The Treasure Hunt

October 26, 2019

It began some time ago.

I located a map of my most desired area and opened it on the screen with a cup of tea and a cookie at my side. I slipped on my reading glasses and bent over the map.

I knew the treasure would be located somewhere between 12^th century Lyon and the Forez. It had to be. After all, my last trilogy had played into those areas. Particularly the novel ‘Guillaume.’

The biggest hurdle though, was distance.

The distance between me and those areas. Me in Australia is a long and so very expensive way from France.

But then this is not insurmountable.

Because…

Tradition…

October 16, 2019

Every year I’m asked how I’d like to spend my birthday.

Heavens’ knows why because it’s an unbroken tradition that I go to Maria Island for the day with my husband.

This…

October 8, 2019

This…

…hit me like a steam-train when I read it on Instagram. I can’t find the original spokesperson, someone called ‘Wood’, or I would pay credit, but as an historical novelist writing about the twelfth century, in particular Lyon and Constantinople, the words had complete resonance.

Three free snifters…

September 21, 2019

And try and say that quickly!!!

You know of course that a snifter is a brandy balloon…

…a piece of glassware that is narrower at the top than the bowl and concentrates the heady aroma of the liquor to the nose.

And in essence that’s what this post is.

Three free snifters designed to titillate your palate and give you an idea of what’s emerging from my little grey cells.

Spring newsletter…maybe…

September 13, 2019

Or, as in the case of the largest group of those who follow this blog, Autumn Newsletter!

I can’t believe that its spring here in the southern hemisphere.

It seems no time at all since I wrote a ‘kind of winter newsletter’, which is another name for a long blog post.

You see, I don’t have a mailing list…

Memory Lane…

September 7, 2019

I’ve just had the loveliest trip down memory lane.

Of all things, cleaning the silver.

SoS – 7/9/19

September 7, 2019

My six are from here and there, and a bit of this and that this week.

I took most of the pics earlier in the week, knowing a fierce wet weather front was coming our way.

A new book begins…

September 6, 2019

Yesterday, I found a nugget of research for my new 12^th century novel entitled A Small Thread of Silk.

I discovered that a very special artefact was in fact 6 metres long.

So what, you may ask?

Well, in imperial measurements, that’s over 19 feet. And that extra-long measurement gives me scope.

A messy writing week…

August 31, 2019

A messy writing week, this week.

Bad form.

The redeeming point is that I’ve been researching the new 12^th century hist.fict – tongue-in-cheek titled The Book With No Name. To date, I’ve been chasing relics and worthy illuminations in French nunneries of the 12^th century. And filled with theft and jealousies they are, I tell you! Religion was nothing if not a business, often a dishonest one. Just like trade. Blend the two and one might just have a novel!

SoS 23/8/19

August 24, 2019

I haven’t done SoS for a couple of weeks as quite honestly, the garden sank into a pre-spring hiatus as our weather turned bitterly cold, windy and … wait for it … wet! We have managed to accrue some quite good falls in our area after minimal rain (what we called our Big Dry) from November. So it’s been with utter pleasure that I have watched things like tulips unfold and blossoms fill the air with their nutmeg scents in the evenings.

Today, my crocuses (Jeanne D’Arc) burst into bloom and I have posted three shots…

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