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Busby and I are reading…
This fantastic book by Emma Carroll. It is July’s book of the month in our Quiet Paws Book Club.
The story starts in February, 1941 in London, where the bombs are falling, but soon moves to the Devon coast. Here, two young evacuees, one of whom is the story’s narrator, are sent to stay in the lighthouse. What happens next is extremely exciting…
You can find out more about it here:
https://www.waterstones.com/book/letters-from-the-lighthouse/emma-carroll/9780571327584
Maybe you can spot why Busby was so keen on the story.
“Look towards the light”…
Olive, the story’s young narrator, uses this phrase to keep her spirits up. It sums up, for me, the tone of the book. Whilst not shying away from some difficult issues, Emma Carroll has a careful touch and leaves her readers with the sense that, in the end, good wins out.
I can’t wait to launch this book in our book club next week. However, last month’s book, The Star of Kazan, will remain available and open for readers to send in anything they have created.
We are doing some yoga stretches…
Busby’s downward dog is particularly impressive. Here he is resting afterwards.
You can find some yoga for children here.https://yogawithadriene.com/yoga-for-kids/
We are listening to some amazingly talented harpists…
Inspired by the harp in our June Book Club book, The Star of Kazan, we found this lovely version of one of Busby’s favourite songs. It is played on Brittany Ferries boats, first thing in the morning, as we near the harbour. When you are a little dog who hasn’t found his sea paws yet, it’s quite a relief to hear it.
You can listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goRYB-HkJgU
We also appreciate these harpists sense of humour… although maybe you have to be a certain age group to appreciate this…
We are still learning to identify birds by their songs.
This month: thrush, great tit, wren and woodpigeon, we are still going!
Luckily, we have a colour-in chart to encourage us to listen regularly.
You can download a copy (and an explanation of how to use it) here:
This beautiful picture of a song thrush is from the RSPB website where you can listen to some wonderfully clear bird songs too: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-songs/what-bird-is-that/
(For adults who are interested, I have borrowed the chart idea from Gretchen Rubin. https://gretchenrubin.com/)
We are listening to Malala Yousafzai’s Desert Island Discs…
Last month, I mentioned that a piece of music would be the ‘Desert Island Disc I’d get Busby to save from the waves’.
You can find out what this is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05gg2tm
There are over 2000 to choose from!
If you are an older reader of this post, you might enjoy listening to the episode with Malala Yousafzai, a tremendously inspirational young woman, here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000s84r
Anyone of any age can choose their desert island discs though.
Which 8 pieces of music would you take to a desert island? Which would be the one you’d save from the waves? What would be your luxury? And which book would you take? You can make a note of them here:
We still can’t quite believe that U.S. President Biden and six other world leaders were in Cornwall. Wow!
The Red Arrows flew over Busby and my daughter when they were driving along the coast near Bude. Busby says, “It was good of them to fit us in after their G7 flypast in Carbis Bay.”
You can view the Red Arrows here:
This photo is from a postcard and is part of a painting of Cornwall by artist David Hobbs.
We have been really looking closely at wildflowers…
These aren’t the best photos in the world, but spot the bee! We have been trying to identify these local floweres using this fabulous site here
:https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/wildflowers
You could try observing something in nature from very close up and then draw what you see. Or you could copy one of the flowers on the above website.
We are imagining…
that each flower has its own fairy. Not my idea, but that of author and illustrator, Cicely M. Barker. This picture comes from a very old copy of a book called, ‘Flower Fairies of the Wayside‘. It used to belong to my aunt.
Perhaps you are named after a flower. I chose this page as I happen to know that one family member, and blog follower, has Tansy as her middle name.
You can find out more about flower fairies (and download colouring pages) on this beautiful website run by the estate of Cicely M. Barker:
We have been thinking about courage…
As promised last month, here’s a little more about a very courageous person, Clemency Burton-Hill.
After a near fatal brain haemorrhage last January, Clemency, who is a much-loved radio presenter, lost the ability to speak. She had to learn how to talk again, right from the beginning. Later in the year, she was brave enough to appear on the radio, despite still suffering speech problems. Many listeners, including Busby and me, were greatly moved by hearing her on Radio 4 Woman’s Hour.
She did this to give hope to others with speech problems and to make the point that radio and television should welcome more people with disabilities.
Clemency Burton-Hill, Busby and I salute you!
Thank you to everyone who has signed up to follow this blog – every time I see a new name, I feel great and Busby feels (p)awesome. You can subscribe below or on the home page.
There are many more activities on the Quiet Paws Book Corner Activities page, anyone can join, everyone is welcome, and it is free! Just head over to the Book Corner page, and sign up for your password.
Buzzy Paws 