Kindles and Christmases

Book News:

Yes, sorry about the title but someone has to mention the Dreaded Christmas Word first and it might as well be me. The big news of this week has been the long-awaited arrival of my new Kindle. Or Katy, as I'm calling her. She is totally wonderful and I love her - so far. The screen is clearer than the Sony ereader and I particularly enjoy the way that when you switch her off, a different writing-related picture comes up each time. So far I've had (as it were) Virginia Woolf, Charles Dickens and the front cover of a medieval-style manuscript. Lovely. The only problem is that you don't see the covers of the books you buy, which is a shame. I do like covers. Still, Katy is great and I have no real complaints at the moment.

Talking of the Kindle,  I'm pleased to say that my poetry collection, Sunday Haiku, managed the dizzy heights of No 8 in the Amazon Kindle Poetry charts, though it's now fallen to No 29, but it was a real boost. And if you now have or are expecting your UK Kindle, don't forget that there's a whole wealth of shopping fun here - enjoy!

Meanwhile, publication day for Tommy's Blind Date will soon be upon us, and I have accordingly returned the final galleys. You can also now find further information plus a short & spicy extract at the publisher's website - just to whet your appetite, don't you know.

Not to be outdone, The Delaneys and Me made a brief appearance at No 44 in the Amazon Gay Fiction charts but has now, sadly, slipped away again. This week I have also been heartened that Two Christmases gained a very positive 4-star review at Goodreads - many thanks indeed, Aredhel.

And, at The Bemused Gardener, I have been mulling over mint, figs and the strangeness of sticks, which might - just! - be coming to life again. You never know.

This week's meditations are:


Meditation 415
Never trust an old prophet.
They are like
false smiles
at the meal-table

and ravenous lions
on your path:
avoid them.


Meditation 416
The ancient, well thought-of
and venerable role of priest

is, in these dangerous days, the career
we recommend the least.


Life News:

There's still no definite news on any exchange date for our potential new flat - I had so hoped it would be today, but obviously ... um ... not. It's rather disappointing, not to mention frustrating - even though I do quite understand that the vendors need to get things signed in different parts of the country and then back to their solicitors and then back to our conveyancers, and the bank holiday has slowed everything down and it's a bother for them too, etc etc. It's just that we were aiming to exchange at the end of August, and we'd done everything in our power to make it happen. Yes, I understand that - with a bit of luck and the wind in the right direction - everything will hopefully happen very suddenly and then we'll be there, but until it does I'm feeling hugely twitchy and unsettled. Ah, it's the waiting which kills you, Carruthers, don't you know. Watch this space though ... We live in hope!

Popped in to see the ground floor neighbour today in order to thank him for signing all the documents we need to help the sale go through - he and his family have been total stars throughout all this and we are very grateful to them indeed. Thank you to the M Family! Also lovely to catch up with what's been going on - we chatted for ages which was great.

Other good news is that the very irritating car that was abandoned outside the house during the summer has now finally been removed by the council, so thank you, Mr Council, for that. It's a good job it's gone as my plan this weekend was to beat it to death with sticks, which would have been quite a frightening sight really.

All of which takes my mind off the fact that this week I've had my work review - well, most of it, as David and I chatted for so long that we ran out of time and we must needs finish it off next week sometime. Looks like I'm not too bad after all and he has decided not to sack me yet - hurrah!

Anne Brooke
The Bemused Gardener

House news and the vanishing Kindle

Life News:

Great imminent joy afoot in the House Department, you'll be glad to hear - it's possible that we may have an exchange date of next Thursday, with a completion date two weeks from that. At least that's what we're aiming for but, what with the bank holiday, we have yet to have that confirmed by the vendors. I'm hoping that will be okay though, as I'd ideally like to be in our new expanded house by the middle of September. Watch this space ...

Whilst waiting for all that to go through (we hope!), there's more exciting news on the Amazon Kindle front - they attempted to deliver it yesterday but we were out so I know it exists somewhere in the hemisphere and is attempting to reach me, hurrah. I imagine they'll try to deliver again on Tuesday, by which time I'll be at work, so I'm planning to ring them up early then and see if I can collect it from the despatch point in Guildford after work. I can't wait!

And I'm back at my Alexander Technique lessons - they've been off for the summer as my tutor broke her foot, poor thing, but she's well enough to restart now, so I hope my terribly stiff neck might be sorted out soon. Double hurrahs if that's the case indeed.

Yesterday, we spent a day at Mother's (hence the inability to receive my Kindle), and today we popped into the Benefice Communion service as Church returns to its routine after the usual C of E August shennanigans (sp?). Much amusement at the start of the service when the lady vicar forgot her glasses and was making please lend me some glasses signs behind the altar plus lots of giggling. Thankfully someone in the congregation swiped his wife's glasses (I assume he had permission but really who's to say ...!) and leapt into the breach. I think said wife then borrowed someone else's and so it went on. Heck we all know the service by now so we really don't need to see the words ...

Meanwhile, at The Bemused Gardener, I am bamboozled by compost and tomatoes. Probably not in that order.

Book News:

I'm happy to see that four of my short stories are in the Waterstone's Top 10 e-short stories list, so that's nice. And The Delaneys and Me managed to get to No 32 in the Amazon Gay Fiction charts, but has now dropped out entirely.

