Cambridge

Goodreads Synopsis: 

‘Porters are not the carriers of bags, they are the keepers of keys!’

As one of the most ancient and esteemed establishments of the academic elite, Old College is in for something of a shock when it appoints its very first female Deputy Head Porter.

She struggles to get to grips with this eccentric world, far removed from everyday life. PorterGirl, the proverbial square peg in the round hole, begins to wonder quite what she is doing here.

PorterGirl – First Lady Of The Keys is a touching, and at times laugh-out-loud funny, glimpse into a world that is usually reserved for the upper echelons of society.

Whether she is chasing after naked students, drinking copious amounts of tea or getting embroiled in quaint, polite murders, Deputy Head Porter is never far from adventure.

My review

I’ve had PorterGirl on my must read radar for some time. For three reasons, one it’s set in Cambridge, (and I live in Cambridge too,) and two I have enjoyed reading Lucy’s blog Porter Girl and following her.

Also, my youngest daughter works part-time as a waitress in one of the colleges in Cambridge so I hear all about college life from her, and all about the sumptuous food….

So my impressions of PorterGirl… I really enjoyed PG. It’s one of those books that lifts your spirits up and puts you in a fantastic mood. It prompts you to put the kettle on and eat lots of forbidden biscuits! Lol… Porter G’s experience as the first female porter of a prestigious Cambridge University college is a lively riot from start to finish, full of humour, tea, and jokes about eating fabulous food when and wherever PorterGirl can… Being a foodie, this constant ambition to raid the fridges and steal food from under her colleagues’ hungry noses had me in stitches, as did crazy but ever so serious tasks such as PorterGirl rescuing a most important College cat via a precarious punting escapade. There’s never a dull moment, but a dollop of rising fear ensues as PorterGirl discovers murders are being committed in Old College. She begins to fear for her life, but PorterGirl is no coward, (a former copper,) she manages to keep herself safe, until…. it gets a bit hot under the bowler hat. Even so, her bowler hat remains proudly on top of her head, never to be removed not even in the most dire, calamitous of circumstance!

My recommendation: 4 stars. A favourite read that will make you smile a lot – and smiling is one of my favourite pastimes. Lucy has a pleasing writing style that makes you feel as if you know her personally. But, this novel should come with a health warning: This will make you laugh so much that you will splutter out your tea and biscuits! I reckon our friends across the water will find the copious amount of tea drinking that is a signature style of PorterGirl exceedingly amusing!

Opinion: I felt that perhaps PorterGirl lacked the ‘real’ names (and from Lucy’s point of view the promote-able aspects,) of the  ‘real’ Cambridge. I would love to have read about the ‘real’ University college that Old College applied to, and the ‘real’ haunts that Lucy mentions. But, I can understand why Lucy didn’t do so, why she used fictitious names. I expect she wanted to keep the secrets of the establishment, and anonymity of some of the characters in the book. If she had set it in the ‘real’ Cambridge, (and put a few folks noses out of joint,) for me it would have been a five star read. But, that’s just me…. and of course I can see why she wouldn’t want to do that! Lol…

I’m really looking forward to reading more from Lucy Brazier.

I recommend that you get a copy of PorterGirl, rush, before Lucy’s tea gets cold!

Buying links: Amazon – Lucy Brazier: Porter Girl – First Lady of The Keys

Lucy’s next novel:

Lucy has a new fan. 🙂

Bye for now,

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter.

I’m still on a bit of a blogging break until my eldest daughter returns to University so will be somewhat scarce in blogging land.

I had a wonderful holiday up in Edinburgh but it was all too short…

Here are some of my photos:

That’s one of me and my daughter Georgina before I had my lunch…. I tend to shrink when I’m hungry! We were at a very nice restaurant called The Railbridge Bistro in South Queensferry which overlooks the bridges and has haggis on the menu!

And here’s my lovely mum and dad… Missing them…

My dad hates the cold, and though the view at South Queensferry is amazing it was bitterly chilly… My mum looks okay, in fact she dares to look a bit amused but poor dad…

Since I’ve been back in Cambridge, I’ve had a lovely time with my eldest daughter who is visiting from University.

Recently we went out to a cafe in Cambridge…

And she approved of my photo…  The drink looks like some sort of Dr Who concoction but I believe it is a green tea matcha. Oh, by the way did you see the Dr Who episode last night? If you did I bet you didn’t dare have a shower or bath before bedtime. I love it when Dr Who gets all scary!

