Great reads. Check out the reviews at the web site.
One of those books on Amazon:
Akira Mizutani, his wife Mariko and their 9-year old son Shoichi loved Saipan. But Akira was fearful that Japan’s vision of South East Asian expansion and Micronesian control in the 1930s and 40s was madness and would have dire consequences for the safety of his family and the people of his small island.
Ted Culp of Bremerton Washington wanted to be a Marine more than anything else. The unprovoked Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour had set a fire in his soul. He was eager to go! Yet he was torn between his sense of duty to serve his country and his faith.
He ultimately decides to leave Bremerton and the love of his life for the killing beaches and jungles of the central Pacific atolls and islands. Unbeknownst to Ted and Akira, this Pacific War would bring them together in a way that they could never have imagined. Their lives would never be the same again.
Available through Amazon. A great read getting great reviews. Go to www.johnmorrisonauthor.com or .ca for further information.
I will be shutting down this blog. I get very few visitors and little feedback or comments these days so I feel it has outlived its usefulness and its fun.
I have been doing this since Sep 2016. Very enjoyable for me and much has happened since then. My wife of 40 years, Marijke passed.
Marijke and I at the Grand Canyon, 2005
After a couple of years, I moved on and met a wonderful woman, Dot, a widow herself. Spiritually we are both on the same page. Christians thru an thru. We feel we are blessed with each other now and my two sons love Dot, which is great and is something that I and she were really worried about. And Dot’s two sons are happy with us as well. Whew!
Dot and I at a pub on Galliano Island 2021.
In 2018 I did the “Way of Vezelay,” which is a 900 kilometer pilgrimage walk in France from the 9th century Vezelay Monastery, eastern France, to St Jean Pied de Port – the precursor and starting point of the Camino De Santiago, or the way of St James. During that trip I was able to visit Lourdes, a Catholic Pilgrimage site where the Virgin Mary appeared to St Bernadette in 1858 – a peasant girl who lived in Lourdes France in the Pyrenees. That walk and that visit were spiritual awakenings for me. It is a matter of faith though.
Staying away from the madness and negativity of big city life that we know of today was refreshing. It also helped me get over the death of my wife.
Thanks to all who supported me and encouraged me on my walk with your comments.
Finished! Just outside of St Jean
The blog helped me on my journey as a writer too as I tried to keep in practice by doing the posts Monday to Friday for 6 years. I have just finished my 4th book Red Jewel. I really enjoyed putting that story together. It is a fictional account but based on true events.
I will not stop doing a blog, just a different one. It will be part of my new web site: www.johnmorrisonauthor.com. Check it out. I want to focus more on my writing and the marketing of my books.
So that is it. What is wonderful about blogging is the contacts you make from people all over the world.
Thanks and may God Bless you.
Remember, that with all of the chaos, wokeness and madness in the world today, one constant is certain and that is that God is in control of everything. If you know and believe that then all of your anxiety and worries melt away.
To all of my friends out there, cheers…Shakey Jay
aka
John Morrison
aka
A grumpy old retired Naval Officer who may well be way past his best before date.
My preferred national anthem, which would be banned today, for a signoff:
My Canadian Prime Minister wore blackface 3 times that we know of and then accuses us Canadians as being racist, genocidal maniacs. That Canada suffers from systematic racism;
Supports changing Canadian history if it reflects colonialism. But not Liberal past transgressions and never Sir Wilfred Laurier. Only Conservatives;
Supports BLM and Antifa. Took a knee for BLM and allowed their protests in Ottawa but vilified and crushed the Freedom Convoy;
Crushed freedom convoy protesters as having unacceptable views and then supports those who would burn down Catholic Churches as being an understandable reaction;
Calls himself a feminist and then fires two highly respectable women cabinet ministers for not towing the line in his support of a corrupt Quebec engineering company, SNC Lavalin;
He appointed a valley girl to be our feminist Global Affairs Minister;
Announced that all resource projects have to have a feminist slant to them or they won’t be approved;
Shut down the Keystone, Northern Gateway and Energy East pipeline. Next? Kinder Morgan.
