I saw this over at Mummifiedtimesfive, a favourite blog of mine and thought what a great idea so I thought I would do it as well!

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Daring rodent shows puzzled leopard exactly who’s boss by stealing its lunch.

This mouse diced with death when it tucked into the lunch of a hungry leopard.

Seemingly unaware of the beast towering over it, the mischievous rodent grabbed at scraps of meat thrown into the African Leopard’s enclosure.

But instead of pouncing on the the tiny intruder the 12-year-old leopard, called Sheena, appeared to be afraid of the daring mouse and kept her distance.

At one stage she tried to nudge the mouse away with her nose, but the determined little chap carried on chewing away until he was full.

Excuse me? A perturbed Sheena the leopard looks on as a cheeky mouse nibbles her food at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire…

The extraordinary scene was captured by photography student Casey Gutteridge at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire.

The 19-year-old, from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, who was photographing the leopard for a course project, was astounded by the mouse’s Behaviour.

He said: ‘I have no idea where the mouse came from – he just appeared in the enclosure after the keeper had dropped in the meat for the leopard.

‘He didn’t take any notice of the leopard, just went straight over to the meat and started feeding himself.

‘But the leopard was pretty surprised – she bent down and sniffed the mouse and flinched a bit like she was scared.

‘In the meantime the mouse just carried on eating like nothing had happened.

…but even a gentle shove does not deter the little creature from getting his fill…

‘It was amazing, even the keeper who had thrown the meat into the enclosure was shocked – he said he’d never seen anything like it before.’

Project owner Jackie James added: ‘It was so funny to see – Sheena batted the mouse a couple of times to try to get it away from her food.

‘But the determined little thing took no notice and just carried on.’

Sheena was brought in to the Santago Rare Leopard Project from a UK zoo when she was just four months old.

She is one of 14 big cats in the private collection started by Jackie’s late husband Peter in 1989.

The African Leopard can be found in the continent’s forests, grasslands, savannas, and rainforests.

…so the mouse continued to eat the leopard’s lunch and show the leopard who was boss

The leopard is the most elusive of all the big cats. They are solitary animals and are primarily nocturnal – preferring to hunt at night.

The species is also a strong climber and is capable of killing prey larger than itself.

The leopard’s prey ranges from fish, reptiles and birds to smaller mammals such as hares and monkeys.

A stealthy hunter, leopard’s are known to to stalk close to their prey and run a relatively short distance on the hunt.

They kill by grabbing their prey by the throat and biting down with their jaws and store their larger kills in trees – out of the reach of prowling lions and hyenas.

Kicked Out ~ Richard W Hardwick

Sixteen-year-old Danny is kicked out by his parents and has nowhere to go but a shelter for homeless teenagers. There he finds a friend in the more experienced Goochy, who helps him find his feet. But the other residents are every bit as troubled and complex as Danny, and with drugs, alcohol, crime, sex and violence always on the cards, the house is soon simmering like a pressure cooker about to blow. In this turbulent environment, between binges and wild escapades, Danny begins to reflect and grow. But a discovery about his family places him under a pressure he cannot contain…

Kicked Out draws on the author’s experiences of working with young homeless and young offenders and is essential reading for anyone hoping to understand today’s unwanted youth. Hard-hitting and unsentimental without being bleak, gripping, at times hilarious – you will never look at kids on the street in the same way again.

My thoughts:

I knew from the very first page that this book was going to be great and I was right; I finished it in four days which for me, is very quick!

The book follows the life of Danny, a 16 year old who finds himself in a Children’s Home. He quickly makes friends, and enemies. Bearing in mind that the author is writing from his own experiences of working in such an environment I found this book really rather sad that these forgotten children could end up living such a life.

The characters were all so different and each had their own individual traits. Some I found really rather amusing and I laughed at their antics. The children had all been abused in one way or another and its not surprising that they were mostly very angry and turned to drink and drugs for a release.

Apart from Danny ‘the angry new one’, my favourite characters were Goochy ‘the experienced one’, Paul ‘the smackhead’ and Lucy ‘the I’m too good to be here one’.

The storyline was brilliant and I haven’t stopped raving about this book to all those that would listen. It has given me some real insight into how homeless children are cared for and the reputation that they are often given when all they really wanted was to be loved. They are the way they are because of other people mistreating them.

I feel that I could write and write about this book but I wouldn’t want to give anything away.

A gripping book which I couldn’t put down and when I finished it, I hugged my 13 year old son a little tighter.

I really hope the author writes some more books about his experiences.

The lovely people over at Beautful Books have given me the opportunity to review their books.

