Christina Hollis: A Little Bit of Peace and Quiet...

Fresh from the Garden

Lockdown has eased slightly here in England, but I'm in no hurry to get back into the human race. All the reports of prejudice, riots, pandemic, and financial problems makes life beyond home seem uncertain. The events of the past few months have changed life forever. Both my OH and son have health problems, so rather than put them at risk I've only left the house (apart from walking the dog around the wood) three times since March 18th. Here are a few things that have saved my sanity...

Gardening:
Luckily I had bought all my seeds before lockdown, so I had plenty of sowing and planting to distract me from not being able to leave the house and garden. 

This spring we had a lot of dry, sunny weather so in places, I've even managed to keep on top of the weeds. One patch of undergrowth has got away from me though, so I'm now calling that The Wild Garden!

University Work:
I had four major essays to complete within a couple of weeks, so for some time I did nothing but read, make notes and edit my work. 

With deadlines hurtling toward me, the time flew by. Luckily I managed to complete everything in time, and handed in my final essay last week. 

Now all I have to do is wait for the results, while writing my dissertation...

My Best Effort So Far!

Baking:
Once I'd finished my university work for the day I felt like leaving paperwork behind and doing something crafty. During lockdown I worked on perfecting my sourdough bread. You can read how I started here, and how I progressed here. How I finally solved all my problems and produced the loaf in this photo will be the subject of my next blog at christinahollisbooks.online!

Poultry:
We lost out last ancient hen back before Christmas. After that, it was so easy to buy eggs from the supermarket it was several months before I got around to ordering some replacements. I chose Beechwood Blue Rangers, partly because I liked the name but mostly because they are supposed to lay nice brown eggs. 

The New Girls

Although there's no nutritional difference between white, tinted and brown eggs, I think dark ones look nicer, so shell colour is my chief criterion when it comes to poultry. 

The new birds arrived on the 18th May, and we got our first beautiful white egg on 3rd June. We've had a further twenty-three eggs from them since then, and not one has had the merest speckling of brown!

Christina Hollis writes contemporary fiction starring complex men and independent women. She has written more than twenty novels, sold nearly three million books, and her work has been translated into twenty different languages. When she isn’t writing, Christina is cooking, walking her dog, or gardening.

Catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: Evening Magic

Pic by Wal_172619, via Pixabay.

Each year, my daughter and I book up to go on one of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds' Nightingale walks. These are held during May in a local bird reserve. This year, of course, they were cancelled because of Covid 19. That means we'll be missing out on our evening magic this year.

Although the ancient coppice and tangled understory of brambles surrounding our house was once alive with the sound of nightingales, thy haven't visited her for many years.  At least we still have sheets of beautiful wild bluebells running through the sweet chestnut trees like blue mist, despite the wild boar regularly digging up the bulbs.

The news about the virus is so depressing, I ration myself to one news broadcast per day. Both my husband and son suffer from asthma, and my son has a fragile immune system. I brought him home from university on 18th March, and until yesterday we've been stuck inside, except for three daily dog-walks. We've been taking it in turns to get our exercise. Apart from that, the only time I'd been out of the house since March was to post a birthday card, last week.

The spicy fragrance from these has been really strong in this week's  warm sunshine

On Monday, the garden centres in Wales opened. As we live only a few miles from the border, OH and I crossed it to visit our favourite garden store. Only one shopper per family was allowed, so he stayed in the car while I stocked up on the bare necessities of gardening life. It's a small, family run business of the sort that will be hit hard by the economic downturn this lockdown has caused. We went there partly to give them some support, but also because I truly believe gardening is the best kind of therapy for low spirits.  It never fails, and now I've got plenty of seeds of wallflowers, sweet williams and stocks to sow for flowers next spring. That's optimism!

I've even been able to find a substitute for our annual nightingale walk. Three hours of uninterrupted birdsong, thanks to the wonders of YouTube! 

Christina Hollis writes contemporary fiction starring complex men and independent women. She has written more than twenty novels, sold nearly three million books, and her work has been translated into twenty different languages. When she isn’t writing, Christina is cooking, walking her dog, or gardening.

You can catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: The Sound of Silence...

A belated Happy Easter to you all!

