The Odyssey

 

We're trying to take things fairly easy this week. The grandsons left on Monday and we don't have  a lot in the calendar just now and we're trying to keep it that way. This is  partly to recover, and partly to catch up on admin, cleaning and whatever else got left 'until later' while they were here. I daresay I shall chronicle our adventures, such as they were in due course. Meanwhile the OH suggested we go and see The Odyssey. Everyone's talking about it, our sons had been to see it, it was on locally (and cheap!) so off we went. 

If you follow me on Facebook you will already know how I felt about it. If you don't let's just say my impressions were negative. Actually, let's not just say that, let's be honest. We both loathed it. We did get a few laughs and I allowed myself a bag of sweets but that was about it for positives. 

If you're interested then Emily Wilson, recent and skilled translator (as above) of what I daresay Nolan referred to as his 'source text', summed up most of what I felt about it here and expressed it rather better than I could. I don't agree with her giving them a pass on using Americanisms because they jar horribly. How do you feel about references to 'A Trojan vet' (as in, someone who fought at Troy, rather than someone who looked after injured horses) and men calling women 'ma'am' while dressed in an approximation of bronze age clothing and armour? 

The script was atrocious, some of  the casting was  odd, although to be fair some of the acting was fine, although again,  not that much of it) the balance of the storytelling was weird, and it had an ending Homer never dreamed of. The main problem was that it wasn't alien enough. Bronze Age people didn't think or act like we do. Trying to make Odysseus a flawed hero suffering from ultimately resolved PTSD (eat lotus flowers in the company of someone looking like a Raquel Welch wannabe - if only it was that simple ) doesn't work.  This was basically a Hollywood WW2 movie in fancy dress with C20 attitudes and sensibilities. and it was awful. 

It was also far too long and too loud. The action sequences were too drawn out and some of the special effects (Polyphemus, I'm looking at you) not well done.  

It's an accepted thing currently to regard the Odyssey as a text that is about 'Going Home'; do you want to, how do you do it, and how do you know when you've arrived. All I can say to that is that we certainly knew that we wanted to get home long before we were released to do so, and that we had no trouble realising when we'd arrived. 

I'm usually meticulous here in saying 'don't take my word, try things for yourself, just because I didn't like something  doesn't mean you won't think it's great' , but in this instance I'm going to say you have better ways of spending your time and your money than going to see this appalling film. 

Still here and still relatively busy....

 

On Saturday we went to the Annual Exhibition of Scottish Printmakers which is held at the University of Stirling. I found out about it from a printmaker from whom I get a newsletter; not sure I remember signing up for it - I mean, I'm sure I did, but I have no conscious memory of it. Anyway she was one of the 40-odd printmakers chosen to exhibit this year and I thought it sounded fun and a bit different, so we roped in my friend D and the three of us went for a mooch. 

As you will see from the photo above it was busy. There were three aisles with artists on both sides and this was probably a relatively quiet moment in that particular aisle. Lots of different sorts of prints; both in the way they were made and the subject matter, and obviously not all to my taste but it was fun to see the variety on show. D did actually buy a print, I restrained myself and just picked up lots of business cards for future reference. The OH pointed to me out that Abbie Lois wasn't there, and I pointed out to him that that was hardly surprising since all her stuff seems currently to be in Birnam. 

After our initial trawl around we stopped for a drink. I made the mistake of ordering a white Americano. The cup was overfilled and there was hardly any milk in it so the liquid was very very hot and it was impossible to take off the top, to add sweetener, without being flooded by  hot coffee ( not to mention  scalding finger ends) In the end, when it still wasn't cool enough to go near, even after D had finished her cup of tea I abandoned it - a lesson learned for any future trip to that particular part of Stirling Uni. I'm in two minds about whether to write to the catering manager and suggest s/he ensures that everyone operating their coffee machines has been properly trained. because you know, if I were American, I would be preparing to sue right now :-) But I probably won't because I'm British and we tend to shrug these things off with a 'well there's nothing to be done about it now' .

After another tour round the prints we decamped to the local small town of Bridge  of  Allan which was heaving with people. This made it a bit difficult to find anywhere nice for lunch, but we did manage to find somewhere in the end and we followed that up with a look around a few shops. Bridge of Allan has some very nice shops. And then we came home and I was so tired I watched some gymnastics (European Women's Championships) and then went to bed for three hours. A generally ( burnt fingers notwithstanding) happy day.

