A good Saturday morning to all! Today, the sun shines with only a few wispy clouds dotting the sky. I want to tell you about a little adventure we had on our yard last week. The tale proves that your feet don’t need to carry you past the gatepost to create lifelong memories.
The COVID Pandemic has slowed the world, and though not a pleasant experience, it has taught us to appreciate the simpler pleasures. Like the little duck, we named Griffin, that wandered onto our lawn last week.
At first, we were surprised by the proximity to which we could approach Griffin. We reasoned he must belong to a local. Tanya put a shout out on social media, but no owner came forward.
There were some guesses as to what type of duck, and the gender. Know-it-All Google had the answer. A comparison of photos led to the conclusion that our guest was a Muscovy. No one had the stomach to physically check for gender, so we relied on an online list of observed behaviors that indicated it was a dude.
Now, Muscovy ducks dine on mice, snakes, and other vermin, so in my books that makes Griffin a hero. We all agreed Griffin was welcome to stay.
Griffin chose the area under the treehouse and our kids happily tended to his needs.
Just make yourself comfortable, Griffin. Need anything?
Um . . . I’m no expert on drinking from a frisbee, but wouldn’t the water stay in better if you leave your feet out?
How about a bucket, is that better?
Homemade duck bath, equals one happy fowl.
Meanwhile, in the front yard, this poor baby needed saving. Reuntited with a chirping Mother Robin moments after this was taken.
That night we camped in the wilds of our backyard, and when I awoke and exited the tent, Griffin was under the treehouse, standing guard.
Well, for us older folks, and perhaps just us Canucks, the whole story ended like an episode of the Littlest Hobo. The next day we woke to find Griffen had moved on. Perhaps to brighten the day for another COVID weary family.
Today I am excited to host talented author/cake decorator Robbie Cheadle. Together with her son, Michael, she has written a series of children’s books.
GIVEAWAY:(7 winners) Each will win a copy of one of her Sir Chocolate Story and Cookbooks. For your chance to win, please leave a comment below!
Sir Chocolate and the Ice cream Rainbow Fairies story and cookbook
Welcome to part 10 of the fondant cat parade
The fondant cat parade tells the story in limericks of Dinah the Kitten, daughter of Daddy Grey and Mommy Cat, who likes to sleep and escape to Wonderland in her dreams. While in Wonderland, Dinah meets a variety of brightly coloured and fun fantasy kittens. The fondant cat parade illustrates some of the wonderful fondant art that appears in all the Sir Chocolate books.
In Chocolate Land everything is edible including the houses. There are lots of different homes in
Chocolate Land with gingerbread houses being the most popular. The sugar dough bees live in a choux
pastry beehive and Professor Smartie lives in a Wizard Hat house made of cake. The fondant hamsters
live in a house made of chocolate and the Candy Dragon has a run-down gingerbread home decorated
with candy bones.
All sorts of creatures and people inhabit Chocolate Land and they all have one thing in common, they are all made of sweets, chocolate, fondant and biscuits.
Sir Chocolate poses with the Roundy Twins who are made of candy-coated chocolate Easter eggs. Next to them is Professor Smartie and Sylvia Honeylegs who is made from honey brittle and Licorice Allsorts. The man on the moon is made of cheese and the moon babies shine with edible gold glitter. Taylor red is shocked when a hungry snail eats all the fondant flowers and the nougat clown is happy when he gets to play his guitar.
BOOK BLURB:
Join Sir Chocolate and Lady Sweet on a fun adventure to discover why the milkshake rain is pale and white.
Contains five recipes that children can make under adult supervision
Watch the trailer:
AUTHOR BIO:
Hello, my name is Robbie, short for Roberta. I am an author with seven published children’s picture books in the Sir Chocolate books series for children aged 2 to 9 years old (co-authored with my son, Michael Cheadle), one published middle grade book in the Silly Willy series and one published preteen/young adult fictionalised biography about my mother’s life as a young girl growing up in an English town in Suffolk during World War II called While the Bombs Fell (co-authored with my mother, Elsie Hancy Eaton). All of my children’s book are written under Robbie Cheadle and are published by TSL Publications.
I also have a book of poetry called Open a new door, with fellow South African poet, Kim Blades.
I have recently branched into adult and young adult horror and supernatural writing and, in order to clearly differential my children’s books from my adult writing, I plan to publish these books under Roberta Eaton Cheadle. My first supernatural book published in that name, Through the Nethergate, is now available.
