Disneyland Paris Quirky Writing Prompts

Hi everyone

To those of you who enjoy my Quirky Weekly Wednesday Writing Prompts and wondered has happened to them, they will be back.

As I have a ton of photos from my Disneyland Paris/London holiday to share with you, as well as video footage, I will be predominantly posting posts about those for at least the next couple of weeks.

I am pleased to say that Snuggles has improved in health and seems to be healing. I am praying it stays that way. Thanks to every one of you who has sent their well wishes. After Cinnamon was suddenly severely sick and passed away before my holiday, it’s been an intense and emotionally difficult time for me. Snuggles is my furry kid and furry soulmate. It’s her 3rd birthday tomorrow, and she has plenty of potential years ahead of her. I have her birthday party stuff ready for tomorrow evening when I see her.

To give you a taste of Disneyland Paris. Here are some quirky Disneyland Paris writing prompts to wet your appetite.

Terror Tower – Enter at your peril!

The coffin moved! Welcome to Nutterville, where only the quirky nutters live.

It was a back to the future moment.

The castle was on fire!

It was a fairytale come true. I knew from this moment on, my life would change for the better, forever.

Embrace your quirky and write soon.

Sandra

A Celebration of Life!

Hi everyone

Cinnamon just had a bath.

It’s sad to think I won’t have Cinnamon or my Grandma this Christmas.

This morning my Cinnamon died at home in his cage. He had been severely poorly. He had barely eaten all day on Saturday. I took Sunday off from my day job to take him to the vets. He had to have surgery on most of his teeth. The bottom ones, either side, that were curving over onto his tongue and had food trapped inbetween the gaps in his teeth, and the top teeth that had split. One of his bottom teeth had somehow broken off. He had bad side effects from the anaesthetic, including peeing blood. He had a fit and still wouldn’t eat or drink by himself, and this was ongoing until he died.
I rushed Cinnamon into the emergency vets on Monday morning. Then to my own vets after, where they kept him all day and syringe fed him. I rushed him into my own vets yesterday, after he went on his side and his eyes were closing. In the taxi, his body was convulsing. It was horrid to watch. At the vets he was okay, and they said it must have been seizures. They had him in for the day and syringe fed him. He made a few piggie noises which was a good sign, but he was still very sick. Each time at home, he would barely be able to stand up and kept sleeping. Although the vets believed that his teeth stopped him from eating, two x-rays revealed he had a mass near his kidney and abdomen, that wasn’t a fatty lump. If he didn’t eat by himself by Saturday, he would have had to have an operation to remove it, or he would have died. Nature took him sooner.

There is a saying; that says start each day afresh. I have had to start the same day afresh, and turn the page immediately to start a new chapter in my life. Although I have been grieving for Cinnamon, I have had to put Daisy first. She cannot live by herself; and won’t eat or drink without Cinnamon, and would go downhill and die herself if I had left her on her own. I took action before Cinnamon was taken by my parents to be buried.

While my parents were still in my home, I researched the internet for a new bigger, because I needed my dad to take me to get one. I phoned a breeder whose piggies had all gone; but the heavens were smiling down on me and my furry family, and she had a friend who was a breeder. This friend just happened to have one single female piggie that hadn’t been able to be paired, because she is so different. As you know, being quirky myself, I love different. I went and bought her this afternoon and said she looks like a chestnut, so that is what I have named her. Daisy started eating again shortly afterwards. At the moment they are all living happily ever after, and it isn’t a fairytale in the fictional sense; but a truly magical gift that Chestnut happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Chestnut.

Daisy and new life partner Chestnut.

I miss you Cinnamon so much and I love you with every beat of my heart. I am so very sorry I couldn’t have saved you my sweetheart. Thankyou for the wonderful memories we will always share. I feel pain and loss for you, and mummy will always love you and treasure every moment and every whisker twitch she had from, and with, you. You were the vet’s favourite and my handsome, sexy male pig. You could give the human males a run for their money with such stunning beauty as yours. I loved putting my fingers through your locks of hair, holding you upright in my hands, which you loved, and calling you my king. You loved being the head of the household and I will miss you so very much, my precious one. Know you will be in my heart, forever and always. I love you until the ends of time and forever.

These last few days have been so emotional for me. I have been on a knife’s edge, not knowing whether Cinnamon will live to see another day, or be gone in the blink of an eye. After a few strange noises this morning from Cinnamon’s cage and a couple of light switches on and off, to see what was happening. Cinnamon sadly passed away in his sleeping position. When I took him out of the cage, he was dead, but only just, I think, because his body was so warm. I may have seen the shallows of his last breaths, or I may not have done. One thing I do know, he was a fantastic character, a great headbutter, and I will always love him no matter what.

As I celebrate your life before passing, I welcome a new life into our quirky furry family. It’s hard, but I have to remain strong and get through it. I love you forever Cinnamon. God bless you and keep you safe in his cuddle always. Goodbye my special one. I love you implicitly and always will, forever more. May your soul be at peace now, as your journey continues on the other side. Night my sweet Cinnamon. Love you forever and ever in my heart.

I am out of words and devastated, but thankful for Chestnut coming into our lives to save Daisy.

Take care of you and each other. Life is too short not to care. If you love someone or care for someone, tell them. You only get one life, and the choices you make now, will shape your future forever.
Thank you to each and every one of you, for being part of my community, my quirky life, and my quirky world. God bless each and every one of you.

Always remember to embrace your quirky, keep writing, and lead the life that only you were born to lead.

Sandra

How the Digital Revolution Exhibition can Inspire You to write

Hi everyone

If you read my last post, you will know that while I was in London last month, for the Success 2014 Seminar, I went to the Digital Revolution Exhibition.

I have more amazing videos to share with you.

