party

Apologies for the recent silence: Easter, holidays and general chaos have slowed me down.

Not that I’ve been idle. Beware the Falling Avocados has now reached the stage of waiting for a proof copy to come. It’s a shame that CreateSpace prints and sends them from the US, as this lengthens even the speediest delivery time. Of course, as soon as I’d clicked ‘order’ I found an error to be corrected… grrr…

And I’ve been experimenting with a few avocado treats – a potential future blog series!

And, of course, there’s this:

…my next project! There’s a novel to be written and I’ve decided it’ll be turquoise – or at least it’s filing will be. Who knows where this will take me: currently I have a couple of neat files and a whole pile of scraps of paper. I might need to think of a working title just to get me going.

And the website will be updated… soon… which is an exciting prospect for the next few weeks.

And I’ve still to format the eBook, but that is to fill my time while I wait for the paperback proof to come from the US!

And maybe I should plan a ~~party~~ book launch. Anyone want to come?

Today is the only saints day I remember: that of St Catherine.

Obvious, really.

And I’d criticise the spelling of her name, though I suspect she didn’t often write it herself. I do get quite obsessed with Catharines, or Catherines. Or Kathryns, Katharines or Katherines. Or, sometimes, Kates.

Like so many Christian martyrs, St Catherine of Alexandria is famous for her death. In life, she was a princess and a scholar, who devoted her life to Jesus. Imprisoned for her beliefs, she was tortured but held fast: many who were in touch with her were converted to Christianity and (pleasant man, the Emperor) put to death. As she wouldn’t give herself to Emperor Maxentius, he condemned her to death on a spiked breaking wheel, but it broke on her touch. In desperation he ended up beheading her.

It is because of St Catherine of Alexandria that we have named the Catherine Wheel: a firework that spins. (They’re my favourite firework too.)

She is not the only St Catherine, of course. There is also St Catherine of Siena, one of the patron saints of Italy (the other being St Francis of Assisi). I came upon her tomb by chance when we were travelling in Rome. All of her, that is, except her head and thumb, which were removed and taken to Siena. Don’t you love the logic of holy relics? Her saints day is 29 April: maybe I should have another party then.

There’s also St Catherine of Vadstena, Genoa, Bologna or Ricci. And a few others, including a St Katharine (getting closer to my spelling?), who died in 1955 and is the only US-born saint.

Her day is 3 March. By my reckoning I could have a Saints Day party on 13 February, 3 March, 9 March, 24 March, 17 April, 29 April, 15 September, 25 November, 28 November, 28 December and 31 December. Looks a little quiet during the summer months…

I did ask my husband last night what he’d bought me in celebration of my saints day. “The same as you bought me for mine,” he said.

Fair point.

A bit of an update

Party time!