Right at this very moment….I am watching one of my favourite shows on television at the moment: NADIYA BAKES.
This week it is chocolate week! She is knocking it out of the part with her brownie – her salted caramel cheesecake chocolate brownie.
Please excuse me, I need to find a napkin to wipe the drool away from my chin! Oh Nadiya, you can bake for me any day!
I realize that sometimes bloggers may not realize just why I am so deeply grateful to have Jack in my life. I used to write about the estrangement with him when I first started out blogging, but a year ago the situation was reversed.
Jack and I had a talk recently about some of the posts (THE STORM IN A TEACUP Series) I published about him and I, before we ever made peace. He has read them all in the past.
I asked him if it was time to remove them. He did not see why I should do that. I told him that because I was a new blogger when I wrote them, they don’t look great. They need editing to remove the typos. He said that would be a good idea. Then I asked Jack if he would read my edited versions to see if there was anything he would prefer me to remove. So he did.
Then, after a flurry of questions about Jack and myself, I asked Jack how he felt about the possibility of re-publishing them. That may explain why I sometimes refer to a past drama between Jack and I. He wanted time to think about it. We shelved the idea for a while. But then Jack came back to me and said something that surprised me…why don’t we write a novel together with our story?
I will admit the thought has gone through my mind. But it would be very emotional. I could not do it on my own Jack has suggested we do it together. I was taken aback. It’s a project that we are going to work on little by little. We have only just started.
But in the meantime, Jack agreed that although we both have so many regrets about the past, our dramatic history is always a reminder to us of how special what we have is. It’s a miracle! So….we are going to re-publish the entire STORM IN A TEA-CUP series! These flashback posts will appear each Friday…just one a week. Some of the longer ones, I may break up into two posts.
The first will be published on the first Friday in October. We think they will last until the end of 2020. Please remember that what you are reading has a very happy ending, and also remember that there are situations that seem hopeless, but sometimes, completely out of the blue, something wonderful happens!
I started fantasising about doughnuts yesterday. Really fantasising over them, to the point where I was basically indulging in doughnut-porn! I could not get enough of delicious doughnut photographs. I was especially excited by the idea of a filled doughnut with a decadent topping.
I cannot remember the last time I ate a doughnut. I was telling Jack, who found it very amusing that I have been craving doughnuts and drooling at doughnut photographs. He has been reading a lot about the brain and head injuries and his theory is that my brain needs more sugar to repair itself.
I wonder if I can ask my Doctor for an NHS prescription for Krispy Kreme doughnuts? Nah! I should not have mentioned my doughnut dreams to Jack. I have a feeling he will be be trying to find some before I go back to his place next weekend. You know next week I will be complaining that I need to lose weight.
I keep hearing lots of silly things said.
There is a much bigger picture. A much bigger picture. Bigger than politics or the economy. Bigger than shares, pensions, inflation, the housing market or any trade agreements.
There are much bigger issues ahead. Three major entities have been under scrutiny and now the stage is lit up. The scene of this world is changing. The script has been sent out to billions of people in over 2,500 languages.
Nothing is guaranteed except…those who love right and are peaceable….and the beautiful earth. The righteous / meek / mild-tempered ones will inherit the earth. No one will make them tremble. You will dwell in security. The human family have a mandate – to make this entire earth a paradise, to take care of earth’s creatures so that they thrive.
If you love good, if you love peace, do not get involved with any propaganda. Do not get involved with any violence. Do not be misled.
Jim Adams, aka Newepicauthor, the creator of A Unique Title For Me, is hosting SONG-LYRIC-SUNDAY and this week he has chosen the theme: BROTHER/SISTER.
I wanted to go with The Hollies track “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother“. I really did! I love that song! But I was so sure that would be picked by a lot of us that I decided to think of a less famous song.
I picked a song that I used to love singing. “She’s Electric“, is about a girl who has an eccentric family. She has a sister and a brother and a dozen cousins! Don’t ask me to explain! It’s one of the tracks from the “What’s The Story Morning Glory“, from the major Britpop band Oasis.
She’s electric
She’s in a family full of eccentrics
She’s done things I never expected
And I need more time
She’s got a sister
And god only knows how I’ve missed her
And on the palm of her hand is a blister
And I need more time
And I want you to know
I’ve got my mind made up now
But I need more time
And I want you to say
Do you know what I’m saying?
But I need more—
‘Cause I’ll be you and you’ll be me
There’s lots and lots for us to see
There’s lots and lots for us to do
She is electric, can I be electric too?
