Jeff Hawksworth's Blog

My presentation at the Bosworth Festival Literary Evening

When the lady from the festival committee asked me to speak during this week I said yes,- naturally, but it was only after she’d left that I realised I didn’t know what she wanted me to speak about.

Could it be woodcarving? Writing? The meaning of life?  Wine appreciation, - something I’m noted for. Or better still, French cuisine?

Thankfully, written confirmation soon arrived and I saw that it was to be part of a literary evening.

So, Meaning of Life it is.  

Or rather the ‘Meaningfulness of lives’, which was the subject of a Forbes study, which  began by asking, ‘Why were so many jobs with a better pay and higher social status less likely to produce happiness?’.

A literary Evening and Book Signing

Jeff Hawksworth

Local author Leanda de Lisle will be talking about her new book Sisters who would be Queen based on Lady Jane Grey and her sisters Katherine and Mary.

Jeff Hawksworth lives locally and since finishing “proper work” has discovered a love of writing, having so far published five novels.

He will talk about his experience of writing and about his latest book The Tack Chest, an historical novel set in the farming communities of Hartshill, Mancetter and Atherstone areas.

Family Lore

My grandma could milk a cow blindfolded, balanced on a three-legged stool, (Grandma, not the cow), in a stone-walled barn that did little to protect her from the sub-zero temperatures or snow-laden gales outside. I’m equally certain that if she’d been led indoors, still masked, she could have plucked and drawn a chicken just as effectively.

XMAS NIBBLES

Christmas Decorations

CHRISTMAS NIBBLES

Aperitifs are as commonplace in France as having someone in for a cup of tea here in England. If someone decides to make a better acquaintance with you they’ll stump up an invitation for an aperitif, often at either eleven in the morning, or at teatime, though tea won’t be offered. Alcohol of some sort most certainly will be; perhaps wine, or Pastis.

During the visit you will almost certainly be offered a selection of delicious nibbles, or canapés, which is how I set to and created some.

If you are having friends in for Christmas drinks, try these.

 

SUN DRIED TOMATO AND GOAT'S CHEESE TOASTS

Thanksgiving Turkey Levy

THANKSGIVING TURKEY LEVY

Thanksgiving in the US and Christmas in the UK have one thing in common; they each end up with a partly stripped turkey carcass sitting in the refrigerator, in skeletal admonishment of our excesses. Since today is the 27th November, or rather Thanksgiving Day, I felt prompted to address an issue that has troubled me for some time.

Our American cousins consume their turkeys on the fourth Thursday in November and have done so, give or take a few days, every year since 1621, when the Pilgrim Fathers celebrated and gave thanks for their first harvest.

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