Love, Life and Goodbye 2013...

I asked a male friend of mine ‘What is the definition of a wife’ and in four words he told me:

Love

Protect

Respect

Adore

Many years of being together and he still thinks of his wife in those terms.

It got me to thinking about love and how we depict what that word means “love” we each have a different perspective.

My grandparents were married sixty-two years when my grandma passed away. My happiest memory of them was watching their hands clasped together as they walked down the street at the ages of seventy plus. I always said if I could find a man like my granddad I’d be happy but they don’t make men like him anymore, he was a once in a lifetime mold…

 He adored my grandma; you could see it in his eyes every time he looked at her, touched her, the way his eyes twinkled when she did something silly and the way his face lit up when she came into the room. They passed away many years ago, but that kind of love is still fresh in my mind when I think of them.

My job is spent trying to bring that love alive on paper, I hope that I do, as an author I feel it is my responsibility to give woman everywhere a happy ever after…we’re all not as lucky as my grandparents were to have a love that lasted a lifetime.

The old year is about to be gone and a new one upon us. Twelve months seems such a long time, but it’s like the blink of an eye. So much happens, no one can escape we’re all susceptible to the sad things that happen.

When you feel like the world is about to fall on you…give it the finger! Try and remember all the right that is about you and there is always someone out there worse off than you. Those words have got me through some tough times this year.

I prefer to notice the way my children make me smile, the way my mom makes me laugh when she does silly things. I think about my friends and how they pull me through with their kindness.

When you think that you just can’t possibly carry on anymore but find the strength to take that extra step. Yep, 2013 has been a bitch, but it has taught me to stand up for myself, has brought my family close, and those that have had to deal with illness made them stronger and more thankful for what they have.

Humans are amazing; we’re resilient, we know how to survive because we have to…my friends know who they are, they are not the norm they are the exception!

No matter what life brought to you make it the best.

Richness in life.
Prolonged health.
A blessing of wealth.

Love generously.

A very Happy New Year to everyone
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Take some time to visit my website and be tempted by The Fitzgerald Brothers...cozy reading for the holidays...Romance, adventure and happy endings...*sigh*

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21st Birthday Party

21^st Birthday Party

On 7^th December 2013 my son was 21 and I as I reflect after the weekend of celebrations I wonder where all those years went. He was born at 3.12 am on a Monday and weighed a hefty ten pounds and four weeks overdue I was relieved to not have that weight inside me.

The trials and tribulations have been many but I’m glad to say that the end product was worth it. My son, now a young man has made me proud on more than one occasion and the roller coaster journey was ...lets just say it was interesting!

Chris is very lucky that he has very good friends, Ben his friend of seventeen years and James his friend since high school bought him a ticket for a few days away in Amsterdam, I'm not sure that I want to know what they'll get up to but what a fantastic present. Emma Jane did a fantastic job of all the organizing, and the cake was made in the shape of a bus to match Chris's bus that he drives everyday...

So I thought I might share with you all some of the photographs that were taken.

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Coastal Romance Blog Hop

An Island Christmas

Christmas is here once again and on the Island of Anglesey we’re expecting a white one. The waters surrounding our little island will be cold and the golden sands white with flurries of snow. It will be hard to imagine that the sun ever shone on the blue waters.

How traditional are you at Christmas? I love traditions, for instance my children were always aloud to open one present before they went to bed on Christmas Eve and guess what at the ages of 24 and 21 they still like to do that. My daughter still likes to leave out a mince pie and glass of milk for Santa and off course a carrot for Rudolph, silly but great fun.

I will be making my many mince pies for us to have hot with fresh cream and slicing many pieces of the traditional fruit cake had at this time of year here on my island. It takes a few months for this cake to be ready, many soakings of Cointreau, and then covered with marzipan and royal icing.

Christmas morning my son since the age of about 4 has always made the pigs in blankets, that’s his one and only job and after so many years’ experience he does a grand job. Turkey, ham and pork will be cooked for the meat eaters and for me (a vegetarian) there will be a quorn roast.

It’s a lovely time of the year, one of my favourites. The day will finish with us along with my mum going to visit my sister and her children who are still young enough to enjoy Santa Claus.

