Hi everyone, it’s Robbie Cheadle here with you today with my November post in the People Photography section on LatinosUSA – English Edition. This month I am featuring photographs of People in the Military. I’ve decided to include the next four weeks of themes in each post so readers have more time to contribute to…
Photography – People in the Military
This week’s W3 challenge is to write a poem personifying an abstract noun. I have chosen anxiety. You can join in here: https://skepticskaddish.com/2026/11/11/w3-prompt-237-weave-written-weekly/
“I’m not letting you rest?” cried Anxiety
Thoughts moving from simmer to boil
Each interaction and conversation slowly unravelling
Triumph gradually beginning to spoil
***
And a stray worry comes to the surface
Leading to a fresh bout of fear
Reaching right down into the stomach
Causing IBS its ugly head to rear
***
No-one can counsel Anxiety
Curb the tide of rampaging reflection
The words of psychologists falling on deaf ears
As Anxiety seeks unattainable perfection
***
But only a handful of prescription tablets
Could help silence the raging voices
Sometimes aided by swigs from a bottle
As anguish undermines all other choices
***
In deep shadows at the back of a closet
Stand desperate measures in a row
Codeine, morphine, and some others
On standby to stop the tumultuous flow
***
Waiting – menacing dressed as entircing
Anxiety hears their siren call
Desperation overcoming all sensibility
Crashing on towards certain downfall
***
Caught in an endless cycle
Anxiety takes a breathe, ratchets up a measure
“I will not be defeated,” it declares
Chest tightening a symptom of displeasure
***
Nothing could detract from Anxiety’s reign
It’s tyranny total and complete
Victim shaking, breathlessly hyperventilating
No conceivable path to defeat
***
Pills and booze but devoted servants
Who pay homage to it’s every whim
Aiding and abetting Anxiety’s treacherous rule
Chances of escape very slim
Terri hosts a weekly The Flower Hour challenge which you can join in here: https://secondwindleisure.com/2026/11/10/the-flower-hour-56-fun-with-sunflowers/
Last week I shared orange pincushions from my Cape Town trip. This week I’m sharing the yellow pincushions which we saw growing in abundance along the cliffs as well as at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.
For Dan’s Thursday Doors I am sharing some doors from The Waterfront in Cape Town. The doors are a side effect of the art but they still count – grin!
Click on the slideshow to view the pictures.
Novelizations Prior to reading this book I did not know about novelizations. I think it was more a case that I’d never thought about a book being written based on a movie. I’ve always assumed movies are based on books and as I rarely watch movies, preferring to read the book, I wasn’t aware that…
Famous Books and Authors – Dead Poets Society, a novelization and my review
After several months of publishing inactivity this year, I am delighted that the second book in my Something Fancy Celebrating with Confectionary series is now available for pre-order on Amazon. Health issues with both my parents and starting a new job in May this year after a rather miserable ending to the previous job meant that I didn’t have either time or inspiration for writing. I didn’t participate in the anthology opportunities I have in the past. Now that it is spring and my parents health is improved and I am six months into the new job and feeling more settled and confident, I have been able to finish my 2026 publishing projects.
A collection of ghost and other dark stories and poems set in South Africa.
What is the curse of the Grande Montanha?
How did it affect sailors navigating the Cape of Storms?
If the walls of the Castle of Good Hope could speak, what stories would they tell?
What happened to the last man at the devastating Battle of Isandlwana?
Clasp the hands of some of South Africa’s most famous ghosts and witness their untimely deaths through this collection of poems, flash fiction, and short stories.
The Last Man, South African History, Legends & Poetry came out in October as a paperback available from TSL Publications here: https://tslbooks.uk/product/the-last-man-robbie-cheadle/
I am pleased to let you know that The Last Man is now available as an ebook from Lulu.com here: https://www.lulu.com/shop/robbie-cheadle/the-last-man/ebook/product-w48md92.html?page=1&pageSize=4
Robbie’s cake and fondant creations are extraordinary works of art as is demonstrated by her Lion Scream and Sunflowers Field cakes based on paintings by Edvard Munch and Vincent van Gogh respectively. Other unusual cakes include a life sized guitar cake, a water conservation cake featuring a dripping tap in a desert, and a Covid-19 memory cake featuring the young woman who lived in a shoe and home schooled all her children while doing all the cleaning, cooking, and washing.
This book is intended as a celebration of cake in poetry, art and design, as well as flavour and texture, and includes several of Robbie’s delicious recipes suitable for cake construction as well as unusual cake ideas like a meringue cake with fruit and cream and moist honey cake. There are ideas for cakes using fondant, chocolate, and cream to create the perfect cake for any celebration.
Robbie Cheadle is a poet, writer, and artist. Over the past twenty years, she has created art cakes, gingerbread constructions, and fondant figurines for a variety of purposes including as illustrations for the Sir Chocolate children’s book series she wrote with her son, Michael Cheadle.
