Fiona Robbins

The Laois Leaves Festival just keeps going from strength to strength. Tonight Catherine Ryan Howard, Catherine Kirwan and Andrea Carter talked about the wickedly wonderful world of crime fiction at Portlaoise library.
Three titans of the genre held us riveted.

And so to winter. Ah let the darkness be kind. May it remind us to rest, take our ease.
This is the season to draw in to the warmth. To let the night settle softly upon us. To feel the magic of starlight, field mists and first frosts.
Yes. Let the darkness be kind.

The British Library celebrated the book After Oscar, A Legacy of Scandal by Wilde's grandson, Merlin Holland.
Rupert Everett, actor and film maker spoke with Merlin and it was an interesting evening. I am barely familiar with Wilde's work and this was such an insightful event.

Warned her, if the wind changes, her ears will be stuck like that!!

Autumn brings its own magic.

Welcome October with your crunchy leaves and marvellous colour palate .

Happy Hobbit Day everyone! Remember the second breakfast and if a wizard stops by to invite you to go on an adventure, accept!

Somewhere inside all of us is the power to change the world. Roald Dahl, from Matilda.
Dahl was born 13th September 1916.

Sloe time

Cornwall, a beauty that is unforgettable.

Got a bad case of the Cornish blues!

Boher church, in the Irish Midlands, home to an example of some of the finest medieval metalwork in the world in St. Manchan's shrine and to stained glass windows commissioned from Harry Clarke.

The British Library hosted a glittering panel with Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club coming to Netflix as a film.
Director Chris Columbus joined Osman, Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Sir Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie. For fans of the books or British cinema, this was gold!

For a Heartbeat fan, what could be better than an Aidensfield cake!!

Garden party with the Banagher Bronte Group launching Let Me In, the Brontes in Bricks and Mortar by Ann Dinsdale and Sharon Wright. Haworth came to Offaly and we could almost catch the fragrance of heather and hear Jane Eyre cry "it is my spirit that addresses your spirit".

There is something about Oxford. Everywhere you go, there is the exceptional. Entrance to Blackwell's bookshop for example. You just know you are being welcomed into somewhere special

Oxford a book lover's must, MUST visit!

When the Co. Laois countryside is silent and summery and stunning

The inaugural Mullingar Literary Festival has been marvellous. The interview with Lorraine Murphy by Chele Crawley was a highlight for me, celebrating the craft of writing and the joy of reading.

What a joy North Yorkshire is for Indie bookshop choices Pickering and York did not disappoint.

North Yorkshire in mid summer. It's a beauty you can only dream exists until you go there

Happy birthday to Paddington! Like all of the best people, Paddington celebrates his birthday twice a year, on June 25th and December 25th.
I am sure there will be a marmalade sandwich or two to mark the occasion.

Still waters at Lilliput

Jaipur Literary Festival returned to the British Library last weekend and thanks to online links, talks were available to anyone not able to attend in person. My highlights included Jane Ohlmeyer and Diana Darke but the entire weekend was a celebration of culture and writing.

When someone in the family has a roundy birthday only a bespoke, designer cake will do! Husband obliged with the birthday and his sister delivered big on the cake.

It's Pride month. Let love be love. And let us be glad of it, no let us rejoice in it. A few poignant, beautiful lines in this poem.

Sinners by Maria Luna
I'm risking so much
by touching
you.
But when our
lips meet
I don't fear
death anymore.
Hell with you would be my heaven.

On 26th May, Dracula was published in 1897. It was in Whitby, on the Yorkshire coast that inspiration stirred for Bram Stoker. And it was in St. Mary's churchyard that Stoker found the tombstone of a man named Swales. In the novel a man by that name is the first victim in Whitby

An old doorway, rural Ireland. No handle, no bell or door knocker, no lock or letter box. Like a magic portal, it seems you must be invited before entry is possible.

Prague, steeped in history, radiant with beauty

We attended a summer wedding in a barn church, now very rare in Ireland. It used to be thatched and was a place for storing corn. In penal times, covert Masses would have been celebrated within. It lost its roof on 6th January 1839, the night of the Big Wind. But is still a place of worship.