The good things about darker mornings…

To put this in context, in our area, you have to have the bins out by 6am on collection day. I don’t like having my back garden open to the world at night, so it’s my first job on a Tuesday, and this Tuesday was the first morning when I had to take the big rechargeable torch with me while I went down the garden. I was feeling sad about that, but then I saw something on the path.

No, not something that had met one of my pussy cats, because they’re pretty much past that these days. Besides, our next-door neighbour had a mouse infestation and she now pays them in cat treats per corpse, so they’re not daft enough to waste a mouse on grossing me out.

It was big, it was standing there looking at me as if it wanted to ask me what I was doing there. Which was fair enough, because I was wondering what Mr Hedgehog was doing in my garden. Then I realised the obvious. Windfall apples. Then I went and fetched my camera and he’d moved to the side of the path, which was very considerate.

I tried taking pictures, but they didn’t come out well because I didn’t want to spook him with the flash so I found this gorgeous shot on Pixabay instead. Mine was bigger, but I suppose everyone says that about the one that got away, don't they?

More importantly, I didn’t disturb him because he didn’t curl up. Then I said thanks because I was brought up to be a lady and went to open the back gate, which does have a hedgehog gap, just as our fence between us and next door has a hedgehog hole cut in it. I went to open the gate and put the bins out, and he’d gone on wherever he was going when I came out. I, however, was smiling because the thing is that we may only be fifteen minutes from the sea, but we live in a built-up area. I know we’ve got hedgehogs, and yes, they do have a hog house, but it was my first sighting this year, and it matters to me because I like wildlife, as you know. Sometimes, I have to admit, I like it better than people.

So I leave some of the windfall apples for them because there’s enough for all of us. They’re not bad for the dwarf trees we were given as a wedding present almost forty years ago. They said they were dwarf rooting stock and wouldn’t grow above eight feet. Ha! Tell that to my twenty foot trees. Only please don’t because I love the shade from them and from the sycamore tree on the other side of the path and the sense that the garden is a haven for humans and wildlife and productive even if it's only little.


Actually, I love all my garden and I’m sure there will be room for a few more plants there to help keep me and the birds and creatures happy. Just as I’m sure there’s always room for a few more books on your Kindle, so here are this week’s special offers.

They're on at 99p in the UK and 99c in the US, and it’s a nice bundle this week. To start with, there are 3 books from my Oldcastle series. Oldcastle is a sleepy little Dorset market town that’s not been doing well, but the people who live there love it. Well, most of them do. The hero of the Toddler adn the Tough Guy is a soon to be former Royal Marine and he's struggling with the close knit community as much as grief for his brother and his wife and inheriting an occasionally gorgeous toddler. He may be a professional tough guy but this is one time when he needs a heroine. There's Buried Trouble and Where there’s a Will and they're fun too!

If you want something a bit tougher, there are also 3 books from my series about an elite British Intelligence unit that’s known as the Shadows, because if they get it right, you never know they’ve been there. They’re paired up very carefully, usually as a male/female team because that’s less conspicuous and their boss’s main rule is that there’s strictly no romantic involvement. Right. This highly intelligent man goes to endless lengths to make sure they’re compatible and then says no romance. Have you ever noticed how often high intelligence and common sense don’t go together? Anyway, those 3 are Accidental Hero, Strange Harvest and Kisschase. All have brave and handsome heroes and heroines who don’t quite know what they let themselves in for. There is a bit of sex and the occasional naughty word when it’s justified, but I’m sure you’re not easily shocked, are you?



Anyway, see you on Sunday, so enjoy your week, and I hope you see magic too. Because he was a beautiful hedgehog. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I’ve turned the LED candles on, and my new rechargeable nightlight candles in glass lanterns, so I’m writing this by the light of a table lamp and candles. I reckon it’s compulsory for a writer of slushy romances, don’t you? Because there’s always something good if you look for it. Okay, it’s a small thing, but hey, I’m a small person!