I have participated in a number of anthologies:
Two short stories in #1 Amazon bestselling anthology, Dark Visions, a collection of horror stories edited by Dan Alatorre under Robbie Cheadle;
Three short stories in Death Among Us, an anthology of murder mystery stories, edited by Stephen Bentley under Robbie Cheadle;
Three short stories in #1 Amazon bestselling anthology, Nightmareland, a collection of horror stories edited by Dan Alatorre under Robbie Cheadle; and
Two short stories in Whispers of the Past, an anthology of paranormal stories, edited by Kaye Lynne Booth under Roberta Eaton Cheadle.
To follow along with the rest of the tour, please visit the author’s tour page on the 4WillsPublishing site. If you’d like to schedule your own blog tour and have your book promoted in similar grand fashion, please click HERE. Thanks for supporting this author and her work!
When a hippo hollers, does anyone listen? I mean really pay attention to what it’s saying. All we hear is, “Rrrrrr! Rrrrr!” like a faulty chainsaw trying to start. Which, with our negative perspective, we immediately assume translates to, “Kill! Kill!”
But what if this massive barge of flesh is actually saying, “Hey friend, I have this here piece of canoe stuck in my gums, can you help a fellow mammal out?”
Happy Saturday, everyone! I live in a pretty rural area, with plenty of wildlife (hippos don’t like snow, so I’m marked ‘safe’ from them). I do, however, enjoy the company of many fur-bearing friends, so I’ve posted a few photos with some captions of what they most certainly are thinking. Enjoy!
“Frank! It’s the paparazzi again! I TOLD you to find a different lawn!”
“Everyone, freeze! Pray it doesn’t think we’re made of chocolate!”
“MOM! Come here QUICK! It’s a two legged walking stick! Ewwww! Bring a leaf and squish it pleeeaaasssee!”
“You smell like ketchup, mustard, onions, lettuce, tomato, kaiser bun, and . . . oh my gosh!”
“No dummy, we DO NOT eat noodles or know kung-fu!”
A final encore . . .
“We’re LOST AGAIN, aren’t we Tom? How many times do I have to tell you to ask for directions!”
So, we’re into another week of COVID craziness here and the kiddos are looking at extended time off. It’s a fortunate thing that our wonderful school had the foresight to create some online learning videos, paired with the opportunity for messaging their teachers with questions, during certain times of the day. That being said, by the end of last week, cabin fever had set in and the isolation of social distancing was beginning to wear on this family.
The recent thaw of winter revealed humanity’s “best” behavior in the form of trash in the ditches. If you’d read my previous post, you’re aware that we don’t live in town and that we get some strange items dumped close to our doorsteps.
Wheelchairs aren’t the only thing that turn up on our beautiful countryside. In my nearly sixteen years here, I’ve seen countless beer bottles, coffee cups, flooring, an air conditioner, tires, televisions, a FULL- sized refrigerator, and once, a large, black plastic garbage bag that every crime show said I should NOT touch. Of course, I opened it. The contents, hold your breath, was potting soil. No, buddy just couldn’t dump out that “toxic” stuff and keep the bag. It’s a sad statement that people feel the need to use our neighborhood as a garbage dump.
This is not a rant, well, not all of it anyways, this is a post about teaching my kids social and environmental responsibility. Yes, this past weekend I took my offspring on a mission to clean up those ditches, I bought them each a ‘grabby-thing’ and they cheerfully went to town bagging recycling and garbage alike. When we were through, and after getting several compliments and thumbs up from neighbors and strangers driving by, there was a sense of pride and accomplishment among our trio.
My youngest, surprised and concerned, commented on just how much some people litter. I’m hoping that this experience has left an indelible impression on the value of good stewardship on their young minds. Here’s hoping for a more environmentally responsible generation. Below are just a few pics from our day.
Saving the world, one coffee cup at a time!
Braving the “fast flowing” depths of ‘Ditch Canyon’ to get that piece of plastic and check out the baby minnows.
Man Verses Nature, a discarded tire next to a beaver dam.
Hey folks, shingles belong on the roof, not in a marshland.
I’m sure that all of my readers are environmentally conscious, but if you know of anyone who considers the countryside as their personal landfill, please remind them that this world is ‘Borrowed from our children.’
