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Mez Blume

Author and Adventurer

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A Little Smackerel: Crustimony Proseedcake

A Little Smackerel: Crustimony Proseedcake

If you’ve known me for long, then you will know that I am a great fan of Winne-the-Pooh. 

Although he claims to be “a bear of Very Little Brain,” he seems to me to be a very sensible sort of bear, and very much aware of the important things in life … things life Friendship, Seasons and Honey. 

And I really do empathise with Pooh Bear when he gets that rumbly sort of feeling in his tumbly that tells him it’s time for “a little something.” Bother if I don’t get just that very same feeling about 11 o’clock every day! 

Sometimes when Pooh gets to thinking about what there is to eat, he gets into a bit of a muddle about things (just like me when I’m trying to write a very important scene for a book, but my tummy won’t stop growling at me!). And on one such occasion, when asking Owl for advice on how to find Eeyore’s missing tail, Pooh, thinking about his tumbly, mistook Owl to say… Oh bother. Why don’t I just write it out for you so you can see for yourself?

“Hallo, Pooh,” he [that’s Owl] said. “How’s things?”

“Terrible and Sad,” said Pooh, “because Eeyore, who is a friend of mine, has lost his tail. And 

he’s Moping about it. So could you very kindly tell me how to find it for him?”

“Well,” said Owl, “the customary procedure in such cases is as follows.”

“What does Crustimony Proseedcake mean?” said Pooh. “For I am a bear of Very Little Brain, and long words bother me.”

“It means the Thing to Do.”

“As long as it means that, I don’t mind,” said Pooh, humbly. 

And so you see, I thought perhaps the Thing to Do was to actually make a Crustimony Proseedcake, because, after all, it sounds delicious! All that was needed was a Special Occasion, and one came along last week. We were celebrating our dog Hugo’s 5th Homecoming (we adopted him on 6 February, 2014). And as we frequently call him by the nickname Pooh Bear (because he is, in many ways, similar to that Bear), it seemed appropriate to make the Pooh-inspired cake then.

Would you believe, there was actually a recipe online! If you’d like to try the original, you may find it here: ponderedinmyheart.typepad.com. I made a few Small Tweaks to the recipe to make it Gluten Free, and it turned out Positively Scrumptious! So if you’d like to try Hugo’s version of Crustimony Proseedcake, I shall share the recipe below:

Ingredients:

3 ½ cups of Gluten Free (I used Dove’s Farm) self-rising flour

1 cup of sugar (I used unrefined)

1 cup of mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas)

½ teaspoon of salt

1/3 cup of chia seeds (or poppy, or whatever sort of seeds you have handy)

1 cup of softened butter (or coconut oil)

3 beaten eggs

1 ½ teaspoons of almond extract

1 tablespoon of vanilla

1 cup of milk (I used coconut milk)

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 350 F or 180 C

  1. Cream together the butter and sugar
  2. Beat in the eggs and extracts
  3. Mix all the dry ingredients together
  4. Combine dry ingredients with the buttery/sugary bit
  5. Pop into a lined cake pan 
  6. Cook for 1 hour until the crustimony bit turns nice and golden brown. You can test it with a toothpick. 

After it’s cooled, get your friends together and serve with tea, cream and perhaps a spot of Honey!

What about you? What’s your favourite food from a book? Have you ever tried making a “literary recipe”? If so, I’d love to hear about it! Share it below in the comments or send me an email at mez@riverotterbooks.com!

And speaking of book recipes, did you know you can make the very Cherokee Corn Pone that Katie Watson eats in Serpent Stone? Check out the video & recipe in the Serpent Stone bonus features: http://mezblume.com/serpent-stone/

Vote for your favourite Serpent Stone Illustration

Vote for your favourite Serpent Stone Illustration

The entries are in! Once again, they’ve blown my socks off (brrr, my feet are cold!).

I love hosting illustration contests. They give me the chance to peek inside readers’ imaginations. It’s so much fun to see the worlds and stories I first imagined have taken new shape in your minds as you read. And everyone’s pictures are so different! It just goes to show how we’ve been created with unique ways of viewing the world & telling our stories, whether in words or pictures.

