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Living on the Edge 113; the Doomsday Book…

Hello Everybody and a happy Thursday to you. Things have been a bit fraught over here. Ever since Living on the Edge 113 learned that he was not going to be part of the Betty Pepper 2021 calendar (available in my shop) a grand stropping began and a dark, broody tale has been brewing. (You may want a cushion to hide behind) He has now left the building and gone to Byard Art for their Christmas exhibition. I do hope he is behaving himself… Living on the Edge 113; the Doomsday Book…

Everything about the clearing had screamed ‘don’t be here’ when Jack happened upon it. But he hadn’t heard. He hadn’t smelled the fetid air or felt the chill run through his wiring. He hadn’t noticed the trees leaning slowly inwards to inspect him more closely, drip, drip, dripping. He spent a while sweeping fallen branches and pulling at the undergrowth until he had created just enough space to settle himself. He hadn’t even felt the sinister presence of the lone owl watching him. But as night fell he began to hear what could’ve been the wind but could also have been wolves and for the first time he wondered if he’d made a mistake… xxx

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Living on the Edge; Miss January

Hello Everybody how does Thursday find you? Today I am sending out virtual hugs and looking forward to better times ahead. With that in mind I am sharing my calendar for next year. There are some 2021 calendars still available so if you’re looking for an original Christmas gift idea, please do take a look. I know that Miss January would be particularly grateful…This is Miss January. She is one of the pieces who never got to tell her story. This was eating away at her I could tell. But I have put it to rights by including her in the Betty Pepper 2021 calendar which is available in my shop here.

She was overjoyed to be first. There was a bit of a tussle over who had the biggest claim to the position because there were others who had unintentional gagging orders imposed who felt hard done by and in need of some compensation. Needless to say there are still things that can’t be mentioned for fear of lighting touch papers… xxx

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Living on the Edge 112; the Last Resort…

Hello Everybody. How are you feeling today? The second lockdown is underway here and we are keeping our spirits up by drinking tea and listening to the over-excited running commentary on an indoor downhill slalom event happening at the other end of the table… Living on the Edge 112; the Last Resort…

Cressida couldn’t understand for the life of her what possessed the others to gleefully throw themselves down the mountainside without any safety net and hurtle at enormous speed to the bottom, only to climb back up and do it all over again. And again. She’d stopped counting the number of times fractures and other serious injuries were incurred. Not to mention the risk of coming off too soon and falling to their deaths. But far be it for her to spoil everyone else’s fun. Marco loved it and Cressida loved Marco. She sat at the foot of the mountain drinking chocolate soup with the locals watching the day’s high jinx unfold pretending she’d sprained her footings earlier that morning… xxx

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Living on the Edge 111; Worldly Wise

Hello Everybody, are you fine? I thought all was well here until I came back after lunch to find an act of revenge in full swing… Living on the Edge 111; Worldly Wise

If he’d had a penny for the number of times he’d wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole, Jed would’ve been the richest house in town. He was always finding some new way to embarrass himself. Little did he know that the world was about to grant his wish. She had feelings too and was tired of being walked all over, ignored and mistreated. She had grown weary of trying to spin the inhabitants off her surface having never quite managed to get fast enough. She had decided instead that she would consume them. One by one. And Jed was next. She’d take pleasure reminding him of that old adage to be careful of what you wish for… xxx

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Living on the Edge 110; Cross Stitches…

Good morning Everybody. How are you? I’m not sure how things are going to unfold today as there have been goings on in the night. I am preparing for ends of tethers and frayed tempers… Living on the Edge 110; Cross Stitches…

When Lena had started cross-stitch the others had been very pleased that she’d finally found an outlet for her creativity. And she was good at it. She made pictures and bags and cushions and very quickly filled her interior with cross-stitched items galore. Then she started to fill the other’s homes with cross-stitched gifts some more successful than others. The cross-stitched toaster, she admitted, was a fire hazard. Soon she was unstoppable and in full thrall of her mania Lena moved to her surroundings cross-stitching her way across the bluff.Bill, who had so far said very little, was about to awake to discover that, during the night, she had begun to cross stitch him … xxx

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Living on the Edge 117; the Fleet

