Last week Sunday, I attended a watercolour painting workshop with son #2. I painted a red bicycle with a basket full of flowers.

This painting reminded me of the two years of my childhood I spent in George in the Western Cape. I had so much freedom and they were fabulous days. When I saw Esther’s writing prompt of Best Days, I wrote these two poetry prose pieces. You can join in Esther’s prompt here: https://estherchilton.co.uk/2024/07/24/writing-prompts-24/

The Red BMX (Tanka Prose)

When I was a tween, I wanted a red bicycle. Not just any bicycle. I wanted a red BMX bicycle. BMXs were hugely popular at the time and the boys who rode them participated in all sorts of exciting events at the BMX racetrack on the outskirts of the town where we lived. One of my classmates, Craig, had a BMX and he did all sorts of brave tricks on it. I admired Craig who was thirteen and seemed very much older and more sophisticated than eleven-year-old me. I was the youngest in my class by more than a year. I was accepted into school early because I could read and had started writing. In the small and sleepy town of George in the Western Cape, most of the children started school a year late. This was the reason for the two-year age gap between me and many of my peer group.

My father agreed to purchase me a bicycle. When he brought it home, it wasn’t a red BMX. It was a silver ladies bicycle imported from France. It had a basket on the front. I never expressed my disappointment and in time, I grew to love this bicycle. The basket turned out to be useful as I could fit seven books into it when I visited the local library.

Ladies bicycle

Provided independence

Basket full of books

Four plus three equaled seven

Sister’s card put to good use

Lucky Fall (shadorma prose)

When I was a tween and my sister, Catherine, was a little girl, we used to cycle to school. I was a rather reckless girl, and I would go as fast as possible down the slopping, main road that passed the busy Afrikaans school. At the bottom, I would stop and wait for my little sister to catch up.

One day, I was cycling like a maniac down the road with my school satchel on my back. I hadn’t notice that my shoelace had come undone, and it caught in the gears of my fancy French ladies bicycle. Crash! Over went the bicycle. I was flung out into the road right in front of a car.

Screech! The car jammed on breaks and stopped just in front of me. The driver, a mother who had just dropped off her children at the school, was livid. She shouted at me in Afrikaans. I jumped up, remounted my bicycle, and tore off down the hill away from the angry woman.

I’m flying

Mischievous shoelace

Plays a trick

I wobble

Fall sideways in front of car

Driver jams on breaks

Review of Lion Scream by Dawn Pisturino

Thank you to talented poet, Dawn Pisturino, for her lovely review of my poetry collection Lion Scream. This is the book closest to my heart as it is all about the Sixth’s Mass Extinction and saving our wildlife.

Poetry Book Review: “Lion Scream” by Robbie Cheadle

Dora is the host of this d’Verse prompt. You can read her lovely poem here: https://pilgrimdreams.com/2024/07/23/shadow-riding-in-the-smokies/

Our poetics prompt is simple: horses.

Use horse imagery in any way you like, either as the focus of your poem or in passing. In allusion or metaphor. An ekphrastic. Or just a mention will do.

You can join in this challenge here: https://dversepoets.com/2024/07/23/poetics-running-with-horses/

I’m not a horse (freestyle poem)

I am not a horse

But I am an African equine

My coat is distinctive

With black and white stripes

I also have a shadow stripe

Between my black stripes

Because I’m a plains zebra

I am also distinctly portly

Thanks to the bacteria

That lives in my gut

It helps me digest my food

But also bloats my stomach

I look fat, even during a drought

I live in a harem

With a single male or stallion

And several females called mares

As well as their baby foals

Do not think you can ride me

Or use to me to carry loads

My back has not evolved

To carry a human rider comfortably

I can’t be saddled or carry loads

As my back is structurally weak

Thursday Doors

Last week, I shared some pictures from our Oslo Fjord cruise. This week, I’m sharing the buildings we saw on the numerous islands in the fjord. You can join in Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2024/07/25/more-from-reiman-gardens/

These are pictures of some of the summer houses on the various islands. They have to be painted yellow, white, red, or blue. Yellow seemed the most popular colour.