I spent the days running up to Monday 16th March this year in a torment of indecision. On that day I had a tutorial scheduled with my dissertation supervisor at the university, I was due to give a presentation as part of one of my modules, and I was going to be observing a session as part of my teaching module. 

Normally, I would have been raring to go. Instead, I was scared. At the time, the Coronavirus crisis was gathering momentum in the UK, and Gloucestershire had reported its first case of the disease. Like everyone else, I wasn't sure how safe it was to mingle with other people in a public space. 

Buy online from http://bit.ly/SSBRISTOL

Right up until the moment I left home that day, I was in two minds whether or not to attend. In the end, my enthusiasm for the course won, and I went. It was also a chance to catch up with my son. He is also studying at the University of Gloucestershire although we're on different courses, in different campuses, and he lives on site while I commute. His immune system is compromised by the daily medication he takes, so he was also concerned about coming in contact with the virus.

Luckily for us both (although sadly too, as we both love our respective courses), the university soon decided the safest course was to put as much teaching online as possible and let those students who wanted to, leave.

On Wednesday, 18th March, my son and I loaded all his belongings into my car and I drove him home. We stopped on the way to fill up with petrol and buy some milk, but since then the whole family has been in lockdown. We've been taking the dog out for walks each day since then, but apart from that none of us have been anywhere. We're all now working from home. The cash I withdrew at the beginning of March to pay for that month's local group meeting of the Romantic Novelists' Association is still untouched in my purse.  

Wild cherry blossom in the wood

Saving money because there's nowhere to go is one of the very small number of good things to come out of this horrible crisis.   Another one is the worldwide drop in pollution caused by the huge reduction in travel. We live in a wood, half a mile from the nearest main road and never imagined that would impact us. Yet it's surprising the difference this makes. For one thing, the sky used to be criss-crossed with white con trails from commercial aircraft passing high over head. We rarely see any of those now. As a result, the glorious weather of the Easter weekend was canopied by a clear blue sky. 

Perhaps the best unintended consequence of Coronavirus is the lack of traffic noise. The springtime dawn chorus is always lovely here, but this year we can hear far more birds, and from right down in the valley, too. All the summer warblers have arrived and there is singing from every tree, hedge and thicket. 

Willow Warbler, pic by E. Jagdmann

On Sunday evening we had a particularly surreal experience. We were on the far side of the wood with the dog, close to the main road and marvelling that minutes can pass between each vehicle rather than seconds. Then we heard a clock strike eight.  We were a couple of miles from our village church and in any case it doesn't have a clock, so the source of the sound was a mystery. When we checked on Google maps, the clock we heard is a good three and a half miles away from where we were standing. We'd never have stood a chance of hearing it if the usual aircraft and traffic noise had been about!

Christina Hollis's first non-fiction book, Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol is published by Pen and Sword Books. You can find out more about that here, catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: Put on a Happy Face...

DD's house, plus two rivers merged into one!

I don't know about you, but I'm finding world news harder and harder to take these days. Australia suffered bush fires then flooding. A lot of the United Kingdom is still sodden wet after devastating floods—this is a picture of my daughter's home: the railings run along the banks of the Gloucestershire Avon, while the line of trees in the distance is on the far bank of the Severn.  The two rivers merged into one and the floodwater eventually rose to within six inches of her front door. And of course there's coronavirus everywhere. 

It would be unreasonable to expect nothing but good news and we can't stick our heads in the sand hoping everything will go away, but it's not unreasonable to want a little bit of good news among all the bad, but here's my contribution to making the world a marginally better place for a moment or two...

Spring is on its way. The apricot in my greenhouse is already in flower. It looks so pretty, it cheers up the greyest days and would be worth growing even without the prospect of eating fresh apricots warm from the sun by midsummer!

Much to our relief we have a pond full of frogspawn. The frogs and toads usually start

Pic via Pixabay

croaking from the water in the first few weeks of the year. They hadn't made a sound until a week ago, and we thought this was going to be the first year since we dug the pond that there would be no tadpoles. Then all of a sudden there was a few days of frantic activity an now we can look forward to a new generation of amphibians to gobble up the slugs and bugs around the garden. 

