Picture caption: Banner for the My Backyard Friends WordCrafter book tour including the covers of the three books
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.
Picture caption: Banner including an extract from Charlie Chickadee Gets a New Home
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.
Picture caption: Banner featuring the blurb of Charlie Chickadee gets a new home
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 Taleseditorial 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.
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
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.
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/
Picture caption: Traditional Norwegian church at the Norwegian Folk MuseumPicture caption: Close up of the entrance to the churchPicture caption: Close up of the front door into the churchPicture caption: view of the side of the church
d’Verse MTB prompt
Today’s prompt is hosted by Laura. You can find Laura’s lovely poetry here: https://poetrypix.com/
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.
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.
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.
Picture caption: Traditional Norwegian house at the Norwegian Folk Museum
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.
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
Very low doorsTraditional bedPassageway between the inner and outer walls
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
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.
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.
Picture caption: This is the entrance gates to Vigeland Sculpture Park. We didn’t go in this way, but this is where we exitedPicture caption: The gates into Vigeland Sculpture Park from the inside. I always do everything back to front – grin!Picture caption: One of the water fountains. I really liked it.Picture caption: another shot of the water fountain a short while later. See how the sky has darkened.
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:
Picture caption: a door in the Vigeland Sculpture ParkPicture caption: a beautiful metal work picture at the park
Fun fact about me! This is the song I walked down the isle too over 23 years ago:
roberta-writes.com 