Robbie Cheadle's Blog, page 61
November 11, 2016
Hype or Like Fridays
Hype or Like Fridays is a meme created by Jill @ Rant and Rave Books, Larkin @ Wonderfilled Reads and Britt @ Geronimo Reads. This week the subject is ‘Book recommendations I’m thankful for’. There are so many books I am thankful were recommended to me I almost don't know where to start but here are my absolute favourites:
Children's books:
The Harry Potter series which was recommended to me by my youngest sister. I started off reading her copy of The Philosopher's Stone and now have two copies of each book.
The Land of Far Beyond by Enid Blyton. I loved this book, which is a children's version of Pilgrim's Progress, as a child and bought it again recently for my collection.
Mrs Pepperpot by Alf Proyson. Mrs Pepperpot is a little old woman who lives in the countryside with her husband. Every now and then Mrs Pepperpot shrinks to the size of a pepperpot and she has adventures including delivering a large doll to a lonely little girl, delivering a prize to a fete and helping her husband buy macaroni.
Adult books:
I loved the book The Stand by Stephen King. This book is one of my favourites by this author. The modern world is devastated by a super flu developed as a biological weapon. The few survivors of the super flu epidemic start to be plagued by dreams of an elderly woman and a very bad "dark man".
I am also grateful to my husband's uncle who encouraged me to read Charles Dickens. I really enjoyed Great Expectations and revelled in the weird eccentricity of Miss Haversham and the amazingly descriptive prose that makes this particular book so memorable.
On the lighter side, I am grateful for Bridget Jones' Diary which is one of the funniest books I have ever read. I thoroughly enjoyed the quirky adventures of Bridget on her path to finding true love and still read snippets of this book now and again when I need a good giggle.
Children's books:
The Harry Potter series which was recommended to me by my youngest sister. I started off reading her copy of The Philosopher's Stone and now have two copies of each book.
The Land of Far Beyond by Enid Blyton. I loved this book, which is a children's version of Pilgrim's Progress, as a child and bought it again recently for my collection.
Mrs Pepperpot by Alf Proyson. Mrs Pepperpot is a little old woman who lives in the countryside with her husband. Every now and then Mrs Pepperpot shrinks to the size of a pepperpot and she has adventures including delivering a large doll to a lonely little girl, delivering a prize to a fete and helping her husband buy macaroni.
Adult books:
I loved the book The Stand by Stephen King. This book is one of my favourites by this author. The modern world is devastated by a super flu developed as a biological weapon. The few survivors of the super flu epidemic start to be plagued by dreams of an elderly woman and a very bad "dark man".
I am also grateful to my husband's uncle who encouraged me to read Charles Dickens. I really enjoyed Great Expectations and revelled in the weird eccentricity of Miss Haversham and the amazingly descriptive prose that makes this particular book so memorable.
On the lighter side, I am grateful for Bridget Jones' Diary which is one of the funniest books I have ever read. I thoroughly enjoyed the quirky adventures of Bridget on her path to finding true love and still read snippets of this book now and again when I need a good giggle.
November 7, 2016
Sir Stealthy and the jewellery thieves - Part 5 (one more part to go next week)
He drew a copy of the foot print,
And off he went without one hint,
Of what he had seen and planned to do,
If the footprints on the cliff matched the clue.
Up the cliff Sir Stealthy and Mike toiled,
While below them the ocean boiled,
Right at the top they found a dug-up patch,
And a footprint that the drawing did match.
The men had finished their job and left the scene,
They’d left everything neat and clean,
That was their intention to be sure,
They left thinking their treasure was secure.
Final part to follow next week....
And off he went without one hint,
Of what he had seen and planned to do,
If the footprints on the cliff matched the clue.
Up the cliff Sir Stealthy and Mike toiled,
While below them the ocean boiled,
Right at the top they found a dug-up patch,
And a footprint that the drawing did match.
The men had finished their job and left the scene,
They’d left everything neat and clean,
That was their intention to be sure,
They left thinking their treasure was secure.
Final part to follow next week....
October 31, 2016
Sir Stealthy and the jewellery thieves part 4
Feeling quite tired, back to bed he went,
And in a deep sleep the rest of the night spent,
The next morning over breakfast and tea,
In the newspaper an interesting article did see.
