Hello, hello, welcome to the BritMums Poetry and Prose Roundup! Do come in from the cold ? would you like a cup of tea? I?ve just lit the fire and there?s a plate of biscuits waiting?

Yes, it?s October, the temperature is dropping and the nights are drawing in. Although there is a teeny bit of melancholy that comes with this time of year, I have to admit to feeling a certain amount of excitement too? crackling firesides, crunchy leaves, cuddly jumpers and cosy nights in on the sofa beckon. This is something that Jo at Fifty Something Fruitcake captured perfectly in this prose piece ? I can almost feel the fire warming me in that comfy armchair. Ahhhhh.

I think autumn is the perfect season for poetry and prose. The beauty of the season alone is inspirational, as Rosie showed in a piece of gorgeous, evocative writing that made me want to rush outside and explore nature. I felt similarly reading Mum Turned Mom?s beautiful poem, ?My happy place?, about the feeling of peace that woodlands and shorelines can bring. Lisa?s Life also wrote about nature in a poem about what makes her happy. Her trusty canine companion and cute baby nephew also featured, of course!

The happiness children bring also inspired Becky to write a lovely poem about her kids, whom she described as the ?treasures? in her life. Over at Little Hearts Big Love, Louise also wrote a beautiful, bittersweet poem about the fleeting moments of childhood, a feeling that Victoria at VeViVos captured too in a touching poem, ?Small?, which she read over a montage of photos of her daughter when she was little. It?s true, our children don?t stay small forever, and autumn brings its own particular reminder of this to parents of school-age children as we send our little ones off into the big wide world. As her son started school, Life With Six Kids wrote a poem about what she wanted for him and felt that personal growth was so much more important than grades ? I was nodding along.

As any parent knows, alongside heart-tugging love, children bring a lot of humour (and exasperation!) to our lives, and Pickles and Pords exemplified this perfectly in her poem about tea time with kids ? it?s all very familiar! And if you?re in the mood for a giggle, I can also recommend Sarah Miles? ?Social Status? (flash fiction with a twist) and this funny poem about junk mail from The Parent Game ? I feel exactly the same way.

Elsewhere in the blogosphere, creative synapses were sparking on other themes: Reneé at Mummy Tries wrote another gripping excerpt of her book, Tea Lady Mumbles wrote a poignant poem ? ?Lost?, and Rachael at Honest Speaks wrote an insightful poem that was open to a number of interpretations ? I love finding a piece like that. And then I was totally bowled over by this poem from Chrissie at Muddled Manuscript.

If you?re feeling creative too this autumn, then you might consider making some submissions. Paper Swans? bimonthly poetry and flash fiction competition is open until the end of this month and ? with a deadline of 1st February ? they?re also looking to publish 2 or 3 collections of poetry and flash fiction on any theme. Mother?s Milk Books is also welcoming submissions to their annual writing prize. Poetry and Prose should be on the theme of ?love? in a familial context and the closing date is 17th January. They have a category for kids too!

Need a bit of extra motivation to get those creative juices flowing? I always find reading the work of fellow writers inspirational (it?s one of the reasons I enjoy doing this roundup) and am regularly impressed by those who link up with my #WhatImWriting linky. Last month I shared some particularly motivational posts from the linky in my Ten Posts To Kickstart Your Writing ? have a read, you?ll be grabbing for that pen/keyboard in no time!

That?s it from me, Victoria will be back next month so, in the meantime, happy reading and writing!

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The World Endurance Championship Six Hours of Fuji came to a controversial end as one of the leading cars in the LMP2 category was involved in a series of incidents with its closest rivals.

In the LMP1 class both Porsche and Audi swapped the running order of their cars in the closing stages of the race to maximise their chances in the championship.

World Endurance Championship

Race six of eight: Six Hours of Fuji

Team orders set the result of the Six Hours of Fuji: Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb surrendered a comfortable lead to allow Porsche?s strongest championship contenders Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard to take their third win in a row. The two Porsches fell behind their Audi and Toyota rivals on the first lap but battled back ahead by the end of the race.

Behind them Audi also swapped their drivers, promoting Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer in front of Lucas di Grassi, Loïc Duval and Oliver Jarvis.

