No Further than the Garden Gate

 

SPRING GARDEN
Easter time at our house has been a garden fest of glorious sunshine.  We've been making changes to the 'forest' out back and buying new plants, transplanting - and admiring the spring shrubs and trees.

 
The cherry trees look amazing this year.  One of them is lit up at night.  In fact there are lots of colour- changing lights springing up on shrubs and trees - and in tubs too.
My son says it's kinda cheesey - but what the hell, I LOVE IT.
 
Phew - gardening's hard work and I'm absolutely KNACKERED!  But you know what they say - 'the sun shines on the righteous', so that must be ME!

WRITE ON - AU NATURELLE 

Haiku

The cherry trees in the garden inspired me to write a little haiku.  A Haiku should always be based in nature.  I entered it into a Fan Story competition.  It's entitled:
'CHERRY TREE AT DAWN'
You can take a look at it, artwork and all, at the link below:
http://www.fanstory.com/displaystory.jsp?hd=1&id=422764
You can even read the really super reviews I've been getting - EXCEPTIONAL, they're saying.  My! My!

Waterfalls and Fairies

I also got it into my head to write a piece for Authspot online about waterfalls, fairies and pixies - what a wonderful combination, don't you think?  It's entitled,
'FROM SORTA SMALL TO WONDERWALL'.
You can read it at the link below:

http://authspot.com/poetry/from-sorta-small-to-wonderwall/

Midi- Pyrenees - Gites et Les Plus Beaux Villages de France

My commission to write about the 'gite' (cottage) we booked for a week's stay in 2009 is complete.  Next stage is to add the photographs and get it off to the online publisher, Trifter.  The article describes the hilltop villages we visited in the Tarn region of the Midi-Pyrenees.  I enjoyed writing this article and I hope you'll enjoy reading it when it's published. It's to be entitled:
 'GORGEOUS LA GREZE OF THE TARN'



For now, it's au revoir, adieu, bon vacances - I'm off to pull some weeds from my beau jardin!

Talk to you soon, Constant Readers.

A Spring in My Step



Well, I reckon spring is just around the corner - and if we're due another cold snap, the garden knows nothing about it!  Although my winter tubs of blooms are still in full flow...



... the hyacinths and daffs and tulips are sprouting lovely green shoots.

My spring bulbs are starting to peep out of the ground.  The snowdrops are in full flow

and the crocuses in the garden and on the lawn are gleaming their magic colours.   

My cats are starting to get a spring in their steps - and SO AM I!!    

***

WRITE ON...

It came as a bit of a shock to me this week, that a critique of my flash fiction story, BED OF ROSES, showed an 'average' rating.  I was diasappointed, disgruntled, f-f-furious!  But when I went back in to the story, I realised that my reviewer was absolutely right - I'd cocked up big-style.

I hadn't kept my writing TIGHT and I'd thrown in so many pesky ADVERBS, it was untrue.  So I took the story back and edited it before submitting to a writing competition on Fan Story.  What a difference.  Now I'm like a dog with two tails - I've LEARNED a lot about writing flash fiction.

Well, folks, the upshot of it was that the person who'd critiqued an 'average' had WON the competition - and I came 5th out of 13 competitiors, so in the end, I didn't do so badly...

The moral of this story is ALWAYS LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF YOUR CRITICS - you'll be a better writer for listening to advice instead of blowing a gasket!

If you'd like to read 'Bed of Roses', here's the link:

BED OF ROSES

http://www.fanstory.com/displaystory.jsp?id=406866

and if you'd like to read my 3-5-3 haiku poem about spring flowers, just to keep you in 'spring mode', here's the link:

SPRING WOODLAND

http://www.fanstory.com/displaystory.jsp?id=407030



If Spring is really nearly here......then my flowery cup, flowery top, flowery tights and flowers in my sparkly vase might have brought me a touch of good luck!

HERE'S HOPING!

                                                                            



TALK TO YOU SOON, CONSTANT READERS