Filthy Rich

Three illegitimate children discover they each have a claim to the fortune of one of NZ’s wealthiest men, John Truebridge. With so much money on the line, John’s legitimate family will do anything to stop these new, unexpected heirs!

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I stumbled across this series quite by accident, and this is one fall I’m glad I had; the characters are interesting and compelling, and their loyalties shift with every episode until you don’t know who’s working with who, what they’re after, or who you should be rooting for.

In keeping with the nature of this series, which has more surprises than I can count, the ending is shocking and completely unexpected, with actions and revelations I did not see coming. I don’t know if there is going to be a second series, but I really hope there will be because I want to know what’s next for the characters.

If you haven’t seen this yet, and you like a good drama, then make sure you check it out; I’m sure you’ll love it as much as I did.

Raised by Wolves

The Garry family are an unconventional family; Della raises her six children (five daughters and one son) in a small house with the help of their grandfather, who has split from their grandmother, where they are home-schooled and taught the art of fending for themselves in the big bad world. Among the lessons they are taught is the art of furnishing a house from car-boot sales.

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I stumbled across this series by accident after seeing a one-off and absolutely loved it. There’s so many great characters in it, and they’re all great in different ways; the writing is spot on and does a wonderful job of mixing funny dialogue, physical comedy and sight gags. This won’t be to everyone’s taste, some of the comedy is a little cringe-inducing, based as it is on the almost overpowering hormones of the eldest daughter, but I still laugh at it even as I cringe.

I love comedies, but it’s rare that I actually laugh out loud at something, this makes me do that often, though. I can’t wait for the next series.

A busy day

I’ve got a lot to do today, it’s mum’s birthday so I’m taking her out for lunch, I’ve got to go to the shops so I can get a saw – some of the old furniture needs breaking down into manageable pieces before they can be got rid of – and I’ve got to do some work on my novel; other things will probably crop up as well.

Since I’m busy, I’ll have to find the time to put up a review later on; for now, though, I’ve put the latest chapter, #5, of Where There’s A Will, on Wattpad.

Chapter Five

Stone took the steps two at a time as he ascended to the fifth floor of the grandly named Harper Tower, which was really nothing more than a high-rise consisting of low rent flats occupied primarily by single mums, the unemployed, and other benefit recipients. The lift, a cold, steel box that stank of urine and was decorated with badly spelled graffiti, like the stairwell, was out of order; that surprised neither Stone nor Burke, both of whom were sure the lift was out of order more often than it was working.

By the time they reached the fifth floor Stone was a little out of breath, he wasn’t as bad as he would have been a year or so ago, before he quit smoking after a successful campaign of nagging from his wife, but it was enough to remind him that he was still out of shape. In contrast, Burke breathed easily at his side and showed no sign of the exertion; Stone envied his partner his fitness and his clean-living lifestyle, but not enough to emulate it.

If you’d like to read the rest of this chapter you can find it here – https://www.wattpad.com/311164962-where-there%27s-a-will-chapter-five

I’ll be back later to get some more done. Hope you all have a good day in the mean time.

That time of life

This is going to sound a little dreary but it seems as though I’ve reached that time of life (40 is approaching with the speed of Usain Bolt) when family members start to pass on with a distressing regularity; I’ve had three leave for the next life (I don’t know what it might be but I hope it’s a nice place) in as many years.

Losing family is bad enough, but when they go you have to clear out their things, decide what needs to be kept, what you’d like to keep, and what should really have been gotten rid of many years ago. This is what I have been doing for the past week or so.

I came home from a few years away to settle down and get serious about my writing, hence this blog, to discover that the family home has become a haven for all the belongings of those family members who are no longer with us, and it seems as though my family is a group of pack rats, hoarders and collectors, so there’s more than you might imagine to sort out. A few of the things I’ve discovered in just the few days spent on the task so far include a book presented to my great-aunt in the 1930’s for perfect attendance at school, commemorative items from the queen’s coronation, a vast abundance of collectible cars and bears (my step-dad was a big collector), a small library’s worth of books, and a birth certificate dating back to 189- I’m not sure exactly because it’s hard to read.

Some of these, obviously are well worth keeping as mementos of people no longer with me, while others, like the charity shop books my great-uncle liked to buy but never read are not. Occasionally, however, you come across something really special, something that needs to be shared; among the items I’ve discovered is some of my great-uncle’s artwork – he was never famous as an artist but he was incredibly good.

He never made money off his paintings, that I know of, which focused mostly on landscapes, horses and WWII aircraft scenes (though I did discover a few more salacious pictures that he did, some of which could be considered artful and others which are a little kinky) but he did make a lot of money from his cartoons, which featured for many years in the national newspapers.

Since I’ve found these treasures, which I have to admit has given me great pleasure, I remember with fondness the hand painted Christmas cards I used to get as a child, I thought I would share some of them with you all. I hope you like them.

Please do let me know what you think, it would be nice to know that others think them as good as I do.

 

I’ve had to do a bit of editing to deal with my poor photography, I hope Roy won’t be upset, wherever he is.