#HarryPotter + #Baking + #Crafting + Weather

Of course, I had to get the matching Ravenclaw bowl that goes with the mug I showed you that I got a couple of weeks ago, didn’t I? So, here are a couple of photos of the bowl for anyone who would like to see it:

 

 

*~*

 

I made this strawberry cloud pie in the cooking call:

 

 

It’s 100% vegan, and was very tasty, if I do say so myself.

 

I’ve made plenty of other things on the cooking call, including a new to me cookie recipe.  But I’m especially proud of this strawberry cloud pie since there were a lot of adaptations required to make it suitable for vegans, and I’d never done anything like that before.  That’s why I wanted to show it to you.

 

~

 

I also made a little loom knitted scrubby, which is made out of a pale blue cotton yarn (the colour name is “ice blue” I believe).  So, here’s a photo of that for you to see too:

 

 

And I also made this black and white woven rope basket:

 

 

The basket was one of the large pile of kits that have been waiting for me to be able to do them for ages.  My Dad read the instructions for me so I could finally get to do it.  Hopefully he’s going to continue helping me work my way through the pile of craft kits.  It’s going to take some time to get through them though, because I ended up with a rather large pile of them.

 

*~*

 

It was the Autumn Equinox a little over a week ago, and the weather most definitely agrees that the Summer is now over.  And that’s just fine by me.  I’d much rather these cooler temperatures that’s for sure!

 

~

 

Things have been pretty busy here most days.  But - as I feel like I'm saying a lot lately - it's the kind of busy where I don’t really have anything to share despite that, so I’ll let this do for today.  I hope September has been a good month for you.  Stay safe, especially if you happen to be in the path of any of the really bad storms I’ve been hearing so much about.

#WordCrafters #Book #BlogTour For "Refracted Reflections" - Includes A #Giveaway + My #Review

Today is my stop on the blog tour for "Refracted Reflections" and I have a guest post for you from one of the authors, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, along with a giveaway and my review of the book.  So, over to you, Robbie.

 Inspiration for The Nutcracker

My short story contribution to Refracted Reflections is called the Nutcracker. The title, Nutcracker, was intended to be a play on words relating to the psychiatrist in this story who fails to crack the nut (the reference to nut being aligned with the outdated description of an insane person as being as nutty as a fruitcake, which saying was first recorded in 1821) because he is too short-sighted and arrogant to understand the internal conflict that is taking place within his patient.

Irene is chronically depressed due to her guilt over the sixth mass extinction of the animal life on earth and is overwhelmingly anxious due to the increasing symptoms of global warming. Irene, like some other Generation Z youngsters, sees no hope for the future. This feeling of hopelessness among young people appears to be increasing and is most concerning to me.

Dr. Jamison’s inability to reach Irene and understand her inner turmoil is in keeping with her view that Generation X has done nothing to stop global warming or the destruction of the animal kingdom and does not care about improving the world for her generation. His epic failure has tragic consequences for Irene.

The theme of global warming and the sixth mass extinction and its contribution to the mental health problems being experienced by modern youngsters is combined in this piece, with the additional problem of modern medications being used to treat symptoms and not causes, as well as the potential damaging side effects of medications.

My personal experience of medications for anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems are that incorrect dosages or medications can exacerbate depression and cause suicidal thoughts. Parents and patients need to investigate the potential side effects of any medications they are given, and doctors need to be sensitive to the development of negative side effects due to adverse reactions by patients to anxiety and other medications.

This story is set in the Sterkfontein Cave in Magaliesburg, South Africa, and was originally inspired by the deaths of a small group of divers who were investigating the exceptionally deep lake within the cave. The divers went into one of the small, water-filled tunnels branching off from the lake and were not able to find their way back. They are believed to have drowned, but their bodies were never found. When I started writing a short story about the deaths of these divers, my mind took me on a different journey and that was the story I ended up writing.

There is also a paranormal thread to this story which is intended to make the reader think about what is real and what is not. Readers should wonder what greater powers than humanity might be out there which we may be offending with our careless actions and lack of regard for our role as custodians of planet, Earth.

 

 

Roberta Eaton Cheadle is a South African writer and poet specialising in historical, paranormal, and horror novels and short stories. She is an avid reader

in these genres and her writing has been influenced by famous authors including Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Amor Towles, Stephen Crane, Enrich Maria

Remarque, George Orwell, Stephen King, and Colleen McCullough.

