Category: House for all Seasons

WIN Mum a book!

With Mother’s Day approaching there’s two things I will be doing.

One is remembering my mum. (If you read the earlier post titled: Me, Maeve Binchy, Monica McInerney and my mum, you’ll know I lost her two weeks before the launch of House for all Seasons.)

That brings me to the second ‘to do’.

Because it’s our mums (or substitute mums, such as dads, aunts, older sisters, etc) who provide us with wonderful memories and who make a house a home, I reckon I have the perfect Mother’s Day giveaway…

Monica McInerney’s ~ The House of Memories

Yep! The lovely Monica McInerney has offered a copy — signed, sealed and sent directly to one lucky person, or to your mum for Mother’s Day. Imagine that! (See below for details.)

 

And while we’re talking about houses and memories, I thought I’d share something about the Dandelion House — the century-old property that features in my novel …

House for all Seasons

The idea of having an interesting old house in my story came from a childhood memory. Down the road from where we lived when I was about six or seven was a ramshackle old place the local kids referred to as The Haunted House (or spooky house). Although very different in appearance to the Dandelion house in my story, it was the kind of place kids would throw stones at, then later tell scary slumber party stories about the weird, old recluse who had chased them away with a broom.

I’ve tried and tried to get a photo of the old place as I remember it — a ramshackle two-story concrete structure, overgrown with vines and shrubs and built into the side of giant rock with a cave. After a call out on Facebook I managed to get this picture of the place mid-demolition. (Thx Liz and Gemma Madden.)

Still on the subject of houses and memories…

Another treat, if you haven’t seen it already, is Monica’s real-life House of Memories which featured in her launch last year. Go to Monica’s website to view the amazing time lapse version. It’s great.

But before you go, ENTER THE DRAW by leaving a comment to go into the draw to win the book and if you’d like to, you can follow my news on Facebook or subscribe using the button on the right.

This Mothers Day is going to be tough, so if you can, leave a comment telling us what it is you used to do as a child that would drive your mother crazy, or leave her laughing and shaking her head.

Good luck. Entries close on 30 April 2013 with the winner announced here and contacted via email. And thank you to the very generous Monica Mc.

I’m late with this announcement as I could not decided. So I had my Dad and my sister help me put the comments through the laugh-o-metre.

AND THE ENTRY THAT PUT THE BIGGEST SMILE ON MY DAD’S DIAL WAS….. Gloria Bale’s alien Man from Volton! Congrats Gloria.