Sam Bird, Julien Canal and Roman Rusinov took a controversial win in the LMP2 category after they and the sister G-Drive car tangled with the rival KCMG car of Matt Howson, Richard Bradley and Nick Tandy on three occasions. The final contact, involving G-Drive racer Gustav Yacaman, ended the KCMG car?s involvement in the race.

The stewards initially held Bradley responsible for the collision, claiming he had braked 37 metres earlier than usual. However the ruling has been suspended after KCMG supplied data showing he was at full throttle when he was hit.

Next race: Shanghai International Circuit, 1st November

BTCC

Races 28-30 of 30: Brands Hatch Grand Prix

Plato passed Shedden?s team mate Matt Neal to win the finale ? but it wasn?t enough

Gordon Shedden Won his second British Touring Car Championship title in fine style after fighting from twentieth on the grid to finish fourth at Brands Hatch. Title rival Jason Plato won the race, but afterwards fumed at team mate Aron Smith whom Plato claimed had been too slow to respond to team orders earlier in the race weekend.

Highlights not available yet.

Australian V8 Supercars

Race 25 of 36: Bathurst 1000, Mount Panorama

Red Bull duo Lowndes and Richards won the Bathurst 1000Just over a second separated the first two cars home after a thousand kilometres of racing around the spectacular Mount Panorama circuit in Bathurst. Craig Lowndes took his sixth victory on the mountain, shared with team mate Steven Richards, and chased home by rivals Mark Winterbottom and Steve Owen.

A mid-race rain shower complicated proceedings in a race punctuated with some heavy crashes and a controversy when the sister Red Bull car was given a drive-through penalty after Jamie Whincup overtook the Safety Car.

Two major accidents occurred in the build-up to the main event, the first of which left Chas Mostert with a broken leg and wrist. In an Aussie Racing Car Series support race (below) Damien Flack was launched into a horrifying series of flips after tangling with his brother Adrian. Flack was taken to hospital and later reported to be in a stable condition.

Next race: Surfers? Paradise, 24th October

NASCAR

Race 30 of 36: Charlotte Motor Speedway

Joey Logano won a rain-delayed race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the first race of the second round of NASCAR?s Chase for the Cup. Kevin Harvick followed him home ? the pair were separated by less than a second ? and is also right behidn Logano at the top of the points table.

Next race: Kansas, 18th October

Also last weekend

Lewis Hamilton moved one step closer to the F1 championship title with victory in Russia.

Meanwhile McLaren junior driver Stoffel Vandoorne clinched the GP2 title with four races to go. In GP3, Esteban Ocon extended his extraordinary run of second-place finishes to nine, and by doing so closed to within two points of championship leader Luca Ghiotto.

Over to you

Which of these races did you watch over the weekend? Were you following any other motor racing action on four wheels?

We?re in the final weeks of the motor racing season. Next week the Formula Renault 3.5 championship concludes at Jerez, and at the same track no fewer than eight drivers will fight for the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup crown. The Hockenheimring will host the DTM and European Formula Three finales.

Hopefully Japan?s Super Formula championship will not see a repeat of the Super GT pit lane madness when it heads to Sugo, with the domestic F3 championship supporting. And NASCAR rumbles in to Kansas.

Weekend Racing Wrap

Browse all Weekend Racing Wraps

News New on the web

You think your copy of Wasteland 2 [official site] is plain and unadorned, do you? Go on, check your pocket. Like a street magician without the tight black t-shirt (you can?t squeeze 40-odd people into one of those), inXile Entertainment have distracted you with their god-awful tattoos and some slick patter about the weather then quietly slipped into your pocket a copy of Wasteland 2: Director?s Cut. It?s the improved, expanded version of the post-apocalyptic RPG with fancier graphics, more voicework, character perks and quirks, a rebalancing, and more.

Or you can stick to the old version, if you want. Magicians make me feel uneasy too.

As inXile Entertainment explain, the Director?s Cut brings an upgrade to the Unity 5 engine with fancier lighting, updated environment and character art, thousands of lines of new voicework, controller support, and a hefty rebalancing. It also adds a new ?Precision Strikes? system letting you target enemies? individual bodyparts ? like Fallout?s V.A.T.S. ? along with ?Perks? that give characters extra bonuses as they level and ?Quirks? that give them more personality through positive and negative effects.

