Hi Bloggers,

Another excerpt for you from Hedgerow Diaries By Polly P Perkins:


“But you three are great singers, maybe you can join in the competition we do each year.” Said Blossom excitedly

“We can’t join in the competition, if we are stuck in here!” said Nigella.

Blossom and Jack flew back to the hedgerow. 

Chapter Two

Planning a way to the Concert

The chickens were huddled together talking about the concert the fairies had mentioned.

Nigella spoke, “Even if you were good enough and could beat all the other entrants, the fact is, we are stuck in here and can’t get out to perform.”

Delia replied, “Why don’t we invite everyone in here to do the concert?”

“Don’t be stupid!” snapped Sophie, “There isn’t enough room! “

“Shinney managed to get away, so there must be a way out of here.” said Whitney.

“But, if we leave here, there will be no peelings, no layers mash and no corn to peck at. We will have to find our own food! How on earth do you propose to do that then?” said Nigella.

“No concert, no more fairies, just us hens in here laying eggs!” Sophie said, sadly.

Just then Petal appeared over the fence, “Hi everyone! Have you been discussing the competition and what you are going to sing? We have just checked and its three weeks to the competition, and we are having it by the big willow tree in the next field.”

“No!” said Nigella “There is no way we can get out of here and get back in again. Sorry Petal, you will have to count us out!”

Petal replied, “Leave it to me, there must be a way. You girls can win this concert. You win the golden acorn which has been won for the last four years by the lark. We need a new contender.”

Petal flew back to the rest of the fairies and told them of the chicken’s dilemma.

“There must be a way. The girls need to be in the competition this year, we have got to beat the lark somehow!” said Petal.

“The only way, is to dig a tunnel from the chicken compound over to this hedgerow, and from here we can guide them safely to the willow tree” said Jack.

“That’s actually a really good idea!” said Petunia, “The chickens can dig from their compound and we can dig from the hedgerow here. We can get the help of the moles.”

“Why don’t we you just use a pocket of fairy dust to get them out and another pocket to put them back?” asked Daphne.

“Well, I’ve only got four pockets left” said Jack.

“I also have four!” Petal said.

“I have three but I need them all!” Daphne added.



Sorry its a short one but am in bit of a rush today.

Regards

Polly

Morning Bloggers,

Good news the contract is now signed for the publisher for the first of the series of my books. As soon as I have the web site address you can order a book, the first 200 books I will sign for you.

Here is another short excerpt just for you:

“Well, I suppose when you put it like that, but, on the whole I am your protector!”

“I think you are a wonderful protector Jack and I love you!” said Blossom. “I mean, I love that you are our erm, you know what I mean, I didn’t mean I love you, like that, I think I will shut up now “

“I think it’s time for bed” said Petunia, “See you all in the morning.”

The next day the fairies had two visitors at the hedgerow, Toby the toad and Henry the hedgehog. They had both visited many times before on their travels. Henry had a bad foot and Daphne took great delight in being able to give him the antidote, she applied some lotion and wrapped his foot in a doc leaf. Henry was very grateful.

Daphne said “You know, you can actually make a lot of remedies from doc leaves, I myself, have made several different types of medication from these and...

“OK Daphne” Petal said, “We know how clever you are and we wouldn’t go anywhere else for our cures, but, you do jabber on a little sometimes. “

Suddenly, Jack appeared, flying low over the hedgerow.

“Girls!” he said,” The chickens have come through the garden fence and are coming this way and they have got another creature with them!”

“Good morning, “said Nigella, “We have a new member we would like you to meet. Everybody, please come and say hello to Shinney.”

“Hello” said Lilly. “When did you arrive?”

“Last night” replied Shinney “I came from another garden. I was hungry and decided to fly over the wall, I was walking down the street when the lady from this house picked me up and put me in with the girls. Nigella here was excited about her new neighbours and wanted me to meet you right away.”

The chickens then went back to the garden for the day.

“That was a bit strange!” commented Petunia, “but, at least they are being friendly.”

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, everyone foraged for food and Daphne carried on making her potions. The fairies didn’t see the chickens for the rest of the week.

On Friday evening, as they were sat around the pine cone, Petal said,

“It’s strange that we haven’t seen the chickens all week, should we go over and see them tomorrow?”

“That’s a good idea” said Jack.

“I’ll come with you” said Blossom.

“Ok, that’s agreed then” said Lilly,” Good night!”

The next day, as planned, Jack and Blossom flew over to the chicken’s garden. The chickens were locked inside their compound. Jack and blossom could hear singing coming from inside their coop. They took a closer look and sure enough Mariah, Celine and Whitney were singing in harmony, and doing a little wiggly dance to the rhythm.

”Hey girls!” said Jack “That was beautiful! But, how come you are locked inside your compound and not roaming about in the garden?”

Sophie replied, “Shinney escaped! We don’t know where she went and since then the people at the top of the garden keep the gate closed. They have also made the fence higher and we can’t fly over anymore, so we won’t be able to come and see you, but you can visit us!”

“That’s terrible!” exclaimed Jack.

More to follow...............

bye for now

Hi Bloggers,

Good news, book going over to the publisher this weekend. He is building me a website to promote the book. All I have to do now is pre-sell 100 copies of the book. I will publish web site address as soon as he gives it to me and you can all order one.

Here is a little more just for you..Chapter One

New Neighbours

The garden, beyond the apple tree, approximately 5 metres away from the fairies hedgerow had been left un-disturbed for what seemed like forever.

The old man that used to tend to the garden had left some time ago.

One day, very early, in the spring, new people moved into the house. Soon after, they started to tidy the garden. The next thing the fairies noticed was that, the garden suddenly had some very strange looking creatures walking about in it. Six of these creatures had arrived together, three black and three white. They all had a strange looking red hat on their heads.

Jack said, “They are from another planet!”

“I need to look after them, they look lost” replied Daphne.

Blossom was really scared and tried to cuddle up to Jack, but he just ignored her.

“Let’s go and ask the elves that live under the big oak tree about them they will know, they know everything!” Said Petunia.

“Oh no!” said Jack “We will simply go over to them and ask them who they are? How long are they staying for and what kind of food do they eat?”

Lilly said, “Well, it was your suggestion Jack, off you go then!”

Jack stuttered, “Erm well, erm maybe, one of you girls should go, you are better at making new friends, remember how good you were with that hedgehog Lilly!”

“Oh! For goodness sake, OK! I’ll go” replied Lilly.

Lilly took the first brave step out of the hedgerow and into the garden towards the newcomers. “Hello!” she called.

There was no reaction. The creatures just kept on pecking at the ground around them, moving the dirt around with their feet and more peck, peck, pecking.

“Hello!” she shouted a bit louder. One of the black creatures looked up, she had a beautiful black-purple plumage with a fleck of brown on her front, she had big piercing eyes and she said in a very soft voice,

“Hello, my name is Nigella, do you live here?”

“Yes” Lilly replied. “You can actually see me then? Not every species can see me you know, because I am a fairy.” She said.

“Yes I can see you; I have been watching you and your friends in the hedgerow.”

“That’s funny!” said Lilly “Because we have been watching you. Why do you keep pecking the ground all the time and then doing a funny dance with you feet afterwards?  What are you? Where did you come from?  What are your friends called?”

“Hold on, hold on little fairy. One question at a time.”

Nigella called to her sisters to come and meet the fairy.

Nigella introduced Lilly to the other five creatures, whose names were Sophie, Delia, Mariah, Whitney and Celine.

Lilly introduced herself to everyone; they all responded at once “Hello we are pleased to meet you!”

Nigella said, “Lilly, we are chickens and we belong to the family in the house at top of the garden.”

Lilly, waved over to the other fairies. Blossom and Petunia flew out of the hedgerow and started to introduce themselves in a giddy way, repeating their names and introducing the other fairies. Blossom chatted away telling the chickens all about their hedgerow and all the animals that visit them and basically, their entire life story.

After Blossom had settled down, Nigella began to tell the fairies their story.

“We came to this garden from our old garden that was a much bigger compound. Here we are allowed to forage in the whole garden. Two cats and a giant black dog also live at the house, but they don’t scare us. We lay eggs and the lady brings us food every morning!”

Petal said, “We have nests with eggs in, in our hedgerow in the spring!”

“We had better get back to the hedgerow!” said Daphne, “We can’t stand here chatting all day.” She immediately flew off back to the hedgerow and started busying herself under the mushrooms, dabbling with her lotions and potions. Lilly, looked at the other fairy, and then flew off after Daphne.

She asked, “What’s wrong Daphne?”

“Oh! It’s those chickens, I don’t trust them, they still haven’t told us how long they are staying for and they haven’t told us why they are here. I don’t want them near our hedgerow, they will frighten off our usual visitors that we have every year, they don’t need us like our normal friends do!”

“Calm down” said Lilly. “It doesn’t matter how long they are staying, we have always said that all god’s creatures are welcome, haven’t we?”

“I suppose so.” said Daphne.

“Well let’s give them a chance then!” enthused Lilly.

Later that day, Lilly approached Blossom and asked,

“What do you think of our new feathered friends then?”

“Well, I think they are quite big and will eat a lot of food” Replied Blossom.

Lilly laughed,

“Trust you to worry about feeding everyone, didn’t you hear Nigella, she said they are fed by the family at the top of the garden and all they have to do is lay eggs! “

“Yes.” Blossom replied, “That’s what worries me, how come they don’t wait for the eggs to hatch and look after their babies like all the other birds in our hedgerow do?”

Lilly looked bemused, “I never thought of that you know, that is very observant of you Blossom, maybe we need to have another chat with the chickens another day and ask them why?”

