Coast to Coast

I might have mentioned that Mr Squidge is a member of Round Table. Well, strictly speaking, he was - he's now with a group of 'retired' tablers who continue to meet the 'actual' tablers, have fun together and raise money for charity.

You might remember the Challenge Evening, Cuban Nights, in memory of Jon, their Round Table chairman who died tragically at the end of 2013.

Well, Loughborough Round Table 260 have recently decided to rename their main charity event each year; it'll be known as The Jon May Challenge.

The 2015 Challenge is to ride Coast to Coast in two days.

This means a team of 14 intrepid cyclists will be donning chamois-lined lycra and some rather eye-catching lime green tops on the 11th June to ride 140 miles from Whitehaven to Tynemouth in just two days. Two of the 14 are actually cycling both ways - on road bikes from Tynemouth to Whitehaven on the 10th, before switching to mountain bikes and doing the return leg in the company of other tablers.

Some of the cyclists and Jon's family. Mr Squidge far right...

Mr Squidge has done the coast to coast before - he last cycled it in 2009 and support crewed in 2010 - and he's doing it again this year. He's been training to build up his mileage and is amassing secret supplies of flapjack and jelly babies, his favourite cycling energy foods.

All the riders will be sponsored to do the ride, with all monies raised for Ashmount School, which was Jon's choice for Chairman's Charity. Ashmount provides education for over 100 children with severe disabilities and learning needs, and has recently located to a new facility. Jon's children and the Tablers have continued Jon's legacy to the school; money raised at previous events has supported indoor and outdoor equipment for the children, and money raised from this event will continue to fund the same area. The target is £5,000.

You can support them all in a couple of ways - leave them a message of encouragement here, on the Scribbles and I'll forward it to them. (They'll need it for so many miles in the saddle!) Or... you could pop over to their Just Giving page and leave them a donation.

Either way, it'll spur them on to complete the challenge.

Thank you!  

My writing Day...

I'm guest posting over on Daisy White's Wicked Words blog today... all about 'My Writing Day'.

When the memory goes...

My father-in-law has Alzheimers; last Friday, he moved into a residential home.

We've just spent the afternoon piecing together photos in clip frames, hoping that they might trigger some memories for him.

On the one hand, it's wonderful to be able to go through all the old pics. Nanna, FIL's mum, wrote on the back of nearly every photo she possessed, (some of which go right back to the turn of the 20th century) so we can tell who's who and what year - most of the time.

On the other hand, it's pretty heartbreaking to know that FIL might not recognise too many of the faces we've picked in the not-too-distant future. He does seem to remember the distant past better than the more recent stuff at the moment, so we live in hope for a while longer...

We're trying to group photos in the different frames so that there's one from FIL's childhood for example, one from his first marriage (to Mr Squidge's mum), one for each of his sons and their families, and another from his time with his second (current) wife. And we're making a map of who's who in the frames, so staff at the home and visitors can perhaps use the information to initiate conversations.

We've also been researching easy-to-use music players, as FIL used to love singing and has been a member of several different musical theatre and singing groups over the years. A few weeks ago, he burst into word-perfect song when a CD of Pirates of Penzance was playing. So we're planning to develop a playlist of music from the musicals too - a sort of personalised sing-a-long, if you like.

It's a difficult time for Mr Squidge, not helped by the fact that FIL lives in Yorkshire - a good two and a half hour drive each way from here. I think he feels pretty helpless - it's not like he can pop in every few days to see how things are. I think the photo collating is allowing him to feel like he's doing something - anything - to help keep his dad his dad a little longer.

It's a sad and horrible thing to deal with, but we're not alone in dealing with this kind of situation.

So...I'm going to finish this post by sending digital hugs to any of you reading who are in the same boat and caring for someone with dementia, whatever stage it's reached.

*hugs*

Gardening...

