Heading out for a walk yesterday morning, my daughter said to me ‘Am I going mad or is that a massive bottle on the back of that lorry.’ I looked. If she was going mad, then so was I, and here is what I saw… https://www.islandecho.co.uk/boat-with-island-connection-to-be-showcased-at-southampton-boat-show-next-month/
Yes, someone did decide that he’d sail the Atlantic in a replica bottle called, 'message in a bottle'! His name is Fons Oerlemans and he also crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a truck attached to a homemade raft. Thankfully, I can read enough Belgian to understand this page https://www.stormkop.be/fons-oerlemans but just looking at the pictures is enough to inspire me, especially since he describes himself as 80 years young.
And isn’t that a much better way to look at it? And doesn’t he live every second to the full
? What a role model! No, I’m not advocating that we all do that, but the mindset of ‘what’s the next adventure?’ Is one I think I need to cultivate, along with less caring about what I ‘ought’ to be doing and more doing what I want to do, whenever I can find time to.
Right now, that means immersing myself in local history and getting on with the first draft of the next Esther and the Professor World War Two book; and it’s simultaneously bleak and inspiring because yet again I’m reminded how much the Home Front had to deal with in those years and how women stepped up and proved themselves.
Which leads me on to this weeks new release and special offers.
Love Always, is the last Lavender House for now. It tells the story of Lavinia Cunningham, the ghost of Lavender House and explains why she’s haunting the lovely old house that’s found new life as a housing development and giving couples the happy ending that she couldn’t have. Only ‘couldn’t’ isn’t all it seems and a young widow is about to find out that ‘Love, Always’ is literally true.
And on special offer at 99p in the UK and 99c in the US
The Scent of Lavender - The first 3 Lavender House cosy romances. US & UK
(Honestly, you’d think I planned things, wouldn’t you. A matchmaking ghost, an old house and its gardens being brought into a new stage of their lives, and three couples who think they don’t want to fall in love.
Love by the Sea - The first 3 Windy Bay Cosy Romances - US & UK set around Christmas and into spring. A little village on the beautiful Studland Peninsula. A quiet beach, a place where time goes more slowly and people are kind and things seem to be possible that aren’t anywhere else.
A lost child, a family torn apart, a pregnancy after a couple gave up hope. Sweet, gentle, and, I hope, life-affirming.
And then I reverted to Eleanor Neville and went for danger and adventure and the baddies getitng what they deserve!
To be the best, Professional Hero and Enemy Within - A trilogy of books following the adventures of a hostage recovery team and a doctor with a lot to prove, a man who thinks love isn’t for him, and a woman who’s so determined that she’s fondly known as the Porcupine. Add to that someone with a mind-control device, an assassination attempt on the Prime Minister and a bomb and it’s pretty much business as usual for the ultra-secret MI27, the department of the British Secret Service known to its agents as the Shadows.
The toddler and the tough guy - UK only Is former Marine Drew tough enough to cope with the toddler he’s taking on after her parents death? He knows he needs a crash course in parenting so enlists childminder Lisa, who has problems of her own. Is the tough guy tough enough to handle family life? Can Lisa learn to trust? Will a certain toddler EVER got to bed without a fight? Gentle drama and sweet romance in the Oldcastle standalone series.
And Amy Hammond cosy mysteries - US & UK
‘She didn’t mean to find trouble’ - An anthology of the first three books about a fifry-ish woman who’s always longed for adventure, loves crafts, has good intentions to be organised and a next door neighbour who’s more than he’s trying very hard to seem to be.
A HandMade Crime - US Christmas comes to the Swansmere Estate in July as a well-loved craft series takes over to film there. Amy’s boss promised her she wouldn’t have to be involved, let alone be on screen, but this is Amy we’re talking about, so of course she’s involved and there’s trouble.
Aging Disgracefully - US - Brings me back round to the point of this blog. Aging isn’t what it used to be. Pole dancing. Naked men tied to gym equipment, drugs and murder. And all Amy wanted was to set up a craft club…
So, today’s picture, taken with my new camera. Bigger lens, more controls… my own little adventure. Look closely and you’ll see a juvenile oystercatcher. Beautiful, amazing and wildlife will definitely feature in the next Windy Bay’s…
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