TV shows from my childhood…

BIll & Ben Flower Pot Men, updated.

A fellow blogger posted this today and brought back so many memories.

Although I was 16 when she was born, I loved Andy Pandy;   “Here we go Looby Loo, here we go Looby Li, here we go Looby Loo, all on a Satuday night.”

Also Bill & Ben when I was very young in the UK, then later when I had children of my own, we watched Mr Squiggle, Play School and  Sesame Street, together.

I’m surprised Louise didn’t mention Noddy & Big Ears… Little me loved that show – Golly was my favorite!

I had so many Enid Blyton books which I devoured over and over again.

I miss the pace and sweet innocence of that time when children were allowed to just get lost in ‘Walking round the garden, like a teddy bear.  One step, two step, jumping in the air!’  

Thanks Louise, for all the memories today.

 

@FrancesMForde  #Bill&BenFlowerPotMen  #AndyPandy  #Noddy&BigEars  #Children’sPrograms

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My Beloved Co. Waterford ~ Thanksgiving

Gorgeous!

SOCIAL BRIDGE ~ Jean Tubridy connecting with you from Ireland

This digital slideshow created with Smilebox

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Natures Decorations

Just gorgeous – and very apt – I’m about to put our tree up!

Photo Nature Blog

Copyright Jeffrey Foltice

These birds reminded me of Christmas tree ornaments as they rested on the branches of a pine tree.

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The next wave (part 2): WA women writers to look out for

A delightful introduction to two new WA writers…

looking up/looking down

Welcome to part 2 of this four-part series featuring emerging Western Australian women writers with manuscripts ready—or almost ready—to submit to agents and publishers. In this post my guests are Amanda Gardiner and Emily Paull.

Amanda Gardiner

If a wide range of life experiences gives a writer great source material, Amanda already has a store that should last her forever. ‘I have been an au pair, a FIFO at a gold mine, a shelf stacker, and a lecturer, tutor and researcher at university.  I have worn tiny shorts and a too-small t-shirt and served food and drinks to rich people on a luxury yacht. I have been an apprentice painter and decorator and an actor. I have edited a journal and a book. I house-sat for three and a half years and moved over 30 times. I have sold antique jewellery, presented my research at conferences, organised symposia, and…

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School Daze

In 2008 I was asked to be the visiting poet for National Poetry Week.  My one-off visit was so popular, the school asked me to stay on for a few more weeks – the students enjoyed discovering poetry.

I wrote this poem in class to demonstrate and encourage them to have a go too and was surprised how many actually got up to read the resulting words.

School Daze

butterfly jumper

Thai yellow shoes

 

rhythm and rhyme

gave us the clues

 

words with a reason

passionate hues

 

snapshots of feeling

images in blue

 

it takes real talent

possessed by few

 

to write something cool

in a couplet or two

 

or a french cinquain

japanese tanka or haiku

 

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2008

 

We also opened a Poemhunters webpage so students could contribute  poetry with their teacher supervising.

@FrancesMForde  #OceanReefSenHighSchool  #SchoolDaze  #Poetry

 

 

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Poetry Postcards: Turning The Page

@FrancesMForde  #PoetryPostcards  #PP:TurningThePage  #Romance  #Love  #Poetry

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The next wave (part 1): WA women writers to look out for

I’m certainly looking forward to Rashida’s book and meeting all these exciting writers…

looking up/looking down

Western Australian women writers have produced some exciting and successful novels in 2014. New releases have included Annabel Smith’s much-anticipated interactive novel, The Ark; Deb Fitzpatrick’s first novel for adults (after three highly successful junior and young adult books), The Break; Dawn Barker’s second novel, Let Her Go; Felicity Young’s third in the Dr Dody McCleland series, The Scent of Murder; Kate McCaffrey’s new young adult novel, Crashing Down; and superlative new novels from two of my long-time favourites, Simone Lazaroo with Lost River and Joan London with The Golden Age. And if we ‘own’ Brooke Davis as Western Australian, as we tend to do, then there’s also the publishing phenomenon that is Lost & Found.

I’m looking forward to what 2015 will bring—and beyond that. There’s so much creative energy among writers on the western edge—some of it being nurtured in university…

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McDaids

McDaid’s Folk Club

We carefully stepped through

the seated crowd, she smiled

in surprised delight and

pulled you down

to whisper invitingly.

 

I watched the young guitarist finger-pick,

thought about her possessive

hand placed on

your willing arm

and felt sick.

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2003

 

@FrancesMForde  #McDaidsFolkClub  #Midleton,Cork  #Ireland  #Love  #Jealousy

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Where I Find My Poetry…

I find poetry finds me in ‘the minutiae, ennui and detritus of the day-to-day’… too!

A Fullness in Brevity - Adam Byatt

At band rehearsal this week (I play in a covers band for weddings and corporate functions) I scribbled this onto a scrap of paper between songs as the band rehearsed with a drummer who is filling in for me for an upcoming gig.

I’d had the title floating in my head for about a week and an idea of what I wanted to write. Originally I intended it to be a simple blog post about how I, as a writer and poet, find my inspiration and ideas. 

The idea was composting in my head and while I lounged behind the sound desk I scribbled this out.

Where I Find Poetry

while searching for loose change in my pocket
between the first splash of milk
when I make a cup of tea
and stir in the sugar
waiting for the hot water to come through
in the shower and I’m standing…

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Disney Enters Awards Race With ‘Into the Woods’

Not fairy-tales as I knew them, anymore… this could be interesting.

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