Roberta has short stories and poems in several anthologies and has two published novels:

* Through the Nethergate, a historical supernatural fantasy; and

* A Ghost and His Gold, a historical paranormal novel set in South Africa.

Roberta has ten children’s books published under the name Robbie Cheadle.

Roberta was educated at the University of South Africa where she achieved a Bachelor of Accounting Science in 1996 and a Honours Bachelor of Accounting

Science in 1997. She was admitted as a member of The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants in 2000.

Roberta has worked in corporate finance from 2001 until the present date and has written seven publications relating to investing in Africa. She has won

several awards over her 20-year career in the category of Transactional Support Services.

 

Find Roberta Eaton Cheadle

Blog: 

https://wordpress.com/view/robertawrites235681907.wordpress.com

Twitter: 

https://twitter.com/RobertaEaton17

 

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/robertawrites

Amazon: 

https://www.amazon.com/Roberta-Eaton-Cheadle/e/B08RSNJQZ5

 

 

 

 

Refracted Reflections: Twisted Tales of Duality & Deception

 

Refractions and Reflections…

A reflection can be revealing or deceptive. What stares back at you when you glance into the mirror?

A prison, designed to trap you and take away all that is dear to you?

A portal to another dimension? Another time?

An evil twin, luring you to the other side?

Your loved ones with a fond farewell?

A distorted version of yourself? A person you no longer even recognize?

A protective savior?

Do you dare to gaze into the looking glass?

Will what you see save you…, or haunt you forever?

If you liked Gilded Glass and Once Upon an Ever After, you’ll like Refracted Reflections: Tales of Duality & Deception.

 

Books2Read UBL purchase link: 

https://books2read.com/u/3kPyxn

 

 

Refracted Reflections: Twisted Tales of Duality & Deception by Kaye Lynne Booth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an excellent collection of weird and wonderful tales. As is usually the case with anthologies like this, I found I enjoyed some of the stories more than others, but it was a matter of personal taste rather than a reflection on the work of the authors, and there was something to like about each of the stories.

*NOTE: I was given a free advanced copy of this book by one of the authors. This fact has in no way influenced my opinion of the book or the contents of this review, and all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

 

 

             

Digital Giveaway

For a chance to win a free digital copy of Refracted Reflections, just leave a comment to show you were here. Follow the tour and comment at each stop for more chances to win. Three copies will be given away in a random drawing

 

Tour schedule:

Monday – September 19 – Intro post – Writing to be Read

Tuesday – September 20 – Guest Post & Review – Ligia de Wit – Carla Loves to Read
Wednesday – September 21 – Guest Post – Elisabeth Caldwell – Writing to be Read
Thursday – September 22 – Guest Post – Valerie B. Williams – Roberta Writes
Friday – September 23 – Review & Guest Post – Roberta Eaton Cheadle – Zigler News

#RoyalFamily & #Crochet & #Knitting & #HarryPotter & #NASCAR

Of course, we all know Queen Elizabeth II died, and her funeral is this coming Monday.  I don’t really have much to say on the matter, but felt I should acknowledge it, along with the fact Charles is now King Charles III, and Prince William now has the title of Prince of Wales (previously held by Charles).

 

The United Kingdom is in mourning, as you might expect, and all businesses will be closed on Monday as a mark of respect.  It's sad news, though perhaps not entirely unexpected given Queen Elizabeth's advanced years.

 

*~*

 

Since I don’t have anything more I want to say on the matter at this time, I’m going to move this post along and talk about things that I want to share from my own life.  For one thing,I have photos of some of my recent craft creations to show you.