All of our artists are winners for sharing their wonderful imaginations! But, of course, this is a contest, so now it’s your turn to vote. The illustrations are labelled A, B, C & D. Send in your votes on the contact page form. The winner will be announced in February & featured in my next newsletter – don’t miss it!

A.
B.
C.
D.

Fantastic Katie Watson Art from Readers

Fantastic Katie Watson Art from Readers

One thing I can say proudly as an author is, I have some seriously talented readers! I LOVE opening my inbox to find your pictures that have been inspired by one of my books.

So today, I thought I’d share just a few of those gorgeous pieces of art. Keep them coming!

**And for those artsy among you, be sure to enter the Serpent Stone Illustration Contest, starting today! All the info here:

Serpent Stone Illustration contest!

Send me your art! I want to see what your imaginations can cook up. Create an illustration of a scene from the book. Send me a picture of your art at mez@riverotterbooks.com, subject “Illustration Contest”. I’ll display the winners in a special Serpent Stone online gallery!

Start: 15 November – End: 15 January

***

Now enjoy some Katie Watson fan art!

by Amity Burock

This is such a brilliant representation of KATIE WATSON AND THE PAINTER’S PLOT, isn’t it? Amity Burock really captures the characters and the setting with all her attention to tiny details. I love that you can actually read the ingredients of the Inheritance Powder potion!

As impressive as Amity’s art skills are, I was even more impressed when I found out this picture is actually poster sized! Amity created it for her class mystery novel project. I bet she Aced it!

 

by Izzy Kennedy

Wow, Izzy really captures the drama of this scene from KATIE WATSON AND THE SERPENT STONE.  I love the swirl of colours and the stunned girls’ faces as they twirl into the past! It’s a very convincing cave painting and waterfall too. I think Izzy may have a future in illustration…

by Bea Stevens

Vagabond is one of my favourite characters in KATIE WATSON AND THE PAINTER’S PLOT, so you can imagine how pleased I was to receive Bea’s very GOOD drawing of him. I especially like the happy expression on his face – I’m guessing this is Vagabond after he’s been rescued by Jack & Tom with Katie’s help. And I sure am glad Bea decided not to depict any pigeon stomping!

***

Thanks to our artists for sharing these stupendous pieces! Can’t wait to see all of your pictures for the Serpent Stone Illustration Contest!

There Be Monsters? … or a Sea of Tranquility?

There Be Monsters? … or a Sea of Tranquility?

To 1821 and Back Again

As lots of you know, for the past month and a bit, I’ve been officially “off-the-grid.” At the start of May, I bid sayonara to Social Media as I set out on an expedition to the year 1821 to write the next Katie Watson instalment.

The results (i.e. the new book) I shall share with you presently. But for now, I’d like to share the unexpected benefits, the more personal by-products of my writing journey.

In short, unplugging has been so very liberating! … of my time, my thoughts and even my emotions. I had no idea just how insidious a dependency on Social Media could be until I went cold turkey. Only then did I realise how much time and energy I invest in trying to conjure up some image that I’m supposed to be portraying to the world but haven’t the slightest notion of in my own head. Only then did I recognise the lie at large that insists more and more and MORE activity and noise is the only way to gain success in this world of competing activity and noises. Only when I stopped flipping through news feeds did I discover the seeds of envy and discontent I’d been sewing in my thoughts by comparing myself to other seemingly more successful folks who seem to have mastered this idea of “image” so effortlessly. And yet I wonder, how many out there have come away from my posts feeling the same, demoralised way?

Before I go any further, I want to say outright that I don’t mean to demonise these tools or judge their avid users. And I am not, as a result of my time away, planning on going Social Media free from now on. Truth is, they have their place – they can inform us, connect us, broadcast, & show us funny animal pictures that bring us a swift smile in the midst of a busy day.

But are Social Media sites the golden key, the silver bullet, the Jacob’s Ladder to our success? As for myself, a small-fry children’s author, I choose to believe the answer is no. Why? Because success that comes at the price of discontentment, anxiety and brain clutter is no success at all. I want to connect with people. Truly connect. And if I have to go the long way around to do that, it will have been well worth the journey.