This is a video of the houses we saw:

This is another video (apologies, an Italian tourist is talking in the background):

This month, my In Touch With Nature post focuses on oxpecker birds, also called vampire birds, and their relationship with herbivorous animals.

Thanks for hosting, Kaye Lynne Booth.

In Touch With Nature – The role of the Oxpecker bird in nature #oxpeckers #giraffes #rhinos

Thank you to talented author and poet, Elizabeth Gauffreau for hosting me with a post about the Radium Girls. Elizabeth writes thought provoking literary fiction and beautiful poetry. You can find out more about her books on her blog here: https://lizgauffreau.com/author/elizabethgauffreau/

Welcome, Robbie!

I am very pleased to host the multi-genre, multi-talented Roberta Eaton Cheadle today.  She has a brand new collection of short stories, And the Grave Awaits, available for preorder.  One of the stories, “All that Glitters is not Gold,” is based on the true story young women during World War I who thought they were contributing to the war effort, having no idea that they were putting their own lives at risk.  Here is Robbie to give you the historical events that inspired “All that Glitters is not Gold.”

The Radium Girls and the origin of my short story, “All that Glitters is not Gold”

The Radium Girls were female factory workers who were hired to paint watches and military dials with luminous paint during World War One. The watches were primarily used by the American soldiers, called dough boys, in the trenches. They were highly prized because they glowed in the dark.

The paint the women used was made from powdered radium, zinc sulfide (a phosphor), gum arabic, and water. The women, aged between sixteen and their early twenties, were told the paint was harmless. This was in line with the general attitude towards radium at the time. Because it had been used successfully in the treatment of cancer, radium was included in health tonics and cosmetics because ‘it was good for you.” The women were instructed to use their mouths to moisten and point their paint brushes to give them a fine tip for the detailed work.

By Unknown author. – http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/history_of_medicine/manuscripts/us_radium_corporation, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=82821901

The women were careless about the paint. The powder got all over their clothes and made them glow in the dark. They used it to paint their fingernails, teeth, and lips. They even used it to paint the bars of cots for their babies.

Continue reading here: https://lizgauffreau.com/2024/07/10/spotlight-on-and-the-grave-awaits-by-roberta-eaton-cheadle

Sanaa‘s d’Verse prompt is as follows:

Consider this line from Pablo Neruda’s poem from “The Wide Ocean.”

“Ocean, if you were to give, a measure, a ferment, a fruit
of your gifts and destructions.”

You can join in the challenge here: https://dversepoets.com/2024/07/18/open-link-night-365-with-live-edition/

Oh ocean

Oh ocean

How you sparkle and shine

Enticing

My toes embedded in wet sand

Welcome the soft tickle

Of your gentle waves

Despositing memories

The debris of my childhood

– Sea level rise is a natural consequence of the warming of our planet – 1

Oh ocean

Your surface tinted gold

By a ferocious sun

Your levels are rising

Insidiously creeping

Reclaiming land

Will you take from me

All I hold dear?

1. Quote from Nasa

This is a puente poem. The puente form has three stanzas with the first and third having an equal number of lines and the middle stanza having only one line which acts as a bridge (puente) between the first and third stanza.

The first and third stanzas convey a related but different element or feeling, as though they were two adjacent territories. The number of lines in the first and third stanzas is the writer’s choice as is the choice of whether to write it in free verse or rhyme.

The center line is delineated by a tilde (~) and has ‘double duty’. It functions as the ending for the last line of the first stanza AND as the beginning for the first line of the third stanza. It shares ownership with these two lines and consequently bridges the first and third stanzas.

Thursday Doors: Oslo Fjord Cruise

For Dan’s Thursday Doors this week, I’m sharing some pictures from my Oslo Fjord Cruise. You are getting a break from traditional Norwegian buildings because I thought these pictures better matched the theme of my poem above. You can join in Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2024/07/18/reiman-gardens/

Picture caption: photographs taken as we cruised around the Oslo harbour. The glass structure is in the harbour and is designed to catch and reflect the light.

