Summertime...

It's been a while since I've written anything on here, my life has been consumed by writing, promoting and generally all things book related, but there are times when there a little distractions and this has been one of those weeks.

On Saturday we were at a large family gathering of Peter's family, followed by Jessica's graduation ceremony on Monday. It was a wonderful day and so lovely to see all the hard work she has put in over the last 3 years pay off, (and I got a lovely spur of the moment visit from my brother while we were in London).

One  very proud Dad.

So, after the rushing around of the weekend a couple of quiet days at home, giving me chance to wander around the garden to see what's new.

I love spotting the flowers as they bloom. Today we have a new fuchsia flowering, 

the little rose tree has gorgeous blossoms 

and even the clematis is beginning to get there. 

We have an awful problem with snails which seem to adore the clematis, so it has been a real struggle to get it to this stage. As well as this, the first tomatoes are ripening, and the flowering cherry tree is dripping with birds gorging themselves.

So, for now, as they say, everything in the garden is rosy.

Today I had my annual asthma check, at which I was told I have good lung function (tell my body that when I am running for a train!) and tomorrow I have the dreaded cortisone injection. I hobble a lot by the end of each day and these injections in my toe are really very painful, but I endure them because they give me a couple of months normal walking before I start to hobble again. 

Not the best way to finish a week off work, but hey ho, it has to be done. Hopefully, it will be sunny and I can sit in the garden and read all day while I rest my foot.

There's a Hurricane coming, let's go out for the day...

The weather forecast has been quite definite that today we would be hit by Hurricane Bertha bringing a months' worth of rain in a day. 

Let's plan a day out!

The 3 of us are all members of the National Trust and enjoy a day out at a large house with lots to look at and beautiful grounds for a walk. We decided to find somewhere that would have lots to look at indoors, due to the forecast. An hours drive would take us to Belton House, on the outskirts of Grantham. the house looked large and to have lots of rooms to walk around, along with a cafe. If we got chance to have a walk, it would be a bonus.

It rained constantly all morning, and the drive there was limited to 50mph with wipers on double speed. We expected to be the only ones daft enough to be out on the roads, but they were reasonably busy and more surprising there were plenty of cars parked at Belton House when we arrived.

First stop, the cafe...

The rain was beginning to slow down so we were hopeful that it would stop by the time we'd had a coffee. And when we came out, it had, so we deciced to take advantage and walk down to the boat house by the lake. It looked so pretty, even with the stormy sky and the sound of thunder.

We headed back towards the house and the rain continued to stay away, so we decided to visit the church and Orangery before heading inside.

The gardens were holding up surprising well in view of the deluge earlier and the dahlias looked very impressive.

The sun continued to stay with us as we wandered around the gardens

Although the sky looked better in one direction than the other.

We even took a risk on trying our hand at the maze. It didn't look high enough to get stuck, but we did make a wrong turn or two before finding our way to the centre where we found this little chap, Bertie Brownlow.

The greyhound was a favourite of the Brownlow family and can be spotted throughout Belton, represented in guilded plasterwork, sculpture, floor painting, wrought ironwork and now in willow. Bertie Brownlow was created for Belton by local weaver Alison Walling.

Finally, we decided to head to the house and had a wonderful walk around a very impressive house, fabulous rooms and well worth a visit.

They have a special exhibition of silverware, and while I am not a fan of silver I have to admit that some of the pieces were truly fabulous.

The rain even stayed away for our drive home, so I am really pleased we took the risk to go rather than stay indoors. 

For further information on Belton House see

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/belton-house/

So THAT'S how it works!

While dividing up the furniture and bits and bobs as we went our separate ways, there was some logic in me having the Spanish washing machine, on the basis I learnt a bit of spanish when we lived over there some years ago, so would be able to work out what all the programs did.

Or, that was the logic.

I remember we did our research well when we bought the washing machine in Spain, and that it was a) a good one and b) hardly used as we bought it only a few months before moving back to the UK. Since then it has been in storage, just over 4 years.

