Summer Reading

Our grandson is the absolute light of my life, I love the bones of him and love being a nanny, but phew... I think I must have forgotten about littlies and all the germs they like to share around! Zackary goes to nursery the days we don't have him and has just had a nasty cold and chest infection. While I'm sure this is boosting his immunity being exposed to these nasties, it isn't doing a lot for me as I appear to be his favourite person to share them with and have been laid low recently with a bad chest, temperatures and cold.

It means I get some time to sit and read though, so I thought I'd share a few of the titles I've read recently with you.

I'm probably very late to the party here, but have discovered Marian Keyes. I picked up a copy of 'The Break' and just couldn't put it down.

It's not a book I would generally pick up, but fancied something a bit different and while it didn't make me laugh out loud, I did find it amusing in parts. I think what I enjoyed so much was the way I felt that I got to know the characters and felt caught up in their world. This is the blurb on Amazon about it

If only.

Amy's husband Hugh says he isn't leaving her.

He still loves her, he's just taking a break - from their marriage, their children and, most of all, from their life together. 

Six months in South-East Asia. And nothing she says can stop him.

But when does a break become a break up?

For a lot can happen in six months. And it's enough to send Amy and her family of gossips, misfits and troublemakers teetering over the edge.

When Hugh returns if he returns, will he be the same man she married? 

Will Amy be the same woman?

Because if Hugh is on a break from their marriage, then isn't she?

I actually felt a bit lost when I finished it and wanted more. Off to the charity shops where I found this

I didn't enjoy it as much as 'The Break', but 'The Other Side of the Story' was a good read and I shall now keep my eyes open for any more Marian Keyes books. Here's the blurb for this one from marian's site

The agent

Jojo, a high-flying literary agent on the up, has just made a very bad career move: she’s jumped into bed with her married boss, Mark …

The bestseller

Jojo’s sweet-natured client Lily’s first novel is a roaring success. She and lover Anton celebrate by spending the advance for her second book. Then she gets writer’s block…

The unknown

Gemma used to be Lily’s best friend – until Lily ‘stole’ Anton. Now she’s writing her own story – painfully and hilariously – when supershark Jojo stumbles across it …

Three girls hoping and sometimes needing to make it big in the publishing world. But did anybody ever tell them that there’s always another side to every story?

Change of pace now, after reading Paula Hawkins' 'Girl on a Train', I was keen to read her next book 'Into the Water'. 

Again, a thoroughly enjoyable read, page turner and told through different view points the same as her last book. Here's the blurb bit

Just days before her sister plunged to her death, Jules ignored her call.

Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules must return to her sister's house to care for her daughter, and to face the mystery of Nel's death.

But Jules is afraid. Of her long-buried memories, of the old Mill House, of this small town that is drowning in secrecy . . . 

And of knowing that Nel would never have jumped.

Another author I hadn't read before, Camilla Way and 'The Lies we Told'

A novel with lots of twists and turns, here's the blurb to entice you

A DAUGHTER

Beth has always known there was something strange about her daughter, Hannah. The lack of emotion, the disturbing behaviour, the apparent delight in hurting others… sometimes Beth is scared of her, and what she could be capable of.

A SON

Luke comes from the perfect family, with the perfect parents. But one day, he disappears without trace, and his girlfriend Clara is left desperate to discover what has happened to him.

A LIFE BUILT ON LIES

As Clara digs into the past, she realizes that no family is truly perfect, and uncovers a link between Luke’s long-lost sister and a strange girl named Hannah. Now Luke’s life is in danger because of the lies once told and the secrets once kept. Can she find him before it’s too late?

This next book I read was called 'No Escape' by Lucy Clarke, but the same book is also under the title 'The Blue'

I enjoyed it, but it wasn't as exciting as the others I've mentioned. Here's the amazon info on this one

When there’s danger in paradise, will you be the one to stay alive?

With a quick spin of the globe, Kitty and Lana escape their grey reality and journey to the Philippines. There they discover The Blue – a beautiful yacht, with a wandering crew.

They spend day after languorous day exploring the pristine white beaches and swimming beneath the stars, and Lana

drifts further away from the long-buried secrets of home.

But the tide turns when death creeps quietly on deck.

A dangerous swell of mistrust and lies threatens to bring the crew’s adventures to an end – but some won’t let paradise go…whatever the price.

They were a few I've picked up recently, still a big pile of books to read, isn't there always! Let me know what you think of them if you've read any.