Then, there’s me all dressed up as I had work afterwards. Recently, I started working part-time at Ann Summers – which is a strangest job I have ever had! It’s a bit like marmite some days I love it, some days I hate it! Ha ha…. It’s a tricky one for an introvert with extrovert tendencies. Anyway, that plate in front of me is the remains of a very tasty Orange and Polenta cake that we shared at Espresso Library cafe in Cambridge.

Before I go let me say a big thank you to all the contributors to my Facebook Rainbow Support Club in my absence.

Here are just some of the wonderful links that have appeared:

http://marshajustwrites.com/accidental-tourist/

https://dgkayewriter.com/who-has-a-new-book-the-swamp-fairy-colleen-cheseboro/

http://allanhudson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/4q-interview-and-excerpt-with-guest.html

https://steviet3.wordpress.com/2017/04/13/friday-roundup-on-a-thursday-13th-april/

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2017/04/15/sallys-cafe-and-bookstore-author-book-reading-and-interview-d-g-kaye/

https://jennyinneverland.com/2017/04/14/bloggers-revealed/

https://scvincent.com/2017/04/12/guest-author-sarah-brentyn-where-i-spin-self-doubt-into-a-post/

https://scvincent.com/2017/04/14/guest-author-d-wallace-peach-room-to-breathe/

All the contributors have done a fabulous job of making the page a fantastic resource of information, help, and collaboration for fellow writers/bloggers.

Do pop over to the club page and take a look, and come give the club some love: Authors/Bloggers Rainbow Support Club.

If you’d like to join the club please do message myself either in the comment below or contact me on my email marjma2014@gmail.com, or chat about it with Colleen Chesebro or Debby Gies, my two fabulous blogging buddies who administer the running of the club with me.

All the best for a lovely Easter.

Do pop over to my Instagram page to see the rest of my photos: My Instagram

Just a quick blog post to share this photo  of the Fireworks on Midsummer Common in Cambridge. We had it all planned, a quick meal, and then straight to the fireworks. What could possibly go wrong?  Everything! We had a long wait to be seated at our chosen restaurant, as it was ridiculously busy. Then when we finally managed to get our table, they lost our food order. Luckily they gave us 25% off the bill plus two free drinks. After all that I was getting quite tipsy, and needed to eat something. Luckily the food did come, and was very tasty. But, time was running out. I had to pop to the toilet and by the time I’d taken two phone calls, (whilst in there,) we nearly missed it all!!!

All was not lost I just managed to capture this beauty lighting up the skies between the houses.

Do you enjoy fireworks?  I love them. They always make me feel positive, as if they light up the sky with their little rays of hope. The only problem with fireworks and bonfire night is the wretched temperature. I can’t cope with being cold… I have to wrap up!

I have lots of plans for November, it’s my birthday later this month! So more about that nearer the time. I will be having a little birthday reveal on my Instagram – my little treat to myself! We all need to have something special to look forward to…

Before I go perhaps I should leave you with my Instagram link: https://www.instagram.com/kyrosmagica/

Hope Monday is treating you well and not squashing the life out of you! Very amused to see that a bodybuilder/personal trainer is following me on twitter. Is he trying to tell me something? I know I need to get fit but… knowing me I’d get crushed by the weights or drop them on my foot or something.

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I am so thrilled to be part of the team of lingerie stylists at Rigby and Peller, Cambridge. This is a totally new venture for me. I’ve never worked in lingerie before, in fact in my previous retail job in John Lewis I was ensconced in the menswear department, amongst woolly jumpers, socks, underwear, and other male paraphernalia.

Since joining the company I’ve been impressed by Rigby and Peller’s training programme and their positive attitude and intention to make women feel good about themselves.

So with that in mind I put together the above slide show and this little blog post to tell you all about a very extraordinarily inspiring evening.

The Addenbrooke’s Breast Cancer Appeal Fashion Show was held in the Grand Arcade in Cambridge on the 4th of October. Several retail companies joined in the event including Rigby and Peller. Today I heard the wonderful news that the goal to raise £10,000 for the Addenbrooke’s appeal towards the cost of biopsy equipment for the breast cancer unit has now been met, and is being surpassed!

My manager at Rigby and Peller, Jenny Mason – one of the organisers of the event – has had first hand experience of the devastating effect of cancer, having lost her father to this dreadful disease. Jenny and Natalie Emuss (one of the models,) have worked tirelessly to make the fashion show such an enormous, and memorable success.  Much respect to them both.

