Stepping Out.

Exercise the Body to Free the Mind.

Yesterday, I walked with my village walking group for the first time. The day was bright and sunny after all the rain we’ve had. The walk started at our village library and while I was there, I was pleased to find all four of my books still on the shelf. This meant I could tell the members of the walking group that if they were readers, my books were free to borrow if they didn’t want to purchase them online.

The libraries in England have changed the way they accept books from authors. I was able to personally take my books to the local libraries, but now I have to submit them with their ISBN (International Standard Book Number) numbers online.

The number is designed to help customers identify and order the exact book whether they are ordering from bookstores, libraries, distributors, online retailers, or wholesalers. It’s a unique identifier and helps to track purchases and sales, too. I’m hoping our village library will accept my other two published books and any future ones I write.

Old Sheep Cote Farm

Yesterday’s walk wasn’t very long, but we managed to do a circular one across the gravel pit before doubling back on ourselves. I had to remind myself that the group weren’t seasoned walkers like Ana and I but had limitations. Ana and I enjoy exploring new paths and never do the same route twice. I always feel refreshed when I come back from a walk and ready to get back to writing.

We passed the old farm house called Sheep Cote. The word Cote is an Old English word (from the Germanic) meaning a shelter. It’s where the word Cottage comes from, too.

All I can find out about the history of Sheep Cote Farm is that the house was built late in the 16th or early in the 17th century and was constructed on an L-shaped plan, with the wings extending towards the South and East. It’s a beautiful building that stands on the corner of a quiet back lane, leading out of our village. The grounds are always kept nice. The path we took was reasonably dry, considering all the rain we had just lately. The colours of the leaves and berries in the hedgerow show that it’s going to be a hard winter when it finally arrives. It was amazing to see a dragonfly on the wing and a devil’s coachman running about on the hunt.

Devil’s Coachman: these amazing creatures are a species of beetle Red dragonfly

At the moment I’m busy working on my talk for the WI meeting on the 21st November. I’m a little bit nervous as I never want to let anyone down, but parts of my talk I have done before and it went down well. I’m trying to tighten it up as much as possible so I can keep within the time allotted to me. In Scotland, I talked for longer than I should’ve so I have reduced it, cutting out my advice on marketing and the use of social media sites.

Have a great weekend,

Chat again soon.