Reading Round Up April

 

There's still lots to catch up on here and I'm very aware that come Wednesday life gets very busy indeed for a while so I need to get some subjects ticked off the list! That said, a reading round up wouldn't have been my number one choice today, but as it's almost time to draw the line under the books I read in May I thought I should really get April's done. 

I only managed nine books that month, probably because we were away. J D Kirk makes only one appearance with The Big Man Upstairs ( this one was very good). I listened to two more books by J M Dalglish and I still didn't like the passive aggressive girlfriend or the voice of the narrator who incidentally cannot pronounce Hunstanton correctly. This seems to upset some (presumably Norfolk dwelling ) Audible reviewers very much indeed - and I don't blame them. Anyway the two I listened to in April were Kill Our Sins and Tell No Tales. As before competent, but somehow very very dull. 

No Friend to This House wasn't exactly a re-read but I had already listened to it on Audible. I'm finding it quite interesting to compare the two experiences of listening and reading. I think I marginally preferred reading this one, but that's no reflection on Natalie's ability to read her own work. It just felt more cohesive to me reading it. Anyway it's very good. Up there with Stone Blind and a little way behind A Thousand Ships.

I listened to a couple of novellas while we were away, again re listens; Standing by the Wall by Mick Herron and When did you last see your father? by Jodi Taylor; short pieces adjacent to Slough House and St Mary's respectively. 

Next up is a bit of a curiosity. Becoming Mrs Darcy Volume 1 by Julie B Grantham. This was a gift, as it's not the sort of thing I would buy for myself, being a Pride and Prejudice sequel. It was an easy read although I am yet to get around to Vol 2 which came with it. Basically I think Julie B just wanted to write a book about being presented at court and Elizabeth Darcy was a hook to hang it on. Although it looms large, I note that at the end of Vol 1 said presentation is yet to take place, although I've learned a lot about the rules for presentation dresses. 

Also while I was away I re-read on my Kindle a book called Absolution by Caro Ramsay. It was the first in a detective series set in Glasgow and I had bought it because it was  a Saturday Slaughters pick back in Orkney ages ago and there weren't enough physical copies in the library to go around.   I have to  say I enjoyed it much more the second time around, and had a lot more sympathy with the main character - as in, I wasn't quite so devastatingly disappointed when he failed to kill himself by swimming out to sea or when he missed being killed in a car crash a bit later on. I think the change is a reflection of the fact that deep down I'm a lot happier these days and have a correspondingly larger capacity for empathy. 

Finally there was Madame Matisse by Sophie Haydock. I've no idea why I downloaded this on Borrowbox but I'm very glad I did. I loved it. It's the intertwined stories of three women who could be all be addressed at different times as Madame Matisse; the artist's wife, his  daughter and Lydia Delectorskaya, a Russian emigree ( well refugee really) who became his muse, assistant and eventually caregiver. Showing how  the lives of these three women unfolded was a great way to tell a story about some of the huge changes in Europe in the first half of the C20. Lydia's story really resonated with me as she originally came from Siberia and when she fled the Soviets she went initially  to Harbin in China. I had a lecturer at University who had followed this exact same path so it gave me an insight into what part of her early life had been like. No Fun, would sum it up ( accurate if a little glib). I already knew that Matisse's daughter had been arrested imprisoned and tortured by the Gestapo for her involvement in the Resistance, but hadn't known that his estranged wife was also active in the movement. Well researched, readable and, although a book like this must always be partly speculation, it read as credible  and was very well written. Definitely recommended. 

It looks like May's reads will only total eight, winch is good news or bad news depending on how much you like book posts I suppose! 

Rome

 So our last stop on the Italian holiday was Rome and I think I've probably already said that we Did Not Take to Rome. It's just too overwhelming; too much history, too much stuff to look at, too many places to visit ...