In the twenty years since we've been in our house, our garden has undergone some changes. The biggest was just after T was born - a friend who is also a landscape gardener helped us to revamp the rather boring, straight-pathed and plain-grassed area into something with a bit more movement in it and a stone patio, so the kids could play out even when the grass was wet.

When it was first done, it looked amazing. After nearly fourteen years, it's in need of some TLC.

Thing is, I love my garden. I just don't like gardening.

I like being outdoors - preferably reading a good book in the shade or soaking up a few rays. I really envy people with lovely gardens. I know you have to put the effort in, but gardening just doesn't float my boat. I don't think I have any shade of green in my fingers at all. I do not like being outdoors if it means I'm getting scratched or stung or prickled by various weeds when I try to pull them out. It's so demoralising to spend several hours weeding a border, only to see that the next time it rains, up the weeds pop again.

Mr Squidge keeps saying it looks lovely - really full borders. Thing is, I know what they're full of...

Perennial forget-me-not. You just can't get the roots out. The other year, I hoed all the tops off, hoping that would weaken the roots. Did it heck! I have a forest of the damn things behind the climbing frame this year...

Brambles. These I don't mind so much, as wild blackberries are always so full of flavour and we make a rather lovely blackberry wine with them. However, I don't want them everywhere.

Stingers. Sneaky little... You can guarantee they'll find the only bit of unprotected skin to leave their mark.

Bindweed. Just...ugh.

Grass. Not the lawn sort - the feathery kind that grows in-between everything and you can't get the roots out.

*sigh*

I do try. I dig and fork and pull and tug, but never seem to make an impression. Perhaps I just need to accept there'll be a certain amount of wildness in my garden and enjoy it anyway...

Lilac and apple blossom at the end of my garden...

Challenge me! (May 2015)

It's a while since I've done one of these, but I feel the need for something to write other than the WIP.

Maybe it's because it's holiday time here in the UK and I'm feeling frivolous? (Homemade blackberry wine will do that to a person, y'know)

Maybe it's because I face the prospect of a bit more painting in the dining room before the new carpet arrives on Thursday (with all the upheaval and room-clearing that entails) and I'm trying to have something nice for when that's all over?

Maybe it's just because I don't have much to share with you about what I've been doing - other than working on the WIP, entertaining family over the weekend and sewing up the rainbow cardi I've now finished... (pics will follow)

Anyway, here's how it works.

You, dear reader of the Scribbles, paste three items in the comments section below. Please make them reasonably clean - I reserve the right to delete any that are too rude. I will then turn over the combos to Family Squidge to pick just one combo...and I will write a piece of flash which includes those three items.

If you want to see what I've done with three things in the past, check out the following - A Sixpence, Shells and Champagne, Arnie's Aerial Adventure and The Ride to Heaven Retirement Ranch -  all 'challenge me' fiction pieces.

You have until the 31st May to post your items, and I'll endeavour to post a short piece by June 14th.

Get posting!

Twenty-two years ago today...

I have a confession. Mr Squidge and I are very bad at marking our wedding anniversaries. I think the premise was set when he forgot it - after the first year. And I always have to stop and think whether it's the 23rd of 1992 or 22nd of 1993: it's the latter.

We rarely buy cards, and don't bother with presents. We work on the theory that if we can't show we love each other the rest of the year, why make a big deal of just one day in our marriage? But that's just us - and on the occasions where cards and presents have been involved, it's rather lovely.

So, twenty two years. Long time.

There was a rainbow theme to the day, even though my dress had an oyster and shell-pink bodice, my sister (bridesmaid) was in deep rose pink, and both our bouquets had pink flowers.

Rainbow balloons outside the house

There were rainbows on the cake, although it didn't look quite how I'd imagined it would. It was traditional that my Grandma made all our wedding cakes - proper fruit cake, not a sponge in sight - and we kept a layer for J's christening cake. (It still tasted as good six years later.) The mistake occurred because I wrote instructions for the decorator that I would like a rainbow down the cake (ie red and orange on the top, green and yellow in the middle and blue and purple on the bottom) but if it didn't look right, please could I have a mix of rainbow colours on each tier.

