The Bake Sale – A poem

SPECIAL GUEST CONTRIBUTORS

For many blogging on WordPress is mainly about producing fantastic fiction and phenomenal poetry. Well, we invited two of WordPress’ most talented creative bloggers to get creative and we are thrilled to share with you their work!

Here is a fantastic poem from one of favourite WordPress bloggers (yes, we have favourites!!!)   Kristian, the creator of Tales from the mind of Kristian produced this gorgeous poem inspired by the BAKING theme!

Tales from the mind of Kristian

My blogging friend, Mel from the blog Caramel (learner at Love) is co-hosting a bake Sale event, click on the link below to find out more:

What Will Be In Our Picnic Basket?

To commemorate this event, I have written this poem. 🙂

We are having a giant bake sale, in our neighbourhood.

Auntie Gladys has made her carrot cake

Who knew carrots could taste so good?

And while it’s a Hot July and we’re in a summer sizzle,

What could be more fitting than a slice of Dave’s Lemon Drizzle?

While I enjoy the sunshine, the heat’s been a bit extreme,

So I’m enjoying a slice of cake smothered in Ice-Cream.

It’s great to get together and share what we’ve all been making,

In this sweltering summer heat, it’s us that have been baking!

I won’t moan too much though, it’s winter soon for goodness sake,

So my final…

View original post 12 more words

The Great And The Gooseberries

This weekend is not only about BAKING…it is also very much about GREAT BLOGGERS. We wanted to host an event that would help WordPress meet some of the most wonderful bloggers out there. I am sure you are going to be thrilled when you see the bloggers who are taking part in this year’s GREAT BLOGGERS’ BAKE-OFF 2020 SUMMER PICNIC.

One of our GREAT BLOGGERS is  Kristian, the creator of Tales from the mind of Kristian, who co-hosts WORD OF THE DAY and 50 WORD THURSDAY, and writes superbly clever flash fiction and poems is also a singing sensation!

Kristian has also been a huge support in helping to make THE BAKE-OFF one of the WordPress highlights from 2020! He has written a brilliant poem for THE BAKE-OFF…and has also been BAKING!!!! Kristian has made a Gooseberry Crumble….yummmmmmmmy! With a tonne of cream to go with it by the looks of his photo.

You know Kristian, Jack reckons that we are just over an hour (that’s if there is no traffic at all on the roads) away from Essex…he and I would happily jump in his car and come to visit you to tuck in to your crumble. We’ll call you when we pass Brentwood so you can put the kettle on for us! ❤  I told Jack it will be real tea at your place! We want to meet the chick-a-dees!

I have two songs for you…

I chose STAND BY ME for three reasons… Firstly because it mentions the word “crumble”. (I have a very short list of songs that use the word crumble, and fortunately we only have two crumbles in this year’s BAKE OFF!) Secondly, because Kristian is such a great blogger. It’s people like Kristian that made me want to stick around on WordPress…such a lovely person and such a supportive blogger. Thirdly, I picked this song because it is our song…not Kristian and me…Jack and me…and Jack has made a contribution to the BAKE-OFF this year (as you will see later)!

The second song is here for the sake of gooseberries…how many songs can you think of that mention gooseberries???

“Country life has its advantages,’ he used to say. ‘You sit on the veranda drinking tea and your ducklings swim on the pond, and everything smells good. . . and there are gooseberries.” ― Anton Chekhov, Gooseberries

Everybody’s Doing A Brand New Dance Now

My brother had a very good friend, Simeon Jones, who sadly lost his sight as a teenager.  My brother was close to Simeon’s whole family, who in turn doted on our family.  I was immensely fond of both Simeon, his parents and his older sister Shelley.  In fact for years I hoped my brother would marry Shelley when he grew up.

Shelley had a trendy bedroom that was pink and grey, I thought it was gorgeous.  She gave me my first two pairs of earings.  I thought she was wonderful.  Although she was ten years older than me, Shelley was such a kind and generous teenager.

She used to offer to help my Mum, by taking me to the playground at the local park, while Mum was looking after my new-born baby sister Milly.  I was four years, eleven months and fifteen days old, when Milly was born.

I loved the climbing bars (or the monkey bars as my Dad called them) at the playground, and thought myself quite the acrobat.  It was a plain old climbing frame that might seem a bit nondescript, but it was an inexhaustible source of fun and adventure. I used to climb right up to the highest bars and then spin myself over – like a forward roll.  I had done this little manoeuvre several times, when I yelled the ominous words, “Shelley, watch this!”…next moment I was falling…and landed chin first onto the concrete paving slabs below.  Yes, when I grew up there was no sand or chip bark at the play-ground, it was all concrete flooring.  Ouch!!!

