Celebrating 20,000 tweets

If each tweet I’ve sent had at least 10 words in it that’s 200,000+ words.  Often, I have to edit them, leave out punctuation, so my little notes, “fit into one tweet which suggests they’re likely to be more like 15 words which would be 300,000 words I’ve written since I started Tweeting”. And breathe! My draft novels vary from 50,000 to 75,000 words and I’ve got 4 of them so since I started tweeting I’ve tweeted as many or more words than I’ve written in my novels.

If I stopped tweeting would I have twice the number of novels?  No, I don’t think so either.  I might have spent more time editing and my novels might be closer to getting finished, whatever that word means..

I got dragged kicking and screaming onto twitter by a BBC campaign a couple of years ago, when I was a regular contributor to one of their radio shows.  Little did I realise what I’d gain, that I’d meet so many new people who then gave me confidence to blog (something I’d wanted to do for a while but not felt able to, for some reason), I know some might wish I hadn’t started blogging or tweeting but today’s a celebration of my 20,000th tweet and I just had to blog about it..

What else have I gained from fellow tweetsville residents?  Some help me write, others make me laugh and smile and cry and lots of other emotions, all in under 140 characters.

The past week has seen me bake a lot of cakes for all sorts of reasons.  I’ll blog about that separately, probably.  Today, the cakes I baked this morning will have a couple of uses.  One is to celebrate my 20,000^th tweet which will include the link to this blog.  A couple have been eaten for breakfast.. They had carrot and courgette in them.. and eggs.. Eggs are breakfast fodder.

Celebrating my 20,000th tweet, I’m sending virtual hugs to say a bit THANK YOU, if you’re a reader, fellow writer, friend virtually or otherwise..  You help keep me grounded, balanced and full of smiles and that’s a really important job that you have so please carry on through my next 20,000 tweets whatever they may cover.  Before you know it the cakes will be iced, so grab a coffee and let’s have a chat..

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How’s your harvest this year?

Given how late I was in planting out I’m amazed I have anything to harvest but here’s my list. Leeks; courgettes; Jalepeno peppers, a variety of tomatoes, striped aubergines, beans; chard; rocket; nasturtium flowers; blackberries; rhubarb and elder berries.  There’s been other things harvested like strawberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants and apples but they were earlier in the year and the hazel nuts will be in a few weeks time.  Still got potatoes and some horseradish to dig up.

Not all of these are of my planting but I do contribute to letting them still live in my garden so I’ll class them as my harvest.

An hour in the garden this morning, in the drizzling rain, while there’s still warmth in the air, was very refreshing yet relaxing. Clearing my mind of the week and preparing me for my weekend, whatever it holds.  My home growing skills aren’t brilliant as this year’s shown but they’re there all the same, just need a little practice.

I love picking my own veg and fruit.  The smell, the taste and the feel are all so fresh.  Like some of the supermarkets, I then get it frozen within an hour of picking if I’m not eating it immediately.  Having home picked veg on special occasions is a favourite treat, it’s the simple things that keep me happy…

Last year was a complete washout where my gardens harvest was concerned.  We had a hosepipe ban early on, with a drought, so nothing grew when the weather was hot enough for it all, followed by the wettest summer for, like, forever.. when everything grew, but it was too late for my veg by then.  By the time the rain held off long enough for me to enter my garden, the spiders had grown big enough to have large undisturbed webs, which meant I didn’t want to disturb them, so there was a whole year of my garden not being entered.. This year I was determined to grow something and it took two of us to even get to the greenhouse clearing back the bramble, nettles and buddleigh that had taken hold (I’ve not got the biggest garden but it is long).

Ooh, you can tell I’ve not written a blog post for a while, seems longer than usual.. sorry. Hope you’re still with me. By the way, I have had tons of things I wanted to write and tell you about but never seemed to have an image that was right. When I saw my harvest this morning I knew the image was right. I hope you like it. So, where was I? Rambling as ever.. it’s my speciality you know, or if you didn’t you now do 😉

Harvest.. It may not be the most plentiful but it’s special to me. I’ve many hobbys and gardening and growing have to sit alongside writing and reading and painting and.. and .. That I manage to plant anything from seed and grow it is a miracle, here I am writing about this years harvest which, although small, is more than enough for this household and will be much enjoyed.

How’s your harvest this year?