Sunday 30 October 2016

A Mixed Week.

October seems to be one of the best months weather wise.  The veg plots are now tidy again and dug over for the winter rains and gales and frost to break the soil into a lovely friable material for growing next year.

Went to a my late dad's cousin's funeral on Thursday.  It was a packed church and we walked behind the hearse to the Abbey cemetery.  We shook hands with a couple of my dad's remaining cousins.  Life is so short and we have to make the most of our time, haven't we?

Something  woke up my writing mojo yesterday.  I haven't done much writing since my parents died in 2012.  Yesterday I opened up one of my unfinished manuscripts and I spent a full day working on it.   My wife says I am moving on.  

It's a humorous book about a smallholder in Ireland.  Any book publishers interested, please email me!  Anybody else writing a book?  

Shepherd's Pie with a difference yesterday.  The missus put a tin of Heinz baked beans with the minced beef and a couple of OXO cubes.  Yes we know it's Cottage pie not Shepherd's pie.  It turned out really well and made a change.

We saw this notice in a shop the other day.  It made me smile.





16 comments:

  1. That's good news for you Dave. Nobody ever knows when the moment will come to move on a bit, but I am pleased for you. No rush.

    Another bad day for Mourinho. I wonder if it is time for Ferguson to stop glaring down from the stands. I am beginning to think his presence may be a curse on the side. Mad maybe but I am quite superstiticios

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  2. Thanks Rachel. Everything takes time doesn't it?

    Watched United V Burnley yesterday. United had 37 shots on goal but the ball wouldn't go in the back of the net. Not forgetting two magnificent by the two ex United players. United traditionally start slow and I think they will be up there challenging after Christmas. Along with City, The Arsenal (your team), Tottenham, Chelsea and Liverpool. Klopp looks to be doing a great job and he likes heavy rock music. Think United will win a cup or two this season and next year they will challenge for the league. Mourinho is rebuilding and I think a few new defenders will be signed in January.

    I am sure Sir Alex in the stands must put pressure for the manager and team to perform. Even he took a few years before the title came back to Old Trafford. Thanks Rachel!

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  3. Keep writing, you've got a ready reading audience here. I'll buy your book if you buy mine!!!

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    1. Thanks for the encouragement LA. Of course I would buy your book. I wish you every success. Best advice I would give any writer is to write a page a day. That's a decent sized book in a year. Thanks!

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  4. I am so pleased that you have got back to writing again, and if I can help in any way then please let me know. I also seem to feel the need to write again, so perhaps it is the change of seasons which is triggering the writing mood in both of us!

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    1. Thanks Vera. Think we are both going to be busy writing this winter Vera. What do you write about other than your smallholding of course? Thanks!

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  5. Your photo is a cracker. Thongs, eh?

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  6. now would that thong be the pants kind or a flip flop. I am glad you have started working on your book again. Grief is a strange thing that manifests in the deepest recesses and bobs to the surface now and again. Be kind to yourself. One step, one step.

    Why dont you put a few of your pages on here and give us a taste of it? And also any publishers out there may see it and think, yep this one needs to be in print!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Sol. I think it was supposed to say: tongs.

      Yes grief floors you and it's true that when somebody dies a piece of you dies with them.

      Any way I have got back on the writing horse. The book I am writing is very zany and I have based it on some of the farmer's I have met on my travels. I am just starting to re-write the second draft of the manuscript. Don't think I have put in enough description yet. Perhaps North and South will give me some ideas on that?

      Pop over to Sol's blog reader's if you want to join her online book club. I have. Thanks Sol!

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  7. Ah the cottage pie thing drives me up the wall! I hate when people call it shepherds pie and it's not!
    My ambition is to write a book one day but I have a few things to do first! a smallholders book would be great though. You can always do yours as an ebook now, that's getting easier to do.

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    1. Hi Kev. We prefer beef to lamb but we some how always end up calling it shepherd's pie.

      It would be great to read your smallholders book. I write mainly humour than "how to do" type books.

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  8. My stepdad is British and he makes the BEST Shepherd's Pie. I tried to replicate it but my husband likes a very tiny, tiny amount of potatoes on top and that just takes all the fun out of it!

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    1. Hello Stephanie. Shepherd's Pie is just perfect for autumn and winter meals. It's one pot cooking. Suppose you could make small individual pies for people who don't like a lot of potatoes. We found the baked beans made it sweeter and different. Perhaps we could spice it up a bit more too.

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  9. hi Dave saw this thought about your post with the horse shoes stuck out of that cottage. I would love to read more posts about any other buildings like that. i find it fascinating

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37817785

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    1. Yes I saw that Sol.

      My grandmother use to believe in "the little people" here in Ireland.

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