#SoCS August 25/18 – Notice

Linda’s prompt for SoCS this week…

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “notice.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

We’ve just been on a little family break to Center Parcs, Woburn Forest, and it was wonderful!

Did you notice I’d been gone a little?

Plenty of activities (expensive, though!) to keep us all entertained.

It was small enough to not need bikes, but large enough that a good walk around would cause your legs to ache.

But amid all the physical activity and family fun, there was always going to be a need for technology.

Last time we went, to the Sherewood Forest one, the WiFi was noticeably absent, apart from the main activity centres. Though this was a little tough, it was good, as it meant that we were not constantly looking at phones, or on screens back at the lodge.

This time though, Center Parcs has upgraded, and WiFi is available everywhere, so the kids were very pleased, that they could stream things to watch via their phones and tablets, whilst mum ad dad watched boring things on the normal telly!

We arrived back yesterday, and Lil Man hesitantly told me he’d possibly left his glasses there.

Great!

I went through everything we had bought home, checked and rechecked empty bags and the car – no glasses.

And with school starting next week, this was not ideal.

I was so careful to look everywhere for left behind items too. Surely I would have noticed a green Specsavers case?

Called the resort today, and described the glasses and case. “Um, no madame, I was here yesterday and all morning today. Nothing has been handed in. We can do a security check on the lodge, but I can’t promise anything. I’ll call you back.”

Fine.

Great. We were going to have to get to the opticians asap then, to order some more for him.

Then the phone rang.

“It looks like we do have your glasses here, actually. They had been clumped together with another set of items!”

The glasses are pretty distinctive, so I knew they would be his.

Thank God! They are being posted back to us.

One less pre-school expense!

Catch ya later Peeps! Happy Saturday!

https://lindaghill.com/2018/08/24/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-aug-25-18/

August 23- Flash Fiction – Magic

Charli’s prompt this week:

August 23, 2018, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that includes magic. It can be a supernatural force, a moment or idea, or use it as a verb. Go where the prompt leads.

Sleight Fright

“Think of a name.”
Deanna held her chosen name tightly in her mind and nodded.
“Think of an object related to that name.”
She self-consciously touched her wrist, where her watch was.
Except it wasn’t there.
Where was it? It was the only thing she had left of him.
“I believe you were thinking of Peter, and his black diver’s watch, am I right?”
The magician held out a watch.
Sleight of hand or magic, she didn’t know, but Deanna didn’t wait to find out. She rushed to the front, snatched the watch and rushed out of the building.

https://carrotranch.com/2018/08/24/august-23-flash-fiction-challenge/

#WritePhoto – Caught

Sue’s #WritePhoto Prompt this week:

sun caught in trees

“Hello?”
Julie looked up. Where had that voice come from? She was sure no one else was in the forest with her. Settling back down, onto her log seat, she continued to read.
“Helloooo!!”
Again, Julie glanced up.
It would be just typical. She had finally found one place she could come to, to get away from the constant demands of motherhood, a refuge, where she could read in peace, and now she’d been found.
Still, there was no one there.
“Oh dahling, it’s not that easy to miss me! Up here!” The voice beckoned her to look upwards. Shielding her eyes from the sun, she allowed them to come into focus again.
“Oh do hurry up, I don’t have long! I have but a few minutes when the sun shines in the right place, with no clouds, to be able to see, and usually, there isn’t anyone around!”
Julie gasped as she realised what she was seeing.
There was a tree, a rather tall tree, waving at her, it seemed, ‘hip’ pushed to the side in a rather camp fashion, and the sun was blazing through a circular gap, as if caught, creating the illusion of a single eye.
“Oh, wonderful! You can see me!”
“Yo-you can talk?” Julie stammered. Her first instinct was to run away, but the eye was captivating.
“Well, of course I can. So can the others, It’s just I’m the only one who was blessed, or cursed, depending on how you look at it, with the ability to communicate with other species. All seeing eye, and all that, but the damned thing only works for the time the sun is in the right position to shine through my eye, so to speak.”
“Well I never….” This was like something out of the Magic Faraway Tree, her favourite ok as a child. She was half expecting to see a bunch of brownies and goblins appear at the branches.
“I know what you’re thinking, and it’s all a load of nonsense.”
“Pardon?”
“Fairy Folk. I mean come on, as if that could be a real thing! It’s bad enough having the animals constantly climbing up us, do you think we’d really welcome being hollowed out and lived in? Miniature people with wings, dear Lord, that would just be ridic-”
The voice cut off as the sun made it’s way through the sky, leaving the tree’s ‘eye-hole’.
Julie rubbed her eyes and looked up at the tree again. “Er, hello?”
No answer.
Had she imagined it? Who knows, but as she picked up her book and bag, and made to leave, she glanced back at the tree, and she could have sworn it waved at her.

 #writephoto

https://scvincent.com/2018/08/23/thursday-photo-prompt-caught-writephoto/

#writephoto

RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #215 Rebel & Change

Squeezing a quick haiku in, during our break!

Lovely Ron with his Haiku Challenge prompt words this week:

Rebel & Change

Leaves fall in summer
Rebelling against nature
Seasons are changing

Ritu 2018

Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge Image 2016

https://ronovanwrites.com/2018/08/20/haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-215/

Life Begins When The Kids Leave Home and The Dog Dies by Barb Taub #BookReview #AmReading

Yes, another day, another book!

This time I am reviewing Barb Taub’s hilarious book, Life Begins When The Kids Leave Home And The Dog Dies. It is a collection of essays written by Barb through her life as a columnist for several papers, and if you enjoy it, there are so many more on her blog!

Figel-146

I met Barb for the first time at the second Annual Bloggers Bash Awards in London, way back in 2016. I had won a competition and was awarded a special bracelet to commemorate one of her fiction works from the Null City series.

Check out Barb’s books here.

I can confirm she is as bubbly as her blog posts sound!

I have also read Do Not Wash Hands In Plates – a memoir of hers from travelling around India which was fantastic too.

This book I had on my Kindle, ready to read, then one day I received a package! Lovely Robbie Cheadle of Bake and Write fame, had won a copy of the book, but not wanting to put postage costs up for Barb (as she lives in Sout Africa) she nominated me as the recipient of her prize. Thanks Robbie!

 

It took me a while to get round to reading it (that tbr pile is literally teetering by my bedside, as well as on my kindle!) and I am so glad I did.

Here’s my review.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Now, I am not quite at retirement stage, not looking out for grandchildren, as my own kids are still young, thankfully, but I enjoyed reading Barb Taub’s collection of essays immensely!
The articles about motherhood resonated deeply, and I have to say I snorted with laughter at many!
Barb Taub has a way with words, her humour is brilliant and these short essays keep you turning the pages.
You could dip in and out of this book, but I was so immersed, I read it continually (when my own children would allow) until the very last page!
Definitely recommended!

My Amazon Review here.

My Goodreads Review here.

Buy Life Begins When The Kids Leave Home And The Dogs Died here.

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