“… knowing you are going to die makes clearing out the cupboards so much easier!”

The sound of choked laughter came through the phone. “You should write that,” said my friend, once his calm was once more regained. The sentiment had, I think, taken him off guard, but it was a simple observation. Even in such circumstances, there are up-sides.

Like, I seem to have pretty much ‘retired’. At least, temporarily. I certainly won’t be back at work until the chemotherapy is done… and who knows after that? And all my worries, although they are exactly same as ever, are now definitely finite. Except, that has always been true, I just know now that they are. And that conscious knowledge is the only thing that separates me from any other person in the street.

We are all dying by degrees, as part of the natural lifecycle… but being aware of…

Yes, I’ve been at it again and got the card boxes out this afternoon.
Here are five of the seven made, 5 for Christmas cards and 2 Hello.
The latter both had a butterfly theme, but one I wasn’t that pleased with.
The golden butterfly though was quite lovely (IMO) as it was one of those 3D effect stickers where only the centre sticks to the card and you fold the wings up. They are very effective and I bought a sheet of gold glittery butterflies when I last did some ‘card trimming’ shopping.  This is two views of the same card.

The Christmas ones didn’t come out too badly either:

though one was an experiment that didn’t really work until I ‘added a few bits’.
I’ve just looked up last year’s dated card I sent out by email, and I’ve used the same Santa this year!

I bet all of us at some time or another have seen something we wish we hadn’t, and would love to be able to rewind the mind tape and erase it from our memory.

Such was the case the other day in town when we were collecting the first chest of drawers.
I was sitting in the car waiting for Hubby when a group of people passed by with two staffy cross dogs, one a pup in arms. They owned the vehicle in front of us, and the oldest adult opened up the boot to prepare the way for the dogs to be put in the back.
I wish he had not done what he did next.
He bent down to pick up the older dog and revealed the hairiest and fattest bum I have even seen…….. he was also NOT wearing underwear. It was not even a decent builder’s…

Domestic fireworks

Brightening the darkest days

Summer’s spark lingers

I am sharing two chapters this weekend in celebration of All Hallows Eve from my Tales from the Irish Garden.

All Hallow’s Eve Part One.

You have now met some of the more prominent residents in the magic garden, and forest, but it is now time to meet those who are members of a community of rare and often maligned creatures. Those that write horror stories, delight in scaring young children, (and adults too if truth be known) with blood, decay and things that go bang in the night. Even those who practice the art of healing, are not excused from the propaganda of those who are ignorant and cruel.

The Storyteller had been their protector for centuries, providing them with lands, unwanted by farmers or other locals, where they could live in peace. There was one condition to this arrangement, and that was they must work in harmony with…

Today’s author is making her first appearance at BMR, but some of you are probably familiar with her books – she writes in a variety of genres. Between sleeping in a coffin or spending the night in a haunted house? She’ll take the haunted house – she’s already lived in one, so what’s another to add to the list? Welcome Stevie Turner!

Would you rather sleep in a coffin for one night or spend the night in a haunted house?

I am claustrophobic, and so nothing would ever induce me to spend the night in a coffin. When younger, a flatmate and I made a coffin for a party we threw at our new flat, but everybody had a go at climbing into it except me! I spent many nights in a haunted flat as a child. My bedroom was haunted by the ghost of a previous tenant who had…