Tea in a Foreign Country

I think it is only the Irish and the British who are enthusiastic, ritual tea drinkers. Nearly every emergency is met with by making a cup of tea. And we have our set rules for making this aromatic drink.
First of all, if you are a genuine tea drinker, you will have a china teapot and loose tea leaves. The kettle is boiled, a drop of boiling water is swirled around the teapot to warm it, then the loose tea leaves are added (I learned: a pinch for each person and one for the pot) and then the boiling water is added. After that, it is a matter of whether you like it "weak" or "strong", with milk of course and very often with a spoon of sugar. If you were careful how you poured it our, most of the tea leaves stayed in the pot and a few only ended up at the bottom of the cup. There was a tradition (almost certainly not in the finest families) of upending the teacup into its saucer and telling your fortune on the shape of the tea leaves which fell out. My mother could always make out a ship or an airplane or a bag of gold in the messy wet tea leaves, all of which caught our imagination.
Nowadays I use teabags because they are less messy although I know a few true blue tea drinkers who buy their tea leaves loose. But I still "warm" the mug before pouring boiling water on the tea bag. And I like to sit quietly and enjoy the tea. Now, coffee is a different matter. I drank a lot of coffee in my working days and I always associate it with working at something as I drink it. 
Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea is a quote from Henry Fielding and there is a lot of truth in it. What better way to pass an afternoon than gossiping about all our acquaintances while sitting around a tea table with a cake stand in the middle which groans under the weight of delicious little tea cakes of all kinds? 

Mainland Europe does not have the same affinity for tea as we do. Recently, when I was in Amsterdam, I stopped at the Tourist Centre and ordered Dutch apple tart (delicious!) and tea. This is what I got, fellow tea drinkers, prepare to weep with me:

 

Actually, it tasted quite good despite appearances but give me the real thing any time! And I used some of that cream on the apple tart to put in my tea. 

Time for a cuppa!

Getting Back to Normal

I can't believe that I haven't written anything in this blog for a month!  It's amazing what I find to do instead of sitting down and writing and all the time I feel guilty because I haven't been editing that novel I wrote some years ago nor have I put finger to keyboard to write this blog. So here goes.

I spent a wonderful week in North Holland with my daughter and grandkids at the beginning of October. We had a few stormy days (just like real life) but otherwise the weather was pleasant. Lots of walks on the beach which stretches for miles and miles along the coast. The children had plenty of dips in the sea and especially enjoyed sliding down the sand dunes. We went to a fairy-tale themed park which they just loved and also to a maritime museum where they could admire the various fish swimming about as we walked through glass tunnels. In the evenings we strolled down to the beach to watch the sun go down and they enjoyed running around in the dusk.

We stayed in a holiday village in a nice big house with a garden and patio, and I did most of the cooking. With two fairly small children, it wasn't worth going to restaurants and in any case they preferred home cooking. Lots of lazy evenings drinking wine when the kids were in bed.
Holland is a great place to spend a holiday with children because they are equipped for both good and bad weather.
On my way home - I flew in and out of Amsterdam - I had a stroll around Amsterdam. Here is a picture of Amsterdam Centraal, the main railway station, quite an impressive building.

Now I have to roll up my sleeves and get down to doing some writing. I have completed my Christmas novel CHRISTMAS AT CASTLEDARRA and it can be ordered on Amazon as a print version and the Kindle version will be available from the middle of November.

Incidentally, while in Holland, quite a few people asked me for directions which makes me think that mothers - and grandmothers - have that universal  'can I help you?' look. I don't speak Dutch but am fluent in German so more or less guessed what was being said. I replied in English which everyone seems to speak over there and with a bit of sign language and a few laughs, we communicated.

Right, now I really must dig out that manuscript and start work on it. Christmas will be here in no time....
Have a good week everyone.

What are you reading at the minute?