 

~

 

I've been meaning to get you a photo of this crochet daffodil - or my attempt at one - I made a couple of months ago ever since I finished it.  Well, here it is at last:

~

I also made this mini loom knitted hat while trying to learn more loom knitting stitches.  It's very small, so I'm not sure what I'll do with it... Maybe make a toy and put it on that? Seems like a good plan.  Regardless, here it is:

~

Last week they were making loom knitted scrunchies in the loom knitting class, so I made one with them.  It's purple.  Here's a photo of it:

~

Then, this past Saturday, there was a crochet workshop, and with Halloween around the corner we have some themed classes going on, so during that workshop we made pumpkin-shaped crocheted coasters.  Here's a photo of my attempt at making one:

~

 

I also want to show you a photo of my new mug.  It’s  a Ravenclaw mug.  There are two photos because they were taken from slightly different angles.  Yes, I’m a Ravenclaw.  At least, according to all the times I got sorted on the various versions of the Harry Potter websites.  And I’m proud to be a Ravenclaw.  The blue and bronze colours are fine by me too, since I like the colour combination.  Anyway, here’s the mug:

 

*~*

Though it may not appear like it from how short this summary of my week will be, it's been another busy week.  Besides crafting and ACB-related activities, my week has revolved around trying to catch up with some things (both online and off) that I've been neglecting, as well as reading as much as I have time for (which isn't nearly as much these days as it used to be) and watching NASCAR races.

Yes.  I did say NASCAR.

 

I ended up getting in to it a bit recently.  Who knew cars and trucks driving in circles could be so exciting? I figured I'd check it out - just to see what all the fuss was about - last weekend.  Thought I'd have it on as background noise while I read a book on my braille display.  Yeah... The reading part didn't end up happening.  I really enjoyed the race though.  So much that I spent a large chunk of last weekend listening to races through the app, and plan to do the same this weekend.  LOL!

~

That about covers my week.  I hope you've had a great week.  Feel free to share anything you'd really like me to know about your week in the comments section of this post via whatever platform you're reading this on.

Of #Tortoises, Sofas, A #Storm, And Other Random Things

It was Artemis' 3rd birthday - perhaps I should say "hatchday" since Artemis is a tortoise - on September 6th.

As you may or may not already know, we always get something for the petkids when it's their birthday.  But what do you get a tortoise for their birthday?Fruit, that's what.  At least, fruit is what I get for mine, and Artemis definitely seems to agree it makes a great present. So, Artemis got a couple of grapes, and was very pleased about that.

Here's a birthday photo of Artemis checking out a bowl full of lettuce, herbs, tortoise pellets, and grapes:

And here's a video of Artemis exploring and climbing on a throw pillow on the sofa:

  

*~*

  

Remember how I said last week that we’d accepted an almost new sofa because after about two years of waiting we still didn’t have the rest of the corner one we’d been promised? Well, now we have both.

 

Within a couple of days of that post going live we had the other pieces of the corner sofa dropped off by the people who had been promising it to us since we moved in here back near the end of 2020.  Which means we now have the corner sofa, a smaller sofa, and the armchair that we’ve had since when we were living in the first place we lived in when we were in Hastings.

 

Interesting how we’re the people in our family least likely to want a lot of visitors, and yet we’re the ones with most space for them, since we now have enough seating in our living room to comfortably seat about nine people.  But, no, that doesn’t make me more eager to have lots of visitors.  LOL!

  

*~*

 

It's been pretty rainy most of this past week.  The rain storm got bad enough early hours of Monday morning that the whole area had no power for about an hour.  And there's been a flood warning in our area since Tuesday.  Apparently Summer is over.  I could do without the power cuts, and the flooding isn't a good thing really, but otherwise I'm most definitely glad we're back to more traditional Welsh weather.

 

We had a terrific thunderstorm on Wednesday.  Unfortunately, since I was attempting to facilitate a call at the time, when we tried to film it we missed the fantastic thunder.  But we did get a video of the rain and wind that was part of the storm, so here it is:

 

  

*~* 

   

It's been an incredibly busy week for me, with meetings, social and crafting Zoom calls, reorganizing furniture (because how we had things wasn't going to work with the rest of the corner sofa pieces showing up) and the usual day to day stuff to fit in around those things.  But I still managed to find time to catch up a bit on some reading over the weekend, and add a few words to one of my neglected stories.  There wasn't much of the writing part, but it felt great to actually get to do any, even if it was very little.

   

*~* 

   

One of my teas in the monthly tea box I subscribe to is called "Butter Brew" this month, and it tastes like warm melted butterscotch.  I definitely approve.  I'm also glad to see more of the pumpkin spice tea, since I remember from last year (when it was in my box around this time of year, but with different ones in with it) that it was very tasty, and I was hoping for more

.  I love pumpkin-themed food and drink, and 'tis the season to gorge on pumpkin after all.  LOL!

