My garden is well into spring. These are some of my photographs from over the past few weeks.
Picture caption: Plum blossomPicture caption: cactus plant in the late afternoon sunshine. It’s in bloom.Picture caption: Late afternoon sun shining through new leaves on the fig treePicture caption: spring flowersPicture caption: Butterfly on spring flowersPicture caption: A spray of pink blossomPicture caption: Eleanor the hadeda sitting on a tree stump
Eleanor and Edward are building a nest in my tree. Here they are greeting all their friends. I call this video, ‘Voice of Africa’.
Today, I am delighted to introduce you to the artwork of Freya Pickard. Many readers will know Freya as a poet and the host of the bi-annual haiku challenges on https://purehaiku.wordpress.com/ and for her fantasy series, The Kaerling, which you can read more about here: https://nirunen.wordpress.com/.
Artwork of Freya Pickard
Tell us a bit about your art journey? Did you do art at school? Study art? or is it something you started as an adult?
I am a self-taught artist with no formal training. I always enjoyed painting and sketching as a child and in my teenage years. I was never very good at it, but I found it soothing to do and it was a way of escaping from school stuff when I wasn’t allowed to read. I drew a lot of dragons and unicorns and wizards, inspired by the fantasy books I read at the time: The Lord of the Rings, The Dragonlance Chronicles and Dragons of Pern.
It wasn’t until I was enduring chemotherapy, after having had major operations to remove cancer in my bowel, that I took up drawing again. The chemo was every 2 weeks, and, on top of my physical weakness from the operations, I couldn’t do much at all. When I couldn’t concentrate on reading, I started drawing images with crayons!
In 2016, Elisa Ang invited me to take part in one of her online painting workshops. I tried everything she suggested throughout the course and from then on I painted, nearly every day, until I started work as a Bed & Breakfast owner. After that, I could only paint/draw in the winter months, when we were closed. I started making small pencil sketches of the faces of the characters in The Kaerling series.
From there, I moved on to watercolour and pastel, often mixing the two mediums. Once the Bed & Breakfast was sold, we moved into a house full of light and suddenly my paintings became large and filled the pages of my sketch book. In the last 4 years I’ve tried out many different styles, just by experimentation. I still can’t draw exactly what I see before me, but I can use what I see around me as templates for what I want to portray.
What is your favourite medium to work in or do you work in multiple mediums?
Up until now I have only worked in watercolour and pastels. Oh, and pencil too. I have tried charcoal but didn’t get on with it. I would love to try acrylics, but my budget doesn’t yet allow me to move in that direction. Eventually, (budget permitting) I would love to work in oil on canvas…
I love watercolour because it is so fluid and the way it blends with itself and water is quite magical!
I also enjoy pastels, both pencils and sticks. I use sticks to fill in colour and create shading and then use the pencils for fine work.
When I’m creating portraits, I tend to use a watercolour wash (often creating my own blends) and, once it’s dry, I use a black pastel pencil to give definition to the face.
If I’m creating a landscape, I usually use colour washes to give each section of the picture a faint, base colour. Then I use deeper colours to give the impression of distance and only use pastel sticks or pencils right at the end to finish the painting off.
Who is your favourite artist and why?
There are a number of artists who I admire greatly. I can’t decide on my favourite, but they include:
Elisa Ang, for her evocative imagery which has a pure quality to it that always lifts my heart.
Janet Weight Reed – I discovered this amazing artist whilst struggling with the last 3 months of chemotherapy. At a time when I felt and looked grey and dreary, Janet’s brightly coloured paintings burst into my consciousness and made me feel alive!
Kerfe Roig is a poet, photographer and artist who creates incredible collages as well as painting amazing images. You can discover Kerfe’s poetry and art here: https://kblog.blog/2025/08/30/drowning/
Jennifer S Lange – I discovered this artist recently who creates fantastical artworks of imaginary realms.
John Waterhouse – I discovered I loved his paintings when I was at college, mainly because his pre-Raphaelite images contain characters from myth and legend which really struck a chord with me.
What is your favourite artwork and what do you like about it?
I have 2 favourite artworks by Elisa Ang who collaborated with me in 2024 and created two incredible paintings to showcase two completely different scenes in The Kaerling series.
The first was of a desert that had red-pink sand. I love the way she captured the harshness of the dunes with the swirling dust devil watched by the Chandarin warriors mounted on bactrians.
The second was of Nenyar’s Valley; a scene of tranquility and light. She portrayed the mountains and the river with the abundant vegetation absolutely perfectly.
What is your favourite of your own artworks. Share a few of your artworks with us and any related stories and/or poems.