I am reading Jane Austen's Persuasion again. I had been reading crime novels, watching true crime on television and looking at news bulletins - possibly the most depressing of all - and I decided that what I need is some TLC in the form of a book where love wins the day and everyone lives happily ever after. We all need something, some scrap of comfort to hold on to when we think the world has turned on its head. And sometimes we just need to curl up with a book which we know won't disappoint us. I will read Mansfield Park and Sense and Sensibility later on in the year when it is dark and cold outside and Christmas still seems that bit too far away to feel the warmth of the season of good will.
In the meantime, I have been to a few charity shops and my reading list currently is John Grisham's The Brethern. I have to say that I am not a big fan of Grisham, preferring the film adaptation of his novels. He does write an intriguing story but somehow I never feel much empathy for his characters. That is what writing and reading is all about - it is like picking your friends. There are lots of people you enjoy meeting now and again but you consider them acquaintances, whereas your friends, with all their faults and all your own faults, are still your favourite companions. You turn to them with pleasure whenever you can.
Next on my reading list is Joanna Trollope's An Unsuitable Match. Trollope is a prolific writer - this is her twenty first novel. I have read several of her books. I like her style. I seem to breathe the perfume of an English garden when I open one of her books. She writes about the complexities of family life and family loyalties and although not everything turns out as the characters hope or expect, the endings are always highly satisfactory.
Last on my little reading list is a novel called Corridors of Power by C.P. Snow, first published in 1964. I have never read any of his works. He once wrote that "if you pursue happiness you'll never find it."
I don't know what to think of Corridors of Power, whether I will like it or even finish reading it. I know it is going to be about politics and those involved in politics. Snow himself served in the British Civil Service and in the government. I will have to be in the mood for this sort of book, I feel.
That's the thing about reading. It's like a journey you set out on, not quite sure what or who you will meet on the way but that's what makes it a big adventure.
What are you reading and what made you decide to read it?

Losing Weight

I have lost weight. Yes. I really have. I have dropped a dress size into the bargain. How did it come about?  A bit by accident, really. I have never liked the word "diet" or the words "you must cut out..." and have thus avoided all those suggestions which appear every week in women's magazines.
The first time I found I'd lost a pound or two was when I was dog-and-house-sitting. I took the dog for a walk and combined this with doing my grocery shopping. Which meant leaving the little darling in the car for a short period of time as he refuses to be tied up outside the supermarket. I didn't like leaving him there for any length of time. This, in turn, meant that I practically jog-trotted the five minutes to the store and jog-trotted back to the car - this would be twice the speed of my normal sedate walk. I also had chores to do around the house I was looking after which meant I was active a bit more than normal - not a lot, mind you, but I wasn't lolling around quite as much as usual. When my dog-and-house-sitting was over, I found that I had lost nearly two pounds!  Couldn't figure it out for a while but then I tumbled to it: that little bit of brisk walking every day plus the ten or fifteen minutes of chores around the house was enough to make me lose a small amount of weight.
I lived on the top floor of an apartment block so I took the lift every day. When I moved to where I am living now, I had no lift and have to walk up one flight of stairs to my place. I have to walk to get to the laundry room, too. Mindful of the unintended results of my previous brisk walking, I do now move at a faster pace - I don't get out of breath or anything.
In addition, I have cut down drastically on snacks of any kind. I substituted porridge/cornflakes for plain yoghurt/fruit for breakfast which meant I lost another pound or two. I still eat chocolate - maybe once a week I'll treat myself, but for the most I will eat a maximum of three digestive biscuits with a cup of tea after my evening meal. Apart from that, I have always eaten vegetables and salads and not too much meat and I don't drink sugary drinks like coke or lemonade, so I haven't changed much in the way of my eating habits. Perhaps cutting back on snacks is the most important and also the most rewarding because it shows up on the weighing scales after a week or so.
Lesson learned: you don't have to go crazy on activities or drastically reduce your food intake. If you get the bus to work, try getting off a stop before your usual one and then walk the rest of the way at a brisk pace. It is trickier if you drive and have an allotted parking space at work, if you don't just finding a space to park near the office will usually mean walking a bit, so make sure that you walk briskly. Just be inventive in increasing your walking time.  It will make you feel good and you will lose a pound or two.  If you work on the second floor, try walking up one flight of stairs and after a week or two try running up that one flight. Later you can walk up both flights and you'll find you don't get out of breath - this takes perseverance, but again, you'll lose weight and feel good.
If, like me, you have a sweet tooth, wean yourself off of those sugary snacks gradually and give yourself a treat once or twice a week. After a while you'll notice that you won't crave these things as much and you'll get used to doing without them.
I am low on self-discipline, so I reckon that anyone can do what I have done. The most important thing is that you do everything gradually and that you keep doing it- and don't cheat on yourself by bypassing the brisk walk or having the sneaky bar of chocolate. It's worth it to see where the needle on the weighing scales points next time you check.
Most important of all - have fun!

