Making a spectacle of myself

Making a spectacle of myself

 

I have umpteen pairs of spectacles according to the way in which my eyes are focussing at any one moment.  Of these I have three standard pairs – a distance pair , a reading pair and a general pair for walking and moving around in. Of these the latter by far the most important.  They are only ones that don’t give me exaggerated double vision and headaches and which are blurred enough for me to be able to move around without mistaking where things are and bumping into doors, knocking things off worktops, etc. They are also the only pair which I can use to handle anything sharp or dangerous like an electric saw because I can actually see exactly where the item is – even if it’s not sharply focussed.

So guess which pair I broke yesterday? I am in what is commonly known as deep excrement…

And talking of that, the outside stop-tap is being fitted on Saturday (the Gods willing) so we had to move the compost heap this morning.  Thankfully, Son-who-watches-films did it for me so I just watched. 

Meanwhile Partner-who-loves-tea continues to cultivate the flu bug but is slightly better and appreciates all your good wishes. 

Would you like to see pictures of the progress of the kitchen.  Hard luck!  It’s in abeyance and causing problems. 

This has been a bit of a moan so far so here are a couple of cheerful things.

An anniversary present

This was Richard’s Silver Wedding anniversary present to us in October – a selenite lamp.  We had one which Partner-who-loves-tea bought me in 2009 for my birthday (see here) and we had always wanted another one.  Amazingly, this one is a perfect match so we now have a matching pair on the window ledge.

Puss (almost) in boots

 

“What are you reading?”

“Smells good – it must be a cookery book!”

“That’s a an interesting comment!”

Purr...

Have yuou ever tried writing an e-mail or a blog ;posrting with a kitten sitting on ha;f of thebkeyboard?  I can assure you it isn’t easy.  But she’s purring away –0 what can a chap do?  I HIT HER NISE N THE WAY PAST BUT SHE DOESN@T SEEm tO CARE ) SHE JUSTVPURRS AWYA>

I might as well just let her write it -

They are still messing around in the kitchen - I don't know why they're changing this cupboard.  Looks quite interesting as it is... 

OK - I've found Amazon - now where are the cat toys?

I'm bored, can we have the TV on please? 

 

A Book Posting

This is a list of books I have read since I last posted on my book blog.  I have rated them out of ten but not made much of an attempt to tell you about them.  Hopefully the best ones will be reviewed on my book blog at some stage.

Guy Gavriel Kay – Sailing to Sarantium (1998) – Brilliant mix of history, politics, drama and fantasy set in a fictional representation of the Byzantine Empire. 10/10 (It would get 11/10 for story-telling but like all of Kay’s books it doesn’t stretch one’s linguistic abilities and the quotable bits are fairly rare though there is some good philosophy in it.)

Guy Gavriel Kay – Lord Of Emperors (2000) – Sequel to the above. 10/10

Guy Gavriel Kay – Tigana. (1990) Fantasy 9/10

Guy Gavriel Kay – Last Light of the Sun (2004) Fantasy evocative of the Celtic and Norse cultures. 10/10

Guy Gavriel Kay – Under Heaven (2010). Pseudo-8^th Century China - fantasy. 10/10

Guy Gavriel Kay – A Song for Arbonne (1992).  8/10 The first of his books I read and the one which set me looking for more.

Guy Gavriel Kay – The Lions of Al-Rassan (1995) 8/10 Fantasy set in a version of medieval Spain.

Guy Gavriel Kay – Fionavar Tapestry series

1. The Summer Tree (1984)

2. The Wandering Fire (1986)

3. The Darkest Road (1986)

A wonderful series with modern man (and woman) transported across into another world – one of many woven in the tapestry.  10/10

Guy Gavriel Kay – Ysabel (2007) If you only read one of Kay’s books read this one or Sailing to Sarantium.  On one holy, haunted night of the ancient year, when the borders between the living and the dead are down and fires are lit upon the hills, Ned, his family, and his friends are shockingly drawn into this tale, as dangerous, mythic figures from conflicts of long ago erupt into the present, claiming and changing lives.  Although it is listed as a stand-alone novel there are characters in this that appear in the Fionavar Trilogy so it could be considered a spoiler for those books if you read this first.

