Storytime

I recently attended a Trivia Night. This one is our annual fund raiser for our Bookworms Relay for Life team. It is a fun night, mostly attended by work mates, and their families and friends. It's also a great way to totally understand your work colleagues and be amazed at what they 'know'. There are so many surprises. Who knew that person had a great knowledge of Australian prime ministers? Or who knew that person's passion was astronomy? I must admit to knowing nothing about either of the previous subjects. In fact while the astronomy round was on, I was happily doing one of the table games. (Yes I knew who lived in St. Mary Mead....and who in Whitehaven Mansions ) It's always interesting when there is heated 'discussion' over an answer. Some are adamant, others hesitant...some shrug and willing to go with the flow. Although had to laugh when Miss J and I attempted one of the table games----we knew 3 of the answers so guessed the rest. Surp...

to go away with your writing group. In no particular order.... 1. LIKE MINDED SOULS. It is just great to be with a group of people who get what you do. They know why you scribble down ideas on napkins, or listen to conversations. Understand when you sit silently in contemplation of a plot line. Why you struggle to find the exact words to describe something, stare mesmerised at the sea. They understand because they do it too.  2. BOOKS. It's always a chance to talk about books. What we are reading, what we heard was great, what we tried to get into and failed. Books are passed around. Are oohed and aahed over. Blurbs are read, storylines picked apart. We pass books on, borrow books, recommend books. There is always talk and chat about books.  3. WORKSHOPPING. It's a chance to get those pieces read and commented on. Chewed over, talked about some more. Time for some one-on-one chats, for group discussions. Over the years at these retreats we have seen m...

Another year, another Book Week...another excuse for us all to dress up. Not that many at my work place need an excuse. Frankly a 'It's Friday, dress up day' would suit the majority of us. (except for me, I don't work Fridays). But you get the idea. This year we had some fun celebrating the joy of Book Week.  There was an extravaganza with face painters and stories and scavenger hunts and book making. Each day there have been themes. Friday was Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Saturday, as you can see from the above picture, was anything. Monday and we were Dr Seuss (although I came as Little Red Riding Hood) Tuesday and we were fairies - as yet no group photo but... There were wings. A huge variety of wings. Can I say I had a bad case of wing envy. Some were AMAZING. Bit of a problem when coming too close to people, but they were beautiful. Huge part of Book Week (apart from the chance to have fun dressing up) is to celebrate books. We look at the ...

That's right, celebrating twenty years of Harry Potter. Yes twenty years ago we first met a young boy called Harry living in the cupboard under the stairs. How time flies! To celebrate, many libraries (and I'm sure book stores) held festivities. We had a Harry Potter night on Monday, complete with magician (who was amazing!) to keep the magic flowing. It was a great night...a great family night.  We had folks making bookmarks...looking at amazing potions... Using props for photo opportunities. Many photo opportunities....  There were snitches in cages and wands... I loved the creativity from my team mates... the library looked great! Full of colour and mystery... And everyone dressed up, for that day we lived Harry Potter. (some went above and beyond..they lived their characters). To me, that was the most important part of it all. Don't get me wrong, loved the feedback. So many parents came up to tell us what a g...

My writing style lately , if you can call it such, is a tad scattergun. Lots of small pieces being created, going anywhere and everywhere...and hitting nothing. I have no focus. I do a bit of this...and oh that's an idea. Start writing a poem, get the very basic first draft then...oh....idea for a picture book. I do it in 'real' life as well. Find something I want to make, and give it ago. Then I attempt a unicorn sock puppet.... Bake a biscuit or two.... Knit some baby stuff... Do a cross stitch and turn it into a cushion... Bake for a birthday... Make a hat for Storytime... Knit something else I haven't tried before... Interspersed with gardening of course. I'm all over the shop. Don't have a favourite. I just like doing, or attempting, different things. That, I think is (ONE) of my problems. It's like I lose my focus, spot something shiny and I head in that direction. I decide that this is the one I wan...

We all have them, expectations that is. There are expectations in your workplace (mostly along the lines of do what you are meant to do and you will get paid)...there are expectations in your home life. The groceries are bought on such and such day, the magic fairy does the washing and ironing and cleaning of the house, beds are made, meals are cooked. And so many events seem to thrust more expectations upon us. Every holiday, whether birthdays, Christmas or the Easter just past, and we are bombarded with images of happy families and big groups of friends celebrating. Every image shows people happy and laughing. So what happens if that doesn't happen? People move on, family moves away or have other plans. Friends lose touch...and with so many blended families, life becomes more and more complicated. But we know what will happen, what the media tells us should happen...we should be with loved ones having FUN! Easter, for us, is a family get-together. There is...