Tag Archives: writing

Loose Ends goes on a Virtual Tour

Posted on by
2

I’ve been pretty quiet with the promotion of Loose Ends I’m just letting it roll out all over the world — yes you can download an e-book copy or order a paperback copy from several places including Australia and New Zealand!

Right now the book is featured on Zooloo’s Book Tours and I’m pleased to say that it’s going rather well. It is running from now until 19th September. You can read the reviews as they come in and are posted on Instagram, X, Facebook and Threads. Or you can follow me on any of those platforms as I repost each one — hoping not to miss any. I was rather pleased with this one that came in yesterday:

And this one from the day before:

I hope that if you haven’t yet purchased a copy of Loose Ends that this will encourage you to give it a go. If you have read it and enjoyed it then please put a review on Amazon or Goodreads. . . every little helps 😊
Talking of reviews, I was rather intrigued to read the AI generated paragraph (shown below) on Amazon 😊 Not sure what they mean by the writing quality being ‘agonising’ ha ha

You can click on the title to buy the book LOOSE ENDS

The posters below show the dates and those reviewing…

Thanks for reading this post. You can check out my Substack…Click HERE for the latest newsletter. It’s all about our trip to England in August.

Writing. . . the Ups and Downs

Posted on by
4

As I struggle with writing my second novel I find myself in a strange situation. I don’t exactly have writer’s block, but I’m finding that I have to dig deep for the inspiration to get on with it. I often join the Writers’ Hour on the London Writers’ Salon. It’s an online silent writing session where a few hundred writers (today it’s 245) sit in their own home, coffee shop wherever and just write for 50 mins. It is an inspirational space and I’m there right now writing this blog post. I hope that when time is up this morning, I will be able to carry on writing for the following hour at least and maybe pick up that WIP (work in progress) and get on with it.

Each morning they read out a quote and this morning (23/07/2024) it was this:
“[I don’t compare myself to other writers] I think it’s really important that you do your work. Sometimes there can be a little bruised feeling when you see others shooting ahead in sales or profile. But I’m doing the thing I need to do, and doing it as well as I can. It’s a vocation: I’m doing the thing I’m for in the world; and that is a great feeling, no matter what happens.” –  Melissa Harrison, in an interview with Dominic Dean

When I wrote Dear Tosh, Cathy Rentzenbrink was my mentor and she always said, ‘compare and despair’ which I think is an extremely good motto even though it’s difficult to stick to, and it doesn’t need to relate just to writing. It’s hard not to compare oneself with others but I think that’s half my problem. Instead of getting on with the writing, I’m spending too much time looking around at how ‘successful’ others are in this fickle world of publishing. Loose Ends has had some great reviews and I’m happy with the way it’s selling and getting out into the world. Of course, the promotion of it takes time and I have, for the time being, taken a short break from all that social media and ‘putting myself out there’. I will be back to that in September when, in fact, there will be a blog tour. More about that another time.

My next novel is called Frieden but that’s just a working title. I don’t think it will be released under that name because the story has changed so much since it was first conceived, the word frieden (freedom) is not relevant anymore. It’s set in Berlin Germany, from the outset to the aftermath of WW1. I have enjoyed the research for this book tremendously. I have read two contemporary diaries written by English women who were in Germany at the outbreak of the war. One is An English Wife in Berlin by Evelyn Princess Blucher and the other is Diary of Annie’s War by Annie Dröege. She too is English but married to a man of German heritage. Her story is particularly interesting because her husband Arthur was a British National living in England but when his uncle died, Arthur was the oldest living male relative and he inherited everything including a manor and vast estate in Lower Saxony Germany. He and Annie moved to the property, and were reasonably happy but when war broke out Arthur was interned because of course, he was a British National. Both of these diaries make very interesting reading and have been most helpful in my writing of the book.

Writing can be a lonely business. Another reason it’s often difficult to get going. But thank goodness most writers are gregarious and friendly. I belong to a couple of online groups who meet up every two weeks or once a month and I find these essential for sharing work, motivational conversations and just generally boosting confidence and getting rid of that inner self doubt, which we all have.

I also love joining the Writers’ Hour and I writing this blog post this morning whilst online with the LWS was the best thing I could have done. Just writing about my writing is enough to motivate me into a more proactive day and week going forward. In August we’re going to England for a couple of weeks and I must not let my writing slip into the back seat again. When I’m there I’ll be able to join the Writers’ Hour at 8am, which I must say I find a lot more convenient than the 9am – 10am in France!

