A Small World

Hi there,

First a really big Thank You, I had a really tremendous response from 'my letter to Shane' (my last post) I really didn't expect it and have passed on all the kind messages, through Facebook, g mail and private messaging, to Shane himself, some from people who don't even know him, so thank you again from the bottom of my heart. He is and will always be an inspirational figure to all who know him. We had coffee again today, he's still at work and still laughing!

The title of this post is, 'A Small World' mainly because I just happened to see the world wide statistics for my blog today and was amazed at the countries where people actually read my ramblings. I must own I didn't know how to do it until my beautiful blogging niece, Sylvia, (who just happens to be the new costume designer for 'The Nightmare Realm', in Cork, Ireland, no excuses for name dropping here) showed me how to check.

                               Sylvie is a clever girl, very 'arty crafty'

This is us, earlier this year though strangely I don't remember her growing to be soooo tall, bless, she is even bending down somewhat!

Anyhoo...

Back to the 'Small World' thing. I ramble on about stuff that I feel is important, to me anyway, or on my mind  at the time and people across the world read it! I was astonished when I read the countries list...

United Kingdom, United States, Russia, Greece, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Germany, Bahrain, Canada, Poland, China and Croatia.

He has the whole world in His hands

So another big thank you to everyone who reads my 'stuff'. I don't claim it to be clever, inspirational or worldly but it is how I see things. From how my garden is doing, loath the slugs, through how much I am loving the characters in my book, The Tessellation Saga, Prophecy's Heir, as I read and re-read to get the editing right, to world wide news events like the terrible murder of Lee Rigby, the Drummer mown down and hacked to pieces in front of his barracks. I cried when I watched the TV footage.

Not every Muslim is a terrorist or a fanatic, I work at London Heathrow and many of the folk I work with are Muslim.  All the people I know are kind, generous, open and friendly, respecting my beliefs as I do theirs.

The world is a small place people, why can we not live in it together as one, we are all human after all, we are all one.

Thanks again for reading...

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeee til next time,

P.S.

England football team are playing the Republic of Ireland tonight, personally, I don't mind who wins... I have family in both countries.

A Letter for Shane, my Friend.

Hello there,

A friend of mine has Cancer with a capital C, he was diagnosed  last year and after a rigorous course of chemotherapy his entire stomach was removed and a new one built.  (Which in itself is amazing!)  After tests he was told everything was OK, his cancer was gone.  Now, less than six months later its back.  He knows he has only months to live and whilst myself and his other friends feel helpless and scared for him and angry at the wrongness of such a charming, kind and funny man having this thrust upon both he and his lovely family, he himself, is still coming into work, living each day to the full and promising himself a 'wing walking' experience next month when he goes on a final holiday with his beautiful wife!

Typical Shane!

Last week we had coffee together, "I'm sorry Dede," he said, "but I may not get to finish your book and I want to know how it ends, I'm enjoying it so far, you write well!"  I nearly burst into tears right in front of him, his bravery and stoicism in the face of his prognosis, humble me.  He is loved by not just his family but also by his many friends, all of whom look up to him with both admiration and respect, this clever, knowledgeable man whose humour is renowned, trained not only me but I imagine a quarter of the officers at London Heathrow.

Shane, my prayer for you is that a miracle will happen, that your months will become years and you get to spend more time with your lovely family, doing exactly the things you want to do.  Maybe even taking Jayne on the back of your Harley Davidson roaring along the entire length of Route 66!  

I want you to know you put me to shame my friend, I am ashamed for worrying about the stupid stuff, you know what I mean, family, relationships and things like my smile, I don't smile as often as I could because I don't particularly like my vampire teeth.  I don't like the wrinkles that mean I'm getting older, I complain about my 'baby belly' the stretched skin most mums have around their middle that's hard to lose and I moan because I'm 'vertically challenged' as you say, 5'2", well 5'1 and a bit!  And although I love my job I'd rather win the lottery and stay home to write full time...

Today though and because of you I will smile, I promise from today and everyday forward I will count my blessings, today I will give grateful thanks to 'whomever' is out there that you are still my friend, that I am alive and that I can feel the wind in my hair and the sun on my face, even if it has to travel further to reach me. 

You trained me way back then Shane, you are training me still... 

Always,

Dede X

A teeny weeny moan!

