New Beginnings: A Garden Uncovered, A Cover Revealed.

Snowdrops at Llanerchaeron

No winter lasts forever… and nor, thank goodness, does every lurgy. After ten weeks of wondering if I’ll stop coughing, the infection loses its grip and I’m well enough to tackle my first Park Run with Helen in the beautiful grounds at Llanerchaeron. Park Run, of course, is not a race but it doesn’t stop Helen and I blatting along each week in pursuit of new PBs.

Tom and I have both been busy at work. One week there’s a strange juxtaposition when I proofread my novella and then check Tom’s draft thesis! I begin ‘Cyborg Music:A Future Musicotechnographic Aesthetic’ with some trepidation about how I’ll cope with the deep philosophical concepts but by the end I’m fully on board and bursting with pride. Tom makes his final amendments and takes three copies to the post office where he pays a whopping £15 to send it on its way. Now ‘all’ he has to do is sit back and wait for the date of his Viva Voce…

Lily’s second baby is due… ooh… tomorrow, so excitement’s running high here and we both jump every time the phone rings. Trying to channel our nervous energy into something positive, we’ve started to tackle our neglected, overgrown garden. It’s hard work, but we’re already making some unexpected discoveries like the extent of this garden path.

Some news I can share is that my publisher, Choc Lit is releasing my novella, Moonbeams in a Jar in May. It’s available for pre-order from today and book blogger Karen Mace has kindly revealed my gorgeous cover which I can now show you. I’ll be talking more about the story in coming weeks (you knew I’d say that!) but here’s a flavour of it for now.

When Chloe Potter wishes on a star that she’ll find a man who’ll accept her and her noisy dachshund Wilma, she doesn’t think that she’ll bump into one quite so soon …

But almost immediately she meets Ryan Green and his boisterous basset hound, Fred. Ryan is larger than life, ruggedly handsome and, most importantly, a dog lover – surely a match made in heaven?

But Chloe soon finds that trying to tie a man like Ryan down is like trying to catch moonbeams in a jar. Ryan’s job as a photographer means that when he’s not in the middle of a war zone, he’s trying to catch just the right light at the top of Mount Snowdon.

Chloe wants stability and when it becomes clear that Ryan will always put his job first, she knows she has to move on. But then a once-in-a-lifetime trip unexpectedly brings them together once again …

Isn't this pretty?

Happy Endings, New Beginnings

Blended families come with conflicting loyalties and at Christmas time nearly everyone has somewhere else they feel they ought to be. Throw partners into the equation and it gets even more complicated. Since Tom and I aren’t especially hung up about Christmas we’re happy to let our children go with the strongest flow, but I have to say it was a great delight to have the girls and their partners staying with us this year. When such moments are few and far between they become very precious. My stepsons weren’t far from our thoughts either, not least because we had the very happy news on Christmas Day that my elder stepson and his girlfriend had become engaged. Congratulations Dan and Gill, here’s wishing you every happiness together. Tom and I end a year that has seen the fruition of many years work, both of us crossing important thresholds within weeks of each other. I’m really looking forwards to seeing Turning the Tide published next year and it’s been so satisfying, after al...

Fly Free, Dottie Do

‘How many days to my birthday?’ Ma asks. I do a quick calculation. ‘Eighteen,’ I reply. ‘Eighteen days until your ninetieth birthday.’ Ma pulls a face and shakes her head. Every sentence is hard work for her now, when each breath is a struggle. ‘You’ll have to write a book about this, you know,’ she says, with one of her quick, mischievous smiles. ‘“Carry On Dying”. Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry.’ The smile fades. ‘Who knew,’ she adds wearily, ‘that dying would be such a palaver?’ It’s only eleven days since Ma was diagnosed with a high-grade, aggressive lymphoma, four days since she was overwhelmed with pain and breathing difficulties and was admitted as an emergency to hospital. Until a few weeks ago, she lived completely independently; shopping, cooking, cleaning and tending her much-loved garden. The deterioration in her health is shockingly rapid. The eight days preceding her death are a living hell, a constant battle with the ward staff to get Ma the pain relief she’s been p...

Since You've Been Gone

Well, Ma Mère, There have been so many times when I’ve gathered up all the little shiny moments I’ve collected during the day, ready to present to you in our evening phone call and then I remember all over again that you’re not there. But, Mum, so much has happened since you’ve gone - maybe you know, maybe you don’t - that I’ve decided to write to you instead. A few days after you died, we sold our house! After all those months! We even joked about you rattling cages somewhere. At first, nothing happened and then suddenly everything happened at a breathless pace and the next thing I knew I found myself driving (yes, me, driving!) along the M4 to Bridgend and the Time Capsule House, the one you said you and Dad would have bought. I remarked, when we first viewed it that if it was meant for us, it would come to us. Over a year later, when it had been under offer twice, we moved in. Oh, Mum, you and Dad would have loved this house; it’s peak Seventies and the decor - the pampas ensu...

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