13 January: Quotes about snow

Some places in the world have snow now. Here are 10 Quotes about snow for you to enjoy whether you live in one of these places or not:

1. Snowing is an attempt of God to make the dirty world look clean. Mehmet Murat ildan

2. There’s just something beautiful about walking on snow that nobody else has walked on. It makes you believe you’re special. Carol Rifka Brunt

3. I love the snow – it's the rain you can throw. Anon

4. A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water. Carl Reiner

5. Getting an inch of snow is like winning ten cents in the lottery. Bill Waterson

6. Snow flurries began to fall and they swirled around people's legs like house cats. It was magical, this snow globe world. Sarah Addison Allen

7. A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship. Markus Zusak

8. Despite all I have seen and experienced, I still get the same simple thrill out of glimpsing a tiny patch of snow. Edmund Hillary

9. The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different. J.B. Priestley

10. When it snows, you have two choices: shovel or make snow angels. Unknown

17 February: Facts about February

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

1. The month of February was named after a Roman festival of purification, Februa, which took place around the middle of this month. February had quite a few Ancient Roman festivals, including the Lupercalia, the Parentalia, the Feralia and the Terminalia.
2. Along with January, February was added to the calendar by Numa Pompilius, second king of Rome, in about 713 BC. Before that, winter was considered a monthless period. February was the last month of the year until a calendar reform in about 450 BC, after which January became the first month and February, therefore, the second. As the last month of the year, it was February which would get shortened in order to insert an extra month into the year, called an intercalary month, every so often to realign the calendar with the seasons. Today, keeping the calendar in line with the seasons is done in a more regular fashion by adding an extra day to February every four years.
3. Because it is shorter, February is the only month which can pass without a full Moon. You can also get Februaries without a new moon.
4. Some of the historical names for the month of February include the Old English Mud Month or Kale (Cabbage) Month. In Finnish it's called "Month of Pearl" because snow would melt into droplets and freeze again, thus forming pearls of ice. The Polish and Ukranian words for this month translate as month of ice or hard frost, while the Macedonian word means "month of cutting wood". Until the 19th century, the Germans called this month "Horning" which translates as "the bastard begotten in the corner", therefore of stunted growth. In Slovenia the word for February is related to icicles, although it is sometimes referred to as Vesnar, after a Slavic goddess of youth and springtime.
5. The Native Americans, who named their months after the things they observed in nature at the time of the full moon, referred to this time of year as "Ice in River is Gone", "Frost Sparkling in the Sun", "Moon when Geese Come Home", "When the Spruce Tips Fall", "Moon of the Cedar Dust Wind" and "Month of Rabbit Conception."
6. If you are born in February, your birthstone is the amethyst and your birth flower is the Violet, Primrose or Iris. Your zodiac sign is Aquarius or Pisces.
7. Traditionally, February's weather is the worst of any month, but weather lore dreads a February when the weather is better than usual, because the rotten weather then meant the harvest would be good. Good weather in February meant a poor harvest. Hence traditional sayings like “All the months of the year curse a fair Februeer”, and “A Welshman had rather see his dam on her bier than see a fair Februeer” and “Much February snow a fine Summer doth show”.
8. February was deemed a lucky month to get married - "Married in February's sleepy weather, Life you'll tread in time together," goes one saying. As long as you don't mind that your wedding day is likely to have horrible weather!
9. Modern day observances in February call for us to be aware of or celebrate: Black/African-American history, American music, canned food, Chocolate, Condoms, cruises, Grapefruit, humpback whales, embroidery, Cherries, Scottish culture, weddings and wild bird feeding.
10. Lent usually begins in February so carnivals and traditions relating to Shrove Tuesday take place this month, along with various festivals and traditions relating to Valentine's Day or Candlemas on the nearest Sunday to those dates.

NEW!

Settling the Score

Another collection of short stories, even more murder and mayhem with carol singers, an orchestra out for revenge, a sinister magic stone and a haunted mansion.

