County matters

The Raunds Ukulele Orchestra, of which I'm pleased to be a member, was invited to play at the Dean and Shelton Country Show on Saturday. It was a splendid affair, with a fine display of lawnmowers and tractors, stalls and sideshows, hog roast and a tea tent. I was pleased to see that refreshments were served in proper cups and on proper plates, with bamboo cutlery: no plastic in sight.

A particular highlight for me was a demonstration of a sheepdog herding ducks. I was too enthralled to take any pics, so you'll just have to trust me when I say it was extraordinary. The countryside is a very strange place. There was also, of course, a flower and produce competition - the photo shows the entries in the category of 'Heaviest Vegetable'.

And talking of competitions...

The closing date for the Moulton Literary Festival Short Story Competition has been extended to 26 October. Does this mean there haven't been many entries? You could be in with a chance. Details are here. Full disclosure: I'm the judge!

Goodness me, look at the time!

I don't know where the time has gone since my last post. Did you miss me? Although this blog is a way to keep my hand in when it comes to writing and of course it's lovely to connect with you folk out there, sometimes it has to take a back seat because real work comes along.

It's funny how often just when I'm on the verge of packing it all in and getting a proper job, things pick up: and that's what's happened in the last few weeks. People I haven't worked for in ages have resurfaced, and my regular clients seem to have perked up, too.

Not only that but I've also been commissioned to write a book! I can't tell you what it is, because I'm ghosting it for someone. That means my name won't be on it, of course, but I'm hoping I might get a mention in the acknowledgements. It's going to be hard work, I know, but I've made a promising start.

By the way, in case you were wondering, my public speaking engagements back in October went well. Since then, I've also done my first WI presentation, which was great fun. I spoke a bit about my writing and read a couple of my short stories (one from Nine Lives and a piece from Stripped-back Yoga), but the meat of the session was getting them all to write something.

This week's public appearance is playing my uke tomorrow night for a community gathering. Never a dull moment!

Pulling myself together

My mood is much improved this week, thanks in no small part to some major-league pruning and tidying in the garden. Basically, we've been editing the long border that runs from the pond to the shed and it looks much better. There's nothing like a physical labour in the sun to raise the spirits.

Work is picking up, too. Today I've edited an article about Russian military aircraft, finished a piece on a tourist destination in Staffordshire, taught a yoga class and noticed that I get a mention in Writing Magazine as judge of the H E Bates short story competition. Have you started on your entry yet? You have until 3 December to get your entries in. I'm in the current issue of Spectrum, too (the magazine for members of the British Wheel of Yoga).

Elsewhere, nerves are building ahead of the charity concert on Saturday, raising money for Cransley Hospice and Headway East Northants. My nails are filed short, my ukulele is tuned and I'm ready to rock!

A song in my heart

There's been a fair bit of music around recently. Last weekend I was at the Bingley Live festival, where my friend's son's band Your Illuminations were playing. Oh, and the Manic Street Preachers, Pete Doherty and the Kaiser Chiefs, among others.

I was at an accoustic music night midweek at the art gallery were I did my Pollock shoe painting recently and was delighted to see my efforts are now up on the wall. That's a first!

Saturday saw me taking part in a Strum Like A Pirate day, with the two ukulele groups I belong to. Related to that, my drummer son and I have used each other as an excuse to go halves on a baritone uke, which is very pretty, as you can see, and much bigger than my trusty soprano one, which is lying on the floor in front of it.

I have done some writing, too, honest! More of that anon.

CTST 7 July

I'm celebrating friends today.

It's funny how things work out. Number two son vacated the premises some weeks ago, but his bedroom and the front sitting room that was largely his space remain vacant, pending a decision on what to do with them (man cave vs woman sanctuary - you can fill in the gaps, I'm sure). Anyway, the decision has been made for us, because our good friend Deb is about to become temporarily homeless while her house sale/purchase goes through. How slow the wheels of property transactions turn. Rather than her having to rent somewhere for a couple of months she is going to move in with us, which will be lovely.

I had coffee and a catchup with a good yoga friend today. We meet in Melton Mowbray, which is halfway between her home and mine, and we always go to the same cafe, Off The Beaten Path, which serves the best cheese scones in the world.  Jeanette always sends me home with my head full of ideas, and today was no exception.

I met new friends and old at a gathering at 3P Publishing this week, too, where writers and wordsmiths of many styles (some published, some not) congregated for nibbles and the sharing of support and inspiration.

There's sure to be more friends about over the weekend, when I go to a big ole Ukulele Jam at Stanwick Lakes tomorrow and then a festival at Corby Rooftop Arts Centre on Sunday - or possibly a summer fair at Johnny's Happy Place (or maybe both). Aren't I lucky?

Have a good weekend, folks.

Want to join in and celebrate with us? Hop over to Lexa's blog here and sign up.

