The full moon shone down,
It was bright and round,
Through branches blacker than sky.
On the earth, soft and brown,
There was hardly a sound,
As Christmas night drifted by.
Tag Archives: vegetarian
What did you bring?
Time for a little something
The dinosaur and Penelope
Continues tomorrow.
Itchycoo Park #2: Christmas Special starts here
The following morning …
For the whole story, click here
“He complained that he didn’t have nearly enough money for such an undertaking but I told him I knew exactly how much money he had, how he got it and who he got it from. That shut him up.”
And they all lived happily ever after 😀
I am Lady Caitriona Allaway
A quiet evening at home
So, later that day …
And the plan is … ?
It just might work …
Be Kind To Every Animal
Be kind to every animal
And every bird as well.
Be nice to them, they’re beautiful
And don’t eat them or I’ll tell!
Hmmm, …
2015 – What a year!
Adorable Clever Cows
I’ve been here ever since
Faulkner’s men
For the story so far, click here
“Three of them came, with shotguns. I watched them enter the cottage and then barred the door behind them.”
“The sound startled them; they turned to see who was there but saw no one. I knocked over the rocking chair. Again they were startled. Again they saw no one.”
“I lifted my other dress from its hook and danced it around the room as if someone were wearing it. They screamed like the cowards they were and rushed for the door.”
“As they frantically struggled to get the door open I wrote across it with black ash from the hearth: DON’T COME BACK
“I was confident that they would not.”
To be continued …
First of all …
For the story so far, click here
“First of all I had to make sure my friends were safe.”
“After some practice I found that, if I concentrated, I could move things inside the cottage. Donnan lay down by the door, watching, waiting for my return. I draped a shawl across his back which startled him and he whined as he looked around for me, confused. The shawl slipped to the floor and I lifted it and draped it over him again, this time slowly dragging it across his back, stroking him with it. He rubbed his face against the shawl, breathing in its smell, my smell. Then he rolled around on it, wrapping himself in it and howling. Somehow he sensed me. He knew I was there.
“The others watched Donnan’s strange performance and gradually they too became aware of my presence.”
“I needed to let them know that it wasn’t safe for them here, that the Viscount’s men would be coming back. There was a cave at the foot of the mountain where they could hide until the danger passed but I didn’t know how I was going to explain that to them. I repeatedly tried taking the shawl so that I could use it to lead them there, but Donnan thought it was a game and kept pulling it back and rolling around, barking and wagging his tail. Eventually I got so frustrated that I screamed with vexation.
“My friends were suddenly still and alert, their ears pricked up. They had heard me! I looked at Donnan and Brighde and Beathag and the wee bird, and realised that they were all looking back at me. They could see me!
“There was a small sack of oats in the basket by the hearth. I pointed to it and told Donnan to ‘bring’. Then I moved to the doorway and he followed me, and the others followed him. We all made our way to the foot of the mountain and I told them to wait in the cave while I went back to the cottage to wait for Faulkner’s men.
“I didn’t have to wait long.”
To be continued …
Diabolical Mountebank
For the story so far click here
“In spite of being a drinker, a gambler and a generally neglectful parent, my father had at least made sure I wouldn’t be destitute before he lost the rest of his estate to Viscount Faulkner – or ‘that diabolical mountebank’ as he called him.”
“His son was worse. It was he who shot me and I knew that he would not be satisfied with the manor and most of the vast estate if he thought he could get it all. He owned the bankers and the solicitors and would not rest until he had in his possession every last blade of Allaway grass. I had to make sure he didn’t get his hands on my four acres.”
To be continued ….
The Viscount’s Lackey
For the story so far click here
“The following morning I saw one of the Viscount’s lackeys arrive and try to enter my home – I knew what he was after and tried to get in his way but he walked right through me. I felt helpless. Angry and helpless.”
“I should have known Donnan would not let him pass. Even the little grouse did her best to see him off. The lackey turned tail but I knew he’d be back and that meant my friends wouldn’t be safe. The Viscount wanted my Indenture.”