   

*~* 

   

Well, that's all I have to say this week, so I'll let this do.  Hope you've had a good week.

Random Ramblings, Kitchen Tours, And Community Calls

The weather, thankfully, cooled down where I am.  Parts of the UK were still dealing with extreme heat – maybe still are, though not as badly as they were during July and August – but not here.  Not in the part of Wales I’m in.  Where I am we even got some rain.  I love the sound of the rain, and it was even more welcome after the heat we’d been dealing with.

 

~

 

When we first moved here, back at the end of 2020, we were offered a corner sofa.  They said we’d get the corner piece now, and eventually get the rest.  We’re still waiting.  So, when we were offered a free sofa – including free delivery of said sofa – recently, we accepted the offer.  We wanted a sofa, but only had hat corner piece of the corner sofa and two armchairs (one of which we only held on to for the extra seating, but really thought should be thrown out).  Now we have one.  And I happen to think it's a really nice one too.  It's really comfortable.
 

*~*

 

Another September 1^st has come and gone, and still no trip to Hogwarts for me.

 

You know what? One of these years I’ll have to plan things so I have a Harry Potter themed feast on the evening of September 1^st, just so I get that part of the experience.  Maybe I can eat it while watching the first Harry Potter movie or something.  That would be fun!

 

Another fun idea would be a Harry Potter themed blog party.  But people aren’t taking part in blog parties so much these days, so I don’t know how well that would work out.  Still a fun idea though, even if I’ll likely never do that one.  Though I’d probably take part if someone else did one and I found out about it in time.

 

*~*

 

After an almost month long battle, I FINALLY got a Bookshare account!

 

For those who don’t know, Bookshare is a service that gives access to books in alternative formats for those who have disabilities where sometimes lack of availability of a book in certain formats prevents them reading the book in question.  They provide several formats, including the one needed for my Orbit (Braille reader).

 

It shouldn’t have been that much work, or taken even close to as long as it did.  And, from Bookshare’s side of things, it wasn’t any hastle at all.  They were wonderful.  The trouble was on my doctor surgery’s end.

 

First it took them almost two weeks to get the document verifying I had a disability that allowed me to be able to qualify for Bookshare signed, and then they claimed they’d sent it to Bookshare directly and wouldn’t send it to me too, despite Bookshare being unable to find it on their end.  Eventually though - possibly just so I’d quit calling about it, but whatever – I was allowed to speak directly to one of the admin team who monitor the email for my doctor surgery, and she sent it to me, first sending a test email to ensure she had my correct email.  Then I was able to send it over to Bookshare for them to link it to the account I’d started setting up while waiting for a copy of the document to reach either me or them, and then finish setting up my account.

 

So many books...

 

If I disappear, you know where I’ll be.  LOL!

 

*~*

 

 

I've mentioned before that I co-facilitate a cooking call on the ACB community.  Well, Herbie and I recently did an episode of "Herbie's Cooking Corner" where we gave audio tours of our kitchens.  Here's mine:

If you want to see the full episode, where you can get a tour of Herbie's kitchen too, you can find it on YouTube here. YouTube is where you can also find several other episodes of the show by checking out the Herbie's Cooking Corner playlist Herbie has created.

 

Also, if you’re subscribed to the ACB Community’s daily schedule – which you can subscribe to by sending an email to community@acb.org – you can join us on Zoom every Tuesday at 10:00am Eastern time (3:00pm UK time).  Alternatively, you can enable the ACB Media skill on your Alexa device and tune in to listen to us on Tuesday at 10:00am Eastern time (3:00pm UK time) on ACB Media 5.
 

~

 

I'm going to end this post with another invitation.  Yes, it's part of the ACB community calls as well.  But you don't have to be blind to be a part of the community.  Anyone who has a visual impairment or a family member or friend with one is welcome.  So, why not join me and Patty on Thursday?

 

~

 

Happening each Thursday: Free to Be Me

1:30pm EST; 6:30pm BST

A place to enjoy free-flowing conversation about books and anything else that might come to mind. Come as yourself. All are welcome and wanted.

Join us by emailing community@acb.org for all Zoom call in information.