Bird Tables, Birthdays, Bands and Boat Trips

BIRD TABLE

Pine Tree on the Right - Spring 2011

We'd had the big old pine tree felled last November and we'd kept enough of the trunk to make a 'feature' out of it.  I was so upset when the tree had to go that I needed something to help me celebrate its life.


We couldn't keep it any longer - it had been destroying the earth beneath and around it for years and years, no matter how hard we tried to nourish it, re-shape it to let in more light, mulch its surroundings over the winter-time - you name it, we did it!   Anyway - it's gone ...

Before the Bird Table!

So I asked Dave to make a bird table (plain and olde-worlde is what I wanted).

Mr Jim - Get Down From There!

And once he'd finished the fence and the trellis, he set about making the table.  And it's a real rustic beauty!

  

GARDEN UPDATE

The garden's been a real torment this summer, what with the wind +++ and the rain in torrential downpours +++ - but finally, after many weeks of blood sweat and tears, it's starting to look pretty neat.

My wall planters, tubs and baskets have a predominantly blue, blue, blue theme - with lots of sprinkles of bright colour here and there.

I'm pretty pleased - but there will be even more delights to come when the fuschias and the asters are blooming in all their glory. What beauties!

Passion Flower

And there are passion flowers and briar roses galore, all mixed in with montbretia and lavatera all over the garden.

Briar Roses

Our little 'tub' Rosie in among the TUBS

It's beginning to look quite spectacular with the changes we've made to the design.

BIRTHDAY TREAT

It was Dave's birthday a few weeks back - and his mum had a cake made for him in the shape of a bass guitar. It looked gorgeous and it tasted heavenly - a real yummy beauty!

Then Dave, Phil and I went off to our local Indian restaurant in North Shields for a birthday treat. It's called 'Aramee' and produces the most amazing authentic Bangladeshi food.


We had a ball, the three of us.  Such a super night. What a beauty!

TOP BANDS

Accolades for the Gatecrashers

I went to see the Gatecrashers play a blinder at the Seven Stars in Ponteland.  The band are so highly acclaimed in Ponteland that the Seven Stars have signed them up to do a gig a month at this cosy, atmospheric pub, beating the Diamond pub up the road by a whisker! 

You see, the Diamond in Ponteland want the band too!  They're a popular 'catch' for parties of all descriptions in Darras Hall, Ponteland. 

Me and Boneshaker Ronnie at 7 Stars

 In fact, this band are worth all the accolades they receive - and they receive lots and lots, believe me! What a beauty!

I also called in to the cutest little wine bar in the North East - the Sour Grapes in Morpeth to see both the Gatecrashers and the Boneshakers: my two favourite bands - on seperate nights, of course, constant readers.

You can see the review of the fabulous Boneshakers amazing gig on my 'Rockin' with the Boneshakers' blog at the link below.  It's a beauty!

Sweet as a Nut at Sour Grapes

http://rockinwiththeboneshakers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/sweet-as-nut-at-sour-grapes.html

Gatecrashers sock it to 'em at the Sour Grapes

...and the review of the Gatecrashers rockin' an' sock-it-to-'em gig at the Sour Grapes will be published soon on North East Life Magazine online.

Gatecrashers Find Salty Nuts at Sour Grapes

 I'll give you the link when I've got it ... so,  



WATCH THIS SPACE!

BOAT TRIP

On a drizzly Sunday morning in July, we motored up the North East coast to Seahouses, to catch the Billy Shiels (MBE) boat out to the Farne Islands to see the grey seal colony - and the plethora of birds that come here to nest and rear their young, every year between May and July.

 It rained a bucketful as we boarded the boat.  I was just thinking that this might be a miserable day out on the islands - but then the sun came out! 

And the grey seals came out to play.  Ah, what a sight. And when we disembarked from the boat for an hour to walk around the nesting colonies of birds, the sun stayed put, bright yellow in a blue, fluffy-clouded sky. What a beauty of a day!

We walked among the Arctic Terns who sure told us who was boss - and it wasn't me! As we passed by their nests on the edges of the beaten tracks, they reared up, wings and tails outstretched to squawk in our faces and peck our heads.  I nearly lost the bobble in my hair, trying to sidle past them!

We came across family after family of puffins, taking care of their young in holes dug into the ground around the bright clumps of white campion flowers.

We gazed at cormorants and shags feeding their young in nests of bracken and twig, pushing small fishes down the gullets of their babies.  Quite horrifying to watch but so effective! The mums and dads preened each other and their young happily unconcerned about their human audience.

We came across hordes of razor-bills and penguin-like guillemots, flapping their wings on ledges of the sheer cliffs of the island.

We even saw a Mallard duck with her two fluffy ducklings in a tiny natural pond on Inner Farne.


I can't for the life of me understand how I could have lived in this beautiful North East corner of England and never been on this trip of a lifetime. 

