Just in case…

So here we are at The Langdale Hotel in The Lake District. Guy knows I’m a stickler for attention to detail & it was great to arrive in a hotel room to find the toilet rolls folded to a point & a golf umbrella available in case we need to pop across to the swimming pool in a rain shower.  There were even bath robes on the bed wrapped in beautiful silver bags.

Guy walking towards Great Langdale

A warming glass of mulled wine

Today we walked in bright February sunshine from Great Langdale to Little Langdale Valley via The Three Shires Inn.  It was a lowland ramble with breathtaking views of snow-capped hills.  It’s been so long since Guy & I took some time out together, just the two of us.  I even found that I wasn’t thinking about Simon, I was just enjoying Guy’s attention & not even a humongous period to spoil it.

Perhaps it was the two pints of landlord’s finest  that Guy had just enjoyed in The Three Shires or my glass of  spice-laden mulled wine but we skipped back to the hotel hand in hand at a quickening pace, fumbling with excitement to open the door to our room with one of those key card things.

When, eventually, we got in, Guy thought we should avail ourselves of the comfortable bed & bath robes.  Honestly, he couldn’t even wait until after we’d been for our meal.  Guy did look  handsome with his hairy chest poking out the top of the robe and it hid his expanding girth very nicely too – although I do draw the line at a medallion.  He was pretty complimentary about me too – it’s been quite some time since we both grabbed some afternoon delight!

Whilst love is in the air, I am pleased to tell you that the winning entries of  The Celia Romantic Short Competition have been recorded by actor Penny Lamport & uploaded to listenupnorth.com for everyone to hear.

You can click onto the links from the newsletter listenupvalentine

My snowy house

Brrr! I hope you are managing to stay cosy.  I’m keeping warm with lashings of hot steamy cocoa, even managed to burn my tongue yesterday so there’ll be no French kissing from me for a while. I do wish the boys would take their snowy boots off before they come into the house; they make such a mess – even had to tell Guy off about it yesterday.

The weather has meant that this week’s meeting of the Upper Welford Greenhouse & Garden’s Society was cancelled.  The committee decided it was too hazardous for our elderly members to make their way along the icy pavements on a dark evening plus the boiler in the village hall was playing up.

Winter Aconites

It means of course that not only shall I have to wait until another time to hear speaker Mr Gordon Balmer on  Prune Your Exotics but also that I’ll miss my fortnightly dose of gorgeous committee member Simon & the remaining strands of his hair silhouetted in the slide projector.

Conversely, there’s been signs of new growth in my garden as the winter aconites have started to peep through the receding snowline.  Soon will follow the snowdrops & the hope that Spring and all its brightness will soon be with us.

Shirley

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At ‘Team Celia’ we are also waiting for our lovely camera & editing expert Shirley, who anytime now is due to give birth.  Lots of hugs & best wishes & I’ll keep you posted on that.  Just below is Shirley & the rest of Team Celia in a short video put together from various clips by Rachel’s daughter Rosie.

New Year – Same Old Me!

It’s  always a bit of a low point when you reach this grey, miserable, post Christmas time of year & the reality of just how many Celebrations you ate over Christmas starts to hit home.  Everywhere you turn there’s pressure on you to metamorphose on Jan 1st from your chrysalis into something bright & beautiful: ‘a new you’.  Perhaps I’d just rather accept my limitations.

Still there was a little brightness to the day when, driving through the village after dropping the boys off at school, I saw the delectable Simon on his usual morning stroll from the newsagent.  We gave each other a little wave.  I did wonder about stopping the car, winding the window down & offering him a lift but I didn’t want him to catch me without my barely nude foundation.  And besides, as we were only 50 yards from his home, I didn’t want to appear too keen.

The object of my desire

‘Cleaning the boy’s bedroom dispelled my romantic notions’

What with the excitement of seeing Simon, especially with his bald head fully exposed to the elements, my hot flush had worked to boiling point by the time I arrived home on the drive.  A calming cup of tea & a couple of Jaffa Cakes were in order.  Then cleaning the boys’ bedrooms soon dispelled all romantic notions.  You should have seen what I found under James’ bed especially after his girlfriend came to stay over New Year (supposedly sleeping in another bedroom!)

The house seems so empty with the boys back to school; they’ve both got important exams this year; Julian has GCSEs & James has ‘A’ levels.   James has just got an offer from Cambridge. It all means extra pressure for me of course  – on top of everything else.  It’s a good job I’ve got Guy, my ever dependable & reliable husband.  What would I do without him?

