My guest today is animal lover, avid reader, and author of uplit novels, Samantha Henthorn. Samantha has been a great supporter of this feature, so it’s a real pleasure to welcome her today as she shares her five photos with us.

I started following Sharon’s Five Photos blog this summer, I’m a huge fan. Aside from reading lots of books (including Sharon’s) I also write them, so I was thrilled to bits that Sharon was willing to give up one of her slots to me!

Wedding Day

Photo one is my wedding day in 2015. As we signed the register, the wedding planner pointed out that we were sat in silence. Mr Henthorn had forgotten to bring the (lovingly selected) music! This is my ‘I asked you to do one thing’ face, and as you can see, he is laughing at me. I just thought this captured moment was the funniest illustration of our relationship, and a copy of it lives happily on our front room wall.

Daughter

Photo two is my daughter, Alicia, aged 4, eating an ice-cream sundae. She is 21 now, tall, long blond hair, gorgeous in every way and yes, I do have better photos of her, but this over-enthusiastic smile seems to be a family trait. It appears in my mum’s childhood photos too, both women have made me smile many times during my life.

Parents

Photo three is another wedding, my parent’s in 1973. When I put this on Facebook for their 40th wedding anniversary, someone commented that my Dad ‘looks like a cross between Michael Caine and Woody Allen’. And check out my mum’s fancy pants outfit. No wedding dress, this was not her first wedding day (it wasn’t mine in the first photo), but as she put it ‘That’s how things were done in those days’.  Great parents, I love this photo, the original copy lives at the top of my stairs, and the stars of it, my parents, live around the corner from us, we’re very lucky.

Dad

Photo four is my Dad cycling in 1962. He was- and still is really into cycling, in his younger days competing in all kinds of events Time-Trials, Road Races and Hill Climbs. He was the club secretary of the local cycling club, and used to write the cycling notes for the local paper. I was brought up listening to ‘cycling talk’ it sometimes appears to be a language of it’s own. He very kindly allowed me to use one of his cycling photos for my book ‘1962’ – as long as I ‘chopped his head off’. He helped me with the technical research for this book about a young man with cycling ambition in 1960s Lancashire.

Tattoo

Photo five is my tattoo on my left arm. I had a twenty year career in nursing, however, when I was 38, I had to give up for health reasons. I don’t really have any nursing photos of myself, I had this tattoo done because nursing will always be a part of me, and this is a way I can salute to the profession, and say ‘I’ve done my bit!’ It took me a while, but I have now embraced my situation by writing, I can do this sat down, I don’t get stressed out, and I can pace myself. Oh, and I am thrilled to bits if anyone reads my books.

Thank you so much to Sharon, and anyone who has taken the time to read my post, I’m sorry I did not include one of my dog, Martha, but my two cats (TC and Petal)  would have been jealous, Martha is a Border Terrier so a photo would be no good, she is just the right size of dog for a cuddle, which is much better than a photo.

Thanks very much for sharing your photos with us, Samantha. I absolutely love your wedding day picture. It really made me laugh. Your expression is one I think every wife will recognise!

Samantha Henthorn was born in 1970something in Bury, England. She has had short stories and poetry published in magazines. Her books include the Curmudgeon Avenue series (The Terraced House Diaries and The Harold and Edith adventures). ‘1962’, ‘Quirky Tales to Make Your Day’ and ‘Piccalilly’ 

She has two cats, one dog, one gorgeous grown up daughter and one husband. When not reading or writing, she is listening to heavy metal and would be thrilled to bits if someone read her books. 

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