Has destroyed Canada’s energy sector;
His qualification for PM? Assistant Drama Teacher;
He nominated a journalist to be Canada’s Finance Minister;
He has been found ethically challenged 3 times by Canada’s ethic commissioner;
Misappropriated himself and embarrassed Canada on a government visit to India;
BC reporter allegedly said that our PM groped her during a music festival before he was elected PM. He says that her views are hers alone and do not reflect reality;
His virtual signaling policies have seriously divided Canada along racial and ethnic lines;
He judges people by the colour of their skin and or ethnic lines and not by their character, merit or qualifications;
He had racked up more debt and deficit than all of the past Prime Minister combined. Over 500 Billion dollars over 7 years with more to come;
He is only in this for Quebec because under him only Quebec matters;
Supported Quebec unilateral amendment to our Charter of Rights even though Quebec is not a signatory. Refused Alberta’s attempt for Charter change;
Admires China;
Allowed Quebec to drop English as a provincial official language but bans any attempt by any other province to ban French.
Feminizing Canada’s Armed Forces and studying ways to take religion out of the equation all together.
And:
He is a woke
And he intends to make Canada the wokest country in the world.
With only 33% of the vote this guy is in for life as long as Hazmat has his back. And he does along with other things.
I consider myself a Canadian only because I was born here. I certainly do not consider myself a Canadian in Trudeau’s woke version of our country.
Take my Prime Minister……………Please
But…but….who else is there? Anybody, anyone, hey even Kermit the frog.
Due to a medical emergency at home here in Mill Bay, my posts will be minimal. Followers will be notified of new posts.
I have just published my latest book: Red Jewel. It is available on Amazon as an epub ($5.99) or a paperback ($24.99). Just go to Amazon.com, select kindle books and then type in Red Jewel in the search bar.
Click on the link below and then click on the shakeyjay link to view Red Jewel’s cover page:
Jim Turnbull is a twenty two year old Canadian with no sailing experience. Nigel Filtness is a thirty three year old British national who is a brilliant navigator and sailor with years of experience behind him.
Nigel, based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, is hired by Jim’s brother-in-law Sadao Katagiri to help him fulfill his dream of sailing his boat, christened Red Jewel, from Vancouver to Nagoya, Japan, his homeland. During the first leg of their journey to Hawaii, it becomes apparent that Sadao suffers from chronic seasickness and has to give up on his dream in Honolulu, their first port of call. Rather than abandon Nigel and Red Jewel in Hawaii, Sadao asks Jim to accompany Nigel as his crew and help him deliver Red Jewel to Japan. Jim jumps at this chance for adventure and agrees to go.
Jim’s arrival at the Ala Wai Marina and his initial encounter with Nigel are not without problems. Jim cannot understand Nigel’s coldness toward him nor his verbal slurs. Nigel’s intolerance and impatience with respect to Jim’s lack of nautical acumen is acute. Their relationship quickly becomes toxic. Nevertheless Jim is determined to make a go of things in spite of Nigel’s acidic personality and is enthusiastic and eager to do his part for a successful outcome. Indubitably, the unlikely partnership on this journey, coupled with the inherent dangers with open ocean sailing, will have signifi cant consequences for both of them.
John Morrison is a retired naval officer. He currently lives with his wife in Mill Bay British Columbia. His inspiration in writing Red Jewel came as a result of his experiences living aboard a sailboat at the Ala Wai Marina in 1973 and of his sailing from Honolulu to Saipan in 1974 in a Spencer Thirty Five off shore cruising sailboat.
The stories and characters found in the narrative of Red Jewel, while fictional, were mined by the author based upon his experiences as a young and very inexperienced sailor with much to learn.
Marijke and I at the Grand Canyon, 2005
Dot and I at a pub on Galliano Island 2021.
Finished! Just outside of St Jean
