Summer time...

..and the living is just great. We've had fantastic warm, bright weather in the wilds of Shropshire. The kind that makes you stop what you're doing raise your face to the sun and smile at the warmth seeping into your bones. Walking around the garden is bliss, the air heady with the scent of wild rose and honeysuckle. Glorious.

The goslings are out grazing as are the hens with their chicks, everyone is happy, especially the pigs in their wallow. Although the girls (Pygmy goats) do feel they should be on our side of the hedge when it comes to bbq time in the garden.

We're all busy with work, Rob's out a lot at the moment getting all his schools ready for sports day and now I'm working full time, the weeks are flying by, but it's lovely to sit out in the gloaming scratching a pigs belly and listen to the Curlews bubbling in the fields across the valley. Makes it all worth while really.

The kidlets are well too, eldest seems to suffer from what a lot of parents Im, sure already experience and that's a very active social life. I have definitely become 'le chauffeur.'

Thanks to all my writing buddies who've kept in touch. I know I've fallen off the face of the earth but I'm still writing where I can!

Reasons for bad blogging part 2

Over the past few years our family has made steady progress towards being more aware of where our food comes from. It started when the kidlets came along and us wanting to put the best food possible in their tummies and I guess it has a lot to do with understanding the food on our plates and how it's reared and produced. Or how badly in many cases.

So, Grandma and Grandpa Littlehales grow the veggies and salad. This is difficult during winter but I try to make sure that I buy seasonal locally sourced stuff then.

We've got Chickens that lay eggs, we've got sheep that produce beautiful meat and any other meat that we buy is from the local butcher, who uses local farmers. Now, we are not a rich family by any stretch (at least not financially) and to be honest, I don't find the butcher any more expensive than a supermarket. For me, it's making the conscious decision not to buy meat that's been intensively farmed and pumped full of growth promoters etc. If the last chicken breasts on the shelf are not free range, I won't put them in the trolley. We'll eat something else instead.



This year we have added another 'home growner' to the list and that's goose. Or, (and I apologise if this offends anyone but we refuse to be fluffy with our children when it come to where their food comes from) as the children call them, Christmas lunch.



Now, this photo was taken four weeks ago and this weekend I will take another, so you can see how they have grown.



I'll be back next week with the photo and maybe I might just mention how my writing is going.

Reasons for bad blogging part 1

Those of you who know me well understand that I am a complete animal nut. I mean we're not talking cat lady here, but, well, I guess I became a Vet Nurse for a reason. Anyway, the things is, in our family it has always been a long standing joke that when Rob asked my Dad if it was okay for him to take me off the market (yes, we are that old fashioned) that my Dad said yes, but on one condition- that he took the darn goats away too. Since then, Littlehales family folklore tells of the Pygmy Goat dowry.

And I loved my goats. For sixteen years I had them, put up with them bleating every autumn when they were in season, coped with the tap dancing routine they performed on the roof of one of their Pygy huts and even bit my tongue when they never failed to turn a flock of carefully herded sheep into a seething mass of rioting idiots who refused point blank to go in the direction you were hearing them- because the Pygmy Goat decided at the last minute to run in the opposite direction. (Picture much running around and launching of husband at multiple badly behaved ewes) But alas, all things come to an end and I said goodbye to Briar, my last goat, two years ago.

This year, Rob and I have been married ten years and what did the old romantic ask me? Yep, did I want some Pygmy Goats for our anniversary. I may be sad, but that's one of the most romantic things he could have said.

So, here's introducing Rosehip and Lillie..

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It's been a little while since I blogged...okay, so it's almost half a year, but I promise I've been really busy.

So, where to start? Well I guess there's the new job, or is that jobs x 4? Did say things were hectic! Anyway, it's taken a bit to get my head around Veterinary Nursing again. Anaesthetics, radiography, fluid therapy. My brain was aching, that's for sure. Thankfully, some things haven't changed. Veterinary practices still survive on chocolate and caffeine, it's still really hard to say goodbye to an old friend when it's time, and oh, kitties are still really cute...

Well, it's the New Year and things are finally getting back to normal. The kidlets are back at school and I am now grumbling at what the vast quantities of food and wine I consumed over Christmas have done to my hips and waistline. Boo.
The family seem to have missed (grasping the nearest wooden object) the awful sickness bug that's been sweeping the country, but time will tell if we have gotten away with it completely. I remember catching it whilst at a Wedding the last time the pesky little virus did the rounds. It was horrible. Truly horrible.

Anyhow, I started the new job this week and so far I have managed to leave the practice on time to get home and drive the school mini-bus. Let's hope that continues as I keep having a recurring nightmare about leaving sixteen school children, my own included, stranded at our local school.
On the good side, I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Veterinary Nursing and the team at the practice are great. It's a lot more relaxed than I ever remember it. It also seems that my skills were simply rusty and not forgotten. Yay! Lots of things have changed since I left but with everyone being so supportive and some serious CPD, I shall be able to re-enter the Veterinary Nurses' list without feeling a fraud.

On the writing front, I have started a new WIP, but there is still no news from M&B about the partial I sent them in July. My sixth month of waiting is looming large and although I try and tell myself that a long wait could mean good things-I am also beginning to worry it's gotten lost. It can be so hard to think positively, so what do you do to keep the crows of doubt at bay?

Merry Christmas!

Things have been very busy around here-like they have been for everyone, but at last I am ready for Christmas. The cards have been sent, the presents are wrapped, the wine is ordered from Tesco.com. I even managed to snag a home delivery spot for the 23rd. Life is good.

I'm chipping away at the last four chapters in my wip, trying to mine my characters' emotions for all they are worth. I LOVE this story and I'm really hoping that the editors at M&B ask to see the full manuscript. I was hoping to get that as a Christmas present, but no luck yet. Still, 5 months is not the longest wait I have endured.


I have also found another part time job (waving to Karen) and will be starting that after Christmas. So, if you live near Shrewsbury and have a pet, be afraid, be very afraid. I am rather hoping my Veterinary Nursing skills are simply rusty and not missing.

So Happy Christmas to everyone and if I'm scare in the New Year, you know it's because I have my hand on some poor dog's unmentionables.

What a great Friday!

Many, many congratulations to Michelle Willingham and her family on the safe and speedy arrival of her son. I luuurve babies and the new guy is a little corker. Well done, Michelle! And welcome James Patrick!