Exciting News!

 

This is the chair on which I keep my ironing pile. It is empty. My ironing is up to date. This does not happen all that often, so it is worth recording. 

Actually it probably isn't, and thinking about it my ironing being up to date probably happens a lot more often than it used to, but I wanted a photograph and I didn't have one to illustrate the really exciting news which is that we have agreed a sale on our house. Since we had resigned ourselves to nothing happening on that front before spring we are more than delighted that a buyer popped up just after the new year. 

Tomorrow we travel south to spend a few days house hunting so there won't be another blog post here until after we are back; we return on Monday . Typically there were lots of houses on the market in the area we are looking in,  in the autumn and currently there is very little; but we'll look at what there is and it will help give us a feel for the market if nothing else. Wish us luck! 

Reading Challenge Update 3 - 9

 

Well I've read nine books so far this year and so far only reported on the first two so here are the rest. 

I listened to two of Josephine Tey's Inspector Grant novels; A Shilling for Candles and The Franchise Affair. I used to have most of Tey's novels in paperback but the vast majority of them have been culled over time, so I was thrilled to see that Audible did all six of those that feature Grant in a single collection. (Shame they don't do the same for Allingham's Campion books, but hey-ho! they don't.) These do reflect some of the attitudes of their time, so bits don't sit well, but that doesn't really spoil the enjoyment of the books which are well plotted and well written. 

Then there was Starling House by Alixe Harrow, which was the Waterstones October Sci-Fi/Fantasy book of the month. I didn't think I would enjoy this at all, especially as I didn't initially take to the female narrator but actually once I got into it I really enjoyed it. Sort of Southern Gothic. Two huge plus points, no humans having sex with fairies and no dragons  in sight. Not for everyone but I found it a good read. I originally wrote 'fun' read, but it's not really fun! but it is original and interesting and there's a very definite sense of menace skilfully achieved by the writer at various points. 

Next up was Never Somewhere Else by Alex Gray,the first of her Glasgow set police procedurals. This was passed on to me by a friend and I realised quite quickly that I had in fact read it before but as I couldn't remember all the details I read it again. Competently written  and well plotted;  perhaps that sounds a bit dismissive but its not meant to be. The series is worth a look if you haven't tried it before. 

I seem to have managed to document my trip to Saturday Slaughters without actually mentioning the book we read for it, presumably so that I could include it in a 'book post' like this one. It was The Holiday by T M Logan. Definitely not my usual sort of pick; four women who have been friends for decades spend a holiday in a villa in the south of France complete with husbands and generally annoying children ( recipe for disaster even outwith the covers of a crime novel I'd have thought!). Lightweight holiday reading although there was a good sense of atmosphere and the (male) writer does female characters well, although it seems like he couldn't be bothered with the male ones so much. It passed the time and I finished it, and as previously mentioned the plotting is very good until the very end.

I saw on the Internet somewhere that Ann Cleeves, who had vowed not to write any more books featuring Jimmy Perez, her Shetland based detective, is in fact now writing a new book about him set in Orkney and as I suspect I will succumb to curiosity and read it when it comes out I looked out my copy of the last Shetland Perez book Wild Fire, which I have on my tablet and re-read that, just to get myself back up to speed. 

And finally there was The Boleyn Inheritance by Phillipa Gregory. I claimed this on a 'does anyone want this' thread in a ravelry group, along with a few others, and again after I had opened it I realised I had read it before. That said, I think I probably got more out of this re-read than I did my original go at it, which must have been some years ago. Gregory is a bit of an on-off writer for me. I sometimes get the impression she's phoning the stuff in; not that she hasn't done her research but perhaps that the research is her favourite bit and she gets a bit bored having to make fiction out of it. Not the case with my favourite of her books The Other Boleyn Girl, and although this one isn't quite that good, not this one either. She paints a terrifying picture of a vain unfettered and ruthless monarch coming to realise exactly how far he can go, and equally a compelling portrait of how none of the women close to him could ever feel safe. The school history version of Henry deciding to divorce Ann of Cleeves so that he could marry pretty little Catherine Howard never tells us how close Ann came to being accused of treason and/or witchcraft, or how the powerful Howard family manipulated both Catherine and Henry  to get them married. The story of Ann is particularly unsettling; she seems to have been a very lucky woman to have escaped with her life. 