Postbox in snow

I write this from the settee with a large box of chocs; I’m on my own in the house this afternoon whilst my two boys are with their mates & hubby Guy still at work before breaking up for Christmas.  I’ve just had a rather surreal experience at this morning’s aquafit as we burnt off our calories to the worst ever technopop cover version of Christmas songs then dived into a box of Celebrations brought along by our trainer, Kerry.

I have been having great deliberations about whether to send Simon a Christmas card.  We are after all acquaintances through the Upper Welford Greenhouse & Garden Society so hopefully his wife won’t suspect any ulterior motives, hopefully just thinks I’m being neighbourly.  So with heart pounding , I strode up Simon’s garden path, not even stopping to admire the Viburnum Tinus in his border, posted my festive greetings through his door & scuttled back though the gate.

Shirley edits ep2

This last few weeks I have been very excited by the introduction of my Celiatime49 YouTube channel thanks to Kris at The Legend of Skippy.  In the coming weeks we hope to upload all sorts of snippets, outtakes, uploads & new episodes as we film & edit the series of Celia films.  Listenupnorth has just had a big edit session with Shirley & we hope to bring you episode 2 soon.  Here’s a GUEST REVIEW by ElementaryVWatson of how 2012 has gone for listenupnorth.

Anyway, Guy’s presents are still to wrap so I suppose I’d better get round to it before he comes through the door in need of a large gin & tonic.  So I’ll wish you a fantastic Christmas – whatever that may mean to you.

***

And the winners of Celia’s Beautiful Blogger Awards goes to…

On returning from holiday (Postcard 4: Au Revoir) I was chuffed to find that I had been awarded a ‘Beautiful Blogger Award’  thanks to Susan at Women Making Strides blog.

It is part of the condition of acceptance that in turn I give the award to 7 other blogs which I think worthy of the award and whose blogs are definitely worth a follow.  Not surprisingly, with my romantic scribblings for magazines such as Afternoon Tea Companion & Celia – The Film, writers’ & filmmakers’ blogs have strongly influenced my choice.  But I am also paying tribute to other talented individuals whose ideas  have helped me along the way to claim the title of ‘Upper Welford’s Domestic Goddess’

After much deliberation, here goes in no particular order (rustle of golden envelope): 

Life Twice Tasted – wonderful words from a wonderful writer

Design Inspiration Planet Stencil Library – sooo creative & sooo talented

Avril Joy – novelist extraordinaire

Zebbakes – truly scrumptious

Elementary Watson – writers’ champion

Love Textiles – you’ll love Donna’s work

Jan Cawood – the rich tapestry of Jan’s amazing documentaries

Recording the winning entries of our romantic short story competition

‘Their eyes met as he gazed over the bloody entrails of the operating table‘

‘Having just completed my latest romantic short story to Twinset & Tweeds magazine, (a tale of  suppressed passion under surgical gowns), one might say that such excitement had precipitated a hot flush but I put it down to the central heating which was going full tilt thanks to the subzero temp outside.

I had just pressed the send button, whetting my appetite for a little more afternoon purple prose, when listenupnorth arrived to record the winning entries of my recent ‘wildly romantic’ short story competition; these had been announced in my last blog post From Petals to Poundstretcher.

Whilst listenupnorth got on with arranging the microphone, I had a little practice to get my voice warmed up.  All that recording wizardry is beyond me but Guy would have been most impressed with her range of equipment.

It was great fun reading the stories out – tales of a princess & a bit of rough (The Morning Read by David Graham Ward), a holiday romance where one member of the hotel staff is not all that he seems (Fulfillment by Irene Styles) & unrequited love between a boss & the office temp (The Dreamer by Agnes Frain)

We recorded all 3 stories as audio files which will soon be available to listen online or download at listenupnorth.com , but in the meantime here’s a little taster from Fulfillment: 

I am also very pleased to announce

The winners of the Celia Romantic Story Writing Competition:

First: The Morning Read by David Graham Ward

Second: Fulfillment by Irene Styles

Third:  The Dreamer by Agnes Frain

The winning entries will shortly be available to listen online or download from listenupnorth.com

And the Runners Up:

A Holy Passion by Amabel Craig

Making Things Happen and  A Woman’s Dilemma by Margaret Nesbitt

Well Done everyone!

Following a sleepless night, the day arrived for filming  Celia episode 2.  Fortunately Guy has been very understanding about moving out of our bedroom and having it on show globally because he knows how much making these films means to me.  My OCD went into overdrive & after wiping the downstairs loo for the umpteenth time, listenupnorth arrived with lots of reassurance for my ragged nerves and we started to prepare the set.

