Summer’s Past

 

I’m not sure if it’s my age, or whether this year really goes faster than any other year. We’ve been homeschooling for a good number of years now, and usually go on our family holidays in September, making the summer feel longer. The trees turn before we get our swimsuits and bodyboards out, and we go away when others are lining up wellies and waterproofs.

This year, as our daughter is in college, we’re having holidays at the same time as everyone else in the entire country, it seems. It also means my summer has shrunk by a month. This week, my last week of the summer, still has me in holiday mode, which means I have no idea of day, date or time. Which is why this blog comes out after lunch, as my children somehow knew the date...

We have just returned from Northumberland, where I had never been, and I would happily go there any time of the year. The crowds at popular places made it harder to access those places, but we somehow managed, although the dog was as shattered as I was at the end of the holidays!

Goldie and I love views, and the children are learning to enjoy the views as well. I had to lift Goldie to look out over Hadrian’s Wall, and despite the northern weather, we all enjoyed the Wall, especially the one part where there was a children’s trail to be done. Maybe we can train Goldie to help the kids to follow the clues on the paper, although her enthusiasm has helped their stamina levels to improve, so it’s a start.

Goldie enjoyed Lindisfarne a lot, especially all the walking. She wasn't happy that we wouldn't let her swim though...

Wandering around so much heritage, I could think of several series, especially when walking around the Ad Gefrin museum, about an Anglo-Saxon summer residence of the kings. I don’t know much about Edwin, Oswald and Oswiu, but I would love to know more. So many questions when looking at their stories, and fortunately, the people running the little museum in Wooler were very knowledgeable.

And there was Lindisfarne, which we visited as well. Plotting my Viking series, I could spend a lot more time on the island as well. Such a tumultuous time and world, but faith was shining through then as well. God was there, He was worshipped and trusted, and to see those stories is so heartwarming. It also encourages me to write, as there is something so special about books, storytelling and poetry.

Not much is left of the Viking buildings or Anglo-Saxon Great Halls, but their stories are still there and some of the poetry can still be read today. There is that connection with those people long ago, and maybe, if they’d known what we know now, would they have written more, and preserved their writing better? Did they think people hundreds of years later might still be moved by their words?

Maressa Mortimer is Dutch but lives in the beautiful Cotswolds, England with her husband and four (adopted) children. Maressa is a homeschool mum as well as a pastor’s wife, so her writing has to be done in the evening when peace and quiet descend on the house once more. She loves writing Christian fiction, as it’s a great way to explore faith in daily life. Because of her interest in writing, Maressa is part of Creativity Matters: Find Your Passion For Writing, an anthology encouraging people to write.

Her debut novel, Sapphire Beach, was published in December 2019, and her first self published novel, Walled City, came out in December 2020, followed by Viking Ferry, a novella. Beyond the Hills is the second book in the Elabi Chronicles, and was released in 2021, followed by stand-alone novel Burrowed, released in 2022. All of Maressa’s books are available from her website, www.vicarioushome.com, Amazon or local bookshops.