Double Hurrah!

I am having a bad day. The original post has been wiped from the face of the Earth, even though three stalwart souls commented on it! It was entitled 'Hurrah', hence the Double Hurrah of this second attempt. For all but those enlightened three, the essence of the cheer was MY NIECE'S FIRST BOOK COMES OUT 1st April! I was then stupid enough to copy and paste a load of stuff from Fishpond NZ, which was where my day went downhill. It nobbled my formatting. The spacing went, the type face went, the colour went, followed by my patience, in the end. No1 Son worked many, many miracles from afar, and got the post readable, at last. But I eventually deleted the whole thing in order to loose wayward formatting problems in a flash, and bring the Blog back to its usual, peaceful looking self... Odd black type face irked my sensibilities!

This, then is what Fishpond had to say about Salt River:-

"Based on the true story of the Pook family in the 1920s, living in a remote area of the Kaipura Harbour, North of Auckland, the beautifully written story begins as a family of eight siblings are left alone for a week, while their parents go away to get married. Fourteen year old Tom is left in charge and must ensure that all the daily tasks are done, as well as keeping the family fishing business running and caring for the younger children, aided by his ten year old sister, Mary.
Life is tough and daily dramas ensue, not without humour. But it's not until the parents return that we learn what a hard task master the Dad is. A fascinating, and often exciting, insight into life in the not-so-distant past, which will astonish today's kids.

About the author

A first time author, Elizabeth tells us: 'The very day I finished writing my book, I made an astonishing discovery. All the time I'd been writing, Tom Pook's son had been working in the same building as me, without my realising.' He read the story, then brought Elizabeth an album full of photos, letters and documents which she then used to bring the story even closer to the truth. Some of the photos are included in the book.''

I am so chuffed on her behalf, you can't imagine!
I rushed to fill in the form to order a copy, but the postage put paid to my enthusiasm a little. I shall consult with Bush Face Bro to see whether Fishpond is blinding me with science by calculating shipping as costing about a third more than the price of the book itself. If they've got it right, I'll pay up willingly, but if they seem to be charging over the odds, I shall become all bolshie!

In the meantime, many Blogland inhabitants are still waiting for Spring to burgeon. Flicking through my pages of scribbling just now, I happened upon the following verses, written many moons ago but carrying the feeling of 'being on the brink', which I thought appropriate for today.

***At this point, the gremlins arrived. They wanted all lines to be double spaced from here on, so I gave up in disgust, and went away, disgruntled***

I then 'phoned No1 Son, who took pity on me, and did amazing things on my screen from his far away lair, eventually typing himself

No.1 Son to the rescue !!!
...do go on...

So I thought he should be blazoned in Royal Purple, by way of applause from his grateful Ma.

Ain't life grand? There's my lovely son using his superior knowledge to banish the gremlins, and send them scurrying away in high dudgeon... then within five minutes, I completely wreck his work by messing around on the editing page! Sorry Son! As I said at the start, I then deleted the bothersome post completely, and set about typing everything myself, with no cut and paste horrors to contend with. Much later than intend, I give you...wait for it....

Waiting

Beneath the soil the bulbs are waiting,
waiting for the warming sun,
until the Spring calls forth their beauty,
unfolding petals one by one.

Beneath the soil the seeds are waiting,
waiting for the falling rain
to swell their casings, loose their bonds
so beauteous flowers may bloom again.

Inside my heart the love is waiting,
waiting for a kindred soul
as it has waited, dormant, trusting
in Destiny to play her role.