Hi,

I've been reviewing 'The Tessellation Saga,' with a view to re-publishing.  Obviously I've always known it's a long book but reviewing it again and again makes it seem twice as long and trying to get the punctuation right, with the correct number of spaces between words and apostrophes in the right places is a nightmare.  I'm the type of writer who just stares at the keyboard and uses between five or six of my fingers to actually type, so my thoughts flow quicker than my fingers can record them.  If I'm on a roll, so to speak, I might not actually look at the screen for a number of minutes and by then of course my punctuation is shot!  This is probably why professional editors and proof readers are soooo expensive, it's a time consuming and tedious task.  As for the story itself, I love it and am loving Tess 2, 'MeGath' even more but again I'm going to have to go over and over the story lovingly trying to get the copy right.  I really did pay attention during my many English classes at school honestly, but if there is such a thing as 'Punctuation for Dummies' I probably need it!  My favourite English teacher was a Mrs Head, I expect she'd shudder to read some of my stuff.  Sorry, Mrs H.  

'BLUE'

When I start to feel like I'm losing the will to breath, let alone add or remove another apostrophe or semi-colon, I look at the drawing of 'Blue' the wolf in my story, drawn by my beautiful and talented daughter in law Franci.  The drawing took patience and time and she must have had to know the wolf itself in order to re-create him  so wonderfully from my words.  So, 'Blue', back to the drawing board, or keypad in my case. 

Oh just a thought but I'm sure there's an old English study book about somewhere...  perhaps I should venture back into the Attic! lol

Byeeeeeeeeeeee........

:)

Six Degrees of Separation?

Hi Guys,
I got this bit from Wikipedia!

John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation

American playwright John Guare wrote a play in 1990 and later released a film in 1993 that popularized it. It is Guare's most widely-known work.

The play ruminates upon the idea that any two individuals are connected by at most five others. As one of the characters states:

I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people. Six degrees of separation between us and everyone else on this planet. The President of the United States, a gondolier in Venice, just fill in the names. I find it A) extremely comforting that we're so close, and B) like Chinese water torture that we're so close because you have to find the right six people to make the right connection... I am bound to everyone on this planet by a trail of six people.

So, whats it got to do with me...

I had a really strange experience on Friday, I was standing beside a colleague just chatting as we were working and I asked what plans she had made for her next three day break. 'Oh,' she replied, 'I'm going down to our caravan, it's on the Kent border.'

The conversation went on for a bit and I mentioned that my siblings and I had once lived in Broadstairs in Kent, in a Childrens' Home in fact. She paled slightly as she turned to me and said, 'Don't tell me it was St. Marys?'  I was too stunned to reply for a moment, 'OMG,' I said eventually. Obviously from that you can gather we were in the same Childrens' Home and around about the same time. We went on to chat about how strange it was that in such a large international airport full of people we would not only be working in the same small team but would have known the same nuns, and walked the same halls years ago as children!

Front of St Mary's including the pond.

Back view. Can still remember our dorm!

I can hear the skeptics among you saying that we must have lived in the same area for the local authorities to place us together but no, my colleague hails from Wigan and I come from Surrey! Anyway, I had some photo's of it on my phone as I'd gone on a memory mission last summer. It's disused now but still a beautiful building. We talked for a while about some of the random things we remembered, like the penny put under your plate on Christmas Day Breakfast which meant you could open your presents first, and the huge Easter Egg that was donated every yer by a local shop. The crocodile walk in hats and gloves to church every Sunday and the bacon fat we soaked our bread in after breakfast. Then the stone stairway that led down to the beach. I remember the stair as being a strange and magical pathway, with high walls either side of the stone steps that led on up or down  forever and a white sandy beach where we were taught to carve the chalk rocks into faces.

To go up from the beach!

OK, so that may just be a coincidence but as we chatted we discovered we were also in the same Childrens home in Hindhead in Surrey, just by the Devil's Punchbowl. The difference being that we both had extremely  fond memories of St Mary's and the very kind and caring Nuns, where those from Hillgarth, the home at Hindhead, were not so good. Apart from the library at Hillgarth, where I discovered the world of books from the Secret Seven series by Enid Blyton to The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien and a childrens version of Lorna Doone,  by R D Blackmore. The only good memories I have of Hillgarth are the grounds and a fort built in the woods for us children by one of the care workers and walking in the Devils Punchbowl itself, eating the blueberries straight off the bushes and my brother losing the sole from his shoe and having to be the original member of the ministry of silly walks until we got back. Oh and I remember a girl called Gwendoline, who taught us kids how to play Jack Stones on the huge playroom table. Hillgarth isn't there anymore, there's a housing estate built on the site, it too was a lovely building but ... OK so I really am rambling on now! lol

Strange though isn't it. Six degrees and all that!