We were given a combined driving and walking tour on our first morning and saw the major sites either from a coach window or the middle of  mob of tourists. Forum, Pantheon , Colosseum, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain...The last was truly hideous. *

*I know, it's  a matter of opinion, and for many years, after being pulled up by a member of my family I have trained myself to say things are 'not to my taste', rather than 'it's horrible'. I cannot bring myself to be so mealy mouthed in the matter of the Trevi Fountain. I have rarely seen anything so OTT ugly in my life.  

A couple of  photos from the walking bit of the tour - 

skyscape 

the Spanish steps

Obviously I was so traumatised by the Trevi Fountain that I didn't even take a photograph of it! 

and then from our own limited explorations the following day - 

we always feel better about a city once we've tracked down the Opera House

 

a view of the Forum, or one of them, there were several over the years. I didn't know that until I went to Rome. 

The outside of Santa Maria Maggiore - one of the four major basilicas of Rome. Also happily very close to our hotel. I say happily advisedly because a friend had told me it housed some very fine mosaics, so that was the one we wanted to visit. And it did have many many mosaics, mainly so high up you couldn't make out a thing. 

And here's the inside. You remember me saying that thing about Rome all being too much ....

We did have a half day excursion outside Rome when we went to Tivoli, where we had the choice of visiting either Hadrian's Villa or the Villa D'Este. We chose the Villa D'Este because I knew it had some spectacular gardens. We really enjoyed our visit there, but that's a (photo heavy) post for another day. 

One Year Anniversary

 It was exactly a year ago that we  moved in to the new house, although we'd been in and out a few times for service connections and things. We had had to wait a week before our furniture could be delivered and given the general mess that the firm made of that I won't dwell on it. 

To celebrate the anniversary  we went to somewhere we've enjoyed going before to have lunch; it was not a huge success food or service wise and next year if we go out again to mark the occasion we'll  go somewhere else. 

We spent some time going over all the tings we'd done since we moved and every time we thought we'd mentioned them all one of us thought of something else. And when we got home and I looked at my Facebook album I found several that we had forgotten. No wonder people say we are never at home - although we are! - and equally no wonder my blog falls behind events at times. 

Anyway it didn't seem to take all that long to get from this on moving day to a fairly sorted, boxes unpacked state

and, although the lunch wasn't all that brilliant here we are earlier today celebrating our oneiversary! 

We both look quite well on it I think. 

New Car

 

Yes, we have a new car which arrived last Friday. 

There's not much I can say about it as I'm not really all that interested in cars. I was told when we got our last one that it would see us out, but that proved not to be the case; thank you Orkney air and A9 salting. 

Apart from being too big (imo), it does at least fulfil my two criteria for a car.

1. It is Not A Citroem

2. It has heated seats. 

Beyond that I'm really not bothered as I don't drive. I will say that it is very comfortable and very quiet and apparently being an ev-hybrid it's  going to save us masses of money. 

Garden Visits and Garden Furniture

 It being cherry blossom/azalea season we took a couple of trips out to gardens recently. 

The first was the Japanese Garden which is fast becoming a favourite, and not just for the delicious food in the cafe. I have to say the cherry blossom display was a bis disappointing, but maybe we missed  its peak. But there were some lovely looking blossom covered trees along one of the roads in. p

They had some beautiful azaleas out; not very many but eye-catching since they were bright red 

and of course the usual serene beauty of the rest of the garden was threre to be enjoyed

In search of a rather more bountiful display of azaleas we took oursleves off to a place called Gargunnock House, a large mansion near Stirling now owned by the Landmark Trust. Reviews had led us to believe that for an entrance fee of £4 we would find a spectacular display of azaleas. As it turns out we did not find either a spectacular display of azaleas or  anyone to take our money.. These were the best the place could offer 

It was a bit of a washout tbh. 

More positively a few weeks ago we splashed out on some garden furniture. 