I made sure I did a full wash before I packed everything to move, so having been in my new home for a little more than a week I had accumulated enough clothes to be ready to do a wash.

Clothes in washer, detergents in drawer it came time to turn it on, and that's where the fun began.

There is a function to delay the wash on a timer by either 3, 6 or 9 hours and no matter what buttons I pressed it seemed that it was always on delay. It would not start to fill with water. No matter what logic I applied, I couldn't get it started. I tried every combination of buttons and then suddenly the water started to flow... it was working... and I had no idea what I had pressed to make it happen.

Since then I have done a couple more loads, each time getting it to work after pressing a host of buttons and never knowing which button combination made it work.

So tonight I decided it was time to work it out. Logging on to the internet to find a manual, I found a full manual in pdf format and downloaded it... it came in either Spanish, Basque and 2 other languages I couldn't identify, but definitely not in English. I could, apparently, order an English copy from some website for 14 euros if I wanted to wait for 24 hours. No, I need my clothes washing now, please.

Scrolling through the spanish manual on line I noticed a series of diagrams... and they looked just like the controls on my washing machine. Working through them I identified which button should make it start. I pressed it...

Nothing.

I turned the dial and pressed it again...

Nothing.

I turned it off and turned it back on, selected my program and pressed it...

Nothing.

Back at the diagrams I checked - there was no other button to press, it had to be that one.

Back at the washing machine I repeated all previous steps, how difficult can it be?

Then, the penny dropped, or rather the water flowed. I was pressing the right button, just not for the right number of seconds. There is a child safety feature on it, you have to press and hold for 3 seconds and hey presto...

I have the lovely sounds of clothes tumbling in soapy water.

Now, what's my next challenge?

The Wrong Colour...

I like blue, my bathroom is duck egg blue, I have a number of blue items in my wardrobe.

I like blue.

I have blue liquid soap, it gives an aura of cleanliness, antiseptic... maybe I believe what is on the label.

I have blue disinfectant, it makes me believe those germs have been obliterated.

So why do I have trouble with blue shampoo?

I use a lot of the Herbal Essences range, I like their shampoo. I am currently using this one and I struggle. It has coconut, which is white, and vanilla, which is cream... so why is it blue?

It feels like I am washing my hair in antiseptic hand-wash. I thought it was the bottle that was blue, but it's not, it's the shampoo.

My hair feels good after use, it is just the perception. The bottle fits my colour scheme, but the shampoo pushes my boundaries of putting a blue lotion on my hair.

So it will remain on the shelf as part of the accessories and I will return to my trusted cream coloured shampoo, and then all will be well in my little world again.

Now, I wonder what else is the wrong colour...

The Case of the Missing Birthday Card.

So, OK, this is just a way of publicising that today is my birthday in order to remind anyone who has forgotten, and for those who did remember, thank you for your cards and birthday greetings.

I had 4 cards to open this morning, more expected from the postman's visit later. I opened them over breakfast and, as I had an errand to run first thing, I stood them all neatly on top of the boom box speaker next to the TV cabinet.

Errand run, I returned home to find Brandy laid on his blanket with one of my birthday cards next to him, the corner having been nibbled away (both my dogs have always enjoyed eating cardboard, but seemed to have given up the habit over the last year or 2)

I delicately retrieved it from him, so as not to upset him too much and went to replace it, when I realised how carefully he had removed it from the top of the speaker box as the other cards remained in place, undisturbed...

Or so I thought...

It didn't take me long to count the multitude of cards and re-count to identify that there were only 2 left standing, the half-nibbled one in my hand made 3...

One was missing.

I scoured around the speaker box to see if it had fallen down the side or behind the tv cabinet... nothing.

I checked all the bed areas we have for the dogs, behind the settee, in the kitchen, under the dining table...nothing.

The only conclusion I can reach is that card number 1 has been eaten in its entirety, not a morsel, a corner, a scrap of evidence remains to say the card even existed. Had I not opened it myself, I would have questioned it's very existence.

So, thank you Shirley & Keith, I did receive my card, read it and enjoy the picture... but it is no more.