I ended up with both...

Spot the mistake...

We had a white Morris Minor convertible as our wedding car. Mr Squidge had owned a Moggy Traveller since his second year at uni, (it's still on the road now!) but it wasn't in very good nick at the time. So we trawled the pages of the Morris Minor Owners magazine to find someone close to us who was willing to let us borrow their car (and themselves as the chauffeur!) for the afternoon. I now have a silver Moggy on my charm bracelet to mark our wedding...

Morris Minors featured a lot. The priest who married us gave a wonderful sermon about marriage, based on them; he also owned a Moggy, albeit a rather clapped out black (or navy blue) one. He admitted to the congregation that he had ditched his pre-prepared sermon and instead, made a comparison between the two vehicles - said that's what marriage is like; it needs constant maintenance to keep it looking good. 

Mum and H setting off for church

I remember it rained just before I was due to drive off with Dad. He was so cross, because it meant we'd have to have the top up. Fortunately it was just a shower, and Dad got to ride up the hill to church in the Moggy with the top down, looking like a cat that'd got the cream. And my veil stayed on too, which had been a bit of a concern...

And here we are. Don't we look young? Hard to believe we looked like this - I'm now grey and Mr Squidge is somewhat grizzled - but we were so happy. Still are.

Mr and Mrs Squidge, 22nd May 1993

Looks perfect, doesn't it? But as Revd Day said on the Big Day itself, marriage takes work.

It's not all kisses and roses. It's putting the bins out and washing socks and mowing lawns and sacrificing a lot when you grow from two to a family. It's supporting each other when times are tough or when you have a mad-cap idea, like...oooh...I dunno... putting up a wind turbine or self-publishing a book, perhaps? It's about disagreements and finding a way beyond them. It's about respect and love and saying sorry. Most importantly, I think it's about helping each other to be the best you can be.

Happy Anniversary, Mr Squidge.
8, 3, 1 x

Moving in roughly the right direction...

A bit of an update on all things writing...

The 100 days of writing challenge.

I'm on 28 days of writing, 6 days missed. The ratio is improving all the time - I'm finding a natural pattern is emerging of 5 or 6 days writing, and one not. But as a technique, it's certainly helping to keep me focused on the WIP.

In terms of what do I record as 'writing', well, I'm still flitting between playing in my notebook and physically typing up the story. Either counts. I'm not really referring back to the notebook much though, which some might see as a bit of a waste of time and effort; why bother writing all that stuff in longhand if you're not going to use it?

But I AM using it. The process means I have images and phrases and scenes that are now quite firmly cemented in my head. So what if they don't come out on the computer ('proper') version word-for-word? In those 28 days I've managed to get four chapters pretty well drafted, though they are rough and will need editing of course.

Be interesting to see how I can continue to write this weekend, as we have family staying with us. I may have to sneak off for half an hour a day to get my WIP-fix...

StarMark. 

We are now officially in that 'author-must-be-patient-before-everything-happens-at-once' stage. I do know that there are discussions being had round about now on the subject of blurb and covers, so I hope to have some news to share with you soon.

It's all very exciting, but there's still a little bit of me that's thinking, 'is it really going to happen?' I know it is, of course, but it's a very different process to organising the publishing yourself, like I have with the two Granny Rainbow books. Speaking of which...

More Granny Rainbow.

Authors; don't let anyone tell you the second book is easier and will be a success because you did well with the first and got good feedback; sales of More Granny Rainbow are disappointingly slow at the moment.

Now I'm not one who relies on sales numbers to get a measure of any 'success' - but I had hoped that people who enjoyed the first book would be pleased to see the publication of a second. And then buy it. Either my publicity's not working so well, or there's just no interest in a second.

We shall see. Maybe this time sales are going to be slow and steady?

I'm not going to worry about it too much. I've plenty to do, especially trying to write the WIP while sitting on my hands waiting for StarMark! Onwards and upwards...