I am aiming to publish my next novel in March 2025 which will be one year after I published Loose Ends if I can do it any faster I will but there’s no rush really. One book a year is enough I think. Although looking around I know others often do two or even three but . . . COMPARE AND DESPAIR — don’t do it!

My latest Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/ninettehartley/p/tdf?r
Loose Ends buy HERE
Dear Tosh (2nd edition) Buy HERE

Loose Ends is Published and Available. . .

Posted on by
3

I’m pretty new to this self-publishing lark on Amazon and I’ve done a few things A about F. I’d intended to post a link on here today for a free giveaway of the e-book via Booksprout but discovered, at the last minute, that I could only do that PRIOR to the e-book going live on Amazon, which it did last Monday so I missed the boat and so did you. But, no worries you can still download it for a small amount and if you’re a member of Kindle Unlimited you can download it for free. The paperback book is also available so you have a choice.

Above is the fabulous book cover designed by Emma Ewbank To order the book you can click HERE and it will take you to your Amazon location for the paperback. Click HERE for the ebook version.

Promotion is such a difficult thing and I’m hoping that lots of you will help me spread the word about my debut novel. It’s a good read and a page turner, according to The Man. It’s historical fiction/romance with a little bit of ‘mature’ content in it but nothing gratuitous. I don’t want to give away any spoilers so I’m choosing my words carefully.

You can watch a little book trailer HERE on my YouTube channel and while you’re there please subscribe to the channel and you’ll be notified when I post a new video., for example next week there will be a chance to watch an interview with me recorded on Zoom. I’ll keep you posted here or with my Newsletter or on the social media platforms.

Could I just add this little plea. . . ‘If you buy the book and read it, in whatever form, please give it a review either on Amazon or Goodreads or on FB, Instagram etc., It’s the only way that self-published authors can raise their profile and increase their sales. Thank you so much’.

LOVE

Long Awaited Cover Reveal…

Posted on by
6

Not too many words today just a wonderful picture of the front cover designed by the wonderful Emma Ewbank. I’m looking forward to sharing publication and launch dates with you all soon!

A New Year, New Abode and Almost a Debut Release…

Posted on by
7

The van arrived at our cottage on a Sunday lunchtime. It was a Luton which was meant to be dedicated to us but the company had made a few changes with times and dates and then when it did arrive it had a big pallet with an unknown person’s possessions neatly packed in the bottom taking up what appeared to be a third of the van. The lovely driver George (who spoke Romanian, Spanish and French but no English) assured us that ALL of our stuff would fit in. He didn’t want to eat anything and only took a cup of black coffee, then worked very hard, alongside The Man, me and a few of our neighbours. I was astonished at how fast and efficient George was. At the end of the packing he then had another cup of black coffee and informed us that he was driving to Glasgow to drop off the pallet! He informed us that his boss had not arranged things well . . . an understatement I should think. We waved him on his way and confirmed that we would meet him the following Wednesday down in the south of France near Carcassonne.

GEORGE BEGINNING THE PACKING WITH SOMEONE ELSE’S PALLET ALREADY ON BOARD
ALMOST DONE

After he left we had twenty-four hours to clear our remaining belongings out of the cottage to neighbours or the local tip leaving an Ikea pull out sofa bed in one bedroom and a pile in the middle of the room downstairs to be collected by a family member. Good old Joe! Some furniture was to remain in the cottage. I like to clean up before I leave a place but this time it was impossible. We’d been severely flooded three times in the previous two months and I just couldn’t face it. The Landlady informed us she was completely renovating and ‘fumigating’ the place, starting on the 1st February. Not quite sure she had the correct word with ‘fumigating’ I hope she just meant a deep clean. . . hmm 🤔

We slept the last night in our little cottage already exhausted and we hadn’t even begun our journey. Around 5.30 am I sat bolt upright in bed and asked The Man, ‘Where are our passports?’ I have never seen him move so fast and the words that came out of his mouth are unprintable…(for my blog anyway). ’ F***k!’ followed by many expletives, ‘They’re in the f*****g van in my chest of drawers! What the f**k are we going to do now?’

