A mixed bag

Another week that has whizzed by and it is time for Five On Friday again. As usual I am linking with Amy from Love Made My Home.


This week has mainly consisted of me working - I swapped my work days around this week and worked on Monday instead of my usual Thursday. It is surprising how just doing that throws out my routine. 


1.  However the swap was for a good reason, it was to allow us to go to the theatre in Southampton yesterday to see Mamma Mia. What a fantastic time we had, the show is absolutely brilliant - this was such a feel good production and the music arrangements were spot on and so like the original Abba versions.

2.  So, what has been happening on the crafting front this week?  Well the answer is not a lot. Some sock knitting and crocheting a jellyfish is about it.


Here is the progress on my sock:

I have just finished the gusset and am now starting on the foot. However I will have to put this on one side for a bit as I have a crochet cot blanket to complete in the next couple of weeks for a work colleague so I need to crack on with that. 


Unfortunately I didn't get to take a photo of the crochet jellyfish I made - also for a work colleague. It was the same design as the one shown below but in cloud blue and royal blue.

3.  I have started using a planner to try and be more organised and make the most of my days. These seem to be big at the moment and people seem to decorate them in the most elaborate ways. At the moment I just have a few stickers and some washi tape and my lovely fine liner pens to use and this is very early days on my planning journey. I really just want to keep track of what I am doing with my days, what books I have read, what craft projects I am working on/completed etc. We will see how this goes.

4.  Reading: I have just finished an excellent book this week. It is The Storm Sister by Lucinda Riley. This is the second in the Seven Sister's series and I am eagerly awaiting the third which is due out in November. This was a long book but one where you really get swept along by the storytelling. This book was mainly set in Norway which is a country I have visited and somehow that seemed to give the book extra meaning for me. Below you will find an extract written by the author as to how she came to be inspired to write this series.

I was originally inspired to write the series in 2013, as I looked up at the Pleiades star cluster one night, at home here in North Norfolk. Known as the Seven Sisters, I was intrigued by the mythology behind the stars and decided to bring these sisters into our modern world. If you look up at the night sky, the Seven Sisters can be seen from virtually anywhere in the world; they shine from dusk until dawn and their stories have been told by countless different cultures for millennia. You’ll notice that you might only see six stars, as the seventh star is the famous lost Pleaid 

The series begins as Maia D’Aplièse and her five sisters gather in their childhood home of Atlantis – a beautiful castle on the shores of Lake Geneva – after the death of their adoptive father, the elusive billionaire they call Pa Salt. Discovering that he has mysteriously already been buried at sea, each sister is handed a tantalising clue about her true heritage. 

This clue takes Maia on a journey to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she begins to piece together the truth about her ancestry, and learns about the passionate Izabela Bonifacio, who lived during Rio’s Belle Epoque, 1927. 

The Seven Sisters continues with Ally’s story, ‘The Storm Sister’. Her journey will lead her to the magnificent fjords and stunning scenery of Norway, accompanied by the haunting music of Edvard Grieg

I have just moved on to read The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins. Early days yet but it looks promising.

5.  Walking: We don't seem to be fitting in as many walks as I would like, partly because when we have time the weather doesn't seem to co-operate and life seems to have been very busy just lately. We did manage to fit in a walk last Friday so I will show you a few photos from that. This was the Longparish Riverdance walk which we have done several times but the scenery does change with the seasons, there are signs of Autumn everywhere now and it won't be long before we get the glorious Autumn colours which I love. This walk criss-crosses the River Test and its tributaries many times and there is always something interesting to see - it was good to see the Red Admiral butterfly still around this late in the year. We also saw a Comma butterfly but he/she wasn't hanging around to have a camera lens pointed at it!

Well that is my five for this week. I hope you have enjoyed them. Please do go and visit Amy's blog where you will find links to lots more 'five' posts.

