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

Saturday Soiree, Sunday in the Sun - and Swans!

SATURDAY SOIREE

Iron Man

I had the greatest night out with 'my girls' in Newcastle last Saturday.  

At Pinocchio's Restaurant

We had a lovely Italian meal in Pinocchio's, after rummaging around the courtyard of the Black Swan where a stunning statue of the 'Iron Man' is displayed in all its glory!  



 Leah and I did a 'knees-up and bums-out' around the statues at Central Station (much to Dawn's chagrin) after tanking up just an eensy-weensy bit in the Long Bar!

Whoops-e-Daisy!

Tan Stripes on Show (Dawn is definitely NOT AMUSED!)

Big Laughs in Flairs

Givin' it Large!

We boogied on down at the famous '80's bar, 'Flairs' just off the Bigg Market .  The fascinators and posh frocks were out in force after Ladies Day at the Races.  And, oh, what a superb time we had. We laughed all night at the afro wigs and the Arnold Schwarzenegger look-a-like-ee(!) We danced and sang to all the golden-oldie songs of the 80's - and cocktails and southern comforts were on our Long Bar and Flairs menu.  Mmmm!
Then we all bought a girls' night out key ring, complete with photograph- how very BIZARRE! 

The Three of Us...

 SUNDAY IN THE SUN

The garden's looking great, now that summer's here, the sun's out (most of the time!) and my tubs and baskets are vibrant with all the colours of the rainbow.  This year, my resident blackbird is getting fat on cat food and my resident frog hops about happily, catching flies and enjoying the watering can. 

So this hungover Sunday afternoon, we 'hung over' in the garden until it was time to go down to Newcastle's Tyne Bar to see the 'Scoundrels' rock band.

The amazing sounds of Russ's Stratocaster and Ronnie's blues harp echoed as we parked the cars down the road.  Maybe they heard those soulful sounds all the way down the Tyne to the Wear!  The band played on the famous open-air stage, with perfect acoustics under the tunnel of Ouseburn Lock.  After a great afternoon, Leah went off to Walker, Dawn and Steve drove to Sheffield - and Dave and I went home to CRASH!!  

 WRITE ON:

 It's been a busy couple of weeks.  I've been taking part, once again, in the Writers Weekly 24 hour writing contest.  It's the greatest fun, any of you competitive writers out there.  It's an American company - and I know they're bone fide, having already won an honourable mention prize from them last Winter.  If you're interested in joining in with the next one, go to:
www.writersweekly.com - or just click on the shortcut link below

I want to enter the Fall 2011 contest.     

I've also entered the WOW Women on Writing Quarterly Flash Fiction contest (750 words max).  That's great fun too.  I keep getting to first base with them - but no further.  MAYBE THIS TIME!
If you want to enter - or join WOW - go to:
www.wow-womenonwriting.com 
or just use the shortcut below:
Click to Download the SUMMER 2011 FLASH FICTION Contest Terms & Conditions PDF 

You can read my short, short fiction story, 'Oh, Lord', published by Authspot Online, if you click on the link below:

Oh! Lord

http://authspot.com/short-stories/oh-lord-3/

And my latest penning for North East Life, 'North Meets South on the Shields Ferry' is at:

North meets South on the Shields Ferry

http://northeast.greatbritishlife.co.uk/community/blogs/detail/north-meets-south-on-the-shields-ferry/id/5292/ 

...SWANS 

It's been time, this week, to write about my experiences in Windermere (See my last Writing for my Life blog, 'A Tale of Two Sisters'). One of the articles is PARTLY about SWANS, the other is ALL about SWANS.

 So...


My North East Life Blog, 'Walkers Ticket on Windermere Lake' will be published soon.
My Article, 'Swan-ee, How I love Ya' will be up for publication soon too.  
I'll give you both links when I get them.










For now, CONSTANT READERS, au revoir.  Talk to you SOON