Brandy is now snoozing happily with a full tummy.

On the other hand I did get a bit of a surprise when I turned on my computer this morning and found that Google were wishing me a happy birthday... Is there anything they don't know about us?

Have a Great Day Everyone, I know I'm going to.

Being ruthless...

I have decided it really is time to be ruthless with my collection of books, mainly paperbacks but a number of hardbacks too. I love books. Don't get me wrong, I love my Kindle too, but there is something about a room with lots of shelves filled with lots of books. Maybe in a former life I was a Librarian, that would have been seriously fitting to my love of books. 

I would spend hours browsing in a bookstore, moving from section to section trying to work out whether I was in the mood for a Thriller, or a Romance, whether I wanted fact or fiction. Someone's life story or a Fantasy novel to whisk me away for a few hours. I would buy books as I found them, storing them safely on my bookcase for later. I have unread books that will soon be celebrating their 10th anniversary.

I have lost count of the number of times I have packed my books into cardboard boxes to move from one house to another, one country to another, the weight alone telling of the amount of trees I am responsible for no longer growing in the forests.

I am about to move house again and I refuse to carry this volume of books once more, so today I decided I would look at options for reducing the number on my shelves. I have vowed to only take one bookcase with me. 5 shelves is all I will have. I have already promised the other bookcases to other homes, I am committed to being ruthless...

There are a number of options available to me. I could give them to a charity shop, but a few I have asked don't really want them, they have plenty already and don't have room to store them. I know if I asked further afield I would find someone to take them, but I thought I would see what other options are available to me. I wondered about finding a 2nd hand book shop who may buy them from me in bulk. There are the websites that you can sell books, dvd's etc and among these I found www.greenmetropolis.com an online charity bookstore. I decided to fetch a few from my bookshelf, pop the ISBN numbers into the various websites and see what came back.

As anyone who reads books knows, the ISBN is on the back cover. So is the blurb about the book.

And that's where the problem began. As I looked at the small pile of 6 books I had chosen at random, I realised not one of them had been read, the spines were perfect, the pages were pristine. I turned the first one over and began to read to synopsis... and actually, it sounded pretty good, so I decided I would hang on to it to read at some later date, and moved on to the next one which also sounded good enough to hang on to.

Several minutes later all 6 books were back on the shelf to be kept for a later date and I was pulling the large dictionary from the shelf to check the meaning of the word 'ruthless'.

Hodsock Priory - Snowdrop Time

Last year I visited Hodsock Priory to take photos of the snowdrops in the woods. In order to get a reduced price entry ticket I went online and became a friend of Hodsock. They haven't sent many promotional emails throughout the year so I hadn't thought about it being snowdrop time again until I opened an email from them asking for volunteers. 

'Why not,' I thought. Wages were poor, well none, but I got tea & coffee and lunch for free and 2 free entry tickets. So, I kept a close eye on the weather and I was really pleased to see that the day I had chosen to volunteer for was forecast to be really good.

Last Sunday I reported for duty and waited for the other volunteers to arrive. While I waited I was introduced to George Buchanan, the owner of the house and his father, Sir Andrew Buchanan, a real live Baronet and a real old fashioned gentleman. 

The role of us volunteers was varied and during the day I did everything from fetching more milk cartons, helping direct traffic in the car park (field) and pestering people about their visit. Oh, and whenever passing, checking the loos to make sure there was enough loo paper.

The weather was glorious and after several wet and windy days it seemed everyone had decided to take advantage of the lovely spring sunshine. There were coach loads of people plus so many cars. The tea tent and woodland cafe were soon crowded and the few volunteers were rushed off our feet. 4 hours flew by and before I knew it my day volunteering was over.

So, today I returned as a visitor to use one of my free tickets and to take some photos. The carpet of woodland snowdrops seemed better this year than last, although individual clumps were past their best, but I found a few.