Available on Amazon:
Paperback            E-book


A Tale of Two Sisters

During a battle with supervillains, a horrific accident leaves the Warner family with no option but to believe their youngest daughter, Jessica, is dead. It doesn't occur to them that the bad guys could, or would, save her.

Jessica wakes up with no memory of who she is or how she came to be on a space station with two bionic legs, a bionic arm and a bionic eye. She is told her family abandoned her and is sent back to Earth with a mission - to kill them. While Jessica wants to kill her family, along with the twin boys who once rejected her, she knows what the Alliance of Supervillains are asking her to do is a suicide mission. She decides to get her revenge in her own way.

As Jessica puts the first part of her revenge plan in motion, she finds herself with an agonising decision to make. Before she can decide, the Alliance come for her, determined to make her do their bidding. This time, it's the Alliance who leave her, crippled and at the mercy of the Warner family, who have no idea who the Alliance's Black Rose really is.

Jessica finds herself having to re-think her decisions in light of what she now learns about her family, the Alliance, the twins, and herself. It would appear the Alliance have left her with an unwanted and permanent reminder of her time with them. Or have they?

Jessica's older sister, Jill, knows her destiny is to be a doctor and specialise in bionics and genetic variant medicine. She is also hopelessly in love with Christopher, Crown Prince of Galorvia. Can their romance survive the lies Christopher told her when they were both at school, an unplanned pregnancy and Sophie, the wannabe princess who comes between them?

Available on Amazon
Paperback

E-book

13 January: January

Ten things you might not know about the month of January.

1. The month of January gets its name from the Roman god, Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions. Janus is depicted as having two faces, one looking back and one looking forward.
2. It was one of two months added to the ten month Roman year in around 713 BC. Before that, the time between December and March had been seen as a period without any months. The addition of January and February is attributed to King Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome.
3. If you happen to be born in January, your birthstone is the garnet and your birth flower is the cottage pink. In Japan, the Camellia is also seen as a symbol of this month.
4. Ancient Saxons referred to this time of year as "Wolf Month" because Wolves came closer to their settlements then, looking for food. In Finland, the word for January translated to "Oak Month" and in Hawaii, it used to be called Kaelo, meaning the time of year when the destructive worm enuhe appeared and ate the fresh vine leaves.
5. The full Moon in January was known as the Wolf Moon by some cultures. Others referred to it as Quiet Moon, Snow Moon, Cold Moon, Chaste Moon, Disting Moon, and Moon of Little Winter. In China, January's full moon was dedicated to Ch'ang-O, Chinese Goddess of the bedchamber and protector of Children, and Tsai Shen, god of Money and wealth. Native American tribes referred to this moon as Sun has not Strength to Thaw, Great Spirit Moon, Time of Flying Ants, When the Snow Blows Like Spirits in the Wind, Moon of the Strong Cold, When the Old Fellow Spreads the Brush, Moon when Snow Drifts into Tipis, Moon when Limbs of Trees are Broken by Snow, Weight Loss Month (because animals lose their fat), Whirling Wind Month and Moon of the Terrible.
6. There are a number of superstitions connected with the first moon of the year. Young women, on seeing the moon for the first time that year, could recite a rhyme ending with the words "Whom shall I marry?" More often than not, she'd have an idea of who she wanted to marry, so the next thing she'd do is ask the next person she met a random question to which the answer would be "yes" or "no". If the answer was yes, it meant she would marry the person she wanted. If they didn't have anyone in mind, (or, presumably if the answer to the question was "no" and they had to keep looking) they'd dream of their future spouse that night. To work out how many more years they'd be single, young women would look at the moon through a mirror. The number of moons they could see was the number of years that would pass before they were wed.
7. January is said to be a lucky month to get married, with New Year's Day being especially lucky. "Marry when the year is new, Always loving, kind and true." That said, there's another folk saying which goes "Married in January's hoar and rime, Widowed you'll be before your time."
8. Keep an eye on the weather for the first 12 days of January, because it's a prediction of what the weather will be like for the rest of the year, each successive day representing one of the months to come (2 January = February, 3 January = March, and so on). In other weather lore, a wet January means a wet spring and a warm January means a cold May. Modern science has worked out that January is the coldest month of the year 40% of the time and 44% of major wind storms take place this month.
9. In most years, January begins on the same day of the week as October. In leap years, however, that's not the case. January then begins on the same day of the week as April and July.
10. January's awareness campaigns include autism, prevention of birth defects, kindness to food servers, home Bread baking machines, clinical trials, crime prevention, quality of life/life balance, creativity, Eggs, eye care/glaucoma, hot Tea, Oatmeal, soup, Blood donors, thyroid disease and Whale watching.

