“THERE’S SOMETHING HYPNOTIC about the word tea,” says Lord Peter Wimsey, one of my all-time favorite fictional characters, in Dorothy L. Sayers’ incomparable 1935 novel, Gaudy Night. In my Welcome post, I wrote about how I fell in love with the taste of tea at a young age. Like a well-steeped cup, [...]
HERE WE ARE IN the middle of December already! Every year I try, with varying success, to find books with a Christmas theme to companion me through this busy and sometimes difficult season of decorating, shopping, and preparation. And before we get too far, I’d just like to say that if you [...]
I'VE ALWAYS LIKED THE IDEA of one person giving another flowers that might appear to others to be just a casual bouquet, but with the power to communicate secrets only the recipient could understand. As I was writing The Walled Garden, I realized I needed a code that two gardeners might use [...]
The Hermit of Eyton Forest(and others in the Brother Cadfael series) by Ellis Peters If you haven’t yet encountered the chronicles of Brother Cadfael, of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul at Shrewsbury, you have a huge treat in store for you! The twenty-book series follows the medieval monk’s [...]
After a long, hot summer here in the Northwest, it’s finally starting to cool off, which means it’s time to grab a cup of tea or hot cocoa and head for your favorite comfy reading spot. Let’s talk about our favorite cozy fall reads! I love reading with the seasons—and I’ve realized [...]