Rain, hail and snow?

The rain is hitting the window like iron nails and the wind howls banshee-style around the eaves. It’s perhaps not a night for walking.

Every night my husband and I take our dog and walk for 30-45 minutes. Most often, we look up at a black velvet sky with swathes of starry ways, even the occasional shooting star…

Unknown-3

The advantage of being on the coast is the clarity of the skies away from city illumination. But tonight there is rain and wind and at some point in the next twelve hours, snow forecast, possibly down to 150 metres. So no walking…

Twelve months ago, when my beloved Mum died (she of the legendary pocket rocket status), it snowed – the most perfect snow right in the middle of Australian bush.

IMG_2316

IMG_2320

IMG_2322

Our hills, called the Thumbs, looked spectacular. Husband and self were the first ones up the road last year – no tracks but ours so that we could listen to the bush discovering the snow, the birds tasting the air and telling the world it is like champagne.

So it could happen again and I’m hoping so, but today’s Friday has been such a gremlin day, that anything I might wish for probably won’t happen!

So what does one do on a bad weather weekend?

One can eat choccie, I suppose. Preferably Lindt!

Or drink wine – red or white, whatever takes one’s fancy!

But believe it or not, I still walk. I love brisk winter walks with the dog along the beaches. The wind scours, the eyes water, hair gets ripped back from the head and all cobwebs are blown to Kingdom Come.

skd188078sdc

Cheeks burn and one comes home desperate for a hot chocolate pillow-trimmed with pink and white marshmallows. And I cook on bad weather days – tomorrow an Irish stew and a fruit cake (the fruit is currently soaking with marmalade, spices and spirits in the kitchen).

IMG_3362

I stitch too – my cashmere rug continues to grow – I’m just playing with shades of grey and my own slightly Scandi-chic design.

Reading sits comfortably on bad weather days too. I curl up on the window seat and turn on the Kindle.

Unknown

I’m currently reading Roman fiction from SJA Turney – a beta-read. I consider myself fortunate to be fulfilling this task as Turney is such a good and prolific writer who knows his onions!

Unknown-1

I’ve just finished Jan Ruth’s Palomino Sky too – the perfect womens’ contemporary fiction. (love Ruth’s work).

But most importantly if one is writer, one takes to the computer and continues the narrative of one’s own book so that publication day moves closer. And me being me, the creative part will happen when House is quiet and Dog and husband are snoring. The rain hits the window like iron nails and the wind howls banshee-style – the perfect accompaniment to a narrative called Guillaume, Book Two of The Triptych Chronicle, filled with mystery and murder (albeit in the twelfth century).

Unknown-2

I must away – my protagonist is currently riding through the Forez to a hunt and in his saddlebag he has a copy of the Vaudois Bible. Reason enough for he and his friends to be excommunicated and his business destroyed. But is it enough for someone to want to kill him?

Ha! Wouldn’t you like to know…