Sometimes you may wonder how my activities relate to writing. Almost everything I do, I can connect to writing in some way. Some directly and others indirectly. I also feel it’s important for any reader to be able to understand what makes a particular writer tick, in order to better understand their writing and their nature.

From my own experience, this is how the Digital Revolution Exhibition, can help inspire you to write.

● Unlimited writing prompts

A good example of this, was seeing the original Altair and Mac designs. These can inspire you to write a drama set in the period they were produced. Alternatively, what’s the story behind those specifically. Why did someone buy each of them? What work is saved on them and why?

● The feeling of magic

The music, the atmosphere, things moving by sensor, touchscreen, special effects, create a feeling of magic. Can inspire you to create fairytales.

●Taking a behind the scenes look at films; Inception, Gravity and How to train your dragon 2.

Helps you to understand how a script can be brought to life.

●Fantasy becoming reality

Seeing things move by themselves and come to life. Such as a lamp like the one in the Pixar shorts, can get your creative juices flowing.

● Not believing your own eyes

Seeing yourself on screen; one minute with smoke coming from your face, the next stage, seeing yourself with wings and birds eating your body. Conjures up stories of illusion and fantasy.

● Future technologies

There is a solar powered dress on display which lights up. Couple that with the information that clothes in our future will be used to charge our mobile phone, makes you think up future Sci-fi adventures.

The Digital Revolution Exhibition, is at the Barbican in London until 14th September 2014.

If you have been wondering why I haven’t been blogging on here quite as much lately, I am currently working on my new design www.beatredundancyblues.com site. As my web host no longer services the site builder I used to build the site on, I have to create a new site using WordPress.org. This has to be done before I finish the final formatting of my Break through the barriers of redundancy book, because I cannot update the site and it is advertised on the front cover of my book. Thankfully, I love designing and creating. To create a new one is hard work and very time consuming, but pleasurable at the same time.

Write as soon as possible
Sandra

 

I Spoke To Her Majesty The Queen

Hi everyone

What a busy week it’s been. I have been to London and saw Matilda the musical, also the film “Now you see me”. I visited Battersea Park Zoo and Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire.

After packing a suitcase full of what I may need, I forgot to pack my toothpaste. Luckily I got 2 for £5 from a shop at the train station. There were delays on the tubes during my first and last day there. When I arrived at where I thought the hotel should be, it was a Tandoori restaurant and on the last day I left my handbag on the Paradise Wildlife Park bus, with my tube and train tickets in it, the keys to my flat and my debit cards and my money in it. Luckily, there was a guy who got off the bus who worked at the park and kindly missed his train to phone the park and get the driver to come back with it. I did have my phone on me as I had been taking lots of photos of the animals but it was gone 5pm and I would have been stuck at Broxbourne train station had Neil, the bus driver, not come back with my handbag.

The absolute highlight of my trip to London was going to St James’s Palace for the Community Service Volunteers (CSV) 50th Anniversary celebration and speaking to Her Majesty the Queen.

Her Majesty was wearing a pretty blue floral dress, she was carrying a black handbag that matched her black patent shoes. She looked even more beautiful in real life than on the TV, with not a hair out of place.

When I spoke to her I said, “I am a Health Buddy for CSV in association with BBC Radio Devon in Plymouth but I live in Exeter. I recently received a Good Citizen award for saving someone’s life.”

Her Majesty responded, “that’s good.”

I was able to quickly ask her how her husband is and she said that he is doing well and in Norfolk at the moment.

There was an official photographer in the Palace as we were not allowed to take any photos. Every guest had to hand their phone in before going up the Palace stairs.

I did manage to take some photos outside of St James’s Palace and of the entrance to the Palace. I also took a few photos just inside. Although these have come out blurry as a police officer was watching me.

Walking towards the Palace.

The photo above is on the opposite side of the road to the St James’s Palace Marlborough Road entrance, where we had to queue.

I quickly snapped this photo just before my phone had to be handed in.

Apologies for the blur but security was tight and these were taken just inside the downstairs part of the Palace. You should still be able to make out the gorgeous decor.

After I got my phone back I quickly took a photo on my way out of St James’s Palace. Police officers were watching me and although the photo is a bit blurred, you can see the CSV sign for the celebration to the left.

Upon my exit of St James’s Palace I was able to take a couple of photos looking into the entrance from afar.

St James’s Palace was beautiful inside, with themed rooms. On my way upstairs to the first room, there was a person playing a harp. The first room was a sword, pistol and gun room. They were displayed in swirls on the wall.

Second room was a tapestry room. Some of the pictures on the tapestries reminded me of the Roman baths as they looked like they were from that era, although history was never my strong point at school. (I was okay at the history of medicine, that thankfully was part of my GCSE exam.) There appeared to be some cherubs in the tapestries too.

The third room was where I met and spoke to HM the Queen. It was the Queen Anne room with crystal chandeliers and gold paint. There were satin curtains and seating throughout the Palace.

Two other rooms I remember, were the picture gallery room, full of paintings, some of them appeared to be Her Majesty’s ancestors and the final room, was a throne room, with a real throne. It was magnificent.

To summarise, St James’s Palace was just like a Palace looks in a fairytale but it was and is, very real. So for anyone who doesn’t believe in fairytales, I want to tell you, that they can come true. Never give up hope of fulfilling your dreams. You are only as big, as you dare your dreams to be.

To those who have met me and sometimes think I live in a fairytale world, I do and I am proud of it.

I am very happy to have had the opportunity to visit St James’s Palace and get to meet and speak to Her Majesty the Queen. I totally believe that anything is possible and there are no limits other than the ones we set ourselves. The world is our oyster, so why set limits but believe in the power of the possible.

Until next time

Write soon

Sandra