Off to make a hot drink and open a fresh box of tissues

Take care

xxx

My Time in the Sunshine

I feel like I'm getting back in the swing of blog writing and have been posting on Instagram regularly, look at me getting all on top of everything! I've noticed I have a couple of new followers, I'd like to say hello (waving), please leave me a comment so I can come back and say hi to you to if you have a blog, and please come and say hi on Instagram too if you have an account

Wow, the weather has been amazing here in our little piece of England, until today when the clouds came. A bit overcast, but perhaps can be welcomed as a break from the intense heat we've had (we're just not used to it). It's due to return by the weekend, though we could really do with some rain, perhaps during the night when we're all in bed.

We've been eating outside and I think salad has become a staple in our diets, it's just been too hot to spend too much time in the kitchen. It helps that we have our own cucumbers from the greenhouse to add to them

I've been spending an hour or two reading in the garden on the days we don't have Zackary (impossible to do on a Zack day, far too much playing for us to do). I'll do a separate post about the books I've been reading recently on another day

A tub of sunshine, these Marigolds are really coming into their own now and are good for keeping little midges at bay as they don't like their scent.

This clump of Californian Poppies are from last year's crop, they just appeared at the side of our pond and look lovely they way they've naturally sprung up next to it. I may have to keep my eye on them next year though, don't want them to take over the area. I love watching how they change through the day, slowly closing in their petals as the day wears on.

The city centre looks quite beautiful in the sunshine too. This photo looks like it has a little statue of a child playing in the fountains, as lovely an idea as I think that would be, it's even better to watch the real children running back and forth and screaming with joy as the fountains change their patterns and soak them.

 There are seats all around too, and I you can see people smiling as they watch and listen to the little ones running about.

It's been so hot that the garden pond has needed topping up as it's level got lower and lower. We use water from the water butt as it's the closest type to what's already in the pond. It's a good job it's only a small pond!

I hope everyone else has been enjoying this glorious weather, I know it can get a bit much at times and we're just not used to it. I have felt sorry for Alfie and Honey with their thick coats (Gary's less dense, smooth white coat means he can enjoy the heat a little more). We put ice cubes in their water to help them keep cool and they sit in the shade away from the hot sun.

Take care
xxx

A Catch Up

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post. I've been a bit sporadic with my posting this year, so do really appreciate you all hanging on in there.

Half way through April already, it amazes me, but at least the better weather appears to be coming... I'm so ready for the summer, I hope we have a lovely, long summer this year (not too hot though) and can spend lots of time outside in the garden and at the park.

We've been a bit slow on the garden side of things this year, mainly because of the weather. Andrew went out the other day and used the jet washer on the patio after getting rid of all the bits of grass and weeds that grow between the slabs. He also found this plant growing in one of our containers. We didn't plant it, but it seems to be thriving.

I tried putting the photo into a reverse picture finder and it identified it as Impatiens even though it didn't actually look like the pictures it showed. I know a lot of you have beautiful green thumbs so if anyone can give me any information about it, I would love to know.

My boy has had a birthday since I last blogged. Big year for birthdays this year, Adam and I have had our big ones (Adam turned 30) and Imogen will be turning sweet 16 a week on Friday, then little Zackary will have his very first birthday in August.

Not impressed with Daddy's birthday

I didn't get to see my boy on his actual birthday as he went on a 24 hour fishing trip with a group of friends. He had lovely time even though it was very muddy.

I haven't done as much baking as I planned to, but did use up some left over bananas to make our favourite banana cake the other day.

I treated myself to a couple of new eggcups the other week, I think they're rather cute.

I recently read this book by C.L. Taylor, The Fear. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found myself picking it up whenever I had a spare moment. A good, pacey thriller, I recommend it.

I thought it'd be nice to round off with the flowers on my mantelpiece that my lovely Andrew brought home from the shops today.

It's quite late, so I'm off to bed and will make a start on catching up with everyone else's news.


Take care
xxx

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Just a chat

The days are dashing by and I don't feel I have anything much to show you this week. Yesterday afternoon I made a bolognese in the multi cooker so we could have it for tea with some pasta (we're having it again tonight with some wedges and there should still be enough left so I can put a portion in the freezer).

While I sat on my perching stool stirring and adding ingredients, I was also able to use a foot to keep rocking this little mister in his chair. I gave him a running commentary so I'm hoping he'll be able to help when his old enough!

A nice strong cup of tea for Andrew with a couple of Tunnocks to boost his afternoon energy levels. I drank my cup before I thought to take a photo.

Tea for us and milk for Zackary. I fed both my babies myself (Adam until he was 18 months and Imogen until she was 2 1/2), but I think I'm becoming an expert at making up and giving bottles.