Oh dear, that’s a hard one to answer! Right now, my favourite artwork is the one of the Ghost Maker. I had a very clear idea of how I wanted her to look and studied a lot of photos and drawings of robed, hooded figures wearing silken material. I didn’t want to show her face as I think the darkness of a deep hood is more threatening than seeing specific features.
When I was ready to sketch, I simply drew the outline of the hood and then worked out how the material would ripple around her. I only drew a few lines. So, when I came to paint it, I used a dark purple for the shaded bits and simply added more white to create the light parts.
I am really pleased with the way I captured the swirling silk robes whilst keeping the threatening appearance of this very evil female!
The Ghost Maker has already appeared a few times in The Kaerling series and is present again in Earthson which will be released in January 2026.
Pushcart Prize nominee (2022), Freya Pickard, is the author of both Vampirical Verse and The Kaerling series. Vampirical Verse is her expression of life after cancer and chemotherapy using vampires and other dark monsters to speak her dark thoughts. The Kaerling is an epic fantasy set in the strange, uncompromising world of Nirunen. Her aim in life is to enchant, entertain and engage with readers through her writing. She finds her inspiration in the ocean, the moors, beautifully written books and vinyl music (particularly heavy metal and rock). She enjoys Tai Chi, Hatha Yoga, Bhangra and Yogalates and in her spare time creates water colours and pastel drawings of the worlds in her head.
Picture caption: Banner for the Sisters on Tour blog tour
We are deeply grateful to you, Robbie, for so graciously offering to host us on your wonderful blog site today!
When we decided to launch our new books together on the same day, Linda and I wanted to make it something special. It feels like we are making publishing history, and perhaps we are.
For this blog tour, we’ve chosen questions and answers designed to give the readers a deeper look into who we are, our background, and how we ended up where we are today, launching books together.
Question: What was your favorite childhood book and why?
Jan: That’s an easy question to answer. In elementary school, I checked the Grimm’s Book of Fairy Tales out of the library so many times they had to create a new card for it. That’s a true story. I loved getting lost in the world of ‘what if’ and fantasy as it was so vastly different from my reality. As a child, I lived in my head, often not paying attention to what was going on around me, so that book fed the part of me that longed for something magical. Another book I remember reading multiple times when I was a bit older was The Grapes of Wrath. I related to it so much because our parents lived through that difficult time in history, so there was a personal connection. I thought of a funny story about our mom reading the same books that we did. I checked a book out of the library about the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang and read it. It was rather graphic. Then my Mom picked it up to see what I was reading and freaked out. I think I might have gotten into a bit of trouble over that one.
Linda: Oh my gosh, there were so many, and like Jan, fairy tales were top in the beginning. The earliest memory I have is of someone reading to me, and I saw the magic of the words. I think that book was Cinderella. From the time I learned to read, books were an obsession. Jan and I read (and then Mom) every one of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys. Dr. Seuss was a favorite, and so were all the Little House on the Prairie stories. In sixth grade, we read The Last of the Mohicans in class, and I still remember that story. Later it was The Count of Monte Cristo, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and all of the classics.
Question: What do you consider the most valuable magazines or blog sites for writers to subscribe to?
Jan: I am a member of the Story Empire blog, and it is my number one go-to for all things regarding writing, publishing and marketing. The expertise, writing tips, and industry knowledge from seasoned writers are top-notch. I also follow Writer’s Digest, Writers in the Storm and Writers Helping Writers. We all have so much we can learn from each other, and these blogs are a great way to expand our knowledge. I highly recommend each.
Linda: Writers Helping Writers is really the only one I’m faithful to, but it’s so good for any writer at any skill level.
Question: What are common traps for aspiring writers?
Jan: I can answer this question from experience. I think one of the most common traps for new writers is getting in a hurry to publish without taking the time to make sure their work is actually ready. Editing is a must for all writers, but especially newbies. There are so many aspects to writing and publishing a book. Until you do it, you may think it’s super easy. Write a story and stick it out there. That became a pitfall for many when self-publishing first became an option. Therefore, the market got flooded with poorly written, unedited books and gave self-published writers a bad name. It’s taken years for indie authors to become accepted as legitimate. Patience is key when writing and publishing. It’s important not to skip any of the steps.
Linda: They get in a rush and don’t take the time to do it properly—get it edited (and not by family or friends,) learn the rules, attend writing workshops, and learn the business first. I can’t stress enough how crucial it is to read. And learn, learn, learn.
Question: Have you ever considered writing under a pseudonym?
Jan: Because I started my writing journey with a true story, I never considered creating a pseudonym. Once I switched to writing fiction, I tossed around the idea, but didn’t want to have to start back at square one with building a new author platform. It takes a lot of time and work to build a solid author foundation. So, I chose to keep using my real name.
