CELEBRATING 100 MICROHORRORS, a FIRST at GYROSCOPE REVIEW and MORE!

My 100th MicroHorror is called Levitating Lady.

I would never have dreamt of writing any horror at all had it not been for Writewords duo Bill West and John Ritchie encouraging me to have a go. That was back in 2007. I won three Hallowe'en Competitions in a row and then was a judge for three in a row and here I am eight years later at 100 Horrors in MicroHorror and several elsewhere thanks to John and Bill and editor Nathan Rosen. I am sorry John isn't here to read it and leave me one of his comical comments.

Saints Alive was written just this week in response to the Flash Fiction challenge at Writewords where we are commemorating the brilliantly wicked sence of humour of our late friend, fellow fictionner and mentor John Ritchie aka Prospero who was the landlord of our fictitious local, The Parched Quill. He'd laugh at this one!

We all miss you John.

and I am also up today at PostcardPoemsandProse with Old Fashioned Broth. There seems to be a theme of saints and grannies going on here! It's coincidental...

 




Today is also the inaugural issue of Gyroscope Review and I am delighted that Kathleen and Constance decided to make me part of that by accepting HEART OF BRIGHTNESS that has nothing to do with grannies or saints -- bucking trend here :) Congratulaions on your new venture -- it's a great first issue and I see lots of friends there too. Every success.  

All in all a day worth celebrating.

First Day of Spring and Love is in the air

Yesterday was pretty spectacular here in North East England. Just prior to totality, the eclipse sky was completely clouded.But a small window of thinner cloud allowed me to get the best view possible.

Couldn't have been better When the sun re-emerged it seemed spring-like and we decided to go to Cragside. Nelly's Moss Lakes is our favourite walk. It's on the flat ;) A gentleman who'd never been there before came up for a chat and told us to look out for the frogs in the weeds along the margins of the lakes. We didn't have to go far to see them. The water was full of bubbles from their chasing about and frog spawn too and the air was filled with what I can only describe as frogs' purring -- chirruping little sounds, calls and answers from all over the pond. And then we saw them. poking their pretty little heads out of the water and generally having a spring orgy!

And they were not the only ones! 

At this point we began to notice toads on the path.

Only some of them had - eherm - too many legs ;)

and soon there were so many you really had to watch where you were stepping!

because they are so well camouflaged and when the detect someone coming they remain stalk still. It's not the best survival mechanism in the world when there are serious walkers and CARS are involved. 


3 toads/ five toads/ toads just getting in the mood/ toads that had just finished/ stoned toads! But it is Spring and this is the perfect habitat for frogs and toads and after all it's educational :) Get out there this weekend and see what you can see.

Oonahverse Eclipsed

Well, it was spectacular! The air went cold. A breeze blew up. The birdies stopped singing and the local mogg stopped mousing and left the garden. I didn't expect much and when I saw the cloud this morning I though that's that BUT it was the cloud that enabled me to see the eclipse -- glance at it -- take a few photos. I just snapped and snapped to see what I could get. And this is what I got.

I was PLEASED

A few years back I wrote an eclipse poem Celestial Sunflower and it's HERE along with a professional and tranfixing picture of a total eclipse at the South Pole. You'll see why I called it that when you see the photo!

This photo shows just how dark it got outside -- a mini nox in our Equinox!  

And I had the TV on of course watching the event with StarGazing Live which has been superb with the wonderful Buzz Aldrin being very entertaining and suggesting that Dara OBriain is way too emotional to ever be a test pilot :) Yip that Buzz is a COOL dude!

So that was it. A celestial event in my own back yard. Wonderful!

Not the Ides, the 8th, but nonetheless

The 8th March and therefore one year since the NHS once again saved my life! SUPPORT IT! If you don't there may be a time when you can't afford some vital operation without selling your house. Rich people ALWAYS exploit those less well off. They are on the take! Unless you don't need to earn a living you too are one of the 99%  

Don't fool yourself!

so thanks NHS and all the staff at the Wansbeck and my GP 

for giving me another spring

and this poem

Day at the Theatre

And this walk: Spring seems to have sprung. In fact mid-week we spent a day at Wallington House and Gardens and it was so warm sitting in our usual little arbour in the walled garden that we sat for longer than usual and then we wandered through the woodlands too -- double our accustomed walk. 

