Sign up: Love Letters to You

Congratulations on ‘The Jam Queens’ – I look forward to reading your book as soon as I can Josephine. Signing up because I have missed a lot of your news – so many books to catch up on now… I am in awe!

#BOOK:TheJamQueens #AUTHOR:JosephineMoon #LatestBOOKRelease

Louise Allan’s blogpost

I loved ‘The Sisters’ Song’ by Louise Allan and follow her blog. After reading this entry, I am compelled to reserve my copy of Irma’s book.

Irma Gold: The Ideas Tree

by Louise Allan | Mar 22, 2021 | WRITERS IN THE ATTIC | 17 comments

I have a little story about this post: About three years ago, I asked Irma if she’d like to write a post for the attic. She said words to the effect of: ‘I’d love to, but would you mind waiting until my novel is published?’

It’s been a long time but I’m thrilled to share Irma’s post today, along with the news that her novel, The Breaking, is now published (Midnight Sun 2021) and earning rave reviews.

So read on to learn about how Irma’s love affair with elephants turned into a book. (CONTINUE READING)

To purchase the book:

#LouiseAllan #BOOK:TheSistersSong #IrmaGold #BOOK:TheBreaking #ThaiElephants #ElephantRescue #Elephants

Pigs might fly…

Some time ago, a poetic friend and I met for lunch at a local garden center café and were discussing dreams.  As we left, these colorful sculptures captured my poetic sense of humor. The metaphor was too good to waste so we challenged each other… Here’s my result. 

Pigs might fly…

Who says they can’t?
Is there an omniscient
oinker monitor float-
ing in the same tree?

Who has the right
to tell watchers
who dream
the impossible
that pigs might…?

In deepest despair
we need hope,
need dreams
to fall back on.
A competitive spirit…
Who says we can’t?

I need to soar
above my world
sometimes, believe
there’s something
sizzling just
around the corner.

If I could only see ~
take a butchers
into the future
and grab
a curly tail…

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2012

#POEM:PigsMightFly #FrancesMacaulayForde #Poetry #CoffeeCatchUp #Dreaming

Lunchtime (Theatrical) catch-up…

Time this little anecdote had another airing…

Perth Words... exploring possibilities.

At lunch with a friend last week,  someone I hadn’t seen for many years stuck her head around the corner; Joan’s sister.  She looked so genuinely surprised and pleased to see me I was quite taken aback!

We’d never particularly been friends but I had been very close to her sister, until we lost touch nearly 20 years ago.

After a hug I was told exactly how Joan had passed away within a couple of years of our losing touch, correcting my long-held and erroneous belief that she was so depressed she’s taken her own life.

The truth was not exactly as I had suspected but she definitely suffered with a broken heart; such a sad and lonely ending for someone who gave so much to others.

Standing in front of her still-grieving sister, I felt very guilty for not making more of an effort to see her, before her life…

View original post 917 more words

POEM: The Lace of Our Lives

 The Lace of Our Lives
  
 Silver slivers wind their way 
 memory-wire threaded 
 through life’s everyday
 by words loved-ones said.
 Images beaded round and whole
 capture a moment so long ago
  
 The lace of our lives sewn
 many-coloured silken thread
 spun by loves we’ve known
 never cut by distance or death.
 Feelings remembered when old
 as years finally take their grim toll
  
 A rich tapestry wrapped around the heart
 woven by a gentle finger-touch at the start
  
 Frances Macaulay Forde © 2021 

#POEM:LaceOfOurLives  #FrancesMacaulayForde  #Poetry  #Memories  

Coming home… 2003

This shows what a wonderful part of the world I am lucky to live in… I have now enlarged the photos so you can see more detail.  In the 9th photo, the train line I most often use to get into the city, runs North and South through the middle of our freeway.  We drive on the left here, so the train line is on the right but the other side of the freeway is not visible.

Perth Words... exploring possibilities.

When I first returned to Perth in Early December 2003 after living in Ireland for 14 months, the Jacaranda outside my kitchen window was in full bloom!

Hubby and I took a ride into the city via the Sunset Coast Tourist Drive, along the coast from just north of my suburb to Fremantle, back along the Swan River (home to our black swans) and into Perth City.

My Jacaranda Views on our 5 min drive from our house, along Ocean Reef Road,  to the sea. West Coast drive and our many white beaches… Whitfords Avenue has multi-million dollar beach side homes on it and a huge shopping centre. About 7 mins drive from my house. West Coast Highway part of the Sunset Coast Tourist Drive to Fremantle and South. Swan River meets Leach Highway from Fremantle and Kwinana Freeway to the city skyscrapers in the distance. Now we’re on the Kwinana Freeway, almost into Perth…

View original post 214 more words

How a tunnel became a mountain…

Sharon Ojala of ‘Where the Gnomes Live’ is my crafting idol. She inspires me and thousands of others everyday – for free! Her simple construction method is cardboard boxes, Al-foil, paper kitchen towels and PVA glue, paint etc. Her tutorials are so easy to follow too.

The first project I tried was a gnome home which my little granddaughter absolutely loved.

On her birthday I was inspired by Sharon again for her Halloween party.

And yesterday I delivered my latest effort – a tunnel which grew into a mountain complete with cave and waterfall for my 5 year old grandson.

Now the oldest grandchild has ordered a Christmas Village… So thank you Sharon, from the bottom of my heart. My grandchildren are all very happy because of you.

#SharonOjala #WhereTheGnomesLive #MyCraftingIdol #Halloween

New from Red Room Poetry

From cloud forests to flood, water connects us in every sense

“Red Room Poetry’s Writing Water: Rain, River, Reef project is commissioning celebrated poets and inviting public submissions that look below the surface and reimagine our essential relationships with water. From the slow-moving waters of TarraWarra in Victoria to the extinction of corals and conversations with wetlands in Western Australia, poems are provocations to honour, remember and interrogate our responsibilities with water in a time of environmental change.”  READ MORE

#RedRoomPoetry #NewChapbook #WritingWater #Poetry

Song of the 60’s

Guaranteed to take me straight back to my teenage years in the 60’s.

Hubby is standing next to me as I do this and tells me he sold tickets for their gigs in Zambia in the early 70’s.

#SongsOfMy60s #Jesamine1968 #TeenageMemories

POEM: Coral Bay

When the moon is just right, thousands of coral reefs spawn, turning the sea into a snowstorm of new beginnings, drifting on the tides to start new reefs.

Perth is where I live and one day, I’d love to swim with whale sharks. Until that day, I can dream…

 Coral Bay
  
 Snorkelling with rainbows
 just past the breaking surf, 
 I see the red rocky shores
 of the North West Cape.
  
 Shimmering white sands where
 Coastal Daisies, starflowers
 and Sturt Peas grope to grip
 harsh hot terrain in fighting wind.
  
 At Easter, a hundred yards off  
 the bay, coral triggers upside down 
 snowstorms to invite gentle giants 
 from the depths of Tantabiddi to feed 
  
 whilst in my imagination, I squeeze 
 the fish colours through my fingers
 to paint pictures and feel myself
 swimming with whale sharks.
  
 Frances Macaulay Forde © 2008
   
LISTEN to the poem.

   
#POEM:CoralBay  #Tantabiddi  #SwimmingWithWhaleSharks  #WesternAustralia  #Poetry  #FrancesMacaulayForde