Here is my YT short of the harbour mouth. It was windy and lonely.

Thank you to talented poet, Dawn Pisturino for this amazing review of Square Peg in a Round Hole. Michael and I are delighted.

Poetry Book Review: “Square Peg in a Round Hole” by Robbie Cheadle

Melissa from Mom With a Blog, provided a colourful prompt for her d’Verse poetry challenge with a focus on the art of Alma Thomas. You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2024/07/16/writing-something-beautiful

Those of you who follow my blog know how much I love colours.

This is the painting I selected:

Colour Palette, song parody

Colours blend, everywhere

All I see are nature’s hues

Vivid red, mixed with yellow and brown

Creating a great masterpiece

***

Oh-oh-oh pigment, tipped into a bowl

Add just a little water

Merge the colours, undefined edge

Watercolour must be gentle

***

Extensive palette, so much choice

A rainbow at my fingertips

Mix, creating something new

Colour is everything

Capture the light (capture the light)

Capture the shine (capture the shine)

***

Flat edged brush, large surface

Gives a rough and streaky look

Narrow tip, brush strokes light

Helps create those fine details

***

Oh-oh-oh, time to mix again

Can I match the texture

Merge the colours, undefined edge

There’s so much potential

***

Extensive palette, so much choice

Everything I need is here

Mix, creating something new

Colour is everything

Capture the light (capture the light)

Capture the shine (capture the shine)

***

I can see the colours

I can see the picture (I can see the picture)

***

Oh-oh-oh colours, how they go together

It’s like magic when they meld

Merge the colours, undefined edge

Watercolour must be gentle

***

Extensive palette, so much choice

A rainbow at my fingertips

Mix, creating something new

Colour is everything

Capture the light (capture the light)

Capture the shine (capture the shine)

Capture the light (capture the light)

Capture the shine

***

Did you guess the song?

Circle in The Sand by Belinda Carlisle

Picture caption: Lone bird on the beach in oil pastels by Robbie Cheadle

Inspiration for Charlie Chickadee Gets a New Home

Charlie Chickadee Gets a New Home was inspired by an actual invasion of swallows invade. I had enjoyed watching the chickadees coming and going from the hole in the tree each day for some time, and then, one day, a swarm of violet-green swallows came swooping in and took the nest over, evicting the poor little chickadees. They stayed for the remainder of the summer, and they have the most beautiful, iridescent blue and green coloring, but they are aggressive birds, and I always wondered what happened to the original occupants of the tree.

^{(Robbie did a great job of depicting the beautiful violet-green swallow for the book.)}

Along the way, Charlie meets the older and wiser, Nicholas Nuthatch, who shows Charlie around and offers advice to the young bird, who has found himself alone and on his own for the first time. He is a guiding force when he befriends Charlie, giving him the low down on the local bird community. Nuthatches are silly little birds in the woodpecker family, only slightly larger than the little chickadees, which hop up and down tree trunks and across branches, sometimes completely upside-down. I call them my aerial acrobats.

Robbie’s Nicholas Nuthatch

The story is one of survival for a young chickadee, when he loses his home and is separated from his parents during a swallow invasion. But it is also about cooperation and friendship, becoming independent and relying on oneself. Charlie Chickadee is a longer story, rather than a picture book tale, like the other two books and it is aimed at children in the six-to-eight-year age group.

Mini interview with Nicholas Nuthatch

Hi Nicholas, it is amazing how you climb up tree trunks. How do you do that?

I have strong claws which help me find purchase in the crevasses of the tree bark and I just grip with one foot while taking a step with the other. Woodpeckers can only go up because they use their long tails to help them balance, but my tail is short, and I’m agile enough that I can go up, turn around and go down or even climb onto the branches and hang upside down, so I can get to bugs hidden in crevasses that woodpeckers might miss.