It seemed a robbery had taken place,
The police had opened a jewellery theft case,
Lady Drama had lost her jewels,
To sneaky thieves that broke the rules.
The police did not have any clues,
Except a foot print from one thief’s shoes,
Sir Stealthy though, had a thought,
About how the thieves could be caught.
To be continued....
And in a deep sleep the rest of the night spent,
The next morning over breakfast and tea,
In the newspaper an interesting article did see.
It seemed a robbery had taken place,
The police had opened a jewellery theft case,
Lady Drama had lost her jewels,
To sneaky thieves that broke the rules.
The police did not have any clues,
Except a foot print from one thief’s shoes,
Sir Stealthy though, had a thought,
About how the thieves could be caught.
To be continued....
October 24, 2016
Sir Stealthy and the jewellery thieves part 3
Whilst past a steep cliff he was walking,
He thought he heard faint sounds of talking,
At the top of the cliff he saw two shapes,
It looked like men wearing long back capes.
Sir Stealthy stopped and had a look,
He zoomed in with his phone and a photo took,
The men appeared to be digging a hole,
A really deep one seemed to be their goal.
“It’s rather odd”, Sir Stealthy said,
It’s late at night and people are in bed.
He strained his eyes, but to his dismay,
He couldn’t see much, they were too far away.
To be continued....
He thought he heard faint sounds of talking,
At the top of the cliff he saw two shapes,
It looked like men wearing long back capes.
Sir Stealthy stopped and had a look,
He zoomed in with his phone and a photo took,
The men appeared to be digging a hole,
A really deep one seemed to be their goal.
“It’s rather odd”, Sir Stealthy said,
It’s late at night and people are in bed.
He strained his eyes, but to his dismay,
He couldn’t see much, they were too far away.
To be continued....
October 18, 2016
Sir Stealthy and the jewellery thieves part 2
His phone’s special cameral is really cool,
It’s infra-red zooming feature, a fantastic tool,
He can take a photo, night or day,
It will be crystal clear from a mile away.
He has a sidekick with the name of Mike,
Who is also strong and rides a bike,
Sir Stealthy and Mike make a great team,
And are good at fighting criminals it would seem.
One night Sir Stealthy could not sleep,
So he decided out of his castle to creep,
And go for a walk along the beach,
And see if a sleepy state he could reach.
It’s infra-red zooming feature, a fantastic tool,
He can take a photo, night or day,
It will be crystal clear from a mile away.
He has a sidekick with the name of Mike,
Who is also strong and rides a bike,
Sir Stealthy and Mike make a great team,
And are good at fighting criminals it would seem.
One night Sir Stealthy could not sleep,
So he decided out of his castle to creep,
And go for a walk along the beach,
And see if a sleepy state he could reach.
October 10, 2016
Sir Stealthy and the jewellery thieves
Part 1
Sir Stealthy is Britain’s most remarkable spy,
He’s really good and that’s no lie,
He lives on an island in the middle of the sea,
He has a castle, a garden and an apple tree.
He has a top-of-the-range dojo in his home,
It’s padded from the floor to the dome,
He works out there every day,
He’s has very big muscles, I must say.
In another room he has his inventions,
His car has some fantastic extensions,
In it he can drive on water or fly,
Just like an aeroplane in the sky.
To be continued next week ...
Sir Stealthy is Britain’s most remarkable spy,
He’s really good and that’s no lie,
He lives on an island in the middle of the sea,
He has a castle, a garden and an apple tree.
He has a top-of-the-range dojo in his home,
It’s padded from the floor to the dome,
He works out there every day,
He’s has very big muscles, I must say.
In another room he has his inventions,
His car has some fantastic extensions,
In it he can drive on water or fly,
Just like an aeroplane in the sky.
To be continued next week ...