My I take this opportunity to wish you all… A very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

The pictures below are of Anglesey in winter!

The sand at the beach completely covered in snow.

Menai Bridge one of the two bridges that takes us from the island to the maunland

My son and daughter outside our house.

My daughter on the road that had us snowed in for three days.

Our Christmas Cake

Mince Pies

Visit me on my website for all my news and up and coming releases!

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Hobbies

                                                            Hobbies

Writing is my job and I love it but sometimes I need to walk away from my office and take time to do other things. That can be difficult because once I get into the midst of a new book and I’m totally involved I forget that other things in life happen outside of these four walls.

One of my hobbies is skincare. I used to own an organic skin care shop many years ago and I loved it but what really interests me is what goes into what we put on our skin which has me making all kinds of concoctions. Like most woman I am keen to stem of the signs of ageing and have done a lot of research into some of the ingredients that goes into this multi-million pound market.

As each year passes I see a new wrinkle, and I think that by the time I reach my seventies my face will resemble the map of Britain but each of those lines tells a story, a part of my life that has etched itself into my skin. At the age of fifty one  I am extremely consistent in my skin care routine and the products I use.

I make my own body oils, face cream, face oils and hand cream. I love to experiment with different ingredients.

Facial oil

Blend your own oils for great smooth skin and at a quarter of the price. Make 10mls at a time, I use a roller bottle of this size. All cold pressed and organic oils where possible. Use this oil on your skin at night then using your normal face cream over the top will push the oils further down the skin layers helping to soften those lines and keep them hydrated.

Avocado oil 20 drops, Prickly pear seed oil 10 drops , borage 10 drops, argon 10 drops, pomegranate 10 drops, cranberry 8 drops, blackcurrant 8 drops, carrot 8 drops( natural spf) rose-hip 8 drops, neroli (pure) 6 drops. Use on your skin at night, face, neck, décolleté, hands, nails and ends of dry hair. Your skin will be super soft and you will notice a difference within six weeks of using this. You can change the amounts you use to suit your own skin, make it specific for your type of skin.

                                  

                                 

Come and visit my website for all the gossip and information on my books I would be so happy to have you there!

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Speculative Romance Author Regina Paul: Guest Blog: Twenty Sentences About Author Dilys J....

Join me on Regina Paul's blog and find out twenty little

 snippets about me and my life!


          Speculative Romance Author Regina Paul: Guest Blog: Twenty Sentences About Author Dilys J....:    1. I was born in Middlesex London. 2. At the age of two months my parents moved to Scotland where we lived for ten years. ...

Christmas Time!

Music is a part of my life like eating is to surviving. I love jazz/blues, Etta James, John Coltrane, and Mel Tormé. The list is endless with my latest discovery being Gregory porter. How many people can name a song that was significant to a part of their life’s that mattered…?

I was listening to my preferred  radio station this afternoon, Jazz FM and James Tormé  was presenting it and I hadn't realized that his father had written Chestnuts roasting by an Open Fire which is one of my most favorite Christmas songs which was a hit for the gorgeous Nat King Cole another one of my all-time preferred singers.

Which now has me thinking about Christmas and how very close it is…where has October gone? It’s passed me by in a blur and it seems like the older I get the quicker the days, months pass me by.

Do you remember when you were a kid and the days seemed to last a lifetime? Oh my I wish that was the case now.

Christmas is one of my much-loved time  of the year, off course now my children are grown up it takes away a little of the sparkle but I’m fortunate that I have nieces and nephews that keep the excitement alive. Although, my twenty four year old daughter will revert to her childhood. And with the same love of the holiday season as me, if you stand still long enough she’ll decorate you. The poor dogs even get wrapped in tinsel much too there disgust!!

My son reaches the ripe old age of 21 in four weeks and I find myself going down memory lane as those years are at the forefront of my mind. I shake my head and think wow; I can’t believe that he has reached an age where he has a girlfriend, a job and a car…Life really does pass by at a supersonic speed and I wouldn't have missed one second of it. There have been tough times and good times but each part has been lived and made them what they are today, I’m so proud of them that I couldn't possibly put it into words.

