Thursday 24 April 2014

Signs of Summer

May beckons and Summer visitors are starting to return. 


House-martins are setting up home and we look forward to seeing little heads popping out of their nests.  They look so cute, we can forgive the mess they leave behind!


A stork glides in the blue and, with anticipation, we look out for the swifts and their evening aerial displays which are so entertaining.


This is such a beautiful time of year.  The countryside looks so fresh and new.  So many shades of green and splashes of yellow with dandelions galore, bright forsythia and fields gleaming with brilliant, golden rape seed flowers.  Pink cherry blossom is still evident, joined now by lilac blooms and pretty pale-mauve wisteria. In gardens and window-boxes geraniums add splashes of red and pink, ready to take pride of place as tulips start to fade. Fruit trees' blossom attracts the bees and butterflies.


Spring has definitely sprung and summer isn't far away.

Wednesday 16 April 2014

Meuse

We live in the Meuse department of the Lorraine region in centre ville of a small but well-serviced little town with a licensed supermarket with butcher and delicatessen, a bakers, a shop which sells newspapers/tobacco/greetings cards/gifts/fresh flowers, a post office, a bank, a health centre with two doctors, chiropodist, etc. and a dentist.  We also have a pharmacy, petrol station, repairs garage, schools for infants, juniors and seniors and a training college for those wishing to work in forestry or care.  


In this very rural area we count ourselves lucky to live here as the majority of surrounding villages no longer have even a baker.


Our house is old and large.  My husband and I live on the first and second floors and our daughter and son-in-law on the ground floor. So we live separately but under the same roof. Our daughter and I communicate by internal 'phone or, more often, by e-mail with the occasional holler up or down the stairs!


The whole area really is beautiful with farmland interspersed by forested rolling hills and an abundance of water in rivers, canals, streams and lakes.


Our daughter and son-in-law own and run a fishing-holiday's business for British anglers.  Photos of the lake and the complex here:  www.scarper-carper.co.uk







Monday 14 April 2014

It's about time...


At long last I have got around to publishing my novella!

In the past I have on many occasions explored the possibilities of getting a printed book published. Difficult enough with a full-length story. Apparently impossible for a novella.


So I have gone down the e-book route and published it and The Circle Squared is now a Kindle book and for sale on Amazon:.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Circle-Squared-Ida-Jones-ebook/dp/B00J4YM7NQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395516949&sr=8-1&keywords=the+circle+squared+jones










 

Saturday 12 April 2014

Procrastination - or thinking time?

For a long time I have been considering starting my blog. Somewhere to express my thoughts and a launching pad to take my writing further.


My father used to accuse me of procrastination. However, when he delayed doing something it was called in the planning stage.


It seems we both needed to allow time to gather our thoughts before taking action.


But I remember those busy times when I had what seemed to be a full-time family, full-time job and full-time hobbies. My only thinking time was in the middle of the night during attacks of insomnia brought on by an over-active mind.


I think the old adage is true: If you want something done ask a busy person. They, as I, learnt to cut corners.


Now in peaceful retirement I have too much thinking time, not enough activity and I mostly sleep like a log.


My days are filled with housework, which takes longer now having to give my bad back rests between jobs, and also coping with health problems - my own and the familys, helping them when necessary - and keeping in touch with friends.


I also contribute as a moderator and site manager on Writers' Dock: http://www.writersdock.com


And my husband and I still enjoy exploring our adopted area in north-eastern France.