Well, I plan to rectify this - and visit at least once a year. That's my promise to myself - a firm promise!

WRITE ON:

It hasn't been a particularly fruitful writing time since last I spoke to you, constant readers.  I'm still fighting with my novel - fighting against a strong desire to get way-laid and go online, visiting my writing buddies at Triond and Hub Pages, RedGage and Experts Column - and more!

I badly need to edit my chosen pieces for submission to  various publishers and get them sent off: badly need to get my novel completed and into the editing stages: badly need to get together a collection of short stories and flash fiction for Amazon publication - and a collection of poetry too.

So I decided, a few days ago, I needed to take a break - retreat from the cyber world, the great blue yonder, whatever you want to call it - and get stuck in to my writing.  So that's what I've done!  Denied myself the right to go online -apart from a couple of days a week, to call in and say hello -  check, write and answer my emails - and read through my writing friends' publications.

I'll leave you with a few bits and pieces I've written and published lately - mostly about the fabulous puffins and terns that caught my imagination on our trip to the Farnes.  Here are some links:

The Parrot of the Sea

http://scienceray.com/biology/the-parrot-of-the-sea/ 

Puffin Billy

http://authspot.com/short-stories/puffin-billy/

Huffin’ ‘n’ Puffin

http://www.picable.com/World/Continents/Australia/Huffin-N-Puffin.3765949

A Huffin’ an’ a’ PUFFIN

 

http://www.redgage.com/sheilanewton#rf:/blogs/sheilanewton/a-huffin-an-a-puffin.html

Ah! Look at the Ba-Ba Chick!

http://www.picable.com/People/Babies/Ah--Look-at-The-Ba-ba-Chick.3774875

Chick-Time in Bird Land

http://www.picable.com/Nature/Birds/Chick-time-in-Bird-Land.3782275

 

Star Tern

http://www.redgage.com/sheilanewton#rf:/blogs/sheilanewton/startern.html:innercontainer:pager.pageForwarder

These links to the RedGage site are published here especially for my online writing buddy, poet and photographic hero, Eddy, who follows this blog and also my website.  Thanks for everything, Eddy.
You can take a look at Eddy's online portfolio of gems at:

http://www.triond.com/users/Eiddwen

Talk to you soon, constant readers. I'm already collecting a bunch of goodies to tell you about next time I write my blog.

CUT!

THAT'S A RAP, FOLKS!

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"

Super Moon - ooh!

One clear evening last month, my son, Phil, and I were louging about in his gorgeous flat overlooking the Tyne Estuary - and just before 8pm, we spotted the most beautiful moon, bouncing in the evening sky.

Next day, I read on the internet about this phenomenal Super Moon.
" Saturday's event was a 'supermoon,' the closest and therefore the biggest and brightest full moon of the year," said USA today.

This was a stunning moon - better than I've ever seen before: so close, I felt I could almost reach out through Phil's window and touch it.

Sheila's Super Blackbirds

The lovey-dovey couple of blackbirds that frequent our garden are getting tamer and tamer.  Their favourite 'nosh' is cat food from a glass bowl on our lawn.  Dave is going to make them a bird table so that my heart's not all a'flutter when the cats are out.  But the cats both seem to understand that these two lovely blackbirds are our friends.  And they just sit and look at them, unperturbed.  My heart's STILL in my mouth though!!

Super Gorgeous Pets

Babs' Beautiful  'Fizz'

Two of my e-mailing friends, Babs and Maggie, from way back when we were all at Whitehaven Grammar School together sent me pix of their pets at my request.

Because they're so gorgeous, I thought they deserved to be featured on my blog alongside my two gorgeous cats.

Misty's Behind!

Maggie's Marvellous 'Misty'

  

Sheila's 'Fragile' girl, 'Rosie!

Sheila's Silly-Billy Boy, 'Mr Jim'

Super Splendid Garden

Well, our brand new fence is well and truly open - to blackbirds and magpies and pigeons, bluetits and dunnocks.  In other words, the fence is already covered in bird-shit!!  I've cleaned it off time and again!

 But oh - what a beautiful fence it is.  There are varieties of clematis and honeysuckle, winter and summer jasmine growing up it - some new, some existing.  It's going to look great once the climbers have established or re-established themselves.

 One of our lilacs this year has been chock-a-block full of 'mile-a-minute' pretty pink clematis.

The camelia is losing its blooms at a rate of knots, like it does every year in May.

The peiris is looking fabulous, the white flowers mostly gone now - but it's still full of red and green leaves - a real show-stopper.

The spirea has almost come to its blossoming end - but I took a photo when it was in full bloom - beautiful!


All my tubs and baskets are full to the brim on the patio now.  They'll be a splendid sight in a few weeks when everything spreads and flowers. Watch out for my next blog post!

