A sphinx is a creature with a woman’s head and lion’s body. Sometimes it has wings too. Sphinx-like means an enigmatic or inscrutable person.
When people refer to The Sphinx, they generally mean this one at Giza.
Author: patsy
Wednesday word of the week –
Altruism is unselfishness, concern for other people or regard for others. An altruist is a person who behaves altruistically.
Btw, running this website isn’t simply an altruistic action on my part. You’re supposed to be suckered into buying my books!
Listen Up!
That’s quite a bossy post title, but I have a good excuse – it’s also the title of my story in the current The People’s Friend Special. It’s about someone who gets nagged to eat his vegetables. Eating vegetables is good for you, so whilst I’m being bossy, I’ll tell you to make sure you eat at least a few. And drink some water. It’s for your own good!
Wednesday word of the week – Stray
Stray can mean to wander from the right place (e.g. don’t stray off the path) or to deviate morally (she promised to be faithful, but strayed with at least three of his golfing buddies, a caddy, the chaps in the pro shop and the club barmaid). In that case she could be described as straying or having gone astray (and no doubt called worse things by her husband!).
It can also be a person or thing which has strayed or become lost (I think this dog was a a stray). Stray is also some weird sciency thing which interferes with radio reception, or it can be something isolated or unusual (e.g. most bluebells are blue, but sometimes you see a stray white one).
Murder in a hospital!
The former Royal Navy Hospital Haslar, just down the road from me, is being converted into rather nice (and expensive) apartments. On Saturday they had an open day, so I went for a nose round. Sarah from The Bookshop at Lee-on-the-Solent told me there was a library which served cake, so obviously I had to investigate that!
The library is lovely – very comfortable and relaxed. Did I mention the cake? They have an interesting selection of books, many by local authors and including my Little Mallow cosy mystery series. Sarah tells me she’ll also be running a book club there. I believe these facilities are available to anyone, not just those people living in the new apartments.
Wednesday word of the week – Browse
Browse can mean either to read in a rather unmethodical manner or to look through items for sale or a collection in a similar fashion. Imagine you’re in a bookshop which has a massive sale on and you keep flitting between titles by your favourite authors and pretty, shiny notebooks.
Another meaning of the word browse is vegetation eaten by animals and their method of consuming it. A browser is someone who browses.
So, you could browse the library for a book on browsers browsing on browse, to browse through. By now you maybe raising your eyebrows!
Wednesday word of the week – Heath
A heath is an area of flattish, uncultivated land with low shrubs. Heath can also be used to describe those shrubs and is generally used for Erica or Calluna (types of heather).
I’m back!
The website has been down for a while – due to me not understanding how technology works and losing the domain. That means the associated email was also lost. Both are (hopefully) up and running properly now with a new domain. I’m gradually updating all the links everywhere. Please let me know if you spot anything which doesn’t look right.
Here are some photos from our most recent campervan adventure – can you guess the country we visited?
Wednesday word of the week – Suilline
Suilline simply means of the pig family. You know, like feline for cats, caprine for goats, equine for horses and supine for blocked writers.
Uphill Struggle
I’m happy to have a short story in the current People’s Friend Special. This one was inspired by my writing friend Sheila who, just like my lead character, survived cancer and an amputation.