A Short Trip to Frankfurt

I've been travelling again. Popped over to Germany, Frankfurt to be precise, last week for a family matter. Germany has been getting hot weather with some thunderstorms thrown in. When I lived there I really enjoyed going out on the balcony and watching the lightning zig-zag down the sky. It felt like Nature was exploding after all that heat.
I spent only a few hours in Frankfurt but I thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the Zeil, the main shopping area. Being a country gal at heart, I find the big city still has its allures for me. I enjoy mixing with a cosmopolitan crowd, listening to people speaking in languages I don't understand. As Jane Austen would have say I wouldn't like it for a constancy but now and again it makes me feel good.
I loved the way flower displays spill over onto the street, contributing to that summery feeling. Here is a shot of one display which caught my eye:

If you'd asked me what are the things I miss about living in the Frankfurt area, I can tell you that as far as food goes, I miss their delicious Frankfurter Gruene Sosse.  I therefore indulged in this at An der Hauptwache restaurant.

It is a sauce made of sour cream, sour milk, yoghurt and a dash of mayonnaise together with seven herbs, some of which I have never heard of, namely borage, chervil, cress, parsley, burnet, sorrel and chives.  It is eaten from Holy Thursday until the first frosts and is served with hardboiled eggs and boiled potatoes.  Every family has its own recipe, as indeed does every restaurant. An der Hauptwache restaurant's version was absolutely delicious and just right for a very hot day.

One thing I do not miss is the amount of traffic on the roads. We were flying back from Stuttgart airport and the trip from Frankfurt took us over four hours. It is eye-opening, to say the least, to see just how many trucks and articulated lorries traverse the continent of Europe - we had the feeling they were all concentrated on the motorways leading to Stuttgart!  It was nice to get back to country roads here in Ireland where, once you are clear of the big cities, you won't meet much in the way of traffic.

I'll be back in Germany next month and again in November when I'll be attending an 80th birthday on the Romantic Road - but more of this when I return.
For now, I am enjoying our heatwave here in Ireland.

A Heatwave in Ireland

Ireland is not known for its long hot summers. As a friend of mine once put, "t'would be a great little island if you could put a roof over it." So when the sun comes out, the sky turns a dazzling shade of blue and there isn't a cloud to be seen, the Irish get giddy. Every summer the supermarket flyers tout barbecue meats and furniture stores insist everyone needs sunshades, garden chairs and tables, magazines are full of recipes for those elusive hot summer days. But when the sun hits and the forecast is for at least a week of temperatures in the high Twenties, then a transformation overtakes us.
If you meet an acquaintance when you pop out to the shops to get some of those steaks for tonight's BBQ, you will spend at least ten minutes talking about the good weather. Everyone smiles, everyone is out in the garden dead-heading flowers, watering the grass and sitting for hours in the shade. Those sunglasses so beloved of the Irish even on grey days in mid-winter, now come into their own. Suncream is slathered on and red sore-looking sunburnt skin is on show under the strappy dresses. The savoury aroma of grilling drifts over the gardens in the evening. The beaches are crowded, in fact any place where there is water of any kind, is a magnet for sun-hungry people to enjoy being out of doors.
Who needs Spain?