All enjoyable reads to one extent or another, if a trifle lightweight. Possibly I'll be tackling some books which take a bit more time and care over the next few weeks. 

A Visit to the Dentist - and how I saved myself £89

About 10 days ago I discovered what I thought was  a bad crack in one of my upper teeth parallel to my gum line. I tried very hard not to stick my tongue into it, as you do, and arranged to go and see the dentist.

In common with most people I don't like going to the dentists even for a check up, and I was rather afraid I was going to end up being drilled and filled this morning. I had mentally written off the rest of the day for reading and other gentle pursuits while I waited for the novocaine or whatever to wear off. I was quite looking forward to that. 

But I was thwarted! Only in a good way though. According to my dentist it is not a cracked tooth it is simply bad gum recession and if it is not hurting, which it isn't thank goodness, the best thing is to leave it alone and be very gentle when brushing or flossing in that area. I was in the dreaded chair for about two minutes. This is a good thing really although it did mean we had got up earlier than normal and had to drive all the way into Kirkwall for nothing but reassurance.That said the reassurance was almost priceless. 

Of course as I wasn't having to do the 'keep warm and quiet until the pain goes away and your mouth returns to normal' thing I didn't feel right to just curl up in front of the fire with a book although I did do some of that. Couldn't justify the whole rest of the day at it though. Not that I've done much else but we did go out for a very cold walk after lunch. 

When we got back I was all ready to go and order one of their new backpacks from Yoshi as I have been eyeing them longingly since they were introduced relatively recently. I'm always saying I could do with a backpack for walks and stuff and today was the day I decided I was going to stop havering and actually buy myself one. But I didn't. Because I checked the size they are -yes, I actually went and hunted out a tape measure and had a good look, and basically they are not backpacks at all, just handbag sized bags with straps so you can wear them on your back. No good at all. So that's one piece of happy mail that won't be arriving. A bit disappointing - but on the upside, I saved myself the money.  

A Very Nice Weekend

Nothing out of the ordinary, just pottering about doing the usual sort of things but the weather had cheered up and we enjoyed ourselves. 

I'd decided to take off my uber-critical hat and start going back to Saturday Slaughters until we get moved so I'd found out what the book for this month was and managed to read it in two days. That's not me being a super speedy reader, it was an easy read. 

We decided to go to Celina Rupp's for lunch ( officially it's the Barrier View Cafe, because, surprise surprise you can see the first Churchill barrier from the windows, but we always call it Celina Rupp's because it's part of Celina's jewellery place.) Voila

Not the most exciting, but we didn't have to make it ourselves or put the dishes in the dishwasher and it made a change. We were going to have coffee and cake afterwards but decided against because we didn't have a huge amount of time and there wasn't much that caught our eye in the cake line.We had a brief bimble around her jewellery gallery on the way out and saw a rather nice new design....

Then it was on into town, and the library for me and the supermarket for the OH via the charity shop which we give our stuff to these days. It's  one where you can usually park right outside and where they greet you with a smile and a 'thank you so much' rather than a barked and oft repeated hope that 'there aren't any electrical goods in there' despite you repeatedly assuring them that there aren't. And that was after a previous visit when we were ignored until I stage whispered to the OH 'this is rather rude' at which point the person on duty managed to drag his eyes from whatever it was he had previously found so engrossing and acknowledge our existence. When I recounted the electrical goods interrogation here previously I don't think I said, but it was the Kirkwall Salvation Army Shop. A place which, for understandable reasons, we no longer trouble with our presence - or our donations. 

Saturday Slaughters was fine and I managed to keep my uber critical hat off, although I was a bit irritated when I did point out a small inconsistency in what was otherwise a well constructed plot and an American lady opposite me drawled with a supercilious curl of her lip that  'this was fiction'. Well yes, but if that's your answer to everything why bother discussing a book at all? I will mention the book in my reading  round up which is still up-coming, I promise. 