I still remember to this day, I was wearing a royal blue dress (I suppose you could say it was cerulean, but I only learnt that word today – so I would just say a deep dark blue) with a couple of panels with a pattern of small shapes in red, green and yellow.  It was a lovely dress, but as I looked down there was blood all over it.  Poor Shelley!  She must have been horrified.  I don’t remember pain as such, but I do remember being devastated about the state of my beautiful dress.  We ran back home.  She had to present me to my mum with blood pouring out of my chin.  Mum took me straight down to the local Doctor’s surgery, and there, our family GP himself, Doctor G (his surname had at least twenty letters – as a rule if a name has more than twenty letters, I automatically give up even attempting to pronounce it) stitched my chin up.  I still have a really cute little scar on the underside of my chin to remind me of that day!

I think Shelley doted on me even more after that calamitous incident at the park.  One day she asked my parents if I was allowed to have tea (or dinner) with her family and spend the evening at their home.  I would have been around seven years old.  I remember that after the evening meal was over and the kitchen and dining room were empty, Shelley put on some music and taught me dance routines.  All of the songs we danced to were sung by either Kylie Minogue, The Bangles or Banarama.  I enjoyed myself so much.  From that point on I was a huge Kylie fan – I still have a massive soft spot for her, but it is definitely her eighties repertoire that I enjoy the most.  I grew up wanting to be just like Kylie!

I am sorry, I am just chuckling to myself because I have just seen Fandango’s word-prompt “Neighbour”… Kylie Minogue was also famous for playing Charlene in Australian soap opera “Neighbours”.  My parents didn’t want us to watch it, they wanted us either outside burning off energy or inside reading or being useful…they didn’t want us to become glued to soaps and become “goggle-heads”.

The song Shelley played over and over, because I kept asking for it, was my choice for Day Three of the Three Day Lyrical Challenge.  For years and years of my childhood this was my absolute favourite song, and it was impossible to listen to it without jumping up and dancing and I took enormous pride in teaching Milly the routine that Shelley had taught me.

I was nominated for the Three Day Lyrical Challenge…by none other than   talesfromthemindofkristian  who has already established himself as a man of superb musical taste as you can see from his post below:

https://talesfromthemindofkristian.wordpress.com/2018/08/17/3-day-lyric-quiz-day-3-respect/

The Rules:

1 Thank the person who nominated you – thank you Kristian!
2 Share one of your favourite song/lyrics one at a time for three days.
3 Nominate three other bloggers each day. 

Everybody’s doing a brand new dance now
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
I know you’ll get to like it if you give it a chance now
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
My little baby sister can do it with ease
It’s easier than learnin’ your ABC’s

So come on, come on, do the loco-motion with me
You gotta swing your hips now
Come on baby, jump up, mmm, jump back
Oh well, I think you got the knack

Oh, oh, now that you can do it, let’s make a chain now
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
Chug-a-chug-a motion like a railway train now
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
Do it nice and easy, now don’t lose control
A little bit of rhythm and a lot of soul

So come on, come on do the loco-motion with me
The loco-motion, come on, come on, the loco-motion
Come on, come on, the loco-motion
Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on

Move around the floor in a loco-motion
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
Yeah, do it holding hands if you get the notion
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
There’s never been a dance that’s so easy to do
It even makes you happy when you’re feeling blue

So come on, come on, do the loco-motion with me
You gotta swing your hips now
Come on baby, jump up, mmm, jump back
Oh well, I think you got the knack

Oh, oh, do the loc, do the loc, do the loco, loco-motion
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
Do the loc, do the loc, do the loco, loco-motion
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
Do it nice and easy now, don’t lose control
A little bit of rhythm and a lot of soul

Come on, come on do the loco-motion
Come on, come on do the loco-motion
Come on, come on do loco, loco-motion with me
The loco-motion, come on, come on, the loco-motion
Come on, come on, the loco-motion
Come on, come on, the loco-motion

 

My nominations:

Pavan Athreyas

theycallmetater

Patricia Chubb

https://fivedotoh.com/2018/08/20/fowc-with-fandango-neighbor/

https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/08/20/nondescript/

via Nondescript — Word of the Day Challenge

https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/08/20/your-daily-word-prompt-cerulean-august-20th-2018/

 

I Get Around

I am sure I have said this before, but in London, you truly do not need a car.  In fact a car is a nuisance in London.  Where to park it, the crazy traffic, the risk of crime…a car is a downright liability here.  In addition to the fact we have a pretty incredible public transport system.  I can travel for over an hour on the bus for £1.50, which is peanuts. Bus stops at the end of my road every 4-6 minutes at rush hour, and every 8-10 minutes at off-peak times.