And now - 

This can only mean one thing - the grandchildren are arriving very shortly ( in about two hours in fact if the Lumo train doesn't let us down. ) So filled cake tins, and a few flexible plans made for the coming week. Please bear with me if blog posts are neglected while they are here. 

M I A and July Book Review

 

I am still not over my tooth extraction whihc sounds wimpish but it wasn't until yesterday that I managed a full day without a painkiller . Today the pain is at a low level so I am hopeful that it will be totally gone in a couple of days. The gum is closing up nicely and the stitches have gone so that's all progress. 

So, July books. Somehow no J D Kirk! how can this be? but Mick Herron made three appearances. This was because The Catch and Slow Horses were my falling asleep to books in July and I suspect a  re-listen of the whole series is on the cards for the next few months. I also read a physical copy of Clown Town because the quality of the audio book was abysmal and I was sure I had missed things when (trying to) listen. 

Rounding off the crime books this time was the Crime Fiction group choice; The Sting in Her Tale by Mark Ezra. This was generally enjoyed by everyone, including me,  as a 'light summer read' but coincidences and unlikely escapes stretch credulity which is always a bit of a no-no for me. I don't regret the time reading it, especially as it didn't take long , but I won't be bothering with the next in the series. 

I met someone at the Gaskell Society Conference who is doing a Ph D on the uses of fairy tale and the fantastic in other genres, and I mentioned Nicholas Stuart Gray to her. This led to me sending her more info and to a re-read  of The Seventh Swan. It's the story of the seventh brother in the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale; the one whose shirt wasn't quite finished in time and who was therefore left with a swan's wing. It's not my favourite of his but I still love it and I took the opportunity of it being down from the shelf to re-read it. 

I took advantage of 2 x 99p deals on Kindle in July and bought and read Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay and The Cromarty Library Circle by Shona Maclean. Written on the Dark was standard GG Kay fare; his writing is quite mannered and I find certain of his stylistic tics irritating but the plots are good and the characterisation done with more subtlety than might normally be expected in books like this. It was fun to read of an alternative medieval Europe in which the English lost Agincourt and Joan of Arc was saved from burning. The Cromarty Library Circle, an historical novel set (where else?) in the small Scottish town of Cromarty in the 1830s was really interesting; a slow burn but a very satisfying one. 

And finally  a whole bunch of people  recommended A Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans to me. I didn't think I had heard of her before but I find she wrote the book on which the film 'Their finest' was based, and which I did see and enjoy years ago.  It seems a lot of her books are set in or just after World War 2. This one is a 'Just After' one and I loved it. What there is of plot is quite gentle but the characters, while being based in some cases on recognisable types, are finely and sympathetically drawn. It's not at all sentimental though as Evans can be quite caustic in her descriptions, but it's very honest and all her people are understandable and most of them you feel some empathy for. I'm not generally fond of small children in grown up novels but there is one here who is a triumph; instantly recognisable by anyone who has had experience of a toddler. Wholeheartedly recomnended by me and I plan to read some more. 

A New Jigsaw

 I know, what excitement (slightly sarcastic sigh!) 

This is another from the 'Dinner With ..  an artist ' series; obviously this one is Van Gogh. I'd had it on my Amazon wishlist for several years and no-one had bought it, so recently, when I was looking for something to take me over the limit for free postage I treated myself. 

Like all of these puzzles it's lovely when finished. They're generally just challenging enough; I have to say this one was perhaps the hardest of the ones I've done,because the sky was a pain, but I persevered and overall I really enjoyed doing it. Definitely a keeper but I must get around to doing some more that are destined for the charity shop soon. 

It also kept my mind off how rubbish I was feeling after my dental surgery. That was on Thursday and it wasn't until last night (Saturday) that I started feeling anything like my usual self, and that was a usual self operating at about 50%. Just another reminder that the older you get the longer you take to recover I suppose. Feeling even better today so I suppose it's onwards and upwards from now. Hope so anyway. 

Happy Birthday - from me to me.

