We humans may have been wilting in the heatwave, but as far as I can see, the butterflies are thriving this summer. David and I have been blessed to witness 2 butterfly 'blooms'.

In an ancient fisherman’s cottage, now a museum, in the remote village of Clovelly, North Devon, amidst the fishing nets and tackle, my eyes lit upon a framed poem, Fisherman’s Psalm 23. A little twee, but it went straight to my heart, as I was painfully aware of a friend back at home experiencing her last days or hours on this earth.  

Here’s the next instalment in ‘Questioning God’ - an exploration of questions in Scripture. It follows directly from last month’s blog, ‘Where are you?’

Prepping this month's ‘Thought for the Day’ blog, I came across Genesis 4: 7, which all commentators agree is difficult to translate and interpret. In my blog, I studiously avoided it!

But it reminded me of a beautifully illustrated coffee-table book gifted to me several years ago – ‘Lost in Translation,’

Here’s the second devotion in my work-in-progress that explores questions posed by or to God in Scripture. Satan asks the first question in the Bible, ‘Did God really say?…’which we looked at in February. God has the second question – ‘Where Are You?’

Here’s a light-hearted poem I composed for an exercise in our writing group. The brief was to write a piece about spring in any genre, trying to use strong nouns and verbs instead of adjectives. It’s a kind of riddle…

Last month, I promised to share with you some early drafts of my works in progress, two companion books, a memoir and a devotional, both called ‘Questioning God.’

Here’s the introduction to the memoir.

2026 marks the 500th anniversary of a work that changed the English language forever, and had a profound impact on subsequent writers, including Shakespeare.

I've wanted to visit Bateman's ever since I heard the story of its purchase on my Rudyard Kipling audio CD, sublimely read by Ralph Fiennes. The 1634 stone house, nestled in its wooded Sussex valley, offered Kipling the retreat he sought from the hurly burly of life as a celebrity author.

I’m currently working on of a pair of companion books: a short memoir and a devotional, both entitled Questioning God. I have two aims – firstly to help believers explore how their faith can grow through facing doubt and pursuing uncomfortable questions. Secondly, to give non-believers greater insight into the experience of faith

Our first glimpse behind the curtain of movie magic at the Warner Brothers’ Studio Tour was a decade ago. Meandering from the Gryffindor common room to Hagrid's hut and from Dumbledore's office to the Ministry of Magic, I was bowled over by the craftsmanship of the sets, costumes, models and props.

For Zechariah, seeing is not believing.

In a contest for the most enigmatic characters of the New Testament, my money would be on the Wise Men of the Christmas story, whom we commemorate today, January 6th.

Etymonline, the trusty site for all things wordnerdy, tells me that ‘epiphany’ entered English in the early 14th century,

Tracy Chevalier is my favourite historical novelist, and of all her books, my favourite is The Last Runaway, which tells the story of a young Quaker woman who emigrates to America and becomes involved with the Underground Railroad. This complex network of people and infrastructure helped hundreds of thousands of runaway slaves to escape their servitude.

I always get jittery at this time of year. Suddenly there's a lot more to do and no more hours in the day or fuel in the tank.

Every September, my inner child relishes collecting conkers

We hear a lot in the media about mansplaining but in our household, I confess I’m just as likely to be guilty as David

In August, I managed to grab a writing retreat in Whitstable to advance my current work-in-progress

The abrupt change from summery to autumnal weather in late August prompted me to research the name of the season. This revealed several surprises.