It's a Bright Time...Not the Write Time!

It's a Bright Time...
Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.  And sorry it's taken me so long to get back to my beloved blog and all of you, my constant readers  after the Christmas and New Year festivities.

Christmas Chez Sheila

With the house decorated from tip to toe with 'birdie' trees and hallway garlands, lights over the hearth and festive shelves in my den, we were all set for a grand Christmas 2011. Just us - me, my husband Dave, my son, Phil - and the two cats, Rosie and Mr Jim.

 

Christmas Day

Up with the larks on a bright Christmas morning, we began to open presents.  There were so many of them!  How lucky were we??  There was even a present apiece for Rosie and Mr Jim: a blue mouse and a brown rat, for heaven's sake!  And they loved them - played with them all day, sniffing out the catnip and clawing like crazy.

Then it was time for a bite of Christmas brunch with festive jams and marmalades.

Looking out of the patio door, I saw a young robin come calling for the first time.  how's that for a festive treat, constant readers?  He's been a regular visitor to the bird table and the hanging nuts and fat balls ever since.

Our best feathered friend, the blackbird came a-calling as usual.  He gets tamer and tamer.  He's even started posing for photos!

A 'play with our new Christmas toys' interlude was followed by Christmas dinner in the early evening, with the posh china on the table and the crystal glasses for the wine and the Cassis liqueur we'd brought back from our road trip to France in September.

We watched TV for a while, eyelids drooping gradually after a great day.



Boxing Day

Dave played bass guitar with the fabulous blues band, the Boneshakers at their 'Xmas Shindig' at the Tyne Bar in Newcastle.  I wnet along to enjoy the fun and take some snaps and video footage for the 'Rockin' with the Boneshakers' blog and a North East Life online review.  It's been my joy and pleasure to maintain the band's website and to act as their PR person over 2011. And long may it continue.  And what a great gig it was.  Boxing Day went off with a big huge BANG!  Fabulous performance - you rock, guys!

New Year's Eve

Tonight, Dave was playing bass guitar with his other amazing party band, the Gatecrashers, starring on stage at St Peter's Club, Byker in Newcastle.  

My niece, Leah, was there - and I so enjoyed ripping up the dance floor with her.  Made me feel like a carefree teenager again, it did.  You really rock, Leah, my little darlin'!  

Of course, I took some fab snaps and video footage to write them an article for North East Life magazine, online. Nice commission, eh, constant readers.

Dave and I caught the fireworks that went crazy all over Newcastle and North Tyneside on our way home from the gig - then it was time to relax with a glass or two, a home made pie-and-pea supper and Jools Holland's Hootnanay on BBC2.

New Year's Day 2012 

Last year, on New Year's Day, we went for a walk on the South Shields coast - and so enjoyed it, we thought we'd make it a tradition.  So this year, Dave and I popped along in the car to Whitley Bay and St Mary's Island to blow away the cobwebs of the new Year's Eve festivities.  Boy was it COLD!  But oh, it was so enjoyable too.  A couple of hours with the sea breeze, the surf and the seaweed set us up nicely for what I hope will be a great 2012.  

And to top it all, we saw cormorants on the rocks too.  Don't you just love cormorants, constant readers?


Not the Write Time... 
I put away my lap top for the whole of Christmas (Clever girl!) on December 23rd 2011- and didn't open it up again until January 3rd 2012.  Now wasn't that brave of me, constant readers?
Inundated with emails, 'stuff' to write etc., I went into panic mode for a few days.  But I'm getting back on top of it all again.
Here's what I've achieved since the last time I blogged:
My 1000-word flash fiction piece, RED HOT BOOTS was published on  EVERY DAY FICTION.  Here's the link:

http://www.everydayfiction.com/red-hot-boots-by-sheila-newton/comment-page-1/#comment-38343

My article,  WEIRD AND WONDERFUL WAVE CHAMBER was published on NORTH EAST LIFE MAGAZINE ONLINE.
Here's the link:

http://northeast.greatbritishlife.co.uk/community/blogs/detail/weird-and-wonderful-wave-chamber/id/6346/  

My article,  A CHEERY, CHIRPY MAKE-BELIEVE CHRISTMAS was published on the WIKINUT site to mark this festive occasion.

