Celebrate the small things

A little Easter posy to illustrate my celebrations post today. I've got some lovely clumps of primroses springing up around the garden. These pretty flowers always remind me of my late mother. She had lots in her garden and most of the ones I have now originated from there.




My Easter weekend celebrations include the promise of some time to relax (hopefully!) and time to spend with family and friends. My youngest got back from University yesterday and is ill, so not celebrating that, but at least she is home and I can spoil her with some TLC.

In my writing life I am working on edits at the moment. With some time away from the day job over the  next couple of weeks I am hoping to nail them! So if I am not around much for a while that is probably why. Getting this ms submission ready as soon as possible is my priority at the moment.

I hope that those of you gearing up for A-Z have loads of fun. I'll try and stop by some of your posts when I can.

In the meantime I wish you all a happy and peaceful Easter. If chocolate's your thing, then enjoy the perfect reason to indulge. I'm sure I will be!

Thanks to Lexa and her lovely co-hosts

 L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge 

Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate the small things

A busy week, but I love this hop as it is the perfect opportunity to post a short update and to reflect on the little things that have made us smile. This week I am celebrating:

* My new vacuum cleaner. I somehow blew my old one up a couple of weeks ago, which was rather annoying, but my new shiny one is great and much lighter to carry up and down the stairs. I actually quite like doing the hoovering - it is a good time to think through those plot problems!

* Daffodils. I love these sunny, yellow flowers. There are quite a lot of fields of daffodils around our area. Some are obviously picked in bud for cut flowers, but many are left to flower in the field and the bulbs collected later.

And finally, the sun has showed itself a couple of days this week. Spring is beckoning.

Thanks to Lexa and her lovely co-hosts

 L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge 

Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

IWSG for March - In which we discuss squirrels

I was reading through some of my old stories recently and something leapt out at me as a little strange! I thought I'd share it here today as I wondered if anyone else had noticed a similar thing happening in their writing . . . 

  SQUIRRELS

Time and time again, mention of one of these little creatures pops itself into the story. It doesn't seem to matter if it is a short story for the adult reader or a longer piece for an emerging reader, one of these fellows seems to burrow his way into the prose. Sometimes it may just be a passing comment, other times a sentence . . . once even a whole paragraph!

Are squirrels hiding in my sub-conscious for any particular reason?

And why squirrels? Why not rabbits or mice or even elephants? (OK maybe I can see why not elephants!)

I took a little stroll around the internet to sniff out some possible meanings for my abundance of squirrels. Apparently, they could be a sign that I need to take life less seriously and have more fun. Or, maybe it is to do with seeking balance or about communication. Interesting stuff .  . .  

Maybe I'll write a story about the fellow in the photo above. I took this picture last year while staying with relatives who have a giant ornamental walnut in the garden. I guess this little guy found it a bit of a tough nut to crack!

Excuse my ramblings, but the squirrels have made me feel a tiny bit insecure today. 

Has anybody else noticed such things happening? Should I try and stop them sneaking in? Hmm, actually I think I'll leave them be. I kind of like them and it's fun to see where one might pop up next.

Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh for hosting our monthly insecurities and this month's fabulous 

co-hosts: 

Lauren Hennessy
Lisa Buie-Collard
Lidy Wilks
Christine Rains
Mary Aalgaard

Don't forget to check out the new IWSG Newlstetter if you haven't already seen it. It's well worth a read, congratulations to all involved in producing this great new resource.