The first three months...

Spring is on the way.

Almost three months of the year are already past and with it, I hope, the worst of winter. The months have brought me mixed tidings.

I bade my daughter farewell in the first week of January for her journey to Australia where she is relocating having married an Aussie. They are going a long way round with a four month trip through 20+ countries of Central and South America. Thank goodness for email and Skype.

Losing my mother just a week later was a great sadness, although not unexpected. I keep reading or hearing things and thinking 'Oh I must tell Mum, she'll be interested to hear that,' and then remembering! She died knowing her granddaughter was going to live in the land where she was born which gave her a wonderful sense of continuity. In spite of living in England for 85 of her 95 years she still identified with Australia and in the brief notes of her life that she wrote to be read at her funeral, she mentioned how awful the weather was on the day she arrived at Tilbury in June 1931. She said it never improved much.

These two most important women in my life were also the two who provided some of my best conversations, so I'm feeling quite bereft.

On a happier note, the day after my mother's funeral I received a letter telling me I had won The Great British Write Off flash fiction competition and a lovely fat cheque! That put a smile on my face. I just wish the news had come a couple of weeks earlier so I could have told my mother who would have been delighted. The winnings will be put towards another trip because my daughter and son-in-law have now visited more countries than me and that's just not right!

I did add Australia to my country tally last September, so in the spirit of finding out more about books Down Under and Australian authors I reviewed The Book That Made Me edited by Judith Ridge, for the Greenacre Writers blog. Read my review here.

At the end of last year I had been interviewed by author Leslie Tate, who I met at an author event in November as he was interested in my work as a speech and language therapist as well as my literary endeavours. He posted the interview in January which you can read here.

So here's to spring and sunny weather, and productive reading and writing.