Loving Art
Posted: February 18, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentWe’re a little tardy in getting the Day #2 stop out to you. We lost it temporarily. So for Day #2 of the “Feral Tenderness” Book Blog Tour, you’ll find us over at Pictures from the Kitchen Window, with Barbara Spencer as she brings us an interview with author and poet, Arthur Rosch. Please drop by and join in the fun.
Arthur Rosch – poet extraordinaire.
I haven’t met Arthur Rosch. He is from California and me, from a tiny corner of the UK. Never mind about that – just look at the image above! Wow! If that doesn’t get you reading what will? It certainly did me and when I remember the fun I had hosting guests on my site – although they were all authors – I thought it was time I undertook a new journey and one likely to prove equally an inspiration.
A journey with poetry.
Philistine is the word I would use to describe my knowledge of poetry but other words come to mind too – total envy plus a heartfelt wish that I could manipulate words in such a way that a line of maybe five words has the same relevance as an entire page in a book.
And so my own journey begins with…
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#Booktour – Feral Tenderness, a book of poetry by Arthur Rosch
Posted: February 17, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentOn Day Three of the “Feral Tenderness” Book Blog Tour and we’re over at Robbie’s Inspiration with a post from the author, Arthur Rosch about the realization of a dream. Join us.
A lifetime of poetry and photography gives a unique view of life, nature, the world, and the universe
Today, I am delighted to welcome poet and author, Arthur Rosch, to Robbie’s Inspiration with his new poetry book, Feral Tenderness.
Fulfillment of a dream
This book, Feral Tenderness, is the fulfillment of a dream. This volume has both poems and photographs. It unites two of my four creative media into a single opus. You may ask, (please) “What are your other two media”? I dabble, (I say modestly) in music and dance.
One night in 2002, I was performing at a venue near my home. I was reading poetry and playing drums. The drums were to accompany another poet who enjoyed my mallet work, the throb of tribal call and response. Two of my thick black notebooks of poetry lay at the lip of the stage. When I finished…
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Review of the Spirits of the West Western Paranormal Anthology by Patty L. Fletcher: Blog Tour Day 7
Posted: February 7, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentJoin us as we wrap up the “Spirits of the West” book blog tour with a review by Patty Fletcher over at “Patty’s World”.
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Glimpsing the Wanekia by Jeff Bowles ~ Spirits of the West Anthology
Posted: February 6, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentDay #6 of the “Spirits of the West” book blog tour finds us over at Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo, where we get a glimpse into the mind of Jeff Bowles, and the thoughts behind his story, “Wenekia”. Please join us.
Spirits of the West are often found in unexpected places. They can be found in a saloon in Colorado territory, on a wagon train in the plains of South Africa, or on a distant planet in another galaxy. They can be the bringers of revenge or the protectors of the weak. Indulge yourself in eight paranormal stories with western spirit in Spirits of the West…
Spirits of the West is available via
Amazon.com or Amazon UK.
Glimpsing the Wanekia
Jeff Bowles
Ever since I was little, I had the sense there was another world lurking beyond this one. That if you could just peel back the shaggy off-colored wallpaper of reality, you could glimpse another universe entirely, one that might or might not have your best interests at heart.
I wrote Wanekia about twelve years ago, when I was just starting to get my feet under me as…
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#SpiritsoftheWest #Blogtour – Day 5: The Ghost in the Mound and a review
Posted: February 5, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 CommentDay #5 of the “Spirits of the West” book blog tour brings a look into the setting for Roberta Eaton Cheadle’s story, “The Ghost in the Mound” and her review of the stories from the other contributors on Robbie’s Inspiration. I do hope you’ll join us there.
Day 5 of the Spirits of the West book tour hosted by WordCrafter Press sets out some background to my short story, The Ghost in the Mound. I’ve also included my review of the stories other than mine that feature in Spirits of the West anthology
You can find out more about the tours WordCrafter is offering here: https://writingtoberead.com/wc-book-blog-tours-2/.
The Ghost in the Mound
Background
My second short story in Spirits of the West is The Ghost in the Mound. This story features an enormous termite mound.
Termite mounds are constructed by a specific type of termites found in African, Australia and South America. The mounds can be large, sometimes with a diametre of 30 metres.
In African savanna areas, termite mounds form ‘islands’ with high tree densities. This is attributed to the fact that due to the digging of the termites and their decomposition of plant material; the…
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Spirits of the West – Blog Tour – Don’t Eat the Pickled Eggs!
