A Tale of Two Sisters - An' The Adverb's a Cissy!

A TALE OF TWO SISTERS:

I haven't blogged here for such a long time and I apologise, dear readers.  But there's a reason - a good reason, honest!
My sister Barbara came to visit from the hot deserty salty air of Karratha in the North West of Australia for six weeks, armed with a Brit Rail pass for two - and we travelled the length and breadth of England, trekked hither and thither, investigated every bit of woodland, moorland and craggy landscape we could find. We saw wildlife galore in the strangest places, doing the strangest things!

Seagull eating chips in St Ives

Squirrel in Sefton Park, Liverpool

Red Robin, Red Lion, Dittisham, Devon

Hareshaw Linn, Northumberland

Bunny on Northumbria University Campus, Newcastle

St Bees nr. Whitehaven, Cumbria

Preening Swan at Windermere

Digitalis Overdose in Durham!

  

Heron up a Weeping Willow, St James's Park, London

Moorhen makes a nest in Dover

Family of Ducks in Calais

We flew to Corfu for a week of wonderful wild scenery awash with birds, butterflies and beautiful critters.

Beautiful Butterfly settles on Ground

Stunning Bird in Treetops

Tortoise Crossing the Road

 

Yellow Butterfly in the Pink (Orange?)

Cheekiest Parrot EVER!

Window-Box Wild Cat?

We rediscovered our roots in LOVERLY LIVERPOOL.

Back to my street in Liverpool 1

My Nanna's house in Liverpool 15

In short, we had a BALL and I'll blog each trip in GLORIOUS DETAIL - so - WATCH THIS SPACE!

WRITE ON:

On 16th June, I was published FOR THE SECOND TIME by the fabulous FLASH FICTION CHRONICLES with a tongue-in-cheek, 'about writing', piece about the ADVERB.

 Here's the link:

Flash Fiction Chronicles: Adverb: Amigo or Adversary

http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog/adverb-amigo-or-adversary-2/#comments

...and if you go to the 'Little Leaf Guesthouse' Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/littleleafguesthouse

you'll find 'Adverb' posted there too!!  Thank you Little Leaf - the best B and B not only in St Ives, Cornwall, but in the whole country too!!

 My commissioned article about GORGEOUS LA GREZE and the stunning countryside and hilltop villages of the MIDI-PYRENEES in Southern France has been published online by TRIFTER.  Here's the link:

Gorgeous La Greze of the Tarn

http://trifter.com/practical-travel/gorgeous-la-greze-of-the-tarn/

John and Judi of La Greze

So...thank you for your patience constant readers...

...And I'll talk to you soon

Boats 'n' Barbeques!

WHEN THE BOAT COMES IN

The boat I'm talking about is the Shields ferry that runs between North and South Shields.  We popped down to take a look at this icon on a blue-skied, sunny Sunday afternoon at the new ferry landing at North Shields. 

The boat was tethered (anchored?) taking on passengers who were about to make the seven minute journey to South Shields.

 
The famous Chain Locker pub that overlooked the North Shields side has gone, to be replaced by the majestic 'Chain Locker Apartments' (for rich yuppies only!) with its listed exterior called 'The Crane House'.
The infamous 'Jungle' that also overlooked the Tyne at North Shields has long gone, to be replaced by beautiful Collingwood mansions apartments.

Me and Collingwood Mansions

How the world has changed, hmm? 
And then we saw SWANS.  Yes, SWANS - on the River Tyne no less.  Oh, yes, the world has certainly changed!  I remember clearly, when nursing at the A & E department at Newcastle General Hospital (oh, dear, that's gone too) if anyone fell in the River Tyne, they were unlikely to survive the filth and pollution of the Tyne.  Now there are salmon -and SWANS. 


I came here to do a bit of last minute research for a story I was writing for the ALIBI television channel's annual story-writing competition.  Fingers crossed for me, dear readers, please?  The story is about an old Scottish busker whose already gammy legs meet with a crowbar after a trip on the Shields ferry to perform at South Shields Market.  It's called

 'MACK THE KNIFE'.

BARBEQUES ON BALMY EVENINGS

Me and Phil in Sausage mode!

After we'd pulled up shrubs, potted tubs and baskets, mowed the poor old dilapidated lawn, we were ready for some fun, the garden being SET FOR SUMMER!!