After SS we took ourselves off to The Daily Scoop, to make up for there not being  much choice of cake at Celina's. There wasn't much choice at the Daily Scoop either unless you like to choose between about 10 varieties of tray bake, but I'm trying to keep my chocolate consumption down to a minimum just now so I had a Danish Slice which was a cinnamon bun by another name but with rather more icing than any Scandinavian would think appropriate. The OH had an ice cream sundae and I forgot to take photos. There again, when did taking photos of food become a thing? Maybe we'll do it again after the next SS meeting in a months time. If we're here and not house hunting in the Central Belt at the time.  The Daily Scoop's ice creams are not a patch on those you get at Geris Ice Cream parlour but the advantage the DS has over Geri is that it's open all year. 

On Sunday the weather was really nice and we went for a walk in just sweaters and no coats. We did one of our favourite walks from when lockdown was easing which is at Burwick, waaay down south , in Orkney terms.  We thought we might see seals as Burwick is generally good for that, but we didn't.  We did however see lots of gulls bobbing about, some beautiful cloud formations and plenty of sunshine. 

A jigsaw, and an Unexpected Present.

Things have been a bit slow on the jigsaw front recently, not least because of needing the dining room table over Christmas, but my sister bought me a new puzzle for Christmas and I finished it yesterday. It took a while but that was mainly because I only allow myself half an hour a day on puzzles so it can be slow work. Anyway the image on this one is an appropriate one! 

And last week postie brought these, an unexpected gift from the OH 

My sister has raved about Icelandic licorice for ages; she has bought lots of it in the past when she has visited  Iceland but had never found a source for it in the UK. Last autumn the OH started getting adverts on his Facebook feed for Lakrids Bulow, which is not Icelandic but a Danish firm which makes licorice  'in the Icelandic way'. 

We havered about getting some for my sister for Christmas because of it not being made in Iceland, but then when we went south in November we saw a box at Tebay so we took a chance and bought it. I think it wold be fair to say she was very pleased with it. Unbeknownst to me the OH then ordered some for me as a present to open on Christmas morning and I discovered that I too have  a taste for Icelandic licorice. The box I got for Christmas was soon gone - it's very more-ish. Anyway last week totally out of the blue - for me, not him of course - these two jars arrived for me, a propos of nothing except he thought I'd enjoy them. Plus I think he signed up and gets loyalty points or an introductory offer or something. All the more generous of him though since he doesn't like licorice at all! 

Worth A Post All Of It's Own

These days I generally post pictures of my crafty endeavours on a monthly basis to tie in with the stash stats and I'll be sticking to that throughout the year as otherwise things tend to get forgotten, but here's something that's worth celebrating with a post all to itself. 

This is the lap blanket I made with the yarn advent from The Yarn Artist that the OH bought me for Christmas. I was really pleased that I more or less managed to keep to knitting the one square a day; it slipped  a bit towards the end as I was trying to get a pair of Christmas socks done for Son No 2. However they were all knitted up by 31st and then I havered a bit about the border as I wasn't sure what to do. In the end  I made a magic knot ball with all the little bits left over from the squares, dug out some undyed DK that I'd got from the YA earlier and combined them in a simple striped garter stitch border which I think works very well.  Sadly the colour is a bit blown out on the photo; it was difficult to find somewhere to tkae it that had enough space to lay it out and wasn't too dark to take a picture. 

Quite proud of this one. 

Back to Normal-ish, and some holiday TV

Son No 2 flew back to Glasgow yesterday - 3 hour delay on departure for a 40 minute-ish flight, thank you Loganair, or possibly the weather. Anyway just the OH and I, plus of course the cat and Visiting Cat in the house now.