Linda: No, I haven’t. I see the problems other authors have who choose to use a pseudonym and I don’t want that. It’s hard enough as it is. I’ve always used my real name.
Question: What are you working on now, or what can we expect next?
Jan: For the first time in a long time, I don’t have a new story started. But soon I will be requesting my book rights back from the publisher for The White Rune Series, which will mean new book covers and new everything except titles. So, that’s in the back of my mind while I am open to new inspiration.
Linda: Robbie, I just started Book #2 of this McIntyre series. In this story that takes place in 1881, Cade’s sister, Summer, is the main character and I foresee this story to be filled with a lot of action and romance. This series is about trying to find and bring back all the McIntyre siblings who were all separated when their parents were murdered. People in the town sent them all to different places. The three youngest ones are still missing. I’m really loving this series. Thanks for having us.
Picture caption: Banner displaying the covers of Cade’s Quest by Linda Broday and A Bold Bargain by Jan Sikes
For Thursday Doors, I’m sharing a few of my photographs from Westminister Abbey in London. I still have about 100 photographs on my camera which I need to process. These are photographs I took with my iphone and today I’ve focused on my pictures of the entrance.
Picture caption: Entrance to Westminister AbbeyPicture caption: Close up of the door into Westminister AbbeyPicture caption: I really liked this gargoyle guarding the entrancePicture caption: another guardian of the entrancePicture caption: A close up of the entrance door
Banner for In Touch With Nature 2025Picture caption: close up of a Golden Orb Spider. You can clearly see the orb in the centre and the golden thread
Spiders get a lot of negative press everywhere. Recently, there have been a number of poems about spiders on WordPress and all of them paint spiders as scary creatures which do much harm to humans. I decided to write this post as a tribute to spiders which actually do a lot of good in this world. There are some venomous spiders, but these are in the minority. Thousands of spiders die at the hand of humans due to ignorance and unfounded fear.
The spider I am focusing on for this post is the South African Golden Orb Spider. From March to May, the Golden Orb Spider is an outstanding feature of the NorthWest province in South Africa. Hundreds of these large spiders can be seen everywhere, spinning and guarding their webs, and doing what spiders do which is catching and consuming prey, usually insects, and reproducing.
The female of this species is 1,000 times bigger than the male. The female spins the web and allows several males to cohabitat on the web. The males are usually found at the top of the web while the female sits at the hub, facing downwards, and waiting for insects to become trapped in the web. She then wraps the insect in web to immobilise it, kills it with one bite, and moves it to the centre of the web for immediate consumption or to store in her ‘larder’. I know you are thinking this is cruel but think about the contents of your own freezer. I often think that if the Martians from War of the Worlds arrived on Earth now, they would have had no conscience about eating people after peeping into the average freezer which is stuffed full of meat.
My review of two very different but equally entertaining books.
Detour on the Eternal Road by John W. Howell
Picture caption: Book cover of Detour on the Eternal Road showing an old-fashioned car on a dilapidated highway
My Review
Detour on the Eternal Road, the third book in this series, is Sam and James’ most challenging adventure yet. Two souls, Billy Ray Chitwood, a national car racing champion, and his guide, Dale Earnhardt, have gone missing on the Eternal Road and Sam and James are tasked with locating them and getting the pair back on track with finding Billy Ray’s eternal home. Naturally, their disappearance was orchestrated by none other than Lucifer on his eternal quest to derail souls and his lesser obsession to befriend Sam and make her his queen.
While this book retains its fascinating historical aspects with a visit to the ‘Wild West’ and Hitler’s bunker during WW2, it also has a new and interesting futuristic angle. Events have been put in motion that will result in WW3 and the destruction of civilization. Howell depicts a dark and devastated post WW3 world reminiscent of Nevil Shute’s On the Beach, and quickly invests the reader in this quest for human survival.
This book delves into human nature and emotions such as anger, love, and disappointment as it plunges the characters into situations involving manipulation, deception, and determination to grasp power and wealth at any cost. The darkness of the plotline and themes are, however, off set by Howell’s sense of humour which provide reprieves and laughs for the reader.
A highly entertaining paranormal adventure with a strong Christian undertone akin to CS Lewis in The Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce. Highly recommended.
Picture caption: Book cover for The Treacle People: Still Sticky depicting a fantasy landscape
My Review
I reviewed this book in my capacity as a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team. If you would like your book reviewed, you can contact Rosie Amber here: http://rosieamber.wordpress.com/.
Picture caption: Rosie’s Book Review Team logo
The Treacle People is an entertaining and imaginative read for people of all ages. The treacle mines in Sabden which produce half of Britain’s treacle have run dry and the village people are in dire situation. Where can they find a new source of treacle to save their golden syrup, ginger beer and parkin cake business and keep the people of Britain in traditional treats?