I quickly texted the boss of the removal company explaining what had happened. He wasn’t that helpful, first he informed us that we were 500 kgs overweight and that it would cost us double the amount of the original quote for him to get across the border with our load! We had not a leg to stand on. . .(I was still in bed anyway but. . .) not a leg and not many chairs to sit on so we had to agree. He then said that George would meet us that night in Dover. We were leaving from Folkestone, going through the tunnel, but I was prepared to drive ANYWHERE to get our passports! He didn’t know what time George would arrive as he was coming from Glasgow (yes we knew that and thank goodness he DID have to drive to Glasgow before heading to France, otherwise . . . who knows.

Eventually we left the cottage, the car complete with roof box packed like I’ve never seen it packed before. You could not have pushed, squeezed, fiddled another article, object or doohicky in there. (Don’t ask me what a doohicky is, I just wanted to use the word). We drove to the Hotel in Folkestone closest to the tunnel arriving around 7pm. We ordered food and wondered what we would do until midnight and could we even stay awake to drive to Dover.

NOT SURE WHAT THE EXPRESSION ON MY FACE MEANS!

Good old George, he called us around 9pm and said he was in our hotel carpark. Amazing. We rushed out to greet him but he wasn’t there. A few texts, dropped pins and a location photo later we could see he was around the corner in a deserted carpark at a closed garden centre.

‘Attend George, attend pour nous!’ I sent a frantic text, we leapt in the car and google mapped our way to the van. Relief all around when George threw up the tarpaulin cover, dropped down the back panel and there stood The Man’s chest of drawers. He (The Man) climbed up and retrieved our passports from inside the top drawer. It was the best feeling. . .

SEARCHING THE VAN IN THE DARK
PHEW!
OUR NEW PLACE JUST AFTER GEORGE LEFT US
WE MANAGED TO GET STRAIGHT WITHIN A FEW DAYS

Click on the arrow beside the slide show below to see more images.

We have arrived, and our names are on the post box. This is just the beginning of our new adventure. Our small town has a great deal to offer. A small lake, an entry to the Voie Verte ( a wonderful cycle path covering many miles in France), trails through the vines and of course a bakery. . . yum! We also have a butcher, a grocery store, the doctor, the chemist and a couple of cafés, also as a choice of restaurants. I cannot wait to discover more of the area. It’s early days, we have been here for just three week and I’ve already met a couple of writers, joined some local associations and even attended the AGM of one of them! I’ve written very little since we arrived (for obvious reasons) but I’m looking forward to being very productive in February. Look our for a cover reveal and news of Loose Ends publication!

The Power of Social Media. . .

Posted on by
2

On Thursday, 9th August, I attended the first of five sessions to learn ‘how to deal’ with social media. The course, Content Compass Bootcamp, is run by the amazing Joey Clarkson, whose energy and versatility encouraged us to participate fully in every exercise she set. We were given monthly planner sheets and post planner sheets and a veritable wealth of information to help us up our social media presence and build confidence in our brand, product, writing project. . . or whatever it is we are working on or towards.

Putting into practice what I’d learnt, I uploaded a video to Instagram a couple of days ago. It was about those pesky words we writers use too often. I was searching my WIP for the word ‘that’, which I know is a horrible word, and I use it too often. I tend to write things like:

She thought that he was staring at her. The word that is totally unnecessary. She thought he was staring at her is sufficient and reads much better.

I don’t know why I do it, but I found over 1000 ‘thats’ in my 83,000 word manuscript.

The video went out to the public as a reel, and to my astonishment, it was watched (to date) over 2,000 times, and I gained 30+ followers in twenty-four hours. Which is amazing. The thing is, I know I have to keep this up and that is where the Planner Sheet and the Post Planner Sheet come in handy. I now have to post regular content to social media at least three times a week. This blog post is will be my second post for this week and I have to do at least one more before Sunday. . .Yikes! I think the best way is to make videos and prepare content in advance which I’m trying to do. This last week was a little difficult because I was on Nonna duties, and my days were taken up with the grandchildren, which of course was a pleasure, but left me less time than usual to get organised. But, I’m making excuses!

Gotta dash now. . . I have to make a video, take a photo and write some content before I head off for a pedicure at eleven. Well, you have to keep things in perspective don’t you?

Thanks to tenor for Gifs

What Do Writers Do When They’re Not Writing. . . ? They go to a Silent Disco of Course!

Posted on by
3

I’ve had a busy month so far and that’s because I’ve been doing a lot of writing. I’m actually well into re-writing my debut novel but more about that another time. Not quite ready to share yet.