To be continued …
And then what happened?
Up before dawn …
For the story so far click here
I was up before dawn on the morrow and found a strangled vixen outside my door, the poor wee lass was intended to teach me a lesson. I knew they wouldn’t stop killing whatever I did so, for the sake of their future victims, I still had to try to save those I could. Leaving Donnan at home to protect the others, I made my way to the Viscount’s estate and tried to scare as many grouse away as I could, before the “sport” began. I saw his guests arriving and said a prayer for the innocents who would cross their paths. I stayed out of sight and got ahead of them to the woods.
Such brave and noble men who would, five of them, gang up to slaughter a little bird.
I tried to stay out of sight whilst rushing to pick up the injured before their dogs got to them, but I’m sure it was inevitable that someone would see me.
“Miss Allaway, I thought my man had spoken to you about this. Ah well, I suppose if you want something done right you have to do it yourself – isn’t that what they say?” The Viscount himself stood over me but I didn’t look up. I couldn’t take my eyes off the bird whose tail had been clipped by a shot which almost missed him. He was flapping and gasping and panicking. I reached out to him as the Viscount spoke again.
“Miss Allaway, I see you cannot be reasoned with.” I heard a click and that was it. That was the end of me.
To be continued …
“The night before I died …”
For the story so far click here
“The night before I died I was sitting at home by the fire, nursing a baby red grouse who had been orphaned by the Guns the week before. My friends, Brighde the doe and her fawn, Beathag, were asleep on their blanket and Donnan, the collie, was taking a deep drink of water. It was peaceful until Donnan suddenly stopped his lapping and turned to the door with ears pricked up, growling. Then came three heavy thuds on the door. I was afeared but Donnan was there. I opened the door.”
“There stood the nasty gamekeeper and his henchmen, from the Viscount’s household. I had had run-ins with him before when I put out his heather-fires or freed foxes and other souls from his evil traps and snares. Donnan stood beside me, snarling at the keeper and the lads behind him who held shovels and sticks menacingly to intimidate me. The keeper spoke low, his voice sounded cracked from too much smoke. He told me that if I did not stay away from the grouse shoot on the morrow, and keep entirely away from the Viscount’s estate, it would not go well for me, or my friends, and with that he raised a stick as though it were a gun and aimed it at Donnan. Donnan leapt at him and bit his leg hard. The nasty man yelled and kicked my good boy off, shouting at me to “be warned!” as he limped away.”
To be continued …
Gasp!
Giveaway Number 4 Winner!
The fourth and final Honestly Books giveaway draw has taken place and the winner is B Mackela! Congratulations Bill – you have been twice lucky 😀 and How many friends could a Bibbolybob make if a Bibbolybob came to Earth? [The Little Edition] by Edward Benn and Juliet Mahoney will be on its way to you very soon.
We hope you enjoy it 😀
So that’s it for the Honestly Books giveaways. Thank you to everyone at Honestly Books for donating those to us, and to everyone who entered the draws.
We highly recommend Honestly Books to anyone looking for lovely books for children for Christmas and we hope our winners will thoroughly enjoy their prize[s] 😀
STOP!!
And the ghost jumped out!
COMING SOON: The English Family Anderson episode 3!
Remember the home-schooling vegan self-sufficient family living in a bus?
Remember the dad got sacked for tossing the pheasant-shooters’ shotguns into wet cement?
Remember the court told him to pay for new guns and he said “NO!” and the whole family took to the road?
Remember the ghost?