Has anyone else had a similar experience of the six degrees thing? Let me know, it would make interesting reading.

Got to go....

Byeeeeeeeeeeee.... :)

If I had a brain...

Hi guys...

I've just spent about 30 mins trying to 'log on' to write a post only for the website to tell me I was using the wrong email or password... So frustrating, especially when I absolutely know for sure its not wrong. Until of course I suddenly remember one of the letters was supposed to be a capital. DUH!!!

Anyway today the sun is shining brightly, although it's not too warm and its my baby boy's birthday. ( not that he's much of a baby anymore and he no longer lives at home, he lives in South Africa with his lovely fiancee.)

      HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEWIS!

This is one of my favourite pictures of them both. They are both very clever and artistic people, if you need a wedding cake and live anywhere near Tzaneen for example, try Franci's
 'The Occasional Cake' site.



 I visited them both in South Africa  the year before last and had a fantastic time, one of the most memorable bits was  helping with the bees. South African bees are supposed to be very aggressive and are huge but the honey is amazing!


The kids keep the bees well away up on the side of a mountain and its quite a trek to get to them, so after we suited, booted and did running repairs with sticky tape we headed off in the back of a lorry. The bees were quite drowsy and stayed that way with the help of lots of smoke but it was certainly an experience I'll 

never forget. 

 Me, washing down the honey!

I'm on the right!

Anyhoo... as I said at the beginning its a bright and sunny day and my garden needs attention so I'll have to go, it's nowhere near as warm here as in SA but I'm sure our good old English or European bees will appreciate the wealth of flowers when they bloom in the summer.

 Ooops did I mention the 'S' word (shhh...) just in case today is it! lol

Byeeeeeeeeeee... till next time. 

Oh a tiny P.S. 

I'm reading 'ODD HOURS' by Dean Koontz, its one of a series and well worth a read if you are not too busy reading 'The Tessellation Saga' by D J Ridgway of course.. :)    

.-.-.-

Hello folks,

On Sunday I downloaded the sample of 'The Wretched of Muirwood' by Jeff Wheeler available on Amazon for Kindles. Yesterday I downloaded the rest of the book and spent a lot of the day reading it. (Obviously it was a day off although reading for a living would be a great job too eh!)  The only time I spent away from my kindle was whilst I was either eating,  working on Tessellation or working out at a Zumba class with Alex Henry. I've added a picture, it's not a good one but the music is great, the workout is fun, I've lost loads of weight and am fitter than I've been in years. All of which I loved doing but hey, I'm digressing...

  

I'm on the left of the lady in the beige outfit!

The Wretched of Muirwood, I really enjoyed it and finished it in one sitting. The digital world is great isn't it? I used my kindle to post a review and also left a quick message on Twitter and hey ho, I not only got re-tweeted but had a comment back from the author, not the first time an author has got back to me and its gratifying to think my comments actually mean something.

This morning I downloaded the 2nd book in the series and have forbidden myself to turn on the kindle until I've actually done some work. Yes, today is a work day but as I work shifts and don't start until later I'm quite happy rambling on here... lol

Anyway, the point is that I've read some great books lately, all of which have been lovingly edited and proof-read, I can only hope Tessellation is as good. I've already told you in a past post how the story came about and the weird way in which the chapters were written. I wrote it all on Microsoft Word, not worrying about how many pages or how many words there were because I wasn't thinking of publishing it at the time, I was just enjoying the story. I still am but I never before realised that to actually get a book ready and 'out there' was the hard part. 

Got it on 'Wowcher'

Yesterday a package arrived through the post. A 'Write your own Novel' program, brought from Wowcher for a silly price. Its rather amazing,  It plans out your book has written prompts, notes characters and backgrounds, edits events and keeps track of all of your characters, even generating random characters for you. A far cry from my  Microsoft Word and many hand written notes. I'm looking at it as I speak but must confess I have not actually taken it out of its wrapper yet!  

Scary isn't it? Will my puny little brain be able to handle such an idea, if I actually get to open it I'll let you know. Meantime I think I'll stick to my Word and worry about my editing and proof reading! That is a major task all of its own. Now if someone could explain the singular peculiarities of the English language  and how an apostrophe is supposed to work... That I would pay good money for! lol

'Tempus Fugit' and all that work calls......................