Pic by E. Jagdman

I've heard the first of the summer birds in the wood. A willow warbler was tuning up the other morning, despite a freezing breeze. It didn't sing for very long, but for a minute or two it felt like summer wasn't too far away...

Christina Hollis's first non-fiction book, Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol is published by Pen and Sword Books. You can find out more about that here, catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: A Romantic City for Everyone...

Pic via Pixabay

Valentine's Day should mean spending time with the one you love—but what if you're unattached? If you are intentionally single, or sorry to be alone, February 14th can be a difficult day. It feels like the whole world is part of a couple, except you.

That's not true—and even if you are happily paired, it's not all romantic restaurants and early nights. I've got so much work to do for my university course, I can't take a day off today. I'm looking on the bright side, though. Tomorrow's Saturday, so OH is taking me to out to lunch at our favourite café—as long as I promise to leave all my text books at home!

If you'll be at home this weekend, you could try out some of the cheap and cheerful fixes I wrote about on my blog during the post-holiday slump. I'm unlikely to get a holiday this year as I've got too much studying to do. I won't even be able to make it to the Romantic Novelists' Association's conference, which is the first time I'll have missed it since I started attending, about eight years ago!

I'll have to make do with looking back at the photos we took during our last holiday in Florence. I love the city, and can't wait to go back. There's something for everyone: centuries of history on display, (usually) wonderful weather, friendly people, stunning scenery, and of course the amazing artwork in the Uffizi gallery. 

Florence was the inspiration for my Mills and Boon romance, The Italian's Blushing Gardener, where a career girl meets her match in a new boss. This has just been re-released as the three-romances-in-one collection With Love From Florence, which also includes love stories by Scarlet Wilson and Heidi Rice. 

If you need cheering up, why not visit my blog today for a chance to win a copy of With Love From Florence?

Christina Hollis writes contemporary fiction starring complex men and independent women. She has written more than twenty novels, sold nearly three million books, and her work has been translated into twenty different languages. When she isn’t writing, Christina is cooking, walking her dog, or gardening.

You can catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: Dreadline Fever, and A Winter Warmer!

DD's new (actually 400+ years old!) house

I hope you had a lovely start to the New Year. I've been busy working on an assignment since the semester ended just before Christmas. The deadline is tomorrow, which is why I'm typing this  blog with one hand while making dinner with the other!

I've only cooked about one or two meals per week since term ended on 20th December. Each Sunday I did a big roast as usual, and I also cooked lunch on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The rest of the time my family took turns, so I could concentrate on writing my essays. 

Now everyone has gone back to work. DD has the added stress of masterminding the move into her new home, so I'm back on cooking duties. Tonight we're having one of our favourites—vegetable casserole.

We're not vegetarians by any means but vegetable casserole is one of the cheapest, easiest and most filling things in the world to make, although it takes a while to prepare everything and it takes an hour or two to cook. It's a recipe I invented so there are

Pic by Loubos Houska via Pixabay

no weights and measures. That's what makes it so easy! All you do is peel and/or trim some carrots, potatoes, onions, and any other similar "hard" veg you have to hand such as celery, swede, turnip or sweet potato. Cut everything into slices about as thick as a coin. Put all the sliced veg into a big casserole dish and add enough stock (made from a cube if you don't make your own) to almost cover it. Cook in a low oven (about 160 degrees) for a couple of hours, or until the vegetables are soft. Stir once or twice, and season before serving. If you have room in your oven you can put in a milk pudding and a rich fruit cake at the same time, as they benefit from long slow cooking. 

I serve vegetable casserole either with home-made bread or cheese scones. If there's anything left over, I liquidise it, add some chilli powder or garam masala,  and reheat it next day as soup. 

What's your favourite warming winter recipe?

Christina Hollis has written six historical novels, eighteen contemporary novels, sold nearly three million books, and her work has been translated into twenty different languages. When she isn’t working on getting her MA from the University of Gloucestershire, Christina is cooking, gardening, or walking her dog.

You can catch up with her at http://www.christinahollis.blogspot.com, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: Winter Draws on...

Compliments of the season!

The weather is cold and blustery here in Gloucestershire, but so far we've only had frost and rain—endless rain, for weeks—rather than snow. The days are short, but we've had some beautiful views of the full moon between the rainclouds.

