Open Book Blog Hop – 15th July

This week the blog is scheduled as I’m spending some time at the van with a friend.  I’ll  join in with the link and answer any comments just as soon as I can, which will probably be after Wednesday:

The question is…

What was your hardest scene to write?

Oh, this question is easy to answer.  Any sex scene has me cringing at the thought of writing it, but write it I must. In ‘Revenge‘ I had to write about the illicit affair between Alistair and Carly, and how could I do that without incorporating a few sex scenes?  Readers expect them, and one reader even went so far as letting me know that there weren’t enough sex scenes in the book for his liking!

You also get the readers who are offended by sex scenes.  There was one person who reviewed ‘The Daughter-in-law Syndrome’  –  she loved the book but had unfortunately cringed at reading the few sex scenes I had written between Arla and Ric (while I’d cringed at the thought of writing them!).

Readers expected ‘Mind Games‘ to be erotica, as it deals with the effect that an addiction to pornography has on a marriage, but it was exactly the opposite.  It just goes to show that you cannot please all the people all the time.  These days I tend to leave more to readers’ imaginations.  I add a little spice, but leave out all the gory bits!

Which scenes do other blog-hoppers struggle with?  Click on the blue button to find out, or just add your own comment.

Rules:

1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

                                        You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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Sunday Stills Photography Challenge

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This week on Sunday Stills the topic is ‘Creatures & Critters‘.  I thought I’d add a photo of my son’s tortoise,  Sheldon, which I took when we looked after him in May while our son and his wife went on holiday.  Sheldon had the most voracious appetite, especially where tomatoes and cucumber were concerned!  I loved his little black eyes.  My son makes me laugh – he says he loves Sheldon’s tiny nostrils!

The second photo is of a blackbird that has been following Sam around every evening as he digs over our flowerbeds.  The bird waits until Sam stops for a drink, then hops onto the freshly dug earth and collects as many worms as he can before Sam starts digging again.  Sam and the bird are now best buddies, and Sam lets the bird know when it’s his turn to hop onto the earth by stepping back!  Back garden or front, every evening the bird finds Sam and stands patiently waiting…

See you all again on Thursday.  Apart from a post that’s scheduled for Monday, I’m having a few days off as I’m going to the van with an old friend.  Looking forward to sitting on the decking and getting away from the computer!

 

Anyone for Tennis?

It’s the penultimate day of Wimbledon today, and I haven’t watched so much TV for a long time!  I love a good tennis match, and tomorrow I’ll hopefully get to watch the last minutes of the men’s singles final from the van.   I’ve composed a poem in honour of my favourite sport:

ANYONE FOR TENNIS?

© Stevie Turner 2019

They seek the winner’s golden cup

But the competition’s tough.

Serve and volley,

Smash and lob.

Fifteen love.

 

Serve and volley

Backhand pass

Was it out?

Challenge with a shout.

Have to heed the referee’s call.

Fifteen all.

 

Serve but no volley

An ace down the line,

Spectators clap.

Serve and volley

A puff of chalk seen.

Thirty fifteen.

 

Serve and volley

Drop it over the net,

Run to save the set.

Backhand slice,

Very nice.

Bat that ball!

Thirty all.

 

Serve and volley

Start a rally

Fifteen strokes from the baselines.

Accurate passing shot.

Opponent too sporty.

Thirty forty.

 

Serve and volley,

Agony,

Dodgy knee joint.

Championship point.

Spectators ooh and ah.

Serve and volley

Lob and run

Smash it home.

Match is won.

Friday Click & Run – 12th July

Sometimes when we’re busy it’s nice to simply leave a link to our blog or blog post and run, and so Friday Click and Run is just for that purpose. However, of course you can check out others’ links and share away if you want to. So… every Friday do add some info of what your blog is about and also a link to your blog or blog post in the comments if you’ve got a minute. You don’t have to do anything else such as sharing or commenting unless you really want to. Isn’t that cool? People may decide to check your link out, or they may not. They might decide to leave their own link and run as well, so you may meet each other heading out the door. If I see a post that’s a bit risqué, then I shall be running too – straight to the ‘delete’ button!