There is a woodland cafe in the woods, with a real live bonfire for you to sit around while you tuck in to bacon butties and hot, steaming coffee and every afternoon the owner of the Priory, George, does a talk on the history of the Priory, which is really interesting. Firstly, the Priory has never been a real life Priory. It was previously just known as Hodsock, but when Ann Chambers took over she added the word Priory to make the property seem more important.

Secondly, Henry VIII visited in 1541 and you can imagine his entourage entering through the gate house, which looks lovely against the spring sky.

Lots of people stopped to talk to me while I was doing my photo, and i met some really nice people.  

After a couple of hours I took a break, settling myself on a wooden bench across the lake watching everyone milling around when I was aware of a group of people helping a man to the bench next to me. He had, unfortunately, fallen into the lake while taking a photograph and had hit his head on something, which had left quite a large mark. He had lost his camera in the lake and seemed very shocked by the accident, but we all rallied round and got help. The paramedics came and took him to be checked over, poor man. Hopefully, he is okay, but it certainly cut his visit short.

So, another enjoyable day out with my camera.

I love these...

I have had some very nice gifts this Christmas, but sometimes you get a gift that really is special and this was mine...

I especially like the 2 Cavi's on the right... it's a Salt & Pepper set

So cute!

Starting the New Year with a Lazy Day

I spotted a stark reminder that Christmas is over this morning as I walked into the kitchen and flicked the switch on the kettle for my first coffee of the day. Sitting on my plate rack at the sink were 3 dinner plates where normally there are only 2, left to drain after washing up from our New Year's Eve dinner and the large jar of Nescafe is staring back at me from its home in the cupboard, having spent the last week on the kitchen worktop. A reminder that yesterday my brother was here, visiting from his home a few hours away and today he is back home. 

The week has flown by so quickly, yet I have some lovely memories to keep. On Christmas Day night we got together with my other brother, sister-in-law and nephew to work off the excesses of Christmas with a few party games. We had a lot of fun  and laughter, especially while playing a protracted game of Jenga... only to find out we had invented our own rules. 

Boxing Day found us at the local cinema watching Hobbit 2. It was obviously a good film as the time passed in a flash and left us a little disappointed at the thought that we now have 12 months to wait for the final film in the trilogy. It was an enjoyable way to spend Boxing Day rather than pushing my way through crowds at the Christmas sales.

I've done a lot of walking this holiday, sometimes with the dogs at Clumber Park & Cresswell Crags, and sometimes with my camera at:

Thoresby Hall 

and Newstead Abbey

And yes, the skies really were that blue.

We normally spend New Year's Eve at home with the dogs and last night was no different. I like to find a good film that we haven't seen before and settle down for a cosy night after the excesses of Christmas. Several weeks ago I had recorded the 2012 film Les Miserables - the musical version. I first watched a version of the film with Liam Neeson, (but no singing) about 6 months ago as I felt I really should know the story and the characters and really enjoyed it so last night we turned on the surround sound, dimmed the lights and sat back to enjoy the musical version that was such a hit.

Before we knew it the end credits were rolling and Brinkley was barking at the sound of some early midnight fireworks. As neither of our dogs are bothered by fireworks I suggested we take them for a late night walk and see the New Year in doing what we spend so much of our time doing, walking our dogs. It was actually really nice to be wrapped up nice and warm, walking around the estate looking at all the houses festooned with Christmas lights and then seeing the fireworks start up as midnight struck. The only thing that would have added to the occasion would have been a layer of white, clean snow on the ground and large flakes drifting down ... that's how it would have been in the movies anyway... 

And so, today is day 9 of my Christmas break. It's the final day of my holiday, tomorrow I return to work along with many more. At this point I could eulogise about how privileged I am to have a job when many do not, (including some of my friends) but I'm not going to, (although I am... pleased to have a job!)

I am simply going to say A Very Happy New Year to all... I hope 2014 is good to you and you each get to achieve at least one of your lifetime ambitions, (what do you mean you don't have a list of lifetime ambitions... Quick, go make one!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Just had to get the camera out...

There are some times when you look out of the window and just have to dash out with the camera.

Today was one of those days.

Sunset - Just beautiful!

Pain Hurts...

