Thursday 27 August 2015

Lions, tigers and bears …oh my!

Life’s great at the moment, apart from the Menieres blips. We did it! We survived the
season. Last Saturday was our last away game in Oxford. I love Oxford especially as it is so close to by spiritual home, Silverstone! It’s funny how some places grab your heart and stay there forever. But there’s no place like home! I love being a Yorkshire lass. We have some truly amazing places in Yorkshire. 

On Tuesday it was Lucas’ 9th birthday. We had three days of birthday celebrations just for HIM. I think it is too easy to forget that he doesn’t have any choice but to be involved in rugby league. If I’m honest he doesn’t enjoy the sport at the moment due to what his brother was put through at his amateur club and witnessing abuse at professional games. Lucas is a sensitive and caring little boy. He doesn’t like shouting and certainly doesn’t like disrespect. He is a work in progress and has the season has gone on, he has started to get involved again. He loves being ball boy at the home games.


Lucas is our Dr Doolittle. He talks to animals, insects and he is our spider saviour. I kid you not. When he was away one weekend, we had a giant spider in the house. Wes, Erin and I gave it a wide berth. Couldn’t bear to even look at thing! Anyway, Lucas came home, walked upstairs, picked the spider up and brought it down in his hands – he freed the spider, not before he chased his big brother with it first. I’ve never seen anything so hilarious in all my life. He is my HERO!

For his birthday treat, we went to Yorkshire Wildlife Park. It is a truly magical place.  The organisation, through their foundation, rescue animals and give them a home. They are involved in international breeding programmes for endangered species and have three new tiger cubs and Amur leopard cubs. Their work is amazing. We had a brilliant day. Lucas was so excited to see the polar bears and well, the tigers and lions were…well…chilled. 

P. S.  LOOK at the smile on the lion's face!


Menieres Madness

Menieres is beyond ridiculous at times. My ears are becoming a real life barometer. I can tell you in advance when the storms are coming. I find it so hard and frustrating when my body will not allow me to do things I want to do. Some days it is so bad I have to write everything down! I mean everything! I can’t even string a sentence together – I know it is hard to believe but I swear to you it is true! I have had a couple of days of feeling sorry for myself which makes me angry with myself for feeling sorry for myself! The trouble is when I’m not well I start to go over the things I have suffered over the years and then wind myself up without actually dealing with the issues. So, in my new found optimism I have decided to hit every demon head on so that I can accept angels into my life without the heavy baggage of the past. I never want my children to look back on their childhood and feel unloved and unwanted. My greatest achievement will be Motherhood and so far so good…even if I do say so myself!

September approaches


Autumn is by far my favourite season – the colours, the cold brisk mornings and the optimism of a new season. 

I think the mood of hope and optimism in our house comes from the mood surrounding the labour movement. For the last twenty years or so I have questioned my allegiance to the Labour party. I have seen them move towards the right wing and I have found it increasingly difficult to support their actions. So it is a breath of fresh air to watch the great debate around Jeremy Corbyn. If I’m honest he is not as left wing as some of my beliefs but he is definitely my cup of tea. It’s frustrated the hell out of me how so many people believe everything that is written in the papers or spouted by our politicians. They only tell us what they think we want to hear. Social media has played a massive part in getting the message across and I have always said that if social media had been around in the 1980s, the face of our country would be totally different now and we would have had truth and justice a lot sooner for Hillsborough and Orgreave.

It really saddens me how labour have allowed the voting to become another debacle but I hope the peoples’ voices are heard and there is no manipulation of the results. HOPE, JUSTICE, INTEGRITY – never thought those words would be used in the same breath as British politics again.

Writing Projects


Beyond the Past




Have you had the chance to read it yet? Would you like to review it for me?

Read the first three chapters FREE on my website
Available from:
Pegasus Publishers
Amazon UK
Kindle
Amazon US
Or you can order from your local bookshop. The ISBN number is : 978-1-84386-789-0

Streetwise


Well it’s been sent off! I’m excited, full of hope, nervous, afraid of rejection – all of these at once! BUT you never know if you don’t try. The worst case scenario is they say no. I’ve faced plenty of them in my life so another one isn’t going to break me anymore.
The story is set in Leeds (surprise, surprise!) and tells the tale of fate bringing people together under extraordinary circumstances:

            Life’s path can change in the blink of an eye or the detonation of a bomb. Rob Kennedy should have been planning a wedding not a funeral. Consumed with guilt and grief, suicide seemed his only escape from his perpetual nightmare until a single act of kindness by a real life guardian angel, saves him from himself.
Twelve months on, unable to trace each other, Rob and Kate’s paths are about to cross once more in extraordinarily circumstances.”

The Nanny


This week I found myself in a bit of a dilemma – three storylines I have I really, really like and couldn’t decide what to write next. Short of doing a rock, paper, scissors by myself (!!), I let the stories choose me. So, my next work is The Nanny. It was the right choice as I am already well into formulating the characters. 

I have so many projects on the go at the moment and if hard work paid off, I would have enough money for…some new tyres for my car! I will NOT give up regardless of how many people are waiting on the wings to see my fall flat on my face!
My other ongoing projects include:

  • Editing Beyond the Lies
  • Mr Fluffington and His Feathers
  • Behind the Painted Smiled
  • The tortured soul of an unwanted child.


I am so into all these projects. In between editing I am frantically writing. Variety is the spice of life! I am not short of work thankfully and one day I am sure my hard work will be rewarded…sooner rather than later hopefully.

This weekend is the last bank holiday of the year in the UK. We live less than a mile away from the Leeds Festival so the roads around us our gridlocked for a while. I hope the weather is fabulous for the festival goers and I hope you are enjoy the bank holiday – the next one is Christmas!!! 










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