Writers spend a great deal of time sitting at their desks, either on their computers or with a notebook, at home or in cafés. Wherever they choose to write they are probably sitting down. I’m lucky, I have a writing space on the landing in our cottage and it’s perfect. A desk, bookcases, printer etc., and a lovely view to the farm across the road. But what do I do when I’m not sitting writing?

This year I made a conscious decision to get out and about more. Until last August we had the dear dog, Jpeg, which meant I went out every day for a walk at least once and often twice. Without the dog I have looked for other forms of exercise. I do walk without the dog and also do quite a lot of online fitness workouts. But, two weeks ago I took the plunge and joined a Friday morning silent disco run by the extraordinary Angie Porter (this is her facebook page). She is a vibrant member of the local community and on Instagram she describes herself as:

❤️ 🎨 painter 👩‍🎨 writer ✍️ performer 🎤🎭palm tree lover 🌴 🌴 🌴teacher and joy freak 🤩 📽 ☀️

I didn’t know what to expect as I’ve never been to a silent disco before (my kids thought I’d lost the plot) I absolutely loved it. You couldn’t get further away from writing at a desk. I found it exhilarating. I came back full of energy and raring to get on with the day. I’ve now been three times and the last time I went, which was yesterday, the weather was atrocious but we carried on anyway – it takes place outside under a large open sided covered area at The Grow Slow Nursery and The Packhorse Cafe so we didn’t get soaked. We had a ball. The photos below were taken on Friday 7th July. Lovely women. We are dancing sisters.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is silent-disco-1.jpg

The silent disco is advertised as GET UP AND DANCE. You do your own thing or dance along with others. It’s energetic, fun and all the other women taking part are inspiring, friendly and supportive. A new community into which I’ve been welcomed with open dancing arms. LOVE IT It is women only by the way.

I’ll be posting a Newsletter soon, so those of you who have signed up to receive one, look out for that. Sorry it’s all been a bit erratic lately but that’s life folks!

You can watch me/us dancing on the following links:

SILENT DISCO 1

me at the first disco getting in the mood

SILENT DISO 2

the wonderful Angie 😊


Thailand Travels Week One. . . Bangkok

Posted on by
Reply

It was a long flight and fairly bumpy for the first half but it settled down for the final six hours and eventually we landed at Bangkok Survarnabhumi airport. It was four o’clock in the afternoon and the heat as we exited the plane struck us full force. The intensity is indescribable, and it was incomprehensible to my English body and brain how this much warmth could be just in the atmosphere without some mechanical or other kind of assistance. We were tired but still had to get through immigration and the queue was long. But, there was nothing could be done except wait and be patient. The bags arrived on the belt well before we were there to collect them, which makes a change. A bit of a hassle to get a cab but we managed to jump the queue unintentionally. Forty minutes later we were checked in to our hotel room. Showered, a change of clothes and we were ready to go out into Bangkok city and meet my son and daughter-in-law for supper.

Naturally we lost ourselves within the first five minutes. We were staying in the Centre Point Hotel Sukhumvit 10. Sukhumvit is the name of the area as well as the street name but ALL the streets were named Sukhumvit but with different numbers. A grid system. Simple but not for a couple of jet lagged Westerners looking for a restaurant who assumed Sukhumvit 11 would be next to 10. Additionally, there were not street names on the walls of the buildings and for some reason (probably jet lag again) we didn’t notice the huge street signs on poles at every corner!

Photo courtesy Surkhumvit Guide
Photo courtesy Street Signs.co

As you can see by the photographs the signs and cables in Bangkok abound in their thousands. The railway was running above our heads as we walked along. Street vendors, the music blaring our walk around the area close to our hotel assaulted all our senses. Bangkok is colourful in every way. The smell of stir frying vegetables, and deep frying foods such as spring rolls — we didn’t see any chicken feet that night thank goodness. There are loads of stalls selling ready prepared fruits; pineapple, melon, grapefruit and pomelo (a new one for me, like a grapefruit). Also of course the ubiquitous coconut! The photograph at the top is a coconut smoothie, a delicious blend of ‘things’ passed off as a mocktail.

Our hotel was wonderful and the salt swimming pool an absolute delight, as well as a must for cooling off. Even though I stayed in the shade for ninety-nine per cent of the time we were there I still managed to get sunburn and prickly heat! I went to the beauty salon in the hotel and got a pedicure, foot massage, nails painted, the full works for an astonishing 200 baht (around £4.80).

