Good Morning Bloggers,

The sun is shining here so have decided to post another excerpt of Hedgerow Diaries.

“Come on girl’s sock it to ‘em!” shouted Petunia. The chickens then clambered on to the stage.Celine started them off, “One, two, a one two three four.” The three of them burst into the most enchanting ballad anybody had ever heard. Everyone’s ears pricked up. It had rhythm and everyone was swaying and tapping along. They finished with Whitney’s high note. The audience stood up and cheered and shouted and clapped loudly. They walked off the stage to the calls of, “more, more!” The snail bellowed, “This is a competition, not a concert! -“NEXT!” The Jackdaw flew onto the stage and gave his best “chatter, chatter” song. Finally, it was the turn of the weasel, he opened his mouth and gave out a hissing noise and moved his head to and fro as if he thought he was singing a beautiful song, but it sounded like a leaking tap. That was it, the competition was over. The chickens were so relieved, but, they were still buzzing with excitement.                                                                                                                                   “The judges will take a few minutes to work out the scores and then we will have the results.” announced the MC. A few minutes passed by. It seemed like an eternity to the chickens.            “I have the results now” said the MC, “I will pass them over to Bartholomew Badger, to read out.” Bartholomew stood on his hind legs and towered above everyone else.

 “In Third Place, we have...........................................       The Pipistrel Bat                                                      It was a very popular decision.                                      “Oh! No” said Mariah, “We are second!”                                                                                        “In Second place, we have.......................................              The Lark,                                                And, in first place, it gives me great pleasure, to announce that we have a new winner.......................................   The Chickens.”                                                                                  “Oh! My goodness, Oh! My goodness.” said the chickens all together. They were jumping and flapping their wings for joy.                                                                                                                                            “I knew you could do it” said Petunia.                                                                                                        “Hey! They weren’t half bad.” said Elgar. All the fairies rejoiced the chickens win.                            “Blossom hadn’t seen the competition.” Celine commented.                                                                    “She must still be weak!” Lilly replied.                                                                                                 “Would you like to come and collect your golden acorn, please ladies?” the badger said. The girls went back onto the stage and collected the award. The lark had flown off in disgust. The pipistrel bat was so happy that he had come in third place that he fell off the stage again!        “Do us a concert, please chickens,” shouted someone from the audience.                                                                                        “Yes a concert,” shouted another, then, all together, the whole crowd shouted “CONCERT! CONCERT! CONCERT!”   eline turned and said to them all, “If you all attend, then we will gladly do a concert for you in the summer”. The whole crowd jumped up and down with excitement.

“What did you say that for?” said Whitney and Mariah together.                                                            “We have had so much pleasure doing this and have given a lot of pleasure to the other creatures, it would be rude not to!” answered Celine.                                                                                                           “But Celine, think of the trouble we have caused the fairies, goblins and elves doing this competition, we are not able to travel anywhere.” said Whitney. Mariah found Petunia and asked. “Please take us home!” Upon hearing this Celine called over to Mariah and said, “No, no- girls, don’t you see we can go anywhere we want to, if we don’t go back to the coop!”                                                                                             “You mean live out here in the wilderness?” asked a stunned Whitney.                                                    “Yes” said Celine,  “We will manage on grubs and worms, and we have so many new friends now, I am sure they will all help us out, this way, we don’t have to put Petunia in any danger by using her fairy dust to get us back home!” Mariah looked at them both and asked,                                                                      “What about Nigella, Delia, Sophie and Shinney? We will never see them again!”                                    “They will manage without us, I’m sure.” replied Celine. Upon hearing the chickens talking, the fairies gathered around them.                                                                                                                               “I think fame has gone to your head Celine!” said Lilly,                                                                                “But, if you want to live out here, we shall all, help you.”                                                                           Lilly then said, “We can go and tell the other chickens about your decision if you want us to!”“No!” said Whitney, “Best not, they will only worry.”                                                                                              “They will worry more if we don’t” Mariah said. She carried on speaking, “Just tell them we won the golden acorn and we have been asked to do some concerts, they will be happy for us, and one day we will be together again.”                                                                                                                                     “Ok! We will” said Daphne, “Good luck, we will see you soon!”

Enjoy

Polly x

Hi Bloggers,

Just heard from publisher website is on its way so by way of celebration here is another short excerpt just for you. Now can I have some comments please.


She responded very weakly “It’s OK Jack, just take me back to the elves old oak tree to rest, but please, don’t leave me on my own.”

