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.

Thank you to talented poet and editor of MasticadoresUSA, Barbara Leonhard, for sharing my Nature Chaos artwork, Jailhouse Burning Butterflies, and my poem, Hot Sun, on MasticadoresUSA.

“Hot Sun” by Robbie Cheadle

Thank you to talented fantasy author, C.S. Boyack, for sharing this post about mythical sirens and what they are as part of my And the Grave Awaits blog tour.

Craig has a lovely blog, Entertaining Stories, where he shares all sorts of fun updates about his writing processes and his life. He also has a wonderful selection of fantasy books, many of which I have read and loved.

And the Grave Awaits, by Roberta Eaton Cheadle

For Thursday Doors this week, I am sharing a few of my photographs from the Norwegian Folk Museum. You can join in Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2024/07/04/wlfd-carnival/

This post is a first peep into some of the traditional houses featured at this museum. There are 400 buildings on display so this will be the first of a few posts.

Wikipedia says the following about sod roofs:

A sod roof, or turf roof, is a traditional Scandinavian type of green roof covered with sod on top of several layers of birch bark on gently sloping wooden roof boards. Until the late 19th century, it was the most common roof on rural log houses in Norway and large parts of the rest of Scandinavia.

Sod is also a reasonably efficient insulator in a cold climate. The birch bark underneath ensures that the roof will be waterproof.

The term ‘sod roof’ is somewhat misleading, as the active, water-tight element of the roof is birch bark. The main purpose of the sod is to hold the birch bark in place. The roof might just as well have been called a “birch bark roof”, but its grassy outward appearance is the reason for its name in Scandinavian languages: Norwegian and Swedish torvtak, Danish tørvetag, Icelandic torfþak.

You can read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sod_roof

I first learned about sod houses when I read On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder when I was a girl. The Ingalls family live in a sod house after Pa trades their wagon and horses for a house built by a Norwegian, and his crops.

Picture caption: A variety of different traditional Norwegian houses

Picture caption: inside one of the houses

YT video: Inside a traditional Norwegian sod house

On reflection, a song parody

My song parody today is for Kay’s Let’s Go to the Museum painting challenge. This is the prompt picture: Automat, 1927 by Edward Hopper

You can join in the challenge here: https://bookplaces.blog/lets-go-to-the-museum-writing-challenge-2/

The picture brought to mind me sitting alone in the hospital coffee shop waiting for someone who is having surgery to come out of theatre. People often ask me how I manage to cope with all the hospitalisations and illnesses that cross my life path. This song parody is my answer to that question.

On reflection, a song parody of From a Distance

On reflection, our lives go up and down

With rough patches in between

On reflection, loves go right and wrong

And opportunities are not seen

***

On reflection, the road is bumpy

It effects the seeds we sew

We can be mean, or

We can be kind

It depends on how we grow

***

On reflection, we are all captains

Of our own destinies

We can choose to rise, or choose to sink

Stand tall or fall to our knees

***

On reflection, relationships can go astray

And our lives can fall apart

To succumb to grief, or

To succumb to hate

Is a decision we must make

***

Hope shadows us

Hope shadows us

Hope shadows us

On reflection

***

On reflection, relentless fear and pain

Can tear apart our hearts

On reflection, it can teach calm and patience

When anger and self pity departs

***

On reflection, trauma moulds character

Gives us the strength to soldier on

It’s a part of life

And a part of death

It’s part of being human (being human)

***

It’s a part of life

And a part of death

It’s the core of humanity

***

And hope shadows us

Hope shadows us

Hope shadows us

On reflection

***

Oh, hope shadows us

Hope shadows us

Hope shadows us

On reflection

This is the original version of From a Distance by Bette Midler

A huge thank you to talented writer and editor, Esther Chilton, for sharing my post about Te Wairoa, The Buried Village in New Zealand. This is the setting from one of the short stories in my new short story collection, And the Grave Awaits. If you are interested in seeing more photographs from this visit, please see the pictures below the link.

Esther offers Editing Services and also has some wonderful non-fiction books about writing and a few fiction books too.

Guest Writer Spot

Rotorua is known for bubbling mud pools, shooting geysers and natural hot springs, as well as showcasing Māori culture.

The above photographs are all of shooting geysers at Rotorua.

Pictures from The Buried Village.

You can join in Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2024/06/27/day-of-travel-doors/

During my 2 1/2 day visit to Oslo, TC and I visited Vigeland Sculpture Park. I shared pictures of the Tower of Bodies in a previous post. This post will share some of the doors, naturally, as well as the entrance gate and a few more sculptures.

This is my YT video of this lovely fountain:

Defiance (Tanka)

Manmade water flows

Silhouetted by dark cloud

Nature does not weep

Withholds its natural bounty

Defies humankind

More sculptures that I liked.

The Children (Tanka)

Shelter the children

Protect them from treachery

Retain innocence

So easily imploded

By the hands meant to guide them

My YT video of some of these sculptures on the bridge:

Fun fact about me! This is the song I walked down the isle too over 23 years ago:

A huge thank you to the marvellous Sally Cronin of Smorgasbord blog for sharing this wonderful promo post for my new paranormal short story collection, And the Grave Awaits.

Sally’s blog is packed with book promotions, book reviews, music, health advice and all sorts of other articles in the manner of an on-line magazine. Do go over and take a look around. Sally also has some excellent books which you can find here: https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/my-books-and-reviews-2024/

Smorgasbord New Book Spotlight – #Shortstories #Paranormal – And the Grave Awaits by Roberta Eaton Cheadle