Here’s my daughter Georgina at the fashion show with her camera at the ready. A big thank you to Jenny Mason for allowing Georgina to take photographs of the event.  Georgina is currently studying for three diplomas in Photography, Media Studies and Business Studies.

This was Georgina’s first opportunity to take part in a photographic shoot and what better event to begin with than one that was so charged with emotion. The awesome women modelling lingerie and fashion had us spellbound, as did their husbands and partners. I so admire their bravery and positivity.

Georgina chose four of her favourite images to share with you here: one black and white  and three in colour.

What a great start to her photographic studies.

I will leave you with one of our shop windows at Rigby and Peller advocating :

Strength, Courage, Love.

I couldn’t agree more!

Don’t forget to pop into Rigby and Peller to donate your unwanted bras in store this October. Or do what you can to raise money and awareness for breast cancer sufferers.

Links:

Saffron Walden Reporter Brave breast Cancer Models

Addenbrookes Breast Cancer Appeal Fashion Show Facebook Page

To donate:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Natalie-Emuss2

Bye for now,

http://johnctaylor.com

I am having a bit of a break through in terms of my publishing plans:

First I’ve changed the name of my manuscript from The Krystallos Cottage to The Curse of Time. This has had quite an impact on the general direction of the novel, with more emphasis on the dark side of the story. But the theme of light/darkness, and good/evil, still prevails. I have done some extra research into self harm, anxiety, and schizophrenia as one of my characters self harms.

There are still lots of light-hearted aspects in the crystals, storyline, dialogue, etc. So I do hope that this will have something for everyone.

I have had two beta readers working hard to make my manuscript the best it can be.  Graeme Cumming author of Ravens Gathering read through the first draft and my bookworm daughter/budding writer Natasha Mallon, has been reading through the final draft, both have done an amazing job and I can’t thank them enough. So the final beta read is now done and I am in the final stages of editing.

At last, it’s nearly there. There will be lots of work to do…. edits of chapters, removal of one chapter, some extra work on dialogue, a few paragraphs here and there that are unnecessary, and I have been working on three short but hopefully powerful chapters to develop the dark aspect of the story.

At the moment it looks as if it is likely that the finished novel will be aimed at the YA market.

In the meantime I’m busy writing my author bio and my blurb…

As well as this I’ve won an month’s advertising in Jenny At Neverland’s blog in November and I’ve decided that would be the ideal time to get everything ready for publishing. Fingers crossed! So, perhaps I may get this book out in time for Christmas….

More news, I’ve  contacted the inventor of the Corpus Chronopage, Dr John Taylor  OBE, to ask for permission to use an image of this celebrated local clock and tourist attraction on my book cover.  My manuscript has been approved by his publicist Tina Fotherby at Famous Publicity. This is great news – now I know that my book cover is going to be pretty striking.

So now I’m getting some ideas together regarding cover photography and Wendy Anne Darling is going to knock it all together for me:  https://wendyannedarling.wordpress.com/bookxeedo-book-covers

How exciting!

I am considering the possibility of a domain name for this blog too. I’m fond of Kyrosmagica but wonder whether my author name should appear in my domain. If anyone has any advice do let me know.

Here are some more photos of The Corpus Chronograph courtesy of John C Taylor OBE.

The first is of Dr John C Taylor and his magnificent invention.

This one is the Grasshopper with his shadow… pretty cool! Especially as one of the themes in my book is shadows…

The Corpus Chronophage at dusk

The scary grasshopper in all his close-up glory!  EEK!

Copyright Dr John C Taylor OBE

Do let me know what you think of the Corpus Chronopage images. I am absolutely thrilled with them… So one of these with the right dpi (not all pass the level of dpi required for a book cover,) will be gracing my front and back cover. Decisions, decisions!

Bye for now.

For #ThursdayDoors:

Here’s a tiled image of a door I found in my neighbouring village Histon – it’s the door of Histon Baptist Church on Station Road.

It never ceases to amaze me where you find a door. This one was on the way to the Dentist! I was just about to go for a scale and polish and there she was shouting out for me to photograph her! Isn’t she a beauty?

Here she is in a bigger individual photo – all red and shiny, no don’t worry -it’s not my mouth…

Anyway, the dental hygienist did a fantastic job. It didn’t hurt much at all, but I did get quite drenched… no not the rain… the device to clean my teeth was pretty full on!

If you’d like to join in the #ThursdayDoors fun here’s the link up to Norm’s blog: Norm’s Thursday Doors.

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing it, between Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time), by using the blue link-up button on Norm’s blog. 

