Winning Books

I’ve won four books this week! 

Two books arrived in the post the other day from John Dougherty. I’d entered a book title competition on the AwfullyBig Blog Adventure site during their Litfest 2011 and have won a signed copy of ‘Zeus on the Loose!’ and ‘Bansi O’Hara and the Bloodline Prophecy’. They both look like wacky reads and have joined my tbr pile.

Susanna Leonard Hill had a competition on her blog recently and I've won a signed copy of one of her picture books, ‘Can’t Sleep Without Sheep’. It sounds like fun but I haven’t received it yet as it’s having to travel all the way from the US.

And this morning the postman delivered a signed copy of RebeccaEmin’s book, ‘New Beginnings’. I entered a caption competition on her blog and this is my prize. It sounds fascinating. 

Here's the sales blurb:  Sam Hendry is not looking forward to starting at her new school. Things go from bad to worse as the day of truth arrives and all of her fears come true... and then some. When Sam meets a different group of people who immediately accept her as a friend, she begins to feel more positive. With her new friends and interests, will Sam finally feel able to face the bully who taunts her, and to summon up the courage to perform on stage?

So when I’ve finished here I’m going to settle down with a mug of tea and a piece of homemade fruit bread and start Rebecca’s books.

[Yes, you did read that correctly... homemade fruit bread. We have a new cooker and it’s amazing. I now know why I haven't been able to bake recently. This new cooker can be set to different temperatures unlike the old one which I now realise was cooking everything on a temperature akin to furnace level.]

Before I settle down with Rebecca’s book I’d just like to thank everyone again for their support during our virtual Macmillan World’s Biggest Coffee Morning. We raised £215.50 for the charity. If you missed it you can still visit the blog post and the JustGiving page that we set up in memory of our Mum.

That only leaves the fancy dress and coffee morning joke awards to dish out.

The fancy dress award goes to *roll of drums* 

JO for her amazingly outlandish fairy costume.

And the coffee morning joke award goes to *another roll of drums* 

Sarah Pearson for: 

Doctor doctor, my right eye hurts whenever I drink coffee.
Well take the spoon out then! 

 Well we did ask for coffee jokes and that’s what Sarah gave us!

We Raised Money

Having a virtual coffee morning was always going to be a bit of an experiment. It’s one thing throwing a virtual party for a bit of fun. It’s quite another inviting people to a virtual fund raising event... but it worked! 

Some party statistics:

• 172 visitors shared virtual coffee and cake with us over the last three days.
• There were 20 fancy dress outfits and 5 jokes. [awards announced later this week.]
• More importantly, we’ve raised £177.50 so far for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity (and there are a few more donations still to come in!)

The JustGiving website has been a great help, ensuring that all your donations went straight to the Macmillan Cancer Support team. If you haven’t visited the memorial page that we set up then please feel free to do so. There’s no obligation to donate and we’ve talked a bit about Mum and about the way we lost Dad to cancer too. The page, which you can find here, will stay live for the next few weeks.

There has been an additional bonus for me over this weekend. As I explained a few posts ago, my sister, Hilary Rifka, and I have lived 200 miles away from each other for over 15 years now. We’re always talking on the phone but we don’t often see each other and we weren’t sure quite how running a joint virtual party would work... but it did! 

We’ve giggled our way through her three fancy dress outfits, my deteriorating parrot costume and we even ended the party in the way we always used to end parties when we were kids... 

We sang “Sisters, Sisters”. 

Members of the family reading this now will be grimacing and nodding their heads and saying, 

     “This is true. They did. And they still can’t sing it in tune!” But do we care? No! We thoroughly enjoyed our weekend so thank you to everyone who came along and turned it into a real virtual party!

Hilary Rifka has asked me to include this message from her:

It’s been a fantastic party.  I've loved meeting everyone, the jokes, the fancy dress, the endless coffee making and the feather clearing.  But on a serious note this was all for a really good cause and something very close to our hearts. Our way of giving something back to the Macmillian Nurses who do such a wonderful job. A big thank you for sharing this with us - and honestly Ros has been the brains behind it all - I'm just the clown playing for laughs and clearing up the mess!!!!!! So Ros (my lovely little sister), credit where its due -  Well Done sis..... *big hugs*.