NEW!

A Tale of Two Sisters

During a battle with supervillains, a horrific accident leaves the Warner family with no option but to believe their youngest daughter, Jessica, is dead. It doesn't occur to them that the bad guys could, or would, save her.

Jessica wakes up with no memory of who she is or how she came to be on a space station with two bionic legs, a bionic arm and a bionic eye. She is told her family abandoned her and is sent back to Earth with a mission - to kill them. While Jessica wants to kill her family, along with the twin boys who once rejected her, she knows what the Alliance of Supervillains are asking her to do is a suicide mission. She decides to get her revenge in her own way.

As Jessica puts the first part of her revenge plan in motion, she finds herself with an agonising decision to make. Before she can decide, the Alliance come for her, determined to make her do their bidding. This time, it's the Alliance who leave her, crippled and at the mercy of the Warner family, who have no idea who the Alliance's Black Rose really is.

Jessica finds herself having to re-think her decisions in light of what she now learns about her family, the Alliance, the twins, and herself. It would appear the Alliance have left her with an unwanted and permanent reminder of her time with them. Or have they?

Jessica's older sister, Jill, knows her destiny is to be a doctor and specialise in bionics and genetic variant medicine. She is also hopelessly in love with Christopher, Crown Prince of Galorvia. Can their romance survive the lies Christopher told her when they were both at school, an unplanned pregnancy and Sophie, the wannabe princess who comes between them?

Available on Amazon
Paperback

E-book

3 December: December

10 things you might not know about the month of December.

1. December gets its name from the Latin word "decem", meaning ten, as it was the tenth month of the Roman year.
2. It may be the last month of the year for us in the west, but in the Old Tibetan calendar, the new year began on 1st December.
3. Talking of the 1st day of December - it always occurs on the first day of the week as the 1st of September.
4. People born in December will be born under the astrological signs of Sagittarius or Capricorn and their birthstones are turquoise, serpentine, jacinth, peridot and blue zircon. Their birth flower is narcissus.
5. In weather lore, a thunderstorm during Christmas week means that "the winter will be anything but meek" according to one folk saying.
6. It's a good month to get married, according to folklore. "Married in days of December's cheer, love's star shines brighter from year to year", goes one saying. "When December's Snows fall fast, Marry, and true love will last," says another.
7. Native American tribes, who named the Moon of each month according to what they observed around them in nature at the time of year, variously called December's moon Moon of Popping Trees; when Deer Shed Their Horns; buffalo Cow's Fetus is Getting Large; or Moon When the Wolves Run Together.
8. If you get a clear night, meteor showers you might catch in December are the Canis-Minoroids, the Coma Berenicids, the Geminids, the Monocerotids, the Sygma Hydrids and the Ursids.
9. Awareness campaigns for December include calendars, art and architecture books, colorectal cancer, drink and drug driving, church Libraries, Jewish books, safe toys, human rights and donating treats to animal rescue centres (Operation Santa Paws).
10. 17th century almanacs promote eating food of "hot quality" including Onions, Cabbage, roasted Apples and Pears and the meat of rams, Goats and land fowl (but not waterfowl). They also advocate drinking plenty of Wine (as if we need an excuse!)