Imogen's had an interesting week. Last week she went to see a local sixth form college and felt quite excited by the choices, this week she went to an open day at the college in town, not really expecting to want to go there, but just to see what they had to offer. What a turn around, Imogen is now hoping to go to this college, depending on her exam results in August. It's been mock exams this week (and next week too) so Imogen has been working hard... I really wouldn't want to be a teenager again!

I've decided that it's unlikely I'll finish Zachary's cross stitch stocking in time for christmas, so I've put it to the side for now so I can concentrate on Imogen's jumper and anything else that needs doing. I've been so tired recently that when we settle down in the evening, I don't really have the energy to start crafting.

I haven't been reading much either, I don't seem to get past more than a couple of pages before my head begins to nod. I have finished reading this book by Tess Gerritson (I've read and enjoyed a few of her books)

The little bit of spiel on Goodreads says:

'An experiment on micro-organisms conducted in space goes wrong. The cells begin to infect the crew with deadly results. Emma Watson struggles to contain the deadly microbe while her husband and NASA try to retrieve her from space, before it's too late.'

It was very good, quite a page turner at times and I definitely recommend it.

That's about my lot this week, daily jobs and keeping warm... and starting to get a few Christmas presents together.

Take care

xxx

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Waiting and Reading

Today's the day our grandson is due to enter the world... I think he is quite comfortable where he is though, but hopefully will make his grand entrance soon. I've had a bit of a tummy bug so I don't mind that he hasn't arrived yet as I wouldn't want to visit in case I pass on any germs. Holly was due to get a 'stretch and sweep' yesterday, which may have started things off, but the little man had disengaged so it wasn't possible, understandably she's getting a bit fed up.

I've finished a couple of books so thought I'd drop in and tell you about them. First one was 'The Woman who went to Bed for a Year' by Sue Townsend.

It's about an ordinary housewife, Eva Beaver, unappreciated, put upon and taken for granted, who decides to just go to bed and stay there. We meet all sorts of weird and wonderful people and I found the book quite amusing. I thought the ending was a little rushed and left lots of things open, but I did enjoy it.

The next book was 'The Perfect Girl' by Gilly MacMillan.

I really enjoyed it, told in parts by 4 different people. The main character is 17 year old Zoe, a music prodigy who was involved in a devastating and life changing accident. We enter her story when she's part of her 'second chance family', trying to pretend the past hasn't happened, but what happens next destroys that.

I could work out as I read what was going to happen, or what had happened, but it was a page turner and I definitely recommend it.

That's me for today, still not feeling too well so I think I may go in the garden and get some sunshine and fresh air.

Take care
xxx

Book Review and some Pom Poms

Thank your all the well wishes, my teeth are sorted out, hope that doesn't happen again in a hurry! Big yea here, the school summer holidays have begun and I have my girl at home for the next 6 weeks... well I say at home, but I'm sure she'll have plenty of things planned independent of 'the 'rents' (that'd be parents to the rest of us) or sometimes 'the parental units', oh they grow up so fast. We will have lots of family time too, days out together, family evenings and of course the welcoming of our grandson and Imogen's nephew in the next couple of weeks.

The latest book I read was called 'The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox' by Maggie O'Farrell, not my usual thriller, but just as enjoyable. I picked it up in the clearance section at the back of our WHSmiths in town, they have quite a decent size selection of clearance books priced from 50p so it's often worth a look through.

Esme (how I adore that name) has been a patient in a psychiatric hospital for over 60 years and is being discharged due to the closure of the hospitals. I know when many of the old psychiatric hospitals closed in this country, there were many older people (particularly women) who had spent their entire lives in them, sent away as young girls for being 'difficult' or perhaps for getting pregnant. Such a travesty, their young lives stolen away from them and many endured many horrors in these institutions.

Anyway... Esme has been away for a long while with no visits, forgotten by everyone, her only sister now an elderly lady with dementia and just a great niece left in the family. Her story is told through fractured memories and is quite a story. Well worth reading.


I've finished knitting my latest baby cardigan, it just needs buttons then I shall take a quick picture and show you. I'm having a break from baby knitting and crochet for a while, I've started making pom poms.