“I’m going nowhere. Not until you have more energy, do you want something to eat or drink?” Jack asked her tenderly.

“No, no just stay with me.”

At the willow tree there was a lot of excitement.

All the creatures were practising, the lark, the willow tit, the robin, doves, and the wood pigeon, that only knows two notes “ru-hoo ru-hoo.”

The turtle dove made an appearance. These birds are blue grey and have a white and black dot on their necks. Their breast and throat are pale pink and their stomachs are white. Their catlike song is considered very soothing with a ‘turr-turr’

The willow tit is actually endangered, closely resembling the marsh tit. The willow tit has a black cap with its upper parts are a sand-brown colour and its underside buff. Its song is a ‘pee-oo, pee-oo’ with a buzzing nasal like call. The judges started to assemble. The grasshopper,  the barn owl, the badger and the toad. They had been the same four judges for the last three years and had always voted the lark as the winner. There was a list of entrants written on to the back of some bark and pinned on the trunk of the willow tree:

Robin

Dove

Wood Pigeon

Willow tit

Turtle dove

Lark

Shrew

Vole

Pipistrel bat

Mouse

Hedgehog

Rabbit

Chickens

Jackdaw

Weasel

The competition started and the Judges sat very bold at the front of the staged area. To introduce the judges they had a very old snail called Sidney, he had been the MC (Master of Ceremonies) every year they had held the competition, not only did he introduce them, he described each judge in detail. He spoke with a long drawl; you had to listen to him.

Good day you allllll. Welcome to the annual singing competitionnnnn.I would like to introduce the judges to you allllll.                                                                                                              “Mrs Barbara Barn Owl, Mr Bartholomew Badger, Mr Gordon Grasshopper and last but not least, Mr Tommy Toad.”

Whitney said to the other chickens, “At least we are not first or last on.”                                                                                                                                              “You will easily win this, girl.” Petunia said.

“OK! Let’s start the competition,” announced the MC, “First up we have Rupert Robin.” The robin went on stage and he sang a very ordinary bird song. Second on to the stage was the wood pigeon, with his ru-hoo, ru-hoo again and again. The willow tit was next, he was really rather good. Following the willow tit was the turtle dove, but, turr turr, turr turr was a bit boring. Then, it was the turn of the lark.  ‘Wow!’ What a voice, almost hypnotic. It was getting close to the girls turn, Whitney said, “I am a little nervous, but I think we are in with a chance.” The shrew and the vole were terrible. When the bat came on stage he sang a rock and roll song everybody had their feet tapping. He was very animated and bounced about, but, then he fell off the stage before he could finish. The mouse sang an enchanting number.

The Hedgehog had a slow number, singing the blues it was good but a bit monotone. The rabbit sang “run rabbit, run rabbit” like he does every year. It was now time for the girl’s song .

Enjoy

Polly xxx

The competition

Good afternoon bloggers,

Well website is nowhere in sight so I thought I would just post yet another excerpt of the book for you. I would appreciate a little feedback by way of a couple of comments.

Chapter 7


Chapter Seven

The Competition

The day of the competition had finally arrived. The chickens were overcome with excitement. Mariah was busy preening her feathers.

“It’s not a fashion show” said Whitney, “Practice your vocals!”

The lady came from the house and let the chickens out. She brought them their food and collected the eggs. When she had disappeared from sight, the fairies appeared at the coop.

Blossom, Petunia, Petal and Jack were hovering above them.

“Are you ready girls?” asked Blossom, she continued, “Petal is going to go ahead to the weeping willow tree. I will wish you three girls over to the tree and Jack is on standby to look after me after I have made the spell. Petunia will wish you back here after the competition.”

“Who will look after Petunia?” said Nigella.

“I will.” said an invisible voice.

“Who’s there?” demanded Petunia

“It’s me, Elgar.” He said as he appeared.

Petunia was astonished, “How did you do that?” she asked.

“I can disappear and appear whenever I want to do.” he said.

“That is great! It’s a deal.” she said.

She was very flattered at the thought of being looked after by such a handsome elf.

Petal flew off to the weeping willow tree and awaited the arrival of the three chickens. A few minutes later Blossom made this wish;

Fairy dust,                                                                                                                                                             fairy dust,                                                                                                                                                      Make like a bee,                                                                                                                            Transport these 3 chickens,                                                                                                            To the Old Willow tree.

The chickens disappeared and Blossom collapsed to the ground exhausted. Jack sat with her as she started to fade.

“Blossom you can’t go my darling!”

