Mothering Sunday

Mothers!

 All Sundays are special in their way and I even remember the time when everything closed on a Sunday making it a really special day of the week. In the British calendar Mothering Sunday is two weeks before Easter Sunday, a day originally set aside for children in service to go home to visit their mothers. In other parts of the world this is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. As a well-travelled Mum I would like my children to remember me on both Mothering Sunday days - some hope! Only one of my children has remembered on Mothering Sunday at the time of writing that I'm their Mum.

I have still had a wonderful day despite being a bit forgotten. I went off to play tennis in a hurricane this morning. Any chance of the ball landing in was in the lap of the Gods! Then for lunch, Richard and Danielle invited me out to a bikers' cafe for a fry-up. Amazingly, the queue for greasy spoon type of food was enormous - such is the popularity of this place on the A5. One young woman arrived some time after us, saw the length of the queue and announced loudly how she was starving. I loudly suggested that this was probably hyperbole on her part and that there are many people in this world who really are starving. She must have left the line or fainted in a corner of the carpark as I did not see her after that. 

Hungry bunnies

The food was worth the wait. Ezra-Mae and Danielle had three gigantic sausages in a long bun covered in cheese with loads of sauce splattered over it, Richard had a massive burger, I had an omelette with black pudding and chips. Mattaya had a bit of everyone else's food. The girls dived in  - literally - we needed loads of napkins to clean up the girls who had food up to their elbows. Luckily, Danielle still has a doggy so the doggy bag will go to a good cause. Thank you for taking me there - I remain stuffed for the foreseeable future. 

Super Sausages!

As for doggies. Shadow gave me great cause for alarm on Saturday. She fell over in my kitchen and couldn't stand up properly. I sat on the floor with her and stroked her for the longest time. My plans to go out with her were scuppered. I thought this was it. Danielle turned up to pick her up and she wobbled downstairs to greet her. So it seems fifteen-year-old Shadow lives to fight another day albeit with a bit more of a wobble. 

My day isn't over yet. Nicolas will be coming round to visit with not-so-baby Phillip later on. Nicolas is from Lebanon and his wife Nata is from Ukraine. Both have family back in their homeland. On the list of countries that are suffering at this time, these two come pretty high up. My FB feeds reflect anti-Israeli and anti-Trump rhetoric. Beyond the noise and the gung ho banter, real people are dying or being displaced as the world plunges to great depths of idiocy. I can't help thinking that Israel will be illegally  occupying  ever more parts of the Middle East. Russia will benefit from this distraction and Trump will forget the excuses he first made for escalating the war. God help Us All.

And to my son, Sam... if you should read this, I am pleased you put in a late call to wish me a Happy Mothers' Day

Appearances

 

At the beginning of this week the weather was warm so my determination to get out and tame my small garden was high on my to-do list. I am now at the end of the week and my garden remains untamed. However, I did get the snippers out and at the request of Ezra-Mae and Danielle, I seamlessly morphed into a hairdresser. It was just a trim, and I have to say I was pleased with the outcome. While snipping away in the garden, Mattaya tried to put the spare hairclips and hairbands in her hair - and failed. She is eighteen months old and bald - like all my children were. I felt for her. All she wanted was to have hair like the rest of us. From such a young age we become very aware of our appearance  - she is clearly aware of hers. Her hair will grow eventually and she'll probably have quite a head of it by the time she is three - a long way off when you are under two - but a lot to look forward to. 

I was also pleased with the job I did cleaning my car. It had got so dirty, I had almost forgotten what colour it was. For a couple of days I smugly drove around, proud of my shiny car. Then... the sandstorm struck. It is now looking just like it did before my efforts. Errr. 

Wrest Park

I visited an English Heritage venue this week, Wrest Park. Situated not far from my home, it was once the family home of the De Greys. Built in the French style with the horticultural touches of Capability Brown and later, Batty Langley - another garden designer with a marvellous name; it is now a place that plebs like me can wonder around and gawp at the opulence of lives once lived. It is also one of the settings for Bridgerton. While it is difficult to justify how some people could live in such luxury while others scrapped by, it has nevertheless left a legacy for us to admire and enjoy. So, dressed up warm and not with the least thought to my style, I immersed myself in history for a day and had a wonderful time. 

Further from home - we are led to believe there is a good justification for bombing Iran and neighbouring countries. There is no justification at all. It is smoke and mirrors. I believe it is an excuse for Israel to expand its remit into Jordan, Syria and Lebanon while Trump gets control of the oil in Iran. Trump's bullying of Britain will not make his decisions to start a war any more legitimate. He is as bad as the Ayatollah. Those living in the Middle East are merely collateral damage. They don't count. While I despised the Ayatollah, killing him is not the way to get rid of a system that is culturally embedded. You are not going to stop men believing they can shoot, torture and kill their brothers, mothers, daughters, sisters and children just because someone from another country has killed their leader. Me thinks that the Epstein files recently released that implicate Trump in misogyny in its worst form in the 1980s might have had something to do with the timing. Is this terrible situation something to do with one idiot's vanity? My heart goes out to all who live in the region. 

Peppa Pig on World Book Day

Duped

This is the week when things went pear-shaped. I sent an email to the person I had paid to help me publish my book and the email bounced. I looked at the small print to find out why it had bounced and it said the domain did not exist. Argh... I also noticed the logo had disappeared from the bottom of previous emails and also that the website had disappeared. Argh times two. 

Since September I had become increasingly annoyed at the way Steve Harrison of Amazon KDP Publishers was dealing with my requests. I had promises and bullshit but nothing substantial. Right from the start I felt uneasy about the way I was dealt with but having no knowledge of the publishing industry I felt this was probably par for the course, especially as he was irritatingly American. I initially chose the company because they laid out everything they would do for me for a price. I was beginning to think they were unprofessional but I did not expect they would disappear from view. The only other company to do this was Troubadour but they were much more expensive. How cheap they seem now!! I was also hassled by other companies I sent my synopsis to. Danielle witnessed one barrage I had from a phone call from another publisher. Trust me, there must be a very dark world in the publishing industry. 

Added to this, I joined FB groups for writers. Many boasted how they self-publish and it costs them nothing, others offer a service to get you started. Many published authors - surprisingly - find it difficult to string a coherent comment on the subject of writing!! I became cynical on all fronts. Even though I had written a book, I did not feel good about it. I was suspicious of the comments from Steve Harrison and irritated by the poor level of comments from those on the writing groups. The bar was so low, it has been an eye opener into the publishing world.

So what have I done about it? Well, I have reported fraud to the Federal Trade Commission and another fraud agency in California. I have also reflected on how much I have learnt from my experience. It has been an expensive opportunity for learning but I now know that I am confident in how I am going to publish the sequel.  Sammi has been a rock and has done a few searches for me. I am so glad he has my back. To be honest, if I wanted to make money, I should have become a cleaner. 

I never imagined I would sit down and write a book. It wasn't something I had on my bucket list so I went about things in an upside down way. I wrote the book and then wondered how to get it published. From here on, I can offer myriad advice on how to get published should you want to hear about it. 

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Middle East bombs are dropping. I am sorry that Trump is meddling in Iran. We have got rid of the leader but changing the culture where ordinary Iranians think it is OK to kill their brothers, mothers, sisters and daughters will take more than bombs. The only thing raining on me in the UK is too much water. I know I have been duped but I am safe. I am healthy and I am wiser. I have so much to be thankful for. I just wish I listened to my body more as my right heel is now giving me gip again after a lovely walk round Rushmere Park. Silly me on so many counts!

A break in the clouds and a lovely walk