I mentioned last week that my husband had purchased me a surprise present–a Pandora bracelet. This week he brought me home an All Black jacket (rugby team) and a T-shirt with a tui on the front (NZ bird). Oh, and a chocolate fish. All were unexpected surprises, although much appreciated.
I said thank you and then said to him, “Okay, who are you, and what have you done with my husband?” Then I said, “Do you have a guilty conscience?”
He assured me that the presents were because he likes me. LOL – I’m still not convinced, and I’m watching him closely, although I have to say, I’m enjoying all the presents.
I received a contract for book eight in my Middlemarch series this morning. CatNap introduces a pair of tigers to Middlemarch, a brother and sister. CatNap is the brother’s story, and the next story I write will be the sisters. I’m also closer to dealing with Sly and Joe Mitchell, the twins. Watch this space.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter holiday. Keep safe.
We always had a lot of books around us when we were kids. My brother, sister and I knew our nursery rhymes and read a lot. I remember boxes of books in the back of the wardrobe that belonged to my parents – mainly mysteries and westerns. My mother was a teacher who taught new entrants (five-year-olds) and she used to have heaps of books that she’d use in her teaching. She’d show us her new purchases and of course, I’d read them. She died in an accident when I was 21 and I kept a few of my favorites. I was looking at my bookcase today and pulled out one about a rabbit finding an egg. It made me smile.
Here are Thirteen of My Favorites (that are still in my bookcase)
3. Travels of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting – this version adapted by Al Perkins. As a kid I had the actual Hugh Lofting series, which is probably what started my fascination with talking animals.
11. The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss – still one of my favorites. I like the message.
12. Shelley and the pony of the year by Ellen Bosworth. How could I resist this story? I see that it’s out of stock and a used copy is on sale for $45.
13. Proud Riders by Josephine Pullein-Thompson. Like lots of other little girls I liked pony stories.
I noticed when I did the Amazon links that many of these books are still popular and highly rated. A good book never goes out of date.
What stories do you remember from your childhood? Do your children or grandchildren have some of these?
As part of his job my husband has to go into people’s houses. He’s always amazed at how messy some of the teenagers’ bedrooms are with so much stuff on the floor he can’t do his job. I think he’s actually scared to go into some of the bedrooms because of the lurking laundry and undies around the place. He’s never sure exactly what he might find.
I’ve always tended to pick up after myself, even when I was a teenager. I shared a room with my sister. She wasn’t as tidy as me and we argued. When my mother suggested we tidy our room, it truly wasn’t my fault. Really!
When it comes to my writing stuff, it all looks fairly tidy, but the sheer number of piles on my desk irritates my hubby. I tell him I know where everything is, but he thinks one pile would be best, or better yet, no piles at all.
How are you when it comes to tidiness? How are your children?
My special guest today is Rose Marie Wolf. I’m also over at Rose Marie’s blog today, so I hope you have a chance to visit me over there too. Over to Rose Marie…
Thanks, Shelley, for having me on your blog today. I’m glad to be here.
I’ve been thinking lately about e-books. If anyone had asked me what they were, I would’ve stared at them blankly. E-book? What the heck is that?
It wasn’t until I had started writing serious and considering submitting a manuscript that I began to discover what they were. Books you can read on your computer. Cool! But, I never read one. They cost money to read them online and being out of work at the time, money was a precious commodity.
So, I worked on my books and continued to search for a publisher. Low and behold, Samhain Publishing accepted my first book, Sweet Moon Dreams. It would be out in e-book as well as print. The best of both worlds!
I was excited. I told everyone about it. E-book came first, then print later. When I told people I was published, they wanted to know where they could buy it. Online. It’s an e-book right now.
Their faces fell and so did mine. They weren’t interested in e-books. Many of them were like me. They had never heard of an e-book before. So they didn’t want to buy it. They were willing to wait months for a print version.
E-books couldn’t be that bad, right? I stressed over it for weeks. I thought e-books were a technological advancement of the publishing world. Wouldn’t people like that?
I soon found out that everyone is different. Some like e-books, some don’t and that’s fine. Many publishers these days tend to give contracts for e-book and print, so all the bases are covered. For me, e-books are a great thing. Once I discovered them, and found my own e-book reader, I fell in love with them. Now, I’m reading e-books as well as print, and I couldn’t be happier to be published with both.
Rose Marie Wolf is the author of The Moon Series, a series about two werewolves on the run from a group of hunters. Her latest release with Red Rose Publishing, Dark Moon Magick, is the fourth book and conclusion of the series. It is due out in print later this year. An upcoming paranormal romance, Changed, is due out from Red Rose Publishing in e-book also this year.
In Spain, they have the running of the bulls. In New Zealand we have running of the sheep.
Mention the small town of Te Kuiti and most New Zealanders automatically think of sheep. It might have something to do with the fact that the NZ Shearing championships are held there or the fact that David Fagan, a world champion shearer comes from Te Kuiti. They have a huge statue of a shearer in the town centre. Each year they host the annual running of the sheep. The run took place a few days ago, and they had a few problems this year. The sheep ran amok, leaping over barriers designed to protect the spectators. One woman was knocked out. Around 1500 sheep were released and only 400 crossed the finish line.