If there is no feeder available, what sort of food do you like to eat?

I eat bugs, and seeds. I use the crevasses in the tree bark to hold the seeds in place while I crack them open with my beak, and also to stash them for later. I have a good memory, so I can even come back month later and will be able to find them.

Fun Facts About Nuthatches

• Nuthatches grasp tree trunks and branches with strong claws, enabling them to hop up and down the trunks headfirst, and even upside-down across branches. I call them my aerial acrobats of the forest.
• They are in the woodpecker family, but have short tails, unlike their distant relatives, which can go up tree trunks using their longer tails for balance, but cannot go down headfirst.
• They have a distinctive call which sounds like the squeaker in a dog’s squeaky toy.
• Nuthatches are omnivores, eating insects, nuts, and seeds.
• Nuthatches are known to cache food for later in crevasses in the bark of the tree, and they remember where they hid it for long periods of time.
• They are territorial and will defend the nests vigorously.
• Nuthatches communicate through vocalizations, body postures and movements, and visual cues, with specific signals for interaction with their young.
• The name Nuthatch originated as Nut Hacker, because they wedge nuts and seeds into the crevasses of tree bark to hold them in place and then break open the shells by pecking it with their beaks.

Pre-order the My Backyard Friends books here:

Heather Hummingbird Makes a New Friend (Ages 3-5): https://books2read.com/u/471vzj

Timothy Turtle Discovers Jellybeans (Ages 3-5): https://books2read.com/u/3LL5K7

Charlie Chickadee Gets a New Home (Ages 6-8): https://books2read.com/u/md2YLO

About Kaye Lynne Booth

Kaye Lynne Booth is a freelance writer, editor, multi-genre author and independent publisher. She holds dual MFA in Creative Writing – Genre Fiction and Screenwriting, and an M.A. in Publishing. To earn her publishing degree, she worked under the mentoring of International Bestselling author, Kevin J. Anderson on the Gilded Glass: Twisted Myths & Shattered Fairy Tales editorial team from Western State Colorado University and WordFire Press and she compiled and edited Weird Tales: The Best of the Early Years 1926-27, under Jonathan Maberry.

About Robbie Cheadle

South African author and illustrator, Robbie Cheadle, has written and illustrated sixteen children’s books, illustrated a further three children’s books, and written and illustrated three poetry books. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.

Robbie also has two novels and a collection of short stories published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.

Find out more about Robbie Cheadle on her blog here: https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/

Thank you to talented writer and poet, DL Finn, for hosting me with a post about climbing boys during the Victorian era, and my short story, An Eye for an Eye, from And the Grave Awaits.

Denise has a lovely blog where she shares poetry, book reviews and other interesting posts. She also has a wonderful selection of books which you can view on Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/D.L.-Finn/author/B00ZBGJ08Q

Thank you for hosting me, Denise.

New Release! “And the Grave Awaits” by Roberta Eaton Cheadle

I’m thrilled to have Robbie Cheadle here today to talk about her latest release, “And the Grave Awaits!” It was a great read  Here’s a link to my review on Goodreads. LINK

And the Grave Awaits

by Roberta Eaton Cheadle

Climbing boys and the origin of my short story, An Eye for an Eye.

My photograph of a building with chimneys in the UK

During the 1700s and 1800s, mainly male children often performed an occupation known as a climbing boy or chimney sweep. Many of the climbing boys were orphans, and in Great Britain many came from workhouses, and some were as young as 3 years old. As the child needed to be quite small to climb up the chimneys of the time, most climbing boys outgrew this occupation by the time they were nine or ten years old, although due to poor diet, some worked until they were as old as fourteen years.

The life of a climbing boys was dangerous as they climbed hot flues that could be a mere 7 inches square, although 14 inches by 9 inches was a common standard, and they could get jammed in the flue, suffocate or burn to death. The children developed raw, red skinless patches on their bodies from climbing up and down the stacks. These only went away when the climber developed calluses or the skin was hardened by their master applying an application of strong brine, which was placed on them in front of a hot fire.

