Tall poppies, Yarm, custard(ish) creams.

Approximately-weekly news, #56

Everything in the garden is Getting Tall.

Exhibit A: purple things. (Not entirely sure what.)

Exhibit B: (more) poppies.

In other garden news, the woodpigeons who like to stomp about on the studio roof are busily making baby woodpigeons. I am not enjoying it and neither, I suspect, is at least one of the woodpigeons. It does not seem to be a tender process.

Harris doesn’t come to work when it’s hot. He lets it all hang out indoors, where it’s cool.

(I’m so sorry. He is shameless.)

---

Look what I typed this morning!

So the novel off to my editor; she’ll come back with thoughts and suggestions. Until then, I’m reading, and baking, and tidying up all the piles of accumulated nonsense that have gathered at the edges of my life.

---

Beloved Auntie Susan and I had a trip to Yarm, where I talked books and signed books and we had a lovely time.

Rachel and Anne hosted a perfect event. If you came, thank you. You were EXCELLENT, and I loved your questions, and the chats we had while I was signing book afterwards. If you didn’t come, Waterstones Yarm has a lot of my signed books in stock.

---

Thank you for all of the birthday cake suggestions! The winner is Sonya, who suggested this lemon and blueberry cake (though I am making it with raspberries). Photos next time, as I haven’t iced it yet.

I also made a tomato soup cake. Yes, you read that right. I didn’t have the nerve to make it my birthday cake in case it was too - soupy. I decorated it with cream cheese and vanilla frosting and candied peel. I’m going to give a piece to BMB (who rarely meets a cake he doesn’t like), watch his face and take it from there.

I did make some custard creams, using this recipe. They are tasty, but (I think) not sufficiently custardy. Next time, I’m going to substitute 50 grams of custard powder for 50 grams of the flour in the biscuit mix, as well as putting custard powder in the icing.

---

By the time you hear from me next I’ll have run the first of my Zoom workshops for writers. Dates (more in July and some in September) and signup details are here. Other things I do for writers (apart from distract them with recipes) are here.

---

One of the things I enjoy most about writing a bookish book, is pulling together the books I might want to talk about. Here’s the pile that I’ve noodled through for the latest novel. (Not the definitive pile - not all of them are in the book, and there are some included that aren’t here.)

They are on the top of one of the bookcases in the studio; it’s the place where Precious Things tend to end up. In the bottom left of the photo* is the heart-shaped stone that Loveday buys at St Mary’s Church in Whitby in ‘Lost For Words’.

---

The newsletter is early this week, because tomorrow I’ll be doing Birthday Shenanigans and on Wednesday I’ll be lying around in the garden reading a book. I’ll be 54; I’ll be glad to be alive. It’s a precious thing, my friends, to have seen another year, even if the last year wasn’t your favourite.

I’m sending love and light your way.

Stephanie x

*by accident - if I’d noticed it was in shot I would have positioned it more artistically.