Posted: February 4, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentFor Day #4 of the “Spirits of the West” book blog tour, we’re over at Jessica Bakker’s blog. Drop by to learn more about my story in the anthology, “Don’t Eat the Pickled Eggs!”. See you there.
I love a good anthology, and when an anthology is about ghosts, the West, and the supernatural, AND has a story in it titled ‘Don’t Eat the Pickled Eggs’…you know I’m going to be grabbing a copy! Please enjoy with me, Kaye Lynne Booth’s blog tour and introduction of her anthology, Spirits of the West.
Do you believe in ghosts? I think there is something inside every one of us that makes us want to believe, but not all of us do. That’s what makes a good ghost story so attractive. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy a good ghost story? I know I do.
I also believe that every story carries a grain of truth. We bury many real-life experiences and dreams in the subconscious, but often, they are not content to stay there, so we allow them to poke their heads up and see the light of day…
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The Spirits of the West western paranormal anthology Blog Tour: Featured Author of the Week Enid Holden #WordPressWednesday
Posted: February 3, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentOn Day #3 of the Spirits of the West Book Blog Tour, we’re over at Patty’s World, with an interview with Enid Holden, author of the winning story in the 2020 WordCrafter Short Fiction Contest, “High Desert Rose”. Drop by and say hello.
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#SpiritsoftheWest #Blogtour : Day 2 – The Thirstyland Journey
Posted: February 2, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 CommentJoin us for Day 2 of the Spirits of the West book blog tour and learn more about Roberta Eaton Cheadle’s story “The Thirstyland Journey” on the “Roberta Writes” blog site.
Day 2 of the Spirits of the West book tour hosted by WordCrafter Press sets out some background to my short story, The Thirstyland Journey. You can find out more about the tours WordCrafter is offering here: https://writingtoberead.com/wc-book-blog-tours-2/
Background
My story, the Thirstyland Journey, is based on the Dorsland Trek (Thirstyland Trek) which is the collective name for a series of treks by groups of Boer (farmer) settlers from modern day South Africa in search of independence from Britain and better living conditions.
The first group of trekkers under the leadership of Gert Alberts set out on the 27th of May 1874. This initial trek was followed by other groups, all taking different routes. The primary destination of the Dorsland trekkers was the Humpata highlands of south-western Angola. In order to get to Angola, the trekkers had to cross large parts of the Kalahari desert in Bechuanaland (now called…
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Featured Author of the Week – Kaye Lynne Booth, MFA #WordPressWednesday
Posted: December 17, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentBe sure to pop in and chck out my interview on Patty’s World. They did a great job with it and I’m really excited about it. Won’t you stop in?
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Incorporating reading into Christmas activities
Posted: December 9, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized 49 Comments
In exactly two weeks and two days it will be Christmas day. I enjoy this time of year as there is a lot of focus in my life on sharing, giving, and charity. My firm and my church undergo various outreach and charity programmes to help a large spectrum of underprivileged schools, churches, and families.
This year, the Community Service Initiative team at work organised gifts for 100 school children who were graduating from a nursery school. The gift packs included a selection of party foods and one of my Sir Chocolate Books. These were packed into a good quality school satchel so the children have one to use for school next year. A few volunteers from my office, suitable sanitised and masked, went to the school to help give out the gifts.
Christmas time is also traditionally a time when families gather. Every year, my mother and I host a large family lunch-time gathering at which we serve a traditional hot meal of roast lamb, roast potatoes and a large variety of vegetables. This year we are expecting 16 adults and 7 children for the day. My son, Michael, has undertaken to cook the meat and the vegetables this year as he has become a lot more confident with his cooking skills.
In addition to the Christmas meal, I always make the Christmas treats and puddings.
The preparation of a large meal and a few desserts are great learning opportunities for children. They can help you read the recipes and information on the the packets, boxes, and tins containing the various ingredients.
Aside from reading, there are a number of other benefits to baking with children, as follows:
- Baking enhances fine motor skills. Get your children to mix, knead, stir, roll-out, cut-out and decorate. These activities all help with the development of fine motor skills;
- Teaches children math’s. Measuring liquids and weighing or measuring dry ingredients teach children about mass and volume. Heating the oven imparts information about temperatures and sometimes a conversion is required for a recipe from Fahrenheit to Celsius. There can also be conversions from pounds, ounces and pints to grams and milliliters.