Oh, and I just found this for Thursday Doors enthusiasts: door_embassy on Instagram: Door Embassy

Hope you enjoyed my #ThursdayDoors post.. I wonder where I’ll find my next door…

Bye for now,

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Last week Norm featured some oddball doors on his post : Norm’s Thursday Doors  so I thought I’d do something a bit quirky for this week’s Thursday Doors.

Here’s the info from Norm’s blog re: Thursday Doors:

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing it, between Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time), by using the blue link-up button on Norm’s blog:  Norm’s Thursday Doors April 28th 2016

I’ve got just the door and accessories in mind….   A toilet door! Sorry I did warn you this was a quirky post.

Well it’s colourful isn’t it, ladies? The image is a bit blurry, no I wasn’t inebriated when I took it! I was stone cold sober I swear! Sorry that it’s a bit out of focus but my phone wasn’t impressed by my taking a photo of a toilet door! Given that the post is a bit bonkers I don’t suppose that the blurry image matters too much.

Perhaps the door isn’t as interesting  or as amusing as the unusual signs that live just beyond the toilet door. Someone’s got a sense of humour..

These two images …. certainly made my toilet visit entertaining.

I don’t think I’ll wash my feet in the sink… but thanks for the reminder… we’re in Cambridge not a beach resort!!

I took these photos after having a lovely Thai meal at Thaikun Cambridge.  I was with my youngest daughter.

The food  and décor are great. Their slogan (From the Streets of Bangkok,) is just right. Both times I’ve eaten there it’s been first class, so do go there, have a lovely meal – but whatever you do don’t forget to visit their unusual loo before you go!

The image to the left (below,) is one you often see but the one to the right…. is this a new yoga pose best perfected on a toilet seat? The hover pose? And the person on the toilet kind of looks a bit like he’s got either a long neck like ET, or no neck at all. In fact I suspect that head is in fact a balloon masquerading as a head! Hope it doesn’t go bang and give the person in the next cubicle a dreadful fright!

So you never know what lurks beyond a door….fascinating things doors.

Hope you like my jokey post for this week’s Thursday Doors! Sorry for being so bonkers Norm! I promise to do something more conventional, and cultural next time!

Do join in the fun at Norm’s blue link up post for this week’s Thursday Doors: Norm’s Thursday Doors

Bye for now,

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Today I’m opening a new door so to speak and having a go at Norm’s Thursday Doors #ThursdayDoors which ‘ is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing it, between Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time), by using the blue link-up button on Norm’s blog: 

https://miscellaneousmusingsofamiddleagedmind.wordpress.com/2016/03/31/thursday-doors-march-31-2016/

This week Norm is doing a special Anniversary addition with two parts:

Special Anniversary Edition – Church of the Holy Trinity (Part 1) – Toronto and the second part is by his blog buddy Joanne Sisco over at My Life Lived Full. So do pop over to their Norm and Joanne’s blog to find out more.

I’ve been meaning to do this post for ages and I’ve had just the door in mind.

It’s the magnificent entrance door to The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge:

I’ll think that you’ll agree that’s a pretty striking door.

I went there just recently with my eldest daughter to go to see The Death on the Nile Exhibition and indulged in a very fine Chelsea Bun just before the museum visit – in Fitzbillies Cafe, more about that scrumptious delight here:

Chelsea bun heaven: https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2016/03/24/hughs-weekly-photo-challenge-week-18-sweet/

I’m looking forward to walking through the magical portal of the Fitwilliam Museum again soon http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/–   I’m stewarding for one of the Cambridge Literary Festival events there during the Spring Festival this April. I’m looking forward to taking part in this – I’ve never been a steward before – I’ve been to many book festivals but never as a helper. So that should be interesting. The event is ‘A very special event to celebrate the life of feminist trailblazer and literary visionary, Charlotte Brontë who was born 200 years ago this April. Claire Harman joins us to discuss her acclaimed biography, Charlotte Brontë: A Life. Audience members can also enjoy a display of Charlotte Brontë’s personal letters from 1845 to her death in 1855 and cover the period during which Jane Eyre, Shirley and Villette were published, as well as her marriage to Arthur Bell Nicholls in 1854.’

As well as this I’m stewarding at a couple of other events at the Festival so no doubt there will be more about that later on my blog. Do check out the following link to the festival:  http://www.cambridgeliteraryfestival.com/

Doors hold such fascinating potential…. In fact I’ve opened a new door just recently on Wattpad. The prologue and the first few chapters of my novel The Curse of Time are now on Wattpad so do click on the links to find out more. Please feel free to comment, add feedback, share, I would really appreciate it.

https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/67166165-the-curse-of-time

Bye for now.