                   

Love Made My Home

The return of Five On Friday

Five On Friday returns today from its Summer break and I am linking with Amy from Love Made My Home who hosts this weekly event. 


I thought I would round up my Summer break this week before I return to school on Monday. I do apologise to anyone who follows me on Instagram as you might have seen a few of these photos on there.


1.  Crochet projects:-  

August has definitely been a crafting month for me with lots of progress on my charity blankets as well as a couple of other projects.


Here is my latest finish plus a photo of the one I am working on at the moment.

The colours for this one were inspired by my Cath Kidston coffee mug!

I discovered this pattern online recently, it crochets up very quickly

2.  Cross Stitch:-

Up until five years ago my all-consuming passion was cross-stitching but after my father passed away I completely lost my stitching mojo and have only done a few odd bits since then. However a friend asked me last weekend if I had done any stitching lately and somehow that ignited a spark and I suddenly was inspired to start stitching again. I have only started on a small straight-forward piece but have really enjoyed the three days I have spent stitching this week.

3.  Craft Meet-up

As regular readers will know I meet up once a month with some of my crafting friends for a day of crafting and fun, this time it was hosted by Sarah at her home in Whittlesey. We had a wonderful day finishing off with a barbecue which was enjoyed by our other halves as well. 

The day didn't quite end as planned. As our journey to Whittlesey is 3 hours+ we had booked into a hotel and had planned to drive home the next day. However as Sarah's DH was preparing the barbecue an almighty thunder storm was approaching as you can see from the photos below. The rain did hold off until almost the end of the barbecue but when we got to our hotel and were shown our room we found the sash window had been left wide open. The carpet and the bed were saturated. Unfortunately they had no other vacant rooms and were unable to find us another hotel in the Peterborough area with a room so we had no option but to make the long journey home. Seven hours driving in a day is not my idea of fun (my DH doesn't do motorway driving) but we arrived home safely if a little exhausted!

4. Butterflies and Bees

I have chosen plants for our garden this year that attract butterflies and bees and I am happy to say that it certainly has achieved that aim and it is good to see the bees are collecting lots of pollen from the sedums. Here are a few of the photos that I have taken this week.

5. Books

I haven't managed so much reading as I had intended during the holiday period and stuck to fairly light easy reading when I was away. I have so many books stacked up that I really must stop using my iPad as much and start reading more again. I am still reading Islands, this book is by a debut author. It is written in the present tense which is quite unusual but so far that hasn't stopped me being engrossed with the storyline.

Please go and explore the other Five On Friday posts by clicking on the link below.

                   

Love Made My Home

The Year In Books - March

It is time to choose my reading for March and join in with the Year In Books hosted by Laura at Circle of Pine Trees.

My selection for March are the following:-

Now for the reviews of the books I read during February:


My first read was this one which was originally one of my January reads that I didn't manage to complete in that month.

This was the first book I have read by Freya North and it certainly won't be the last. It features Frankie who is a single parent who has recently escaped London and moved to Norfolk with her children. On a trip to London she meets Scott, a musician and single parent from Canada and immediately there is chemistry between the two of them. Can they make their long distance relationship work? There is an unexpected twist towards the end of the book - The Turning Point of the title.

My next read was The Trouble With Goats and Sheep. 

If I am honest I am still not sure about this one, it certainly wasn't the worst book I have ever read but neither was it the best. The start was promising and there were parts I really enjoyed with touches of humour and some good descriptive writing but I felt it didn't really go anywhere - the 'mystery' was not really much of a mystery and I found the ending disappointing, it didn't really tie up any of the loose ends. I just feel this book didn't live up to all the hype but as I seem to be in the minority with this view, perhaps the fact that my reading time was limited to a quick read before going to sleep each night could be the reason that it just didn't flow for me.


It was then time to pick up Amy Snow by Tracy Rees and this was one that kept me engrossed from start to finish and reading way past the time when I should have settled down to sleep.