Michael Popek – Forgotten Bookmarks (2011). Disappointing

Dan Simmons – Drood (2009). A fictional account of some supposed adventures of Charles Dickens.  Not worth the effort. 6/10

John Dickinson – The Cup of the World (2004) Fantasy 8/10

John Dickinson – The Widow and the King (2005). Fantasy – sequel to the above but didn’t match up to it. 7/10

Tad Williams – The Dragonbone Chair (1988) 8/10 Fantasy – the first part of the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. Good but not enough to hunt out the next part of the series.

Lian Hearn – Across the Nightingale Floor (2002) 8/10 Fantasy – the first part of the Tales of the Otori.  Good but not enough to hunt out the next part of the series.

Helen Spring – Memories of the Curlew (2009) 7/10  Historical novel based on the life of Gwenllian, daughter of the King of Gwynedd (b 1096), who became known as 'The Welsh Warrior Princess'. A fine adventure / romance for older children and a good insight into Wales at that time.

Penelope Fitzgerald – The Bookshop (1978). 8/10 My main comment about this would be a spoiler so I can’t make it. Suffice it to say but for one thing it would be rated higher.

Stewart Binns – Crusade (2012) 9/10 It is 1072 and England is firmly under the heel of its new Norman rulers. The few survivors of the English resistance look to Edgar the Atheling, the rightful heir to the English throne, to overthrow the Conqueror but end up fighting in The Holy Land.  I shall definitely be reading his other two novels – Conquest and Anarchy.

Mike Ashley – The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives (1995). 8/10  A collection of short stories from some of the most famous writers of historical crime.  A great book to dip into.

Edward Marston – The Queen’s Head (1988) An Elizabethan mystery. 7/10

Hope Mirrlees - Lud-in-the Mist (1926) 10/10 commented upon elsewhere.

James Long – Ferney (201 ) 10/10  A sort of historical love story with a touch of time travel / slippage.  One of those books one does not want to end because it captures your imagination and involves you with the characters in a way that only the best books can.  My ‘read of the year’ (and thanks to Friend-über-Special for sending me it).

Sunday Shenanigans

First thing Sunday morning is always a really bad time for trying to get on the Internet. It must be outside the house – the BT line – because there is no reason otherwise that a Sunday morning should be so hard.  It’s annoying.  I shall have to investigate the new ‘Superfast Broadband’ via fibre-optic that they are advertising.  Somehow I doubt it will be free.  And talking of money…

 

The Kitchen – A Progress Report

Perhaps it might be better to label this a regress report.  The good news is that we have the freezer freezing, the fridge fridging and the stove stoving and, hopefully, by the end of today I will have the cooker hood up and working. The bad news is that we have a leaking pipe to add to the one in the bathroom (which two different plumbers have had a go at fixing – unsuccessfully). This pipe is before the mains stop cock within the house. And the mains stop cock in the road has been asphalted over last time they did the pavement.  Apparently it is no longer the Water Authority’s responsibility to pr0vide and outside one.  So, in order to mend the pipe – which has been causing a lake under the kitchen and dining room – we have to have a new mains stop tap installed at our own expense.  Once that’s done the leak can be fixed and a new indoor mains stop tap (also faulty) fitted.  Please, don’t even ask about the sink unit…

I am taking a sneaky break from working on the kitchen and looking through some photos from earlier this year.  Outside the wind is howling and the rain is lashing down so the job I had planned for today has been abandoned. I had aimed to sort out the shed (known to us as the Wendy House to distinguish it from the garden shed at the bottom of the garden). I need to do so in order to be able to make some kitchen cabinets in there.   In order to even get inside the Wendy House half of its contents will have to be spread around the garden and today is not a day for doing that.

Woman Flu 

Partner-who-loves-tea is not drinking tea at the moment.  At least, not black tea.  Herbal ones, instead.  She's poorly.  Despite an anti-flu shot (her first ever) this year she has flu.  She is so poorly she not only cancelled a social engagment she was looking forward to but also gave her studnets a day off.  She has to be poorly to be that generous to her students - she works them hard!

Hello Kitty

We came across this car in Stornoway earlier in the year. There’s nothing like making your car unique, is there?

Knigtshayes Court – the Walled Garden

It’s wet and windy and most of the pretty autumn leaves have now been blown off the trees so I thought I’d show you some photos from our trip to Knigtshayes Court in Devon in early October.  These are not the main gardens – just the walled kitchen garden. It’s the largest walled garden I have ever seen.

 (This can be clicked on to read about the garden)

 

All that, and more, within one walled garden!