We were in Bangkok to celebrate my son Matthew’s 50th birthday. Eventually the whole family arrived in the city and we were joined by a few of Matt’s friends for a meal at Mr Ribeye. There were sixteen of us sitting around the table. I think we gave him a good evening.

A slideshow of Bangkok sights including the hotel pool, Bangkok at night, a walk around a nearby city lake which was only 400 metres from our hotel. Bangkok is a busy city and very hot.

I’m adjusting to the heat gradually. We left Bangkok last Monday to travel down the coast with a few stops, (Cha-am, Nana Beach Chumphon, Khao Lak )along the way to Phuket. More about this little road trip on the next post.

Just Had To Tell You About The Fossil Walk. . .

Posted on by
1

We have lived in Dorset for seven years and every now and then we visit the coast. West Bay, Charmouth, Lyme Regis etc., I know it’s the Jurassic Coast but have never given it that much thought. A couple of weekends ago some friends from Essex came to visit and Helen, booked for she and I to go on a fossil walk on Charmouth Beach. We ended up as a group of five, two others from Weston Super Mare and the lovely Victoria who led the walk. We all met on the footbridge leading to the beach from the carpark. Several people had a problem with paying at the parking machine but I was able to use the app on my phone. Honestly, you can do anything with an app on your phone these days. It’s convenient but slightly worrying. Apps are definitely taking over. . . but that should be another blog post. Back to Charmouth.

Vic (as she liked to be called) gave us a short talk about the Jurassic coast. She gave us two booklets and the following paragraph is an extract from one of them.

It is one of the world’s great natural wonders. It extends for 95 miles along the Dorset and East Devon coast and offers a unique “Walk Through Time” starting at Orcombe Point near Exmouth and continuing to Studland Bay in east Dorset, it is the only place on earth where you can walk through three distinctive geological eras. It captures the remains of the arid deserts of the Triassic, the shallow seas of the Jurassic and the tropical swamps of the Cretaceous. For more information click HERE

Vic giving us the pre-walk talk at a picnic table.

After the talk we picked up our bags and headed down to the beach. There were plenty of other people and dogs on the beach, many of them with their heads down scouring the sand and pebbles for any sign of a fossil. It’s hard to tell at first and several times I picked up a little something thinking I had made the find of the century only to be told it was just a bit of pottery or a few stones stuck together with clay. Very disappointing. But it wasn’t long before one member of our party found a small ammonite and we all cheered even though we were a little jealous!

This was the terrain where we searched for fossils.

Eventually I found two small ammonites and several belemnites. I sound like I know what I’m talking about but honestly? I’m none the wiser really. A couple of hours on the beach is not long enough. I’ll have to go again and maybe take the grandchildren with me. But, they’ll probably find loads and know all about it. . . that’s just how it is with the old and the young 😊

I was pretty pleased with my haul and I came back home full of enthusiasm for more fossil hunting. One of the other party members gave me a rather lovely (and certainly larger) ammonite than the one I found in exchange for a copy of Dear Tosh. I hope he enjoys reading it! Tosh would have loved searching on the beach for fossils. I thought about him a great deal.

My little haul of fossils. The top left is not a fossil but a quartz stone, I rather liked it. You can see the ammonites (the largest I was given) and the belemnites are the little bullet type shape. The ends of tentacles from a squid like animal I believe.

Watch out for a blog post or two over the next few weeks as I’m off to Thailand for a family 50th — not mine but my eldest son. I know, I know I don’t look old enough to have a fifty-year-old son (she says modestly) but when you’ve been amongst the 180+ million year old fossils for a day it does make one feel pretty young and insignificant!

See you from Thailand, Cambodia and Laos…watch this space.

Oh and by the way, Victoria also has an alpaca farm where you can experience a walk with the alpacas and other activities. Click on the link to see more. Little Orchard Alpacas

Two Years On And . . . A New Letter to Tosh. . .

Posted on by
7

Today it’s twelve years since we lost Tosh. I thought the pain of grief would not be as raw now as it was in the beginning but sometimes it just jolly well is. It’s been a difficult month, with the weather being so dismal and I felt a little low. But, I spoke to my son in Thailand a couple of days ago and told him how hard I was finding it this year. He asked if I wrote to Tosh at this time of year, bringing him up to date with the family and world news the same as I had during the first year and when writing the book Dear Tosh. It felt like a good idea and I actually smiled at the prospect.

