Judy Allen

Notice Board

May News

May is starting! 

If you missed Earth Day on 22nd April, it doesn’t matter.  Do something anyway.   Earth Day should really last for 365 days of the year. 

The earth gives us everything we need to live, work, rest, party - she has to, there’s no where else we can get anything from.  On Earth Day the idea was that we give a little back (plant a tree, make compost) or take a little less away (don’t leave taps running, don’t switch two lights on if one will do, don’t leave the computer or tv on standby, put on a sweater instead of turning up the heat).  

It’s a good idea to look after the earth on her special day - but it’s also good to remember that the earth looks after us every single day.

Frogs and Robins

Plenty of frogs but no tadpoles this year.  This is the third year without them.  Something must be eating the frogspawn. 

The Robins who were nesting beside my window (the window in the picture above) have raised two babies.   The first one I spotted was looking a bit unfocused and puzzled.  Now they are both very confident and feeding themselves.  They look very like their parents and they are just beginning to get their red breasts.  At first their chests have brown speckles, which means they are fairly well camouflaged when they are very young.  Now the speckles are turning red and beginning to join up.  Soon I won’t know which are the parents and which are the young. 

Today one of the adult robins fed from my hand.  He/she didn’t actually land but hovered like a hummingbird, grabbed the food, flew a little way away and watched me.  Maybe next time ...

Marilyn, the little ginger cat who lives five doors away from me, has had five kittens.  Everyone thought the most likely father would be Elvis, the beautiful grey cat who lives at the same house, but three of the kittens are ginger and two are black.  So Dad must be the glossy black cat with the smart blue collar who is sometimes seen sauntering through our gardens. 

  Book News

All my books, except the very early ones, are on this website.  You’ll find fiction, non-fiction and some that are a blend of the two.  You’ll find books for very young readers and others for people of 14 and above, right up to adult.

The non-fiction subjects that interest me most are wildlife (from aphids to tigers), fantasy, myths, mysteries - oh yes, and walls.  They have all made their way into the fiction as well. 

I think I’m happiest when I’m writing a fiction and a non-fiction at the same time - then when I get stuck on one I can turn to the other.   (Do I ever get stuck on both?  Sometimes, but it usually passes.) 

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