If you don’t you’d better get on over here and read the first two episodes because episode 3 starts tomorrow and you’ll need to be all caught up 😉
The Final Giveaway: How Many Friends Could A Bibbolybob Make If A Bibbolybob Came To Earth? THE LITTLE EDITION
The fourth and final of our Honestly Books giveaways is very similar to the first – How Many Friends Could A Bibbolybob Make If A Bibbolybob Came To Earth? – but it’s a little one! It turns out that this early learning title, by Edward Benn and Juliet Mahoney, has been so popular that Honestly Books decided to release a miniature second edition. Well it’s not that tiny – just about the size of a standard paperback – but it’s not as big as the great big first edition 😀
Anyway, let’s get to the point. Apart from it’s size, this has everything the first one had: a cute story with cute animal characters, a cute alien visitor and an introduction to numbers for little children. Look here for our review 🙂
If you would like to win a copy of this dainty little picture book, just comment on this post and you will be entered into Friday’s draw 🙂 It’s your last chance to win so good luck!
For those not lucky enough to win one of these lovely books, of course you can find them all on Amazon 🙂
Giveaway Number 3 Winner!
The lucky winner of our 3rd Honestly Books giveaway, What’s Good For The Goose Is Not Good For The Panda by Lavender Laine, is B Mackela
Congratulations Bill 🙂 Give us your address via our contact form on the About page and we will get the book to you as soon as possible.
There now remains only one more chance to win! The final book of our Honestly Books stash, the little Bibbolybob book, will go into the draw next week. Look out for Monday’s post to enter 😀
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
How the meat gets to the plate is something quite atrocious,
Gentle souls are cruelly killed by humans so ferocious,
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
***
Um diddle diddle diddle, um diddle ay
Um diddle diddle diddle, um diddle ay
Um diddle diddle diddle, um diddle ay
Um diddle diddle diddle, um diddle ay
***
Those gentle souls of hoof and wing
Have done nothing to me.
I’d like for them to run and sing,
I’d love to set them free.
***
And then one day I realised
Exactly what to do.
I gave up meat and veganised
And you could do that too, oh ….
***
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
How the meat gets to the plate is something quite atrocious,
Gentle souls are cruelly killed by humans so ferocious,
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
***
Um diddle diddle diddle, um diddle ay
Um diddle diddle diddle, um diddle ay
Um diddle diddle diddle, um diddle ay
Um diddle diddle diddle, um diddle ay
***
I found that I did not miss out
On tasty things to eat.
My vegan meals without a doubt
Are much better than meat.
***
There’s sausage rolls and pies and flan
And chips and pizza too.
There’s cakes and sweets and marzipan
All cruelty-free for you, oh ….
***
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
How the meat gets to the plate is something quite atrocious,
Gentle souls are cruelly killed by humans so ferocious,
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Thanksgiving Turkey Rescue
Note that Naomi was rescued from a “natural” free range farm. There is no such thing as humane meat.
Friends Reunited
Keeping warm with odds and ends
You may remember I have already knitted a hoodie like this out of leftover and unravelled yarn but I gave that to Miranda so I needed another one. And this one only took me 2 months to make, which is a record for me!
Whilst this one is not made of unravelled yarn, I didn’t buy any new stuff because it’s made completely of other people’s leftovers. Quite a few balls had been given to us of various colours and thicknesses, and I spent a couple of pounds at charity shops buying a mixture of odd balls, so it has cost me next to nothing and I’ve made something useful out of stuff that was being thrown out. Win-win 😀
Ooh, it’s so lovely and warm 😀
Here is the pattern if you’re interested, although it’s rather messed up so I don’t know if you’ll be able to make sense of it.
I made mine really chunky by using 3 strands of DK (or whatever I had) so it came out bigger than the one on the pattern. Plus I made mine longer. So, with a pack-a-mac over the top on rainy days, I’ve got a homemade winter coat 🙂
The pattern came from this book Greetings from Knit Cafe by Suzan Mischer
Save the monkeys!
Russian Academy Of Science training four rhesus macaques to travel into space and land on Mars.
Please sign the petition NOW to stop them.
Thank you.
Giveaway Number 3: What’s Good For The Goose Is Not Good For The Panda
Our third Honestly Books giveaway is the unique What’s Good For The Goose Is Not Good For The Panda by Lavender Laine.