Music and poetry

There have been mutterings in the ukulele ranks recently about the sort of music we should be playing. I'm not a fan of George Formby, but I don't mind playing the occasional down-up-down-up song as long as it's tempered with something modern. However, there are some in our group who steadfastly refuse to play anything written in the 21st century (I kid you not), so when 'House of Gold' by 21 Pilots was introduced to our set list they took umbrage. Some sit stony-faced and won't join in, and one man has actually left the group in protest! This notwithstanding that the song was written for the uke. Whatever: lots of potential story material, methinks.

***

On an entirely unrelated note, those of you who live, study or work in the West Midlands might like to have a go at Poetry On Loan's competition, where the prize for adults is a paid performance in a library. Details here. Good luck

Celebrating another Bank Holiday

I'm sorry if this doesn't apply to you, but in England we have a long weekend on the horizon. Monday is another Bank Holiday to mark May Day. It is also linked with International Workers' Day, so no doubt my shop steward husband will be singing 'The Red Flag'. He's been at a union conference all week, so is full of comradely fervour at present.

Not that the weather is looking brilliant. I think we shall need snow shoes, snorkels and sun cream in equal measure. It's going to be a weekend to be properly British: by which I mean obsessing about the weather, but carrying on regardless of wind and rain. It's what we do. You can bet your life that some tabloid journalist will take a photo of a bikini-clad lovely posing on a beach, while in the background other determined holiday-makers sit huddled behind windbreaks and stoically eating fish and chips.

I'm out with my uke again tonight. We're performing a small but perfectly formed set at the Raunds Music Festival . It's a ceilidh, so I expect we'll be stripping the willow at some point.

Have a good weekend, folks. 

Celebrate the Small Things  is a blog hop. Visit Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week. Originated by VikLit) and co-hosted by L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge and Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog.   

Feeling inspired

Welcome to this week's celebratory post, an opportunity to find something good to share with you all. There has definitely been a positive vibe in the air this week. Whether it is just post-Christmas glow or something more mysterious or ethereal I wouldn't like to say, but several people have told me they are feeling unusually optimistic about the coming year. I'll drink to that - and I can do, because I'm not doing Dry January this time. Well done you, if you've signed 'the pledge'.

Here, then, are my particular celebrations.

• On the work front, I managed to meet all my deadlines this week and even sent out some enquiries. (We'll gloss over the fact that a rejection came from one almost by return.) I've taught some lovely yoga classes, including a one-to-one with a lady who is making great progress. I'm not sure who is benefiting most from these sessions, her or me.
• I've heard that I'm on the short list for the H E Bates short story competition, which is gratifying. I'm not expecting to get any further, but it's nice to know I was in the judges' sights.
• I managed to keep my cool - just about - at ukulele group last night. Why don't people practise? Grr!
• Both my 'boys' are joining us for dinner tonight, so I reckon that's a good excuse for a sticky pudding.

Have a good weekend, folks.

Celebrate the Small Things  is a blog hop. Visit Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week. Originated by VikLit) and co-hosted by L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge and Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog.

Celebrating new friends

I feel as though I haven't paused for breath this week, because it's all been a bit full on. Nevertheless, I'm happy to take a break now to celebrate the small things.

I met some lovely new people last night when I ventured out to a different ukulele group. I'd met the host before, but only in passing and she turned out to be a wonderful lady: full of life and interested in everything and everyone. She welcomed us into her home with tea and cake, so I knew it was going to be a good evening. Among the new friends I made was a woman who not only makes medieval clothes, but also wields a longbow. As if that wasn't interesting enough, she has been the women's longbow distance world record holder! Another was a family support officer, specialising in children with ADHD. Honestly, you never know who's around the corner.

Elsewhere, I'm celebrating the safe return of number one son from (yet another) stag weekend in  Amsterdam and the triumph of number two son's performance with his music-teacher colleagues at the grand switch-on of Kettering's Christmas lights. 

There's also been sadness, though, with the funeral on Monday of an old school friend. I was acutely aware on Tuesday that while it was business as usual for me, for his wife, who I've also known since school, things will never be the same. So as last week, I celebrating my simple life. 

Celebrate the Small Things  is a blog hop. Visit Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week. Originated by VikLit) and co-hosted by L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge and Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog.

Last Friday of the month

It's the last Friday of the month, so that means invoice day. My first celebration today is that I've had a good June, so I'm sending out some chunky bills today.

Second, the yoga workshop I'm running with friend and fellow teacher Penny has already had a good response, which is encouraging.

Third, our ukulele group played a few songs to staff and service-users at the local branch of Headway, 'the charity that works to improve life after brain injury'. It went well and it was a real privilege to be involved.

Fourth, my central heating boiler has been passed fit for another year. Every time it's serviced, the engineer warns me it's on its last legs, but it looks like we're OK for a while yet.

Have a good weekend, folks. 

Celebrate the Small Things  is a blog hop. Visit Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week. Originated by VikLit) and co-hosted by L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge and Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate the small things again

Today I'm celebrating the Raunds Music Festival, a local event that celebrates folk music in all its forms. I was there last night at a 'Song & Tune' session, with my ukulele, and tonight the mighty Raunds Ukulele Orchestra of which I am a member will be strumming out a few tunes at the ceilidh. Watch out for our imaginative interpretation of 'Those Were The Days'. I kid you not.

