Catching up - and the Blog Party one last time

Well, I suppose it was inevitable. You know how it is when you've had a wonderful party and you finally get all the tidying up done. The ballons have withered and the flowers faded, the food is all eaten and the wine has been drunk - and you've picked up all the wrapping paper and ribbons and the gift tags and tried to make sure you remember who gave what . . . and then under the table or behind the settee or in a box you thought was rubbish, you find on last little gift that you'd manage to miss all this time.

And that's what happened this week. As I sorted out things and organised the last distribution of prizes from the Great Big Blog Party, I realised that there was one final giveaway that had not been given away.

I know what happened. When I said that I would write some Writers' Holiday at Caerleon specials to round up the Blog Party, I originally had two books from writers and tutors at Caerleon to go with those posts. Books by Zoe Sharp (First Drop) and an extra novel by Jane Wenham-Jones (Perfect Alibis) . Then the lovely Jane Jackson said that she wanted to join in too and she wrote a blog post and gave away her book Dangerous Waters. And in the final Caerleon post I rounded off the Blog Party with copies of The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge and Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride.

Spot the not- so -deliberate mistake? Jane W-H's book was never given away. And that's what I found this week, complete with the 'Greetings From Caerleon' message where she signed it for that Caerleon Special.

Well, this is a book that was meant to be given away - so, although the Blog Party is over, I need to organise a winner to receive this book. So I'm offering it as a final, very last Blog Party Prize - and all you have to do to be in the running for it is to leave me a message in the Comments section telling me what you liked best about the Great Big Blog Party - all 60 posts of it! Did you have a favourite visitor - a favourite post? What did you most enjoy about the party? If I have another one will you come again?

Leave a message and I'll get Sid to pick a winner in the usual fashion and you could end up with a copy of Perfect Alibis to go on your To Be Read Pile.

And talking of celebrations. Remember the real Writers' Weekend to celebrate the 50th title when my lovely, wonderful friends gave me flowers galore to celebrate - well, I just had to share this with you . .

Here (on the left of the picture) is a little patio rose bush that dear Jan Jones gave me back in June. I brought it home, found a larger pot to put it in and put it in my garden. This week I was checking on it after the rain and more rain and a little sun and more rain - and I found that it now looks like this -->

And guess how many flowers there are on this bush now - 50 - some in full bloom, some part open and some just buds - but there are 50 of them! That's really rather special.

So Thank you again Jan - your rose bush is looking wonderful.

And finally, for the fans of the Hecks, the hedgehog family. They are all doing well, in spite of the cold evenings and the rain. They were round visiting last night, looking for cat crunchies or cast-off cat meat. So I'll leave you with a picture of Middle Heck - who has grown over the summer in to Pretty Great Heck.