Today I welcome my friend Marjorie Mallon to the blog to talk about her new part poetry/part fiction release, The Hedge Witch and The Musical Poet.
The Hedge Witch & The Musical Poet is a collection of poetry and flash fiction celebrating the beauty and the vulnerability of the forest kingdom. It begins with the poetic tale of the kind-hearted Hedge Witch, Fern, who discovers an injured stranger in desperate need of her woodland spells and magic.
The sweet pairing learn from each other and through Fern’s guidance, Devin embraces the power of magic to leave behind his troubled past to become The Musical Poet.
Poetry/flash fiction titles in section one of the collection include:
The Hedge Witch & The Musical Poet, Rain Forest Love, A Forest Baby Boy, A Forest Baby Girl, A Modern Witch, Rock of Mine, Chester Don & I, The Network of Trees, More Trees Not Less, Two Boys Watching War, Mum Climbing Trees, Let’s Play, The Scorched Tree, Owl’s Holiday Home, A Man’s Holiday Home, A Child’s Excitement, The Teddy In The Woods, Run! The Organutans, All Hallow’s Eve Candy Girl The Forest Bash, Dreaming At Halloween, A Face on Bark, Golden Willow Tree, Rainbow – Parasol of Light, Lollipop Sunshine Tree,
In Section two I pay tribute to the following poets: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, Ruby Archer, King Forest,Bliss Carman, Woodland Rain, Emily Dickinson, Who Robbed the Woods, Rupert Blake, Stopping by The Woods on A Winter Evening, Oscar Wilde, In the Forest.
With my poetry inspired by their works:
The Forest Weeps, The Forest King, Raindrops and Childhood Dreams, The Woodland Treasures, Winter Woodland Moon, Child Me.
A beautiful book inspired by, and a nod to, the mystical and the natural world around us. Marjorie Mallon has used fiction and poetry to craft a selection of flash fiction for the first part of the book, about the Hedge Witch and the Musical Poet, as well as other scenarios interspersed with verse. The second section is devoted to poetry inspired by various famous poets. A lovely book to delve into when you want a little slice of magic.
Yesterday I posted a poem I write about accepting ourselves for who or what we are and not trying to make ourselves look different to please the rest of the world.
I’m not a make-up person at the best of times. I get far too hot for make-up, and it ends up sliding off my face before long…
Sure, I’ll add on a little slap if we are going out, but especially now, as I feel my skin not being as smooth as it was, and the eyeshadow I used to apply with ease, getting caught up in those creases, or happy lines around my eyes, I find myself looking at my reflection in the mirror, and wondering, “Do I really need that? Who am I putting this stuff on for?”
Because I’m more than happy without it.
I like to have my eyebrows in order, and no one needs to see me with a light ‘tache on my upper lip, but other than that, what you see is what you get.
I no longer dye my hair, so the greys coming through show that nature has embraced me.
The smile you see will light my face more than any make-up would.
And you would see that I am genuinely happy. (Whiskers, double chin, grey hair, and all!)
So, ladies, are you one who needs their mascara and lippy to feel confident when you go out, or do you embrace the natural you? And gents, how do you feel about your appearance?
Having another go at Maggie and Laurens, Throwback Thursday challenge! This week it is Luren back at the helm!
This week’s prompt is: Learning New Skills
1. When did you learn to ride a bike? Were you self-taught, or did someone teach you? Any major injuries on the way? Did you master the skill? Do you still ride? If applicable, did you teach your kids?
I can’t exactly remember when I learned how to ride a bike, but I remember a yellow bicycle I had as a child. When we were in school, we had to do the Cycling Proficiency test, and I had a bigger, pale blue metallic bike with white wheels. I remember that I didn’t pass, though! Was never much of a bike rider. I could do it, but I wasn’t fussed with road rules!
2. Did you learn to play a musical instrument? At what age? Who taught you? How often did you practice? Were you in a band at school? How good were you? Do you still play? If applicable, did you encourage your kids to play?
When I was teeny, my parents asked the school if I could take piano lessons, but they said no, at that time on account of hands and fingers being too small. (Funny, considering all the young proteges we see!) Then I had recorder lessons for a year. I can still play a tune or two! I even tried guitar for a while. We had a lovely teacher called Mr Mason, but he left and was replaced by another Mr Mason, ironically, who had a habit of spearing fruit Polo using the end of his pencil, throughout the lesson, and eating them, and hitting us on the hand with the same pencil if we were making mistakes! In Sixth Form, I finally started piano lessons and practised on my keyboard at home, but I didn’t stick with it. I still have all the instruments I learned. But don’t ask me to read music. I forgot that, too!
3. Did you sing in a choir in a church or at school? At what age? How often did you practice? Did you enjoy it? How good were you? Do you still sing with others?
We had a school choir, and I joined it for a few years. There was weekIy practice, and we would perform at school events. I love singing even now and enjoy singing all sorts of songs, from traditional Punjabi songs to the latest pop hits! I have sung at several family weddings and. I am always singing in my classroom and at home, too.
4. Did you have formal instructions on speaking a second language? Were you fortunate enough to be raised in a house with two or more languages? Did you learn a second language in school? Are you fluent in more than one language?
Growing up, I was surrounded by both Punjabi and Swahili since both my parents were born in Kenya. My brother and I both spoke fluent English from a young age, and I was the same with Punjabi, but Swahili was more odd words. Pops and Mum would use full Swahili in front of my Brother and I if they didn’t want us to understand what they were talking about! Funny story; our family Punjabi is littered with Swahili words since that is how my parents grew up. When I went to university and was able to make my own Punjabi-speaking friends who weren’t related to me, it transpired that what I spoke wasn’t Punjabi but a mish-mash of both languages with English words added in, too!! So, I can speak, understand and sing in Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu to an extent, but I can’t read or write the script. And I know. a few phrases in Swahili. At school, we learned French, and Latin. I didn’t keep the Latin going, but I did study French to GCSE eleven and got an A!