I’ve been a busy bee today, trying to catch up on the daily grind… cleaning really is a curse!

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Hi Everyone.

I have an important announcement to make Kyrosmagica is now taking its first delicate steps into the …… unknown …. new civilisations … space dock….. no only kidding, I’m partaking in the delights of Instagram.  You will probably have noticed by now that I love taking photos. All sorts of weird and wonderful things catch my eye, even fabulous ceilings like the one above, so I will be posting my favourite inspiring images and sharing them with you.

There will be something for everyone, I hope!

Whether that might be pretty trees, colourful flowers, tasty food, (I love my grub,) lovely places, candles, clocks, crystals, and of course bookish/blog related posts. Stolen cats (yes, I might need to pinch some as I don’t own one, a serious setback to an Instagram user. Any cats free for a sitting? You know who to contact, details below.

So please do follow me on Instagram too, this is a new endeavour and this empty handed lover of cats needs all the support she can get, help me crank up my follower notch a little if you can. If you do I promise I will purr….. I can’t wait to connect with new followers on Instagram and see all your lovely photos from all over the world. Already I’ve discovered some wonderful photos locally here in Cambridge, and further afield in exotic faraway places.

So do join me on this journey.

Yesterday with this in mind I went out on my first Instagram specific photography jaunt, the weather wasn’t what I’d call optimum, it was a bit of a grey day, it could have been sunnier but nevertheless I managed to get a few photos without being rained upon.

I have lots of ideas planned for my Instagram page and I am very excited about this!!!

Funnily enough I saw another person taking a close up photo of tree bark, I reckon she must be a keen Instagram enthusiast too! Either that or she is studying botany. At about the same time I nearly took a photo of my feet walking but I saved that gem of wonderment for next time!! Don’t laugh, people do this on Instagram all the time!

One particular image that caught my eye was a simple blue balloon that had floated up to the top of the ceiling in the shopping centre in Cambridge, and was trapped there. Can you imagine what that child’s reaction must have been when it floated away? No doubt tears were shed. I guess it might have been a birthday balloon, it looked shiny and fancy. I loved the contrast of the round, blue balloon, against the crisp lines of the ceiling structure.

Here’s the rest of my selection from yesterday, which you can see on my Instagram too, most of which have an Autumnal/Halloween theme:

Starting off with some candles on display in a shop, I love candles, tea lights, and aromatic delights so it’s not surprising that these featured.

Some Lush Halloween Bath Bombs perhaps, I love my smellies!

This colourful tree by the colleges and other pretty spots in the park on the way to Cambridge town centre caught my eye too:

It does look kind of deserted doesn’t it? There were people around but they kindly moved out of the way for my photography stint!

And did I mention that I like to eat? I think I did. This window display at Patisserie Valerie made me halt in my tracks. It’s enough to make anyone’s mouth water!! So have a cake or two on me ………………

Hope you like them!!!  Napkin anyone?

Thanks so much to all my lovely followers for continuing to support me in all that I do here in this blog, on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and Goodreads, and now  on Instagram. It means so much.

Keep on smiling, hugs, bye for now….

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

You can follow me on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kyrosmagica

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/20419289-marje-mallon

Tumblr: http://kyrosmagica.tumblr.com/

I am currently taking part in the 5 Photos – 5 days challenge after being nominated by Annika Perry. Check out her blog at: https://annikaperry.wordpress.com/

Here is my photo and writing for Day 2.

I took this photograph one day while I was out in Cambridge, this sundial clock tower caught my eye. It’s part of King’s College, Cambridge.

https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com

Sundial Clock Tower

“What time is it Mimi?” asked Elouise, taking off her cardigan, and stuffing it into her over flowing shopping bag. An abundance of art materials peeked out the top of the bag as if paints, brushes, soft pastel sets,  sponges, and graphite pencils were about to escape. Elouise put on her sunglasses, and tucked her long blonde hair behind her ears.

Elouise glanced over at her friend Mimi who was looking up at the heavens as if she expected a response. The sundial clock tower of Kings College Cambridge was just within her line of sight. Elouise knew that Mimi had forgotten all about her question.

Mimi was transfixed, she often did this, just stopped, a paused film track.

Elouise didn’t bother to ask her again. Instead, she poked around in her handbag and pulled out her mobile.

