaica

Sister Sarah and I did the  Bob Marley excursion to Nine Mile today, which is where he was born and is buried.  Nine Mile is owned and operated by the Marley family. We did it with Island Routes on the Zion bus.

The drive was up into the mountains.  The roads were really narrow and windy.  At one point, a truck came barreling down the road and smashed into the driver's side rear view mirror.  Glass went everywhere.  Barry, our driver, stopped ... the other driver didn't.

We stopped along the way for a snack at Bumpers Lawn Bar & Rest Stop.

Jamaica - Monday

I woke up this morning to sun and 29C (but it felt like 34C). This afternoon it was supposed to be 31C (but feel like 38C) with the risk of a thunderstorm.

Sister Sarah and I started our day at the pool about 10am.  There was water aerobics and Sister Sarah did it.

There's Sister Sarah in the red

We hung out by the pool until lunchtime.  While we were eating lunch, the rain and thunder arrived.  When we went back to the pool, the entertainment crew didn't let it get them down and were dancing in the rain.

As the rain got stronger, they jumped into the pool and started games of volleyball.

Book ~ "Esther the Wonder Pig: Changing the World One Heart at a Time" (2016) Steve Jenkins, Derek Walter and Caprice Crane

From Goodreads ~ In just two short years, Steve and Derek have cemented a place for themselves among the worlds most well-known and successful animal activists, accumulating hundreds of thousands of followers from all over the world. 

In 2014, Steve and Derek founded the Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary in Campbellville, Ontario, where they continue to rescue and rehabilitate abandoned and abused farmed animals. 

Steve received a call from an old friend ... she had a mini pig that she was trying to find a home for because she couldn't keep her.  Steve said he'd take the pig and his partner, Derek, named her Esther.  Then they discovered that she wasn't a six month old "mini" pig at all ... she was, in fact, a six week old commercial pig, which means she should have been destined to be raised and butchered.

Esther grew from being the size of a sneaker to over 650 pounds!  They tried to raise her as long as they could in their house in Georgetown, just outside of Toronto.  They eventually bought a farm about 45km west of Toronto and opened the Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary and take in animals that need homes.

I enjoy reading books about animals and that's why this one caught my eye.  I remember reading about Esther in the Toronto Star a couple years ago.

I enjoyed this book.  I didn't know a lot about pigs and Esther sounds adorable.  It is written in first person perspective in Steve's voice.  I liked the writing style ... it was funny and interesting.  Because of their relationship with Esther, Steve and Derek have become vegan (and have included some recipes at the end of the book) but they aren't judgmental if you aren't.   As a head's up, there is some swearing.

I'd like to visit Esther and the sanctuary some day soon.

Jamaica - Sunday

I woke up to sun and 29C (but felt like 33C). It was supposed to be 31C (but feel like 37C) with the risk of a thunderstorm in the afternoon (thankfully the thunderstorm never came).

I attended the 9:30am orientation meeting and then headed to the beach, where I found Sister Sarah.  This resort has a lot of beach so we walked along it, stopping at the different sections for a swim.

There's Sister Sarah in the water.

A fella named Smokie Joe started talking to her.  He tried to sell her some weed (she said "no") and asked if he could help him find a Canadian wife (she couldn't help him with that either).

We had lunch at a restaurant by the beach.

The food, especially the jerk chicken, was good.

Jamaica - Saturday

Sister Sarah and I are on our annual sisters week away where we go someplace for a week and leave the husbands at home.  This year we are in Jamaica and we arrived today.

We landed about 1pm and by the time we got our luggage, got on the bus to our resort, had lunch and got our room keys, it was about 4:30pm.

Here's the view from my room ...

We headed down to the pool about 5:45pm only to discover that the pool bar had closed at the 5pm and the pool closes at 6pm.  We went into the pool anyway and stayed there 'til 6:45pm.  We had a couple drinks in the lobby bar and then headed to our rooms to get ready for supper.

Here's the view from my room this evening ...