Pain is an odd thing, it's very personal to each individual and you cannot know how someone else's pain really feels due to different tolerances.

I live with a level of pain most of the time, some times it's very mild and local to small areas of my body other days it's intolerable and I just want to roll up in a ball and cry... not that I've ever found that helps relieve the pain.

This week has been a painful week, I've had to resort to painkillers on a regular basis, something I try not to do very often as long term use of any medication concerns me. 

I have cervical spondylosis, a form of osteoarthritis in my neck. It was diagnosed several years ago following an MRI scan (not something I would wish to go through again and one plus to having my pacemaker fitted is that I can't have anymore MRI scans, I can only have CT scans which are so much easier to endure). Along with a number of other areas affected by arthritis (hands, feet, hips) my neck is my main problem as when it flares up it's very difficult to cope with the pain.

It doesn't take much to cause a flare up... sitting too long at a dining table on chairs which don't support my shoulders, standing too long taking photos (not that it stops me), sitting too long at my desk without taking breaks (not really conducive to writing a book, but I will bear my pain for my creativity) - nothing major, just simple everyday tasks that I have to manage right in order to reduce the impact on my neck.

Without being aware of what I did wrong last weekend I caused a serious flare up and have struggled with intense pain in my neck and head since. Pain which made me feel as if my skull would explode, the type of pain that had me laid on the floor as it was too painful to hold my head upright.

Finally today, after 5 days of pain, around 3pm, the pain lifted. When it goes it is as quick as that. I don't know what I do that makes the pain go away, it's just one minute it's there and the next my neck is pain free.

I'm looking forward to a relaxing and pain free weekend of doing nothing, just enjoying the peace in my head.

How soon is too soon...?

Let me make it clear from the start, I love Christmas. I love the bustle in the shops when I have the odd present to get. I love the lights and the music played all over the place. I love dark nights walking the dogs along the streets with the twinkling lights around people's homes. 

I accept it when our local pub had a Christmas scene in at the beginning of October in order to publicise their Christmas meals.

I accept it when the shops have their decorations up immediately after bonfire night (or in some cases before) as they have to make the best of the few weeks run up to Dec 25th.

But I'm sorry, it's just too early to be putting Christmas Trees up in homes before November has finished.

While out walking the dogs last night I passed 2 houses who have both got their trees fully decorated in their lounges. It was difficult not to notice the twinkling lights through the front windows in the night darkness. 

Sorry people, it's just too soon.

Bondhay Golf Club - Champion of Champions 2013

Several weeks ago my husband (the one crouched down at the front) told me he had volunteered my services as photographer at a competition to be played at his golf club. It is the first time they have held a Champion of Champions competition where each of the winners of qualifying competitions play against each other. They want to make it an annual end of year event that people want to qualify for and have an enjoyable and competitive day followed by a meal and presentation of the Champion of Champions trophy.

His idea was that I would take a photo of each player on the tee receiving the trophy they had won throughout the year and have them printed, framed and back at the golf club on the dining table for when they had finished their round of golf. In other words I had about 4 hours to get it all done.

We had ordered the photo frames a few weeks ago, black strut mounts with silver lettering and with the photos in they looked really nice. I was quite surprised by just how much green there was in each photo as you can see from the group photo above, so I was really nervous that I was going to run out of either blue or yellow ink and have to take precious minutes out of my allotted time to go and buy more. Luckily I managed all the photos without running out, although I did get the 'get ready to replace cartridge' warning on the yellow.

The day was a great success and even the weather played its part staying dry and sunny.

I wonder if I'll get booked for next year's event?

Exciting Events Planned.

As winter approaches I love to plan trips and visits for the spring, to do things I want to do but haven't got around to doing this year. One of my loves for many years is anything Crocodilian. 

 

I've visited the Alligators in Florida       And almost stepped on an American

Crocodile that was laying like this but 

hidden around the back of a wall.   

I watch any documentary on TV about them and was a huge admirer of Steve Irwin.

