My blog ain't real - apparently.

I read yesterday on Twitter that a 'real' blogger needs to blog at least once a week, otherwise it is not a blog.  Oh dear.  The fact that I only blog once a month - if that - and hardly ever make that weekly target probably means that this applies to me.  Okay, I'll admit it.  I'm pretty darn useless at it.   The fact that I also talk about the weather in most of my blogs is another matter to consider.  Note to self: -  must try harder.

The truth is - blogging is hard work.  But then so is writing.  It's like pulling teeth at times - and especially at the moment.  I'm some 30,000 words into my second novel - A Baby for the Barrister - and it's not flowing well, believe me. I'm filling in the gaps - trying to expand my story - and it's hurting my brain.

But that aside, as I sit and write this on the 29 March 2016 it's snowing.  Yes, snowing. The problem is that, later today, DH and eldest son need to travel over to the airport  to collect my son's girlfriend who's been visiting her family in Lithuania.  News filtering through from the Baltic States is that it's been unseasonably warm over there this Easter.  So warm - in fact - that on Easter Sunday they had a barbecue!  My youngest son also works in Manchester so with all this going on this morning, I start to worry if he has got to work safely.  Just had a text back - what snow?  Maybe it was just our little pocket of Lancashire that got it.

I shouldn't be surprised at waking up to a white-over scene, as a freezing cold Easter used to be the norm when I was a young girl.  Many a time we would skip off to the Easter funfair dressed in our thermals.  We didn't stay long as I recall.  And the price of the rides probably had something to do with it too.

But this snow won't last for ever - will it?  And Spring is in the air for definite.  When out on a walk last week I took the photograph of this beautiful bud  that was about to burst forth into the world.


The other snap below was taken last year on the 18 April - so a few weeks further on - but what a fantastic sight it was in our garden.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter.

Until next time.

Kim xx

The mad month of March!

Easter is almost upon us.  Yes, we're officially in Spring, and typically March has brought us some of the most diverse weather of the year with four inches of snow being dumped on our road on Friday the 4th.

It's been a good few years since the weather has stopped us travelling to work, and as DH and I work ten miles away, it was always going to be a tricky journey.   We eventually got to Preston around 11.30 - three hours late - and as ever when we arrived, there wasn't a flake to be seen.

Ever since then in the North West, we've had a lot of sunny blue skies and crisp, clear weather.  The photograph below was taken in Arnside, Cumbria last week where we spent a happy afternoon doing some walking and then drinking copious amounts of tea in a cafe afterwards.

We arrived too early for the tidal wave known as the Arnside bore but even if you're just passing through, the village is well worth a visit just to witness this.  A siren is sounded around 20 minutes before it arrives and it is certainly an impressive, if extremely dangerous sight.

Parking by the shoreline (below) is free and  offers fantastic views across the Kent estuary to Grange over Sands.  Further on you can see the start of the Lake District where we noticed that some of the peaks were still covered in snow.

As well as getting out and about I've been doing some more work on my new book after the fabulous weekend I spent at Fishguard in late February with Kate Walker and Writers Holiday
This was the first time I'd done the Advanced course and it was very intense - I kid you not - but I came away having learnt a great deal. Spending a wonderful few days with some very special people was marvellous.  We worked hard, but also laughed hard. What a great weekend we had.

Until next time
Kim x