The Winners, and Pictures from my Garden

Well that was fun! I have six new winners to share with you today. The first to spin out of Rafflecopter wins a signed print version of The Viscount of Maisons-Laffitte, and the next five to pop out win an e-version of my book.

Congratulations to Sasha Maple Jones (I love that name) for winning the signed copy, and to Jacqueline Brown, Andrea Stunz, Kim Colucci Hritz, Kait, and Heidi Kreider for winning the e-versions.

I’ll be contacting you today or tomorrow to send you your prize. Thanks so much to everyone who has entered.

The Viscount of Maisons-Laffitte, as you know, is a fictional story. The only characters in my book who are real, live people are artist, Randall Mooers, and his wife Vivienne.

Vivi and I met at the gym when we were both living on the Upper East Side in Manhattan. She’s a talented designer, and she gave me some of her creations (sweaters, which were my favourite things to wear until they no longer fit after the pregnancies). It was only befitting that she should meet a talented artist at a café in a chance meeting that could only be called destiny. I asked them if I could use the real them in my book, and they graciously complied.

Now, my book is appearing on their website! Take a peek here to see what Randall’s paintings look like so you can get a good visual when you read the book. 🙂

I wanted to show you a few pictures of our garden, even though it’s not in the best state possible. This is the rather bleak view we currently have, and the workers almost destroyed our cherry tree by gouging holes in the bark. But one day, the cherry tree will grow into a big and beautiful thing, and when my husband works in the studio, he’ll be able to gaze upon the spring cherry blossoms framing a grassy lawn.

The irises are about to open. I know I have some in shades of purple, some in black and gold, some with purple and yellow … I can’t wait to see which one this is, but I think it’s the black and gold.

My birthday swing set is finally all set up. My brilliant husband thought of installing side cables to stabilise it. Yesterday we had a bunch of families over, and the moms kicked the kids off the set so we could have a go. It’s just as fun as I hoped it would be.

A friend brought some ginger over to plant, which I would never (ever) have thought of growing in my garden. But I use quite a bit, so why not? She told me to soak it for a day or two, which I’m doing.

And then I’m going to plant it here – I already removed the rogue raspberries, and transplanted a fern. It’s just waiting for some more soil and some soaked ginger roots.

I’m just recording this picture (below), even though it’s not very interesting to look at. We can refer to it when I’ve tided it some more.

Along the trellis, I have jasmine growing. And this used to be a strawberry bed. Right now, I’ve planted a wild rose bush (which should get big) and a hydrangea. I’m planning to cover the whole thing with black tarp because it tends to get weedy, and cover that with bark. I may plant one more thing there as well. I’m a big fan of bark as a way of making a strip of earth look more cultivated, a tip I learned from my mom.

Last, but not least, is my apple tree, which is newly planted and seems to be doing fabulously. I swear it’s growing so fast. May its fruit be tasty. (I hope). I think they are braeburn apples. In any case, I’m going to be focusing more on my garden – on everything but the grass, which I can do nothing about until we’re done with construction.

And that’s it! A little glimpse of my corner of the world. I’m going to try this week to stay off the computer entirely because my carpal tunnel is so bad. (I don’t have any desk set up, and can’t until we’re done with construction). Also, I have insomnia for the first time in my life. Last night was the worst. I was awake from 2 to 6 am. So I’m going to try and focus on my garden and relaxing, and try to work out the plot of my next book (on paper) and pick up again next week.

Those of you who read my book, you will remember to leave an Amazon review, right? Even a one-line review is so, so helpful.

Thanks, always, for your support.

(an Amazon link to my book – you should be able to access the kindle version from this link as well).

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