katebarnwell

[katebarnwell]

Take a journey, experience an adventure but travel nowhere

Take a journey, experience an adventure but travel nowhere

With current threats to health due to a new virus sweeping the globe and the concern for climate change trending, many people are not taking the risk or finding the need to travel… but there has always been a mindful way to travel and that is, of course, through the right book. As much as we love to be destined for a new culture, warmer weather, sunnier climes, snowier conditions, iconic…

[katebarnwell]

Valentines Day Poetry

Valentines Day… a saint’s day now universally enjoyed and celebrated is just around the corner… and so, I am very happy to say, is my hardback limited edition, signed and numbered poetry book, Ever Truly Yours – ‘Reflections on love.’

It comes with a free CD of readings by Tobias Menzies, so send yourself off into a dream…

Always available online via http://www.katebarnwell.com

For two weeks,…

[katebarnwell]

Amazing Aretha

Back to the beginning…

Where Aretha found her voice, sung out her soul. She imbues energy, faith and passion.

Uplifting.

Taking people from their ordinary lives and transporting them somewhere higher and making them believe….

Featuring the great comedic spirit of reverend James Cleveland, in the presence of Aretha’s father and Jesse Jackson. Even spotted Mick Jagger waving his hands to the choir…

[katebarnwell]

Booking in

Today I read this in a magazine…

Read books… “escaping and losing yourself in a good book puts your brain into a trance-like state, similar to meditation.

Research suggests diving into a page-turner sharpens your mind, increases your emotional intelligence and lowers anxiety and stress levels.

Pick one up and explore the author’s imagination.”

Enough said.

A seasonal shift… An apple, a book, a…

[katebarnwell]

Holidays in Britain, holidays with books #holidays #beach #books #travel #Britain #foreign #August #weather #vacation #hot #Hastings

Holidays in Britain, holidays with books #holidays #beach #books #travel #Britain #foreign #August #weather #vacation #hot #Hastings

Phew! Summer has reached the long month of August and it continues to be hot and muggy in almost all of the U.K.

It’s still the holiday season, if a little exhausted by now.

Many people fly away to foreign climes and shores, but what about taking the time to uncover the beauty and interest of our British beach-towns... no foreign tongue, no tipping expected, no air-travel, no sharks. Mostly…

[katebarnwell]

A New Book in Store! #lBookshops #books #novels #writing #literature #fiction #Collioure #France #England #adventure #travel #planets #moon #solstice

A New Book in Store! #lBookshops #books #novels #writing #literature #fiction #Collioure #France #England #adventure #travel #planets #moon #solstice

I’m VERY happy to announce that my new novel

‘A Worldly Tale Told Of Mothy Chambers’

is NOW available to buy through my website http://www.katebarnwell.com (signed copies with bookmark at £7.99 plus p&p). Please take a look.

Synopsis:

‘I never fully understood where I fitted in or what to do with what I had.’

What alignment of planets brought about the meeting of two souls – Mothy Chambers, a…

[katebarnwell]

The Brassey Institute, a library lives on... #Brassey #library #Victorians #history #books #culture #Hastings #art

The Brassey Institute, a library lives on… #Brassey #library #Victorians #history #books #culture #Hastings #art

This fine, extensively and carefully restored Victorian building, The Brassey Institute (see photo) is the Hastings local library and has just newly re-opened. It stands in the Bohemian quarter of Hastings, in the so-called area, America Ground, 5 minutes from the award-winning new Hastings Pier, beside record and music stores – Hastings loves its music scene too. It was designed as a…

[katebarnwell]

Marching on #March #April #Aries #Shakespeare #astrology #proverb #Leo #clocks #light #Easter

Marching on #March #April #Aries #Shakespeare #astrology #proverb #Leo #clocks #light #Easter

‘In like a lion, out like a lamb!’ is the sweet little proverb often associated with March. We began the month with biting cold winds, hazardous black ice and blankets of snow; the fierce roar of winter raged on… and Spring was kept deep below the soil. The origin of the proverb is to do with astrology. Leo the lion is the rising sign, the sign in ascendency but by 21st March (to 20th April)…

[katebarnwell]

Winter’s last full moon #March #moon #equinox #winter #spring #books #snow #weather #2018

Winter’s last full moon #March #moon #equinox #winter #spring #books #snow #weather #2018

Today, the 2nd March, is the last full moon of Winter before the Spring (vernal) Equinox. This year, 2018, the Equinox falls on the 20th March, when winter officially ends and spring begins. This is the calendar of the Northern Hemisphere, those living in the Soithern Hemisphere will be entering winter and leaving spring behind. The full moon today goes by many wonderful names. Firstly a Worm…

