Monica Fairview, Author

I wonder if Jane Austen used to wander around as a child in the Surrey lavender fields and hum this melody to herself? Now that both vision and hearing have been stimulated, let's move on to the olfactory buds that are clamoring for attention.   Here's a recipe for Lavender Shortbread Biscuits (Cookies) that someone recommended to me. I've loved shortbread biscuits since I learned how to make them at school. My favorite part of making shortbread was the magical moment when the dough finally turned into breadcrumbs. It gave me a sense of remarkable achievement. I thought of myself as an artist, a creator, transforming clay into something else. Never mind that the "breadcrumbs" themselves weren't much to look at! I like the fact that the recipe calls for both mint and lavender. I love both, which makes the recipe especially appealing.  Let me know if you try them before I do. LAVENDER SHORTBREAD BISCUITS (COOKIES) from  Maryeileen 350g butter, softened ...

It's the height of the lavender season and what a relief it is to spot a sea of flowing blue-purple on an undulating hillside not too far from Croydon, which achieved notoriety in the news this week as fires raged and looting and rioting became the order of the day.  The Surrey Downs (the foothills, not the real downs) are an ocean of calm after the nervous tension of the week. There is something hypnotic and heady about walking about with lavender surrounding me as far as my eye can see. A magnificent calm descends over me. Sight and aroma combine to cast a much needed soothing spell, smoothing away the jitters. I weave in and out of the neat rows, smiling at others who clearly feel the same.   This is one of the charms of the English countryside (even if this field is more urban than country). A sign points to the field with the words Public Footpath (or it could have been Bridleway, same thing, since I don't ride). This means, ultimately, that you're allowed to ramble...

Click on image above to visit the Extravaganza As part of the month-long Austenesque Extravagnaza over at Austenesque Reviews, I've written a post for Spotlight Saturday along with a small challenge for those of you who like to see Mr. Darcy from different points of view. I'd be very happy to see you there -- I'm sure you can contribute a great deal to the discussion.

There's something to be said about coming home. Of course, I haven't left my wonderful friends at Austen Authors behind. On the contrary. After almost a year together I couldn't do without them. You can still find me there, but I'll be travelling hither and thither, dipping a big toe here, a big toe there (and some little ones, too). Not much of a landscape I haven't chosen my toes metaphor randomly. In fact, toes are rather important to me at the moment, since I broke my leg and had it suspended in a cast right in front of me for a long time. This gave me time to contemplate the universe and the nature of toes. It was the first time I wondered why we have toenails (other than for something to paint), and why they didn't disappear some time during our evolution, since we hardly hang by our toenails any more. Nor do we use them to fight (like claws), to dig the ground for grub, or make holes to bury our cache of nuts. You'd think nature would have done...