Elsewhere in England it is really not the same.  A car is a huge advantage, a huge leap of freedom.

I loved the feeling of freedom that passing my driving test gave me!!!  Since then I have clocked up many thousands of miles.  I have travelled the length and breadth of the country on voluntary projects and also on pleasure trips to spend time with wonderful friends I had made.

To me it was an incredible breath of fresh air to be able to break out of the town I had grown up in, using a set of wheels  to escape.

Then I discovered the car stereo…I remember compiling my own CD of travel tunes and the very first song I chose to get me in the mood for the road ahead was the song I have chosen for Day Two of the Three Day Lyric Challenge.  I would turn this song up as soon as I hit the motorway (highway/freeway) and sing at the top of my voice…FREEDOM!

The Three Day Lyrical Challenge

I was nominated…by none other than   talesfromthemindofkristian  who has already established himself as a man of superb musical taste as you can see from his post below:

https://talesfromthemindofkristian.wordpress.com/2018/08/17/3-day-lyric-quiz-day-3-respect/

The Rules:

1 Thank the person who nominated you – I think I forgot to thank you properly yesterday Kristian, I was trying to publish my post before I left the house early in the morning…so THANK YOU!
2 Share one of your favourite song/lyrics one at a time for three days.
3 Nominate three other bloggers each day. 

Round round get around
I get around
Yeah
Get around round round I get around
I get around
Get around round round I get around
From town to town
Get around round round I get around
I’m a real cool head
Get around round round I get around
I’m makin’ real good bread

I’m gettin’ bugged driving up and down this same old strip
I gotta finda new place where the kids are hip

My buddies and me are getting real well known
Yeah, the bad guys know us and they leave us alone

I get around
Get around round round I get around
From town to town
Get around round round I get around
I’m a real cool head
Get around round round I get around
I’m makin’ real good bread
Get around round round I get around
I get around
Round
Get around round round oooo
Wah wa ooo
Wah wa ooo
Wah wa ooo

We always take my car cause it’s never been beat
And we’ve never missed yet with the girls we meet

None of the guys go steady cause it wouldn’t be right
To leave their best girl home on a Saturday night

I get around
Get around round round I get around
From town to town
Get around round round I get around
I’m a real cool head
Get around round round I get around
I’m makin’ real good bread
Get around round round I get around
I get around
Round
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah

Round round get around
I get around
Yeah
Get around round round I get around
Get around round round I get around
Wah wa ooo
Get around round round I get around
Oooo ooo ooo
Get around round round I get around
Ahh ooo ooo
Get around round round I get around
Ahh ooo ooo
Get around round round I get around
Ahh ooo ooo

 

And….my nominations for this challenge are:

      

Lexiboyce

Irene Yin

Jordan

River Deep Mountain High

I have a little story for you…confessions of the pen (or electric device) are always a risk.

This is going to have to stay between you an me though alright…no blabbing about this one!  I am trusting you!

There is a video of me out there (my brother-in-law’s mother has it) that I am very worried about.

I am wearing a Tina Turner dress – just like the one she is wearing in this photo…I have a Tina Turner wig on…and I am up on the stage belting out “River Deep Mountain High” at the top of my voice – with an audience cheering me on.

There had been quite a cacophany of performances that night…I mean ouch!!!  Then, while I was sitting patiently waiting for my turn, I suddenly realized I could not give any half-hearted lack-lustre performance…I was going to have to summon all my courage for my moment in the limelight.

The crowd really goes wild when I start trying to do the Tuna Turner strut…and I was shimmy-ing and shaking (not in a sensual manner…more like someone with red ants in their pants) so that all the fringes on that dress were flying around.  I caused quite a stir and yes…I did win that particular contest on the night.  However, the video footage of moi performing without inhibitions (no alcohol was involved, this is just me in front of a microphone on a stage!) makes me feel anything but a winner.  I have been trying to get hold of that video to dispose of it for years, but short of breaking into my brother-in-law’s parents home one night, I don’t know how I am ever going to convince them that it would be in everyone’s best interests for that video to vanish permanently!

Why am I telling you all this?…

…because I have been nominated for….