Amazon pre-order link: https://www.amazon.com/Something-Fancy-Occasions-Celebrating-Confectionary-ebook/dp/B0HPKL5Z1C/
The paperback and ebook will be available on 23 November 2026.
This week’s W3 challenge is hosted by Josie who asks poets to write a poem starting with a line borrowed from another poem.
I selected the first line from Emily Dickenson’s poem, A bird, came down the Walk. You can read this poem here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56593/a-bird-came-down-the-walk-359
You can join in W3 here: https://skepticskaddish.com/2026/11/04/w3-prompt-236-weave-written-weekly/
A bird, came down the Walk
It came at a waddling run –
Diving into the bright ocean
And frolicking in the African sun
***
Two friends were encouraged
To join in the swimming game
Wobbling down the jetty
Having fun their only aim
***
Ducking, diving, and floating
Enjoying the gentle waves
Such a pleasurable scene
I could only stand and gaze
***
Suitably cooled and water sated
They rocked awkwardly up the slope
A watching mate breyed laughter 1
At the three tuxedoed dopes
***
Assuming statue-like positions
Basking in the morning heat
Swum out for the time being
Now was the time to retreat
***
But my pleasure was not over
As I set out along the boardwalk
I saw penguins huddled under
And I had to stop and gawk
The photographs below were taken in a restaurant in Hermanus, Western Cape. The middle picture is the door to the ladies cloakroom. The last picture is more of the pictures decorating the ladies cloakroom. The decor struck my fancy so I photographed it and the door for Dan Antion’s Thursday Doors challenge. You can join in here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/11/05/indian-room/
The first picture is the late Amy Winehouse. I liked this picture.
Dan’s CFFC challenge this week is street views with distractions. You can join in here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/11/02/street-views-distractions-cffc/
The insect murderer, aka TC, is at a conference in Durban. I sent him these photographs of a stinkbug in the bath and my poem. Had he been home, he would have killed the stinkbug. He wasn’t so who knows where this little fellow is now – perhaps in his bed – haha!
Stinkbug in the bathtub
White ceramic adventure
Insect explorer
Hi everyone, it’s Robbie Cheadle here with you today with my November post in the Animal Photography section on LatinosUSA – English Edition. This month I am featuring photographs of Animals used for war purposes. I’ve decided to include the next four weeks of themes in each post so readers have more time to contribute…
Photography – Animals used for war purposes
I missed posting for Tanka Tuesday last week because TC and I were away in Cape Town for three days and then I presented training for 4 hours in the Cape Town office before flying home. I met my sister and her family on Sunday and we spent Friday with friends so this didn’t leave much time for blogging.
The first poem is a shadorma for Yvette’s ‘masks’ challenge which you can view here: https://tankatuesday.com/2026/10/27/tankatuesday-poetry-challenge-no-88-what-lies-behind-the-mask-10-27-26/
The second is a senryu for Colleen’s challenge which you can join in here: https://tankatuesday.com/2026/11/03/tankatuesday-poetry-challenge-no-89-senryu-11-3-26/
alchol
strips away veneers
exposing
true motives
unbridling thoughts and viewpoints
often quite shocking
penguins cavorting
dipping, ducking, and diving
toddlers in the surf
We met my sister at Kirstenbosch botanical gardens in Cape Town. It is a most extraordinarily beautiful garden. One of the best in the world. The pincushion proteas are in season so I’m sharing a few of the pictures I took.
Thank you to Esther Chilton for sharing my epic poem. prophetess in Xhosaland. I’m in Cape Town on vacation this weekend so I’ll be a bit slow getting to comments.
My thanks to Kaye Lynne Booth for hosting this post.
Melissa’s challenge is to write a poem for an artwork prompt. You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2026/10/20/a-haunting/
Pelting down
in hard, icy bullets
sheets of water
distorting
elongating
shredding fog
transforming tendrils
into shrieking banshees
swooping and circling
forlorn chimney pots
ripping at streaming hair
flowing black rivulets
while beating in anguish
at their broken hearts
***
Cowering behind
buffering door
child stands
ears covered
small, cold hands
blocking sound
holding back fear
desperate not to disturb
mother, who lies
prostrate with fever
oblivious to
devious deceptions
of storm filled night
For Dan’s Thursday Doors I’m sharing some of my photographs of doors inside Chateau de Chambord in the Loire Valley in France. You can join in Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/10/22/more-october-doors/
This first photograph is of Chateau de Chambord on the inside as the photograph was taken inside the courtyard.
The following photographs are doors inside the chateau.
Terri is back from her travels and is hosting Sunday Stills. You can join in here: https://secondwindleisure.com/2026/10/18/sunday-stills-monthly-color-challenge-colors-of-lava-and-black/
Terri’s topic this week is colours of lava and black. I am sharing some of my photographs from inside the Sudwala Caves in South Africa.
This is what Wikipedia says about these caves:
The Sudwala Caves in Mpumalanga, South Africa, are set in Precambrian dolomite rock, which was first laid down about 2.8 billion years ago. The caves themselves formed about 240 million years ago. They are one of the oldest caves in the world.