A Christmas Novella

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

December 31: New Year's Eve Customs

10 New Year's Eve/Hogmanay customs from around the world. Happy New Year.

1. Hogmanay is the word for New Year in Scotland. Traditional foods eaten on this day include bannocks, shortbread, black buns, and ankersocks (a type of Gingerbread). In the Highlands, Cheese was believed to have magical properties. A slice of Christmas cheese was preserved - if it had a hole in it, it was known as the Laomacha. Anyone who lost their way at any time during the following year had only to look through the hole to discover where they were. In the Netherlands the traditional New Year's Eve food is oil-dumpling.
2. “Ringing In the New Year" is a popular saying in the modern world. Welcoming the new year by making lots of noise is a tradition dating back to pagan times. A traditional Hogmanay celebration in Scotland would include rattling pots and pans to see the old year off and welcome the new. Today, people ring bells, blow horns, and rattle rattles. In Wales, people believed the Cwn Annwn, or Underworld Hounds run through the air at midnight looking for victims to carry off. Pots and pans were banged to drive them away. In Germany people would make a lot of noise to keep demons and evil spirits away on this night.
3. Going from house to house to visit your neighbours is a big thing on New Year's Eve in many places. In Scotland, it's called First Footing. In Denmark young people go around pounding on their friends' front doors. They throw shards of pottery, collected throughout the year, against the sides of houses. In Greece children go from door to door singing; traditionally, they carry an Apple, an Orange, a paper ship, a paper star and a green rod from a cornel-tree. They tap family members on the back with the rod for luck. The householders give them treats.
4. On New Year's Eve in the Highlands and Islands they struck the walls of houses with clubs; this was believed to keep fairies and evil spirits away. Houses were decorated with Holly to keep the fairies out. It was believed that if a boy were whipped with holly it meant he would live for as many years as the drops of Blood drawn.
5. It was the tradition to keep the Fire, which was usually put out at night, alight all through New Year's night. Only a friend might approach the sacred blaze. Candles would be kept burning in the house. If the fire went out, it boded ill for the coming year. In some places there were fire festivals, such as Swinging the Fireballs in Stonehaven, Scotland. In Northumberland, New Year's Eve saw the Allendale Baal Fire Festival Tar Barrel Burning, when people walk down the street with blazing tar barrels on their heads; some of which are used to light a bonfire.
6. It's probably mentioning a more modern observance here. 31 December is Check the Smoke Alarms Day, when you should make sure your smoke detectors are working properly. Ideally before the Swinging of the Fireballs.
7. December 31 is St Sylvester’s Day when, if young women looked in the mirror at midnight, they'd see a vision of their future husband. Other customs of the day included weather prediction – whether the following year would be a good one or not depended on the direction the wind was blowing in. In the Tyrol, men dressed as Bears and danced in the streets. Any woman whose shoulder was touched by the revellers would be pregnant within the year.
8. John Wesley introduced the December 31 watchnight service to Methodists; other denominations took it up and it is now a regular service at most churches.
9. At the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve, while holding money in one hand, kneel and pray and you will have money for the rest of the year.
10. In other superstitions, wood cut on either of the last two days of the year will not rot or get woodworm; but it is an unlucky day for a child to be born and, along with the 31^st of any month, an unlucky day to plant anything.

21 December: Winter Solstice

Winter solstice, the longest night of the year, also known in the pagan wheel of the year as Yule, falls today. 10 things you might not know about this celebration. 