The Three Day Lyrical Challenge

…by none other than   talesfromthemindofkristian  who has already established himself as a man of superb musical taste as you can see from his post below:

https://talesfromthemindofkristian.wordpress.com/2018/08/17/3-day-lyric-quiz-day-3-respect/

The Rules:

1 Thank the person who nominated you.
2 Share one of your favourite song/lyrics one at a time for three days.
3 Nominate three other bloggers each day. 

So this challenge is going to be great fun…I am not sure what my next two songs are going to be quite yet…but I am working on it…I am not just going to pick my favourites, I am going to give you songs with a little story attached!

When I was a little girl
I had a rag doll
Only doll I’ve ever owned
Now I love you just the way I loved that rag doll
But only now my love has grown

And it gets stronger, in every way
And it gets deeper, let me say
And it gets higher, day by day

And do I love you my oh my
Yeh river deep mountain high
If I lost you would I cry
Oh how I love you baby, baby, baby, baby

When you were a young boy
Did you have a puppy
That always followed you around
Well I’m gonna be as faithful as that puppy
No I’ll never let you down

Cause it grows stronger, like a river flows
And it gets bigger baby, and heaven knows
And it gets sweeter baby, as it grows

And do I love you my oh my
Yeh River Deep, Mountain High
If I lost you would I cry
Oh how I love you baby, baby, baby, baby

If I lost you would I cry
Oh how I love you baby, baby, baby, baby

I love you baby like a flower loves the spring
And I love you baby just like Tina loves to sing
And I love you baby like a school boy loves his pet
And I love you baby, river deep mountain high

Oh yeah you’ve gotta believe me
River Deep, Mountain High
Do I love you my oh my, oh baby
River Deep, Mountain High
If I lost you would I cry
Oh how I love you baby, baby, baby, baby

 

And….my nomination for this challenge…is:

The Newbury Short Story Teller

who has already established himself as a man having distinguished musical tastes…

https://thenewburyshortstoryteller.wordpress.com/2018/08/13/tune-man/

via CACOPHANY — Word of the Day Challenge

https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/08/18/cacophany/

https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/08/18/your-daily-word-prompt-summon-august-18th-2018/

https://fivedotoh.com/2018/08/18/fowc-with-fandango-sensual/

https://swimmersweek.wordpress.com/2018/08/18/pen/

A Heartfelt Thanks To Tales From The Mind Of Kristian For Nominating Me For The From The Heart Blogging Award

Awards and nominations galore this week…but who does not like a bit of support and encouragement from their fellow bloggers.  I am grateful for every kindness that comes my way!

I have received this award (one that I think is rather lovely) from the gregarious blogger   talesfromthemindofkristian as you can see in his post below:

https://talesfromthemindofkristian.wordpress.com/2018/07/30/from-the-heart-award-nomination/

WHAT IS IT?

This award goes to bloggers who primarily focus on personal writing. These posts are often from the writer to the world at large, or from the writer to the writer themselves and they just allow us access to their mind.

RULES:

There are no rules, no questions, no participation requirements for this award. It is given from bloggers to other bloggers. It was designed by the Haunted Wordsmith and is given to other bloggers as a gesture of thanks and appreciation for their work.

https://thehauntedwordsmith.wordpress.com/2018/06/24/creative-mind-and-from-the-heart-awards/

MY ACCEPTANCE SPEECH:

I would like to thank my Mumma and my Dadda…and my manager and of course my agent…and the production team and lighting and costume and make-up and all the team down in catering…

But especially Mum and Dad…These are a few of my posts that are very much from my heart about my gorgeous parents:

• Be A Worker, Not A Shirker
• My Lovely Mum Used To Buy Us Iced-Fingers
• The Point At Which Dad Would Intervene In Our Squabbles
• If You Could See What I Can See When I’m Cleaning Windows

I am sure I will be writing many more from the heart posts about two of the most wonderful people who are alive on this planet today!

MY NOMINEES:

I would like to nominate the following bloggers:

  Oladewalaura

  Shahnila Hassan

  Never Silence the Madness

Oooooh la la! Talesfromthemindofchristian Has Nominated Me For The Bloggers Recognition Award

I am delighted to have been nominated for The Bloggers Recognition Award by the Super-Blogger Kristian as you can see from his post below:

https://talesfromthemindofkristian.wordpress.com/2018/07/22/the-bloggers-recognition-award-nomination/

Kristain who is the creator of  TalesfromthemindofKristian needs hardly any introduction because he has established himself as a consistently creative writer with an exquisite taste in music and a great sense of fun. I know many like me appreciate his support and encouragement.

The Rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
2. Write a post to show your award.
3. Give a brief story of how your blog started.
4. Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
5. Select 15 other bloggers for this award.
6. Comment on each blog to let them know you’ve nominated them and a link to the post you created.

How my Blog Started:

Stuart, from Croydon, was the one who made me take the plunge.  There is a story there, but I am not willing to share it. He is someone who helped me out through a rough time.  Let’s just say Stuart is someone I care for a lot, and I really hope he knows that.  No…there will not be a post about Stuart. Yet in a funny way, I would like him to know I am still inspired by him.

That might not sound very interesting to you without any details! Let me pad it out a bit.  I have been writing very long letters and e-mails to friends for years. So I am well into the habit of writing long waffling accounts of my gallivanting up and down the country on various projects, and including all the lurid details of what I ate for lunch and relating an array of emotions I had along the journey.

Due to circumstances, Stuart and I started to keep in touch more and he encouraged me. I wrote page after page.  He was kind and said he looked forward to coming home from work and catching up with my long e-mails.

Stuart said: “YOU SHOULD START A BLOG”.  I thought that was like mum telling me to go and try out for some television singing competition and stand in front of Simon Cowell. In addition, I did not really know what a blog was. I had not seen them for myself.  I thought it was a glorified version of Instagram.  I had never used Facebook or Twitter or all the social media networks.

I also thought it a bit odd to write something strangers would read.  All my letters and e-mails have been to friends and family I know and love. So it was easy to know what to talk about, what they will be interested in, what they will find amusing or meaningful.  How on earth do you know what to write to complete strangers?

I was afraid that anything I wrote and published would be ignored or criticised.  I enjoyed writing, I didn’t particularly want to invite a dish load of negative feedback.  That was the last thing I needed.

So…to say the least I did not have very high expectations of blogging!

Another friend with whom I had shared a selection of short stories and my one poem encouraged me to publish these.  My friend was already publishing their work online and helped me to set up a WordPress site. According to WordPress we published my first post River on the 19th April 2018, which means it is just over three months I guess.  If you have not had chance to glance at River yet, please have an ickle look – it is a poem I wrote as a teenager and I am very fond of it.

I must admit, I have been enjoying it far more than I ever dreamed I would.  I have looked at hundreds of other blog-sites which have given me ideas about formatting and has encouraged me to experiment a bit with WordPress options.

Well, three months later, I can say that blogging has exceeded all of my expectations.  I am really enjoying this.  I am glad to say I have had lovely feedback and more support and encouragement than I ever imagined. It is fun to keep in touch with other bloggers. One thing I know I need to do more is to keep looking out for new bloggers to encourage them to enjoy blogging and also to direct them to:

 https://swimmersweek.wordpress.com/

https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com

https://meetthebloggersblog.wordpress.com/

https://thelittlemermaid09.wordpress.com/2018/07/01/tea-party/

…and to keep promoting the  word and picture prompts that other bloggers have set up. These are at the center of a lovely blogging community which was gutted to lose the Daily Post provisions but determined to keep going because we are enjoying this.

It seems likely that I am going to keep going with this blogging business for a bit longer while my circumstances allow it. It is helping me on a personal level…I try to have lots of lighthearted posts but also I have used some to talk about some very difficult subjects for me…and it really has helped.

Advice

• Support other bloggers.  Don’t be a prima donna…be part of the chorus.
• Make the most of the avenues to connect with other bloggers (some of which I mentioned above) other bloggers will be looking out for new bloggers, friendly bloggers, fun bloggers…it’s a bit like a party with a bunch of complete strangers interacting.
• Be friendly!  Just like at the party mentioned. Be polite, be nice.  Don’t be critical, just because their work is not your cup of tea.
• Enjoy it!  Enjoy the writing, enjoy getting to know the different WordPress features and enjoy the contact with other bloggers.
• Statistics are sometimes encouraging and sometimes discouraging…but your own enjoyment and enthusiasm and effort will motivate you and prompt others to keep coming back because they want to acknowledge your efforts.

My Nominees:

I am pleased to be able to nominate fifteen great bloggers who have supported me and whose blogs are full of exciting posts:

SalGallaher

The Flawddess

Word Hunter

Hankerings

Phyllis Rogers

pagesandpugs

mommylifeelevated

Airsickmoss

Cadie Mclendon

3sistersabroad

Georgia Choate

Francesco Marchetti

Stefania Giannetto

wideeyedwanderingspoonie

Proscenium

There we go…fifteen wonderful bloggers who have supported me and have fantastic posts on their own blog-sites.  I have enjoyed your work so far and have high expectations of more to come!

https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/07/28/expectation/