Sunny Side Up

I’m very glad to report that my mum is feeling much better, especially since the sun came out.  She’s got all her usual energy back and is cracking on with jobs. I’m really pleased to see her looking like her old self again.

She had a call from one of the journalists on the Eastwood & Kimberley Advertiser to say they are going to do a piece on ‘The Great Kimberley Book Read’ next week.  My mum has had to make an appointment to have her photo taken to go in the paper.  She pulled a bit of a face when she got off the phone. Don’t think she fancies the idea much.

On Monday her friend Angela came round and they had a long chat about the shop window display competition at the end of ‘The Great Kimberley Book Read’. Angela is visiting all our local traders to try to persuade them to take part in the competition.  She’s such a nice lady, I’m sure they will say yes.

The Old Baptist Chapel has, at last, been able to confirm a booking for the New Writers UK Bookselling Fair on 6^th October, with an option on the upstairs room too, depending on how many writers want a table.

There’s been a slight hiccup on the catering side of the evening party in The Parish Hall. My mum has someone else in mind to ask, so it’s sure to be all right.  I’ve been thinking – there are certain to be left-overs at the end of the party so I’d better make sure I’m on hand to help with the clearing away.

Two pieces of good news to do with books – book covers, actually.  My mum has just ordered a reprint of my book Cassie – The Story of A Rescue Dog. She’s had a banner added to the front cover saying: “Winner – The Great Caunton Book Read 2011.” I’m very proud of that. 

My mum still sells paper copies of my book but these days she sells lots more on Kindle. 

E-books are very popular, so much so that her next project is to put Kinmers Lea on to Kindle, too. 

She’s just approved a new cover design for Kinmers Lea.  It’s cartoon style, in black-and-white, and is very cool.  She’s having some paper copies printed too. Tell you what –  I can’t wait to see it.

Auntie Cathy came this morning to help with planting a new shrub in the garden. She had to dig a hole. I helped.  The plant has pretty mauve-and-yellow flowers. It’s called a ‘blue potato bush’.  I like that name. Although there are no potatoes in evidence at the moment, I’m hoping there may be later in the year . . . . blue roasties to look forward to, perhaps? 

See you again soon.

Cassie

Starting the Ball Rolling

Well, what a week this has been!  My mum got her energy back after her cold and then it was time to catch up the time lost when she was poorly.  
She worked hard on the computer all day Monday and on Tuesday we went out to take a big envelope to every school with the instructions for making a 'Book-Worm', the sheet music for the 'Book-Worm Song', a CD of the backing track and a letter giving details to each school about the genre of writing they will be representing and their 'champion.'  Phew!  
There was a paper trail a mile long around our sitting room while all that was being put together. I sat very quietly in my basket so I didn't walk on anything and leave paw marks, or muddle any of the papers up.  
When we went out delivering my mum said I could I pretend to be Postman Pat's black-and-white cat - not a suggestion I took kindly to, as you can imagine.  We drove round to all eight schools.  It took us a whole hour because they are spread out right around the district. When we came back we felt really good about a job well done!
Tomorrow my mum's friend Angela is coming here to collect all the paperwork (that's right - more paperwork!) for visiting the local traders about the shop window display competition.  It's really good that she's going to help.  I know my mum is pleased.  I'll let you know how that goes later.
Wednesday morning I went with my mum to give one of her talks, about her books.  I always enjoy those.  I'm not so nervous now because we've done lots.  I remember the first one.  I couldn't stop shaking, sitting beside my mum at the front of the hall with all those people looking at us.  But now I've got used to it, I really enjoy it and everybody always make a big fuss of me and sometimes I even get a biscuit.
Then yesterday she got a phone call asking her to do another talk, in June.  That turned out to be a recommendation from Wednesday morning - so wasn't that good!  
Wednesday afternoon I was not so happy.  My mum had to go to the dentist. She was away for ages.  I had to wait very patiently.  Of course, it meant we missed dog school - again. I shall have to consider having a sulk about this if we miss any more. I love my training and it's only once a week so if something crops up on a Wednesday afternoon that's it - gone!  
I do sympathise with her about teeth. I had to have a tooth out and my mouth hurt afterwards, so I know it isn't very nice.  
I stayed especially close when she came home. She had a rest on the settee and I snuggled up to keep her company.  She didn't have a grumpy face, just a sore mouth. She's always so loving to me and takes care of me so nicely, I try to love her back when she isn't feeling very well.  Like I've said before, we look out for each other, my mum and me.  We're a team.
Well, it's time to go so this is team Cass-a-mum signing off for now!
See you again soon.

