Happy 4th of July!

Hope you all have a safe, happy, and wonderful day!

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Hello from the inside!

It has been a while, hasn't it, m'dears?

How are you all doing? Staying safe, I hope?

The boundaries of home have defined my world for the past few weeks. (I have a long-term chest condition so I daren't even pop to the corner shop. Hubby does all the shopping now, bless him.)

Our world has become a scarier place and a sadder one. Even so, it seems a far kinder world than the one we left behind.

People look out for one another now, and it's lovely to see so many people taking care of their vulnerable neighbours.

My Nannan always used to say that 'we're a war short'. Was she right?

Could it be that all this 'Social Distancing' has actually brought us closer together? Kind of ironic, don't you think?

But this horrible virus has taken a terrible toll. It's difficult to see a bright side when so many loved ones have paid the ultimate price.

I've had some pretty bleak days; myself, days when my spirits have been lower than an earthworm's bellybutton. (Haven't we all?) The problem is, we can't use jazz-hands and glitter to find a way through this. Not all the time.

It's natural to feel ... overloaded, I guess. Yes, and a wee bit guilty, too.

I'd like to be out there doing something more meaningful than staying home/clapping for key-workers on a Thursday evening/baking cookies for our neighbours and the binmen.

But I can't.

All I can do is keep on keeping on. That's all any of us can do right now.

Hopefully, it won't be too long before we're able to see our loved ones again--not on Zoom or Messenger but in REAL LIFE! Won't that be something? One thing's for darn sure; I'll be hugging them a little harder and holding them a little longer when - or if - I do.

Stay safe, my lovelies. 

Back in the saddle again. . .

Hey guys.

It's been months but I've finally finished/released the last two books in the
'Tales of a Traveler' series.

A Scruple of Saffron (A Novella) released in December and explores the joys(!) of childbirth in a medieval world.

King's Errand released just today. This hefty beast of a book is the final installment in the Traveler series. And an epic adventure, at that.

Now, I wait and hope that people like them as much as I do!

Happy 4th of July!

The Past in our Present. . .

It won't come as any huge surprise when I say that words have always held a great deal of fascination and amusement for me. I particularly enjoy how our common language varies so much from region to region - or, indeed, from country to country. 

Well, today I happened across this little guide, and it makes for some rather interesting reading. The article claims that these so-called 'extinct' words are Lancastrian in origin; 

". . . derived from a mix of Old English and Old Norse words, the rural Lancastrian dialect has some absolutely brilliant old words that we rarely hear any more", 

However, as a Sheffield lass, born and raised, I recognize - and still use - quite a few of these odd little words, in particular, 'mizzling/mizzle' which we experience quite a lot of in this part of the world!

What about you? Do you recognize any of these words? If so, how far away from Lancashire/Yorkshire do you live? I'd love to know.


Mizzling - A word used to describe a very specific type of rain. Used when it is spitting or drizzling.

Thrutch - To physically strain of stretch oneself - especially when you're really giving it some.

Baggin time - The time of the day when work stops and you can finally clock off to go home.

Longerted or cottered - When something is particularly and irritatingly tangled.

Larrup - The action of giving someone a hard smack or a bit of a wallop.

Skit - To mock someone or make fun of them.

Braggarting - When someone is going on and on about something, they are braggarting.

Thronged - A word to be used when you are very busy indeed. Probably related to the word 'throng', used to describe a tightly packed area or crowd.

A Cautionary Tale of Carnal Lust. . .

This story is just too good to be true.

Back in the 1300s, Joan of Leeds, a nun, faked her own death and then fashioned a dummy in her image which was later buried in the churchyard.

According to the archbishop of the time, one William Melton. Joan behaved in;

“... a cunning, nefarious manner … having turned her back on decency and the good of religion, seduced by indecency, she involved herself irreverently and perverted her path of life arrogantly to the way of carnal lust ..."

Sadly, we don't find out what became of the wayward Joan, but according to the archbishop, the last he heard of her she;

"... now wanders at large to the notorious peril to her soul and to the scandal of all of her order.”

What a woman, eh?