A couple of years ago I saw a documentary on an English guy that had his own collection of crocs in enclosures in the back garden of his semi-detached house. The program showed how he followed his dream of opening the first croc Zoo in the UK and the ups and downs he encountered.

When it first opened it was only open to groups, schools and the like but I recently noticed it is now open to the general public and so I can finally go and visit.

http://www.crocodilesoftheworld.co.uk/croc-man/dream.html

Now, I understand the various arguments for keeping animals in zoos, but I do support the need for captive programs for conservation and better understanding of animals to ensure their longevity. These beasts have been around since year dot and the more we understand about them the more likely they will survive in the future. For me, I just love to stand and gaze and take in the incredible strength and, for me, beauty of the beast.

I used to sponsor a Croc at Chester Zoo until they closed their Croc enclosure and so I may find another adoption happening when I visit next year.

Roll on April...

Restricted Performance Mode

I suppose it was to be expected that having the catalytic converters changed would trigger further issues with the car. A few weeks after they were done we suddenly started to get a random warning light on the dashboard saying Restricted Performance. The car still seemed to drive okay and pressing the reset button generally removed it.

Then we found out what the impact on the car was, when trying to overtake and relying on the turbos to kick in... they didn't.

When driving up hills the turbos didn't kick in and the speed would gradually drop to 50 mph. A journey to Blackpool saw this happen on a number of occasions and it was obvious this was more than just a warning light we could continue to reset and ignore.

So, we took it in for a diagnostic check and were told there was a problem with the EGR valves. They would need replacing and with the time needed to dismantle the engine and replace them as well as the cost of the new valves we were once again looking at a repair bill in the region of £1,000.

Previous readers will know that we don't take the first route to repair and this one was no different. While on the golf course one morning Neil mentioned this to one of his fellow players who replied that he'd had the same problem with his Range Rover and had paid for them to be replaced, only to learn later that they are not actually needed and they can be blanked off.

Google to the rescue, I found a number of sites that confirmed this and a quick check on Ebay showed I could buy 2 blanking plates (there are 2 valves) for £8.00 with free delivery. I checked and double checked they were the correct ones for the S-type Jaguar and were advised they were so fingers crossed, we went ahead.

On checking with the garage they told us labour would be £180. This was looking much better so we booked the car in to be repaired while we were on holiday, ordered the blanking plates to be delivered directly to the garage and left clear instructions for them to check the diagnosis was correct before carrying out the repair.

While on holiday I picked up an email from the garage confirming the EGR valves were the fault and asking if they should go ahead and blank them off. I confirmed they should and also carry out the annual MOT which was due, which would check the emissions, among other things, and if the emissions value was still within acceptable levels with the valves blanked off, we would be good to the tune of £800.

When we picked the car up everything had gone to plan, it had passed the MOT and there were no warning lights showing on the dashboard. Driving it has shown no issues with drive performance and so it looks as if a chance conversation during a round of golf has saved us a significant sum of money.

I think we owe someone a very large drink.

Nostalgia Strikes...

I met a Postman while out with the dogs this morning, to be fair, I met two. They were sharing out the mail from the little red Royal Mail van into their wheeled post carts. I joked with him about them sending the postman out in packs these days and he told me it was progress. Then he made a comment that really struck home about the pace of living these days, he said "it was the new regime and that they don't have time to chat these days." Then he walked briskly away in the opposite direction, pulling his cart full of mail behind him. His pace was just short of a jog.

It seem a long way from the days where the same postman brought the mail and always knew who lived where. It brought to mind a time about 20 years ago when a friend of mine sent me a postcard from her holiday and only addressed to Jacqui & Ben, and although the she got right street name she got the number completely wrong and it would have been delivered around the corner and on the opposite side of the road. But our postman knew my name and knew my dog was called Ben and so delivered it to me. These days that would be considered using too much initiative. 

Today's postman has reminded me how nostagic I get for times now lost to us before the pace of life got so crazy, when people had time to stop and chat, when we knew our neighbours and kids could play outside safely.

Oh, how old do I feel today!

Writing a Story Book for Children - Part 3, Research, research and more research.