[katebarnwell]

Chinese New Year: Year of the Dog #ChineseNewYear #Dog #festival #parade #London #Chinatown #zodiac #2018 #animals #books #Hastings

Chinese New Year: Year of the Dog #ChineseNewYear #Dog #festival #parade #London #Chinatown #zodiac #2018 #animals #books #Hastings

The Chinese New Year is different each year because it is determined by the Lunar calendar (falling between the 21st January and the 20th February). In 2018 it falls today, the 16th February. It is the year of the Dog (the Earth Dog, to be precise). The Chinese zodiac moves in a 12-year cycle (as opposed to a 12-month cycle) and the order of each animal is on account of a marvellous legend… Many,…

[katebarnwell]

Once, twice, three times a moon. #Nasa #bluemoon #supermoon #bloodmoon #moon #Earth #space #novel

Today, the 31st January 2018, the moon will be three spectacular things in one. The UK, however, will benefit from just one moon phenomenon, a blue moon, when two full moons appear in the same calendar month (a full moon appeared last on the 2nd January). The second moon trick is a super-moon, when the moon is unusually close to Earth, seeming bigger and brighter. The third bit of moon magic is a…

[katebarnwell]

End of the Year! #NewYear #AuldLandSyne #celebration #song #remembrance #poem #midnight #kindness

Wherever you wake up today and wherever you end your night, be it Sea, City or country dwelling… be safe and be thoughtful. It is customary, in English speaking countries, to end the year, at the strike of midnight to a delightful (if struggling) rendition of the Poem ‘Auld Lang Syne’ by Scotsman, Robert Burns, written in 1788 (with slight variations to the original) and sung to a traditional…

[katebarnwell]

Autumn is falling - Leaving London   #leaves #autumn #London #GreenPark #October

Autumn is falling – Leaving London   #leaves #autumn #London #GreenPark #October

Between the green stretches of Hyde Park and St James Park in the city of Westminster lies Green Park, 47 acres of public strolling grounds.   It is both a lovely green space in the heart of London, and the lungs of the city too, providing fresh country air – perfect for escaping Piccadilly madness. There are no lakes, no playgrounds, no buildings and no planted beds (so no king may gather…

[katebarnwell]

Um - brella - come rain or shine #rain #sun #tradition #London #history #umbrella

Um – brella – come rain or shine #rain #sun #tradition #London #history #umbrella

Let me share a quote with you that seems appropriate in the current ‘crazy’ weather climate, affecting a vast number of people across the globe. Here it is, direct from the Edinburgh Fringe comedy festival, a sometimes quite rainy area of land inhabited by Scots:  “I like to imagine the guy who invented the umbrella was going to call it ‘brella’ but he hesitated.”  Um, firstly I think it’s rather…

[katebarnwell]

The Last Bank Holiday of the Year, August 2017.  #holiday #Hastings #beach #festival #music #Boyzone #weekend

The Last Bank Holiday of the Year, August 2017.  #holiday #Hastings #beach #festival #music #Boyzone #weekend

What better way to spend the bank holiday weekend than down on a British beach, with summery British weather & a wild mix of British people all having a thoroughly good time. Everyone entertained by Hastings Old Town, spending their English pound and speaking in their English tongue, turning pink and trying new things. Watching and observing, or taking part and letting go. The weekend started…

[katebarnwell]

Pirates & Piracy #pirates #Hastings #records #drummers 

Piracy in Hastings Old Town has become a mid-July, summer celebration and each year, along buccaneer mile, a little variation keeps it ever-exciting and wildly entertaining. Pirates from all over the country, county, cities and o’er the seas come to revel and rollick. This year includes, ‘The Tigers’ free-fall parachuting, and landing on the end of Hastings pier; fierce and feisty drummers –…

[katebarnwell]

Sweet-talking #sweets #spangles #retro #adverts #British #taste #tradition #RobertOpie #America

Sweet-talking #sweets #spangles #retro #adverts #British #taste #tradition #RobertOpie #America

This photo shows the Magazine Advertisement for ‘Spangles’ – part of ‘The Robert Opie Occasion Series Collection of British Nostalgia and Advertising Memorabilia’ (bit of a mouthful). It celebrates the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the final lifting of sweet rationing in 1953. Spangles were a brand of fruit-flavoured, translucent, boiled sweets of a rounded square shape with a circular…