This is a debut novel and began when a baby was found lying abandoned in the snow. The book was full of interesting and well-developed characters with an engaging and intriguing plot although perhaps in places it was a little drawn out. Never the less this book is beautifully written and I will definitely look out for more books by this author in the future.


My last choice for February is one that I have only just started so will continue with that one before starting on my March reads and I will review it with this months books.

The Year in Books, hosted by Circle of Pine Trees, is now in its third year and is a project aimed at ensuring we make time for reading in our busy lives. It's open to everyone and you can join in at any time via your blog, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram or Goodreads. For more information, visit http://circleofpinetrees.com/year-books-information/ 

The Year In Books - February

I have really enjoyed participating during January in the Year In Books hosted by Laura at Circle of Pine Trees and am looking forward to continuing throughout the year. The aim is to read at least one book a month.


Unlike most book clubs we usually select the books we wish to read rather than all reading the same, however for February the plan is for as many people as possible to read The Trouble With Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon. I was lucky enough to be selected by Laura to receive a free copy of this book from Harper Collins. 


My choices for February are:- 

I initially only selected one book to read in January but I did add more books to my January reads as I went through the month.

The first book I read was In Falling Snow. This was a very interesting read. The main character was Iris, an Australian, who travelled to France in WW1 to find her brother who had signed up to fight during WW1 despite not being of age. She intended to find Tom and bring him home. However before she found Tom she discovered an old abbey at Royaumont where a group of women were working to set up a field hospital. Iris decided to stay and help. The story goes back and forth from WW1 to the days back in Australia when Iris was an old woman who had just received an invitation to travel to France once again to attend a reunion at Royaumont. Her granddaughter, a doctor, tried to persuade her that she was too old and frail to make the journey. But does she decide to go? 

My second read was Bill Bryson's The Road to Little Dribbling. This is a continuation of his book Notes From A Small Island twenty years on. I had heard reports that this was not as good as the first one but I have to say that I really enjoyed it. Lots of laugh out loud moments, I found this book hard to put down. Yes, he is more cranky than he used to be but I guess as we get older we all suffer the same fate and I have to say that in many cases I agreed totally with what he was saying. Part of the book was about some areas I know well and he was absolutely spot on with his descriptions. 

My third read was The Turning Point by Freya North. I still have about 20% of the book to read so I will review this at the end of February along with my February reads. I have never read one of Freya's books before and am really enjoying it and wondering why I haven't picked one up before.

I think to get through all my February reads I will need to not spend so much time on my iPad during the evenings and crack on with reading earlier than I currently do, when I am usually so tired that I find myself drifting off to sleep before I have read very much.

Favourite books from my childhood

I am joining in with Amy from Love Made My Home blog for the Five On Friday posts. I haven't joined in with this for ages so decided that it was about time I did!


My Five On Friday for this week is all about my five favourite books from my childhood. I loved to read from a young age but what really inspired me to start on a life-long habit of reading were books by Enid Blyton. I devoured most of her many books, far too many to pick a favourite so I am leaving her out of the equation for this post. I know she is frowned upon as an author in many circles today but I loved them and they did kickstart my reading habit so that can't be a bad thing can it? As long as you move on to read other authors and genres I don't see there is a problem.


Anyway to get onto the books I have chosen (in no particular order):-

I still love the illustrations from Beatrix Potter books today, wonderful stories that I shared with my own children

A story about Mary, a spoilt and disagreeable but lonely girl who was sent to live with her Uncle and how she discovered a magical locked and hidden garden

The adventures of Anne Shirley who was mistakenly sent to live with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert instead of the boy that they had wanted to adopt to help out on their farm

This delightful story about the Ruggles family who were a poor but happy family who made their own fun and adventures

Cheating a bit with this one as I couldn't just pick one of the series, I loved them all

I know I date myself from the selection I have made here but these are books I read more than once over the years and got something new from them every time. Am I the only person that re-reads my favourite books?