 I'm not five, so I'm not going to do a list of 'wot I got for my birfday' , but  since it was a milestone one  I did treat myself, and bought a one day weaving workshop from Radical Weavers in Stirling. They do several different ones, but this one promised me that I would bring home a three coloured scarf so that was the one I went for. Most of August was booked up when I looked, but they had one space left on 1st August, just before my birthday, so I booked it. 

It was an early start, I had to be in Stirling and ready to go by 9.30 which is  a bit of an ask, depending on how ready you are to take a risk on the train that gets you somewhere just in time not being cancelled - that's not a risk I'm particularly willing to take when I've shelled out a significant amount of money for an all day activity. 

I've wanted to try weaving for a long time - hence the purchase of the tiny weaving kit while on holiday and which excited me enough to spur me into looking for a local workshop. There was someone in Orkney who taught weaving, but it was in six week blocks and we were never in Orkney for six consecutive weeks when she was doing the lessons. And then, when I had decided I would make sure that we were there, by dint of not booking anything until the dates for the weaving classes went up, they stopped appearing and when I messaged to enquire I got ghosted. Turns out the teacher and her husband were all caught up in building themselves a new house and she had no time for teaching,  but I can't help feeling that she could have found two minutes to message me with that information. 

Leaving that aside, now I've had a grumpy rant about it, I did finish the Stirling workshop and I did come away with a three coloured scarf and I am more or less happy with  it.. Here's a photo. 

If you've been paying attention at the back you'll realise I used the same inspiration photo for this as I did for my dyeing at Lay Family Yarn in June. Same picture, totally different effect. I'm not happy with the edges which, despite my best efforts, are a bit iffy but I know that's mainly because it was my first go and therefore a learning experience and that if I were to continue weaving they would get better. 

However I am not going to continue weaving*. I had not appreciated quite how tiring it is physically. We worked from 9.30 to 5.30 with about 40 minutes for lunch and I was exhausted long before  finishing time. Also I was bored. I know lots of people find weaving meditative and mindful and that's fine, but I didn't. I found  it dull and repetitive and totally unstimulating. I'm obviously not wired to be a weaver. But at least now I know! 

*well except for finishing the kit coaster which I'm 2/3rds of the way through. 

A Very Big Birthday

is what I celebrated earlier this week. I'm not saying quite how big it was, but those who remember Project 60  can easily work it out.

To celebrate the OH and Son No 2 and I all went out for afternoon tea at a posh local hotel. 

The food was delicious , although they could possibly have made some of the sandwiches in brown bread,  and I would have liked the offer of a second pot of tea. But those are my only really tiny niggles. They had taken on board that we didn't want anything fishy and the carrot cake had little chocolate rectangles that said Happy Birthday on them. So full marks for that. 

And I am fairly reconciled to hitting this particular landmark by reflecting that I neither look nor feel my age. That said it's been a bit of a week. 

On Monday I went to the dentist with what I thought was a gum infection which could be cured by either time or antibiotics. One x-ray later and she's recommending that she refer me to an oral surgeon for  a possibly tricky extraction. So guess where I'm going tomorrow? all the way up to that there Embra to get a tooth out. Half the time I think, well it's only having a tooth out, it's not as though you haven't had it done several times before, and the other half of the time I think ' but that's been by a normal dentist, why do I need something different now?'  And then I sway back to 'but if the OS is the expert then that's the best place to go'. And then generally I just do a mental calculation of how in X hours it will all be behind me. In addition to all this I went to see a physiotherapist this morning in an attempt to get my back sorted before our big holiday in October. 

So all in all the Big Birthday was the least of my worries! 

Wool Stats and Finished Projects for June

 Stats are good for the first time in ages. Wool in in July was Nil. Nada. Nuffink. Hooray! Albeit this was partly down to the late arrival of the Madrigal Yarn Sock club, but you know, I'll take that. 

Wool out was 447g. There were three finished projects this month. 

A scarf knitted with some wool that arrived in a swap

The socks from the June club yarn, which are for son no 2

And Freddie the Fox, which was a kit I bought very recently and made more or less straight away. The balance of the wool out went into a long term project.

Net decrease for the year is now 1986g. It's slow work getting it down, but I suppose that's what happens when most of your wool stash is 4-ply!