 Super-Duper BEN HUR Bike Rally 

 What a great night out the 'Ben Hur' Biker Rally on 6th May.  This is an annual full week-end event just outside Lanchester village in County Durham.  It was my first time at the rally - an outdoor camping affair for bikers all over the North of England, with stalls and a big marquee with a bar and a stage where live bands play.

I put on my wellies and my kagool as well as my 'Boneshakers' T-Shirt and we motored up there in driving rain and thick black cloud.  And when we got there, it was like a mud bath!

"Oh dear," I thought.  But, you know, the biker crowd were so cheerful and uplifted that it didn't matter that I was up to the elbows in mud: it didn't matter that the rain was dripping down the back of my neck like a waterfall.  It was such a great laugh.  Bikers galore turned up in Ben Hur helmets, or silly wigs, or kilts!!!

And, of course (the main reason I was there) was that the Boneshakers were opening up the entertainment in the big tent.  They were fantastic.  And they've been asked back next year as the headline band.

I've probably told you before that my husband, Dave, plays bass with the Boneshakers.  But I don't think I'm biased!

Super Sensational Wooden Doll Gigs

Last Sunday and the Sunday before, both of Dave's bands were playing at the Wooden Doll pub overlooking the Tyne River in North Shields.  Both nights were nights to remember: both nights, local musicians dropped in to jam with - or simply applaud - these two sensational bands.
 


 The Gatecrashers (a soul/funk/rock band) played the first Sunday night, amazing their audience and setting the already warm night to a red hot atmosphere.

NICK

Nick, Ant, Dave and Doug are superlative musicians with talent enough to burst the thermometers of any and every gig they play.
You can book them for your party or function anywhere in the North of England.

DOUG

ANT

DAVE

Here's their website:

http://www.thegatecrashersband.co.uk

Sheila and Nina at the 'Crashers Gig

 

 

On the second Sunday evening, the Boneshakers came out to play - and they were amazing too.

You can read all about the gig on the blog I pen for them.  It's called 'Rocking with the Boneshakers' and it's well worth a visit to the site.  You might even want to join their band of followers here and get all the latest about the band.  Here's the link:

http://rockinwiththeboneshakers.blogspot.com

WRITE ON: 

Maybe this last month or so haven't been the best in winning anything - in fact I've been rejected a few times lately - "c'est la vie" for a writer, they say.  Ah, but I do hate rejection!!  I'll never get used to it.  My prized possessions knocked back by some editor is hard to take!  How very vain of me - I must STOP this at once,constant readers : it won't wash!

Writing Groups
It has been a great time these past few weeks, for writing groups.  The North East Adult Learning Alliance Creative Writing Group has just completed its five-week course and I've enjoyed getting back in among the great and lovely members/writers that attend there.  Our course leader, Julie Taylor, is second to none.

One of the members, Charles (great bloke - great writer) invited me along to a self-managed group of writers who call themselves 'SCRIBBLERS'.  I've been along twice - and what a grand group they are.  I've been having a ball and writing lots of new stuff.

One of the pieces I wrote for the groups has been sent off to the WOW Women on Writing Competition - I've been shortlisted with them twice - so maybe this time ... and I've entered the Adult Alliance competition with another piece too.  Fingers crossed, eh, constant readers?

Writers Writing About ME!!

Over the last month, two really excellent online writers that I follow, both poets, both brilliant article writers, have asked to do interviews with me about my writing.  I said "Yes" of course!  I was delighted.  

Vinaya Ghimire published this piece:

Sheila Newton: Poet, Story Teller and the Travel Writer

http://writing.wikinut.com/Sheila-Newton%3A-Poet%2C-Storyteller-and-the-Travel-Writer/2-8jxjjl/  

... and 'PHILLYDREAMER' published this piece:

The World of Undiscovered Poets: Sheila Newton

http://phillydreamer.hubpages.com/hub/The-World-of-Undiscovered-Poets-Sheila-Newton

Thank you both - I'm really touched that you would want to write about little ol' ME! 

Online writing

My online writing has been doing pretty well.  So that's a good thing.  Here's one I hope you might like:

Bubble-Wrapped

http://authspot.com/poetry/bubble-wrapped/

  

Camp NaNoWriMo

This June, Camp NaNoWriMo is underway, giving the disorganised (like me!) some structure for writing 50,000 words of a novel.  

I completed the challenge last November, but sadly, I didn't get to the end of the novel: nor did I edit the chapters I had written.  So, here

goes again. Think I'll reach the finishing line?  Let's see shall we ... 

Thanks for viewing my blog, constant readers

"...and if you say it loud enough, you'll always

sound precocious...

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!

SEE YOU ALL NEXT TIME -

AND BY THEN, I MAY HAVE FINISHED MY NOVEL

ONCE AND FOR ALL!