October 4, 2016
The giant s'more
Michael had his first taste of a s'more at my sister's house the other day. I must be honest I have never heard of a s'more and I had to google what they are. I discovered that a s'more is an American/Canadian camping treat which is made by toasting a marshmallow over a campfire and then squashing the resultant squishy, squashy mess, together with a piece of chocolate, between two graham crackers. Mike immediately wanted to make a giant version of this interesting and delightful treat. On Saturday we set to work and made two giant vanilla biscuits. We melted chocolate coated marshmallows in the microwave and squashed them between the two homemade biscuits. We then melted chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water and poured this over the top of the biscuits. Michael decided that it should be a giant Halloween s'more so he decorated it with home moulded chocolates in various Halloween designs and hundreds and thousands. The result looked super but then we discovered the pitfall. How to eat the giant s'more? We couldn't cut it with a knife as the chocolate had hardened on the top and the biscuits were also quite hard. We resorted to breaking the s'more with our hands and eating the broken bits. All in, however, it tasted lovely and was great fun to make.
September 26, 2016
The sands of time
My little boy, Michael, is growing up. Everyday I drive him to school and, until recently, he always wanted me to walk him to his classroom. Now, he is independent and he walks in on his own. As he walks away, he always turns back and waves goodbye with one plump starfish hand. It almost breaks my heart. The sands of time run on relentlessly and I am glad he is becoming independent but, I am losing my last baby. I paraphrased this feeling of conflicted loss and sadness in the last stanza of a poem I wrote entitled "It's a boy".
"In the end he’ll turn out right,
You’ll be proud, he’ll be so bright,
He’ll make you laugh, and then you’ll cry,
When out he moves with a cherry goodbye.
So beware,
A life journey has started!"
"In the end he’ll turn out right,
You’ll be proud, he’ll be so bright,
He’ll make you laugh, and then you’ll cry,
When out he moves with a cherry goodbye.
So beware,
A life journey has started!"
September 20, 2016
The understated Bridal Shower cake
My colleague at work is getting married this Saturday. Before I met her, I didn't really think white was a colour. I like bright colours like yellow, orange and pink. She, however, loves understated colours, particularly, white - which apparently comes in shades - and cream - which has tones. Her entire wedding has been planned in understated shades and tones of white and cream. I decided as a surprise for her work Bridal Shower to make her an understated cake. I created a two layered cake with a hydrangea centrepiece in cream and brushed with edible luster dust. The smaller top cake was surrounded with edible leaves in cream and had two cream ribbons in a circular shape on top around the centrepiece. The larger bottom cake had a ring of cream feathers around the top and in the front was a bride, all in cream, with very pale blonde hair and cream flowers. I had started making the groom in a cream suit when I met my colleague's intended. He is not understated at all. I changed my design and created him in a black suit with a red bowtie and brown hair. The groom certainly stood out on the cake. You can see the Understated Bridal Shower cake in Book 5: Sir Chocolate and the Fondant Five.
September 16, 2016
The baby mouse
Early this morning I saw a baby mouse dash across the kitchen floor and under the dishwasher. We live near a bird sanctuary which means that occasionally we do have a furry visitor. My husband, Terence, loves to have an opportunity to catch a mouse or rat. He has a method that he uses which involves glue. I hate it but I do recognise that we cannot have mice or rats taking up permanent residence in our home. As a tribute to my mouse catching husband, I wrote this poem:
Our Hero
Our hero, he stands,
So tall and strong;
It is reassuring to know,
That it's to him we belong.
Clever and confident,
Yet quick with a smile;
Always willing and able,
To go that extra mile.
With his sons he will play,
A practice cricket match;
Then inside he'll give a hand,
With glue a rat will catch.
Generous with money,
Almost to a fault;
Not superstitious thought,
So don't try throw spilt salt.
But beware,
If agreement to some plan
from him you lure;
He'll never change his mind again,
So you'd better be quite sure.
Our Hero
Our hero, he stands,
So tall and strong;
It is reassuring to know,
That it's to him we belong.
Clever and confident,
Yet quick with a smile;
Always willing and able,
To go that extra mile.
With his sons he will play,
A practice cricket match;
Then inside he'll give a hand,
With glue a rat will catch.
Generous with money,
Almost to a fault;
Not superstitious thought,
So don't try throw spilt salt.
But beware,
If agreement to some plan
from him you lure;
He'll never change his mind again,
So you'd better be quite sure.