You can read our review of it here, but basically it follows the classic children’s story model in which the protagonist (Patty the panda) goes on a journey to find out about herself by trial and error.
It’s told completely in rhyme which is charming and the illustrations and text are all done in collage which is so different and fun and shows children that they can make art out of anything and encourages recycling.
The moral of the story is that we are all different and that what’s good for one is not necessarily good for another. This is undoubtedly why Laine dedicates the book to the Safer Medicines Trust which campaigns for an end to animal experiments on the grounds that all species are different and therefore results from animal tests cannot be relied upon for human medicines.
So if you’d like your own copy of this book just comment on this post to enter Friday’s prize draw. We will announce the winner on Friday morning. Good luck 😀
Giveaway Number 2 Winner!
The winner of a copy of the brilliant Colour By Nutrients by August Bassett and Amy Fibbitts, our second giveaway from the Honestly Books stash, is Carol of Art Is Not For Sissies. 😀
Congratulations Carol. You can give us your address privately on our contact form (at the bottom of the About page) and we’ll get the book to you asap 😀
If you see a piece of litter pick it up
This is what Venus would do!
Get Down and Dirty
Support this fantastic Florida group, Eco-Action, and maybe start one in your area 🙂
Inspirational Clean-Up
Look at these fantastic real-life Venus Aqueouses 😀
Save the Planet Associate – a community organisation in Thailand. Support and share their work and like their page 😀
Giveaway #1 Winner!
And the winner of our first Honestly Books giveaway: How Many Friends Could A Bibbolybob Make If A Bibbolybob Came To Earth?, by Edward Benn and Juliet Mahoney, is Bookish Heather!
Congratulations Heather – we will send the book to you as soon as you contact us with your address 😀
A More Innocent and Wholesome Diet
” … he will be regarded as a benefactor of his race who shall teach man to confine himself to a more innocent and wholesome diet. Whatever my own practice may be, I have no doubt that it is part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, “
Henry David Thoreau
in Walden (1854)
Giveaway Number 1: Wibbolywub and the Earthlings
How many friends could a Bibbolybob make if a Bibbolybob came to Earth? (aka Wibbolywub and the Earthlings) by Edward Benn and Juliet Mahoney, will be our first giveaway of the Honestly Books stash.
You can read our review of this lovely book here, but basically it is just a fun story, with happy, colourful illustrations, about an alien visitor to Earth – Wibbolywub the Bibbolybob – who makes ten different Earthling friends and plays some fun counting games with them. A great introduction to numbers 1 to 10 for early learners and a little insight into the differences between the Earthlings and their eating habits.
If you would like to win this beautiful book, comment on this post and tell me so 😀
We will put the names of all the entrants in a box and pull out the winner on Friday.
Good Luck 😉
*********
ps this prize draw is open to everyone, anywhere in the world 🙂
Children’s Books Giveaways!
We’re very excited! Honestly Books are so happy with our reviews of their books (see here) that they’ve sent us a selection to giveaway to our readers! 😀
Woohoo!
So, here’s what we’re going to do – starting tomorrow we’ll give away one book a week to a lucky prize draw entrant anywhere in the world. All you have to do is comment on the giveaway post, letting me know you want to enter.
Come back tomorrow when I will announce which book will be the first giveaway 😀
Christmas is coming …. I wonder to whom Father Christmas will be bringing a lovely new book 😉
Trees for the Future
Plant Trees. Change Lives. Trees for the Future
British Forest Garden
Wait ’til you see page 7!
When the lights came back on …
For the story so far, click here 🙂
When the lights came back on, Venus, Adi and Jean took to the stage.
After an encouraging response from the crowd, the girls exited stage right, and Venus bumped into someone less encouraging.
To be continued …
WATCH
For the story so far, click here
To be continued …
(Music: cover of The Cure’s A Forest, by Ping Trace)
Violet's Vegan Comics 