Maybe more tomorrow
Enjoy x

Thre competition

Good Morning Bloggers,
Wondering if there is anyone else out there who is also anxiously waiting to hear from their publisher. A website is going to be built but it all seems to be taking an age for them to even reply. Anyhow
This is the next excerpt:“We needed to get you here alone,” Elgar said in a hushed voice, he continued,” Don’t you understand the goblins coming above ground is just the beginning, more will follow and we, the elves, the pixies and you fairies will be no more! The goblins will destroy us.”

“No Elgar, you don’t understand.” said Petal, “Donnella and Drake have been banished from their tribe and cannot return, nobody will follow them, and we are all quite safe.”                                                        “What if it’s a ploy?” said Foster.                                                                                                       ”What is a ploy?” asked Petunia.                                                                                                          “Oh! You are so cute” said Brock, “A ploy, my dear, is a plan, a ruse, a strategy, a scheme - they are coming to get us little girl!”                                                                                                                    “What would happen, if, we move the goblins away from our hedgerow, which is quite near the opening of the tunnel we dug.” said Jack.                                                                                                                  “That’s a good start” Said Arif.

“What about, you leave the goblins at your hedgerow and you all move over here near to us, that way, we can protect you?” said Elgar, who secretly had his eye on Petunia.                                                                   “We can’t,” said Lilly, “We’ve got the competition tomorrow. It’s all planned with the chickens; we can’t let them down at this late stage.”                                                                                                                        “Where is Blossom?” demanded Jack.                                                                                                     “Jack, it’s OK! I’m here. I was just tidying up for the elves, I’m fine.” Jack flew to her and held her in his arms, “I was so worried about you !”Elgar spoke once again,                                                                     “I think, in this situation, that you must all go back and act like you have rescued Blossom and that everything is fine. Continue with the competition as planned so that the goblins don’t suspect anything. Straight after the competition you must all fly over to our old oak tree, whilst you are doing this we will find you a new hedgerow and find a new place for Jack and Blossom to live just like the one Jack has already made for the two of you.”                                                                                                                      “You have found us a place to live Jack.” Blossom squealed excitedly. “I want to see it please.”“Just a minute, Blossom.” said Jack, “How did you know I had found somewhere for Blossom and me to live?” He said to Elgar, “I didn’t tell anyone.”                                                                                                         “After you came to see me the other day, we have been watching you to make sure you were all alright, Elgar reassured Jack.                                                                                                                                “That sounds like a great plan, Elgar.” said Lilly.                                                                                     “But, I will be sad to leave Drake and Donnella” said Daphne.                                                              “OK! Time is moving on and it’s starting to get dark, let’s get back now.” said Blossom. The fairies flew back towards the hedgerow. They were all very nervous.                                                                           “I don’t want to lie to the goblins” Petunia said.

“We are not telling lies,” Blossom said, “We just aren’t telling them what we are going to do after the competition. Once we have gone the goblins will fend for themselves and forget all about us.”

They reached the hedgerow and Drake and Donnella were anxiously waiting for their return. “We were so worried, are you alright Blossom, did they hurt you?” asked Donnella.                                                      “I’m fine, thanks for asking.” replied Blossom.                                                                                        “We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, let’s call it a night” said Jack.                                                      “See you in the morning.” said Donnella. She and Drake went off to their little retreat. The fairies held a meeting around the pinecone to arrange the final business of the competition. “Are you ready to use your last pocket of fairy dust?” Lilly asked Blossom.                                                                                               “It’s not actually my last one.” replied Blossom.                                                                                         “I know, because your last one is the one you give up to the flowers.” said Petal, “It will make you very weak Blossom, but we will look after you.”                                                                                                “I will look after you.” said Jack, “I will also get around to marrying you properly one day, very soon!”                                                                                                                                                   “We can arrange your wedding after the competition.” said Petunia.                                                       “Let’s get some rest, we have had one ‘heck’ of a day!” said Lilly, “Good night everyone

Enjoy

Polly x

Good Evening Bloggers, still waiting for comments. To entice you here is the next excerpt:




“Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness!” Lilly was shrieking. Everyone at the ceremony was dumb struck and didn’t know what to say or do.

Tony said in a matter of fact way, “Well it doesn’t look like you will be needing me then!” and off he flew.

Everyone was astounded, the congregation just dispersed back to wherever they had come from.

The fairies sobbed for Blossom.

Jack was so angry he just could not speak.

Chapter Six

Revenge

“What are you going to do? “ Lilly asked Jack.

“I am going to get her back of course!” replied Jack

“Please, let us help you.” said Drake, “We feel a little a bit responsible.”

“We need a plan.” Petunia said, “Let’s all sit down and work out a strategic plan, bearing in mind, we have the competition tomorrow.”

“The elves won’ hurt blossom, you know that, don’t you Jack,” said Daphne “They just want to get back at us for not inviting them to your wedding.”

Drake sat opposite Jack and asked. “Where exactly did you find the elves tree? How long did it take you to get there and how many elves are we up against? “

“The elves are not our enemies Drake.” said Petal, “They think that you are the enemy, Drake!”

“She is MY wife,” Jack said, “I will take care of everything!”

“She’s not your wife yet! Or have you forgotten.” said Lilly, “You are not in this alone Jack, we are all here to help. We will all go and find the elves and Blossom together. You and Donnella stay here.” she said to Drake, and look after the hedgerow for us.”

“Come on everybody!” Lilly said, taking full authority.

They flew off together with Jack leading the way.  His anger was so raw that he sped through the air like a bullet. The fairies found it difficult to keep up with him. Jack arrived at the elves old oak tree sometime before the other fairies. He could see the elves sitting around, but, he could not see his love, Blossom.

When the other fairies arrived at the old oak tree they all approached the elves together.

Jack spoke, “We are here to take Blossom back.”

Elgar looked Jack squarely in the eyes and said, “You can have your little wife back, but, we need to talk first!”

Elgar introduced his brothers to Jack and the other fairies.

“This is Arif, Fraser, Foster, Brock and Aelfric. Would you like to introduce yourselves ladies?”

“I am Lilly; this is Petal, Petunia and Daphne and we are very pleased to meet you.”

“We needed to get you here alone,” Elgar said in a hushed voice, he continued,” Don’t you


Polly x

Hello  Me again,

Here is your next excerpt to the Hedgerow Diaries, hoping that this nail biting episode will entice someone somewhere to make a comment !

Polly x

“Wow they are definitely going to win this year,” she said to nobody in particular.

“That was beautiful. Just keep singing like that and you will win hands down!”                   “Thank you,” said Celine, “We are really enjoying this and when we are happy we lay even more eggs and then everyone is happy.”                                                                                             “I’ve got some really good news for you all,” said Petunia excitedly,” Jack and Blossom are getting married today at two o’clock, and you are all invited to watch, the ceremony will take place under the camellia bush so you should all  be able to see the proceedings.”                        “That is fantastic” said Sophie.                                                                                                   ”Got to dash now, will see you all later, got lots to do!” said Petunia. She returned to the camellia bush to put the finishing touches to it. The chickens were very excited about the wedding,      “We should present them some kind of a gift!” said Sophie.                                                          “I agree.” said Delia. “They have been so good to us, rescuing Shinney and I.”                     “Don’t forget they introduced us to this competition as well.” said Whitney                            “Just a minute, if it wasn’t for the fairies, you wouldn’t have been down a hole in the first place, Delia!” said Nigella sternly.                                                                                                           “How boring and mundane would our lives be without the fairies then, eh?” said Sophie.           “I suppose you are right, what gift are we giving them then?” replied Nigella. The chickens thought long and hard about a gift and decided they would make them a lovely feather down mattress for their bed, brown, white and black feathers, it would be beautiful.

Jack had disappeared. Everyone was so busy they hadn’t noticed. He was trying to find a home for Blossom and himself. A home of their very own.  He stumbled across a small hollow in the apple tree that was very near to the hedgerow. Further investigation of the hollow revealed that it was vacant. Thinking about Elgar’s hollow in the old oak tree he looked around and thought to himself that Blossom would really love it here as it could be made very homely with a few feathers and leaves. Jack set about making a table and a couple of chairs with some sticks and twigs. He was really pleased with himself, but time had passed by and now he had to get back to the hedgerow for the wedding ceremony.

The dress was made, the cake was finished and Donnella was just putting the finishing touches to the worm buffet. Everyone was in good spirit and looking forward to the wedding party.

The Ceremony

It was a quarter to two; Jack was stood by the camellia bush waiting for his bride to arrive. Tony the owl was stood facing the congregation of hedgehogs, lizards, hedge sparrows and wrens, one toad, three frogs, quite a lot of spiders and a large selection of bird’s .The mole family had joined them as well. All the other fairies sat at the front with Donnella. The chickens were watching through the fence and started to sing a quietly as Blossom was escorted through the congregation towards Jack by Drake. She looked radiant with her bright yellow dress and a beautiful snow drop head dress and a flurry of beautiful lacy spider’s webs that glistened in the afternoon sunshine.

