Tuesday, March 28, 2017

A Deadly Flower




Monkshood!  A healing flower that is also poisonous.  Gail Frazer and I used it in one of our Dame Frevisse medieval mysteries years ago.  And it’s still around, of course.  In fact, it very recently killed a woman in California and made a man extremely ill when they ingested it in a tea bought from a Chinese herbalist:  https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/03/21/herbal-tea-usually-heals-but-it-was-poison-for-two-in-californi/21904748/

I’m beginning to think Tying the Knot is dead.  I just can’t write it.  I know the writing spark is still there; I’ve started to talk to a woman who served as a police chaplain and who tells inspiring, sometimes hair-raising, stories about her experiences.  She could write a book – and I believe I could serve as her ghost. 


Last night I was lying in bed with the cat Java draped across my upper legs and tummy and I was lazily tickling her under her chin.  She suddenly turned a forepaw over and very gently grasped my finger with pad and claw to still my hand.  She held onto the finger for about a minute then put her head on my hand and we both went to sleep.

1 comment:

Linda O. Johnston said...

I'm sure you'll start writing soon--maybe even sometime totally unexpected! It's sometimes what writers do.
And Java sounds like a wonderful inspiration for sleeping, and maybe writing, too.