2 August: August

10 things you might not know about the month of August:

1. August was the sixth month in the original ten month Roman calendar, and was called Sextillus. It was re-named August after Augustus Caesar, because it was said to be his lucky month.
2. It had 29 days until Julius Caesar added two more in 46 BC to give it the 31 it has today.
3. August doesn’t usually start on the same day of the week as any other month, except in leap years when it starts on the same day as February.
4. Birthstones for people born in August are peridot, sardonyx and spinel.
5. Their birth flowers are gladiolus, Poppies, Sunflower and Marigold.
6. Native American tribes gave various names to the August Moon, including Big Ripening Moon, The Moon Young Ducks Begin to Fly, The Time When Corn is Taken In, Yellow Flower Moon, Geese Shedding their Feathers Moon and Cherries Turn Black Moon.
7. In weather lore, if the first week in August is very warm, it means a long, cold and snowy winter, although there’s also a folklore saying that every cold or foggy day in August means a snowy day in winter. According to Czech tradition, a warm, dry August means this year’s Wine will be good.
8. Making a secret wish on the new moon this month will ensure your wish comes true by the end of the year.
9. People who marry in August will always be good friends, according to wedding lore. Also, “Whoever wed in August be, Many a change are sure to see.” In Scotland, it was in August that couples could become hand-fasted. They would live together for a year. If either party was unhappy they could walk away, but if they were still together a year later they were deemed to be married.
10. Awareness months for August include American art, cataracts, foot health, air travel, Catfish, Kiwi Fruit, parks, Sandwiches, Peaches and spinal muscular atrophy.

Killing Me Softly

Sebastian Garrett is an assassin. It wasn’t his first choice of vocation, but nonetheless, he’s good at it, and can be relied upon to get the job done. He’s on top of his game.

Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena. 

Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.

Available on Amazon:

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18 July: July

10 facts about the month of July:

1. July used to be the fifth month of the 10 month Roman calendar and was called Quintilis until the Roman Senate re-named it in honour of Julius Caesar.
2. Before the 20th century, July was pronounced to rhyme with "truly."
3. On average, it’s the warmest month in the Northern hemisphere. The hottest day of the year will be in July 44% of the time. It ties with August as the least windy. In the southern hemisphere, it’s the coldest month.
4. In weather lore, if the “dog days” which start early this month, are “bright and clear” it indicates a “happy year”, but “when accompanied by rain, For better times our hopes are vain.” Writing this on July 1 2020 and looking at a dull grey sky, this is truly depressing.
5. The full Moon in July is variously called Hay Moon, Wort Moon, Moon of Claiming, Moon of Blood (because of mosquitoes), Blessing Moon, Fallow Moon, Buck Moon, Mead Moon and Thunder Moon. In China it’s the Hungry Ghost Moon and Native Americans called it Raspberry Moon, When The Buffalo Bellows, The Moon When Ducks Begin To Moult, Little Ripening Moon and Corn-Popping Moon.
6. If there are either two New or Full Moons this month, the weather will be unfavourable until the next New Moon.
7. July's birthstone is the ruby.
8. Its birth flowers are the Larkspur or the Water Lily.
9. It’s said to be an unlucky month to get married. The folk sayings go: Married as July's flower banks blaze, Bittersweet memories in after days; Those who in July do wed, must labour for their daily bread; They that wive Twixt sickle and scythe Shall never thrive. Or is this control by fear similar to what we’re seeing in 2020? Back in the day when most people worked the land, July was the beginning of the harvest and so it was somewhat inconvenient to have the work force wandering off to celebrate somebody’s wedding and possibly being hungover the next day, too. So people were frightened into not getting married in July unless they absolutely had to.
10. July is the awareness month for: cell phone courtesy, hay, hitch-hiking, horseradishes, baked beans, bison, foreign languages, Hot dogs, Ice cream, Peaches, picnics and tennis.

MY LATEST BOOK!

Killing Me Softly

Sebastian Garrett is an assassin. It wasn’t his first choice of vocation, but nonetheless, he’s good at it, and can be relied upon to get the job done. He’s on top of his game.

Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena. 

Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-book

29 June: June

Here are ten things you might not know about the month of June.

1. The Latin name for June is Junius. It may have been named after the goddess Juno, the wife of Jupiter. Alternatively it may have derived from a Latin word for young people. A third theory is that the month gets its name from Lucius Junius Brutus, a Roman emperor.
2. The birthstones for people born in June are topaz, agate and Pearl. Their birth flowers are Rose and Honeysuckle. Their star sign will be either Gemini or Cancer.
3. Other correspondences for June are Herbs Skullcap, meadowsweet, vervain, and Parsley; colours Orange and golden-green. tree is Oak, animals Monkey, Butterfly, Frog, toad; and Birds the Wren and the peacock, Tarot card, the Chariot.
4. According to weather folklore, a cold, wet June spoils the rest of the year. That said another saying says that if June is wet, September will be dry. If you spot a Bat flying on a June evening, the weather will be fine the following day.
5. Native Americans named full moons after things they observed happening in nature at the time. June's full moon was named by various tribes: Strawberry Moon; Full Leaf Moon, Hot Weather Moon, Moon when the buffalo bulls hunt the cows, Blackberry Ripening moon, moon when the grass is up, and fish spoils easily moon.
6. Things June has been chosen as the month to honour or be aware of include: African American music, cat adoption, skin cancer, camping, country cooking, dairy products, fresh fruit and veg, fiction, and especially gay and lesbian fiction, because June is also pride month; Accordions, frozen Yoghurt, pest control, roses, rivers, recycling, seafood and vision research.
7. The month of June contains the Summer Solstice (or the winter one for those south of the equator), father's day, the Epsom Derby, midsummer's day and take your Dog to work day. The Friday before the solstice has also been designated a day to wear casual clothes to work to raise awareness of cerebral palsy.
8. June is generally regarded as a good month for weddings: “Marry in June and life will be one long honeymoon” goes one saying. The Romans, however, regarded the first half of June as unlucky and a bad time to get married or do business. The first half of June was a time for religious purification, but after that, since June was sacred to various love and fertility deities, the second half was a good time for weddings.
9. Some words for June in other languages: French: Juin; German: Juni; Czech: Cerven; Irish Meitheamh; Italian Giugno, Welsh Mehefin.
10. Certain Meteor showers occur in June: the Arietids, Beta Taurids and the June Bootids.

August 3: August

10 quotes about the month of August.

1. August is a wicked month. Edna O’Brien
2. Soft footed ants and meditative toads; Summer is passing, taking what she brings; Green scents and sounds and quick ephemeral wings. Babette Deutsch, In August
3. Broad August burns in milky skies,The world is blanched with hazy heat; The vast green pasture, even, lies Too hot and bright for eyes and feet. William Canton
4. Fairest of the months! Ripe summer's queen; The hey-day of the year With robes that gleam with sunny sheen Sweet August doth appear. R. Combe Miller
5. In the parching August wind, Cornfields bow the head, Sheltered in round valley depths, On low hills outspread. Christina Rossetti
6. Some days in late August at home are like this, the air thin and eager like this, with something in it sad and nostalgic and familiar. William Faulkner
7. In August, the large masses of berries, which, when in flower, had attracted many wild bees, gradually assumed their bright velvety crimson hue, and by their weight again bent down and broke their tender limbs. Henry David Thoreau
8. Whilst August yet wears her golden crown, Ripening fields lush- bright with promise; Summer waxes long, then wanes, quietly passing; Her fading green glory on to riotous Autumn. Michelle L. Thieme, August's Crown
9. August creates as she slumbers, replete and satisfied. Joseph Wood Krutch
10. The brilliant poppy flaunts her head Amidst the ripening grain, And adds her voice to sell the song That August's here again. Helen Winslow

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2 July: July

Here are some quotations about the month of July:

1. Hot July brings cooling showers Apricots and gillyflowers. Sara Coleridge
2. Lovely July... with the evocative murmur of honey bees on the wing and the smell of sun tan cream. Cynthia Wickham
3. The Summer looks out from her brazen tower, Through the flashing bars of July. Francis Thompson
4. But here I am in July, and why am I thinking about Christmas pudding? Probably because we always pine for what we do not have. The winter seems cozy and romantic in the hell of summer, but hot beaches and sunlight are what we yearn for all winter. Joanna Franklin Bell
5. Loud is the summer's busy song The smallest breeze can find a tongue, While insects of each tiny size Grow teasing with their melodies, Till noon burns with its blistering breath Around, and day lies still as death. John Clare
6. We go in withering July To ply the hard incessant hoe; Panting beneath the brazen sky We sweat and grumble, but we go. Ruth Pitter
7. I know that soon I must die, Yet all the trees are radiant After the longed-for kiss of July. Hebrew Ballads
8. July breathes hot, sallows the crispy fields. James Russell Lowell
9. July’s cobweb heat and fragrance hit our faces. J.P. Ward
10. Her lips were red and one was thin Compared that was next her chin; I durst no more upon them gaze Than on the sun in July. Sir John Suckling

More details about my books. Follow this link if you like Superheroes, Psychics and/or quirky short stories. 

I've listed the themes each novel touches on here for easy reference.

Like my author page on Facebook for news on new books and blog posts.

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20 June: Quotes about June

Here is what poets and writers think of the month of June.

1. I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June. L.M. Montgomery
2. If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance. Bern Williams
3. It is the month of June, The month of leaves and roses, When pleasant sights salute the eyes And pleasant scents the noses. Nathaniel Parker Willis
4. No price is set on the lavish summer; June may be had by the poorest comer. James Russell Lowell
5. What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfilment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade. Gertrude Jekyll
6. Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June. Al Bernstein
7. Oh, my luve's like a red, red rose, That's newly sprung in June; Oh, my luve's like the melodie That's sweetly played in tune. Robert Burns
8. June brings tulips, lilies, roses, Fills the children's hands with posies. Sara Coleridge
9. It always seemed to me that the herbaceous peony is the very epitome of June. Larger than any rose, it has something of the cabbage rose's voluminous quality; and when it finally drops from the vase, it sheds its petticoats with a bump on the table, all in an intact heap, much as a rose will suddenly fall, making us look up from our book or conversation, to notice for one moment the death of what had still appeared to be a living beauty. Vita Sackville-West
10. Mine is the Month of Roses; yes, and mine The Month of Marriages! All pleasant sights And scents, the fragrance of the blossoming vine,The foliage of the valleys and the heights. Mine are the longest days, the loveliest nights; The mower's scythe makes music to my ear; I am the mother of all dear delights; I am the fairest daughter of the year. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

More details about my books. Follow this link if you like Superheroes, Psychics and/or quirky short stories. 

I've listed the themes each novel touches on here for easy reference.

Like my author page on Facebook for news on new books and blog posts.

Follow me on Twitter and Pinterest

Check out my Writing blog

21st June: Summer Solstice

It's the Summer Solstice already! Here are 10 things you might not know about the summer solstice:

Photo by NASA

1. 
   The word Solstice is derived from the Latin words sol (Sun) and sistere (to stand still).
2. The date of the solstice varies. It usually falls on June 20th or 21st. This year, and in 2015, it's on the 21st. In 2016, though, it will be on the 20th. On very rare occasions the solstice will fall on June 22nd. The last time this happened was in 1971 and it won't happen again until 2203.
3. Stone circles, such as Stonehenge, are a focal point for celebrations of solstices and probably have been for thousands of years. There may be special features on these dates, for example, at Stonehenge the Heel or Sun Stone casts a shadow on the Altar stone at the summer solstice. There is a legend that says if you sit in a stone circle all night on midsummer's eve, you will see Fairies, but beware - they might harass you, so carry a sprig of rue or wear your jacket inside out, which confuses them. If all else fails, run away along a ley line.
4. An alternative name for the Summer Solstice festival is Litha, often used by modern pagans. The word Litha means "Light".
5. According to the Celtic Wheel of the Year tradition, today is the day that the Holly King, associated with winter, does battle with the Oak King, who rules the summer. The Holly King will win today, which is why they days start to get shorter now as we head for winter (depressing thought). At the winter solstice, the Oak King returns for a re-match, and he will win, and so the days start getting longer again.
6. Many of the ancient traditions of this day involve lighting fires to give power to the sun. In parts of Ireland, tradition says that if you carry a pebble to the fire, and whisper your wish to it, and then throw the stone into the fire, you'll get your wish.
7. Magic and witchcraft are closely associated with midsummer - Shakespeare was well aware of this as evidenced in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, and The Tempest
8. As with most ancient festivals, there has been a Christian celebration added on top - in the case of Midsummer, it is celebrating the birth of John the Baptist.
9. Another ancient tradition is the sunwheel. A wheel, or a ball of straw, was set alight and rolled down a hill towards a river. If the fire went out before the sunwheel hit the water, it meant the crops would be good that year.
10. Some say that today, rather than New Year, is the best time to make life-changing resolutions, because your energy levels are higher and you're more likely to keep them up until they become habit. Although if you live in the Southern Hemisphere, New Year is presumably about right.

15th June: First Ice Cream Factory

On this date in 1851 Jacob Fussell, a Baltimore dairyman, set up the first ice-cream factory. To celebrate that, and the nice weather we're having (here in South West England, anyway) here are 10 things you may not know about ice cream:

1. No-one knows how ice cream originated, but one popular theory is that the Roman Emperor Nero used to send his slaves into the mountains to collect Snow to mix with Honey and fruit pulp. The Chinese and the Persians were also said to have enjoyed a similar treat in ancient times. It was the Arabs who first started making it with Milk.
2. The country that produces and also consumes the most ice cream is the USA where the average person eats 20 litres a year. Second in the table is New Zealand and third Denmark. The UK doesn't even make the top ten. The average Brit only eats 9 litres. People in Scotland and Northern Ireland eat more ice cream than people in Englandand Wales.
3. The most popular flavour by far is vanilla. Chocolate is second, but is way behind vanilla.
4. 80% of the vanilla beans for making vanilla ice cream come from Madagascar.
5. Ice cream cones were invented at the World Fair in St Louis in 1904. An ice cream seller and a waffle seller put their heads together and came up with an easy way to eat ice cream on the go. The largest ice cream cone measured 2.81 m (9 ft 2.63 in) in height and was achieved by Mirco Della Vecchia and Andrea Andrighetti of Italy.
6. Nobody knows why the popular "99", an ice cream cone with a flake chocolate bar stuck in it is so named, but there are a number of theories: the king of Italy had 99 soldiers and the flake was said to represent a soldier; 99 is top of the house in bingo, and also means "top class" in Italian. A less romantic suggestion is that it is called 99 simply because because it was number 99 on the product list. A 99 can only be called a 99 if the flake bar stuck in it was made by Cadbury's.
7. The ice cream sundae came about because in parts of the US it was illegal to sell ice cream flavoured with soda on Sundays. Enterprising ice cream sellers would sell it with syrup instead, which was perfectly legal. Religious leaders got upset about the name "Ice Cream Sunday" so the last letter was changed to "e". The biggest ice cream sundae in history was made in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in 1988, and weighed over 24 tons.
8. Ice cream headaches (or brain freeze) are caused by the sudden change of temperature in the mouth making capillaries in the sinuses contract and then expand. The nearby pain receptors detect this and send signals to the brain, which interprets the pain as coming from the forehead. They typically last about 20 seconds - but if you want relief sooner, you can press your tongue against the roof of your mouth, or tilt your head back for a few seconds, or have a warm drink.
9. Surveys have shown that men are more likely to choose ice cream as a dessert than women.
10. Some wacky ice cream flavours are: bacon and egg; black pepper; chilli; black pudding; Beer; horse meat (in Japan); green tea (in Korea); brown bread and oyster.