Through The Looking Glass

Then camera & all-round expert Shirley Anne Wood arrived.  Shirley is now with ‘bump’ and after a big hug was immediately forbidden to lift anything heavier than a teaspoon.  Time to put the kettle on & arrange a tray of fruit & Mars Bar Mini rolls placed out of camera shot to ensure we all keep our sugar levels during the strenuous task of filming.  Whilst Shirley set up the lights & camera , listenupnorth and I watched  episode 1 in freeze frame so we could place all the toiletry bits & pieces on the dressing table  just as I had left them as I walked out at the end of the last episode  to answer the door to Simon.

Following on, this episode takes place in the evening & I’m recounting what went on (or off!) when I found Simon on the doorstep.  As before, the idea was that delivering the monologue, actor Penny Lamport would express her internal thoughts to the camera placed behind her dressing table mirror (with glass removed).  She would also address the audience directly into a second camera at the side of the dressing table.

Penny & Sue arrived to more hugs to complete ‘Team Celia’.  After putting the kettle on again & a quick catch up on everyone’s gossip, we had a final call for the loo as we would be unable to leave the room for several hours once the cameras were in place.   Part of the driving force to complete our series of 6 short films was Shirley’s worry that, as she expands with baby, she would soon be unable to fit into the tight space between the camera & the door!  In addition, actor Penny has expressed concern that she might not look 49ish for much longer.  But I would take that with a pinch of salt as that woman has drunk the elixir of eternal youth.

‘Team Celia’ in action

It seemed to take an age of faffing around with lighting to ensure the correct night time ambience  plus checking sound levels & positioning cameras before we were finally ready to call ‘Action!’.  However, all the preparation paid off and the actual filming progressed very quickly & smoothly.  It was ‘in the can’ by late lunch and we were able to sit down to our baked potatoes followed by celebratory chocolate eclairs.  Now more hard work as Shirley takes it all away to edit & prepare Celia – episode 2.  So watch this space!

Click below to watch Celia – episode 1

Actor Penny learning lines at the dress rehearsal

I am waiting eagerly for tomorrow when filming is to start on episode 2 of ‘Celia, Housewife 49ish’ .  Hopefully.  We were supposed to  film last Tuesday but rainfall of biblical proportions meant that poor Shirley with all her camera & lighting equipment had to turn back due to floods & blocked roads.

However we did manage a dress rehearsal the day before.  Preparing for a night time scene we had to blu-tack lots of thick black card up at the bedroom windows.  Sue gave lots of really helpful advice from her time at the BBC & was very tactful when dealing with writer & director listenupnorth’s indecisiveness.   And I did think that actor Penny cut rather a dash in my dressing gown & slippers.  She looked quite at home as she rehearsed her lines.  Just needed a cup of warm steamy cocoa to complete the picture and calm her conscience after a romantic brush with Simon from the village Greenhouse & Gardens Society.

No expense spared – Penny borrows my slippers for this demanding role

Of course living with OCD it’s been a nerve wracking experience to prepare my bedroom for the shoot. I must have wiped round a dozen times already not to mention washing & ironing the curtains.  You should have see the dust behind the drawers when Guy moved them out to make room for the camera.  I thought if my bedroom is going out global I don’t to be found wanting in the cleanliness department.  So I had Guy paint the skirting boards just in case.

Now all I have to do is put a note around the neighbours asking them not to use their lawn mowers & chainsaws tomorrow. Very difficult round here with so many active retired people, as the wives do like to send their husbands out into the garden every day.

It’s a little while since they shot episode 1 so they’ll  have quite a job to line everything up on the dressing table for continuity purposes. Roll on tomorrow when they arrive – ‘Lights, Camera,  Action – and Cocoa!’

It’s cocoa time!

‘Team Celia’ Executive Management Meeting
listenupnorth, Penny, Sue & Shirley

After an executive committee meeting in Starbucks round hot chocs & cafe lattes, I am delighted to introduce a new member to ‘Team Celia’.  In addition to Penny the actor who plays yours truly, Shirley on camera & editing plus listenupnorth  who created me & puts the words in my mouth, we now have Sue who comes with lots of experience at the BBC & is going to help with producing & publicity, developing a sound business model & giving listenupnorth an occasional reality check. That way we can all make more in the series of short films about me ‘Celia, Housewife 49ish’ to delight you – our audience.

listenupnorth was absolutely chuffed that everyone wants to continue.   In fact she was so excited that she became very bold & interrupted a gentleman in the corner  reading ’50 Shades of Grey’ over his Expresso Grande and asked him to take a team photo.

Enjoy ‘Celia – the Film’ episode 1: