The Little Book of Festive Poetry (by sarah)

So I am taking along copies of The Little Book of Festive Poetry to the Cranham Craft Fayre tomorrow! I will sign them if asked and profit goes to buy the school new books for their library. Its on from 10 - 4 and I will also have copies of Running to Stand Still an audio play by Barnaby Eaton-Jones to raise money for ME research and awareness.

There will also be my poetry cards and some prints of my art work.

The Deal (by sarah)

So the deal has been struck! I become a famous author and Alaric shall become an actor so that he can become Dr Who and I will write a series just for him. It needs to wait until I am a famous writer so that we can pay the bills whilst he's training - he thinks it would make a nice change from programming.

His cubs and Jean already think that he is an incarnation of Dr Who anyway. The hat, scarf and coat of many pockets would have to feature.

The deal is struck so I'd best get on with this writing marlarky but as I've not managed to get more than short stories and poems published yet there is a long way to go - he may indeed be a silver haired Dr.

Finding My Voice (by sarah)

Via Centre Arts I met a lovely lady called Jenna Monroe who is a fantastic singer. I had wanted to do a workshop she was running but it was canceled so I have been on the look out for anything else she does. I can't afford singing lessons at the moment but one off workshops are just about doable especially as I still had the money left from the first attempt.

The actual workshop was Vocal and Physical Improvisation with Jenna doing the vocal part and a man called Adam Fotheringham doing the physical part. I found the physical bit a tad taxing and had to sit out for large chunks which was a shame as I didn't get to 'let go' of inhibitions and things in the same way as alot of the others could. I dare not jump with my pelvis still though I managed a lot and took part in all the 'acting' type exercises.

It was a lot more New Agey than I was expecting but that was good in some ways as it helped relax me into stuff which of course is the point of it. I have come away with some wonderful ideas for poems and stories and pictures to render. For me the best bit was an exercise were we all started off singing one thing and then other bits were added and we just sort of had to decide what we wanted to sing. I struggled with this right up until she told us to close our eyes, suddenly singing was easy, suddenly the sounds were there as ribbons around me and I could see where my ribbon, my voice needed to be woven into the pattern (metaphor obviously). It was the same a singing to the girls, there was nothing other than the sound and the hum and the harmonics of the voices mingling and mixing.

When we had finished this exercise I felt really serene and happy to take part in the rest of the activities. I had been very nervous about going to it to be honest. Later on there was another vocal exercise where we lay on the floor and then took it in turns to wander around the room singing. There was some real tribal, old, folky stuff coming out and then I got up and sang the first thing that came into my head and as I was confronted by a dark room with people laying down I just automatically started singing the Lullaby I made up for Jeany and that me and Al sing to the girls still.

I felt I learnt a lot and it was a fun afternoon, the activities when on a bit too long for my staying in one postition pain threshold but it was worth it 🙂

As I was singing the sun was setting and the sky was lavender and pink tinged, the light coming into the room had been amazing all day with trees autumn leaves fluttering down, first in sunlight, then in winter cloud glow and then through a condensation haze that settled on the windows like snow flurries. I eat cake and drank tea and at the end before the lights were switched on I took a photo of the candle that had been the only light as the sun set - I just thought it looked excellent and yes my head was very Bill and Ted when I emerged.

Being nervous and sky these sorts of workshops are invaluable to me. I am finding myself increasingly on stage and though two years ago if I went to read I was the best stage presence (not the same as the best poet!). I am now going to event where I am the worst performer (not the same as worst poet! Not that I really feel poetry can be gaged like that) and I have always wanted to sing on stage. I miss singing in Choirs and Musical Theatre Society etc...

I really enjoyed it plus I discovered there is a cute dinky little hall hidden away in Painswick.