Here’s a Youtube from a previous year showing images and live footage plus some foot-tapping music. Enjoy!
When people think about sheep and New Zealand, they often start with sheep jokes. I couldn’t find any definite figures on the number of sheep in NZ, but the numbers have definitely declined in recent years due to a surge in dairy farming. I know my father used to have quite a few sheep but has scarcely any these days. My sister has a pet lamb (now fully grown) called Pandora who terrorizes our little dog every time she visits. Scotty knows to keep far, far away from Pandora. I had pet lambs when I was a kid and entered agricultural shows. I still remember my pet lamb, Belinda. She was a real champion.
- New Zealand’s first sheep were set ashore by Captain Cook on 20 May 1773.
- Rapid sheep population growth in the 1850s and 1860s was mostly attributable to permanent immigration rather than natural increase. In 1864 alone, 13,000 sheep arrived in Canterbury from Australia. Droughts meant that sheep could always be bought cheaply from Australia. Drought continues to affect Australian farmers and sheep numbers.
- The first shipment of frozen lamb and mutton sailed to London from Port Chalmers aboard the Dunedin in 1882.
What would you do if a sheep came charging at you during the running of the sheep?
Thank you for visiting my blog during the month of March. I love waking up each morning to read your comments.
Congratulations to my winners for March:
Voronda and Helen Hardt
I hope you’ll continue to visit me during April. Don’t forget all you need to do to go into the draw to win a book prize for April is make a comment on one or more of my posts.
A news item caught my attention last night. On 31 July 2006 the Reserve Bank of New Zealand introduced some new coins. The 5c coin was made obselete, and they resized the 10, 20 and 50 cent pieces. I forget how many million coins they put into circulation at this date. I know it was a lot, but it seems a few million coins have gone missing.
The Reserve Bank are appealing for people to empty the jars of coins they collect and spend them so they go back into circulation. If people do this, they won’t have to spend money minting new coins.
According to the Reserve Bank the average person has two hundred coins on hand at once, and men are worse than women at hoarding coins. They empty their pockets and put the coins in a jar.
I have to say that I don’t hoard coins. I’m not one of the people who have two hundred coins hanging around. I use my coins to buy papers and milk, the odd ice cream, and I use them for bus fares. Nope, you won’t find stray coins hiding down the back of my couch!
What about you? Do you have two hundred coins hiding around the place? How is your partner with coins? Are you…gasp!!…a coin hoarder?
I was thinking about inventions yesterday, and all the things I’m glad that some intelligent person or persons invented. Here are some of my favorites.
1. Hot and cold running water – I think one of life’s simple pleasures is a hot shower. I love being able to walk to a tap for a glass of water. I’ve done quite a bit of traveling in countries where people don’t have this luxury. Hot and cold running water is something that I never take for granted.
2. iPods – my iPod is the most basic sort you can buy, but I love it. I like being able to carry all my favorite songs with me where ever I go.
3. wheels – I love cycling every day. I love my orange and black bicycle. It would look pretty funny with square wheels and probably wouldn’t work very well either!
4. telephones – the ability to keep contact with friends and family all over the world is pretty amazing. Of course, sometimes the telephone is a PITA but on the whole, I think it’s an excellent invention.
5. chocolate – whoever managed to turn the cocoa bean into luscious chocolate has my vote.
6. ebooks – I like the immediacy of them, being able to download an ebook at any time of the day or night and the ability to take lots of books on holiday without breaking my back with a case of books.
7. washing machine – it makes washing day a breeze instead of an all day thing.
8. BBQ – nothing tastes better than a BBQ meal, eaten outside on a beautiful night.
9. computers – a computer makes writing so much easier. I can’t imagine what it must have been like typing a manuscript on a typewriter or by hand.
10. dishwasher – hubby and I didn’t have a dishwasher for a long time. When we moved to a new house, a dishwasher was part of the package. We’d hate to be without it now. It was hard to go back to handwashing dishes when it broke down. We arranged for the serviceman pretty quickly!
11. airplanes – I like to travel. I like it best when I’m on the ground but a plane comes in handy to get from point A to B.
12. muffins and cakes – when it comes to food, I’m always fascinated by how people discovered various food combinations. I know many were discovered by mistake, but some combinations just don’t seem obvious at first. I’m so glad blueberry muffins were invented.
13. Internet – I can’t imagine life without the internet for both my writing, for learning new things and for meeting new people and keeping up with friends and family.
My husband came home with a surprise present for me last night. There was no occasion – he just turned up with a present. I thought it was chocolate when I started to open it, but it was a Pandora bracelet. I’ve been eyeing the bracelets for months but thought they were too expensive. It’s sterling silver and very pretty. You buy the bracelet and add the charms as the budget or occasion demands.
My husband and I don’t do presents for birthdays or Christmas. Since our birthdays are a month apart we usually buy something we both want or have dinner out. Sometimes he’ll bring me home chocolate or a bottle of wine if he knows I’ve had a bad day. This bracelet was a complete surprise, and I was really touched. Lots of brownie points
How do you handle presents in your family? Do you have memories of a special present that you really loved or maybe hated?
Thanks, Shelley, for having me on your blog today. I’m glad to be here.
