Cairn Rodrigues, I have left you till last,

And it’s not because your blog isn’t great,

Nor is it less good than those I’ve praised in the past,

So here I’m setting the record straight.

You write with great passion about all sorts of stuff,

About over-priced packaging, taking the smooth with the rough.

You’ve given us extracts from your forthcoming book,

And fantasy fans will be anxious to sneak the first look!

You talk about TV and your favourite show,

What you listen to most on the radio.

You talk of your past at Cafe 455,

Where you managed the kitchen with vision and drive.

You’ve wandered through markets, exploring fresh food,

Your blog is eclectic and boy is it good!

So go take a look at The Light Stealers Song,

And reader, you’ll find that in this I’m not wrong.

This blog is written by Suerae Stein,

She’s spent 18 odd years doing graphic design,

Her photos and artworks are truly divine, 

And oh, she’s written a book!

She and her colleagues, that’s Ralph and Wayne,

Produce beautiful pictures again and again,

The images stick and expand in your brain,

Excellence is clearly their ‘hook’.

They print photos on an apron, a canvas or tile

The photos and pictures will make you smile,

You’ll be transported for a magical while,

So why don’t you go take a look.

Carol Tomany’s blog’s Divine Knits,

And this is misleading folks, because it’s,

Posts about words like gravid/arcane,

Of problems with hotmail, the V&A,

Photos of garlic and nice cups of tea,

A pizza parlour in NYC.

She writes about lobster and a word a day,

She encourages you to ‘tricoter’,

She buys macaroons at her local cafe,

Asks what to eat on Valentine’s Day.

The best sites for knitting expertise,

Maple syrup recipes.

Her blog’s about the urge to create,

In business, the arts, our human state,

She proclaims herself a wordophile,

I suggest you go visit her blog for a while.

For Alessa I wrote a chocolate post,

Rather than something about Carolina,

But she cooks Italian, the food I love most,

So I’m aiming to descend on her ‘diner’!

She also writes frankly about bits and bobs,

She writes about travel, she writes about tea,

What she herself monikers a ‘hodge podge’,

She writes about buildings and slavery.

She writes about dogs and on decorations,

Of autism and of the colour blue,

About Elvis and beer and celebrations,

In pursuit of happiness chapters one and two.

Her blog is full of a homespun charm,

Go check it out, it’s an oasis of calm…

 So did you really think I’d forgotten,

To mention your post?

Your reputation’s righteously gotten,

Your blog’s more eclectic than most.

Your comments are pithy and full of dry wit,

Mr Ackerman, you seem to always get ‘it’,

You always show humour and quite some foresight,

And Roy Ackerman you are invariably right!

How about Ramblin’ with Alana Mautone?

She’s a 60 year old blogger in upstate New York,

She writes about customer service via phone,

Of autism, chocolate, a good gardening fork.

One of her passions is the US Civil War,

Others are flowers or locally grown food,

Photography, Wall-E, her brother-in-law,

Community gard’ning in the neighbourhood.

Want to talk Bond films with Connery or Moore?

Or sci-fi movies, well, just because…

Star Wars, The Matrix, The Terminator,

Perhaps Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz?

Her musical taste’s for the odd Beatle hit,

Or something retro from the ’80’s pop scene,

She’s a fan of young adult dystopian lit,

Of care-giving, the world and points in between.

Go Ramble with AM and your journey’s begun,

You’ll find a 60 year old’s company is really good fun!

Veronica Sheather and Cher Fauvel,

It seems that I have neglected you,

I need to create a short bagatelle,

I’ve some serious catching up to do.

If you want to learn about Food That Sings,

Or enjoying some Food In The Raw,

You’ll learn all this, amongst other things,

And you’ll want to start learning more.

You’ll learn about eggplants or aubergines,

You’ll learn to make smoothies or juices or shakes,

You’ll learn the importance of eating your greens,

You might even master some raw recipe cakes!

You’ll start to lose weight,

Your skin will feel young,

You’ll finish your plate,

You’ll feel Spring has been sprung!

Your health will improve,

And your appetite,

You’ll get in the groove,

You’ll feel well, you’ll feel bright.

Try it! You’ll find to your huge surprise,

The fat disappears from your bum and your thighs,

And soon you become a real happy camper,

So sit down and open that great raw food hamper!

Lover of Creating Flavours,

Is who I’m writing about,

My palate yearns, yes it savours,

To try everything out,

Just a small pinch of this,

And a soupçon of that,

The pans bubble and hiss,

There’s informal chitchat.

I feel like eating lunch with her family,

There’s bacon for breakfast, home-made bread baked for tea.

She owns almost every cookbook that’s ever been written,

But she cooks by the flavour, one taste and you’re smitten.

So what’s in the freezer?

She needs to make dinner,

It’ll be a taste teaser,

A guaranteed winner.

She’ll tempt you with soup or a scrumptious ragout,

Some fried calamari, a warming beef stew.

A quick Bloody Mary, a nice leg of lamb,

A herb-infused vinegar, a nice chilli jam,

The magic’s created by flavour, by taste,

And not one single peeling or scrap goes to waste!

It’s fed to the worms who provide composting juice,

To feed all our herbs and our veg garden produce.

So that’s Anita-Clare Field, she cooks with her wits,

She’s prodigiously gifted and I love her to bits!

I am currently indulging in therapy,
Of the neurological physio kind,
It tightens your stomach, engages your core,
And starts to give you a pert backside.
They free your neck, your ribs, your knees,
They stretch the muscles in your thighs,
They say their aim’s to aid that ‘squeeze’,
To help you balance, to mobilise’.
“Grow tall on the left to pull the right leg through”,
So you follow their mantra and it feels good,
Then repeat and repeat so the message gets through,
So body and  mind  have both understood.
They find a buzz word that just suits you,
And this becomes a constant, repeated refrain,
Photos are taken for you to review,
To see each improvement, each muscular gain.
Targets are set, to reach and surpass,
And meeting them feels like a battle’s been won,
But if you actually better their forecast,
You feel like a hero, a true Amazon.
There is just one point that I MUST underscore,
A physio wants to achieve the best outcome for you,
So when she announces, “Just the one more!”,
It’s NEVER just one, it’s going to be three, four or two!