Welcome 

Snippets of my books

THE BLACK SHEEP OF THE FAMILY page 11

DAD   I would like to describe my dad with some of his hobbies, as I was a bit of a daddy’s girl.  I think I understood him in many ways.  I had travelled just as he did but for him was because of the War.  And I remember his tattooed arm and myself out of the 7 kids, bothered with tattoos.  The funny thing was I had a butterfly done in Hong Kong and my second butterfly when returning to the UK.  A handsome chap was Alfred, sky blue eyes that shone a flawless complexion and a Hollywood smile that caught the eye of any woman’s heart.  Shoes always polished, a clean hanky every day and his cap on before leaving the house.  He had a handshake that summed him up, hands like bricks with a handshake that would leave another a little weaker at the knees showing his manly strength.  He cycled everywhere and we know sometimes pedalling could be hard but some days it was easy as the pedals seem to go all around by themselves, claiming a free ride as cyclists called it!  Also a walker where mushroom picking was included on early morning Sunday walks round Brumby woods.    He was a keen gardener who still at retirement age did 3 to 4 gardens a week for widowed neighbours who still lived in big houses with their large front and back gardens.  One year he started a new hobby, pigeons were becoming popular for racing and breeding them.  He built a large pigeon hut in the back garden and we kids enjoyed every minute of it.   I remember watching an old film on telly, black and white, it was where a pigeon had a message attached to one leg then set free, how it tickled me with wonder.  (Before the post man arrived I thought.)  Sometimes he would put a couple at the back of his bicycle and went out of town to test his homing pigeons.  And school lunch times wondering down the back garden to see a pigeon sat in a tiny hut of wood and glass on a pot egg, I didn’t understand at the time the methods of breeding.  When the pigeons finally fizzled out it was replaced by a dog, he went for a true breed, a grey and white Whippet and a certificate with its name on, “Scinder Earl.” What a beautiful looking dog and everyone loved it, the kids, the neighbours and even the post man.  Yes he liked showing it off, it wasn’t put to racing, though he caught real rabbits in Brumby woods which the wife Annie was expected to cook, not a pleasant job for mum and not forgetting our cartoons of Bugs Bunny that we absolutely loved.  But it was a daft dog that never got trained properly, having a houseful of kids confusing it.  Oh and the embarrassment of our dad and the dog coming back from walks alone, twitching curtains!  “There goes one” and then later “the other one,” after all our dad was a proud man.  The silly thing was at home the dog followed him everywhere, often laying his head on his knee looking up with big mousey eyes pining to be out on adventures again!

Summer time was car boot time as dad tried to go to as many as possible all in one morning up to 3 at least to take a nosey at.  He never owned a car so bus trips were popular to sea sides and castles all through summer.  Bicycles were bought cheap he knew how to repair them, he use to have quite a few, with interested neighbours to sell to.  He would repair televisions as well and a bit of a handy man on DIY in the house.  A man who never missed the news and his favourite programmes, like Davie Attenborough, on Wild Life and Sea Creatures from all over the world.  “Sky at Night” by Patrick Moore, was enjoyed for astrology interested him.  Music was played for leisure regularly with a fine voice that carried effortlessly through the house to Jim Reeves, Slim Whitman and so on.  I remember his LP of all guitar music on it, no singing just soft guitar exotic melodies.  Ah . . . nonstop guitar music is gorgeous, it’s like going on a mini holiday!   All our vegetables came from the garden as Alfred was the king of gardeners or in this day and age an organic genius.  He grew everything and there was plenty of room to do it.  Rows and rows of fresh veg and a greenhouse with grapes hanging in it, the front garden was always grass lawns and lots and lots of scented roses that I myself loved getting a close up to sniff at. There was long rows of tall orchids that were later introduced, the bees were very happy!  And all from a council house 3 bedrooms, but generous gardens.  Living room windows were permanent homes to some of the biggest prettiest cacti I’ve seen, sat on large dinner plates quite exotic indoor plants that I read in an unheated house these plants came from a 200 species!  Exotic names, like Graptopetalum pachyphyllum, family Crassulageae whose habitat mainly Mexico.  “The dwarf variety is a real gem and should be in every collection”.  And a man who sometimes needed a little piece and quiet.  With a houseful of kids that should be seen not heard, who would often say to our mum with a smile on his face “Annie, get your gun!”    I was reading one day in a magazine about poems, about your pets so I decided our pet dog deserved one, excuse the Yorkshire accent….. . . . .   .   .   .   .

WISDOM page 10 

So sitting opposite the medium for first ever reading a lady who had excused herself almost straight away after I just sat down, to go to the toilet after finishing her last reading was also aided by a walking stick, has she had clearly been recovering from something yet here she was getting on with life despite her physical condition.  

The following reading shocked me!  Shocked me and the word brave or maybe just denying could this be the real me questioned her somewhat detailed answer on my life.  I remember I had an immediate connection to her for since as long as I could remember years and years I had doodled the same playful image on paper as a young girl which was a pair of eyes with female eyebrows in fact I would repeat these mystical eyes with my little pen over and over harmless doodling but unaware why and her poster had the exact image!  The eyes had finally become as big as life and they was looking at mine!  

The following reading hit me in a spiritual way the big question life and death, here we go.  “The following reading is for Linda, you’re quite an old soul, meaning lives before this one, I have a man stood behind you A JAPANESE SAMURAI WARRIOR, you have remanence of a past life where you fought for justice, you hate injustice and use to serve people.  Now I don’t often get animal totems, but he comes with the BLACK PANTHER to give him strength, you give a lot of strength to others, but it’s not often returned.  And you have chosen one of the hardest life themes! (wish me luck!)

THE HABITS  page 11

Married to the hoarder, yes somewhere out there in deep dark space or you can just see them a mile away the hoarder who’s always in full flow.  With cries, “don’t chuck that out that out they’ve stop making them,” in fact come to think of it he has got a genuine alter of hoarded goodies, some would call it the living room cabinet but it’s kind of a bookshelf, with lots of vintage stuff on it and is tricky to impossible to dust around each centimetre gap of its’ maze of memories.  Even cracked cereal bowls and cracked Gala specials head, almost March to that alter, it might make a good picture puzzle if I took a snap shot though good luck with that multidimensional puzzle picture.

Even cracked cereal bowls under the inspection of his mother shuddered at the amount of germs that were in the crevices bolted into the garden as water dishes with the words, “I may have cracked up a little bit but I’m only human and everyone else is still here” sort sanctuary in the garden and blended beautifully with its’ yellow exterior against the green exterior.

3 GIRLS 1 UNICORN  page 43

Welcome to this meditation called 

3 Girls 1 Unicorn 

But first into bed

Squeeze your pillow now

Make it nice and fluffy 

Rest your head into the pillow 

Closing 1 eye goodnight 

Closing the next eye to dream 

Get very comfortable 

Let me tell you a story 

Once upon a time a unicorn helped 

Mr and Mrs Jones and their family 

Mr and Mrs Jones have 3 children 

They are different 

But then again not

They are triplets a set of 3 girls 

They look the same

But didn’t act the same 

At the age only 8 something big did happen 

It was great news for for one Sally 

Poor news for the other Molly

And bad news for the third Jilly