The One-Minute Writer: Today's Writing Prompt: Wind


Today I am the wind’s interpreter:

Let me breeze in amongst the garments hanging on your washing line.
With my breath and the sun’s rays it’ll be dry in no time.

Let me whistle through the branches with their leaves all turning brown.
With my persistent whipping all the leaves will soon be down.

Let me whip up all the litter that the humans have tossed aside.
Blowing your garbage in your face is the only way I can chide.

The One-Minute Writer: Today's Writing Prompt: Overindulgence

In what way is 21st century society the most overindulgent?

We live in a very overindulgent society.

Single people and couples are living in large executive houses with a lot more rooms than they need.  Many of these people have huge modern kitchens with all the latest mod-cons, but they never use them!   They may have a gleaming stainless steel range cooker, but they never cook!  Instead, they eat out, buy take-aways or perhaps pop a ready meal in the microwave!

People are regularly replacing items such as televisions, mobile phones, computers and furniture, when they are still in good working order.  They do not need to replace these items, but simply want the latest model or just fancy a change.

Many mothers are not dressing their second child in hand-me-down clothes, but buying everything from scratch again!  Clothes are being replaced, rather than mended.

People buy too much food at the supermarket, resulting in fruit, vegetables and bread being thrown out, having gone off!

We live in a very wasteful society!

Click here to find out more about Earth Day.

Today is both World Poetry Day and World Forestry Day.  As a member of Bloggers Unite, I thought I would pay homage to both of these days by sharing a poem about trees, as well as some of  the photographs I have taken of trees in my neighbourhood.

This poem illustrates how important trees are not only to man, but also to birds, animals and plantlife.

The Tree by Anne Kingsmill Finch

Fair tree! for thy delightful shade
‘Tis just that some return be made;
Sure some return is due from me
To thy cool shadows, and to thee.
When thou to birds dost shelter give,
Thou music dost from them receive;
If travellers beneath thee stay
Till storms have worn themselves away,
That time in praising thee they spend
And thy protecting pow’r commend.
The shepherd here, from scorching freed,
Tunes to thy dancing leaves his reed;
Whilst his lov’d nymph, in thanks, bestows
Her flow’ry chaplets on thy boughs.
Shall I then only silent be,
And no return be made by me?
No; let this wish upon thee wait,
And still to flourish be thy fate.
To future ages may’st thou stand
Untouch’d by the rash workman’s hand,
Till that large stock of sap is spent,
Which gives thy summer’s ornament;
Till the fierce winds, that vainly strive
To shock thy greatness whilst alive,
Shall on thy lifeless hour attend,
Prevent the axe, and grace thy end;
Their scatter’d strength together call
And to the clouds proclaim thy fall;
Who then their ev’ning dews may spare
When thou no longer art their care,
But shalt, like ancient heroes, burn,
And some bright hearth be made thy urn.

World Poetry Day aims to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world.

Fraoch Wood asks us to Plant a Tree on World Forestry Day. By planting an indigenous tree you can make a contribution to reducing CO2 emissions and improve biodiversity in your locale during 2010.

Still, it would have been quite inconceivable ten or so years ago, for me to consider writing an article about saving bees.  However, that is what I am finding myself doing today, as part of a campaign on Bloggers Unite.

The Help The Vanishing Bees campaign asks bloggers:

“To draw attention to the bees. They are vanishing in alarming numbers. With out bees we will have half of the food we need.”

 Over the last couple of decades our bee population has been in rapid decline.  There have been many theories put forward as the cause of this decline:

• environmental damage
• weather conditions
• the parasitic varroa mite
• viral disease
• mobile phone masts
• pesticides
• diminishing forage
• GM crops
• bee-keeping practices

However, as yet, the exact reasons are not conclusively known.  Indeed it is likely to be a combination of these factors that is behind bee colony losses.

Many people may be indifferent to the plight of bees.  They might ask what business it is of theirs that this is happening.  Some, especially those with insect phobias, might in fact be happy to see the back of the bees.  Sadly, though, the declining bee population poses serious threats to our survival.  Some scientists have predicted devastating consequences for humans if bees die out.  At best, our quality of life will suffer.

So what are the implications of the demise of bees?  Their demise has serious implications for food supply and the price of goods.  Bees are important pollinators of flowers and crops.  They pollinate many of the fruit and vegetables eaten by humans and that feed livestock.  The economy will suffer greatly if bees die out.   In the UK, the estimated economic value of crops grown commercially that benefit from bee pollination is approximately £165 million per year.