1. Yule is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Yula, which means Wheel of the Year.
2. In many traditions, virgin mothers give birth to sacred sons. Rhiannon to Pryderi; Isis to Horus; Demeter to Persephone. Not to mention that it's almost Christmas as well. The sun itself is said to be reborn on this day and the days start getting longer.
3. An old tradition many Witches and Pagans still observe is bringing in the Yule Log, once a centre of the Yule celebrations. The log should be lit on the eve of the solstice from the remains of the previous year's Yule log. It should light on the first try, and be kept burning for twelve hours, for luck. It was also customary to wish on the log.
4. Another custom was carrying a corn dolly from house to house while singing Carols.
5. Mistletoe played a part in pagan Yule traditions, too. Druids believed the plant had special powers, and enemies who met under mistletoe were required to lay down their weapons, greet each other, and honour a truce until the next day. It was also used in fertility rites. It was customary on this day for the chief Druid to climb a tree to cut down the mistletoe, while other Druids would stand below with a sheet to catch it in. The idea was that no mistletoe should touch the ground.
6. Houses would be decorated with greenery and lights.
7. In some traditions, this was seen as a dangerous time to be out and about. In the Orkney Islands, for example, it was said to be the night of the wild hunt, led by Odin on his eight-legged Horse.
8. In Iran, people would stay awake throughout the longest night of the year, keeping all the lights on, reading poetry to one another, waiting for the sun's triumphant return in the morning.
9. In Asia, tonight is the Dongzhi Festival, celebrating the return of positive energy. Families get together to eat Rice balls cooked in sweet or savoury broth, and sometimes brightly coloured.
10. Another name for the winter solstice is hibernal solstice. It occurs when one of the Earth's poles is at its furthest point from the sun. This occurs in December in the northern hemisphere and in June in the southern hemisphere.

See also Summer Solstice

My Christmas Novella!

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Createspace, Amazon and Amazon Kindle

March 12th: Ice Skating

On this date in 1984, British ice dancing team, Torvill and Dean became the first skaters to receive 9 perfect 6.0s in world championships. Plus the Winter Paralympics is on. 10 facts about the sport of ice skating.

1. People first took to the ice, not for sport, but as a means of getting around. The first people to do it were probably the people of Finland, about 3,000 years ago. The skates they used were made from animal bones. They may also have used wooden poles to propel themselves forward. Wooden and metal blades came much later.
2. People in Britain were introduced to skating as a leisure activity by King James II, who was exiled to the Netherlands for a while in the 17th century, and brought the idea back with him. It was the Brits who first came up with the idea of an ice skating club. The first ice skating club in the world was formed in Edinburgh in the 1740s. It was only open to people who could skate already, for would be members had to pass a skating test before they could be admitted. They had to be able to perform a complete circle on either foot and jump over a row of hats placed on the ice. The Edinburgh Skating Club was the only one in the world for quite some time - the next one wasn't founded until 1830, in London.
3. The first book about ice skating was written by a British artillery lieutenant called Robert Jones and was published in 1772. The book was written for man only - women didn't skate in 1772. The book separated skating into two disciplines - speed skating and figure skating. In skating's early days, figure skating tended to be what the aristocracy did, while racing on skates was enjoyed by the working classes, in particular, farm workers.
4. Queen Victoria got to know her future husband, Prince Albert, through a series of ice skating trips.
5. Now for some science stuff. A skate can glide over ice because of a layer of ice molecules on the surface which aren't as tightly bound as the molecules in the main body of the ice. These molecules are in a semi-liquid state, providing lubrication. At about −250 °F (−157 °C) the slippery layer is one molecule thick; as the temperature increases the slippery layer becomes thicker. It was theorised that the blade of a skate exerted pressure on the ice, causing friction, which melted a thin layer, causing lubrication. This, however, didn't explain how skating could work at very low temperatures, and why ice is slippery even when you're standing still.
6. Figure skating was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games. It debuted during the London Olympic Games in 1908. That was the summer games - the Winter Olympics didn't exist for another 16 years.
7. The name “figure skating” comes from the compulsory part of the competition in which skaters are required to trace perfect figures on the ice, including figure 8s. Some rules of the competition: the musical accompaniment must not include vocals; competitors cannot use props of any kind - these are only allowed in skating exhibitions; and judges can deduct points if several of them agree that a skater's costume it too provocative or garish.
8. We've all heard of ice hockey, but hockey isn't the only sport to be played on ice. Most of them have been tried for novelty value, or never really caught on - like ice tennis, ice baseball, ice billiards and ice football. Ice golf was first envisaged by Rudyard Kipling while he was writing The Jungle Book; and there is a World Ice Golf Championship which has been held in Greenland since 1997.
9. Figure skates differ from hockey skates because figure skates have serrated edge on the tip of their blades, called a "toe pick". The function of the toe pick is to grip the ice and enable to skater to jump.
10. While it's possible to suffer injury from falls or colliding with barriers in ice rinks, probably the biggest danger when skating on frozen lakes or canals is falling through the ice. This can lead to drowning or hypothermia, and it's pretty tricky getting out of the hole you've fallen into. It was for this reason that during the 18th and 19th centuries, the Royal Humane Society in London recruited 'Icemen', for the sole purpose of rescuing anybody unfortunate enough to fall through thin ice. They had a contraption called a drag, which the victim could cling to while the iceman pulled them out to safety. At first, a financial reward of five guineas (worth about £350 today) was given to icemen for each rescue. They had to stop that in the end, because the system was often abused by people who would get their friends to pose as a victim and split the reward between them.

