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BOOKSHOPS
As late October is the time of both the Wells Festival of Literature and Northern Ireland Book Week, I thought I would start with a little quote from Michael Longley, the Belfast poet. He introduc ........
A TRIP BACK IN TIME
A few weeks ago I travelled across to South Wales to visit the town and place where my Grandmother was born. Aberdare in the Rhondda Valley, was a one-time mining town, nestled deep between steep ........
Clock-wise or Keeping up with the Times!
I have previously mentioned that my husband has a new hobby – well, it has entered a bigger time scale with widened knowledge and more adventurous ideas....Our house is now a ticking box – full of tin ........
Rule of 3
Having lived for more than half a century in the world of music, I am very familiar with the triad and the crucial role it plays in musical language. However, I've just been finding out about the impo ........
National Poetry Day and the first day of Spring, March 21st 2023
To acknowledge and celebrate both these important days, I thought it would be an appropriate moment to post a little poem with accompanying sketch that I put together about 6 years ago during our ti ........
THE MEMORY VAULT
According to Simon Armitage, a memory vault is a room set apart, a spare bedroom, now seldom occupied but at one time housing a member of the family and kept as a sort of shrine to an absence, a sor ........
A QUESTION OF TIMING
With my numbers of followers on ‘Instagram’ (pariscelia_author) steadily increasing and some nice responses to Posts – plus the arrival of warm weather and school holidays, my mind turns to timing – ........
BUILDING BRIDGES
‘A story is a bridge to a moment in time’ is a quote I believe from ‘The Girl on the Train’.A good story teller should be able to span the distance and take you on a journey to a place, event or tim ........
KEEPING ON TRACK
There’s much talk of travelling, railways and trains at the moment – in particular, excitement surrounding the new Elizabeth line crossing London and linking up areas and places – some rather unusua ........
UP THE GARDEN PATH
I’ll start this little ramble with a quote about gardens from my book: “Each of us had our own little plot or section to tend – Gran, Lorna and I, and a bit of competitive spirit entered too!”At the ........
FLAGS, FRILLS AND FRUIT CAKE
Well, it’s come and gone but will never disappear from our memories – the long weekend of celebration for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. I’m sure we will all have our own favourite moments of events, ........
RAISE A GLASS
To celebrate 3 great women – the Queen, my mother and my grandmother, and all my aunties – both real and unreal, and not forgetting women authors of course!Here is a little poem I wrote before Chris ........
BATTING ON
‘Thank you for my dinner, may I get down please?’ can now be seen on the front pages of both Publishers Weekly and Booklife magazines, and I have over half a century ‘following’ on Instagram (paris ........
PEDALLING THE HARMONIUM
Hand in glove with my upbringing and memories of my mother….or more accurately, ‘hands without gloves’, the sound of the harmonium provided a musical accompaniment to my childhood. Its rather reedy, ........
ON MY BOOKSHELVES
On My Bookshelves I’m currently running a little series on Instagram (pariscelia_author) which you may like to follow. It focusses on a handful of authors of whom I’ve been a fan over the years – r ........
AN EASTER PICNIC
First of all some really exciting news! ‘Thank you for my dinner, may I get down please?’ is soon to be featured within the ‘Select Listing’ section of Publishers Weekly and in the homepages of both ........
HAPPY EASTER
Happy Easter reading Easter wouldn’t be Easter in my family if we didn’t have Easter biscuits! They go down very well with a cup of tea and a book (mine of course!). I’m attaching a photo of this ye ........
WIND IS SET FAIR FOR MY BOOK
It was very breezy yesterday when we called by at our local boatyard, and I was reminded of those days living aboard on the Blackwater with the sounds of the wind whistling through the rigging and ........
‘THANK YOU FOR MY DINNER’ IS NOW SERVED AND READY TO GO
My first book was published on March 31st, and I was thrilled to receive my first batch through the post, plus flyers, postcards, posters and bookmarks yesterday. It was like Christmas Day unpacking ........
 HOORAY!.jpg)
MY BOOK IS BEING PUBLISHED TOMORROW (31ST MARCH) HOORAY!
Very excited and a bit nervous!Now back from France and living in Lincolnshire Here is a photo of me with one of my French cats, Smokey.