In amongst the darkness…

The world is an uncertain, dangerous place right now. I’m not denying this, and I do my bit to help by supporting The Red Cross and the RNLI, which is the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

And yet, I can’t help thinking that this makes it all the more important to remember and make the most of all the patches of sunshine because us being miserable when we don’t have to be isn’t going to do anything to help support the people who have good reasons to be miserable, is it?

So, reasons to be happy. A miniature choc ice on a hot day. A walk to the park to see the birds squabbling for territory, which makes me feel a bit better about the human race. To see One-Eye the Swan, who was shot by some little you-know-what with a BB gun over in Christchurch. He found his way to Poole, spent some weeks at the Swan Sanctuary and now lives with the B flock on the freshwater lake.

I love the B flock, as I long ago christened them. They’re all the birds who are a bit wonky and don’t fit in with the herd. Remember, there’s a reason why they call it a pecking order, and it isn’t a nice one, but there are birds with angel wing, which means their feathers aren’t angled right. There’s one eye and a goose with cataracts and a couple of birds with wonky feet. They all live happily together and keep a lookout for each other, and I make a point of feeding them, and so do a lot of my other park friends, thus proving that there is so much good in the world.

So today, I saw this beautiful heron, pretty much saying, ‘move on, nothing to see here.’

I saw one-eye, doing well.

I saw this beautiful little egret.

I also saw the Little Master, the gosling I rescued from the crow when he swooped down on him, and he’s pretty much fully grown, with just a small mark on his neck. He comes straight up to us because he feels entitled to be spoiled. So does one-eye come to that, and, as you can see, he is BIG.

The green space and meeting friends whose names I don’t know and the blue space of the salt water lagoon and the freshwater lakes seeped into my soul and let me look at the world differently and go back to writing my escapist Windy Bay series for everyone who needs to remember that the world is beautiful and most people are kind.


Speaking of books, these are this week’s special offers, at 99p in the UK and 99c in the US. There are even anthologies on offer, so 3 books for 99p or 99c…

There are 3 from the Amy Hammond cosy mysteries, which are A Handmade Crime, Aging Disgracefully and Two Graves Publication. Handmade Crime is about filming a Christmas show at Swansmere and the joys of wearing a Christmas jumper in a heatwave, which I think would be enough to drive anyone to extremes, don’t you?

Then there are 3 anthologies: She didn’t mean to find trouble, which is the first 3 Amy books, Love by the Sea, which is the first 3 Windy Bay books and The scent of lavender, which is the first 3 Lavender House books.

All of them are nice light reading with happy endings that are more like new beginnings, because we all need that little bit of escape, don’t we? So take care till we meet again and make the most of all we’re lucky enough to have.