After the bank holiday...

Current work: nonfic; MH duo book 2
Listening to: Nick Drake
Reading: Next on TBR pile

Been a busy few days.

Thursday: loss assessor broke the news that the floor definitely has to come up. So I need to call the insurer’s builder (they’re supposed to ring me, but I want this done before school starts). Also called in to see Dad and he's doing fine.

Friday: took the kids to see Mamma Mia! – great fun, didn’t matter that the plot was thin and the singing was ropey in place, as it was very much a feelgood, fun, frivolous film. (OK, enough of the alliteration.) Julie Walters stole the show for me: she was fabulous. (She always is. I’ve seen her playing serious stuff, too – she’s the best Lady Macbeth I’ve seen on stage.) If you haven’t seen it, go. It’s a good laugh. And stay for the credits. That’s the bit that will have you in hysterics. (Crunch decision has been made and now has to be ratified by a panel. Fingers crossed they see things the way everyone else does.)

Saturday: research day, so my pics are practically all work and it isn't appropriate to put them here. But I will share this one because the colour of the heather is so stunning. This is Dunwich Heath.

Also discovered that I'm still #1 on the Jarrolds local bestseller list (and I have another in the top 5). Hopefully people are enjoying my ruins book.

Sunday: rainy day at home, spent at my desk. Have also been fossicking about in my family tree - checked the net first and it's already been done, by someone who's my (we think) fourth cousin once removed, or something like that. In Australia. Anyway, I'm able to fill in my branch from my grandmother on, but it was amazing to see photographs of my great-grandfather and my great-grandmother. And even more amazing to discover that I come from a very long line of farmers. As in 400 years of them. I did have a summer job working for an agricultural merchant and I'm married to a farmer, so that sort of counts...

Monday: another research day, which ended up at the seaside (ick, ick, I had sand in my hair… though that’s given me a lightbulb moment for the current book, which is about to have a scene at the seaside). Two pics to share here:

firstly, the windfarm at Scroby Sands (taken from Caister beach).


And secondly, some glass from the church at Mautby (where Margaret Paston was buried, though her aisle has long since gone), which is thought to be among the oldest glass in Norfolk.

Plan for today: depends on what the builder says. (I do hope they're as nice as the lovely guy who did our extension.) I also need to do some admin and the final check that the kids have everything for the start of term next week.

Am hoping for blue skies this week, because my pic of Thurne Mill (which is a contender for the front cover of the Breedon book) is against too pale and grey a sky. Dark stormy grey, for contrast - like my pic of Happisburgh lighthouse - would've been fine. But white sails and pale grey... nope, too close in colour. At least I know that it needs to be an afternoon pic to get the light right.