Autumn is up and running and it’s been raining here, indoors and out because we had a pipe leak under the floor in the understairs cupboard where my larder is. Just to add to the fun, we then found out that stopcock outside had jammed so we couldn’t turn the water off! Luckily, we had lovely guys from the water company come. They would have counted as heros by my definition of them which is when you see them and feel instantly better but the rotten spoilsports wouldn’t let me put piranhas in the moat they created when they dug up right in front of our gate and it filled up with water because the pipe began to leak while they were trying to shift the stopcock.
I mean, who hasn’t dreamed of having a moat full of piranhas? I definitely have, and I've had to accept that I won't get one but I do have a nice new stopcock that isn’t two foot down so it’s easy to turn off when we need to. I also have mended pipes and a husband who’s promised to put up the shelves he was going to do twenty five years ago. Being fair to him, it’s been quite a quarter of a century what with one thing and another, which is also why I was able to publish my hundredth book a few days ago. I’d always written because it was my way of escape but I only got the time and space back to become a commercial writer a little over two years ago and I count myself incredibly lucky that people enjoy escaping with me. I'm also living proof that it's never too late to make your dreams come true even if you've had to postpone them.
I hope you liked 'A Place to Call Home' ‘Crazy for Death’ and recognised places in Amy and Peter's adventures from other blog posts. If you haven't seen them yet then you've got the fun of reading them to look forward to. I had an amazing time writing both books. and making the crazy quilts that Amy got me interested in although I don't think anyone will believe me if I try to blame her for making me buy fabric! I’m back to quilting again now as autumn draws in so I snuggle happily beneath a seaside crazy one, and I’m at the stage of putting another quilt top together on the sewing machine so there’ll be photographs later.
It’s been raining and I needed to be around for the water company and clear out the larder so I haven’t got down to Harbourside much recently. I’ll be down there next week though, and hoping to photograph the historic paddle steamer Waverley as she heads out of harbour on an adventure. Till then, here’s a picture of Shieldwall. It reminds me of a saying I’ve always loved, which is ‘A ship in a harbour is safe but that is not what ships are built for.’ I did some research on that and have found that it is often attributed to John A. Shedd, who’s a prominent American author and businessman.
What can I say? I love quotations because words have power so the right ones are important. There’s one from Babylon 5 where a technomage talks about "The true secrets, the important things. Fourteen words to make someone fall in love with you forever. Seven words to make them go without pain, or to say goodbye to a friend who is dying. How to be poor, how to be rich, how to rediscover dreams the world has stolen from you.” That sums up what I try to do as a writer. I’m not there yet, but I intend to keep trying, and I hope you keep reading.
So stay safe, warm (or cool if it’s the start of summer where you are) and happy and I’ll be back on Tuesday with lots of lovely special offers.
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