And *big hugs* back... in fact let’s all pat ourselves on the back and have a group hug. [or is that a physical impossibility... hmmm!]

Macmillan's World's Biggest Coffee Morning

Welcome! It's lovely to see you

This party will continue until Sunday evening 

so everyone gets a chance to come along

Would you like tea? Coffee? Something cold? My sister, Hilary, is in charge of the drinks. Her speciality is coffee, freshly ground. [She’s the classy one of the family. I prefer instant! I’m such a pleb.] Perhaps you’d rather have a glass of wine? She can rustle up absolutely anything! No trouble!

As for me, I’ve been busy in the kitchen 

*fingers crossed behind back* 

I've been making ice cream and snacks so do help yourself.

[Just think how much easier life would be if it was all virtual. We could have anything we wanted by just thinking about it... or would the novelty wear off?]

Ah! You noticed that I’m wearing FANCY DRESS! I bet you thought I was a real parrot for a minute there. Difficult to do? Not at all! I stitched each feather on by hand. Every feather is a different colour and my wings are tied on with wire. Good, isn't it! "Squawk!"

Do tell me what you’ve come as.  I can't wait to hear about it. *jumps up and down with excitement* There’ll be a Coffee Morning Fancy Dress Award for the most ingenious/amusing fancy dress outfit.

Which reminds me... COFFEE MORNING JOKES! 
There’s a Coffee Morning Jokes Award too. [Clean jokes only please. Remember that I’m a Grandma!] Extra points will be awarded for coffee morning topics and they don't have to be hilariously funny. I’ll start us off to show you what I mean... *clears throat*

Knock, Knock... Come on!!... someone answer me!!!!...
      “Who’s there?”
Thank you! That’s more like it! Honey bee. 
     “Honey bee who?”
Honey bee a dear and get me a nice cup of tea. 

And now for the serious bit. This coffee morning has been registered with the Macmillan Cancer Support team and they have given us the ok to run our coffee morning virtually. 

As regular visitors to this blog will know, our mother, Frances Denning, died of cancer in April of this year. The Macmillan nurses were there for her during those last few weeks and this is our way of thanking them. 

We've set up a memorial page through JustGiving so that donations will go straight to the Macmillan Cancer Support team. Please visit the page at http://www.justgiving.com/Frances-Denning. 

Thank you for coming along and we hope you've enjoyed our 

Macmillan World's Biggest Coffee Morning. 

The fun will continue until Sunday evening.

 Do pop back after you've visited the Frances Denning memorial page. 

There'll still be plenty of tea in that pot.

Busy, busy week

What a busy, busy week! We’ve been to Wales and now we’re back! We’ve been visiting my sister-in-law in her amazing cottage in the side of a mountain with its steep drive and terraced lawns, damp with dew and steep enough to whisk your feet from beneath you. I’m a city girl at heart.

Now it’s time for apple and honey and 

Happy New Year messages to everyone. 

Let’s hope it’s a sweet and healthy one.

And soon it’ll be time for our virtual Macmillan's World's Biggest Coffee Morning. I hope you’re getting your Coffee Morning Fancy Dress Outfits ready. I’ve got mine all sorted and hanging in my virtual wardrobe. There’ll be awards for the most original outfits. You can describe them to me when you arrive any time between Friday 30th September and Sunday 2nd October... and don’t forget to bring your Coffee Morning Jokes with you.

Of course, there is a more serious side to the event. The MacMillan nurses were there for Mum in those last few weeks and that’s why we (me and my sister, Hilary) have set up a Frances Denning memorial page through JustGiving so that people can donate. You can find it at http://www.justgiving.com/Frances-Denning and all donations go directly to MacMillan Cancer Support. Friends have already started donating. You don’t have to wait.

...now to unpack the suitcases. What a busy, busy week!