We went to the buffet restaurant where the theme was Italian.  Sister Sarah had spaghetti whereas I focused on mostly meat with different themes (jerk chicken and pork, "Canadian" pork and applesauce, etc.).

We headed to square at 10pm and watched the Jamaican entertainment.

Book ~ "Unrepentant: The Strange and (Sometimes) Terrible Life of Lorne Campbell, Satan's Choice and Hells Angels Biker" (2013) Peter Edwards

From Goodreads ~ In this explicit first-hand account, a biker who spent 46 years as a member of the Hells Angels and Satan's Choice invites bestselling author Peter Edwards into the story of life lived as we've only imagined it.

A kid raised by his father's fists on the wrong side of a blue-collar town, Lorne Campbell grew up watching the local bikers ride past, making him wonder what that kind of freedom and power would feel like. He soon found out. At the age of seventeen, he became the youngest-ever member of the Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club and spent the next five decades living a life for which he does not ask forgiveness, only that his story finally be told, and that his family finally understand what drove him to live the way he did. With moments of terror and humour, great sadness and the simple pleasures of camaraderie and the open road, Unrepentant is a book like none other. 

Lorne Campbell was born in Oshawa, ON, and grew up with an abusive father who his mother eventually left.  When he was in his late teens, he joined Satan's Choice, an outlaw motorcycle club.  Satan's Choice joined with Hell's Angels around 2001.  Now in his 60s, this is Campbell's account of his years of being a biker.  Most of the stories came from conversations the author had with Campbell and police wiretaps.

Over his 46 years as a biker, Campbell came across a lot of people ... some friends and some enemies.  There is history and a story about a lot of them.   Campbell, though a tough guy, was loyal to his friends and would defend them if they were slighted by beating up anyone.  He spent a lot of time in jail and/or prison ... he felt that if you can't do the time, you shouldn't do the time.  It seems like he honest about the drugs and booze he has consumed, the people he has beat up severely and or killed, his travels and the loves of his lives.

I found it to be an interesting read.

Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap", Lower Ossington Theatre, Toronto, ON

Gord and I saw The Mousetrap this evening.

The scene is set when a group of people gathered in a country house cut off by the snow discover, to their horror, that there is a murderer in their midst! Who can it be?

One by one the suspicious characters reveal their sordid pasts until at the last, nerve-shredding moment the identity and the motive are finally revealed.

In her own inimitable style, Dame Agatha Christie has created an atmosphere of shuddering suspense and a brilliantly intricate plot where murder lurks around every corner!

It is playing at the Lower Ossington Theatre, which is in our 'hood.

The Mousetrap is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. It opened in London in 1952 and has been running continuously since then ... it is the longest initial run of any play in history.  The play is known for its twist ending, which the audience are asked not to reveal after leaving the theatre ... that happened tonight.

This is the fifth play we've see at the Lower Ossington Theatre and like the others, it didn't disappoint.  The actors did a good job in their roles.  Lauren Saunders was especially chilly in her role as Miss Casewell ... she had quite the glare.  The actor who plays Mr. Paravicini had suddenly taken ill and another actor was called in to take his place.  Though  he hadn't had a chance to rehearse and read his lines from a binder, he did an excellent job filling in and the audience gave him some extra applause.

Topbox - May 2016

My May Topbox arrived this week.

For only $14 a month, you will receive a Topbox with 4 carefully selected, indulgent, beauty products. Then test the products in the comfort of your own home.

Here's what's inside ...

• Morgan Taylor Professional Nail Lacquer (Hot Hot Tamale) - $15.83 value
• pūr-lisse BB Tinted Moist Cream SPF 30 - 10ml -  $12.55 value
• The FaceShop Collagen Pomegranate Pack - 30 ml - $15 value
• Novex Brazilian Keratin Deep Conditioning Hair Mask - 100g - $2.17 value - I like it.

Total value = $45.55 value

Delta Brunswick, Saint John, NB

I spent Monday evening to this morning at the Delta Brunswick in Saint John.

The lobby and reception area ...

Here was my room ...

I hate when hotels don't leave a full roll of toilet paper ...
one was 1/4 full and the other was 1/3 full