Unfortunately, save files will not transfer from the old version to the new; they?re simply too different.

The Director?s Cut is now on Steam and GOG, slipped into the collections of folks who owned the original as a separate game, so you can still download and play the old version if you want.

Or, if you?re entirely new to Wasteland 2, you can now buy this for £30. Here, have a launch trailer:

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Mary Smith got in touch with BritMums recently, ?I am a parenting blogger writing about lots of things but with a focus on infant loss and specifically, a joyful life despite our loss.
Our daughter was stillborn at term last year and this journey has been horrendous. It has been helpful, both to me and my readers, to write about each step and emotion. Despite this, it is still a very awkward thing for other people and parents and obviously needs a lot more awareness.? We came up with the BritMums Baby Loss Awareness week, where we showcase one blogger?s story every day during Baby Loss Awareness week. Here is Mary?s story.

The Story of Poppy

I laid in the hospital, the thickness of silence suffocating me as the Dr confirmed to us what I already knew: ?Im very sorry but your baby has passed away? ? we stared at one another and said nothing, she was gone and no words seemed appropriate. The baby I carried for 9 months I never got to meet, I would never feed, I would never see grow up. 

Her name (not that many people use it) was Poppy Quinn Smith and she was stillborn on her due date last September, after a check up at the hospital 2 days before had revealed her heart had stopped. She had full Trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome), but we held out hopes that we would get some time with our daughter. 

Her delivery was pretty quick; an induction which was very straightforward and no complications, I guess it was all very text book and everything went to plan for them? but there was one thing missing, and that was JOY! As the midwives pulled her out it was complete and painful silence, even the monitors seemed to pause for that moment?there was no rushing or urgency like there had been with my others, no scrunched up baby face and screams to greet her mother, no excitement, and no joy?just silence and numbness. I held her in my arms and looked down at my beautiful baby girl as I tried to overcome the shock of my 3rd delivery. All I could do was stare at her ? she looked like my other daughter and her feet were like her brothers when he was born. So I stared some more, this time begging her to breathe?to cry?to wriggle?but nothing, just a look of peace and stillness. It hit me then, at that moment that hope was gone for a season, because this baby wouldn?t be coming home and I wouldn?t have her in my life. She  wouldn?t grow up in our family with her siblings and I?d have a death certificate instead of a birth certificate, a grave instead of a crib, a box instead of a baby. I had just entered the world of infant loss and this moment would break my heart for a very long time. 

I will never forget that day and its cruel events or the day my husband and I carried her tiny casket to the graveside the week after her birth?Everything in my life had suddenly became so temporary and fragile, our lives were turned upside down and we were living every parents nightmare.

It began April 2014, I was 4.5 months pregnant and we were literally living the dream, loving life, and excited for our 3rd child who was planned and so very much wanted by all. We made our way to the hospital as a little family, excited to see who our 5th member would be, but within a few moments this all changed as I was quickly reminded that the 20 week scan isn?t a gender revealer but an extremely thorough look to see if baby is fit and well (baby was not fit and well). It turned out there seemed to be an abnormality on her heart, her tummy was too small and part of her brain was underdeveloped. We were referred to the cardiac specialists at the LGI for further scans and fetal medicine to investigate. 

2 days following, we found ourselves sat in a room at the hospital being told of the severity of our babies heart and diaphragm problems. We were told they believed it was due to fatal chromosome defect and that there was a likely chance our baby would not make it! I couldn?t breathe, understand it or process it. I just broke and left feeling empty, lonely and heartbroken. I struggled to tell people the diagnosis as it pained me to reflect on the fact I might not get to keep my growing baby girl; It wore on me and so I finished my job as baby massage teacher early ? working with healthy babies and happy mummies pained me at every class and every comment on my bump and questions of my pregnancy?s progress was a reminder that there was nothing rosey about it and there was a big question mark over whether or not our baby would live. 