5. Did you play on a sports team or learn martial arts? At what age did you start? Did a parent become a coach? Did you practice at home? Do you still play sports? If applicable, did you encourage your children to play on a team?
Sports? Me? Don’t be silly! I was never a sporty person, and neither was I interested in watching any games. I played things because I had to. I did enjoy swimming and badminton, and I wasn’t bad at netball and field hockey, but I had no inclination to take any of these sports up outside of P.E. lessons. My brother was the sportsman, playing hockey and cricket, and he has continued, playing at international level, now, in the Finnish National Cricket Team! I’d much rather be reading! But I would never hold my kids back if they were interested. My daughter is a bit like me, not that interested, but my son played Soccer for a while and is an avid cricketer, now, see we are on cricket taxi duty all summer, every summer!
6. Did you ever take dance, tap, ballet, baton, cheerleading, etc. lessons? When did you start? How long did you take lessons? Did you practice on your own in addition to the lessons? How skilled did you become? Did you encourage your children to do the same?
I did ballet for several years, achieving Grade 3 standard, I think. But I am not graceful at all! I am always tripping up, falling over and having accidents! When it was our first parent recital, we had a choreographed dance to perform, followed by a piece of music for us to improvise to. When they asked me what I had been dancing as, in my improv, I wasn’t a butterfly, or fairy, like the other little girls. Oh no, apparently I was a mad scientist doing experiments, ballet style! I also took Modern Dance for a couple of years with a friend. This wasn’t for any qualifications, just for fun. The best lesson has when our instructor put on the song Push It by Salt ‘N Pepa, and showed us her understanding of the words, which was her pushing her hands against an imaginary wall, rather than the more suggestive gist the lyrics were displaying! I also taught Bhangra to children at school for two years, which I loved! Pops, my dad was a semi-professional Bhangra dancer, and even in his 70s he’s still got the moves! My daughter used to love dancing, as the younger generation do, to TikTok viral music clips, but she has stopped that. My son is not a dancer, but he played the Punjabi Dhol Drum for many years and has a great ear for percussion and beats!
7. Did you learn to roller skate or ice skate? Did someone teach you, or did you take lessons? At what age did you learn? Did you become skilled quickly? Can you still skate? Did you teach your children?
I taught myself rollerskating, with those states you hooked onto your trainers, but again, being clumsy, it wasn’t a fad that lasted long with me! We had some ice skating lessons at school so I can skate at a rink, but I am by no means any good! My kids have had goes at both, but neither stuck with them, either!
Reading all that back, it sounds like I tried it all, but stuck at nothing, lol! But I did love reading, and writing, and I’m published, now, so that must mean something!
I did it! I made a throwback Thursday on a Thursday Hat-trick!!
“Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them but you know they’re always there.”
Anon
Thank you, Spidey, for a lovely quote, befitting for what we will be doing, today.
It’s a busy one for us as a family this Sunday as we head off to visit two of our old university friends, and their families. We haven’t seen them for anything from ten to fourteen years!
We all have children, our own homes,(and I have plenty of grey hair) and so much catching up to do. I can’t wait to spend time with them all!
So, forgive me for the shortness of my post, but I’ve got to go and get ready for a lovely afternoon of reminiscing!
So, are you still in touch with old university/college friends?
Having another go at Maggie and Laurens, Throwback Thursday challenge! This week it is Maggie who has set the questions.
This weeks prompt is: Are Rules Made to be Broken?
Who in your family was the person who made and enforced rules? I feel like rules as such were unspoken ones that everyone in our community were meant to follow. Cultural and religious expectations, as well as those that expected respect for our elders. As for the simple ones like setting bedtimes and who did what around the house, it was mainly Mum.
Did you grow up with many rules, or was your life a little more flexible? As I mentioned above, cultural expectations were like lifestyle rules that we were all meant to follow. But in our home, we had a little more flexibility as my parents wanted to be more flexible with us to some extent.
Were you a rule follower or a rule breaker? I was always a rule follower growing up. It might not have been the same as I got older, though!
How were discipline and – in contrast – rewards managed in your household? It was very rare, but if we needed telling off, there may have been raised voices. Rewards were there but not in obvious forms, like you see more of now. No sticker charts or treats like that, but knowing we weren’t disappointing our parents was a huge reward in our eyes.
Were you given the opportunity to plead your case in matters of disagreement? To an extent, but I have to be honest, as a youngster, I was a real goody two shoes!
What tools did your parents use – ‘I’m going to count to three‘, or ‘don’t make me get up‘ or a time-out chair? None that I remember.
Did fear of discipline curb your desire to break or bend the rules? It was fear of disappointing them that curbed the desire to do wrong things.
Did your upbringing influence the way you (as an adult) managed rules in your own home? Yes, and I can see the difference in my thinking compared to my Hubby Dearest’s ideas, too, as his upbringing was a different kettle of fish!
Were you ever ‘grounded’? Do you want to share the story? Nope, never grounded!
Did you break rules your parents never knew about? Want to confess and leave with a clear conscious? No? Oh, goodness, when you go and visit the Uni Ritu, there were plenty I broke! But I don’t think I am brave enough to confess more!
I did it! I made a throwback Thursday on a Thursday, twice in a row!
But I Smile Anyway... 