Continue reading here: https://dlfinnauthor.com/2024/07/09/new-release-and-the-grave-awaits-by-roberta-eaton-cheadle-bakeandwrite-robertaeaton17-writingcommunity-newrelease-whattoread/

This week for Dan’s Thursday Doors, I am sharing my photographs of a traditional Norwegian Church. We saw this interesting building at the Norwegian Folk Museum during our recent visit. You can join in Dan’s challenge here: https://nofacilities.com/2024/07/11/beer-club-doors/

d’Verse MTB prompt

Today’s prompt is hosted by Laura. You can find Laura’s lovely poetry here: https://poetrypix.com/

You can join in this challenge here: https://dversepoets.com/2024/07/11/mtb-it-begins-to-dawn/

And now for todays MTB prompt we are writing in the poetry style of the A L’Arora, a form created by Laura Lamarca:

Poetry style:

• 4 stanzas (or more)
• 8-lines per stanza (can split with line break after 6)
• only lines 6 & 8 are to rhyme as x,x,x,x,x,a,x,a; x,x,x,x,x,b,x,b etc
• no syllable count per line

Poetry Subject: Lamarca’s A L’Arora derives from “Aurora” – Italian for “dawn”:.

• Write about the dawn – literally, metaphorically, objectively, personally or however it strikes you
• OR
• Write of dawn as a verb (dawns/dawning), a slow or sudden realization

Are you there God?

Are you there God? It’s me, Robbie 1

I hope you’re listening; I could really use your help

I want to be less sensitive, less condemning

More understanding when loved ones

Turn selfish, mean and unduly critical

In difficult situations that already drain

I need your support to forgive

And see what’s causing another’s pain

***

Are you there God? It’s me, Robbie 1

Are you listening? You made me the way I am

An empath, I absorb emotion and stress

Soak up others anguish and desperation

I can never turn my back on need

It’s okay, I don’t want to change

No one is invisible to me, I see everyone

But I’d like to be understood in exchange

***

Are you there God? It’s me, Robbie 1

Your wise scholar, C.S. Lewis, once said:

“Hell is a state where everyone is perpetually

concerned about his own dignity and advancement

where everyone has a grievance

and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions

of envy, self-importance, and resentment.”

You gave us free will, we are responsible for our actions

***

Are you there God? It’s me, Robbie 1

The road to hell is paved with good intensions 2

Protection and interference when wrongly applied

Bring about a far greater emotional problem than

Providing needed assistance and facilitating

What must ultimately be done regardless

Today, I hope to find a dawning of acceptance

Which will lead me out of the awful darkness

1. A quote from the title of Judy Bloom’s book “Are you there God, It’s me Margaret?”
2. An old proverb

The talented Merril D. Smith is the host of this week’s D’Verse Quadrille poetry prompt. You can read Merril’s poem here: https://merrildsmith.org/2024/07/08/messier-1-the-crab-nebula/

You can join in the prompt here: https://dversepoets.com/2024/07/08/quadrille-203-feeling-crabby/

So to be clear: for this prompt, you must write a poem of exactly 44 words AND make certain it includes the word crab, or some form of the word—crabby, crabapple, crabbing, etc. Bonus points if you want to include anniversary and/or thirteen, as well. I’m certain there will be a wide variety of responses, both literal and metaphorical–because we have a diverse group at dVerse! Post your poem to your blog, place the link in Mister Linky below, and then read and comment on others’ poems.

Hermit Crab

The strong December sunlight

Softly filters through

The shallow water of the lagoon

The light refracts

Colourful shards rippling

In every direction

Hermit crab

Peeps out

Of his front door

Liking what he sees

He ventures forth

Across the dabbled sand

An exciting adventure

Picture captions: Hermit crab on the bottom of the Knysna Lagoon. I love the refraction and light in these pictures.