She’s got a brother
We don’t get on with one another
But I quite fancy her mother
And I think that she likes me
She’s got a cousin
In fact she’s got ’bout a dozen
She’s got one in the oven
But it’s nothing to do with me
And I want you to know
Got my mind made up now
But I need more time
And I want you to say
Do you know what I’m saying?
But I need more—
‘Cause I’ll be you and you’ll be me
There’s lots and lots for us to see
There’s lots and lots for us to do
She is electric, can I be electric too?
Can I be electric too?
Can I be electric too?
Can I be electric too?
Written by: Noel Gallagher
Last week I learnt that trying to produce an award nomination post in the block editor is a major headache! But I managed to complete not one, but two of them – with the help of half a bottle of Chardonnay!
Today’s post is in response to a nomination for THE OUTSTANDING BLOGGER AWARD (how honoured I am!) from the outstanding Sandmanjazz. This is his original post, so that you can verify I was actually nominated and I am not just making this up!
https://sandmanjazz.wordpress.com/2020/07/31/outstanding-blogger-nomination/
This award was created by Colton Beckwith, who as of yet I am not acquainted with – in a blogging sense I mean.
The Rules:
Well…I am a little old for it really…with the exception of the occasionally fancy dress party, I give it a miss these days.
The main advantage of any kind of uniform is that you don’t have the agonising question each morning. “What am I going to wear?” For me that is a significant reduction of stress. Also…some uniforms are practical, due to being made of long lasting fabrics.
Also, I remember at high school, some of the kids were already becoming snooty about the brands and labels – shoes and which trainers you wore in games lessons especially. Can you imagine the pressure and the comparing if some children were rocking up to school in designer clothes and others in hand-me-downs originally bought in Primark? All that children should need to worry about us their education. But as I remember well, you have to put up with a lot of nonsense before they let you escape from school. If anyone makes it out of school a well-rounded out human being with a sense of real purpose and values that will stabilize you throughout life – that is a sheer miracle!!!
Paper books. The screen tires my eyes out so much.
However, I know that the overconsumption of earth’s resources to produce paper is a concern. But so is the manufacture of electronic devices and what happens to older models when they are discarded by the user.
My solution would be sharing. Primarily sharing paper copies of printed information. I say that as someone who has written and published books. But I would prefer fewer copies to be printed and then shared amongst reading groups or families rather than lots to be printed and lay unread on people’s bookshelves.
I would prefer us to go to a library and borrow a book, rather than all of us feeling we should have our own personal copy of books. I do think it is sad that libraries have been disappearing, probably because anyone who owns an electronic device has access to libraries of information. Visits to the library formed the backbone of my childhood, but now I wonder how many children go near a library regularly?
Most of the paperbacks I read are borrowed from friends. I do buy new paperback copies of books written by WordPress bloggers (to support them) and then I lend them to family and friends I think will enjoy them.
Does resignation include abolishing parliament?
If I was forced to be in charge…I would immediately reset the economy again. All land and wealth would be distributed equally. You will have an assignment of land, and it will be your responsibility to care for that land properly. Teaming up with your neighbours etc to support each other in caring for your responsibilities is definitely recommended. Working together, sharing skills and tools to grow crops and harvest them, build houses and furniture are very advantageous. But there is no competition, no rivalry. We work together!
As previous governments have allowed excessive consumption of earth’s resources there will be some rationing for a limited period, until the earth has recovered, which it may do within less time than you would imagine.
If you have a plan or want to do something that will demand a lot of resources etc, you will be asked why? How does it benefit your community? Will it be in harmony with a clean healthy earth? Is it something that you want to do to gain more than others? Or are suggesting something that will benefit people, animals and our environment? Because from now on, profit is something we are not interested in. Our priority is a healthy happy human family who care for their home and help animals to flourish.
You have freedom only within the pillars of unselfish love and remaining in harmony with out beautiful planet. If you don’t want to live on a clean earth with a thriving population, you are welcome to move to Mars at any point. I am sure there are some billionaire entrepreneurs who already have their sights set on Mars – you are welcome to join their mission!
Basically is what you propose loving, unselfish, beneficial on a long-term basis, in harmony with a clean earth and a health population? Or is your idea about profit, greed, selfishness and disregard for the welfare of other people or animals? We hope you will love living on a planet earth that is as beautiful as it is meant to be, and seeing all creatures including humans full of life!
I think Renee Zellweger. What I know of her makes me like her, although I don’t get too attached to celebrities because I don’t know them in real life.