Fire away then… let’s see what we end up with.   Thanks to the 8 bloggers who left their links last week.

Windows to the Soul

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, but what happens when people can’t see them?

I have the early stages of dry age-related macular degeneration, which may or may not have been accelerated by much radiotherapy to my neck.  At the moment there is no cure for it.  Injections of Eylea, Lucentis or Avastin can be applied to aid patients suffering with the wet age-related version, but dry AMD has to be lived with and endured.

If I go outside I immediately see a bright ring of glare in my left eye, which goes away if I wear sunglasses.  I’ve found the best sunglasses that help me are the kind where people cannot see my eyes, as shown in the picture below taken on our family picnic last weekend.

The sunglasses are attached magnetically to the frame, and can be removed when inside the house.  My 4 year old grandson always tries to take them off, and if he succeeds, the older grandchildren always remark how different I look without them.  If I’m out walking around the village, I’m aware that people cannot see my eyes if they talk to me, and I try to take them off.  However, being outside without them causes me much difficulty and makes me squint.

I’ve come to realise it’s important for people to see your eyes when they’re communicating with you.  It’s got to the point where I’m embarrassed to wear them if I’m talking to somebody outside of my immediate family.  My sons and their wives know my eyesight problems and I don’t have to pretend around them, but it’s a different case if anybody else is involved.

Even if the sun is not shining I still cannot take them off outside.  My eyes are otherwise fine, if sometimes a little watery and sore.  Glad to say there’s nothing sinister going on in there, but boy oh boy, do I need my sunglasses!

If you’re talking to somebody wearing these type of sunglasses, would you prefer to see their eyes, or am I getting a little paranoid?

 

Do You Take the Easy Option?

Last weekend Sam’s sisters and their families came to our van for a BBQ. We sat on the decking and chatted whilst the men cooked sausages and burgers.  One of his sisters, Marie, is 69, and the other one, Mel, is 65.  Marie had plenty to say on the subject of ageing, which I’m not sure was all correct.  I’ll give some background info and also her words below, and then my opinion.  I’d be grateful for your comments.

Marie is retired and gets up in the morning between 9am – 10am.  She and her husband often drive around visiting places in their motorhome.  They walk a little bit, but don’t do much physical exercise.  She told me that I’d notice the difference in the things I couldn’t do anymore by the time I got to 65 (I’m 61 currently).  Marie hurt her hip joint just by putting one ankle up onto her other knee to put on a sock.

I counteracted this statement by saying that surely if somebody takes up regular exercise such as cycling, swimming and walking, then their musculature would not deteriorate too much, or at least deteriorate more slowy?  I find that now I cycle on a regular basis, then it’s not so difficult to walk downhill for any length of time (I was finding this difficult before I started cycling).  Marie shook her head and said it didn’t matter how much exercise you did.  Mel agreed with her sister (she and her husband have electric bikes).

In my opinion neither of them do enough exercise to keep their muscles in good condition.  If you sit all day, then your muscles will deteriorate rapidly.  Can the loss of mobility that comes with ageing be put off for a few more years if you ‘get on your bike’ and don’t take the easy option?

What do you think?

July’s Blog Battle Contest

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Here’s my entry for July’s Blog Battle contest.  I said to one of my blogging friends a while ago that I could write a whole story in  Cockney rhyming slang –  and so here it is!

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WALTER’S HOSPITAL STAY

I’ve been laid up with me chalfonts and I’ve had a lovely kip, but the jollop’s wearing off now I’m stable.  I tried not to ‘ave a tin barf when the doc came round and had a butcher’s up there.  Gawd – didn’t he want to be a train driver when he was a saucepan lid?

It’s like a pox doctor’s waiting room in here; everyone’s got a long face.  I try and talk to the bubble in the bed opposite, but it’s like flogging a dead ‘orse.  He hasn’t got many hampsteads, but he has huge plates of meat – must be size 12 or more.  I think he’s wearing a syrup.  The raspberry in the corner ended up brown bread in the night.  I wonder when it’s my hopping pot?