Tony said in his deep voice, “We gather here today, to witness the marriage of Blossom and Jack.”

Tony turned to Blossom and asked “Blossom, Do you, take this sparrow fairy, Jack, to be your husband?”

“Yes, I do.” replies Blossom, with a beaming smile on her face.

The owl turned to Jack, “Do you Jack, take this beautiful fairy, Blossom, to be your wife?”     Jack replied, “I do!” Tony then addressed the congregation. “Does anybody here know of any reason why these two should not be married?”

All of a sudden, a mighty gust of wind came through the camellia bush and four elves appeared in front of the happy couple.

“Yes, we have a reason why these two should not be married, well, three reasons actually!” said Elgar the elf. He continued speaking, “First: you didn’t invite us. Second and third reason, you have invited two goblins! Only a few days ago you were frightened of the goblins and wanted our help. Now, we will help you alright. And the biggest of the elves picked up Blossom and put her over his shoulder, the elves flew out of the camellia bush and out of sight.

Enjoy! x

Good Morning Bloggers,

I noticed that for the first time since I started blogging absoloutley nobody looked at my blog is this a sign ? And still nobody has commented about Hedgerow Diaries ? What am I doing wrong ?
Help!
Polly x

Hi bloggers,

Just waiting for illustrations then all will go off to publishers, I will give you web address to order copy of book asap. Here is your last excerpt before website day:





The Wedding

Drake and Donnella were sat in their retreat which the fairies had made for them. The hideaway was at the base of the hawthorn tree. The fairies had twisted together loads of sticks to make a canopy like structure, almost like a tent. It was big enough to sleep in and they had made themselves nice comfortable beds with the fallen leaves from the trees. The fairies had made them very welcome, which was not at all expected .Usually, fairies and goblins never mix. Drake and Donnella were talking about the wedding, Donnella had offered to do the catering, but she only knew how to cook with worms.

“I think I shall have to have a talk to Lilly and ask her for some advice about the wedding food. “No! I think Daphne is the one you must ask.” replied Drake.                                                         ” But she is making the cake for today, she will be very busy.” Insisted Donnella                    “Just do some of the recipes you know, the fairies like worms don’t they?”                                  ”I don’t think fairies eat a lot anyway, the majority will be for the guests.” Said Drake            “Ok, I’ll do my best.” replied Donnella.

The fairies were all very busy organising the hedgerow for the wedding.                                      “Are you going to ask the owl to marry you?” Lilly asked Blossom.                                         “No, I think Jack wants the blackbird to perform the ceremony!” replied Blossom. As they were talking, the tawny owl descended onto the hedgerow.                                                                    “I believe my services are required, I heard a rumour that someone is getting married today” hooted the owl.

“Oh, er, I’m not sure, erm, well you see...and it’s not just my decision.” stuttered Blossom. Jack appeared and said to the owl, “Just the man I was thinking about, we need your services today at two o’clock, please.”  Tony replied,                                                                                             “No problem Jack, see you at two o’clock!” the owl had gone as quickly as he had appeared. Blossom was so relieved. She turned around to thank Jack, but he too, had vanished.               “Well at least we know it’s at two o’clock!”  Lilly Giggled. Petal was busy making Blossoms wedding dress out of some beautiful daffodil petals, the head dress she made from a snowdrop the train of the dress she finished off with  daffodil leaves, because at this time of year there isn’t a lot to choose from unless you can find a bluebell wood.

Donnella was also busy working on some inventive recipes for a worm buffet. The cake Daphne was concocting for the wedding was full of all sorts of flora and fauna. Nobody ever knew all the ingredients Daphne used but everything she made always tasted really nice. Lilly was rallying round the guests for the wedding.

Setting the stage for the ceremony underneath the camellia bush; which climbs up the fence near the garden where the chickens live, Petunia thought to herself, at least the chickens can watch through the fence.

The camellia is a beautiful plant and the leafy boughs make a lovely canopy, the buds were just starting to emerge for the full spring regalia. Suddenly, Petunia thought out loud.” My goodness! I must TELL the chickens about the wedding! Then they will be able to watch the ceremony.” She flew over into the chicken compound and she could hear the beautiful sound of Celine, Whitney and Mariah practising their singing ready for tomorrow’s competition.                  

Polly x