It was an ordinary sunny day in Spain, the 28th of April. A Monday, so it was John’s day off. We were working on our kitchen extension, when suddenly the lights went out. As John was working on the new electrics in the extension, I asked him if we should check the fuse box. We did, no problem. Then he looked at his mobile phone and saw a WhatsApp message that had been sent before, which said that there was a major power outage all over Spain, parts of Portugal, and the south of France.

John and I were sat relaxing one day, looking at our mobiles and I commented that, I thought it was easier for authors who write in English if they live in England or the US, Canada etc. My reasoning was based on the fact that, for instance, a famous author would organise a nationwide tour, with events in all the major cities. A less well-known author could organise events in all the towns nearby. However, living here in Spain it is not so easy, as the towns with English speaking inhabitants can be a bit sparser. His reply was, well organise an event yourself, perhaps one in Mojácar and one in Arboleas. Each of these towns have a high ex-pat population.

There are always disruptions that happen in our lives, life never runs completely smoothly, does it? However, the important thing is how we deal with these disruptions.

So, finally I had translated into Spanish and published the first two books of my murder mystery series, what next? … a presentation.

Whenever I told anyone Spanish that I was a writer, the first thing they asked me was whether my books were available in Spanish. Every time I had to sadly shake my head and say that no, at the moment they were only available in English but that I hoped, sometime in the future, that they would be translated.

These last six months have been quite eventful. In September, I finally published book two 'O What a Tangled Web! '. Then it was onwards, or perhaps backwards depending how you look at it, getting the first two books translated into Spanish. The process was quite arduous and complicated, but well worth the effort, I hope.

January started, for us, with cava and ended with a woohoo!

A while ago, my husband John said that he had been thinking of extending our kitchen. One of the reasons for this is he has bought me so many beautiful kitchen aids such as a mixer, a bread machine, a smart oven/microwave and an air fryer that now, we don´t have any work surface left!

Last year, as we had not had a summer holiday due to my hip pain, we had our first holiday away for Christmas. On that occasion we took our car, by ferry to Majorca. This year we decided to go to one of the cities we have been wanting to visit, but not wishing to do so in the heat of the summer, Sevilla!

So, what does Christmas mean to you?

In my end of October blog, I told you about the Christmas Pudding recipe that I had tried to get from my grandmother. Well, this is my recipe, taken from many different cooks and chefs who have shared their knowledge online, with my own additions.

Last year we went away for Christmas for the first time, and as we quite enjoy travelling, we thought we would do so again this year.