Sunday 31 August 2014

Tall Ships leave Falmouth

Just thought I would drop in and share some photos. We spent a pleasant afternoon watching these tall ships leave the harbour at Falmouth for the start of the race that will see them head towards London and up the River Thames to finish in a few days time at the port of Royal Greenwich.

It looked a really impressive sight in the late summer sunshine. 







Friday 29 August 2014

Friday (really?) Celebrations

I am running late this week; to be honest I sort of forgot it was Friday! That happens when you are not at regular work, the days all get mixed up, but the upside of that is that everyday this week has seen writing action. Yay for that! I have done some editing, drafted and re-drafted a synopsis and even started something new. Something I hadn't been planning at all but a spark ignited and I just had to go with it. Love my fickle muse! I've written a couple thousand words today so really happy with that.

Am making the most of it because there are only a few days left of the summer break now and I will be back at the day job by the middle of next week.

Thanks to Viklit and her lovely co-hosts.

LG Keltner @ Writing Off the Edge
Katie @ TheCyborg Mom
CaffeMaggieato @ mscoffeehouse

Friday 22 August 2014

Celebrate life!

I have been trying to slowly ease myself back on line over the past week, if I haven't managed to catch up with you yet, apologies, I will get there soon! I have been taking the opportunity to work on my ms while I had the chance so my focus has been there. I can report, that following another round of edits, I am feeling quite pleased with it. Time to seek an outside opinion from a couple of readers! Always a tense time.

I did take a few hours away from writing to go shopping with my girls. University supplies mainly, but it was fun to spend some time together. Also had a nice evening out with hubby, just the two of us, which was a change. We both definitely feel as if we are embarking on a new chapter in our lives, with both girls at university the next couple of years are likely to bring fresh challenges for us all. Maybe it is the writer within me that always thinks of major changes and life adjustments as new chapters, a chance to move forward and grow in different ways. We may have an outline in our head of what the next page will look like, but until we actually turn the page and live it we will never know. Scary ...? perhaps, but also a little exciting.

Happy Friday friends


Full details of this fun and easy hop can be found  at Viklit

Also thanks to co-hosts;


LG Keltner @ Writing Off the Edge
Katie @ TheCyborg Mom
CaffeMaggieato @ mscoffeehouse

Friday 15 August 2014

Holidays and Celebrations

I thought it was about time I returned to blogging and what better way to start than to let you know what I have been up to. To avoid this post becoming too long and boring I am going to use a few pictures to help me. There are a couple of links to more information on the area should you be interested in finding out more about the ecology and history. 

 This was my home for 7 nights ...
     I took several daily swims in here ...
Caught a local boat and wound my way through the tranquil reed beds that were home to much wildlife ...












Which half an hour later led us here. The beautiful Iztuzu beach and home to these guys ...
There is no development here as it is a protected area. People are only allowed on the beach for a few hours a day and there are strict guidelines to protect the turtles breeding grounds.

Evenings were usually spent in places like this
eating delicious meals ...
 With views of ancient rock tombs ...
and magical sunsets ...


As this post is my contributions to the weekly 'Celebrate the small things' hop there is one other really important thing to add. My congratulations to my youngest daughter who yesterday received her A level results. Obtaining a whopping 3 x A's and securing her place to study at Exeter University. My baby's leaving home next month - warning expect a teary post from me when the time comes!

Thanks to Viklit and her team of co-hosts




Friday 1 August 2014

Celebrate and sign out!

I haven't done an *official* Celebrations post for a couple of weeks so thought I would rectify that today before I take a little blog break.

Thanks to Viklit and her team of co-hosts;

LG Keltner @ Writing Off the Edge
Katie @ TheCyborg Mom
CaffeMaggieato @ mscoffeehouse



So, I am celebrating;
  • An old school friend is coming to stay. We have known each other for, *pause for quick mental calculation* 37 years - wow! Looking forward to catching up and then she and her family are going to house/animal-sit for us for a few days while we go away for a holiday!
  • Editing - dived into revisions this week and made some unexpected progress. I say progress - not in actual words written so much, but in a plot change. I'm quite excited about the changes, even though it will mean extra revisions, but I think it will make the story much stronger. Deleting whole sections of your work can be scary but weirdly liberating at the same time!
  • Finally getting my Christmas present! Last weekend we went to London to see Phantom of the Opera. It was the first West End Musical I saw twenty something years ago and I have always wanted to see it again, so was very excited when I received tickets last Christmas. It was well worth waiting for and every bit as good as I remember. The songs are still whizzing around my head and bursting out at odd moments! Much to family's consternation as I can't sing a note - not in tune anyway!
  • Whilst we were in London we popped along to Trafalgar Square and saw the bright blue cockerel as featured in Hilary Melton-Butcher's recent post. On route we also saw the Glockenspiel and, like Hilary, we stood watching while it chimed for 5 minutes. Hilary has much better pics of it than I do, so head to her blog if you want to see it. Thanks for the tip Hilary.
Well, not a bad lot of celebrations. As I said, I plan to take a couple of weeks away from the blog to enjoy extra time with friends and family. Hopefully, when I return, I will feel refreshed and have some more interesting things to blog about. I will hop around a few blogs today and possibly over the weekend and then I will catch up with you all mid-August. Can you even believe it's the 1st of August today?

Have fun, stay safe, see you soon.