I Write Fiction, Too!

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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March 3rd: National Mulled Wine Day

Mulled wine is a beverage usually made with red Wine along with various mulling spices and Raisins. It is served hot or warm and may be alcoholic or non-alcoholic. It is a traditional drink during winter, especially around Christmas and Halloween. It's also a common tipple in Ski resorts.

1. Mulled wine was invented by the Romans. For them, it was a way to use up low quality wines and make them more palatable. As their armies conquered Europe, they brought their wines and their recipes with them.
2. By 1390, it was known in England. A recipe for it appears in The Forme of Cury, an English cookery book published that year. 14th century cooks would make mulled wine by grinding together cinnamon, ginger, galangal, Cloves, long pepper, nutmeg, marjoram, cardamom and grains of paradise ("spykenard de Spayn", or Rosemary). This would be added to red wine and sugar.
3. The Victorians used to drink a kind of mulled wine called "Smoking Bishop" made from port, red wine, lemons or Seville Oranges, sugar and spices such as cloves. The citrus fruit was roasted to caramelise it and the ingredients then warmed together. Charles Dickens mentions this drink in his story, A Christmas Carol; but it is rarely drunk today.
4. The trick to preparing mulled wine is not to heat it to the extent that the alcohol burns off. Great care must be taken, and a thermometer is essential. The danger of losing alcohol content begins at 167 degrees F; 160 degrees F is the perfect temperature.
5. The spices in the wine, which are likely to include cinnamon, cloves and vanilla, preserve the mixture - so it can be prepared well ahead of time and heated up when required.
6. It is usually served in a porcelain or glass mug and may have a slice of orange studded with cloves as a garnish.
7. In German-speaking countries the drink is known as Glühwein, which means “glow-wine”, because it used to be heated with hot irons.
8. The oldest documented Glühwein tankard, a gold-plated lockable Silver one, dating back to about 1420, belonged to Count John IV of Katzenelnbogen, a German nobleman who was the first grower of Riesling Grapes.
9. Most recipes use red wine, but there is a version which can be made using white wine, though it's not as popular. You can also get mulled Cider and mulled ale. People who don't drink don't have to miss out, either - mulled Apple juice is another alternative.
10. If you're travelling abroad and fancy a mulled wine, it goes by a number of different names. In Germany and Austria, it's Glühwein; in France, it's vin chaud (hot wine); in Italy, it's vin brulé (which comes from the French language and means burnt wine); in the Netherlands, it's bisschopswijn (bishop's wine); it's gløgg in Norway and Denmark; glögg in Sweden and Iceland; glögi in Finland and Estonia; In Bulgaria, it's called greyano vino (heated wine); in Portugal, it's vinho quente, which is also what you'd ask for if you wanted mulled wine in Brazil. In Chile it's called "candola" in the south and "vino navega'o" in the north. In Quebec, Canada, red wine is mixed with Maple syrup and hard liquor and heated. This drink is called Caribou.

