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Monday, July 04, 2016

CJ Carmichael: Traveler or Homebody?

Do you love to travel or are you a homebody? I can never decide which I am. My husband and I just spent two weeks in Ireland and Northern Ireland. We had a lot of craic (fun) as we explored the cities and countryside on a wonderful bus tour that swept up from Dublin to Belfast, then along the west side of the country through Derry, Galway, Killarney and Waterford. We enjoyed Irish beer and whisky, tried beef Guiness stew and fish and chips. And thanks to our awesome tour guide, learned a lot of Irish history at the same time.


Yet, coming home just feels so good, and these days I feel particularly fortunate to be a citizen of a relatively peaceful and tolerant country like Canada. This July 1st marks the 149th anniversary of Canada becoming a self-governing dominion. After my immersion in over two thousand years of Ireland’s history, this seems so incredibly young!

Whether you’re Canadian, or not, I’d like to invite you to celebrate our anniversary too—and what better way than by introducing yourself to a sample of Canadian romance authors? A group of us—masterminded by Lauren Hawkeye—have put together a boxed set of 19 stories. You can receive Oh! Canada for free, provided you sign up to receive all of our newsletters. Of course, you are free to later unsubscribe from any of the newsletters you don’t enjoy.


And now I would be remiss if I didn’t also wish all my lovely American readers a Happy Fourth of July! One of the awesome things about being Canadian is enjoying the friendly relationship our countries have had for so many years.

Happy Reading Friends!

Cheers from C.J.


7 comments:

Janine said...

I dream of traveling to lots of places, but unfortunately that dream will never come true for us. But I can read about exotic places and travel in my head while reading the books.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the awesome set of books. Some of the writers I am familiar with, but there are still lots of new writers. Let's hope summer in the Netherlands will arrive soon, because so far it has been raining a lot. I am definitely a homebody. I do like to travel but only for a short period of time. There's no place like home!

Monica T said...

I'm a homebody. I would love to travel but financially I can't. I started taking short trips with the kids. There are some wonderful places within my home state.

dstoutholcomb said...

Welcome back to our shared continent!

Denise

Eileen AW said...

When I'm away and traveling I usually enjoy myself, but then I am just as happy being home. Sometimes while traveling I actually get homesick and can't wait to get home. BTW, I loved your pictures from your trip to Ireland.

Unknown said...

Friends, thank you for your comments. Books do make it possible to explore so much of the world that we could never actually v isit in person. I'm so grateful for this. In fact, we time travel through books as well, right?I also agree that sometimes we're so anxious to visit that far away place that we miss the wonders in our own province/state/country...and even in our own town. The exploring spirit will always find a way!

xxx
CJ

Ada said...

I've travelled a few times but I think I'm more of a homebody. I miss home and family way too much.

Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canadians and a Happy July 4th to all our American friends :)