Here's the link:

http://www.wikinut.com/a-cheery%2c-chirpy-make-believe-christmas/2v7w8zkc/20x7u1zr/

and WIKINUT published the next in my road trip to France series, UNE SEMAINE SUR RIVIERA FRANÇAIS

Here's the link:

http://travel.wikinut.com/Une-Semaine-sur-Riviera-Fran%C3%A7ais/2.w_pqs8/   

My post prior to the above article was awarded yet another STAR PAGE by WIKINUT for LE GRAND TOUR DE LA FRANCE - LE QUATRIÈME JOUR.  I could get used to these STAR PAGES! Here's the link:

http://travel.wikinut.com/Le-Grand-Tour-de-la-France-le-Quatri%C3%A8me-Jour/v_cuaqe7/  

My story and haiku verses, THE CATS' DINNER was published by THE REAL OWNER.
Here's the link:
http://therealowner.com/cats/the-cats-dinner/    
My very short story, THE KEY OF THE DOOR was published on AUTHSPOT.  
Here's the link:

http://authspot.com/short-stories/the-key-of-the-door/

My article, THE DAY I MET JOHN HANNAH was published on AUTHSPOT.
Here's the link:

http://authspot.com/thoughts/the-day-i-met-john-hannah/

And finally, my photograph of Kielder Forest accompanied by a photograph of your truly has been published in the glassy - yes glossy - pages of NORTH EAST LIFE MAGAZINE.  And this is the page I was published on:

 So here it is...Merry Christmas...Everybody's having fun...

Hope you had a fun Holiday Time, constant readers

 

 I WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY NEW 2012 - ROLL ON THE LONDON OLYMPICS - ROLL ON A GREAT WRITING YEAR

Talk soon, constant readers

Right on The Doorstep | Trifter

Right on The Doorstep Trifter

Click above on the link to my published piece, 'Right on the Doorstep' - it's about a day out in South Shields. Enjoy your read.



It was New Year's Day 2011...

Everybody was hung over - we'd partied at a friend's house on New Year's Eve and come home - me, my husband and our two best pals, Dawn and Steve - to see in the New Year 2011, watch Jools Holland's Hootnany, reminisce about the '80's with TOTP2 and sing 'Auld Lang Syne'.  We'd tippled champagne and I'd made my New Year resolutions - to be a non-smoker by 2012 (I'll keep you posted on that) and to be a better, more prolific, highly-published WRITER (I'll keep you posted on that, too!)

*

We set off from North Shields, over the river Tyne to South Shields, to walk in the park and play on the beach.

It was a cold, blustery day - enough to freeze your socks off! So we dressed up warm and cosy to keep the cold out and set the roses in our cheeks to 'bloom' setting.

On Littlehaven beach, there are dozens of statues, made from leather sacking and fired in a kiln.  They're all shapes and sizes and they all have faces with all sorts of expressions on them. They're fun and inviting but they're sort of eerie too.  If you ever get a chance to visit, you really should go.  It's a sight (site!) worth seeing - and so entertaining.

They're situated right on the beach and the waves were almost crashing about our heads - noisily.

The seagulls and pigeons were out in force too, skidding onto the waves, dive-bombing the waters - and scavenging for crumbs and left-over pizzas or Mac-burgers.

*

We walked in the park - a lovely, landscaped park - and came upon the duck-pond before long.  The lake was frozen - a veritable ice-rink (Torville and Dean could have done their 'Bolero' here, no problem) and the ducks, geese and swans skated on their rink in ungainly fashion.  We just had to laugh at their antics.  Seagulls, pigeons and magpies joined in with gusto - and we laughed at them too.



Clapping our hands together, rolling them up in a fist inside our gloves, wiggling our toes for good measure we fought a losing battle against the freezing temperatures.  And then we spotted a little tea-shop/cafe on the edge of the pond.

*

"Let's get a cup of tea," I said, hopefully.

"Yep!" was the rejoinder and in we went.

It's a grand little cafe selling all sorts of goodies.  We plumped for hot chocolate and a couple of slices of death-by-chocolate cake among the four of us.

We stayed there until we warmed up a little, then wended our way back to the car, Dawn collecting driftwood on the way home (to add to her creative collection - she's an artist, is Dawn)

*

At home once more, the preparations began for our New Year's Day gourmet dinner.  Dawn made delicious laksa and a summer fruit pudding: Dave made chilli-and-ginger tuna steaks with noodles - and I laid the table.  Steve stirred the soup a couple of times and played his guitar as his contribution.

It was a great meal, with great company - and we had a ball.