Garden Delights and a Very Special Recipe
In which we enjoy winter gardens and rum butter!
I’m now at just over 41,000 words in Amber and The Magician, and I’m definitely leaving adding any more until after the New Year.
I had such a lovely book haul from my lovely husband at Christmas and am SO looking forward to reading all these!
This week I’ve read a poem about one of my favourite legends Dido and Aeneas from my new collection The Lost Poems. I hope you enjoy the reading. 😍
I also have a lovely 5-star review of my children's novella The Origami Nun (writing as Lori Olding) at Amazon 😄😄
A touching children's story about a magical nun and a very special birthday party!
I’ve read Well-Schooled in Murder by Elizabeth George: This thriller is okay, but the writing is so lyrical that it tends to slow down the plot. I also felt that there are just too many tragedies suffered by every single character in the novel so it felt both overwhelming and exhausting. Nobody here has a happy life and a lot of seriously shocking things happen, often all at once. It needed paring down to be more effective. There is also a huge gulf between how the posh and not-so-posh characters are described which left me feeling unsettled. That said, it's certainly a powerful read.
We had a lovely Boxing Day walk round RHS Wisley. And they have snowdrops and daffodils already, which is amazing.
Meanwhile, in our own winter garden, the hellebores are on their way and we have an unexpected shoot from our perennial sweet pea which doesn't seem to believe it's winter!
In important culinary news, here's how to make your rum butter for New Year (or indeed any time of year!): 4 ounces softened butter; 4 ounces soft brown sugar; 4 tablespoons Lamb's Rum. Blend the butter and sugar together. Add 4 good tablespoons of rum and mix. Store in fridge. Singing My Grandfather's Clock whilst doing this (as my Newcastle grandma used to do) is not compulsory but it does make everything taste better. Enjoy! 😍
Surely these are the PERFECT seasonal flowers from our local Spar and only 87p too!!
And I now have 121 newsletter subscribers and 465 Amazon followers so a BIG thank you to you. Finally, may I wish you a very happy New Year and a wonderful start to 2025!