Peace One Day

Today is Global Peace Day and had I not been on Twitter yesterday I would never have known. The following is PeaceOne Day’s official aim for the day:

For Peace Day 2012, Peace One Day is calling for and working towards a Global Truce - a day of ceasefire and non-violence observed by all sectors of society globally ... POD hopes this will be the largest reduction in global violence in recorded history, both domestically and internationally.

Peace One Day was the idea of the film-maker, Jeremy Gilley, and in 2001 the United Nations announced that an official day of global ceasefire and non-violence would be held annually on 21 September.

You only have to visit their website to see that they're doing a lot of good in troubled areas but I'm afraid that it won't bring us lasting world peace... wouldn’t it be amazing if it could! I suspect that aggression is hardwired into our behaviour long before we’re old enough to make decisions about war. You only have to watch a group of kids playing in the playground to appreciate how close we all are to arguments and fighting. As an ex-primary school teacher I know how true this is.

I couldn’t possibly say how many times I’ve made young children face each other after a fight and say,
      "Sorry!"
The words tumble from their mouths but there’s no meaning in them.

This is a time of year when the Jewish High Holy Days are approaching. It’s traditional to think back over the past year. Maybe you've wronged someone. Maybe you've said something hurtful to a family member or friend. Well now is the time to tell them you’re sorry... with words that don’t just tumble from your mouth!

If we could all do that all the time, then maybe there would be no war and no need for a Peace One Day movement. In the meantime I salute Jeremy Gilley and his work. Let’s hope that it can help towards making a difference.

 ~~~~~

Only 10 days until our virtual 

Macmillan's World's Biggest Coffee Morning. 

From Friday 30^th September to Sunday 2^nd October.

Come to this blog for cakes, drinks, fun and lots of awards to be won. 

Don't forget, we’ll be asking for donations to Macmillan Cancer Support at JustGiving. 

[This event has been registered with the Macmillan Cancer Support Charity 

and every penny of your donation goes to the Macmillan charity. Thank you.]

~~~~~

Wickedness

There’s a new book out that’s really wicked. *sigh* [That’s the sound of someone who’s feeling old.] I’d like to know how the word ‘wicked’ first came to mean cool and, while I’m on the subject, where did the term ‘cool’ come from? Everyone’s using it these days, except for me. Apparently it embarrasses my kids.

“You’re too old to say ‘cool’, Mum!” Charming! In my day it was ‘swinging’, ‘groovy’ or even ‘hip’. You knew where you were with terms like that. I wonder if it’s better to be cool than hot and how can wicked be both good and bad? What word do you use to describe something that’s really good?

...which brings me back to the book. I’ve mentioned before about our writing critique group. We’re all children’s authors and we meet twice a month, once to crit each other’s work and once to have lunch and discuss novels written by other children’s authors. [ok, ok, so it’s mostly to have lunch!!] One of our group, Deborah White, was recently signed up to a two book deal with Templar. The first book is now out. It’s called Wickedness and, like I say, it’s wicked. It’s about two flame-haired girls, both fourteen, both living in London, but four hundred years apart. It’s a full-on adventure story that includes history, fantasy and romance... something for everyone!

Seeing Deborah’s book emerge into the real world is a bit like watching a friend’s baby grow. We saw it develop and mature. We know both flame-haired girls as if they were our nieces. I can’t wait for you all to read it so we can discuss the story. It’s cool... sorry, I mean wicked.

Wickedness by Deborah White ISBN 9781848775312 It’s out in paperback at £6.99 [but if you scoot over to Amazon now you can pick up a copy for £3.91 – how do they do that?]

~~~~~

There are only 12 days until our virtual 

Macmillan's World's Biggest Coffee Morning. 

From Friday 30^th September to Sunday 2^nd October we’ll be having cakes, drinks and fun right here on this blog and there’ll be lots of awards to be won... but most importantly, we’ll be asking for donations to Macmillan Cancer Support at JustGiving in memory of our Mum who died five months ago from cancer. We miss her very much. 

[This event has been registered with the Macmillan Cancer Support Charity and every penny of your donation goes to the Macmillan charity. Thank you.]

~~~~~