Cassie

Nature Study

We’ve got tadpoles in our pond.  I have nothing against tadpoles, as such.  In fact, I think they are quite jolly little things.  But you know what happens, don’t you.  Legs.  Jumpy legs.  It takes a while but eventually there will be things lurking all round the edges of our pond that go JUMP! the minute I stick my nose anywhere near them.

I don’t mean to be a wimp, but frogs frighten me to death.  You can’t see them, they don’t smell of anything except pond water, and they are so quick!  One sniff and they’re off, rocketing up in the air. Next minute, they’re back on the far side of the netting, looking all composed on a lily pad, while I’m still hyperventilating and trying to get my fur to lie down flat.

Most of the things in our garden are very nice. I particularly like the lawn, although it is rather small and uncomfortably close to the pond, but the grass is soft to lie on. My mum calls it her four minute lawn, because that’s how quickly she can mow it.  It’s just big enough for a lounger and a little table for a cup of tea and a book.  But the lounger won’t be coming out until the weather turns more summery.

My mum is getting over her cold and trying to catch up on all the things she didn’t do when she was feeling poorly.  She’s been working on “The Great Kimberley Book Read” web site, trying to get it ready to go live.  There have been letters to write, especially a “thank you” letter to Sainsbury’s for their donation of a prize for the Shop Window Display Competition.  As soon as her friend Angela gets back from her holiday, that will be the next job, visiting all the shops to persuade them to take part.  They are going to do that between them, which will be a big help.

I don’t suppose I’ll be able to go with them. There are not many shops I’m allowed to go in, and my mum doesn’t like leaving me outside.  Something horrible happened to a poodle we know who was left tied up outside the supermarket.  Somebody took him and when the police finally found him, he wasn’t in very good shape. His mum was terribly upset and now she warns everybody not to leave their dog outside shops.

I am allowed to go with my mum to the post box.  She has a letter that needs posting now so you’ll have to excuse me because this is too good an excuse for a walk to miss.

See you again soon.

Cassie

Lonely week

This has been a sniffly few days.  I haven’t been sniffling, it’s been my mum – or by bum, as she would say, this week. 

She was all right at the weekend, bouncing around as usual, but on Monday she started with a snivel and it’s got worse and worse.  I’ve followed a paper-chase of tissues round the house, with a trail of tablets, cough mixture, and horrible smelly drops on a hanky, on every surface in every room. 

For about forty percent of each day, by bum has been fast asleep on the settee in her dressing gown.  The rest of the time she’s been drooping about, snuffling and sneezing, coughing most of the night and generally making the place miserable. 

It was better for by bum to stay indoors because it’s rained most of the week and it wouldn’t be good for her to get wet, so I’ve been out for walks with my friend Eddie and his mum, so that’s been not bad, but not the same.

Needless to say, we had to give dog school a miss on Wednesday afternoon and there was no choir on Tuesday night.

On Monday, before she got poorly, by bum took all eighteen titles round to the Library, ready for The Great Kimberley Book Read. There were four copies of each, and some of them were very thick books, so it was a lot to carry.  They filled two shelves in the Library store room. 

Each of the authors has provided a short tag line for their novel, and by bum has an illustration of all the book covers, so her next job is to post those on the web site that she’s building. 

Working on the school ‘Book-Worms’, she’s followed up someone she had asked to be a ‘champion’ for one of the genres of writing, and finally got a reply from him. So that task has moved along too. 

I really hope by bum will feel better soon. I’ve tried to be very quiet and very good while she’s been feeling poorly, but it’s been a lonely week without her.   I’m looking forward to her getting better and wanting to play with me again and go for walks.

Talk to you again soon.

Cassie

First deadline

Things are moving forward with The Great Kimberley Book Read so I’ve got all sorts of progress to report.  My mum’s been dashing about with a big smile on her face all week, which I like to see. 

We hit our first deadline this weekend.  All the books for the competition have to been handed in so that my mum can take them to the Library on Monday to be processed into their computer system ready for loaning out. There’s quite a big pile of books in our house already and on Sunday we’re meeting with other members of New Writers for lunch, to collect the rest.  When I say we, it’s my mum who will  be lunching while I wait in the car.  I just feel I need to make a point about that.

One big piece of good news is that our local MP, Anna Soubry, has confirmed that she will be coming to Kimberley to present the prizes on 6^th October.

My mum has also persuaded Alex Britton, one of the journalists on the Nottingham Post, to agree to be ‘champion’ for newspapers for one of the primary schools.  

Everything for the parade is falling into place. The Book-Worm song is prepared and all the CDs copied, plus a set of step-by-step instructions for making a Book-Worm.  She’s just waiting for one more person to confirm that he will be a ‘champion’ and she can go back to all the schools to finalise arrangements with them.