So, here is my resolution on the back of my Adventure to 1821 (Great Smokey Mountains where, as Katie Watson’s father puts it, “you’re more likely to see smoke signals than internet signals here,”): I vow to do my utmost NOT to add to the noise for the heck of it. After all, noise is the last thing we or our kids need these days, safe to say? My mission is to write for their benefit, their edification, and yes, for their pure, imagination-sparking enjoyment, and to keep the means to that end as pure and simple and honest as a morning walk in the woods.

All that said and set in (digital) ink, I am excited to share Katie Watson’s next adventure with you only a few months’ time, and I hope you and your young readers find it, as I did writing it, a refreshing getaway from all the noise.

Now for a few mementoes from my adventures to Cherokee Country, 1821:

Mez Blume
Caves feature in a big way in Katie Watson’s new adventure.

 

mez blume
Ruby Falls. Had to include a cave waterfall in the book after seeing this!

 

Mez Blume
Lover’s Leap on Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga. Can’t you just hear the Song of Hiawatha?

 

Mez Blume
Meeting Sequoyah (the Bear) in Cherokee, NC

 

Mez Blume
A real frontier home – in Cherokee, NC. Did you know the Cherokee lived in log cabins (not teepees!)?

 

Mez Blume
Writing Katie Watson 2 at Base Camp in Llangorse, Wales (while Hugo naps).

Huzzah for our Spring Illustration Contest Winners!!!

Huzzah for our Spring Illustration Contest Winners!!!

The votes are in! After receiving a flood of absolutely, mind-bogglingly beautiful artwork for last

Mez Blume, Daily Doses of Magic
Click to download!

month’s spring illustration competition, the winners have at last been selected. Their illustrations really do bring to life the pages of my poem Daily Doses of Magic. But don’t take my word for it! You can download the fully illustrated PDF or ebook right here!

I’d like to take a moment to introduce our winning artists along with their masterpieces… if you’d care to join me on this virtual art gallery tour…

Kaeden Wyatt  

Kaeden is 12 years old and lives in Statham, Georgia. This beautifully imagined crayon drawing of April, with the sun’s rays erupting over rolling green hills, was done in art class and chosen because April is Kaeden’s favourite month. Wouldn’t you just love to take a morning stroll through this valley?

Mez Blume, Daily Doses of Magic
April by Kaeden Wyatt

 

 

 Michael Bruce Davis

At 7-years-old, Michael Bruce is the youngest contributing artist to our book. But I think you’ll agree his magical and slightly spooky painting of Wolf Howling at the September Moon is a true masterpiece. Can’t you just hear the bone-chilling howl drifting on the autumn wind?

Mez Blume, Daily Doses of Magic
Wolf Howling at the September Moon by Michael Bruce Davis

Nora Davis

Nora is 10-years-old and lives on a farm in Newbury, South Carolina. Perhaps the peaceful pastures and open sky where she lives inspired her eye-popping painting of the Harvest Moon Rising, which she creating using a mixture of acrylic paint and watercolours.

Mez Blume, Daily Doses of Magic
Harvest Moon Rising by Nora Davis

Abby Davis

Those detective eyes among you may have noticed a trend — three of our artists share the same surname, “Davis.” Matter of fact, these three belong to the same arty family. At 16 years, Abby no doubt has been an inspiration to her younger budding artist siblings. Abby’s skill mixed with her unique imagination work their magic to bring her pictures to life, whether a balmy beach scene in July, a woodland walk beside an icy stream in February or her Full Harvest Moon which is so very magical, I selected it to feature on the cover of Daily Doses of Magic.

Mez Blume, Daily Doses of Magic
July by Abby Davis, acrylic & oil paints

Mez Blume, Daily Doses of Magic
A chilly walk in the woods of February holds its own adventure with the discovery of an icy stream. Sketched in pencil

Mez Blume, Daily Doses of Magic
This full harvest moon of September was done in watercolours, dotted with acrylic painted stars.

A huge congrats to our contest winners! Don’t miss out on seeing their illustrations in full glory. Snatch up a copy of Daily Doses of Magic & add some dazzle to your day!

Get your Daily Doses of Magic!

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