Tag Archives: fun

Cat on a Hot Night

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Sophie doesn’t do well in the heat and is feeling sorry for herself and a bit grumpy. So is the cat. It brings back memories.

black and white photograph of a white wine glass falf full of water

Image by Samuel from Pixabay

Writing this week has been taking place between the hours of 5.30 and 8.00am. After that it is just too damn hot in London. During working hours I find I am either suffering or snoozing involuntarily. The head has actually hit the desk at least once a day.

If I sit down for a refreshing glass of cool, cool water, straight from the fridge, I’m quite likely to fall asleep before I start.

Which, of course, means that I’ve not been sleeping properly during the dark and steamy nights. And oh boy, have they been steamy. My room runs the width of my house so I can have two windows open, allowing a refreshing breeze to flow through. At least theoretically.

No breeze has obliged, so far.

substantial fruit bun, cut in two to with a slice exposed that looks as dry as cardboard.

Image by robwiggly from Pixabay

Result: I get up sleep-deprived and then try to apply myself to writing.

It comes out over-cooked and distinctly stodgy. This does not surprise me. It adds to the accumulated sum of unwellbeing. General grumpiness ensues.

So then I look at the Met Office weather forecast and see that tomorrow will be cooler. Lovely. Except that was what they said yesterday. And it isn’t. At least, It doesn’t feel like it. My thermometer agrees with me.

So does my cat, Perdita. Continue reading →

Comfort Reading Old and New

Sophie seeks respite in a good comfort read…

As habitual readers of this blog will know, I am a lifelong believer in comfort reading both old and new. I started early, following in my mother’s footsteps. And reading has got me through difficult times, from Stressful Tasks in Parts to Lockdown.

This week the news, the weather and a dodgy bit of plotting in my current wip sent me back to my bookshelves again. Or maybe it was just the notorious January slump catching up with me a little late.

My Comfort Reading 1: Murderbot

Book cover, showing human-type figure in Star Wars type armour against a cloud of orange-tinted st team and the title, "Artificial Condition".Well, fairly old. It’s not in the same category as my childhood love, The Secret Garden. I first came across Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries four or five years ago. But the series has become a firm favourite and I have returned to it more than once. I see I’ve even blogged about it.

The diarist is a “construct” i.e. a hybrid made partly of cloned human tissue, including its brain, and partly of robotic devices. These include automatic weapons in both its arms. Continue reading →

For the love of owls : Sophie Weston reprise

owls,. Little owlDear Readers: Sophie is currently hors de combat with a broken arm so we’re republishing one of her inspiring nature blogs: this one is about owls (from 2019). Enjoy.

First you should know: I love owls. When I was at college, I lived for a time in a cottage opposite a field. We had a visiting Little Owl. I first encountered it when I came home at dusk to find Something sitting on the stone wall that surrounded our garden. I thought a child had dropped a stuffed toy and I reached to retrieve it. Until it OPENED ITS EYES.

It was a Little Owl. And they are really small, as you see. 1.5 bricks tall, max. But the message was direct, unmistakeable and compelling: DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.

I’ve been a huge fan of owls ever since. Continue reading →

Queen Elizabeth: with gasps and laughter

mourners for Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham PalaceTomorrow is the Queen’s funeral. There will be a great deal of black and much sombre music. And probably quite a few tears. Not a day for laughter.

But the Queen was a woman who had a mischievous sense of humour, a woman who, in private and sometimes in public, loved a joke.

Remembering the Queen’s sense of fun

So today, in advance of all that sombre black, I suggest we remember her funny side. Mostly, as Sophie said last week, she kept a straight face in case someone was offended. But sometimes, just sometimes, she had a chance to let her puckish sense of fun have full rein.

Continue reading →

Lockdown Puzzles : Word Search and Sudoku

puzzles taxing the brain - a woman struggles

What to do during lockdown? Last week, we suggested recipes you might enjoy. This week, I’m suggesting some puzzles — none too difficult, I promise — to test your grey cells.

Libertà Puzzles : #1 Word Search for Romance Lovers

Pride and Prejudice: 4 Bennet sisters in BBC version

In the grid below are well-known book titles, authors, characters and houses.
See how many you can find, using the clues below the grid. Continue reading →

For the Love of Owls

owls,. Little owlFirst you should know: I love owls. When I was at college, I lived for a time in a cottage opposite a field. We had a visiting Little Owl. I first encountered it when I came home at dusk to find Something sitting on the stone wall that surrounded our garden. I thought a child had dropped a stuffed toy and I reached to retrieve it. Until it OPENED ITS EYES.

It was a Little Owl. And they are really small, as you see. 1.5 bricks tall, max. But the message was direct, unmistakeable and compelling: DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.

I’ve been a huge fan of owls ever since. Continue reading →

Naming characters: hints and tips plus a fun quiz

Naming characters — there’s no single right way

naming characters - what is MY name cartoonAuthors have different ways of naming characters. Some label their key characters hero and heroine until they have finished the first draft, others need names for their characters before they can write a word.

(And some need to know all the character’s backstory before they start to write… But that’s another blog altogether.) Continue reading →

Day 13 of 12 Days of Christmas : Was It Worth It?

Day 13 calendarDay 13

It sounds like a horror movie, doesn’t it? Sort of the reverse of the Seventh Day, when you’re supposed to rest. More 21st century urban nightmare than traditional Christmas. (Indeed, the IMdB data base does list a move called DAY 13 filmed in 2017. But that’s about all it says.)

POST PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION REVIEW

editing sequence actionsWell, Mr True Love, would you say that you succeeded in implementing your ideas?

Did you achieve your goals?

Did the project fully solve the problem it was designed to address?

Can you take things further (further?!) to deliver bigger benefits in the future? (Yikes!) Continue reading →

Day 12 of 12 Days of Christmas : 12 Drummers Drumming & Play

Day 12 drum kitIf you needed any more evidence that True Love has lost the plot Day 12 will do it.  He’s now throwing 12 drummers drumming into the mix. Assuming they enter Stage Left and advance, drumming, that sounds pretty much like a declaration of war to me, if not the start of the battle.

Of course, the recipient may be a fan of heavy metal or other modern music making. In which case the drummers presumably just roll up on a milk float, or similar, sitting in the middle of their drum kit.

Welcome new arrivals, you think? Continue reading →

Day 11 of 12 Days of Christmas : 11 Pipers Piping & Ratty

By Day 11 Mr True Love has lurched from sweetly metaphorical, or at least agriculturally productive, through the dangerous combination of entertainment and aristocracy into full-blown martial mode. He’s sending eleven pipers to do his wooing business.

Day 11 Pipers pipingNow they could be playing the bagpipes. It’s the time of year for it.

In Scotland pipers are booked up years in advance for both New Year parties and Burns’ Night celebrations on (or about — because they often slip to Saturday night with its attendant recovery period) 25th January.

But eleven bagpipes? Well maybe, if you’re advancing on the field of battle. But as a token of a chap’s respect and affection? Um. Continue reading →