She’s been such a good dog from the start, but unfortunately toys don’t last very long. This tyre was a firm favourite for weeks until she realised her most favourite thing is to chew. Luckily this hobby of hers is confined to her toys only, but it means she has limited toys and they have to be replaced regularly. Not many toys can stand up to the might of Maya.
The little face got bigger and cuter and never fails to entertain with her silly adorable antics.
(c) K Wicks
The normal fears
That we have faced
Have been rewritten
And replaced
That there are those
Elected through charm
Who actually mean
To cause us harm
If it was nature
Throwing the curve
We’d find our feet
And then observe
How we can group
And organize
But not when trapped
In all these lies
The mental threat
Looms ever near
While slowly taking
What we hold dear
Through all of this
I can but hope
We make it through
And manage to cope
It’s a strange road ahead…
Rhyme and Reason
(c) K Wicks
It’s been just over a year now since I released my first book of short stories – the second one is half finished, but this year has really hampered creating for me. Under the Apple Tree and other dark short stories came from various ideas I had been mulling over for decades and two of the tales actually are adapted from real life experiences shared with me by someone close. So it was really exciting to receive a good review, then another and now I have six, all of them positive. One review mentions being reminded of The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone, and another actually likens my stories to Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl. That in itself is an achievement! I loved reading Roald Dahl growing up, have read my fair share of creepy stories and watched all three of those shows. Some of those horror tales obviously left their mark on me. I can only hope to do the same for someone else.
Part of one review – “Although the stories are set in present day, the author’s writing style is reminiscent of classic horror like Stevenson or Shelley, which can feel odd at times but carries the stories well. And, similarly to the classics, there’s not a lot of gore or curse words, which makes this collection enjoyable for fans of all ages. In a way, Under the Apple Tree: And other dark short stories remind me of scary stories you tell around the campfire or are passed around during sleepover parties, and like those stories these tales stay with you for a long time”
(c) K Wicks
Today’s brief bit of early sunrise today led me believe it would be a good one. But this is all there was before the grey moved in.
Still lovely though.
Within 10 minutes, it was gone.
(c) K Wicks
I like baking, sweets more than savoury so far and this recipe is a favourite of mine for some tasty cakey fruity treats. I have amended the recipe to scale down the ingredients. I’m not a big eater and my husband does not eat hardly anything I bake, so smaller the recipes get. But this still makes 12 little cakes. The original receipt is just for blueberry muffins, but they seem more like fairy cakes than muffins, and I decided to add raspberries to give it an extra zing and gooeyness. Full recipe at bottom of post.
To start my baking I always weigh up all the ingredients first, and always have to have a recipe – funnily enough it’s the opposite with savoury food, no recipe, don’t weigh up anything or even check I have all the ingredients first. On that note, I shall share with you that the other night I had ‘Joke Chicken’. What is this is dish you may ask, well, it is when you don’t read the shopping delivery receipt properly, presume you have chicken and start cooking roast potatoes without checking. Then upon realising, have no back up so just end up eating roast potatoes for dinner! (which really wasn’t that bad). And even for this recipe – I nearly couldn’t do it as I had run out of baking powder and hadn’t added that to the shopping, despite it being on my list. Luckily the corner shop was open and in stock.
Although I love my mixer and use it for pastry, I always cream the butter and sugar by hand. Taking a bit more time and care than previously and it may sound cheesy, but I can taste the difference.
I don’t tend to stir in the fruit too much otherwise you lose the raspberry a bit and from experience cut a few of the blueberries in half. Otherwise they all have a tendency to sink to the bottom of the cake, which is nice, but better to have them do that and still be throughout as well.
Again with this one, I didn’t check the oven temperature adjustment until they had been cooking for 10 minutes, then realised that I had typed the recipe out when I had a normal gas oven. Now I have a fan assisted electric one and it seems to keep throwing me when using it. So while doing this write up I shall amend it so no-one has the issue and will print myself a new one.
These only took 20 minutes because I have learnt my lesson when it come to taking things out when you think they are done, not when the time says so. But if you start with the correct temperature, then 25-30 minutes is probably accurate.
They were then enjoyed with a cup on tea (on my rather colourful MKW coaster).
Blueberry & Raspberry Cakes
Ingredients
Makes: 24 muffins Makes: 12 muffins
Method
Prep:15 min › Cook: 25min › Ready in:40min
How could it be
That we are here
I know the facts
But they aren’t clear
Confusion used
As weapon and tool
To hoodwink us
They hope to fool
And change the way
We think and live
What they’ve done
I can’t forgive
As time goes on
The future’s scrapped
Instead they say
Try to adapt
To this new norm
Still changing fast
All I think
Is it cannot last
Forever
Rhyme and Reason
(c) K Wicks
A water lily in Nerja, Spain, photograph taken with a Nikon D5500.
(c) K Wicks
It may sound silly, but ever since I started to draw my black and white pictures 25 years ago, I have wanted to see my designs as wrapping paper. And once I started with nature photography and making patterns from them I wanted too even more. I now have my dream. If anyone likes them or buys them I will be chuffed to bits, but currently am chuffed just to see them as I wanted too.
More designs will be added and they are available as Tote bags and cushions currently as well.
https://www.zazzle.co.uk/collections/wrapping_paper_colourful-119637478797619405
(c) K Wicks
Since getting into photography, insects have become far more interesting than they used to be. I had never heard of Ruby-Tailed wasps and first saw one when I was living in Spain, but it turns out we have them here in the UK too. So I was proper excited to find one in the garden here this past summer, in fact not even find, he was at head height on the wall as I stood by the back door! By the time I reached for my camera he was moving all over the wall, with only seconds for a few shots, he was gone. They don’t hang around! I managed to get marginally better shots in Spain, but only because this one was saved from the pool and I had a couple of minutes to try and work around him drying off and being off on his travels again.
Other than these two, I can’t think I have seen any more but given how small the UK one was, I probably have but just didn’t have time to see the flash of colour to identify it.
(c) K Wicks
A couple of years ago we attended the Spectacle of Light event held at Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire. It usually happens end of November and runs for a month or so I think. But the castle and grounds are quite something just in daylight, so to see the whole place lit up and decorated was awesome. I believe they have a different theme every year, ours was Alice in Wonderland. Not bad, one of my all time favourite films as a child.
Walking around the ground was great, I love colourful things and lights, so was in my element. It was bitterly cold but soon your hands numbed enough that you couldn’t feel them properly so it was ok. I didn’t take as many photos as I would have liked because the gloves stayed on mostly and I couldn’t keep my hands still long enough without them!
The trees were creating a semi spooky wonderland, nicely reminiscent of Alice. The strangest part of it was the people. Actors hired to play odd characters from the story standing around in the freezing cold (so fair play to them), but it was odd as they lunged forward to deliver their line. Weirdly, it didn’t fit for me.
The rest of it did fit though, bits and pieces here and there which all in all was a feast for the eyes.
It was a nice evening out and apparently it is running again this year, so I may get to see another one.
(c) K Wicks
MKW Publishing 