It was starting to get dark and the chickens had gone into their little house inside the compound for the night. All the fairies were sat around the pine cone, where they always sat in an evening to have a chat about the day’s events and plan for the next day. On this night everyone had lots to chat about after meeting the chickens and discuss what they thought about them. They all had different ideas about what they wanted to do the next day for the chickens.

Suddenly Daphne said “Hey!, I don’t trust them, I know we should give them a chance but Blossom is right why do they give their eggs up so easily and what is that little dance they do all the time and what are they looking for, they didn’t answer those questions did they?”

Jack spoke up, “As the only male here I would like to know where their men folk are, and why aren’t they looking after their ladies? I look after all of you night and day and protect you, don’t I?”

“Excuse me “said Lilly, “Who was the man that actually spoke to the chickens first?”

Got to keep you wanting more

wait for next excerpt.

bye for now.

 Good morning Bloggers

Here is the first excerpt of my book as a taster- enjoy

Prelude

Have you ever wondered about the feeling that you are being watched?

That funny, tingling feeling when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

You look around, you think you see something moving, but dismiss it from

your mind. Sometimes, especially in gardens, you feel something brushing

against you very delicately. You look but do not see anything. It’s as though

you were touched by the finest silk threads. It’s not your imagination.

It’s the fairies.

The majority of people can’t see them.  Small children under five and animals can see them.

Very rarely indeed, an older person might see them. But, they are always there. Fairies are very small creatures, almost see through with delicate wings and a tunic made from the finest silk you ever did see. The majority of fairies live in small groups in gardens and the hedgerows of the world. They look up to the elves, which seem to have the answer for everything the fairies need to know.

The fairies sworn enemy are the goblins. They live in burrows beneath the earth. Another enemy are the hobgoblins that live high up in the hills. The hobgoblins eat everything and anything including goblins and fairies and it has been known in the past that they have even eaten humans too!

Fairies can perform magic, they use fairy dust when they need to.

They can basically do anything with this magic, except bring creatures back to life. Each fairy has only six pockets of fairy dust; they try not to use it, because some of their energy is lost every time they perform magic. When they have used their last pocket of fairy dust, they expire. When they expire, the fairies fade into the flowers or tree blossoms and a brand new fairy is born.

This is the story of a group of fairies that live in a hedgerow at the bottom of a garden.

Fairies are very busy creatures, they look after all the animals that use the hedgerow as a safe ground while they move around the countryside from one place to another, some animals hibernate in the hedgerow and some just visit on their travels. Most animals are friendly creatures going about their business.

Lilly, Daphne, Blossom, Petal, Petunia and Jack and their friends live in the hedgerow. Their home is underneath two very large dark brown fleshy mushrooms, they are warm and fluffy to snuggle up to, they keep off the rain and dew drops.

Daphne has a shock of long red hair; she wears a red and gold tunic and has silvery iridescent wings. She would collect all sorts of herbs, bark, flower heads and stamens from flowers, various  leaves and anything in general she thinks she can make a potion out of, to help the animals that passed through the hedgerow. She thought of herself as of a nurse of some sort.

Lilly’s tunic is a bluish-green colour, she also has silvery wings but they are smaller than Daphne’s. She had beautiful golden wavy hair. Lilly’s role is to gather food for all the fairies to eat.

The other fairies in their group were Petal; she has short brown hair and wears a silver tunic and has golden coloured wings.  Blossom, is quite tall compared to the others and wears a brown coloured tunic and has light fawn coloured wings she also has brown hair. Petunia is just pink, pink, and pink, everything including her hair is pink. Jack is a sparrow fairy, the only male in the group. Blossom has her eye on him, but he is totally oblivious to her desires. Jack is quite tall and has brown spiky hair, green tunic and silver wings; he is undoubtedly the fastest flyer of them all.

The story begins next so look for my next blog tomorrow.

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Good Morning Bloggers,

Sorry didn't write synopsis immediately for book. Still trying to get my head round how this blogging works.
Well here goes:

Hedgerow Diaries synopsis,

The book is about a band of fairies who live at the bottom of the garden, how they meet some chickens who subsequently lead them to meeting up with goblins and ultimately hob goblins, the most feared in the land. The chickens turn out to be fabulous singers and the fairies encourage them to enter the singing competition held at the willow tree. The obstacles they are faced with are numerous and very dangerous. It is about survival of the fittest. The fairies only have six pockets of fairy dust during their lives and only use it when absolutley necessary. During this story they use the pockets, when forced to, out of love and out of pity.

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Hello Bloggers, my name is Polly and I have written a book called hedgerow diaries. I am going to start blogging parts of my book to entice you all to want to buy a copy. This is just an  introduction, never blogged before and havent a clue if Im doing it right. Bear with me. The book is really aimed at children but I have it on good authority that grown ups like it too ! maybe you can also read it to you little ones at bedtime.

 So tomorrow I will start feeding you my book starting with a small synopsis.

If you would be interested please show an interst

Thanks