All I want is some mungy – anything’ll do; taters, or saveloy and pease pudding.  I couldn’t ‘arf go a bundle on a big plate of pie and mash – me stomach thinks me throat’s been cut.  Nurse says it’s too soon after the old Mickey Finn.

The trouble and strife will be in at visiting time, and I might get a cup of char by then.  Someone brought round the me and you earlier on, but I didn’t get a chance to fill it in before I was out of me noddle.

I’m a bit peezy on me pins when I get up, and the bubble looks a bit worried.  I may be 82, but I’ve never been Tom Dick in me life.  I give him a wave and he says something, but as I’m a bit mutton I just nod.  He comes over and walks me to the khasi, but I would have gone on me Jack Jones.  Nice chap.  I ask him what he’s in for, and he points to his bottle;  he’s had his chalfonts done – just like me!

He’s me old china by the time the trouble and strife comes in.  I haven’t had time for a Chas and Dave, but she doesn’t care. She’s cream crackered after having to run up the frog for the bus.  She brings in a cotchel of Ruby Murray, and I give some to the bubble.  Nurse tells us off, but the old ruby never tasted so good.

Doc comes back and says I can go home.  All in all, it ain’t been so bad after all.  Mind you, the bottle’s a bit sore – perhaps I shouldn’t have had that Ruby Murray…

 

 

 

 

 

Living the Dream

I, along with many others, have been following the fortunes of Cori Gauff, the amazing 15 year old tennis star who took out Venus Williams in the first round of Wimbledon, and who carries on winning as she gradually moves up through the rounds with the grace and poise of somebody much older.

At her press conference I could tell she was totally focused on her plan to win the Wimbledon singles title.  She said that she has no qualms about who her opponent might be, because if she thought she couldn’t beat them then she would not go out and play!

Cori is living her dream at the moment, and who usually at the age of 15 gets to do this?  The ladies’ final is only a few more matches away, and she has been thoroughly prepared and coached to realise her dream from a very early age.  One can only applaud her parents (also past athletes) for their encouragment of her talent.

This makes me compare my dream to Cori’s.  Do I say that if I couldn’t get to the No.1 ranking spot on Amazon then it wouldn’t be worth me writing a book?  Well…there are only 128 ladies at the start of the Wimbledon singles’ rounds all vying for the same goal, but who knows how many millions and millions of authors out there are all racing to beat me to the No.1 ranking spot?  Do I give up and say I’ll never realise my dream?

It’s fairly easy to rise to the No.1 spot with free books if you advertise enough – here are 3 examples when I did:

The No.1 spot in paid books is a bit harder to achieve, as usually an agent is needed and one of the big 5 publishers, but hey, I’ve still got time to write that bestseller.  I might not be 15 anymore, but I haven’t got one foot in the grave just yet.  Who knows what the future might bring?  At the moment I’m living the dream of writing books and self-publishing them, which many people would not even consider.

Good luck Cori, may you go on to rise to World No.1, as I’m sure you will.  I’ll be living my dream while you’re living yours…

 

Sunday Stills Photography Challenge

This week on Sunday Stills the theme is ‘Blue’.

Here’s a few more photos from past Isle of Wight festivals and also one of our many trips to The Needles down at Freshwater:

I always look forward to spending some time in these blue hammocks at the festival.  Very relaxing!

The blue sea and the sky seem to melt into one another at The Needles:

Red, white and blue smoke from The Red Arrows display team:

 

Free Book!

My paranormal short story ‘Finding David’ is FREE today until Sunday evening:

When Karen and Mick Curtis attend a demonstration of clairvoyance for the first time, Karen is singled out by the medium, Rae Cordelle. Rae has a message from Karen’s son David, who passed over to the spirit world many years before. The message shocks Karen and sends her on a journey of discovery, rocking her previously happy relationship with second husband Mick, David’s stepfather.

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This is my latest story, and so has no reviews as yet.  I’d be very grateful for a review if you take up the offer and enjoy the story!