There is some resemblance (so say my friends) and I loved her in “Miss Potter“, the film in which she played Beatrix Potter. I have not seen the Bridget Jones movies. I really wanted to see “Judy” where she portrayed Judy Garland, but I will have to wait until it is on the small screen.
I love all of her facial mannerisms. I have a very soft voice, and she seems to speak softly too.
I think good. I know I have done it. Why? Freedom. I can write from my heart without fear of anyone who knows me being critical.
Melody Finch books are very personal to who I am. The LEARNERS AT LOVE series was very personal. Annabelle Riley was a character I cared about. I put a lot from my heart into her story.
What was the question? Different genres/styles of books? Well, if a writer was diverse enough to be able to dip into lots of different styles, I don’t see why they shouldn’t use a different pen name. It could be a pen name that might suit that genre, like SKYE CRUISER for Science Fiction…is that a bit of a rubbish example?
I know of bloggers who do use different pen names for different genres. I totally understand why they prefer to keep genres separate for marketing and “building a fan base” and they have used clever pen names which are obviously made up.
Yes. Would you like me to enlarge on this?
I have been vegetarian since I was six years old, so variety is very important to me. For most of my childhood and teenage years I ate a lot of the same thing. So discovering spices was wonderful to me. However, I have my limits!
I like a mild to medium blend of spices. If it is too hot, I won’t enjoy it. I will end up with tears pouring down my face, and choking and coughing and turning bright red. What is the point of eating something so hot with spice you are can’t taste anything properly?
Maybe, we will add…
“IT WAS THE BLOCK EDITOR THAT FINISHED HER OFF!”
Kristyna Landt – The Dough Abides
sarahtinsley – Sarah Scribbles
Ashley Adams – The Other Side of Motherhood
Mandy S – life is what happens….
Have you ever had to work in retail? I always knew that one of the biggest challenges for retailers is shoplifting.
I know of a recent incident where teenage girls were shoplifting herbal supplements (health conscious shoplifters?) and when a member of staff from a distance made it clear they were observing and offered the girls a shopping basket the result was appalling behavior. Swearing, spitting, the teenagers accusing the member of staff being racist (even though the member of staff was black), and then to leave things on a sweet note, one of the teenagers decided it was time to throw the fizzy drink she had been sipping all over the two member of staff who were now present.
Charming young ladies, I am sure they must be the pride and joy of their families!
I was watching the BBC Breakfast News this morning while listening to the sound of the pouring rain outside. I saw something shocking. They had a report on retailers facing an increase in abusive behaviour from shoppers, particularly since the start of the…you know. The report was not focused on shoplifting at all, it was more to do with incidents of aggression that retailers seen a significant increase in this year.
They played a video, and I must warn you, it is quite disturbing to watch. Well, it shook me up.
https://metro.co.uk/video/customer-destroys-op-told-follow-one-way-system-2253476/?ito=vjs-link
Apparently the store assistants had reminded the customer of social distancing requirements. I imagine that like every other shop they would have had visual aids displayed to bring this to the attention of shoppers. (Most people have been careful and considerate about social distancing requirements, but others have been casual or just careless about the clear instructions we have been asked to follow.)
Frustration, prolonged stress and anxiety – a lot of people have been shaken up by the events of 2020. I think some people are like a bottle of fizzy pop…ready to explode. I think we are going to see more explosive behaviour over future weeks and months.
Well…I have been managing to publish at least one post a day for a long time. But this year, a lot of those posts were ones I already had in my drafts folder. I am not finding time to do more new writing. So…you will see a few posts that I wrote and published in 2018 that I am re-publishing (including the infamous STORM IN A TEACUP SERIES!)
I do have a blessed life here. Despite being the other side of a trial that has turned my life upside down…I find myself here in this beautiful part of London, in a beautiful little abode, with interesting and satisfying work, and lots of lovely people in my life, not the least of whom is my beloved Goldfinch. I rise early and have a leisurely breakfast and my coffee. Then I shower and dress and then I climb three steps and I start work. Three steps!!! What a terrible commute to work – and they are all uphill!!!
This part of London is completely new to me. I have been exploring whenever I have free time. Spring and summer are giving me more daylight hours to go venturing out to discover. Last week I found a pretty park. I went there tonight with the book I wanted to finish and my fleecy picnic rug. It is about a 40-45 minute walk from the house. It is not the best park in London. But with beautiful trees and grass you can’t really go wrong. Lots of families, joggers, cyclists, people chatting on benches, drinking coffee or eating ice-cream at one of the little cafes.