I'm also celebrating the loyalty and commitment of my yoga students, who keep turning out to support me.

Nothing much to celebrate on the editorial front. It's rather quiet at the moment, but I'm expecting great things of May. (Mind you, on Monday I said I was expecting good things of this week. Hmm.)

Have a great weekend - and the Bank Holiday, if you're a Brit.

To be part of the Celebrate the Small Things blog hop, all you have to do is put your name on the linky list on Lexa's Blog, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful for that week.

No excuses

I'm horrified to see that it is over a week since I posted anything. No wonder my 'viewing figures' have gone down.

I've decided I need to retire. Unfortunately I can't afford to. There are five years between me and my dearly beloved, so we always thought we would pick up our bus passes in the same year. However, thanks to the change in regulations and wotnot, it transpires that he will actually hang up his boots before me.

This sudden yen to retire has been brought about by the fact that I keep seeing lovely things I'd like to do: exhibitions to visit, workshops to attend, lunchtime lectures, concerts of 'music in quiet places', courses - the list goes on. But I don't have time, because I'm working - but of course if I didn't work I wouldn't have the money to go.

Even so, I'm trying to squeeze as much fun into the days as I can. Last weekend, for instance, I spent three days at a local music festival, including a brief appearance on the stage with my ukulele. Then yesterday I took shelter from the awful rain to go to the Alfred East Art Gallery, where my friend Elaine has a photo hanging in the current exhibition. She is a fantastic photographer. Visit her blog here.

'Celebrate the small things' is a bloghop instigated by VikLit on her blog 'Scribblings of an Aspiring Author'. Details are here. Apart from the above, I'm celebrating:

• Some lovely yoga classes, including with a group of teachers who have invited me into their school
• Compiling some articles in preparation for another e-book
• My glorious lilac blooms, pictured above
• Off to the Arts Centre tomorrow to see The Doll's House, the first production by a new local company

Right, back to the grindstone. TTFN, as we used to say.

Celebrate the Small Things

It's Friday again, which means it's time to Celebrate the Small Things. This is a bloghop instigated by VikLit on her blog 'Scribblings of an Aspiring Author'. Details are here.

I had an extra ukulele session this week with a different group and it was quite tough. One thing I need help with at the moment is how to dampen chords, so I thought I'd Google this. The internet rather unhelpfully came up with the chords to play various songs by Wet Wet Wet. Close, but no cigar.

I've had rather a relaxed week. The peculiar way the Easter hols are falling this year means there was no choir practice on Tuesday and no yoga on Wednesday, so I've treated myself to some extra dance classes. Zumba, FitSteps, Zumba, FitSteps on four consecutive days. I'm still no Abbey Clancy, but I'm having a lot of fun.

Big celebration this weekend is our wedding anniversary tomorrow: 34 years and counting. Worth a glass of something nice, don't you think?

Brown suits!

Let's paint the town red

Lots happening this weekend. Last night I went to Leicester to see the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, which was great fun. I went with a fellow uke player and we decided that we've either got to set fire to our instruments or practise MUCH harder.

Tonight I'm off to the theatre in Northampton to see A Tale of Two Cities. My friend Will is in it, which is very exciting.

Tomorrow, we have tickets for Kettering Arts Centre, which is hosting the Reduced Shakespeare Company's The Bible, which you might have seen mentioned in the press as being a bit controversial. There have been accusations of blasphemy. Since our arts centre is run by the vicar and his wife, I'm not expecting to be offended.

On to the celebrations. This week, we have been celebrating my son's birthday, which we managed to stretch out over several days.

Also, a BIG celebration that the £600 I was owed by a client for work done in December has been paid today.

Celebrate the Small Things is a bloghop. Join in the celebrations via VikLit's blog 'Scribblings of an Aspiring Author' here.

Have a lovely weekend, folks.

Ukulele Time!

On Saturday evening, I played in the Raunds Ukulele Group. We were the 'guest artists' at the Raunds Community Choir Christmas Concert. OK, so the Britain's Got Talent judges might not have put us through to the next round, but we had such a laugh. It's just not possible to be miserable when you're playing a ukulele. This was the first time I had performed on a musical instrument since I was at school. They still talk of my glockenspiel virtuosity in the halls of Picknalls County Primary.

It seems to me there are two ways of teaching music.

1. to pass exams - this was the way I was taught to play the piano, as a result of which while I can still do a passable rendition of Chopin's Raindrop Prelude, I can't do much else
2. to instill the joy of playing - surely the better way.

My modest ukulele strumming has allowed me to find an outlet for my musical inclinations, but with no pressure to achieve greatness. We turn up on a Thursday evening, pick a song, play it, stumble over the chords, laugh and have another go. Then we pick another song and repeat the whole, glorious process.

Even on Saturday, when we were 'performing', the overriding motivation was to have fun and to share the joy of this quirky little instrument with the audience. Sure enough, as soon as we appeared, people started to smile. As we played, they joined in with the songs and tapped their feet. They clapped: hell, they even cheered!

Now, that's what I call music.