We don't put up our decorations or tree until Christmas Eve, but this weekend I really must settle down to writing the Christmas cards. It's a lovely task, especially when I've got a cup of tea and mince pies to hand, and some carols on in the background. AntPDC put together a lovely presentation on YouTube a few years ago to accompany Victor Hely-Hutchinson's Carol Symphony. I never get tired of watching it at this time of year. Some of the photos are of the historic York. Now I've visited the city several times, I can recognise some of the places and it makes this film even more special.

If you're still looking for ideas for presents, Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol is full of stories and photographs of the brave, clever and resourceful women who helped make the city famous.  Read about Ada Vachell, who drove her parents mad by taking their servants out on day trips to the seaside, or Sarah Henley, who in 1885 survived falling over two hundred feet from the Clifton Suspension Bridge when her long Victorian skirts filled with air like a parachute!

You can buy Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol from Amazon, or direct from the publisher, Pen and Sword Books.

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or Midwinter, I hope you have a happy, peaceful holiday season.

Christina Hollis: Countdown to Launch Day!

We had snow last night—
let's hope the weather's better next Friday!

This is an exciting time for students at the University of Gloucestershire. 22nd November (next Friday) sees the launch of Heritage: New Writing VIII.

Heritage is an anthology of poetry, prose and artwork of work from alumni past and present, young and old. A selection of work from our parter foundation, Humber College in Canada, is included, too.

Creating the anthology was a great team-building exercise for students on our MA course. Our tutor Mike was an éminence gris, overseeing the project while leaving the organisation and method to our group. We managed everything, from call for submissions to planning the launch night, ourselves.

With more than a dozen people involved (and with our typesetter and publisher's baby due at any moment!) it was quite an undertaking.

A special mention must go to Shannon Storm, who created all the promotional artwork together with the book cover you can see below. It's difficult to see the fine detail at this resolution, but the cover includes a map of the world with the countries made up of fingerprints. It looks amazing in real life!

We wanted our theme to appeal to as many people as possible. The title Heritage is ideal as it is open to a wide variety of interpretations. Cheltenham's geography helped with this. As a Georgian spa town and the gateway to the world-famous Cotswolds, there's no shortage of inspiration right here.

The work of our contributors is as varied as they are. We have pieces that look back, appreciate the present, and look forward into dystopian futures.  There really is something for everyone!

Next month I'll give you some more details about Heritage, and report on our book launch.

Christina Hollis: Writing History—Wet Washing and Drying Days

It's been raining cats and dogs here in Gloucestershire for days. While the downpour setting has swung backwards and forwards from "car wash" to "drizzle" it has at least been mild. The winds, though blustery, have been nothing compared to the terrible hurricanes and typhoons suffered in other parts of the world. I love letting the washing dry on a line strung across the kitchen garden, but there's been none of that this week.

My first few weeks back at university have been busy. I've been deciding on modules for this semester and the next, along with my ideas for my dissertation. One of the reasons I signed up for this course in Creative and Critical Writing  was because I found researching Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol fascinating. I wanted to find out more. Where better to do that than in a university? It  has zillions of books, and a huge archive.

I'm working on the effect technology had on women's lives during the twentieth century—specifically, the way it made household chores easier.

Find out more at
mybook.to/BristolWomen

Until mid-December 1930, the wives of miners in the Forest of Dean didn't have one wash-day a week. They had at least five days of hauling water, and heating it on the stove in order to scrub their husband's work clothes. Men came home filthy at the end of their shift at the pit. After stripping off his boots and dirty clothes outside the back door, a man would soak in a tin bath in front of the fire in order to get clean.

Meanwhile, his wife had the mammoth task of getting his clothes clean and dry as fast as possible. That wasn't easy at a time when Forest villages had no electricity supply. There wasn't much money about in those days, so when it came to clothes the general rule was "one on, one in the wash". During the summer, drying clothes outside on a washing line was easy—until it rained. Then, and during the winter, it was a case of living with steaming wet washing draped over clothes horses and fireguards all around the house.

On Saturday, 20th December 1930, Christmas came early for some of those Forest of Dean wives. After months of anticipation, Cannop Colliery opened some state-of-the-art pit head baths. 