“It’s lunchtime,” she announced.

Mimi still didn’t answer. It was obvious that she was in some private reverie and disturbing her would serve no purpose.

A man started chatting Mimi up, this wasn’t unusual, Elouise managed to hear his first words, not a very original opener. “Hi. It’s a beautiful sundial isn’t it? …..”

Elouise knew that was no way to get Mimi’s attention. A fog horn would be a better approach!  Mimi’s good looks, her perfect figure, long dark hair, and tanned skin meant that she was often stopped in the street. Random strangers came up to ask her for her phone number.  She could have been a model, except for one small detail, her height, she was a little on the short side. Mimi was petite in every sense of the word. If Elouise was to describe her she would say that her friend was a living artist’s portrait, a watercolour of exquisiteness, highlighted with brushstrokes of kindness.

Elouise knew that Mimi wouldn’t acknowledge the stranger. She was still stuck in pause zone, and there was no getting through to her while she was in that state.

The man continued in desperation, his words falling at her delicate ankles like tiny forgotten offerings.

Elouise turned her attention to a nice looking bunch of boys nearby, some foreign students, out for the day in Cambridge.

“What is that?” one of them asked, pointing at the clock tower.

“It’s a sundial clock tower,” replied Elouise.

‘Oh, it’s very fine.”

“Yes, it is. My friend certainly thinks so.”

‘Which college is it belong to?”

“King’s I think.”

“She’s like this often?” he asked gesturing towards Mimi with a grin. “She doesn’t seem to notice anything.”

Elouise sighed. “Yes often. She’ll come out of it soon. She’s in a private little time tunnel, eventually she’ll see the light at the end.”

The boy’s friends moved closer to him. They huddled behind him creating a shadow of shyness.

The boy laughed, his laughter chasing each of his friends’ individual shadows away.

“When she come out of it would you like to join us for a picnic. It’s a sunny day?” he asked.

The other boys stepped forward, “Yes please come.”

“Join us. We okay.”

Elouise was amused to see that the first boy pulled a face, and punched his friend on the shoulder. A friendly warning.

“We have baguettes and cheese, and drinks,” said one of the boys boldly breaking away from the scrum of uncertainty.

“Sorry, but no champagne,” said the first boy, with a wink.

Elouise smiled.

“What’s your names?”

“Bjorn,” the first boy answered.

“Erik.”

“Fredrik.”

“Maarten.”

“Hi Bjorn, Erik, Fredrik, and Maarten. I’m Elouise and my dreamy friend is Mimi. Where are you from?”

“Norway,” replied Bjorn.

At last Mimi turned away from the sundial and faced them. She appeared dazzled, as if she had been staring at the Northern Lights.

Elouise had to do something! Fast, anything to get Mimi back to the present, so she ditched her shopping bag on the ground. Some art supplies managed to escape the confines of the bag. The clatter of the paints woke Mimi up.  Elouise hastily picked them up, before they tipped out onto the pavement, and painted an artist’s impression of Mimi’s expression. Mimi’s face registered the boys first, and then her friend. This was so Mimi! Elouise gave Mimi their special signal for fit boys with fair hair and blue eyes, a quick almost imperceptible, double wink.

Mimi smiled. Mimi’s warm smile melted Elouise’s worries away. She was back! Mimi the watercolour painting was living in the moment again!

“A picnic that sounds fun. It‘s lunchtime. Of course we’d love too! I’m starving. And thirsty! Let’s stop at a shop and get lots of sparkling wine. Nice to meet you Bjorn, Fredrik, Erik, Maarten.”

The brushstrokes of her words tumbled out of her like warming rays of sunshine, lighting up each and every face with a smile.

Elouise shook her head, this was so Mimi. Always caught up in the moment, but secretly listening, and planning a sparkling picnic comeback!

© Marjorie Mallon 2015 – aka, Kyrosmagica.
Words good or bad, are my very own!

A link to the Gates of Cambridge Colleges: http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/walks/gates.htm#trinityb

If you’d like to join in the challenge, and I hope you do, the rules are as follows:

‘Post a photo each day for five consecutive days, and tell a story about each photo.  The story can be truth or fiction, poetry or prose.  Each day one must also nominate a fellow blogger to participate in the challenge.’

Today I would like to nominate my keen photographer friend Olivia at Wording on a Whim https://wordingonawhim.wordpress.com/  to take on this challenge.

I look forward to seeing her post.

Please do leave a comment. I love to hear from you.

Kyrosmagica x

Thanks for dropping by.