I feel like I'm living in a grammar lesson that's concentrating on the flexibility of tenses in English; it has snowed, it has been snowing, it did snow; it snows, it is snowing and according to the weather forecast it will be snowing, it will snow, it will have snowed for several days to come. The sun was shining this morning and I was almost suckered into suggesting we bundle up in warm coats and woolly accessories and go for a short walk. Two minutes later the white stuff started falling from the sky again, so I was glad I hadn't got around to that after all. 

Snuggling up is all very well but as I have said before, it doesn't make for much interest on the blog. I have read, I have watched some TV , I have knitted and crocheted and I have moaned about the cold.  

As far as TV goes, I don't  know why we wasted so much money on the Christmas Edition of the Radio Times  because it was full of articles about  programs that we were never going to watch and after looking at about two days worth of the listings I felt totally overwhelmed and generally relied on my on-screen guide. I may have missed some absolute gems of programs but hey-ho! that's not end-of the world stuff. Judging by what I did seem it's also  doubtful in the extreme. 

So what did we watch? Outnumbered which contained one of my favourite Christmas watching moments when Karen told her mother's needy friend Jane to butt out of their lives (hooray for Karen). All the Only Connect specials that were on.  A sort of  spin off of Death in Paradise, whose name escapes me but which is set in a small coastal town in Queensland. I gave that a go because - well Australia and stayed with it because it was funny. Son No 2 and I streamed a couple of episodes of Colin from Accounts ( also because Oz) and enjoyed what we saw but somehow never went back after the first day. A Sydney-set detective series called North Shore started on ITV? Channel 4? last week and we streamed the rest of the series over 3 nights after watching episode 1 when it was first screened. Definitely a bit of a (favourite country) theme developing there. Other than that we took ourselves off to You Tube and binge watched three series of the old BBC kids adventure game Raven. (Son no 2 commented, after a stream of passive aggressive comments on the kids performances in some of the challenges from the presenter/guide Raven, that the show was 'rather more mean spirited than he remembered'. Also on YouTube we treated ourselves to a re-watch of A Christmas Carol Gone Wrong, which like all the Gone Wrong stable was hilarious. 

TV, like the rest of life is now returning to pre-festive season normality which is good news for me in that it brings us new series of Kirsty and Phil's Love it or List It and The Great Pottery Throw Down. And a new detective series set in York started last evening which looks promising, even if some of it sounded a bit like Autism Awareness Week at times. 

I was going to do an update on the reading challenge as well today, but given the relatively slow pace of life just now I'll hoard that for another day! 

Well, we weren't expecting that!

So, yesterday we went off to the local Leisure centre where the cinema is, to see The War of the Rohirrim. Son no.2 was keen and was sure he would enjoy it, the OH thought he wouldn't, and I knew I wouldn't because it is a cartoon - sorry - anime, and as anyone who has been here for longer than five minutes is aware, I loathe cartoons. I particularly loathe anime ones because everyone has a very pointy chin and a strange upturned little nose -  and after yesterday I can add that all the horses are basically square. 

Actually we all quite enjoyed it. perhaps going into things with very low expectations is the key? The plot was derivative and had holes you could have ridden a cavalry regiment through, and as with anything Peter Jackson has even a remote connection with, it was a bit too long. But only a bit, it wasn't a three hour indulgence fest. Some of the detail in the background drawing was really beautiful and the soundtrack was fine, if a bit insistent. 

About 10 minutes from the end the fire alarm went off and we had to troop out and stand on the front steps in the freezing  cold. I should add that the cinema itself was quite cold anyway but it was much, much worse outside. The OH was all for abandoning the film and going off to Tesco's to do the big shop but I wanted to see how it ended and I didn't think it was going to take them long to establish that there actually wasn't a fire and let us all back in. It didn't,  we went back and saw the end, which was satisfying and, again rather oddly for a PJ film, didn't hold out the certainty of an equally long  follow up, so I was glad I had stuck to my guns for once and insisted we stay. 

Of course we still had to do the big shop afterwards, but at least we weren't left doomed forever to wonder what had happened to Hera, daughter of Helm. 