Instead of walking home filthy, men stripped off their wet clothes as soon as they reached the surface. They showered in comfort, then dressed in everyday clothes for their walk home. They left their sodden workwear to dry overnight in the bathhouse's specially-designed heated cabinets. From that day on, the women's drudgery of doing laundry after every shift down the mine became a memory. Washday became a task done once a week, usually on a Monday.

Not to be thrown out with the bath water...

In the days before my family bought a washing machine, that was the routine in our rural Somerset home, too.  It was an all-day job. Water was heated in an electric boiler.  Shirt and blouse collars and cuffs were scrubbed before being worked up and down in soapy water. 

Then the washing was rinsed, hauled out of the water, wrung, then put through the mangle (mind those fingers!) 

Even as a tiny child I was involved in every stage. I used to love blowing soap bubbles between my cupped hands. I wasn't so keen on getting wet cuffs, though. Gran would roll up my sleeves but somehow they either slid down again, or the water would run up my arms!

The best things about washing day before automation was the sound and sight of fresh washing cracking and dancing in March winds, or the fragrance of Fairy Snow and Sunlight soap on a hot June morning.

Do you have any memories of wash-day?

Christina Hollis's first non-fiction book, Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol is published by Pen and Sword Books. You can find out more about that here, catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: September—New Starts, Old Friends

I love a quiet life. Writing lets me lead one. When you spend your days in front of a keyboard, the rest of the world passes you by—most of the time.  

My wedding bouquet

Everything changes in September!

For me, this month is on a par with December. There's something going on all the time. Much as I enjoy living like a recluse, there's too much going on over these thirty days to sit at home.

For a start, the birthdays of both my husband and his sister fall this month. When we got engaged, my then soon-to-be husband wanted to marry in September. "That way I'll never forget our anniversary," he said—and he never has.  My sister's wedding anniversary is a few days before us, so there's no excuse for forgetting that, either!

The Society of Authors has a small but lively local group which meets in the next county. I attended a meeting only last week.  I'm also a keen member of the Romantic Novelists' Association. Their local chapter has unmissable meetings too, so I've been to their September session as well. 

I also love cake!

A few years ago, the York chapter of the RNA hit on the great idea of hosting a formal afternoon tea  for people who live in the North of England and Scotland. It isn't always easy for them to make the London meetings of the association. York is much closer for them.  

York's a long way from me, involving a long car journey to the nearest station before a three-hour train journey, but my daughter is very fond of that historic city. She did some of her training as an archaeologist there so three years ago I booked us a weekend break there. She showed me round, and I took her to the York tea. A day's sightseeing followed by cake and fancy sandwiches in great company was a fantastic experience. The RNA tea is now an annual fixture in my diary. 

September is back to school time, of course. In my case it's back to university. I'm half-way through my Masters in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of Gloucestershire (you can find out more about that here) and I can't wait to get back to it after the long summer break. I've already been researching some ideas to incorporate in my final modules.

Find out more at mybook.to/BristolWomen

After working on my book, Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol, I've become interested in the way the simplest advances in technology have made huge changes in the lives of working people. I've taken out an annual pass for the Dean Forest Heritage Museum, and will be visiting it as often as possible to help with my research. The museum and its archive are stuffed with interesting items and books. They even have a miner's house on the site, decorated and stocked  exactly as it would have been in the late nineteenth century—complete with china chamber pots under each bed!

The final thing written in my diary this month is the talk I'm giving to the Bristol and Avon Family History Society.  I met several members at the Bristol city archive while I was researching Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol. They were very helpful, and friendly. Now I've been invited to their family history fair, and I can't wait!

Have you got anything exciting lined up for the last days of summer? 

Christina Hollis's first non-fiction book, Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol is published by Pen and Sword Books. You can find out more about that here, catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: Happy Holidays!

My Alma Mater—Francis Close Hall at UoG

Next month I'll be returning for my second year as a mature student at the University of Gloucestershire. The terms whizzed by and the holidays passed even faster. I've gained such a lot from the experience, and had so much fun, I think everyone should try it!

I've already passed modules in Creative Studies, Genre Fiction and Phase One of the project that will become my dissertation. This coming semester I'm signed up for Research Methods. Then in the New Year I'll be studying the teaching of creative writing and starting an independent project. 