Mr Jim Cat ran up a tree and pawed at us forever from his lofty position!

                

Rosie Cat went to bed!

We set up up the barbeque, hungry and ready for a good old beanfeast.  We cooked sausages and burgers for Phil and Dave; a lovely bit of salmon (NOT from the River Tyne, I don't expect); a big old salad bowl - YUM!

Maybe Summer's here, finally, CONSTANT READERS 

Talk Soon

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.

Sugar, Digger, Gigger, Blogger...

   

SUGAR:
It's good to be a mum at this time of year.  I love all the fuss ...and the Mother's Day card...and the flowers...and the chocolates!!  Ah, SUGAR!  Love it.

   This year, I was invited to spend the night at my son's flat for Mother's Day too.  He doesn't know how lucky he is to have a flat overlooking the Tyne; watch the boats come in and out; watch the lights from North Shields to South Shields twinkling bright from dusk till dawn.  I never got a wink of sleep - it was all too magical to go to bed.  Thanks, Phil, for the best Mother's Day ever.




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DIGGER:

 

           
As the garden starts to take on all that lovely Spring colour, it's time for the cats and I to get out there, get the gloves on......and do some mucking out.

Oh, what a chore.  But it makes it all so much easier when I have the reds of the Pieris, the whites of the Ornamental Cherry and the pretty cerise of the Camelia to gaze upon as I go.

   

And I did enjoy (praise be to the heavens) a whole weekend of  unexpected glorious sunny weather, me digging out the weeds, me planting summer bulbs - and the cats, Mr Jim (the fluffy black/white one) and Rosie (the tubby ++ one), digging them back up again!
Within a couple of days, my lilac blossoms have made an entrance, my tulips have come into full orange, pink and red blooms - and the clematis is growing and budding at a mile a minute. So, now that my green fingers are working again: onward, Sheila, onward...

      
It's good to get me gardening head back on!       

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GIGGER:

The Gatecrashers were red hot when I caught them at the Rising Sun, Crawcrook, last weekend.  Not only were they fantastic, us girl partners did the 'biz' too!  We grooved together with the 'bum' dance, Nina and I, shaking our booties to increase the wild atmosphere of the gig - and we did - OH YES!

Nick (vocalist and guitarist), Ant (lead guitar and backing vocals), Dave (Bass Guiatar) and Maurice (drums) were on fire.  Nick sure knows how to get a crowd warmed up, sparks flew from that amazing guitar of Ant's, Dave's bass was like an electrical storm of deep thunderous tones - and Maurice was a live wire on those beautiful blonde drums. 

The crowd loved the Gatecrashers:

"Fantastic night - I hope they're back here soon," said one.

"Wouldn't have missed this gig - not for anything," said another.

At the end of the night, they wanted more, more, more - and the guys hit white hot heights with 'Sex on Fire', Nick right there gyrating on the bar to drive the audience crazy.

What a brilliant night - a great night to be a GIGGER, I thought....

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BLOGGER:

Invited to blog for the wonderful North East Magazine, 'North East Life', I have penned a couple of blogs containing super photographic footage for 'The Otters of Otterburn' and 'A Gaggle of Geese'. 

Photos by kind permission of Dave Hildreth and Dawn Boulton - thanks, guys.

The blog, entitled, 'TWIGS, GIGS, HAUNTS AND JAUNTS' is a diary of walks, gigs, favourite haunts and my travels around the locality of the North of England.  Give it a whirl - I hope you enjoy.

Here's the link:

Twigs, Gigs, Haunts and Jaunts

http://northeast.greatbritishlife.co.uk/community/blogs/entries/sheila-newton-twigs-gigs-haunts-and-jaunts/id/381/

Yet another feather in my cap, don't you think?  Another string to my bow!

WRITE ON!! and read on - there's more... 

^^^

I was commissioned by the fabulous Gatecrashers band, to ghostwrite their official website.  What an honour.  It was a real privilege to work with these great North-East musicians.

You can visit their website at:

The Gatecrashers Band

www.thegatecrashersband.co.uk

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Talk to you soon, Constant Reader. 

Hope you enjoyed this installment. 

There'll be another one soon.

In the meantime...

HAPPY EASTER

Go to the link below to colour in your own Easter Bunny (!!)

http://www.toonworkshop.com/free/clipart/cartoon/easter/index.php