Til next time, 

byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Hello folk’s,

I thought I’d write a few lines at the beginning of my days off rather than at the end, the aim is to see if I actually manage to fulfill all my intentions for the two days...  The first bit is already achieved, my eldest granddaughter is sleeping in the study, I collected her last evening and she’s going to stay as its half term so my two days will hopefully be geared toward giving her a fun time as well as achieving my own goals!

So today's goals are:

·         Go for a run this morning. (But as I’m sitting in bed and typing on my laptop this doesn't feel like it’s going to get done anytime soon! lol)

·         Off to the river Thames to feed the ducks with my eldest and her two sons. (Gives the cousins a chance to play together.)

·         Baking some mini upside down cakes with Tia, my granddaughter. A recipe borrowed from the, ‘a beautiful mess’ blog. It’s a great blog and fun to read. (This is another good idea but ‘Delia’ is my name, not my occupation,sincere apologies to Delia Smith. I can’t cook but don’t tell Tia that, she thinks I can do everything and I don’t want to disillusion her.  J)

·         Do some work on my book ‘Tessellation Saga’ and send a few emails.

·         Lastly end the day with a small glass of Merlot and a good book. Currently reading, ‘Cloud Atlas’ by David Mitchell.  A collection of different but very cleverly interwoven stories. I believe it’s going to, or has been made into a movie!

I’ll let you know how I got on and post pictures in evidence, (again of course if I can get the pics to post properly, you know this act in itself proves a major challenge time and time again... duh!)

.-.-.-

Well, it’s been 24 hours and once again, Tia is still sleeping in the study, Yesterday didn't actually go exactly according to plan...  who wrote, ‘Best laid schemes of mice and men...’  (Possibly Steinbeck?)

Anyhoo, the broadband died within minutes of me getting up yesterday so I had to spend an hour on the phone chatting to someone from Virgin Media who attempted to tell me what to do to correct the problem. The fact that I found it soo hard to understand what she was saying didn't help. Have you ever been in a situation where you are constantly saying, ‘I’m sorry but can you repeat that,’ or ‘I’m sorry but I don’t understand what you’re saying!’ a dozen times? It made me feel so stupid. I was glad when my eldest turned up as scheduled and took over. So once again the World Wide Web is online and accessible! Woo hoo!!

Be thankful there is no audio!

 Whilst my eldest and I were busy sorting out the computer the kids decided to invite a steel band into my kitchen. I must own their repertoire was a little monotonous but they seemed to be having so much fun. Albie, the baby, especially so and Hendry, the eldest boy was so enthusiastic he broke one of my wooden spoons but dedicated to his music he promptly took another and continued. A budding composer...?

She says 'this is the best bit'

Thank you 'a beautiful mess!'

After Derry and the boys left, Tia and I actually did feed the ducks with the remnants of yesterday’s bread and we did do some baking! The pineapple ‘upside down’ cakes went really well and Tia was very pleased with herself. I must own I was relieved too!  She and I went to see her parents where she delivered some of the cakes and then on to see Derry again, where she delivered a few more whilst they were still warm.

On the way home we stopped at the local cemetery because She had been asking about family history. It was freezing cold and we were all alone in the cemetery but it was kind of peaceful. I showed her the graves of both her great and her great great paternal grandparents! Also we visited the grave of a young man who was tragically killed in a motor bike accident on her birthday a few years ago. He had been her dad’s best friend since early childhood and she had known him well. David actually sat outside the hospital on a grass verge all night long and waiting as anxiously as Tia’s father on the night of her birth.

When we arrived home to hot chocolate and a fire we spent a while looking at old photos until Tia decided she wanted to heat some soup on an old Trangia, an 'outdoor' cooker. (Lets not forget she became a Scout  last week!) after dinner we all played charades and I had my glass of Merlot!

It has to be Heinz!

So, the day was not at all as I expected but we had fun, Tia learnt something of our family and I got to work on ‘The Tessellation Saga’ after she had gone to bed! I love being a grandparent and would recommend it, alone I probably wouldn't have visited the cemetery or fed the ducks and my hubby and I certainly wouldn't have played charades, where we just laughed and laughed. Maybe we also built a few memories for Tia to look back on when she’s got grandchildren of her own, you never know!

Till next time... xx   :)