At the end of the book I’d signed off,

Love you and miss you Tosh.
Bye for now. I’ll write again soon.
Mum xx

I had every intention of writing again soon, but I didn’t. Getting on with life took over, and I never got around to writing another letter until today.

Dear Tosh,
14th January 2023

Today I woke up late, feeling muggy and tired. I’d been dreaming about eating, probably because I’ve been trying to lose weight so cutting down on my intake of carbs. As soon as I opened my eyes I thought of you. Most days I think of you first thing and then several times again throughout the day. Twelve years ago we were on our way to Porto, to the hospital. We had to get from Italy where we were living at the time. I was trying to remember how we go to the airport at Bologna, we must have driven but I have no recollection of the journey there or much else. I spent a few days in a world of numbness and confusion. The last letter I wrote to you was on the 1st February 2021. I cannot believe two years have almost passed and I’m sorry I have not written again before today. But here I am. I’m sitting at my desk in our cottage in Dorset. Through the window I can see the driveway of the farm opposite, the barn and the stables. Yesterday the sun was shining but today it’s raining and windy once more. The weather so far in 2023 has been dismal. The rain causing floods everywhere in the Southwest and further afield. You wouldn’t like it — it’s not good weather for graffiti!

Let me give you a bit of an update from January 2021. When Geoff and I returned from France in May 2021 I published my book about you called Dear Tosh . It’s the 27 letters I wrote to you for the 10th anniversary while we were staying in Caux, South of France. A lot of people have read it and it has helped many people come to terms with their own loss. I think you’d be very pleased about that.

I’ve not written anything big since your book, I’ve tried to write a novel but haven’t had much success. I find plotting very difficult! At the moment I’m sticking to short stories and poetry, which I find less stressful to write.

Geoff and I went to France again in 2022 and stayed near Lorgues in Provence. It was a beautiful area and Geoff did loads of cycling. Unfortunately, just before we were due to come home he fell off his bike on a cycle path, broke his collarbone, a few ribs and had a nasty concussion. Bad eh? It was quite nice for me and Jpeg the dog though, because he came walking with us for the last two weeks of our trip. Jpeg loved that! He’s back on his bike now though, albeit indoors because of our awful weather. He does 45 mins in the morning and I do 30mins of keep fit with a Youtube video. Fabulous Fifties — who am I kidding!

Sadly Jpeg died at the end of August 2022, she was thirteen and a half, so she had a good life. She was a well travelled dog. Even though you never met her I know you would have loved each other. We had her cremated and then took her ashes back to the farm in Italy where she had found us all those years before and you had convinced me we should keep her. On our way to Italy we stopped at the small village in Lorraine, France, where some of your ashes are in a beautiful village cemetery overlooking the French countryside. I shed a tear or two, I love the headstone there because it has your photograph on it. We left some of Jpeg’s ashes behind the stone so that she could be with you.

World news over the last couple of years is dire. Russia invaded Ukraine. The Climate Crisis is taking hold. I know you would be definitely behind any cause that would save our environment. There’s flooding, war, starvation . . . the world doesn’t get any better. As for the UK well it’s a disaster right now. We had three Prime Ministers in 2022! Everyone is on strike, the NHS is falling apart. We have gone back to the 1970s. I won’t say any more as it’s too depressing.

I think about you every single day, more than once, we talk about you all the time and look at pictures of you, when you were little and as a grown man. Of course I can only imagine what you would be like now. Forty this year! It doesn’t seem possible. But then again we’re all getting older year on year. Your eldest brother will be fifty this year — now that’s really something. I cannot possibly be old enough to have a fifty-year-old son. We are going out to Thailand to celebrate with him as are Emily and her girls. It will be a lovely couple of weeks. Geoff and I are going to take the opportunity to travel to Laos and Cambodia while we’re close.

Today we are trying to be upbeat about the anniversary of your death. Thinking of so many good things. We’re going to have a lovely meal, I have a new toy, an air fryer (I keep calling it an air dryer ha ha) and I’m roasting lamb, Persian style, with yoghurt and spices. I’m celebrating your life and know that if you were still around, I’d be chatting to you about my new air fryer and all the things I can make with it.

Miss you as ever.
Lots of love
Mum xxx

PS I tried to get a couple of walnut whips today so that we could ceremonially eat them, but couldn’t find one anywhere.

I know you loved them. I think Emily has been successful. I hope so.