The idea of writing a novel seems simple. You sit down with whatever medium you intend using and begin to let your imagination run.

If you set your work of fiction in a fictional place with fictional characters no one can question whether it is accurate or not. It just has to be believable.

I, on the other hand, have decided to set mine in a real place, in a real historical time. London, 1665. Building design, street layouts and much more changed in 1666 when it was rebuilt after the London fire, and there are no photos in the archives.

And so, the research I have done has been extensive, sometimes hours of research for one sentence on my novel. I am not writing about the specific event in 1665, that is simply the background setting but it is important to me that it is factually correct. For example, my first chapter started during a thunderstorm which I later had to change when I found out that the summer of 1665 was hot and dry and drought like.

Tonight's challenge was to find out when the moon was full in June 1665. It took a few tries in Google to get the words in the search correct, but finally I got the answer I wanted and only 10 minutes of searching.

I can't even imagine where I would have started to find that information in the years before Google. The hours I would have spent in Libraries, the places I would have travelled to, museums, galleries and much, much more. Maybe it would have been more fun to research in that manner but it would certainly have taken longer. For starters libraries here are not open in the evenings when I do most of my work. 

Ah well, answer found, it's back to work...

Writing a Story Book for Children - Part 2

A few weeks further on and I now have over 19,000 words written and I am over half way through the book. The story is falling together nicely, and I keep referring back to my story line time scale to make sure everything is fitting together as it should.

It is based in the 17th century and I need it to be historically accurate so research is key. Thankfully the Internet is a massive resource and by checking several sites I can normally verify the facts as being correct. I cross reference them with my research book if the topic is covered and I am hopeful that I am producing a book that will not be littered with faux pas. 

Obviously as I write I have had to consider my options for publishing and, in order to retain editorial control as well as a high royalty payment I have decided my first book will be self published. That then leads to a whole new avenue of research, and my mind is simply over run with options.

Nicely timed, an offer fell into my inbox from the company I did the initial course online with, this time it's was a course about self publishing with Kindle Direct. Again the cost was not excessive and having read what each course module covered I decided it would be beneficial to invest. This time there are 14 modules on a audio/video basis and, as before, there is a wealth of information covered that will be highly beneficial when I am ready to publish.

I am always amazed at coincidences and recently a conversation took place that again had me wondering at how small this world really is.

My job involves contacting customers about their account and over the few years I have worked at this job I have built a good rapport with a number of customers and we generally have a little chat before getting on with the main reason for the call. Such a conversation took place a few weeks ago with a customer who lives 250 miles from me. We have never met but talk 2 or 3 times a month on the phone. On this particular day we got discussing my day off and what I had been up to. She enquired whether I had spent the day at the local shopping mall, or lazing in a Spa. Neither, I informed her, I had been working on my book. She expressed an interest and I began to tell her a bit about it. I've always wanted to illustrate a book, says she. I'm looking for an illustrator, says I and hey presto, we are now in collaboration on the front cover to my story.

So, my labour of love continues. So far, the plot in my head is translating onto the page and seems to be working out as I hoped. In a few weeks the first draft will be done and the hard work of editing and proof reading will begin, in the meantime I am thoroughly enjoying this phase of writing, watching the story unfold and seeing my characters deal with the challenges I throw at them. I have experienced the times sitting at my desk waiting for inspiration to come and nothing, and equally I have the times when the story flows so well I am still typing at 2 and 3am. Sometimes a single sentence can lead to an entire chapter being written in one sitting and, if hubby is not around to refill my coffee mug, it can be hours before I realise I haven't had a break. I get totally absorbed in my story and I hope this will translate into readers being equally entranced by it.

It has been an ambition of mine for several years to see my name on a book, on a bookshelf, and it really is starting to feel as if this is one ambition I will achieve. And that is a real motivator to continue...

Canon EOS download to tablet.

Every now and then there is a problem to solve. This week was how to get my photos from my Canon EOS 400D to my Android tablet so I can view them wherever I am, that way if I haven't got the photo I want I can try again before I leave. 

