Orange Blossom – Orange Blossom has become the most important flower scent for me. I lived in Florida from age ten to twenty-three and my backyard in Rockledge had two large orange trees and one grapefruit tree. Every year, the orange blossom would appear with its gorgeous white flowers and the unmistakeable sweet fragrance. I used to sit reading… Read on
1) Get a home of our own. My husband – once one of the top ActionScript Flash developers in the UK – technically lost his job after Steve Jobs decided to stop supporting Flash on Apple products. The recession hit us hard. We had to sell our flat in London and now are renting from the family up… Read on
Thursday night at Fleetwood Public Library in Lancashire, I gave my first book talk about His Last Mistress. I met some really lovely people and it was an enjoyable evening. My husband was filming the event, but only 1/3 of the talk was captured because the video filled up the SD card far too quickly! At least you’ll… Read on
I’m a bit late coming onto the August Blog A Day Challenge, but I’ve been wanting to join in. So, here’s my first contribution about the three things I’ve achieved. 1) Becoming a historian. Ever since I was about nine, and was handed my first David Starkey book, about Henry VIII’s Six Wives, I knew I wanted to… Read on
There have been quite a few searches for an excerpt from my book His Last Mistress, so for those who haven’t seen the excerpt available on Amazon, here is an excerpt from the end of Chapter 14: The plans for assassinating the King and the Duke of York were put in place. Disaster, however, thwarted their diabolical plans.… Read on
The Church of St. Peter & St. Paul in Abington, Northampton, stands only a few yards away from Abington Museum, which we looked at in yesterday’s post. The building is quite beautiful, but its main draw is its Shakespeare connection. You can see the Museum to the left behind the church here: That’s right, Shakespeare’s granddaughter (through his… Read on
I walked over to the local Abington Park Museum today and took a few photos to share with you. As it less than a 10 minute walk from my in-law’s house here in Northampton, I have visited it several times. There has been a house on this land since the late 1000s, but what I am very interested… Read on
Based on the adventures found in Alexandre Dumas’ novel The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later, this cartoon series is about anthropomorphised dogs in 17th-century France. The famous musketeer motto, One for all, and all for one! closes each episode. I’ve added this because my husband grew up in the 80s and he remembered this series and told me… Read on