- Illustrates scientific principles. The combination of certain food items results in specific chemical reactions which are instructive and interesting.
- Increases focus and intention. Children need to concentrate throughout the baking exercise or the ingredients will not be added correctly and the baked items may not turn out well.
- Teaches life skills. Cooking and baking are life skills which facilitate the growth of independence in children.
How to make a home-made Christmas cracker
I recently read Frugal Seeds Christmas Edition: 101 Ways to Celebrate the Holiday Season on a Budget by Charlie Lee Austin which includes a large number of fun activities to do with children during the Christmas season.
One of the ideas was to make home-made Christmas crackers.
You will need scissors, empty toilet roll inners, crinkle paper cut into rectangles that are large enough to gather and tie on both ends of the toilet roll inners, three chocolates per cracker, curling florists ribbon, and sticky tape.
Cut the crinkle paper into rectangles as show in the pictures. Use a piece of sticky tape to attached the edge of the crinkle paper to the toilet roll inner. Gather one of the ends and tie with curling florists ribbon. Run the ribbon over the edge of the blade of the scissors to make the ends curl. Insert your chocolates into the cracker. Gather the remaining end and tie with curling florist ribbon.
To add an additional reading and writing exercise to this activity, search on the internet for some fun Christmas jokes for Christmas crackers [there are lots on Pinterest]. Get your child to write out the joke and insert it into the Christmas cracker. On Christmas day the children can take turns reading the jokes to each other.
My review of Frugal Seeds Christmas Edition by Charlie Lee Austin
This little book is packed with fun and economical ways of celebrating Christmas with children, friends and family. It has a strong Christian orientation and some of the activities relating to the Bible, but there are many other ideas that can be enjoyed by people of any religious orientation.
Reading the ideas presented in this book reminded me of two of my favourite childhood books. Little Women when the girls decide to play a variation of pilgrims progress and also when they celebrate Christmas without their father, who is fighting in the war, and all decide what gifts to buy their Marmee. I was also taken back to the glorious days when I read What Katy Did for the first time. My favourite scenes in this book are when Katy decides to make all sorts of Christmas gifts for her siblings and best friend. She creates a Christmas tree decorated with home-made decorations like popcorn strings and they children have a poetry reading evening where they all read a poem they have written.
The suggestions in this book are simple and yet so much fun to make. The ideas include making a pinata from clay pots and paper mache, making Christmas crackers from toilet roll innards, and making Christmas candles.
A great book of activity ideas to entertain young young children over the holiday period.
Purchase link
Merry Christmas
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and lets hope for a great New Year with an end to the pandemic.
About Robbie Cheadle
Robbie Cheadle has published nine books for children and one poetry book. She has branched into writing for adults and young adults and, in order to clearly separate her children’s books from her adult books, is writing for older readers under the name Roberta Eaton Cheadle.
Robbie Cheadle’s Sir Chocolate children’s picture books are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision. Her books for older children also incorporate recipes that are relevant to the storylines.
Roberta Eaton Cheadle’s supernatural stories combine fabulous paranormal elements with fascinating historical facts.
Children’s picture books – available as a square book and an A5 book (co-authored with Michael Cheadle):
Sir Chocolate and the strawberry cream story and cookbook
Sir Chocolate and the baby cookie monster story and cookbook
Sir Chocolate and the sugar dough bees story and cookbook
Sir Chocolate and the Condensed Milk River story and cookbook
Sir Chocolate and the Sugar Crystal Caves story and cookbook
Sir Chocolate and the Fondant Five story and cookbook
Sir Chocolate and the Ice Cream Rainbow Fairies story and cookbook
Middle school books:
Silly Willy Goes to Cape Town (includes five fun party cake ideas)
While the Bombs Fell (co-authored with Elsie Hancy Eaton)
Poetry book:
Open a new door (co-authored with Kim Blades)
Supernatural fantasy YA novel:
Through the Nethergate
Horror Anthologies (edited by Dan Alatorre):
Spellbound
Nightmareland
Dark Visions
Paranormal Anthologies (edited by Kaye Lynne Booth):
Spirits of the West
Whispers of the Past
Murder mystery Anthology (edited by Stephen Bentley)
Death Among Us
Find Robbie Cheadle
Blog: https://bakeandwrite.co.za/
Blog: robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com
Twitter: BakeandWrite
Instagram: Robbie Cheadle – Instagram
Facebook: Sir Chocolate Books
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