Some Days are Great...Today STINKS!

So, the great days are the Tessa B Days! She's a fast learner!


Last time I went close to those white things I got smacked.



Best to ignore them. Mum called me a 'Very Good Girl.'


Will I have to 'Get Down?'


No. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie.


Today stinks...I got four rejections!
All sympathies gratefully accepted (sigh).

By Popular Request...Introducing Tessa Buttons

In a way it hurts to post these photos just a week after Charlie-dog left us.
But I'm sure he and all our other pets, who are in the land over Rainbow Bridge, are happy Tessa Buttons feels so much at home already. And Tessa says:
Am I pretty or am I pretty? I feel SO happy here. I can hardly believe I can go all over the house, or that either Mum or Dad, and often both at once, are around to love me all the time. Just think, I'll never feel lonely ever again!


Next stop was the kitchen!
Food for Tessa? I like!
Then I explored the garden











I've got a lead on in case I run off.
As if I'd run away from my new home!








Tessa's Third Day
Hey, I get taken for walks lots of times every day now. And I'm such a good girl Mum and Dad let me off the lead to run and play. There are things called sheep, I started to chase one but Mum smacked me. She said that was the only thing she'd ever smack me for. I've promised Mum and Dad I'll try hard never to chase any.


Ok, I can see I need to work on layout (sigh) but, hopefully, you won't notice how messy this is because you'll all be too busy looking at Tessa.

Added Sunday 24th Aug: We know for sure now Tessa Buttons isn't pregnant. So glad, but it's going to curtail her new-found freedom for a while.

A New Writing Competition in...

...this month's Company magazine out NOW! Galaxy Ripple and Little Black Dress (Headline) have teamed up with Company to search for a new young (sh*t, does that let an OAP like me out?) writing talent. The winner gets the chance to have her (or his, I guess) short story of no longer than 2,000 words published at the end of a forthcoming LBD book + 5 runners-up go for lunch with Headline and have the chance to ask Julie Cohen for advice on becoming a bestselling author.
Closing date 16th Sep.
Happy Writing!!

Do things happen for a Reason?

We've never been without a dog - or dogs - for thirty years. When Charlie-dog died we thought we would maybe get another dog in a few months time when we'd had time to mourn but it would only be if a dog needed us.
I even contacted Collie Rescue to say in a few months we'd go on the list for rehoming a dog who needed rehoming. I was told we were too old to go on the list and anyway there was a long waiting list (that's good it means there aren't many rough collies needing help).
Then on Sunday afternoon we get a frantic phone call from a breeder who'd heard we might be looking to help an older dog in the future. She desperately needed someone for an eight and a half month old girl rough collie puppy who needed rehoming. Needed them like right NOW, she was off on holiday and couldn't take the puppy herself, she'd been on the phone all morning and couldn't find anyone.

We dithered for a while, but then decided the timing of Charlie-dog leaving us and this phone call was fate or something. We wouldn't have brought a pup into the house with an old boy like Charlie, it wouldn't have been fair to him.

And, we couldn't really turn our backs on the situation. So now we have Tessa. I think she'll settle in happily and, although we feel a bit emotional about not having long enough to grieve for Charlie-dog, I like to think he and our other dogs we had down the years are happy we're helping Tessa. Am off to the vet with her now to get her checked over.

Added after vet appt. Vet says Tessa's in good condition - except for her weight and lack of muscle. Proper walks will sort that one out. She got fed on junk food and fish and chips etc and some cr*ppy cheap dog food. I was worried she might be pregnant although she is a bit young to have had her first season; it can happen from 6 months, thought that's rare. Vet doesn't think she is but hard to be 100% certain because she's so plump and it was hard to tell by just feeling. We're going back in 10 days and Tessa aka Buttons might have to have a scan.

R.I.P. Charlie-dog

So, Charlie-dog went off over the Rainbow Bridge at midday today.

He was fourteen so really it should be a celebration of a long happy life.

Bye, Charlie-dog.

Well, I Never Did in all 'me' Born Days!

Matt's comment on my previous post got me thinking about some more strange things 'wot' are said in this part of the world.

Here's a few to be going on with:

When referring to dodgy market traders:

"H/She’s as sleazy as a cows udder."

Boasting about the undoable:
"If tha can do that I can knit fog."

Q. How do I look?

A. A mon (man) on a mad horse wouldn’t notice you.
Or if your legs were a bit bent: You couldn't stop a pig in a ginnel (narrow passageway between buildings).


Anyone got any strange saying from their neck of the woods?

Hen, Historic Racing Cars and Agent Request YAY!

The hen who came in from the storm to eat cornflakes in my kitchen before going to a new home has been laying eggs. OK, I know that's what hens do, but still, it's nice my rescued hen is doing it.

And I think the hen brought me luck as well as eggs because one of my completed my children's novels is on its way to an agent!

Have started a sort of show-blog for Husband who scratch-builds miniature Historic Racing Cars in the House up the Hill. Please click on the picture on my blog and go visit.

Congratulations to Annie Bright of Writing and Stuff

SQUEEEEE!

Annie got a Grade 2 Pass for her OU Creative Writing Unit.
Hope you'll all go and congratulate her.

Pictorial Maps

Click to get bigger view

OK, I told TF I'd see if I could show a pictorial map I made on here - so you can all see how I so can not draw! This is a map I drew for the main village in my fictional North Yorkshire Dale - Skirradale.

Needless to say (sigh) I can't make the pictures line up like they should.

Each house, shop or cottage industry has a number or name and also the names of the people living or working there.

So I've Got a New Character...

...and a bit of an idea of her story. I know roughly what she looks like. But I need to know more about her.
I always need to know far more about my characters than I ever use. Once I know about their childhood, their likes and dislikes etc, I like finding out more about where they live. They can't always live in my area or my house.
So, it's time to look at some of the models/collages I've made over the years.






The one above is one I made for my children's mystery series (as yet unpublished - sob). But, hey, nothing is ever wasted; I can use my fictional seaside town, based on a real area along the North Yorkshire coast, for my new character's story.

OK, so the pictures haven't come out very clearly, the foreground is a station on a preserved railway line - play spot the train - the background is the houses and shops in the seaside town.

To be honest, I'm not that sure how I managed to get the pictures to appear at all, it took me three tries. And now I can't get them where I want them to go!
They'll have to stay like this because I'm ready to start scribbling more notes about my new character.