The exhibition on the history of reading in Kimberley is coming along.  She’s talked to the Secretary of the Kimberley Institute Cricket Club who told her some useful information about the old Reading Room. 

She’s also been finding out about the history of the Library.  She wanted to know where it used to be, before it moved to its present building.  It’s amazing. If you could do speeded up time-lapse photography for the last seventy years, you’d see the Library nipping up and down Main Street and crossing the road, every so often. 

On Tuesday she made some phone calls to BBC East Midlands Today and Central TV, as well as Radio Nottingham, and E-mailed them with all the details of The Great Kimberley Book Read and Kimberley Book-Worm Day.  Now it’s a case of waiting with fingers – and paws – crossed  for at least one of them to get back to her to say they want to cover the events.

So, all in all, a very busy week.  Another very wet week, too.  We’ve been walking in the rain every day: paddle paddle, splosh splosh.  Ever since someone uttered the word drought, it’s come down in bucketloads.  People!

See you again soon.

 

Cassie

Singing Book-Worms

My mum is a conundrum. Is she a pessimistic or an optimist?  When we went out this morning she put on her wellingtons and raincoat because it was black overhead but she also pegged out a line of washing, because the sun was trying to shine between the clouds.  Bets well hedged, off we went, and I have to report that the waterproofs were not needed and the washing got dry.  So one small victory for optimism.

While we were out we met two very nice children.  We had stopped to let them walk past with their mummy but instead they decided to come and give me a stroke, which was very nice.  When my mum told them I had come from the rescue, the little girl wondered what my story was, so my mum mentioned about my book.  She told them my book is on Kindle and there was a discussion about that, and she forgot to say that Mr Plumb on James Street sells copies of my book in paperback.  People do still read real books, although I have to say more copies of my story are sold on Kindle these days.  Next time you see someone reading a Kindle, just think – it might be my story they’re reading!

There’s been more good progress on The Great Kimberley Book Read this week.  My mum had written a letter to the Town Council asking if she could have use of the Parish Hall on 6^th October for Kimberley Book-Worm Day. She had a very nice letter back saying yes, and that she would only have to pay half the usual fee. So that was very kind of them.  The children will get dressed up in their Book-Worm costumes in the Parish Hall and Aunty Sue has agreed to help look after them, so that’s good too.

The other big and exciting thing is that the song my mum wrote has been turned into a real piece of music by her friend and composer, David Machell. It’s all written out properly in music and he’s made a recording of it, too. That’s the song all the children will learn at school and sing in the Book-Worm parade on 6^th October. 

I was really glad to see that my mum was so pleased about it but I was a bit fed up too, because it will only encourage her to sing even more.  I keep hearing her in the kitchen “All book-worms love to read . . . ” warble, warble, warble.  I’m going to hear that an awful lot between now and October.

We had a brilliant afternoon at dog school this week.  Millie came with a lot of new tricks her dad has taught her.  Because she’s a corgi she makes people think of the queen so her dad’s put together a “Jubilee” show for people and they’ve been going round performing at various places and collecting money for charity. She does lots of tricks with union jacks and things.  I bet there aren’t any dogs at Buckingham Palace as clever or as cute as Millie.  She’s brilliant.  I’m just wondering how long it will be before my mum tries to teach me to do the trick with vegetables.

See you again soon.

Cassie

Drowned Rat in A Drought

They lie!  They lie!  There might be people somewhere smuggling their hose pipes up the garden under their jimjams in the dead of night to do their watering, but round our way it’s April showers as usual.  And not just that. Add in a bit of sleet and hail for good measure and you get the picture.

We had a twenty-four hour April shower the other day.  We went out for our walk anyway, with my mum wrapped up against the downpour.  It didn’t help much.  When we got back her hair was plastered to her head inside her rainproof cagoule, her jeans were soaked inside her over-trousers, and her feet were wet inside her striped wellies.  Drowned rat about summed it up.

My fur will keep water out for a while.  It’s got a coating like the spray you put on suede shoes to stop wet soaking in.  I get that from the oil in my favourite fish and brown rice crunchies.  But after walking in a monsoon for an hour it stops working. 

Once the rain gets into my under-coat, my fur sticks to my skin and then I could well be mistaken for a large version of the proverbial drowned rat myself.

The best thing I can do when I get wet is have a good shake. You’d be amazed how satisfying it is to start at the tip of your nose and shake, rattle and roll right down to the tip of your tail.  Boy, it feels good!  Other people don’t always appreciate it, if I’m standing beside them when I do it.  But that isn’t going to stop me!

I tell you what, if you live in a hose pipe ban area, let me know and the next time I get wet I’ll come and shake myself over your vegetable patch.  I can’t make a fairer offer than that, can I? 

See you again soon.

 

 Cassie