A Day to Celebrate those who Love Books eh? Tomorrow is #BookLoversDay ... and I tried to think of a witty quotation or amusingly appropriate meme. Having struggled for an absurd amount of time, I decided on this one ... "Where is human nature so weak as in a bookstore?" - Henry Ward Beecher I'm... Continue Reading →
The bloke and I were chatting about opportunities for taking photos this weekend. It's (still) sunny and very hot, and he had a couple of suggestions for me. The first was a jousting festival - with costumes, colour and activity it has all the obvious photo potential. The second was not so obvious - evening... Continue Reading →
... and I drank a Cucumelon. That's a cocktail comprising of Melon liqueur, Schweppes cucumber tonic, Bombay Sapphire, garnished with pink grapefruit. I was also tempted by the Fino (Bombay Sapphire, Manzanilla dry sherry, fresh lemon wedges & mint leaves with Fever-Tree sicilian Lemonade) and by the Pink Pepper Phizz (Star of Bombay, pink grapefruit... Continue Reading →
My mother recently moved from the family home with the cottage garden she's lovingly tended and creatively developed for decades to an apartment with a small patio, so an outing to Hever Castle (famed for being Anne Bolyn's family home but also for it's marvellous gardens) was in order. We'd timed our visit for the... Continue Reading →
It's a rather extraordinary place to live, and yet people do. I'd be tempted to live there myself if I hadn't spent 2 hours - yes, you read that correctly - sat in traffic to get through the 2 mile long bit of beach at Camber earlier this month in order to reach it. Dungeness... Continue Reading →
If you've not read "The Golden House", please be aware there may be the odd spoiler below Salman Rushdie was at the Hay Festival talking about his new book "The Golden House" I've read a four of Mr Rushdie's books (yes, I just went off to Goodreads to count them) with "Midnight's Children" featuring at... Continue Reading →
If you've not yet read "Rosie" - this piece does contain the odd spoiler. Rose Tremain's new book - and the subject of her talk at Hay - was "Rosie: Scenes from a Vanished Life". I was drawn to Rose Tremain's talk for two reasons. The first obvious - but the second is that one... Continue Reading →
If you've not yet read "I Am, I Am, I Am" - this piece does contain the odd spoiler. My Hay experience kicked off with Maggie O'Farrell, whose new release is "I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death" a memoir with a twist. I'm a fan of Ms O'Farrell, so her book... Continue Reading →
Attending the Hay Festival has been on my wish list for a good many years. Each year I promise myself I'll do something about it "next year". Then next year arrives, I realise the Festival is already happening and I've done absolutely nothing. So ... this year I put it on my list of writing... Continue Reading →
I'm a recent recruit to Alex Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writers Support Group (the link takes you to details on what that means and how to join. You'll also find a list of bloggers signed up to the challenge - do check them out). On the first Wednesday of every month, we all post our thoughts, fears... Continue Reading →
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