I was pleased however that Angels and Airheads gained a nice review at Three Dollar Bill Reviews, so thank you for that.

This week's meditation poems are:

Meditation 412
When preparing for war
the voice of God

sent everyone home
unbloodied and whole;

if only today
some brave politician

would stand and proclaim
a similar goal.


Meditation 413
God is so distant
sometimes

that only the thought
of gold

can act as a substitute
for love.


Meditation 414
The old paths
are not the best ones
today;

retrace your steps
another way.


This week's haiku is:

The garden rises
in my dreams: green and haunting,
whispering of leaves.

Anne Brooke
The Bemused Gardener

Teas and twins

Book News:

The Delaneys and Me has had a good week, with being back in the Amazon charts at No 56, though it's dropped a little now. At Goodreads, it also gained a 4-star review from Lily (thanks, Lily), and a 5-star review from Ken (thanks, Ken).

I've also finished editing The Prayer Seeker and have added an extract to its new webpage. I'm now going to get it professionally edited as usual and see what happens from there. As a result, that particular online journal has now been removed. In its place are The Bemused Gardener journals where the plot (ho ho) thickens as we struggle to identify our mystery tree ...

This week's meditations are:

Meditation 407
When finding an excuse
for abandoning God

foreigners and women
get the blame.

Odd how today
when things go wrong

our choice of scapegoat
is just the same.


Meditation 408
A passing impression
of burying the dead
he helped to kill

then a cloud of words,
a hint of evil
and the air is still.


This week's haiku is:

Beyond the dark clouds
of midnight and silent skies,
the stars still glimmer.

Life News:

We had great fun at Glyndebourne last night and thoroughly enjoyed our revisiting of The Rake's Progress - the black-and-white sepia scene was stunning, and Anne Trulove was very very good indeed. This time we had a proper tea first and then wandered round the garden for ideas during the long interval instead of eating then, but I must say that the tea was fabulous. They're using a new local tea company called Pure Fresh Tea and the choices were great. Lord K had Black Lavender (a palatable version of Earl Grey that even I liked) and I revelled in Golden Flowers (peppermint, chamomile and marigold) - will definitely be buying some of that in the very near future. Oh look, I've ordered already! Really, I have no control, but hey you knew that.

Thinking of our potential garden (see above), we've measured it more thoroughly today and it's 52' wide and 40' long, which is larger than we anticipated really, well gosh.

Anne Brooke
The Bemused Gardener

Of beetles and bemusement

Book News:

I've sent the final edits for Tommy's Blind Date back to the publisher, so am now waiting for the galley proofs to come back for a look through. At the same time, I'm continuing the edits of The Prayer Seeker's Journal so will be adding no more to that blog as it stands. I will also be taking it down at the weekend, I think.

Meanwhile, my review of Ned Beauman's novel, Boxer, Beetle, is now up at Vulpes Libris. It's a brilliant and bizarre book let down by a bumblingly bad blurb. Which is a shame, but I hope you enjoyed the alliteration in my last sentence anyway. I certainly did.

Here's this week's meditation poetry:


Meditation 405
Spices, jewels,
gold and the beginnings
of wisdom

warm the air
and bring forth truth
from the heart tonight.


Meditation 406
If I had
all the money
in the world

I probably wouldn’t buy
weapons, spices,
horses or mules

but for wisdom’s taste
and song
there’s no true accounting.

Life News:

I've started a new gardening blog, called The Bemused Gardener, which will explain the joys and horrors faced by Lord K and myself, beginner gardeners extraordinaire. Or potentially so at least. Nope, we've no real idea what we're doing either, but that's never stopped us before, hey ho. It's probably a consolation prize for myself for ending the prayer blog (see above), as I am after all a glutton for punishment.

While I'm on the subject of nature's bounty, it's glorious to see that the first of the English apples are in the shops at last, hurrah! How the smell of them takes me right back to my father's apple farm in rural Essex and that enormous cold-store. Astonishingly, it's Tesco who's won the battle to bring the firstfruits in this time, as usually it's Waitrose, so well done, Mr Tesco. They're great stuff too - Discoveries and they smell like heaven, just like an apple should.

I'm also feeling much better, health-wise, and actually like a real person, rather than simply a huge and sniffly nose on legs. Hmm, nice image, eh. That said, the doctor has just rung up today to check that I do want the referral to the Guildford specialist, and yes I do, as per the other consultant, so at least that's going forward now, hurrah.

I must also say how much Lord K and I have enjoyed the lamentably few episodes of Sherlock which have graced our TV screens for the last three Sundays. Bliss - more please, and soon. I particularly loved the portrayal of Moriarty, but Lord K says that's because I simply can't resist a depiction of male psychotic lunacy contained by intellectual strength. My response was only to agree, and it's precisely why I married him in the first place. He muttered something in turn about me being the female version of that (which is no doubt why we're so well suited), but I fear I am in fact far worse: the lovely Ruth G (formerly of the University chaplaincy but now moved on to bigger and better things) told me only yesterday that she did realise I wasn't actually the Anti-christ, but if I chose to be she thought I'm make a really really good job of it. My, how we laughed, slightly hysterically I admit, but we did laugh. Good to know I may at last have found my ideal career path after all these years - I wonder what the vicar will say ...

Anne Brooke
The Bemused Gardener