I picked three which are as follows:

Kicked Out ~ Richard W Hardwick

Sixteen-year-old Danny is kicked out by his parents and has nowhere to go but a shelter for homeless teenagers. There he finds a friend in the more experienced Goochy, who helps him find his feet. But the other residents are every bit as troubled and complex as Danny, and with drugs, alcohol, crime, sex and violence always on the cards, the house is soon simmering like a pressure cooker about to blow. In this turbulent environment, between binges and wild escapades, Danny begins to reflect and grow. But a discovery about his family places him under a pressure he cannot contain…

Kicked Out draws on the author’s experiences of working with young homeless and young offenders and is essential reading for anyone hoping to understand today’s unwanted youth. Hard-hitting and unsentimental without being bleak, gripping, at times hilarious – you will never look at kids on the street in the same way again.

Looking for Leticia ~ Alan Johns

The fiction debut from Soho Theatre-schooled writer Alan Johns. A wonderful rite of passage for protagonist Sam, from a dull English office to the dangerous sex trafficking gangs of South America. Full of shocking, hilarious sexual and criminal encounters on the way, the dialogue crackles with life. Haruki Murakami meets Patricia Highsmith in this cool and elegant work.

The Wrecking Ball ~ Christiana Spens

With echoes of F Scott Fitzgerald, The Wrecking Ball defines the culture right now: Generation Z. Can there possibly be more to life than opulence and size zero?

The Wrecking Ball intimately follows four friends as their summer reaches a crescendo of music, heat and hedonism. Rich and degenerate, Alice, Harry, Rose and Hugo traverse the clubs and crevices of London, music festivals disturbing the English countryside, parties in Manhattan and break-downs in hotel rooms.

…A dazzling world of music, models and Moët; enough to attract and entrance the newest, freshest London beauties for a while. They are in pursuit of meaning but achieve no more than momentary vengeance on a dissipated reality overflowing with Wonderland-like dreamy cocktails. These delicate socialites and libertines float to the edge of their gilded youth and wonder whether they can stop in time.

A satirical glimpse into a world of excess and distress, The Wrecking Ball is an invitation into an intoxicating swirl of parties, trips and debauchery. As the jet-set crash and madness dominates the glaring summer, the dream of decadence becomes a nightmare of consequential decay. The Wrecking Ball is the low-down on the comedown of a generation: what happens when the party ends?

I have started Kicked Out today and think that it is going to be great!

Thank you Beautiful Books!

Synopsis from Waterstones

‘My beautiful girls. If you’ve read this, you’ll know it contains some – not all, but some – of the things I want my daughters to know. And the greatest of these is love …’ How would you say goodbye to those you love most in the world? Barbara must say a final farewell to her four daughters. But how can she find the words? And how can she leave them when they each have so much growing up to do? There’s commitment-phobic Lisa. Brittle, unhappily married Jennifer. Free-spirited traveller Amanda. And teenage Hannah, stumbling her way towards adulthood. Barbara’s answer is to write each daughter a letter, finally expressing the hopes, fears, dreams and secrets she couldn’t always voice. These words will touch the girls in different – sometimes shocking – ways, unlocking emotions and passions to set them on their own journey of discovery through life.

My thoughts

What a lovely book. I don’t normally read much ‘chick lit’ but this book was recommended to me by the BCF and has really reflected what I have recently gone through with my mum.

Barbara, the girls mum is dying of cancer and has written each of them a letter to read when she is gone and also had kept a Journal of her fight with cancer.

The book follows the four daughters and their lives and how they deal with their mums death. At times funny, at times sad but nevertheless a lovely lovely book. I could relate to so much of this book and found myself recognising myself in many of the experiences.

There were so many similarities to my mums own way of dealing with cancer; arranging her funeral with everyone wearing bright colours, being buried at an humanist site in a biodegradable coffin and the wake being held outside on a bright summers day.

I would like to quote the following from the book about her funeral:

It was exactly how she would have wanted it to be – good friends, good food, good weather.

Even if you haven’t (thankfully) lost your mum it is still a good read and certainly I will look out for more of the authors work.  If you have sadly lost your mum,  I think this book would offer you comfort and understanding.

Anyone who knows me, knows love that I love fairies.

I came across this picture earlier on PhotoBucket and thought it was lovely.

If you are anything like me, the following article will make total sense.

*My name is Nici and I am addicted to my computer*

The personal computer can be an incredible time saving device. You can use it to bank online, order refills for your prescriptions, shop for clothes, gifts or food. You can send an e-card, email or read a newspaper. The downside to this incredibly helpful technology is that it is so easy to get swept up into the cyber world and lose track of the real world that is right in front of you.

1) The first thing you should do is sit down and give some serious thought to exactly what your computer means to you and how it functions in your life. Is it just an entertainment tool or are you using it for business?

2) You want your computer to benefit your life which will mean setting some ground rules. These will vary widely per your individual circumstances. Give yourself an appropriate time limit when online. If you have a family at home, don’t allow your computer time to take away from real face-to-face quality time with them. Nothing online is as important as being with your loved ones. If you use your computer as a social tool, as most people do in this day and age, be sure that you also get out in the real world and interact with other live, breathing humans.

