Scotland Holiday 2020!

Carol 2 Comments

Many months ago we booked a holiday to Scotland, stopping off at the Shetland Isles. We have been luckier than most this year as we managed to have a trip to India just before Lockdown. Our long weekend in the Isle of Man was cancelled in May, but we have kept our fingers crossed that the Scottish trip will go ahead. All looks good so far. So, hopefully, on August 20th we will be off up north!

I will post each day, as I did from India. The posts may not be so exotic but I’m sure there will be some amazing scenery to share with you.

This is our route

Looking forward to sharing my photos with you.

Stay safe

Carol

Visitors: 1,453

I-Spy Cam and Dursley

Carol 2 Comments

Members of our community here in Dursley, Gloucestershire, have produced an ‘I-spy’ booklet to encourage families to explore the local area. As we have had our grandson to stay for a few days we went out and about this week, armed with our copy of the book and a pen.

Spotting historic buildings in the town centre.
Into the woods to follow the Sculpture trail.
Fox and cubs designed by children at Dursley Primary School.
Shadows on the trees
Den building
Lion mosaic
Off to the quarry hunting for fossils.
We spotted many different butterflies at the quarry.

Many thanks to the people who produced the book, we spent a very happy three days exploring the area.

Points are given for everything spotted and we scored 1,060!

It was so nice to be able to spend time with family again. Long may this new freedom continue.

Stay safe

Carol

Visitors: 1,460

‘Tracker’

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Here it is! The novella I wrote in 30 days is available FREE on Amazon Kindle for 5 days. Download by Friday 10th July.

‘Lockdown 2020, the world is relying on tracking and tracing to slow down the spread of the virus. Jack, a young app designer, has developed an app that unexpectedly gives him the power to control people’s movements. What will be the consequences?’

Free for 5 days

I hope you enjoy it

Stay safe

Carol

Visitors: 1,366

Write a novella in 30 days

Carol 2 Comments

One good thing about Lockdown (the only good thing?) is that I have had more time to write. At the beginning of June I came across Maria Frankland, an author who teaches creative writing. She had put some of her courses online including ‘Write a novella in 30 days’. There was a Youtube clip to watch each day with support and advice. I took up the challenge and, 30 days later, have completed my novella!

It is called ‘Tracker’ and is set in autumn 2020. Like my first novella, ‘Memories’, it features an app, and although it refers to the Corona Virus and the situation we find ourselves in, like ‘Memories’ it is really about relationships.

It is shorter than my previous novella, which took nearly 3 years to write.

I intend to self publish shortly on Amazon Kindle and like last time I will be able to offer it free for the first 5 days. It will then be 99p. I will post when it becomes available.

If you enjoyed reading ‘Memories’ I hope you will enjoy ‘Tracker’ too. If you haven’t read ‘Memories’ it is available on Amazon for 99p.

Visitors: 1,643

Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust

Carol 2 Comments

Slimbridge WWT has recently reopened, with limited numbers, following the latest Government guidelines, to keep staff and visitors safe.

As it is only about 5 miles away we thought it would make a nice day out. After a cloudy start the day brightened up and we enjoyed our visit. The indoor areas were closed, as were the play areas, but with 100 acres of wetlands, with swans, geese, ducks, moor hens, coots, flamingos etc to see, we had plenty to do.

A moor hen family with chick
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil
Peter Scott founded the trust in 1946
There are several types of flamingos here. These are Caribbean Flamingos

It is wonderful to see places gradually opening up again. We hope things continue to improve.

Stay safe everyone

Carol

Visitors: 1,602

Family History

Carol 4 Comments

When I started this blog earlier this year my main aim was to share photographs of our travels. It was also a way of reaching a wider audience with my writing. If you enjoy reading my stories I have just added a new short story to the ‘My Creations’ page.

Recently, however, my blog has allowed a distant relative I didn’t know I had, to reach out to me. My second cousin, Elizabeth, has been researching our family history and knew enough to google my name and the town where I live, and found my blog!

We have started to exchange photographs and information about our families. My grandmother on my father’s side was Elizabeth’s grandmother’s sister.

Watson Whitaker my Great, Great Grandfather
Elizabeth Whitaker my Great Grandmother
My Grandmother, Alice, standing on the left at the back

What amazing photographs! I look forward to finding out more about our shared family.

Stay Safe

Carol

Visitors: 1,779

Pandemic Picnics

Carol 2 Comments

Now we are allowed out a bit more, we like to go for a drive on Sundays and take a picnic. We don’t have to travel far to find beautiful places. This week we went across the River Severn to the Forest of Dean.

It was lovely weather for ducks at Cinderford Linear Park as it started raining.
We moved on to Cannop Ponds where the rain stopped and we had our picnic.
On the way back we stopped by the river looking over to where we live.
the sluice gate

We enjoy our days out but we are looking forward to having days out with friends and family.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend,

Stay safe

Carol

Visitors: 1,450

Jigsaws

Carol 6 Comments

What have you been doing to keep busy during Lockdown? I have been baking more, reading lots and writing more often.

Andy and I have been doing jigsaws together, something we would never normally do! I think we have done about 10 so far!

I used one of my favourite photos from our India Trip to create a 1000 piece jigsaw for Andy for his birthday. We have just completed it.

Original photo
Boxed jigsaw
Completed jigsaw

It was fun to do and brought back memories.

Here are some of the other jigsaws we have completed.

Norwich Market
Delivery at the Railway Inn
On the Canal
Japanese Pagoda
Polperro and Mevagissey
ice creams
The only 1,500 piece puzzle we have attempted
Near where we used to live

Enjoy whatever hobbies/activities that are keeping you busy at this time and may we soon get back to my favourite activity – travelling.

Stay safe

Carol

Visitors: 1,750

Lockdown Birthday

Carol 5 Comments

Well, it’s Andy’s birthday today. A very different day to his birthday last year!

May 26th 2019 on our road trip across America
Birthday breakfast at Rouses Point on American/Canadian border
Andy by the lake
May 26th 2020 Corona virus inspired cards and presents!

Hopefully by the time my birthday comes round (December) this will all be over.

Stay safe everyone

Carol

Visitors: 1,671

Grow your own!

Carol 1 Comment

I feel guilty for not posting very much, after daily posts from India in late Feb and early March, but, like everyone, I’m not doing much worthy of posting at the moment.

Andy and I have been using our greenhouse and now have tomato, cucumber and pepper plants well established. We will have lots of salad in late summer. My pea shoots are ready to eat though.

I saw this suggested on TV one morning, grow dried peas (very cheap from the supermarket) and harvest the shoots within a couple of weeks. I love pea shoots in a salad so gave it a go. If you soak the peas overnight before planting they germinate very quickly.

Enjoy!

Hope you and your families are all well.

Stay safe,

Carol

Visitors: 1,326