After several more scans, we decided at 30 weeks to have an amniocentesis to confirm the suspected chromosome defect?less than 24hrs later they had her results and over the phone we were told she had Full T18. We were heartbroken. I didn?t give up though, and spent the remainder of my pregnancy fighting for care, fighting for a chance for her and living in hope that my baby (who medically was seen as ?not compatible with life?) would get care and would live for at least a few weeks in our family. But as you see that wasn?t our ending. 

After an emotionally difficult pregnancy on September 16th 2014 she was born sleeping at term.

Life feels a little heavier now as I try to carry on as normal, and as I have learnt from experience that it is an awkward thing for most people. Every day I work to keep a lid on my emotions, to breathe, to smile, to enjoy life and live it with out my baby here. I am a wife, a mother, a fighter and the face of baby loss!

How you can help

Buy and wear a Baby Loss Awareness pin from participating charities via the Baby Loss website.

Participate in the Global ?Wave of Light? on Thursday 15 October, light a candle and leave it burning for at least one hour to mark the international Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. Special edition tea lights are available from the participating charities via the Baby Loss website. Post an image of your candle on social media with the hashtag #waveoflight.

For further information or for details on how you can support the campaign and the week please visitwww.babyloss-awareness.org.

 

Mary Smith is a wife and SAHM to her 2 children Ethan and Megan. She writes a parenting, loss and lifestyle blog over at www.theheartylife.com where she shares a very honest look into life after loss and their journey of living a fun and full life together despite their loss. 

She documents and shares all of the highs and lows of parenting around loss and living with grief in a hope to break the silence, educate and more importantly live a life of joy and adventure! Follow Mary on Twitter

( Just take a look here ) Website

In the round-up: Bernie Ecclestone says the two team who have complained about F1 to the European Union failed to manage their finances.

go to here in the manual

Ahhhhh the 1990?s what a decade they started with Acid House and Rave and we partied right the way through the decade and into the new millennia, well I did anyway. This epoch in history will hold many things British in such high esteem when we look back with great fondness and nostalgia. We had the Cool Britania period with House music and Britpop ruling the airwaves, great groundbreaking TV like The Word, The Big Breakfast, the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Gladiators, and Friends and of course Fashion. The 90?s were not only responsible for Grunge, rave, the rebirth of Gucci under, some guy called Tom Ford and the Supermodel but we saw such prominent names emerge including The Beckhams, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and of course the shoe Meister himself Patrick Cox.

Patrick?s shoes gained a strong celebrity following; stars like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and David Beckham have all stepped out in Patrick?s shoes. He became a recognisable personality who drew attention to Footwear design. Through the years Cox?s humour and flamboyance has ensured notoriety on both fashion and social scenes; thus making him the ?sole? ambassador of the brand. Cox launched his own Patrick Cox label in 1986 and the Wannabe label in 1994. Wannabe was a huge commercial success selling a million pairs within 2 years of launch.

Inbetween these heady days and currently, Mr Cox has enjoyed positions at brands as diverse as Charles Jourdan and Geox, plus made a move from fashion to food with the opening of Soho cake emporium: Cox Cookies & Cake.

2015 sees the long-awaited return of this celebrated designer to the world of Footwear with his new brand Lathbridge. The label?s moniker -?Lathbridge? is Patrick?s middle name given to him in honor of a great family friend. Another family connection comes in the shape of Patrick?s beloved pet bulldogs ? Cesar and Brutus who are the muses for the brand?s logo. The Lathbridge collection which is inspired by traditional British heritage with a 70?s feel and swagger offers high quality, traditional, luxury designs with unique detailing and personality.

Still very much at the heart of this brand is the Patrick Cox design Philosophy, leveraging his passion for not only creating expertly crafted shoes, bags and accessories, but also for  placing innovation at the centre of the collection.

This initial collection balances both structure and downtime designs from luxe classic loafers to retro whitewall trainers. Cox has created a well rounded range that responds to the needs of a contemporary, cosmopolitan client.

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Chris Thornley, aka Raid71, put together these lovely Charlie Jones images as part of Bottleneck Gallery?s 2015 collection at NYCC.

8? X 10? 3 Giclee print set, numbered editions of 75.

You can buy them here.