3) Take a good hard, long look at email you receive. You can and should control what you allow to enter your email box. If you have friends or family members who forward you every joke or virus warning to make its way around the Internet, it’s perfectly acceptable to ask them politely to stop. Remove your email address from all but the very most important newsletters.

4) If you enjoy reading online news articles but can’t seem to break yourself of the habit of following every link imbedded in the stories, you can always print out the article and read the hard copy–be discerning, please, so as not to generate tons of paper clutter). You can also carry these printed stories with you in your purse for time when you might be waiting with time to kill.

5) Just like you don’t have to read every email you receive, there’s also no rule out there that says you have to download and view every (or any for that matter) of the plethora of video clips or Powerpoint shows that people love to send to everyone that they’ve ever met. It’s okay to simply delete the email.

6) Make a plan before you get on the computer. Say for example that you have one hour to spend. Jot down a list of the things you know you need to accomplish in that time frame. If you spend 10 minutes doing online banking, 15 minutes to read and reply to email, 15 minutes to place an online order or two then that will leave you 20 minutes left to spend on an online forum or social networking site.

7) If you find yourself frequently losing track of time and spending more time than you planned, start setting a timer. Once the timer goes off, be true to your decision and put down the mouse. Avoid the trap of saying just 10 more minutes. In that 10 minutes, you could have thrown in a load of laundry or filled and started the dishwasher–or better yet, have snuggled with a child or a pet.

In order to avoid feeling guilty while you’re online, use your computer time as a reward for time spent on less pleasant tasks. For instance, you can promise yourself that if you spend 45 minutes and vacuum the house, then you get to spend 15 minutes online doing whatever you please. If you prefer to work in baby steps or in 15 minute blocks, than give yourself baby steps on the computer, say 5 minutes to check the latest headlines.

9) Even if you use your computer primarily for business, it’s still easy to get sucked into the black hole of time. Avoid checking your email every 10 minutes. Work email is a convenience, but it can quickly become very inefficient if overused.

10) Be sure to get up from your computer frequently, walk around a bit, stretch your legs, shake out your arms, wrists and fingers. Have a drink of water and rest your eyes.

Synopsis from Fantastic Fiction:

On the hottest day of the summer of 1934, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house. Watching her is Robbie Turner, her childhood friend who, like Cecilia, has recently come down from Cambridge. By the end of that day, the lives of all three will have been changed for ever. Robbie and Cecilia will have crossed a boundary they had not even imagined at its start, and will have become victims of the younger girl’s imagination. Briony will have witnessed mysteries, and committed a crime for which she will spend the rest of her life trying to atone.

My thoughts:

Hurray for the first time in months I have finished a book!

I throughly enjoyed Atonement. The author does tend to ramble quite a lot but nevertheless still a good read.

I thought the second half of the book was better than the first and indeed I know of quite a few people who gave up on it before it got really good. So I am glad I stuck with it.

Set mostly during WWII, It tells the tale of how one moment in time, one mistake, can change the future so dramatically.

I find all thing WWII related really interesting so to get different points of view from Nurses and Soldiers was fasicinating.

Quite a sad tale really but totally compelling.  Going to watch the film now!

You are The Empress

Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.

The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents,
beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home
decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.

The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

How often do you listen properly to a song and think ‘those lyrics really make sense’?

Well I keep hearing Lily Allen ~ The Fear on the radio and can’t help but think how true (sadly) these lyrics are.

I absolutely love this song!

I want to be rich and I want lots of money
I don’t care about clever I don’t care about funny
I want loads of clothes and f***loads of diamonds
I heard people die while they are trying to find them

I’ll take my clothes off and it will be shameless
‘Cuz everyone knows that’s how you get famous
I’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirror
I’m on the right track yeah I’m on to a winner

Chorus
I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore
I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore
When we think it will all become clear
‘Cuz I’m being taken over by The Fear

Life’s about film stars and less about mothers
It’s all about fast cars and passing each other
But it doesn’t matter cause I’m packing plastic
and that’s what makes my life so f***ing fantastic

And I am a weapon of massive consumption
and its not my fault it’s how I’m program to function
I’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirror
I’m on the right track yeah I’m on to a winner

Chorus
I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore
I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore
When we think it will all become clear
‘Cuz I’m being taken over by The Fear

Bridge
Forget about guns and forget ammunition
Cause I’m killing them all on my own little mission
Now I’m not a saint but I’m not a sinner
Now everything is cool as long as I’m getting thinner

Chorus
I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore
I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore
When we think it will all become clear
‘Cause I’m being taken over by fear

I seem to be going through a Tinkerbell phase at the moment!