Hestia...is a novelist

*victorious air punch*

Yes, shuffle up there J K Rowling, get squeezed together Ian Rankin and Jackie Collins because...there is a NEW kid on the novelist bench!  Yes! MEEEEEEE!

As you can tell from the pic that accompanies this blog post, I have actually managed to write the prerequisite 50,000 words for National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo).  Actually, I managed 50,300 words, but, well, yanno, I don't want to brag :-)

Hestia and YOU....and Children in Need!

Sonshine looking cute - go on donate £5

Tomorrow, Friday 19 November is Children in Need night on the BBC.  This worthwhile charity raises money for children's projects all over the UK and, again, some of TABI's wonderful Tarotists are planning to make your giving experience a bit more exciting!

I'm offering m'blog readers the opportunity to donate money direct to Children in Need and also to get yourself a Tarot reading into the bargain!

Over the course of the weekend (starting from tonight!) you can make a donation at TABI's justgiving page and have yourself a Tarot reading from me.

At the moment I'm the Chairman of the Tarot Association of The British Isles.  This is my fourth, yes, read my parched lips, FOURTH year on the plush red velveteen throne and I need YOU to help TABI's fundraising efforts break our £180 ceiling from last year

Since we started our justgiving pages, fellow Tarotists and supporters have donated over £1,117.00 for several good causes - including the Red Cross in Haiti.

So, what do you need to do?  Go to this page: http://www.justgiving.com/TABITarotreadings and make your donation (see below for prices of readings) and when donating, please say that it is via Hestia's Larder (helps with the admin later on!)

I am offering:

£5 for a 140-character Twitter reading (it will probably be longer than that, but it's a mathematical challenge lol!)

£15 - for a 3-card reading - delivered via e-mail or FB messaging, whichever you prefer.

£50 - 10 card Celtic Cross (the most popular standard big spread reading!) - again via e-mail or FB

£60 - 12 card Wheel of the Year (covers your next 12 months!)

Of course, you don't need to have a reading, you can just help us bust through our £180 total raised last year by making your donation via that justgiving page.  That money goes straight to the charity and is not in TABI's coffers at any stage.

Well - here we go guys!  I really hope that you can support Children in Need this year!  Bring It On!!!  Donate your cash or the teddy gets it.....

Hestia and ...the smear test

She's got the jack as AC/DC might say

So it's like this - every three years or so, we women are summoned to the GPs for a thing called a smear test.  They send us a little letter to remind us that it's due and how important it is in helping detect a pretty horrible cancer...and we read the letter and promptly put it in the back of the drawer and forget all about it.

They kindly send us another reminder and this time with a booklet telling you how it's as wonderful as faery dust to have your smear test, so will you PLEASE make an appointment.

Hestia loves....Barber's Adagio for Strings

Could do with a bit of a Persil wash, eh?

OK - so call me a hormonally challenged old fart, but I have been obsessed with Barber's Adagio For Strings ever since the spiritually aware Willem Dafoe character bit the dust in a most Christlike way in Platoon to this music.  To be honest, I think that lots of directors are equally obsessed with it using it - Michael Moore has used it in four of his documentaries somewhere!

I find that the music, coupled with the words of Max Ehrmann almost unbearably moving and so, I'm popping it onto Hestia's page to show you that I'm not all swear words and fanny waxes.

I have *pauses for dramatic effect* a poet's soul.....

Actually I must be honest and tell you that I typed 'poet's soup' there.  That's actually a LOT more honest.  I have a poet's soup :-)

Enjoy. Take your mascara off to watch it.  I'm talking to YOU Legend :-)

Hestia...is not dead

...but she sure feels like it right now *groan*  Y'see I have signed up for NaNoWriMo this year, which basically means that for the month of November I am eating, sleeping, breathing The Great British Historial Fiction Novel (Draft no: 1).  Summary - so far, it's all a bit shit.

Hestia....waxes lyrical

It might be the beginnings of a mid-life crisis, although I've been assured that women don't HAVE mid-life crises: we just get the menopause.....but I've been behaving VERY strangely lately. Granted - I haven't bought a sports car or left home to back pack to Papua New Guinea, but I did decide, for the first time in my life, to book a bikini wax.