Metal Kings, Golf and Jesse J – a dream by me :/ (by sarah)

Dream last night: An eerie pub started up in Bristol and I went there for lunch with the baby - it was in a huge old castle type thing with a field but was like actually on an island in the river. It was lovely and we ordered food and chatted to a historian about it, the place had an affinity for words and there were word games on the walls. But these sunk backwards and a hidden passage way appeared only rarely - this happened and zombie goths and cyber and stream punk and skaters etc.. started to pour out.

They were preparing for a war with the Metal Gods who slept in the labrynth within. The Bristolians got involved too and began to storm the castle - I was sort of caught in the middle of this with the Metal King laughing and saying I would have to join in the battle - I realised I could not kill so asked if I could heal or attend the dying. He said no but then one of the female goth zombies smuggled me and the baby out but only after I sustained a hit from the now angry Metal King (from his rather large broad sword as all the fighting was with swords).

I was running along wounded and found Alaric in a traffic jam, but people started shooting at us as it turned out he had upset a local golf fanatic. We ended up on a foot path at the edge of a golf course with all this dense silver twiggy/heather like growth around it, the growth was as tall as any tree here in the UK. We ducked off the path and hid in a little hollow sitting on the heather stuff and I dug lead shot out of Al's shoulder before it could poison him. A passer by gave us some TCP.

And then we rejoined the path as we could hear helicopters and thought that hiding would show us up as suspicous on the heat detectors.

The strangest bit though was that the whole thing was occurring to a sound track of Jesse J mostly her Hot Under The Collar :/

With a few alterations I reckon I could get a novel out of this - the zombies and Deamon Metal Kings were all people I actually know as well. Dream analysts I would love to know what you make of this!

Of Chocolate and Art (by sarah)

Tuesday Morning we went for a stroll around various bits of London on the way to Paul A. Youngs Fine Chocolates in The Royal Exchange. I have to say that a) I was surprised the Royal Exchange was a shopping centre and not a bank or something and also it was quiet boring as shopping districts go but there was lots of pretty buildings and statues around it to photograph.

The Chocolate Shop itself was something else! I was could have just spent all afternoon photographing the chocolates to be honest! Plus the shops were obviously designed with me in mind - see even the bags are purple and the boxes tied up with little purple ribbons - tell me why there is not one of these in Cheltenham? Next to the Cheese Works would be best - just saying.

I may have ended up with a book on cooking with and making chocolate etc....

Alaric is going to try and get it signed for me at some point 🙂 I'd really wanted to go and look in the kitchens or do the tempering course but when we looked they seemed to only be for Chocolate Week 🙁 But I have coffee beans covered in chocolate - t my mind there is slightly too much chocolate on the bean but it is a lovely roast! Alaric got a Marmite bar. The chocolate still contains soya lectin unfortunatly so I can't exactly eat a tonne of it - but then shouldn't really anyway 🙂

I then took more pictures of London 🙂

We headed over to the Institute of Contemporary Arts to have lunch and meet a friend. This statue was on the way and is of Uri the first man in Orbit!

I didn't even know the ICA existed!

Lunch was veggi curry of butternut squash and chick peas for Al and tarragon chicken with mushrooms for me 🙂

It was really tasty!

We looked around some of the exhibits the main one was The House to Die In which had a large narcotices theme running through it though I thought the structures looked like space ships. We found the perfect present for mum but had fortunatly had already gotten her a sketch pad as the blanket was £450!

We mainly sat in the coffee shop with all our stuff and wrote things and drew things and designed things and made things.

We had tea and ginger bread men and chatted lots to Dez who I some how failed to get a photo of :/ Though I took this sequence...

Alaric kept moving his eyes about which was funny 🙂

We then headed over to Padington Station to make our journy home - I filled up my dragon note book mostly on this four day adventure 🙂 And I haven't arted Alaric out - I think he almost Artied me out and I've ended up with a set of Tech/Net/Web/Geek tarot cards from the ICA which I love and am going to write so many stories from. Al broke the 10K barrier on his novel and me the 40K barrier which is just fantastic

Polyps Together the Colony Unitied 🙂