We never bothered in Orkney because the chances of getting a still and sunny day were too low to justify the outlay really. We had some old garden chairs that had belonged to my parents but I can only remember using them once in twenty years. But after the heat of last summer and all the talk of rising temperatures becoming a normal thing, and given that we now have a small and sheltered garden which we are slowly filling with colourful pots, we thought it worth actually buying a proper set.  I'm happy to report that we have already sat out on it quite a lot and we even had lunch in the garden twice in April when the weather turned warm for a few days. It has since gone quite cold and horrid but that can only be temporary and I'm sure as time goes by we'll get lots of use from it. Also the OH already thinks the cost is justified because The Cat Cosimo spends hours on one of the chairs however high or low the outside temperature happens to be. 

Softly, Softly, Catchy Monkey

 I'm sure I must have said here, possibly several times, that we had two resolutions when we moved in here. The first one was No More Cats. Well, we all know how that went. The second one was no changes  until we'd been here  a year. 

To be fair the second one lasted a bit longer than the first one. It was January before we bought new curtains, and a rug, for the living room. And it was several months after that before we got a decorator in and he painted the room. 

It5's not quite finished because I'm waiting to hear from someone who will paint the bookcase and put a design on it for us, but in the interim, here's a couple of  photos of how the room looks now. Note the cat paraphernalia that has replaced the tub chair in the bay window - sigh!

Dark Days

 

It was my uncle's funeral on Tuesday. I was dreading it, and I was right to. It was upsetting. 

I had lots of aunts and uncles growing up; my father came from a family of five and my mother from one of seven. Sone of these relations we saw only rarely, but many we saw on a regular (weekly) basis. Over the years, every time one of them died it felt like a little bit of the foundation of my life was being chipped away, and this was especially the case perhaps with John and his wife who were close to my mother in age, experienced some of life's milestones at a similar time ( marriage, birth of children, temporary male redundancy necessitating a move away from the place of their upbringing). And as I've said before they both loved music which was a big  thing we had in common.

Given that I knew I was going to be distressed it was unfortunate that I heard the morning before that I had also lost a good friend. Her name was Heather, and regular visitors here will have noticed that she commented regularly on my posts. She didn't always say much but enough to let me know she had read my posts and reacted. The sad irony that her last post here was an expression of sympathy on the loss of John has not gone unnoticed by me. 

Heather died last Saturday morning after a prolonged stay in hospital; several months bar a brief and disastrous return home; she was discharged  too early and as a result suffered a bad fall which sent her back to hospital. She had lived for many years not only with CFS but also COPD  which greatly restricted what she could do physically but she was always positive,and found many ways to express her creativity and concern for others. I was proud to be her friend and although, as she lived in the north of England, we met very rarely, we always enjoyed a long talk and a good laugh. In the acknowledgements section of my Ph D thesis, she appears as Heather,' who has a gift for inspiration and encouragement', and she did. To which I would now add for friendship also. I will miss her. 

I've had better Mays. 

Assisi

 I loved Assisi. Funnily enough I didn't have any idea what it would be like, so no expectations to be disappointed - or I suppose fulfilled. I did expect it to be busy, and it was, but it didn't feel particularly crowded or touristy. 

The major attraction of course is the Basilica, tomb of St Francis, two levels, great frescos, no photography allowed inside. The town is small, a slightly different overall colour of stonework to either Siena or Arezzo, relaxed, friendly and steep. 

A few random photographs. I would definitely go back to Assisi should the opportunity present itself. It was lovely. Note the random statue photo! I see odd statues wherever we go these days. 

And then it was on to Rome

Wool Stats for April

 Ouch, this one hurts! 

Wool in 900g, Wool out 138g, net increase for the month 762g, and net decrease for the year to date reduced to 2153g. 

I knew it would be horrid because I went to the  wool show and bought the wool for a cardigan plus two lots of sock wool and then there was the 100gt from the stripy sock club. And since we were away I didn't get much knitting done, and the only thing I got finished were those socks for the OH. 

