Mary Stewart...

On hearing the recent news of Mary Stewart's death, I was gripped by a nostalgic urge to re-read her books, but sadly, after several moves and donations of books at various times, she was no longer on my shelves. Thanks to the Book Depository that loss is being rectified. I think Airs Above the Ground was the first of her books that I read and I might start with that one again. I remember it inspired a favourite painting that I did when I was studying art in high school. Do you have a vivid Mary Stewart memory?

But the big draw card that took us from home...

We were also on our way south because our daughter Vicki was expecting her first baby. Vicki and her husband Matt had chosen not to know the sex of their baby before the birth and because almost everyone knows beforehand these days, the anticipation was especially exciting.

Jasper Elliot Tomkins was born on May 4th -- a beautiful Sunday afternoon, although his mother was too busy to notice. We were all able to visit the birthing suite on that first night, however, and what a thrill that was to see our tired, proud daughter and her beautiful baby boy -- while the new dad was overflowing with happiness and awe from the whole birthing process.

The pic below shows my two beautiful grandsons Tom and Jasper. You might guess the pic is very special for me...

After this, we also had a great holiday at Noosa, although I still had to proofread Moonlight Plains my next book from Penguin, which will be released at the end of August.

And I'm also working on proofreading pages for the next Mills & Boon -- A Very Special Holiday Gift, which has a November release date.

Oh, and we've also had five days babysitting our Townsville granddaughters, which has been lovely. The girls had a lot of fun yesterday, making paper cut out Russian ballerinas.

So what I have I been doing for the past month or so....?

We've been away from home for almost a month, travelling first to Townsville where the project that my husband has been working on for the past six years has finally been completed. Working with a Community Trust, he was part of the team that turned the Jezzine Barracks site on Kissing Point at the end of Townsville's Strand into a wonderful public open space with artwork representing the two relevant cultures -- the Traditional Owners and The army's Kennedy regiment.