The 400D does not have a screen that shows a live image, only shows the photo once it's taken and in strong sunlight, the small screen can be difficult to see clearly. So, the idea of downloading them to my tablet and viewing them over a cuppa sounded like a good plan. 

And that was where the first difficulty came. Because I don't have a live screen I couldn't find an app to allow me to transfer the photos. After trying a combination of cables and a number of apps we came to the conclusion the easiest route would be a card reader. I found one on Ebay for £2.95 (Free P&P) and it arrived a couple of days later. 

I put the CF card in and cabled it up to the tablet and tried to work out how to get the photos from the card to my tablet. Again, I downloaded a variety of apps and none of them worked. I eventually got the card reader to be acknowledged by the tablet, but it would show any files. After a further 15 minutes trying all kinds of things, it occurred to me to check whether there was anything on the card. A swapped it to the laptop and discovered the card was blank.

A few more minutes and I had several shots of Brandy to try moving onto the tablet. This time it saw the files straight away but couldn't display them. A bit more head scratching and break for a cuppa and I had a brainwave. I shoot my photos in Raw format, maybe I needed an app to deal with that. I bit more Googling and I downloaded RawDroid, a free app, and hey presto, there were my photos of Brandy, neatly arranged on my tablet. I could open them up, view them in enough detail to know whether I have the photo I want or if I need to try again before I leave my chosen place.

It's very satisfying when things finally work how they should. Now I just need somewhere to go and try it out. Oh, and I now have another item to make sure is fully charged before I leave the house. 

The Postman (Should've) Knocked

Fortunately I was at home yesterday when the postman tried to push a package through the letterbox, and it got stuck... big time stuck.

We have a letterbox guard to prevent the dogs from eating the post before we can get to it. They are generally very well behaved and don not chew, unless it's paper.

I wasn't even aware we were waiting for a package to be delivered but, here it was, well and truly stuck between the cage and the door. I opened the door to see if I could pull it out from the other side but it was solid.

Neil came and applied his engineering head, and before removing the dog guard altogether, a series of strategically placed screwdrivers and knives, along with a lot of manipulation and finally we had the box free.

Recently, I have been reviewing all our bill providers and changing many of them to more favourable tariffs. One such bill was the electricity and part of the change meant I got a 'handy monitor' to allow me to see what appliances use how much electric and be a little more discerning about leaving things plugged in 'for convenience'. The irony is that the little gizmo runs on electric, one more thing to plug in but, we dutiful have set it all up and can see it happily sit at the lower end of the scale until we turn the kettle on, the fridge freezer fires up or, and this is the real killer, the hot tub goes on to filter cycle. Fortunately, most of these are short term burst of usage and the monitor then settles back to it's relatively low reading. Certainly an interesting gizmo and one to focus just what we are paying good money for.

In addition, the postman had also brought me an envelope from the Inland Revenue. Having already had a tax refund cheque in the last couple of months I thought this could only mean one thing...

They wanted the money back.

I have 2 sources of income, along with my job I have a small pension (yes, I really am old enough!) and so my tax code is split, but both are taxed at source.

I left the envelope on my desk for a few hours while I did everything I could to avoid opening it and face the truth. With the cost of the car repair still smarting I really didn't feel I wanted to send money back to the tax office.

Eventually I could put it off no longer and sat down with my cheque book. I opened the envelope and pulled out...

A cheque...

Yes, they've sent me some more money. I'm not sure why yet as they haven't sent me through the calculation to go with it but hey, I'm not complaining, I'm spending it...

On these...  

I always clip the dogs myself and mine are a cheap model that are nothing more than rebadged hair trimmers that are sold as dog trimmers but struggle with their fur. It take forever to get the dogs done and last week I ended up finishing Brinkley with the scissors, they just would not cut his fur. I had Neil take them apart and do everything he could to make them work but, nothing. 'You need some new ones, and some proper ones this time', he said.

So, we had already done our research and decided which clippers to get, we just needed to wait for payday...

And now it's come early, I can get them ordered. 

Thank you Inland Revenue.