My independent project will link back to the Research Methods module. I live in the Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire. The area has a rich industrial past, and the local people are proud of their background. The Dean Heritage Museum is an important resource for historians and writers. It's only a few miles from my house, so I'll be a constant visitor once the academic year begins. 

Find out more at mybook.to/BristolWomen

Building on the work I did for my current release, the non-fiction book Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol, my projects will centre on the big changes in home life over the past one hundred years. I'm trying to gather as much information as I can in advance. This is where you come in! 

Do you have any memories of the long school holidays in the days before mobile phones and laptops? Over on my blog, I'm recalling the endless sunny days and the feasts of homegrown food. What did you and your friends get up to when you were let off the educational leash for weeks on end? 

Christina Hollis's first non-fiction book, Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol is published by Pen and Sword Books. You can find out more about that here, catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: These are a few of my favourite Apps...

Pic by Gerd Altmann via Pixabay

Back in May I asked for app suggestions for my first smartphone. Thanks to you, I'm now on Instagram as christinahollis8664. 

Although I've loved using my  phone's camera from Day One, I haven't posted anything with it yet. I've been snapping several rarities in the woods around here, and didn't want them tracked down. It took me a while to find out how to switch off the EXIF tracker on my phone. 

The Day Job—
find out more at mybook.to/BristolWomen

Checking my Twitter and Facebook accounts is always fun, but I try not to do it too much when I'm out and about. There's plenty of time for that when I'm sat at my computer. When I'm away from my desk, I'd rather enjoy the face-to-face company of friends  than stare at a screen.

When I'm walking the dog I (quite literally) dip in and out of BBC Sounds, the radio app. Although I can download podcasts and listen offline, live broadcasts lose the signal beyond about a hundred yards/metres from home. It's a case of miss the end of a radio play, or turn round and start for home!

My top favourite app at the moment is definitely Headspace. This was mentioned during a women's empowerment course I went on during June, which was organised by the University of Gloucestershire. The course was amazing. You can find out more about that on my blog. Headspace teaches mindfulness through meditation. I spend fifteen minutes or so each morning using it to calm my mind before another busy working day. 

It's a lovely way to find some perspective.

Christina Hollis's first non-fiction book, Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol is published by Pen and Sword Books. You can find out more about that here, catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: International Cuisine, English Style...

I have dozens of cookery books, but after seeing a programme about Lebanese food on TV I couldn't resist buying one more. Saffron in the Souks by John Gregory-Smith is full of wonderful photos, and  its tactile cover makes it lovely to handle.  I read it straight through from cover to cover. Every recipe looked better than the last. I couldn't wait to try them all out, but that meant a frustrating wait. 

Our nearest "exotic" grocery shop is a forty-minute drive away, so I had to choose recipes which called for things from the garden, or that I could buy close to home. While we've got plenty of lemons and vine leaves here, it'll be weeks before our sour cherries and figs are ready to pick. 

Although that restricted my choice of recipe, I'm much luckier with my ingredients than my grandmother was. International cookery was a big challenge for her. Before her marriage, she was the cook in a real life, scaled-down version of Downton Abbey. In those days, women had to give up work when they married, so at the age of twenty-seven, she "retired". Her new husband was a career soldier. While he spent years on active service abroad, Gran stayed at home in Somerset, raising their family.

Feeding children is vital work, although it's often a thankless task. Gran missed her previous career, but Grampy came up with a solution. He sent home the recipes of his favourite local dishes so she could perfect them before he came home on leave.

Gran, with two of her four children

These days that would be—quite literally—a piece of cake. In rural England during the nineteen-thirties it was almost impossible. The local butcher couldn't get hold of goat meat, and citrus fruit was only available in winter. Gran grew the staple herbs of English cookery such as parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme and mint, but brown dust sold in a box marked "curry powder" had to stand in for many of the ingredients. Cardamon, fresh ginger and even garlic bulbs were unknown to Gran's grocer. Coriander leaves had to be grown from seeds (when they were available). She had to adapt all the recipes using local ingredients and techniques.

At least I didn't suffer Gran's supply problems when trying out recipes from Saffron in the Souks. I've found it to be an almost perfect cookery book. Almost, because it recommends serving several of the dishes with flatbreads, but supplies no details. Luckily, one of Gran's Anglicised recipes came to my rescue. 