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One thing every man should always remember is, his skin is the first thing somebody notices about him. Not his eyes, nose, voice or hair, but his skin,  so take good care of yours with FIT Skincare. This premium range of high-tech, natural grooming solutions is formulated specifically for men and the individual needs of their skin ? delivering high performance skin and hair care. This is achieved by combining advanced formulated technologies and cutting edge active ingredients.
18 months in development, the team behind FIT Moisturising Ultra Serum, joins the line up and is formulated to treat and care for all types of male skin. FIT serums and ultra serums combine multi-benefit active ingredients with natural biological and marine extracts, vitamins and minerals. Complimentary, easy to use, quickly absorbed and non greasy are all key components in FIT products, plus they contain no harsh preservatives, parabens or SLS (sodium lauryl sulphate) and are formulated and manufactured in the UK.
The active ingreidents and essentially the power behind the range, is OXY-FIT-10, a unique oxygen delivery system that boosts skin cell respiration to increase cell regeneration and ensures targeted delivery of nutrients for maximum benefits.

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Today, I want to tell you all about a NEW BOOK. Regular readers of Red  Ted Art, will know that I ADORE books ? whether they are story books for the kids, novels for me or activity books for all the family. Though I adore the Internet and all the amazing content that it provides, a book, is just a whole different way to browse and absorb information. I also find books much better for planning activities with the kids ? as we can browse the books together, or they can go off with a pad of post it notes and select things that they are interested in doing.

Though Red Ted Art is all about one of my passions KIDS CRAFTS.. I also have another one, that you may be familiar  with SCIENCE (did you know I studied Mechanical Engineering.. well I did)! As mentioned, there are tons of fantastic online resources for Science ? there is Science Sparks, Science Sections on Life at The Zoo, Inspiration Laboratories and of course Fun At Home With Kids ? which brings me to today?s book review: The Curious Kid?s Science Book (get it here US/ UK). A book just takes it all to a different level and it is a much ?nicer? user experience than on the computer.

My instant thoughts about this book are:

• it makes Science an ?every day? ?do able? activity
• it makes Science ?easy?
• every new parent should have one
• a great resource for Primary School teachers (in fact, I will be gifting a copy to my kid?s school)

The Curious Kid?s Science Book (get it here US/ UK)

The book focusses on making science hands on, fun and explorative for 4-8year olds (broadly speaking)

It builds on what children do naturally anyway ? explore, test, discover.

It gives us great resources of every day household items that you can use to have some simple science fun.

And remember.. Science is not ALWAYS about the answer.. it is about the EXPLORATION and the DISCOVER. It is discussing ?what do you think may happen?? and comparing it with ?What did happen?? and can we ?work out why??.

Even though I love Science, I can?t always explain everything to my children. But that isn?t what Science is always about. It is often about introducing concepts and ideas and turning your children into THINKERS and EXPLORERS.

The book is ordered into sections ? such as Engineering?

Evironmental Sciences? (eg. soil erosion, what is it? what can we do about it)

and.. living things. There are many more sections ? including the super fun section all about Baking Soda and Vinegar (what child doesn?t LOVE those explosions). Water and ice (again, my kids can play with water and ice all day ? and they make for great scientific exploration in the summer months). Plants and seeds (someone people seem to forget that biology and growing things actually a very important part of Science and so easy and fun to do with the kids!) and many more.

It is a comprehensive book, touching on many subjects and giving you project after project after project of ideas and activities you can plan with your kids ? over 100 in fact. Many are super quick and easy to set up, some take a little longer. I love seeing modern topics like Environmental Science included ? making it a great resources for schools.

And one more thing: with Red Ted Art, I strive to create childhood memories for my children. I personally have great memories of creating and making with key ?grown ups? in my life. But these childhood memories, don?t have to be ?restricted? to crafts?. these activities and experiments are just as big a part of forming childhood memories. I want my kids to remember exploring growing plants together (and seeing what happens when you add blue water), I want my kids to remember their first baking soda and vinegar explosion (and that Daddy?s idea of using baking POWDER did not work), I want those giggles and expressions of wonder to be associated with longer summer afternoons AT HOME and not just at school. This book is not just about education, but about having fun TOGETHER.

The Curious Kid?s Science Book (get it here US/ UK)

Tags: books, education, parenting, science

Category: Books, Science

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