So at this time of year we would be saving all out toilet/kitchen toll holders and I would be buying cotton wool, glitter and coloring pens ready to make Christmas cards, and decorations for the house…it was such a great time of year for family time and Christmas music playing solidly for four weeks.

Christmas time is a wonder and excitement reflected in the decorations that erupt in homes. Making decorations with your children is a great way to be involved in a time of their life’s that will always be remembered. Mine still remember those days round the table making Santa Clauses.

All you need is-

Empty toilet roll holders

Red crepe paper,

Cotton wool,

Glue

Glitter

Black velvet

Pipe cleaners

Hey presto home made Santa!

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Welsh Cakes...delicious!

I love to bake, but what with one thing and another I found I had no time to get my culinary skills back in action. However, somehow I’ve managed to get back into the baking habit and I’m loving it. There’s nothing nicer than using basic ingredients to concoct a recipe that has everyone drooling. No preservatives, no E numbers just honest to goodness food.

So what’s cooking in the oven I here you say?

Well today recipe is Welsh Cakes.

Welsh cakes originate from Wales and were originally made by the lady of the household as a treat to serve for afternoon tea, or to put into their children’s lunch boxes. These cakes are a cross between a cookie and a scone and a little bit like a pancake. They also became favored by coal miners as they were a perfect size to slip into their pockets and take with them deep into the mines for them to snack on throughout the very long hours they spent deep in the mines.

Try them; they are delicious eaten hot or cold, plain or with butter and jam on.

Welsh Cakes

Ingredients

• 225g/8oz self-raising flour, sieved
• 110g/4oz (preferably Welsh) salted butter
• 1 egg
• handful of sultanas
• milk, if needed
• 85g/3oz caster sugar
• extra butter, for greasing

Preparation method

1. Rub the fat into the sieved flour to make breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, dried fruit and then the egg. Mix to combine, and then form a ball of dough, using a splash of milk if needed.
2. Roll out the pastry until it is a ¼in thick and cut into rounds with a 3-4in  cutter.
3. You now need a bake stone or a heavy iron griddle. Rub it with butter and wipe the excess away. Put it on to a direct heat and wait until it heats up, place the Welsh cakes on the griddle, turning once. They need about 2-3 minutes each side. Each side needs to be caramel brown before turning .
4. Remove from the pan and dust with caster sugar while still warm. Some people leave out the dried fruit, and split them when cool and sandwich them together with jam. But I love them with fruit in, they are just delicious on a cold afternoon with a nice hot cup of coffee.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
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America 2013 the final few days of my time away!

I never get tired of my yearly trips to America. First and foremost I get to visit and stay with my friend and her family and that in itself would be enough to keep me there. But have I told you about their porch where I sit and write…No?

I love it, it’s hard to imagine doing that in the midst of October when the temperatures have dropped here in the U.K and it is but a recollection. What a lovely memory to carry me through the dreaded winter. I sit there on my chair watching the banana tree sway gently in the breeze and my mind becomes like an idea book where I have so much going on in my head I can barely get it all down on paper quick enough.

It doesn't matter if it’s sun shine or cloudy, rain or shine, windy or calm I can sit out there and listen to the humming bird’s wiz past my ear and enjoy the play between them as they slurp their way through the syrup that I recently filled.  What beautiful creatures they are, so perfectly formed and so tiny that you have to be quick with the eye to watch them.

I wonder how on earth three weeks have gone so quickly, this last time I did so much. My visit to ocracoke Island was spectacular even the ferry crossing and I’m not a good sailor. My trip to Wilmington to stay with my friend’s oldest son who is in university there and visit quaint little shops and the very famous UNCW a great place to walk around. Then there was my week with them at the beach house where I was lucky enough to see dolphins swimming and the most spectacular sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean.

When I sit on the airplane to come home, I miss it before I even take off; miss my friend and our shopping trips, and just sitting on the porch chatting with our cups of coffee in 100 degree’s heat ! Yes I kid you not, we drank it hot! We’re both coffee addict.                                                                                                So my 2013 trip to America is but a memory but all I can say is roll on 2014 for my next trip!               Here are some of my favorite photo's from this trip

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