Helping Stray Cats

Yesterday I spent an hour in front of the Youghal post office collecting for Community Cats.  Community Cats does a lot of good work. They trap, neuter and release stray cats, thus preventing unwanted kittens.
Back in the Spring, when the weather was bad, a cat strayed into the backyard of the block where I lived at the time. She couldn't get out again as the walls were too high - goodness knows how she managed to actually get in there. She was very frightened and hid in a shed in the corner of the yard. I heard her miaow for a few nights before I actually saw her. She must have been very hungry. I bought some food for her and placed it just outside the shed together with a bowl of water and although I watched, I never actually saw her come out to eat. Next morning the food bowl was empty, though.
I phoned Community Cats in Midleton, the next town, and they promised to come and trap her. In the meantime, it started to snow heavily so the rescue mission had to be postponed for nearly a week.
Sheba, as I started to call her, was trapped and neutered. She was too wild for any attempt to find her a home and she was returned to the area where she was found. I have not seen her since because I moved just after this.
Sheba's rescue and the kindness and the advice I was given by the Community Cat people, made me want to help them. Unfortunately, I cannot keep cats where I live. Instead, I retweet some of their information and last year I bought their calendar and Christmas cards.
There are some wonderful people out there who help animals in distress and I wish them all continued success.
Community Cats are on FaceBook and can also be reached via https://communitycatsnetwork.wordpress.com/  

Love Makes the World Go Round - Where Love Stories Start

We all need a little lift in our lives. Gritty reality is hard to take all of the time. Crawling out of bed at the shrill of the alarm, waiting for the bus, sitting on the overcrowded train with someone who's just eaten onions breathing down your neck, trying to make the kids see reason, overhauling your budget.  All of these things need to be pushed into the background once in a while. We need to sit down and read something which makes us laugh, makes us cry and has a happy ending. The story of Cinderella is a perfect example. There she is, working in the kitchen, despised by her step-sisters, ignored by her step-mother, no one to love her.  Awwww.  And then she gets the chance to go to a ball.  And - disaster - she loses a slipper (it is actually not a glass slipper but a green slipper, the translation from French to English mixed up the French word for glass verre with the word for green vert as they are both pronounced similarly in French). Prince Charming searches for her, and lo and behold, the slipper he found fits Cinderella and they both live happily ever after. We return to our normal routine with a smile on our faces.
Of course we all know that not everything ends happily and there are plenty of stories out there which do not finish with the hero and heroine setting off in the golden coach to a life of complete happiness. We know that a certain amount of conflict is necessary to live successful lives. Often, in the past, when confronted with numerous tricky situations at work, I'd ask myself if what I wanted was a quiet, uneventful 9 to 5 job or the hurly burly of a multitude of challenges and problems to be solved which is what I had! I can tell you the hurly burly won out!
Supposing Cinderella just went to the ball and met Prince Charming and they got together straight away? It would be a dull story. Writers introduce conflict into stories, that is part of the craft of writing. Will Jack and Jill end up together or will something interfere and separate them for good? When we start reading Romance, we expect a happy ending and it is the skill and the task of the author to keep us interested in how things turn out, how the conflicts are resolved.
These are the ideas behind the two romance novels I have written. I recently met one of my readers who told me how much she enjoyed my novels. "Real page-turners" she said. I don't know a nicer compliment - it made my day!

Tales from the Kitchen

Do you like cooking? I have to admit that for years I absolutely hated it. If I ever tried to follow a recipe it never came out looking anything like the appealing photo accompanying it.
When I first got married (too long ago to tell you just how long!) there were a few cookery books giving practical advice for family meals. They were geared to the woman who stayed at home (mostly) and involved a lot of elbow grease to prepare - at least as far as I was concerned. Nowadays, of course, you have your "meals in 30 minutes" recipes and loads of idea for unconventional ways to prepare food. And you have far more aids to cooking in the local supermarket.