Just as despair settles over the villages, hope arrives in the form of a note in a bottle setting out the location of the Professors treacle tracker as well as instructions to King Habbakuk fabled mines, an enormous source of treacle. The villagers set off on the adventure of a lifetime, facing manipulative and deceptive boggarts and all sorts of dangers including Moby Duck, a Great White Mallard which patrols the Molasso Sea. The ingenious characters and settings will delight children and adults alike.
Written and presented as an audio adventure, the sound effects and cast of characters were excellent. It reminded me of my childhood favourite Sparky audio series including Sparky’s Magic Piano and Sparky and the Talking Train. A delightful new family entertainment that will teach younger children to use their imaginations and to sit and listen instead of being supplied with a visual.
This week I am featuring St Thomas Eglin General Hospital in London and the Florence Nightingale Museum which is around the corner from the hospital. Florence Nightingale is considered to be the founder of nursing.
Picture caption: A picture of St Thomas General Hospital from the roadPicture caption: Gate entrance into the hospital and the start of the Covid 19 Memory wallPicture caption: The Covid 19 memorial outside St Thomas General Hospital. Each heart is for a person who passed. Picture caption: I enjoyed this painting at the Florence Nightingale Museum in London AND it has a great door in it.Picture caption: Replica of the carriage used by Florence in the Crimean. The door was a curtain.Picture caption: A picture of the Nightingale sisters at the museumPicture caption: This is the medicine chest that Florence took to the Crimean War.Picture caption: Our hotel in LondonPicture caption: The doors/entrance into the hotel in London
When I was eight, my sister, Catherine, was four, and Hayley and Laura were fifteen months and six weeks old, respectively, my family moved to a small coastal village called Fish Hoek in the Western Cape. Our cottage was a temporary furnished rental for a period of three months while the partly built house my parents purchased was finished.
Mom was busy all day long with the babies, so Catherine and I walked to the beach on our own. Our route took us through the town and past the local grocery store. Catherine and I had been taught to be kind and helpful to others, especially elderly people. I had also been a Brownie for a few months before my family relocated from Johannesburg. Helping others was an important part of the Brownies Association’s ethos.
During one of our walks through the town, we happened to see an elderly lady struggling to carry heavy shopping bags. In those days the bags were made of brown paper and the bottoms had to be supported or they broke. Naturally, I immediately seized this opportunity to be a good Brownie and rushed over with an offer to carry the old lady’s bags for her. She accepted gratefully, and I carried the two heavy bags to her flat a few streets away. Her apartment block had stairs and no lift, which necessitated my carrying the bags up four long flights of stairs before we finally reached the door to her flat. I remember my arms aching from carrying those bags with the bottom one cradled in both my arms and the second laid on top of it. It was most uncomfortable.
The lady was pleased and invited us in for a cup of tea. This was the beginning of a lovely friendship. Once a week, Cath and I would visit this old lady and have a cup of tea with her. She always provided a delicious spread of homemade biscuits. She loved to crochet and showed me some beautiful pin cushions she’d made. I admired them so much she gifted me one on the day of our last visit before moving to our new home. I kept that pin cushion, bright green with white edging, for years and years.
I have often wondered over the years what happened to her. I hope she was happy and managed to get her groceries home without incident. I have no idea how she would have carried them up the stairs.
All the photographs below were taken in the afternoon. The first three are London scenes from the balcony of our hotel room near Westminster Bridge and the street art consists of photographs of construction walling street art taken in Bruxelles, Belgium. These pictures all relate to one length of construction walling.
Picture caption: You can see The Shard in the background.Picture caption: Close up of The ShardPicture caption: I snapped this street art picture on the way to the airport on our last day in Bruxelles
Today I’m starting with the first stop on our tour of Flanders WW1 memorial sites and cemeteries. These photographs are for Dan’s Thursday Doors Challenge. You can join in here: https://nofacilities.com/2025/08/14/thursday-doors-returns/. My choice of photographs is deliberate as it goes with the theme of power abuse and the dark side of freedom.
Our first stop was Langemark German Military Cemetery. I realised later on the tour that the German cemetery is much plainer that the Allied cemeteries. There were no flowers, just rows of plain markers.
Picture caption: Main entrance into German memorial building at Langemark German Military CemeteryPicture caption: Doors into the German memorial building at Langemark German Military CemeteryPicture caption: a wreath memorial for the German soldiers at Langemark German Military CemeteryPicture caption: Grave markers at the Langemark German Military CemeteryPicture caption: Columns bearing names of the dead soldiersPicture caption: Four soldiers memorial at Langemark German Military CemeteryPicture caption: list of names on the back of one column
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