I've made about 24 so far and still have a great deal left to make. I think I'm getting pom poms wrist, shoulder and even fingers from snipping them, so may need to slow down or have a day off

I am glad I have my trusty pom pom maker, it definitely makes it much easier than when I used to cut circles out of cardboard and have to squish the wool through the hole that I'd cut in the middle, remember making them like that when you were a child? I won't show you what I'm making just yet, but wait till it gets a bit further along.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Take care
xxx

Joining a Seam, Stars and a Good Book

Thank you for all the lovely comments and good wishes for Imogen. Her knee is still swollen, but so much better than it was and she's getting round with more ease now. Also some good news for my parents, the operation my dad had to remove his cancer, though it was very intrusive has actually removed all the cancer with no need for follow up radio or chemotherapy. With his leaking heart valve, this is very good news indeed. Dad still has to have a scan to check out the mass on his adrenal gland, but the consultant said it isn't linked to the cancer he has had removed as it doesn't travel that way through the body. We're all hoping it may be a fatty mass and nothing to worry about, this will leave the open heart surgery then hopefully good, steady recovery and life resuming as much back to normal as is possible, onwards and upwards!

On the grandson countdown, we have under 4 weeks now until the due date. I crocheted a little blanket (the idea was from the blog Just Pootling) and knitted a little hat to match.

I love the off white stars against the dark grey background and I thought the pom poms gave the hat some more personality.

Andrew very kindly laid them out and took photos before they were added to the pile of goodies for Imogen to take to the baby shower on Saturday. I think one of my favourite things was a very soft, pale blue bunny with long floppy ears that I picked up one day in a garden centre, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

I thought as I've just sewn the pieces of the hat together, I'd quickly take a couple of photos to show how easy it is to sew knitted items together in a seamless way.

In the photos above and below, I've taken the needle and picked up the tiny stitches from 'inside' the larger 'V' of the knitted stitch. I then did the same on the opposite side, taking from inside the 'V' stitches again.

After working my way down both sides and pulling the thread, it looks seamless. It would be better if I'd shown you in a contrasting colour, but I just took the pictures as I was sewing it together.

The top of the hat is sewn in a similar manner and makes a neat seam.

When the knitted fabric meets end to end like this, I take my stitches by pushing the needle under both posts of a 'V' stitch (photo below).

I then too the needle under the 2 posts of the 'V' stitch that lays directly opposite it

Again, it makes for a good, smooth join.

I mentioned in my last post that I had a good book on the go. I See You by Clare Mackintosh. It was my first book from this author, but I shall definitely be picking up another of her books, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A thriller (my favourite type), which kept me turning the pages from beginning to end. Set in London, an 'ordinary' woman spots a photo of herself in the classified ads in her local paper, very unnerving, yet her family think she's paranoid and it isn't her. The next week a different woman's picture appears and people start dying...


I'm having a declutter this afternoon, so back to the cupboards for me.

Take care
xxx

What's Going On?

The answer to that is lots! My dad has had his first operation to deal with the cancer and is slowly (and painfully) recuperating at home. Hopefully it has all been removed and we're going onwards and upwards, though the day before he went for the operation, his Macmillan nurse rang to wish him well and also let them (my parents) know that the scans he'd had had all shown clear except for a small mass on his adrenal gland, which may or may not be nothing, but will have to be investigated. So that is something else to be done before dad has his heart operation to fix his leaky heart valve. One step at a time, one day at a time.

Meanwhile, up in Yorkshire not as much is going on as there should be. I have a few projects on the go, but the only thing I've managed to get finished this week is my book! I finished it earlier while waiting for the plumber to come and fix our shower (the second time within a fortnight), it really isn't the weather for the shower to decide to stop working - very hot and sticky here.

I was near the end and wanted to find out how it would wrap up as it had such good reviews, but it didn't 'grab' me like I'd hoped it would.

What Alice Knew by T. A. Cotterell was written from Alice's viewpoint. A successful artist, happily married to her successful husband with two children with a happy life, until..... her husband goes missing and odd things start happening. The author spent a great deal of time talking about art and the artists view of life, which I'm afraid was a little lost on me. I saw the ending twist coming, so no big surprise for me there either. I'm sure many people will love the language and descriptions, but it wasn't a favourite read for me and I'm not sure I'd read another book from this author.

So while I was busy finishing off my book, I wasn't busy finishing off my crafty projects. This is what I have underway at the moment.

Only 8 weeks until my sweet grandson comes into the world and here are parts of a quilt I'm making for him. The middle of the front is ready and I have some lovely, brushed cotton for the sides and back.

This project is some oilcloth material cut to make bunting for the garden, it just needs sewing onto some tape and it'll be ready to hang outside. I also cut some small pieces to hang around the fairy garden.

On my crochet hook, or just off it as it's now just waiting to be sewn together, is another grandbaby project. Here are lots of little stars waiting in a pile to be sewn in place.

This is where my stars will be shining, on this blanket that will soon be ready for my baby's baby!

Hopefully my next post will have finished projects show you!

I hope everyones's enjoying the weather whatever you have and you're having more success finishing off your projects than I am right now.

Take care
xxx