We actually got out for a walk today, the first time we've been able to do that - well, all the Christmas break really. We've popped out for stuff, like the Post Office and the occasional bottle of milk but otherwise it's all been about  staying in and snuggling up, which generally I'm all for but it hasn't made for much interesting to write about. 

Life should get back to almost normal tomorrow though, and even more so after Wednesday when Son No 2 returns to the Big City.  

Reading Challenge 2

 

It snowed yesterday , not just showers where the snow  disappeared almost as soon as it hit the ground but real proper snow that lay. (In fact there is still some lying now a day later). It was also bitterly cold, so definitely a staying in day. I spent the morning doing various boring chores, and in the afternoon curled up in front of the fire and read the Margery Allingham book that I bought recently.

I really enjoyed it. It takes the form of several essays, several by Kate Davies herself but others by various experts on Allingham, social history, cultural history etc. Lots of wonderful photographs included too. I especially enjoyed the two on the social and cultural effects of WW2 .

There are 11 patterns included in the book, many of which look 'extremely interesting' to knit, which is code for, they have an unusual construction which I probably couldn't manage and the finished article would be no good for anyone with a less than model girl figure. So I doubt I will knit any of them, but never say never.  

We Went To The Pictures

 Not sure if anyone still calls it 'The Pictures' these days, but anyway, we went to the cinema. After Christmas but before New Year.

The film we went to see was Wicked. No-one more surprised than us, really, but we knew someone who had been to see it four times and loved it - obviously. So we thought we would give it a go.  

We did not love it. We will not be going to see it again nor will  we  be going to see Part 2. I was amazed that the film itself only covered Act 1 of the stage show, but I suppose if Peter Jackson can make 3, 3hour films of The Hobbit which is a single, and quite short!, book, then someone can make a two film version of a two act stage show. It's all about the money. 

I have never read any of the Oz books, although I have sat through the film version of the first one. This was a little help to me  in understanding what was going on in Wicked, although the talking animal storyline lost me.

Anyway, chalked up to experience, and undeterred we are back off to the cinema again tomorrow. I suspect it will be another film we regret spending money on, but we'll see. 

2025 Reading Challenge

I know, why do I do this to myself? I have no idea really. No sooner have I ditched the poster ( well OK, that was a while back ) then I get caught up in another reading challenge. 

I saw this article in The Guardian on-line by someone who had decided last January that she needed to read more and doom scroll less and so she set herself the challenge of finding the time to read a book a week. 52 weeks, 52 books.  

What a good idea, I thought. I should make time to read more, I used to do so much more of it. Let's give this a go. So I am. 

There is an official Agatha Christie entity of some description, run by the Agatha Christie estate, and every year they pose a challenge to read one Agatha Christie book a month, based around a theme for the year. I've been aware of it for some time, but never joined in, but this year I have, because it will get me off to a flying start for my book a week thing. The theme this year is Characters and Careers and for January the career was artist and the suggested book was Five Little Pigs. This has always been a bit of a favourite of mine* so I bought it on Kindle and finished it last night. They don't take  a lot of reading really and I enjoyed it despite knowing the end. 

* yes, even before ITV dramatised it and cast Toby Stephens in a major role

So, 1 down and 51 to go. 

Happy New Year

 

So how's that for a cheerful start to the New Year? To be fair, it's only showers and it's not lying, but if I had made a new year's resolution to walk every day, that it would be it, busted, on day 1. 

Talking of resolutions I have not made any because it's just a fast road to disillusion with self and life in general, although I did hear someone say yesterday that she always kept one of her new year's resolutions all year. Since this is to not eat broad beans which  she hates, it's an easy one to keep. 

I have though got a few general goals. Read more, craft more, listen to music more, take better care of myself. Procrastinate less and scroll on my phone less; those two are not unrelated!

There are things to hope for and to look forward to in 2025. A house move, a couple of good holidays, a visit from our grandsons in the summer - we'll see how the year pans out. 

It will I hope go well for me, and also for everyone who visits me here, whether that's on a regular basis or the occasional 'pop in'. Here's to the next twelve months!