I arrived at about 5.30pm this evening. I had to finish the book I borrowed from the local library…I read it in that beautiful park, the sun warming my back and the gentle breeze caressing my hair. I let tears roll down my cheeks as I read slowly every emotion packed sentence. What a story.
Then once I had finished it, I sat up and did a little “people-watching”. When I was bored I lay down on my back and looked up at the blue sky, the branches heavy with verdant green towering over me.
It’s nice to be snugly warm and yet to be able to detect that lovely faint breeze. I realized the sun was sinking and was now behind a very impressive cedar tree. I felt tears in my eyes again. There was a huge cedar tree outside the building I went into every morning at 6.45am for breakfast….and there was a huge cedar in the private park in front of the apartment I lived in with two flatmates for my first two years there. Before I moved into the flat where the trouble started. The trouble that led to a life-changing event.
My sister was in Lebanon for three months at the start of last year. She told me all about the cedars there and showed me lots of pictures. Then two of my best friends went over there for two months and came back just as enthusiastic as my sister about the scenery and the food.
I want to go to Lebanon.
There are a hundred places I would like to visit…ideally to have several weeks in each location, maybe longer. There are a thousand things I would like to do.
But this word BALANCE and another word PATIENCE and what else? Oh yes, SELF-CONTROL. There is no way all these places would exist if I wasn’t going to have the opportunity to see them all and enjoy them all at some point! I am sure. It would be too cruel. This earth is there to explore and discover. I am sure one day…we will set out on a voyage together and spend one or two thousand years I would like to be with Goldfinch, discovering new places, new foods, new scenery, new cultures and music and experiences. I would like to do a lot of exploring with him and then at the end of each day find somewhere we could sit back and I could hold his hand and rest my head on his shoulder and we can talk about everything we saw that day.
I have a lovely balanced life here…which is what I have needed, starting over again. I have needed to do this gently. Right now, I have the ideal situation for building up my stamina (especially with work spread over five storeys of the building – I am getting plenty of chance to run up and down stairs), pushing my body a little bit more each day, always with the knowledge I will be able to rest up after work…getting back into routine. Growing stronger every day. I am enjoying my work very much…and I am loving my rest/relaxation time very much. I can see I will be spending more late afternoons in the pretty park I found.
There was a point when I could not have imagined I would be able to come to a park on my own and feel so peaceful, so full of blissful content and feel safe. So many memories would be triggered of that night. That summer evening when I went to a park on my own and sat on a bench and allowed hot spicy tears roll down my cheeks. So many memories of the security guard who found me the following morning and called an ambulance. So many memories of everything that happened that night.
But look at how far I have come. I can go to the park on my own and feel happiness down to my toes. I can hold my head up knowing I have not just survived, I have thrived…with the support of my family and friends. I even have a Goldfinch who makes me feel as if I could fly.
Despite the cruel events which shattered my world…I am in one piece…I am in a safe place and I have a balanced healthy and happy life. I enjoy my work, I enjoy my rest/relaxation time. I enjoy Parklife.
This has been an odd week for me. My pain was mounting over the weekend and eventually I had to up the ante with painkillers that are stronger than my normal poison. Tuesday and most of Wednesday are a daze to me, but Jack said he had some very strange conversations with me.
This is not what I wanted for this week. I had planned it the other way round. Rather than Jack having to take care of me, I had hoped to be making a fuss over him. Jack has been lovely this week. I felt safe. I felt safe with him being here.
One year ago Jack said something to me that changed everything. We’d only been talking for a couple of weeks (after four years of estrangement), but he wanted to tell me how he felt. Only he was struggling, mostly cautious because he had no idea what I was expecting. He did the kind of thing I would expect a teenager to do…but then Jack is a teenager trapped in a man’s body.
We were in his car…a familiar strum of guitar chords. I remember Jack trying to hold eye contact with me, but I was turning away and looking out of the window singing the words to myself. That’s when he reached for my hand…
“I don’t believe that anyone feels the way I do about you now”.
“There are many things that I would like to say to you but I don’t know how“
“Maybe you’re gonna be the one that saves me“
❤ Happy Anniversary Jack! ❤
Sorry I have been unconscious or doolally most of this week. I will make it up to you! I want to live forever by your side.
Every sunrise
I wish you ice-cream skies
That bring sweet laughter to your eyes
Throughout each day
As you go on your way
Silver linings for you I pray
And every night
I hope that you’ll sleep tight
Sweetly dreaming under starlight
Caramel 