Historical romantic fiction

I love reading M & B historical fiction, mainly for relaxation - 'collecting your sleeping pills?' teases the library van-man when I get a selection! But there are some great writers amongst them, Louise Allen springs to mind, and Nicola Cornick is another. However this week I bought Bronwyn Scott's Untamed Rogue, Scandelous Miss and gave it a go. No problem with the story, a rollicking romp about horse training and racing. But oh readers, do take heed of the problems of research! Our hero and heroine are out for the day in St Albans which OK is a town I know well. They spend time in the market in 'Peters Square' (now Peters Street) and then take a walk UP Holywell Hill and picnic at the top with a stunning view. So what is wrong with that you ask? Well, Peters Street is at the top of the town and Holywell Hill is a steep slope DOWN (very steep - and certainly not to be attempted in high heels running to the Abbey!!). In other words, the author had looked at a map, seen a hill and imagined it the way she wanted it. Now that is fine, except she used a real place and place name and inevitably anyone who knows the place would be irritated. And she treats the Abbey as ruins, it wasn't it was still in use in the 1830s though run-down, I admit. I was fascinated however to discover from her book that our Grand National horse race did in fact originate as the ST Albans Steeplechase and that it terminated on Nomansland Common which is renowned as the playground of the Wicked Lady - there is a pub on the common named after her now.
It was only after a few years of running that someone thought what a good event for Aintree and pinched the idea.

Vintage Valentine is almost finished

Well, I say almost! It is now a full quilt top and I'm bursting to show it off since I've been doing it for almost a year, in between other things natch - attantion span of a grasshopper springs to mind in my case! All I have to do now is back it and quilt it - by hand since t won't fit my machine very well.
And fantastic news - I now have my living room back!! DH has moved into the new bit with all his papers and the lovely antique furnture that has been lurking in a bedroom for two years has been lovingly polished and re-installed. I am one happy bunny!

The Needle has not been idle...

I've done a lot of sewing in two year apart from 45 odd panto cossies.
Quilts, postcards, samplers, cushions - you name it. Here are a few pictures.........

So... I'm back at last

I was going to drop this blog, until several people moaned at me that they missed it and could I please up-date it, so after TWO years I am back. Older, greyer - but no wiser!
What has been happening in the Dizzy World? You may well ask. The house is STILL being worked on - yes - honestly. Well we now have an extension that is part dump part my workroom, and the DH walks through all the time going 'are you still on that computer' which puts you off a bit, however he is out this morning. I have decided I really don't like having a a husband at home, retiring? Forget it! The joins between the old house (circa 1550) and the new bit are still leaking everytime it rains. You learn not to leave anything precious in the drop zone and always know where to grab a bucket from.
This January we had our village panto again. And this time as well as doing the costumes I played a part. The Wicked Queen in Snow White, well actually I played the Old Corne part of the Queen. We had a fabulous transformation trick where the queen was wrapped in a huge cloak type screen and I stepped out the other side as the crone (typecasting according to the DH). Worked like a dream - only one night I got a lungful of the smoke gun we were using to mask the works and couldn't speak for choking! The only other thing I didn't like about it was when a little girl burst into tears when I pronounce Snow White to be dead. I fellt like a real heel! Fantastic though to do reall over-the-top drama. I am so used to TV acting which is understated, small gestures etc. To be able to do the huge dramatic sweeps of the arm was bliss but took some getting into, and oh my goodness - learning lines after all these years was a nightmare!!
Had a girlie week with my mate Norma in France last summer, drinking lots of wine and ostensibly sewing clothes. I made several shirts and a skirt in between long lunches and shopping. I really can recommend Biscarosse Plage for mussels, chips and wine. Fab beach, goes on for miles of clean white sand and hardly anyone about.
Our garden was open to the public on village open garden day and I had all my dolls houses out on display along with samplers and assorted needlework in the extension, we had the samplers and quilts because they covered the un-finished walls. People were very complimentary about the crafts and the garden which the DH had worked like a beaver on for weeks. He is back at it again right now, though Open Gardens is a two year event so we don't have to do quite so much. But we were self sufficient in veggies and fruit for a good six months and I still have jams, jellies and chutneys in the store cupboard.
I have joined a postcard swap group now which is great fun and I have a huge board of cards from all over the world in my office (corner) and I joined the WI in the village which is a hoot! I am also on the Herts Federation Home-craft committee which looks after all craft matters for Hertfordshire WI.
And of course I am still writing and going to the RNA meeting for the Cambridge section
Socially, I went to the RNA (romantic novelist association) 50th anniversary lunch at the Royal Garden Hotel recently and caught up with lots of old mates over a very boozy lunch. Barry Norman was our MC/Speaker and did a fabulous job, un-like some of the others who have done it in the past - no names no pack-drill! But speaking of the same person, I went to a fund-raiser for the prospective Conservative candidate who is fighting that lady for the seat of Luton South.
Picture is of Norma and her husband and the DH on Biscarrosse beach