My mother made her own almond icing and I still think it is the tastiest part of the Christmas cake. She had no weighing scales as far as I remember. I think she used a particular sized cup instead.  She had no electric whisk and spent ages beating the butter and sugar using a wooden spoon. We all had a turn and I remember how my arms ached after so much work. The Christmas cake was rich in raisins and currants and mixed peel. The Christmas pudding was equally rich and here she added Guinness and whiskey as well. The aroma filled the kitchen and stayed for days and was part and parcel of that feverish anticipation of the feast to come. We were all allowed to stir the Christmas pudding and to make a wish. I don't remember if my wishes ever came true, I think not.

All of these memories came back to me when I started writing my Christmas novel. Christmas was and still is my favourite time of year. It is family time, a time for sharing. So when I started writing Christmas Wishes (that's the provisional title or working title as writers call them) I conjured up all those feelings I had about coming home for the holidays. In my novel, everyone has a secret wish or a problem to be resolved. As so often happens, a character intruded on my story and changed the original plot somewhat. That is the fun of writing. Once you have started, the characters come alive and go their own way. I have finished the first draft and I have many revisions and edits ahead of me before I am finished. I always think story writing is like opening a door in your head and there is a completely different world with all these people whose tales need to be told and who contribute their own share to shaping your story. Writing is magic.

Romancing the Royals

I paid a visit to the Big City today. Not for shopping, I'm afraid.  I needed to collect my orthopaedic insoles (you can't get less romantic than that!). Well, to be honest, I did buy a pair of trousers in a beige colour which will go with just about everything in my wardrobe. In order to do so, I had to make a pact with myself to donate a pair of grey trousers to the charity shop which I will do tomorrow, word of honour!
Anyway, while I was trekking around I stopped in front of the magazine rack in one of the department stores. Nearly every magazine had a picture of a smiling Meghan Markle on the front cover, sometimes with Prince Harry, sometimes on her own.  It got me thinking (beginner's luck, I can hear you chuckle), but no, seriously. What is our fascination with royalty? The days when we believed that once Cinderella was safe in the arms of Prince Charming, she was going to be happy, happy, happy seem like a long time ago.  Do we still believe that? Isn't it far more likely that the princess-to-be will be hounded by the papparazzi, criticized if she makes what is perceived as a mistake in her choice of wardrobe, and watched like a hawk for any breath of discord between her and the royal family. In my opinion, Meghan Markle has to be one of the bravest women this year.

Yes, I'll be watching the wedding on television and wiping away a tear (perhaps). I've watched all the European royal weddings over the years and wallowed in the glamour. And isn't it nice that, just like the rest of us, even the royals have aunts and great-aunts who are a teeny bit eccentric?
I wish Princess-to-be Meghan and Prince Harry all the happiness in the world.

Writing Again

This post is long overdue! First of all, I was away in Germany for Christmas and then I went down with a virus over New Year. Once back on my feet, I found myself in the middle of moving home. A few years ago, I downsized when moving to Ireland. Now I needed to downsize again as I have moved to a one-bed apartment from a spacious two-bed. I had been using the spare room as an office and also somewhere to dump everything until I figured out what to do with it. This is the view from that room where you can see the estuary.

Actually, since taking this photo, the old buildings have been demolished to make way for a new supermarket.
So here I am, settling in to my new surroundings and enjoying it all. Instead of the sea on my doorstep, I have a garden view from the living room window (which is where I write). Yes, I miss the close proximity to the sea but it is only a five-minute walk away.
Now that I am finally getting back to routine, I have started writing again. I am currently working on a Christmas-themed novel. It is getting more difficult to imagine those dark winter evenings when outside my window the birds are twittering to welcome spring, the daffodils are creating splashes of colour and the days are getting longer. Which reminds me, I must get down to writing. I try to produce 1,000 to 2,000 words a day even though I might delete them all again or edit out half of them. But that's the writer's trade as every scribe will confirm.
I wish all my readers a fun weekend.