I Write Fiction, Too!

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

February 24th: February

Today, Quotes about the month of February.

1. Pleasures newly found are sweet When they lie about our feet: February... praise of which I nothing know. William Wordsworth
2. The last full moon of February stalks the fields; barbed wire casts a shadow. Jane Cooper
3. China tea, the scent of hyacinths, wood fires and bowls of violets - that is my mental picture of an agreeable February afternoon. Constance Spry.
4. February is a suitable month for dying. Everything around is dead, the trees black and frozen so that the appearance of green shoots two months hence seems preposterous, the ground hard and cold, the snow dirty, the winter hateful, hanging on too long. Anna Quindlen
5. Late February, and the air's so balmy snowdrops and crocuses might be fooled into early blooming. Then, the inevitable blizzard will come, blighting our harbingers of spring, and the numbed yards will go back undercover. In Florida, it's strawberry season— shortcake, waffles, berries and cream will be pencilled on the coffee shop menus. Gail Mazur
6. February is merely as long as is needed to pass the time until March. Dr. J. R. Stockton
7. February, when the days of winter seem endless and no amount of wistful recollecting can bring back any air of summer. Shirley Jackson
8. Why, what's the matter, That you have such a February face, So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness? William Shakespeare
9. The February sunshine steeps your boughs and tints the buds and swells the leaves within. William C. Bryant
10. Late February days; and now, at last, Might you have thought that Winter's woe was past; So fair the sky was and so soft the air. William Morris

See also

Quotes about

December 

January 

November

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24 January: January

Here's what some well-known writers and poets thought of this month.

1. And what does January hold? Clean account books. Bare diaries. 365 new days, neatly parcelled into weeks, months, seasons. A chunk of time, of life... those first few notes like an orchestra tuning up before the play begins. Phyllis Nicholson
2. January is here, with eyes that keenly glow, A frost-mailed warrior striding a shadowy steed of snow. Edgar Fawcett
3. January brings the snow, makes our feet and fingers glow. Sara Coleridge
4. January, month of empty pockets! let us endure this evil month, anxious as a theatrical producer's forehead. Sidonie Gabrielle Colette
5. Pale January lay In its cradle day by day Dead or living, hard to say. Alfred Austin, Primroses
6. January opens The box of the year And brings out days That are bright and clear And brings out days That are cold and grey And shouts, "Come see What I brought today!" Lland B. Jacobs, January
7. It is deep January. The sky is hard. The stalks are firmly rooted in ice. Wallace Stevens
8. To read a poem in January is as lovely as to go for a walk in June. Jean-Paul Sartre
9. You'd be so lean, that blasts of January Would blow you through and through. William Shakespeare
10. January, in ermine cloak, With crystal spangles dight, He gave the queen an Ivy crown, And her fair shoulders white. He happ'd with tender ferny Moss From many a cosy nook, Or from the rounded boulders warm Beside the frozen brook. James Rigg

New!

Secrets and Skies

Jack Ward, President of Innovia, owes his life twice over to the enigmatic superhero, dubbed Power Blaster by the press. No-one knows who Power Blaster is or where he comes from - and he wants it to stay that way.

Scientist Desi Troyes has developed a nuclear bomb to counter the ever present threat of an asteroid hitting the planet. When Ward signs the order giving the go ahead for a nuclear test on the remote Bird Island, he has no inkling of Troyes' real agenda, and that he has signed the death warrants of millions of people.

Although the island should have been evacuated, there are people still there: some from the distant continent of Classica; protesters opposed to the bomb test; and Innovians who will not, or cannot, use their communication devices.

Power Blaster knows he must stop the bomb from hitting the island. He also knows it may be the last thing he ever does.

Meanwhile in Innovia, Ward and his staff gather to watch the broadcast of the test. Nobody, not even Troyes himself, has any idea what is about to happen.

Part One of The Raiders Trilogy.

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