Sunshine Blogger Award

A huge thank you to Mark Bierman for nominating me for the Sunshine Blogger Award. You can read Mark’s lovely post here: https://markbierman.wordpress.com/2020/01/13/sunshine-blogger-award/. Mark has a great book about child traffic called Vanished. He has handled this disturbing topic every well. You can read my review of it here: Goodreads Review

For accepting the Sunshine Blogger Award nomination, there are a few rules:

• Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you and link back to their blog.

• Answer 11 questions the blogger asked you.

• List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award in your blog post.

• Nominate 11 new bloggers & their blogs. Leave a comment on their blog to let them know they received the award and ask your nominees 11 new questions.

I love to know what makes people ‘tick’ so here are 11 questions for you. I promise, nothing embarrasing. If there are any questions you do not wish to answer, please feel free to give them a pass.

1. What is the most extreme “sport” you’ve done (if any)?

I used to instruct spinning at the local gym. I taught 10 classes a week. I also used to cycle and I road the Argus Cycle Race in Cape Town a few times. It is just under 100 km. We also cycled in a number of other cycling races.

I have also tried skiing when I visited South Korea. I had an accident, but wasn’t injured badly.

2. Do you have a favorite travel destination? If so, where?

Yes, I like to go to the UK. It is so full of places of historical and literary interest. We went to York and traveled through the whole of Scotland last year. We have also been to London, Essex, Canterbury, Dover, Suffolk and Reading. We are going to Bath, Glastonbury and London this year.

3. What is your favorite blog topic?

I don’t really have a favourite topic. I blog book reviews for children and poetry books mainly, fondant art and occasionally recipes, as well as poetry and some fictional prompts on Robbie’s Inspiration.

I blog book reviews of horror, science fiction, classics, paranormal and other adult novels, extracts from my WIP’s, thoughts on reading and writing, dark poetry and writing prompts and anything else that takes my fancy on Roberta Writes.

I post promotional material and reviews of mine and other people’s books on Robbie Cheadle which is my flagship website.

4. Do you have a prefered time of day to blog? When?

I usually blog in the early mornings, 5.30am to 6.30am and again in the evenings from 6.30pm to 8pm. After that I check my sons homework and read with them until 9.30pm. We usually go to be at 10pm. On weekend days, I write in the mornings from 6am to 8am and again in the afternoon, if possible. I blog in between and on a Sunday evening.

5. Do you drink coffee while you blog?

No, I drink tea and water.

6. Do you have pets?

We have two cats, Push-Push and Smudgy. Push-Push is a clever cat and often visits me in the mornings.

I am not a big dog person as they damage the garden. Sorry friends, but this is the truth.

7. If you were trying to fix a broken shovel handle and a 500 pound gorilla came up to you with a roll of tape, what would you do?

Take the tape, of course. We don’t have gorilla’s in South Africa, we have baboons. They are very naughty and steal food from the resorts in the bush. They have large teeth and can be dangerous.

8. Do you prefer to swim in a pool or a natural body of water?

I don’t like water and I am highly allergic to sea water. I don’t swim as chlorine in swimming pools also effects my skin and we have Bilharzia, or schistosomiasis in many of our natural rivers and bodies of water so it isn’t advisable to swim just anywhere in South Africa.

9. It’s Thanksgiving- turkey, some other type of meat, or no meat?

We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here. We celebrate Christmas though and we usually have chicken and gammon (eaten cold). Sometimes we have cold roast lamb or beef. It is very hot here at Christmas time which is why we have cold meats and salad for Christmas. Sometimes I host Christmas in July and we have a hot roast lamb, potatoes and vegetables meal.

10. Given the choice, would you prefer a spider or a snake in your home?

Haha, we get spiders in our home all the time. Great big rain spiders as big as Terence’s hand and tiny jumping black spiders. We also get Daddy-long-legs spiders here. Sometimes we get snakes in the garden too, but none of our local ones are poisonous. You get Mozambique spitting cobras sometimes in Pretoria and surrounds, but I haven’t heard of one hear. We had a crocodile in the local dam and a hyena in the local park once too.

11. What type of music do you listen to?

I like ’80’s music. My favourite music is from Broadway and theatre productions and my favourite musicals are Cabaret and Mame.

I nominate the following bloggers for this award:

Beth from https://ididnthavemyglasseson.com/;

Smitha from https://lifeateacher.wordpress.com/about/

Ritu from https://butismileanyway.com/

Lorraine from https://blindwilderness.wordpress.com/

Marcia from https://marciamearawrites.com/

Ellen from https://ellenbest24.wordpress.com/

Willow from https://willowdot21.wordpress.com/

Janet from https://tidalscribe.wordpress.com/

Kamal from https://boundlessblessingsblog.wordpress.com/

Patty from https://campbellsworld.wordpress.com/

Esther from https://esthernewtonblog.wordpress.com/

Dan from https://nofacilities.com/about/

Annette from https://annetterochelleaben.wordpress.com/

Teagan from https://teagansbooks.com/

Traci from https://tracikenworth.com/

I realised that I forgot to include questions. Haha, I think that is quite amusing. Anyhow, I am now being a bit lazy and using Mark’s great questions.