I mixed a cup of flour with a pinch of salt, a tablespoon of olive oil and enough warm water to make a soft dough. Kneading this well I then covered the bowl with a damp cloth and left it to stand for half an hour. After another good kneading, I divided the dough into twelve pieces and rolled each one out into a thin pancake. These cook in seconds in a dry frying pan. Like pancakes they are best eaten straight away, but the first ones can be stacked in a warm oven for a few minutes while you finish cooking the whole batch.

So this evening we'll be sitting down to shish taouk (chicken kebabs), served with genuine Somerset chapattis!

Christina Hollis's first non-fiction book, Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol is published by Pen and Sword Books. You can find out more about that here, catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: A Lovely Puzzle...

Here's where I'm a student. Isn't it beautiful?

I've been amazed how fast my first academic year at university has evaporated. I now have four assignments to complete within the next two weeks, so my mind is buzzing. 

My poor brain went into overload this morning when my husband handed me a present. "I know you don't care about being the only kid in class without a smartphone," he said, just about managing to keep a straight face, "but you'll need this to keep in touch with the others via WhatsApp over the long vac."

One of the many, many reasons I love my OH is his generosity. Only last week he paid the parking fee at the hospital for a mother who couldn't get her credit card to work in the machine. And now this...a beautiful new replacement for my plain black Nokia emergency phone.

A little light reading...pic via Pixabay

The only trouble is, technology is not my friend. I say that all the time, but it's true! It's taken me several hours to puzzle out how to operate this new device. 

Now I'm set up and ready to go (I think).  I'm trying to decide which apps to install and podcasts to follow. Do you have any recommendations? I like reading and writing (obviously!) gardening, cooking and ecology. I've already signed up for Forestry England's iNaturalist project. 

Can you suggest any others? What things do you enjoy listening to on your phone? 

Christina Hollis's first non-fiction book, Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol is published by Pen and Sword Books. You can find out more about that here, catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: Quick as a Flash!

Pic by Ipicgr via Pixabay

That's how fast the past six months have gone. I'm already well into my second semester at the University of Gloucestershire, yet as recently as last July becoming a mature student was the last thing on my mind.  I picked up a prospectus when I took my son to the university's open day and...here I am, studying for my Master's in Critical and Creative Writing!

Over the past twenty-six weeks I've read what feels like a million books, analysed the living daylights out of the pastoral tradition, developed the idea for a novel about coercive control, and written the first ten thousand words of a non-fiction project on the changing role of women in the countryside. Oh, and I'm also part of the editorial team putting together the university's 2019 collection of new writing. 

Friday12th April was the end of term. I spent the first day of my Easter break recovering! A lie-in until six am, then dog-walking, gardening, and eating. That's my idea of the perfect holiday. Today I'm blogging, then next Sunday I'll be taking part  in the village's Easter Service.  

We're not going away at all for the holiday, but compared to many of the women I wrote about in my most recent book, Struggle and Suffrage In Bristol I don't have anything to complain about.

Find out more at http://bit.ly/PSBristol

In August 1886, social campaigner Mary Clifford wrote of a workhouse treat she organized to the seaside.* A poor one-eyed girl who had been found a position as servant in a lodging house fifteen years earlier was allowed to accompany her old friends on the trip. The annual workhouse treat to the seaside was the sole outing she had all year. As well as putting her helpless mistress to bed each night, she was looking after another old lady of ninety-two and waiting on other lodgers in the house. This poor servant made the most of every minute of her day at the seaside. She gathered a long black tail of seaweed, filled her pocket-handkerchief with pebbles as a souvenir to take back for her mistress, and spent her holiday money on a bunch of country flowers. 

It makes you realise how lucky we are these days, doesn’t it? 

As well as non-fiction, Christina Hollis writes contemporary fiction starring complex men and independent women. She has written more than twenty novels, sold nearly three million books, and her work has been translated into twenty different languages. When she isn’t writing, Christina is cooking, walking her dog, or gardening.

You can catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

*Williams, Gwen Mary, Mary Clifford Bristol, 1921 Arrowsmith books.