So what can we do about this?  There are several ways that ordinary people, like you and me, can do our bit in helping to save our bee population:

• Plant bee-friendly plants in your garden, such as cornflower, foxglove and thistle.
• Provide shelter in your garden for bees, such as an area of long grass or densely planted flowers.
• Provide a source of water for bees to drink in your garden.
• Reduce the use of pesticides in your garden.
• Encourage solitary bees to nest in your garden by purchasing a special nestbox.  (For more details visit The International Bee Research Association here or Plan Bee here.) NB: Solitary bees do not swarm and will not sting.
• If you don’t have a garden, perhaps you can plant a bee-friendly windowbox or why not adopt a hive? (For more details visit Adopt A Hive.
• Refrain from purposely killing bees and report swarms to your local authority for safe collection and removal by a qualified bee-keeper.

I am personally going to look into buying a selection of bee friendly plants for my garden, and perhaps installing a nest box for solitary bees.  After all, I may not be the humble bee’s biggest fan, but I do love the delicious honey that honey bees produce, and I do enjoy the wide variety of foods available to me through pollination.  It’s only fair that, in return, I do my best for our fuzzy black and yellow friends!

Shopping Lovelies in Navy and Cream

I have a fabulous Trolley Dolly from ZPM London to give away.  This magnificent product in the ‘Shopping Lovelies’ design retails at £29.95 (GBP). 

Trolley-Dolly is the world-first, patented solution to shopping without using a single plastic bag! There are 24 bags all packed neatly in one great outer bag.  For more details on what’s inside and other clever features, you can visit the official ZPM London site here.

Unfortunately, due to the weight of this item, I have to restrict entry to the giveaway to UK and Ireland residents only.

There are several ways to enter:

• Subscribe to my RSS feed and leave a comment to say you‘ve done so.
• Subscribe via email and leave a comment to say you‘ve done so.
• Tweet about this giveaway .and leave a comment to say you‘ve done so.
• Follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/mammakerr (@mammakerr) and leave a comment to say you‘ve done so.
• Fan me on Facebook (see widget below) and leave a comment to say you‘ve done so.
• Stumble this post and leave a comment to say you‘ve done so.
• Bookmark me on any other platform and leave a comment to say you’ve done so.
• Blog about the Mamma Kerr blog and this giveaway and leave a comment with a link to your post.
• Link to this site via the Mamma’s Link page and leave a comment to say you‘ve done so.
• Subscribe to my Top Spots and leave a comment to say you‘ve done so.
• Email at your friends about this blog and the giveaway and copy me in on the email at mammakerrblog[at]yahoo[dot]com, then leave a comment to say that you’ve done so.

Each method mentioned above will gain you one entry into the draw. Whatever, method of entry you choose, you need to also leave a comment on this post to let me know how you have entered.

The draw closes at midnight GMT on Saturday 21st  November 2009. The winner will be chosen by www.random.org and announced on Monday 23^rd November 2009.

NB:  I am an official Ambassadolly for ZPM London.

Thanks for your participation, and good luck!

Congratulations to Claire, who won the pre-school puzzle from Barefoot Books in my previous giveaway, which closed at the weekend.  Well done, Claire.  I’ll be in touch with you soon to arrange delivery…

As an Ambassadolly for ZPM‘s Trolley Dolly, it is my mission to encourage as many people as possible to be plastic bag free!!  By purchasing a fantastic Trolley Dolly, and spreading the word to friends, family, neighbours, colleagues (EVERYONE!), you can do your bit in helping to save the planet too!!

There are currently seven  funky designs to choose from, and each Trolley Dolly contains 24 assorted reuseable carrier bags, to help you with your weekly grocery shopping:

• 10 x carrier bags
• 2 x bottle bags
• 2 x shoulder bags
• 10 x fruit & veg net bags

Each Trolley Dolly has a mobile phone pouch, secure zipped compartment with credit card / store card pockets, a shoulder strap, comprising an address label, and a funky keyring with a Trolley Dolly trolly token.

These fantastic bags currently retail at £24.95 plus £4.50 P&P on the ZPM website.  You can purchase them from me for only £22.95  plus £3.50 P&P.  (That’s a saving of £3.00!!)

So, what are you waiting for?  Simply choose which funky design you would like and order your Trolley Dolly from me today!

You can order by either contacting me by email at

akparties [at] hotmail [dot] co [dot] uk

or from eBay by clicking here.

Together we can help to make the World plastic bag free!

Thanks for visiting!

Welcome to my brand new Ambassadolly blog. 

I am proud to be an official Ambassadolly for ZPM London.  

ZPM is a fantastic company, selling a range of useful products in a variety of funky designs.  They sell beauty bags, purses, aprons, cushions and fabulous eco-friendly shopping bags.  Their most celebrated product is the fantastic Trolley Dolly, which is a funky bag, comprising a selection of reuseable carrier bags, enabling you to do the weekly grocery shopping and help to save the planet!!

As an official Ambassadolly, I can offer you the full range of bags at a discounted price.  All I ask is that you spread the word to EVERYONE you know, so that we can all do our bit for the planet.  Let’s help to make the World plastic bag free!

Thanks for visiting!