Is anyone getting fed up of the heat yet? I am!!
The saving grace is that I no longer have to work in a sweltering office or a steaming café. Both of those places aren’t pleasant on a hot day. My workplace is my spare bedroom at the front of the house, which is quite cool because it’s north facing. If any of you are struggling with the heat at work, I have every sympathy.
How are your gardens coping?
I’ve been spending loads of time in the garden in the past month, early morning or late afternoon, when it’s been a bit cooler. I’m trying to keep the flowers alive but they’ve been struggling without their decent water supply. A watering can every night doesn’t seem to be doing the trick. I’m sure the sweet peas should be in bloom by now, but they have hardly grown at all.
My peony did well though. It didn’t flower at all last year, but this year there were 7 flowers on it. Gorgeous, isn’t it?
My husband has done a lot of work on the garden in the past few months.
It’s quite narrow but around 120 foot long, with a tiny 4 foot fence separating us and the neighbours. That isn’t the issue, (they are very nice people) but they also have another tiny fence on the other side of their garden, which looks out onto a path next to the River Calder. The path is lovely, but as you can imagine, is very popular with walkers, so our garden isn’t private at all.
We couldn’t afford to replace the fence all the way down, so my husband created a little garden within a garden, with a 6 foot fence, to give us a private space. I love it! I read in there a lot and have also done yoga and a workout.
It's quite bare at the moment, but it’s a work in progress.
We did plan to have a BBQ in there on Father's Day but after months and months of draught, it rained. Of course! This is Britain, I should have known better.
BOOK NEWS
I’m busy promoting Unexpected Storm, but I have already started work on my next book, which will be more of a thriller. It centres around a barristers’ chambers in Manchester and opens with one of the barristers being shot by an unknown gunman, who manages to get away. I’m very excited about this one! I'll keep you updated as I go.
WHERE HAVE I BEEN?
A couple of weeks ago, I went back to Warkworth for a weekend with my best friend, Linda, and her husband, Stuart, who I have known for 45 years. Of course my husband, Darrell, and the dog came too. We stayed in a beautiful cottage, which I can highly recommend called Piggyback Cottage. You can find it on www.coquetcottages.co.uk.
The purpose of the trip was to spend time with friends, obviously, but I also wanted to give a copy of Just Breathe to The Masons Arms, The Warkworth House Hotel and Bertrams Café, all of which are mentioned in the book.
I was quite nervous about going in and doing that, but everyone was so friendly and my book was very well received. The lady at the hotel sent me a message the following day, saying that she had already started it and couldn’t put it down.
This is a picture of my book on Warkworth Beach. I managed to line up the waves with the waves on the cover, completely by accident.
This is a picture of my husband (on the right) with Stuart enjoying a pint or three in Amble, the town next to Warkworth.
I also had a lovely day out at Tatton Park in Cheshire, with my friend Eleanor. We had a tour of the old house and learnt a lot about the history of the house and the park. It was well worth the £15 entry fee.
Here is a photo of the beautiful deer that you can find roaming around the park.
Of course, my book came too, for a photoshoot!
WHAT I’VE READ
The weather has been wonderful for reading outside and I’ve managed to get through 3 books this month.
On Kindle, I’ve read One Good Thing by Alexandra Potter. This is a lovely book about a lady who moves to London after a divorce and buys a cottage in a Yorkshire village where she grew up. She meets some lovely people and gradually gets her life back on track. I follow a lot of authors on Instagram and tend to buy Kindle books when they are on offer for 99p - the authors always do a post when that happens. I love a bargain!
Another fantastic summer read is The Cruise by Caroline James. The author is a friend of mine, who I met in Garstang, where I live. After I commented on a post she did on Facebook, she very kindly offered to meet me for a coffee and give me some advice about the pros and cons of being self-published or being traditionally published. We got on like a house on fire and have become friends. I’m not just telling you about her book because she is a friend, however. I really enjoyed it. And thousands of other people do too – the book has been in the Kindle top ten for weeks and weeks. I’m so pleased!
It's about 3 friends who go on a cruise together to the Caribbean. All the women are over 60, but prove that there is still lots of life left in them.
I’ve just finished this fantastic book by Katherine Faulkner, called Greenwich Park. It’s about a woman, Helen, who is pregnant and meets a new friend, Rachel, at the antenatal class. Helen doesn’t really want her as a friend - Rachel is loud and uncouth and drinks too much alcohol - but they keep bumping into each other. Then Rachel invites herself to round to the house and to family dinners and Helen can’t seem to get rid of her. You just know that it isn’t going to end well!! I’ve given this book 5 stars on Goodreads.
If you love reading as much as I do, please join my Facebook group, Caroline Blake's Bookclub and share your favourite books.
Until next month,
Caroline x