May is currently looking better so I'm hoping for a happier outcome in three weeks time! Maybe I need to knit faster! 

I ran out of space...

 ... for fridge magnets. Seriously. Even though I did a cull when we moved, the magnetic board we have for them is full and even the set of metal cupboards I have for keeping sewing stuff in is now almost completely covered. I decided, since I've been sent a few button/pin badge type things over the past couple of years, that I would swap from collecting fridge magnets as holiday/outing  souvenirs to pins.

I wasn't quite sure how to display them, although I had fantasised about making a wall hanging, and then when I went to the wool show in Edinburgh recently I saw that one of the stall holders there used fabric in an embroidery hoop to display hers. 

What a good idea I thought. I could do that I thought. I even went so far as to buy an embroidery hoop when we went to Hobbycraft recently - ( another of those famous occasions where they don't have what you went for but you come away with something different anyway). 

It might have festered in the craft room for years,like so many other bits that I've collected because I had a Good Idea which I never had the nerve to put into practice but lo and behold! it didn't. Earlier today I ironed some calico, popped it into the hoop ( not anything I've ever done before) and then pinned on my badges. 

Et voila

Plenty of room for more. And honestly, for something that was so straightforward I am ridiculously pleased with myself for having done it. 

Day 4 Arezzo

 Of all the places we saw on our tour, and admitting that Florence, you know, is Florence and a place  apart, it was Arezzo that really stole our hearts. 

This was unexpected as our hotel was on the outskirts which were underwhelming, and we hadn't seen much of the city itself as we were being driven out to see Florence and Siena so it came as a surprise to find the city ( v.small city, it has to be said) so beautiful and full of interest. 

Most of the places of interest were churches, but this is Italy so that's a given, and they're mainly of interest, assuming they don't have random bits of a mummified saint to draw the crowds, because of the art and Arezzo was no exception. Apart from the churches  there are  the remains of an Etruscan Fort - top of  a hill outside the current city walls, it was very hot, no we didn't walk up to it!, the home of a famous poet and the home of an almost equally famous artist and architect. And it's buildings are beautiful and it's main square every bit as lovely as the one in Siena, if somewhat smaller. It even plays host to somethign similar to the Palio, an annual Saracen Joust. 

We had a group tour in the morning whihc took us all around the historic entre plus into two major churches; San Domenico and the Cathedral. After that it was time on your own and the OH and I opted for another church followed by a relaxed lunch on the square where we were serenaded by a violinist. I've got a short video from then but I've tried and failed to upload videos to the blog before so I won't be attempting that again. It's a lovely little memory though. And after that we went to Casa Vasari, the home of Renaissance artist Giorgio Vasari, who is thought of as one of the  first Art Historians, courtesy of writing a  famous  book entitled Lives of the Artists, Interesting fact; a paperback copy of this, together with another one of Benvenuto Cellini's Autobiography was the first Christmas present I bought the OH., decades ago now. 

So a few photos, from a very large collection that I took 

A few general views

The Square

The Poet's House ( Petrarch) sadly closed for renovation while we were there

The 'extra' church the Oh and I went to was San Francesco and the reason for that was to see the Piero della Francesco frescos there. Here's The Annunciation

As it happened we had already seen a small painting by della Francesco in the Cathedral. I hadn't known who it was by when I first caught sight of it. It's only the second painting I've ever encountered that has brought me to the brink of tears just looking at it. Obviously a photo does it no justice, but here it is, a picture of Mary Magdalene. Personally I'd take this single image over the whole of the fresco cycle in San Francesco., amazing though that is. I strongly suggest clicking on this to enlarge it which will give  abetter idea of how good it is. 

And from the Casa Vasari, a view of the garden

and one of the many beautiful frescos he decorated his walls and ceiling with 

This was our last day in the Arezzo area; the next day we travelled to Rome, via Assisi. But  that obvs., is another post