And here are some delightful photographs for you of the wonders of Wallington. 

snowdrops

and my Aspen which is so beautiful it doesn't mind posing nude:)

Happy Andalusia Day and then Happy Saint David's Day & Faggots Recipe

There's a bar in Benalmedina where they celebrate St David's Day with faggots and peas! We know this because we were there and you couldn't move for dragons. Now I like faggots as well as the next person but in Spain? There are better things to eat. Not that faggots are a million miles from those little tapas porkballs you sometimes get in tomato sauce mmmmmm! And whilst I have always bought frozen before, Noel told me last time that the quality had deteriorated so much that I wasn't to buy them any more -- typical recession story! So -- recipe to follow here. 

Although we were there for both days we celebrated neither because we went on a never to be forgotten Trip to Tangier on Feb 28th the one time we were in Andalusia and we have always celebrated St David's Day so that wouldn't have been anything new! 

We saw a total eclipse of the Moon in Benalmedina when we were there. Apparently on the 20th March we will see a partial but pretty good eclipse of the Sun from right here in NE Britain. I love eclipses -- they're spooky :)

So here's a story for Andalusia Day --  Trip to Tangier

And an easy recipe for Faggots for St David's Day

makes 8 or 9 and they freeze and reheat in the microwave from frozen!

1lb minced pork

2 lobes pig’s liver

1 kidney optional -- remember to remove the pipes!

2 slices bread (about 4oz)

1 onion

4 leaves sage or a tsp dried

1 tsp thyme or mixed herbs

1 tsp grated nutmeg

Salt & white pepper

Using the food processor blade, Zizz all the liver, kidney, onion etc until it looks all gloopy and horrible like reconstituted meat (only you'll know it's all good stuff not like when you buy ready made!). Stir this mixture into the pork. Form 9 balls. Roll in flour, semolina or polenta (cornmeal). Place in well buttered oven proof tray or glass dish. Covered with foil and bake at 190 or170 for a fan oven for an hour.

Serve with onion gravy mash & peas

FOR THE GRAVY:

1-2 oz butter
1 large yellow onion, ZiiiZZZed :) 

half tbsp. flour
1- 2 cups beef stock
SPLASH wine & sherry
½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

The secret is to let the onions caramelise a bit! And don't forget the Welshcakes!

  Wherever you may be, Wales, Andalusia or Morrocco, may the end of February and the beginning of March bring a spring to your step!

AVerse to Valentines -- I love you all!

No, I don't, really ;) It's always annoyed me, Valentine's Day. Ever since I was a teenager -- a rather fat and serious teenager. That's me in the front row -- the little dumpy one,aged 17,

and I never sprouted. Boys didn't look my way. Mind you, I seldom looked theirs.I was too busy studying. Not the brainiest kid in the bunch but I worked very hard and Mr.Greenwood said I was the only true contralto in the choir. Mr. Greenwood didn't go in for flattery so you may believe it. We were singing Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols arranged for female voices -- hence the silly get-up.


So here it is. One I did earlier – much earlier – about 1969...

AVerse to Valentines
by Oonah V Kyle

The carnations and the ribbons
and the roses all form part
of a magic that proposes
to mend every broken heart.
As the cupids with their arrows
wait there poised to intertwine
two young hearts the lover beckons
‘Come and be my valentine.'
So they float on clouds of passion
while the lonely passers-by
watch all the little cupids,
stamped and packaged rise and fly
where the insecure horizon
meets a non-existent sky.

(published in The Braid Magazine – Ballymena Academy)

Not a bad sonnet for a fifteen year old…

Goodbye to January

is not of course goodbye to Winter but it may be hello to the first signs of Spring. Our birds think so anyway!

Then there's
Groundhog Day/Candlemass -- 2nd when I always remember the groundhog we saw at Blue Mounds Minnesota in 2012 :)

Valentine's Day -- 14th -- Steak -- Chateauneuf du Pape -- heart shaped biscuits
Shrove Tuesday -- 17th -- Pancakes of course
Chinese New Year -- 19th -- Sweet n Sour Duck -- it's the Year of the Green Sheep apparently -- couldn't find any of those yet but maybe there will be some on the day ;)

leaves begin to sprout

catkins are out

snowdrops proliferate and crocuses and daffs are sure to follow  -- if not quite yet.

and anyway there are flowers to be had at Wallington and Belsay 

in any season

outdoors in season and indoors out of season

So January wasn't such a bad month after all

And I am looking forward to February -- a little jewel of a month :) and to reading Poetry for The Linnet's Wings which is open for SUBMISSIONS 1st-14th February.