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| What a beautiful cover! |
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
as Shakespeare wrote in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Not to mention all our snakes with double tongue (though I haven't noticed any spotted ones so far. Just "V" markings, and stripes) although "thorny hedgehogs be not seen" since the number of badgers here increased mightily, and ate them all! We do have plenty of newts and blind-worms, although no Philomel (nightingales)—they're a few miles away at the RSPB's Highnam reserve. The multitude of other birds here keep all the weaving spiders, beetles black, worm and snail under control.
I had a nightmare…a few weeks ago when the woman who came to service our central heating discovered squirrels had broken into the roof space and chewed a big hole in the underfelt. You could look up and see daylight through the tiles! William Shakespeare will have only known red squirrels, not the pestilential greys that destroy trees, fruit, plants, and burgle far more birds' nests than native Nutkin, who was a red squirrel, ever did. Even squirrel-proof bird feeders don't stop the greys—they love hoovering up the nuts and seeds that falls to the ground.
My dream for the future…is that nobody forgets the simple fun of getting out and about and enjoying the natural world. You don't have to go mad. Just take a few minutes to stand and stare. Gazing up at a starry sky, or out at a beautiful view recharges your batteries. If you really want to experience something magical, revisit your childhood and buy a packet of seeds. Cress will grow on damp tissue, and give you enough for a sandwich filling within a week. Pots of herbs from the supermarket can be kept going for months if you add a drop of plant food to their water every ten days or so.
Once you're hooked, have a go at the foodies' best kept secret—home grown tomatoes. They taste totally unlike anything you can buy from a supermarket, because commercial growers grow them hydroponically, in nothing but flavoured water. Supermarket tomatoes are picked while still green ("vine ripened" only means they're picked on the stalk while still green, and ripened at the growers convenience—not yours). When you eat a tomato you've grown yourself, which has ripened on the plant and is packed with the real flavour of sunshine, you'll think you're the one who's dreaming!
About Midsummer Dreams
Four people. Four messy lives. One party that changes everything …
Emily is obsessed with ending her father’s new relationship – but is blind to the fact that her own is far from perfect.
Dominic has spent so long making other people happy that he’s hardly noticed he’s not happy himself.
Helen has loved the same man, unrequitedly, for ten years. Now she may have to face up to the fact that he will never be hers.
Alex has always played the field. But when he finally meets a girl he wants to commit to, she is just out of his reach.
At a midsummer wedding party, the bonds that tie the four friends together begin to unravel and show them that, sometimes, the sensible choice is not always the right one.
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| The View From My Kitchen Window |
I had a nightmare…a few weeks ago when the woman who came to service our central heating discovered squirrels had broken into the roof space and chewed a big hole in the underfelt. You could look up and see daylight through the tiles! William Shakespeare will have only known red squirrels, not the pestilential greys that destroy trees, fruit, plants, and burgle far more birds' nests than native Nutkin, who was a red squirrel, ever did. Even squirrel-proof bird feeders don't stop the greys—they love hoovering up the nuts and seeds that falls to the ground.
My dream for the future…is that nobody forgets the simple fun of getting out and about and enjoying the natural world. You don't have to go mad. Just take a few minutes to stand and stare. Gazing up at a starry sky, or out at a beautiful view recharges your batteries. If you really want to experience something magical, revisit your childhood and buy a packet of seeds. Cress will grow on damp tissue, and give you enough for a sandwich filling within a week. Pots of herbs from the supermarket can be kept going for months if you add a drop of plant food to their water every ten days or so.
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| Something I Do When I'm Not Writing Books... |
Don't forget to check out Alison May's new release, Midsummer Dreams. You can download the kindle edition here: http://bookgoodies.com/a/B00XJOEJTM
Four people. Four messy lives. One party that changes everything …
Emily is obsessed with ending her father’s new relationship – but is blind to the fact that her own is far from perfect.
Dominic has spent so long making other people happy that he’s hardly noticed he’s not happy himself.
Helen has loved the same man, unrequitedly, for ten years. Now she may have to face up to the fact that he will never be hers.
Alex has always played the field. But when he finally meets a girl he wants to commit to, she is just out of his reach.
At a midsummer wedding party, the bonds that tie the four friends together begin to unravel and show them that, sometimes, the sensible choice is not always the right one.
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