Hello Everybody how is your autumn so far? It’s all gone a bit soggy here. These little boats have set sail over to the lovely madebyhandonline.com not a moment too soon as this morning I have been hearing Morse code dotting and dashing from the far corner of the table. It’s getting a bit annoying because I can’t translate it and they know it… Living on the Edge 117; the Fleet…

During the busyness of the day The Fleet had been carefully hiding themselves in plain sight. A trick the captain had taught them for it was not easy to hide when you were their size. However, everybody else had seemed far too engrossed in their own comings and goings to note The Fleet quietly waiting for the calm of the evening to descend. Now, in the fading light, they put out to sea and stealthily made their way around the coast evading radar with their onboard jammers. I do know what they were up to but I am unable to tell. All crew members had signed the Official Secrets Act and, as I had been heavily involved in the planning and building, I too had to sign. Suffice it to say their mission was top secret and involved much paperwork. If you do happen to spot them keep it under your hat won’t you… xxx

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Living on the Edge 109; the Great Divide

Morning Everybody. Happy Tuesday to you. Two things today first, a big thank you to everybody who already bought a Betty Pepper 2021 calendar. There are still some available if anybody is wanting to be in before the Christmas (Shhh! I know) rush. They’re waiting in my shop https://bettypepper.co.uk/shop/ And second, a tale of bravery…

Living on the Edge 109; the Great Divide…The village of Grandle Duke had been a divided village since time immemorial. Legend had it that the giant, Haeddne McGlenn, had pulled the cliff apart with his bare hands in a fight with the ocean in ancient times. Unfortunately the divided nature of the geography had seeped into the psyche of the villagers and most houses barely even looked at one another at all. Valerie wanted to change all this, she wanted village gatherings and knitting circles and friendly hellos every day. She’d had the local building firm in who had reluctantly agreed to build her a bridge across to the other side but said they didn’t fancy its chances. Today it was its grand opening. Valerie was going to totter across with teabags, a kettle, 2 types of biscuit and 3 bottles of fizzy wine and see if she could start a new era… xxx

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Living on the Edge 107; Thought Full

Good afternoon Everybody, what’s today like for you? It’s a bit dank and gloomy here. Over in the corner of the workshop, despite being under glass, some loud disgruntledness is going on. I may have to lift said glass and have a word… Living on the Edge 107; Thought Full

Jim looked at Grace and Grace looked at Lyle. All three of them tutted and looked skywards. Archie had gone too far. There was a time when he was just like them but latterly he had claimed that he had so much going on in his mind that he needed to build himself a thought extension. This had come in the form of a dome. A very large dome. Since the work he had more than quadrupled in size and the truth was they were running out of space themselves.

Overhead, the birds circled in hope that they might catch a useful random thought that the new dome couldn’t quite contain. “Some hope,” said Lyle rolling his eyes “the last thought I heard from him was about manufacturing wrappers for slugs”… xxx

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Living on the Edge; the Calendar

Hello Everybody happy Tuesday! That thing I was telling you about last week. The new thing. It’s a few days later than I hoped but what’s a few days between friends? Well anyway it’s here…

A limited edition Betty Pepper calendar for 2021. The houses have been beside themselves with excitement. They think it’s about time they were celebrated and given a month to be in charge of. One of the delays has been the arguments over who would have which month. The bickering has been quite incessant at times. They have tasked Pete with climbing up to find out who has been featured. Pete, of course, believes that every picture will be of him…

The calendar will be available on my website from today. It’s even got some previously untold stories. Hope it makes you smile every month. Find it here… xxx

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Living on the Edge 106; the Boat House

Hello Everybody, how are you today? I thought I’d start early this morning as something new will be happening later this week. Bursting to tell you but there’s an awful lot of crash, crash, busy, busy, work, work, bang, bang to be done yet… Meanwhile, oblivious to all this… Living on the Edge 106; the Boat House…

All his life Ambrose had been considered bad luck. The other boats in the marina shunned him and the older sailors refused to travel with him fearing they would be lost at sea forever. And all because he had a boy’s name. He’d heard them talking behind their portholes about him and it hurt. The sad thing was, had they actually bothered to talk to him, they would have found that he was actually a lot of fun to be with, very kind and full of laughter. He was just a little bit shy.

It was time to change tack. He invested in a new coat of the brightest yellow paint he could find, did one last check for seaworthiness and bravely set sail. He was going to find where he belonged… xxx