My book list for August

 I read a variety of genres this month.  The first book of the month was actually started at the very end of July.  It was one that my husband read on holiday and said that I might enjoy it too.  It isn't often that we both enjoy the same book as our tastes are quite different!

This book is a story woven around the true facts of the relationship between the Prime Minister of England in 1914, H H Asquith and a young woman who was half his age.  The letters  included in the book were actually sent by Asquith although there is no record of Venetia's replies and it has to be assumed that Asquith destroyed them whereas Venetia kept every one that she received.  Robert Harris has written his book around the letters she received and turned it into a work of fiction.

A young intelligence officer is instructed to investigate a possible leak of confidential information following the discovery of top secret telegrams in a public park.  He is shell shocked to discover that the likely person to have done this is none other that the Prime Minister.

To say that Asquith appears to be obsessed with this young girl is an understatement and at times he was writing to her three times a day, sometimes from the Cabinet Office, when clearly his attention should have been totally on a country on the brink of war.  I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with his reckless behaviour and his obsession with Venetia.

Was it worth reading?  Yes.  You have to keep reminding yourself that these letters actually existed.  He did show Venetia extremely confidential documents and having done so, merely wound down a car window, screwed up the telegram copy and throw it away.  Anyone could have found them, and should they have ended up in the wrong hands rather than a law abiding member of the public, the course of the war may have taken a very different turn.  But you must also remember that this is a story wound around those facts and is from Harris' imagination.  It was definitely a very different book to those I would normally read!

In all, 560 letters were written to Venetia, and these are held in boxes at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.  I felt that Asquith's obsession with Venetia made me cross.  He clearly wasn't giving his job as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom the attention it needed! 

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I chose something light to read while waiting to hear which would be the next book chosen for our book club this month

Daphne and Miles become flat mates after they both find themselves unexpectedly single.  The situation isn't helped by the fact that Daphne's fiance Peter has left her for a childhood friend, Petra, who was in a long time relationship with Miles. While both of them try to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, Daphne moves into the flat where Miles has been living.  The home she was sharing with Peter was in his name and when they broke up, she had nowhere to live.

When they discover that Peter and Petra have had a whirlwind engagement and are planning their wedding they both accept the wedding invitation. They decide to mislead their exes by posting photos on social media suggesting that they too have become a couple, in the hope that they would believe that they have not been devastated by the situation.  However, what started out as a light hearted act starts to turn into something deeper.

It's kind of a predictable storyline, but I liked the characters and it was a nice easy read. The plot wasn't as straightforward as I thought it may be!

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Our book club choice this month was Not Quite Dead Yet

On the night of Halloween, Jet is attacked and suffers catastrophic brain injuries.  The doctors say that without surgery she is likely to suffer a brain aneurysm within a week which will kill her. The surgery has only a 10% chance of success and so Jet decides not to have it but to spend the last few days that she has left trying to find out who tried to murder her.  

She teams up with an old friend, Billy, to try to piece together the events leading up to the attack and understand who may have wanted her dead.  In the course of the next few days, many names come under suspicion and it is quite a mystery.

The premise of the story line could have been very good but I really didn't enjoy the style of writing.  I kept forgetting that Jet was in her mid 20s and not a teenager because of the way she talks and acts.

Jet is determined to spend her last 7 days finding out who was the mystery attacker.  She is unaware of having any enemies who would wish her dead, so everyone becomes under suspicion. In the end you realise that there are a lot of people with motives to harm either her or her family.

When I started this book the style of writing made me wonder if it was published as Young Adult fiction.  Apparently the author is usually a Young Adult writer and in my opinion, this is obvious.  I wasn't sure that I was going to get engrossed in the storyline. I didn't really like Jet.  Despite the horrendous injuries and the fact that she knew she was dying, I just couldn't warm to her.   If it hadn't been a book club choice, I may not have decided to finish it!

#WBOYC in July

 

What am I watching and reading?

My book list for the month is here - quite a wide variety of books this month! I've also started, but not finished, Precipice by Robert Harris.  It took me a little while to get into and it is hard to believe that it is a fiction worked around the true stories of the correspondence between the British prime minister at the start of the first World War and a girl half his age.

I'm still catching up on the Chelsea Detective and have started the new series of Ginny and Georgia.  Wimbledon was on our screens quite a lot and that seemed to be all there was on terrestrial tv in the evenings!  The Great British Sewing Bee has returned which always brings back happy memories of studying for my A level in Needlework back in 1975.  I also watched the new series of The Couple Next Door.  It was very raunchy in places but a real 'twist in the tale' story.

We started watching Destination X where people are taken to places in Europe in a blacked out bus, then given hints and clues so that they can guess where they are.  Bearing in mind that I worked for 10 years in the travel industry, my geography is not as good as it should be so it will be interesting to see if I do any better than the contestants.

Eating

Well, I returned from Italy with a couple of extra pounds so I've been trying to return to healthy habits.  Hopefully by not having the lure of an evening gelato after dinner will help me lose those pesky pounds.

It has been very hot here and it's just too hot to spend much time at the oven and hob so I have been cheating a bit!  Things like turning chicken breast in breadcrumbs into chicken katsu curry (with the help of a sauce sachet and microwavable rice!) and making a large pot of ragu and freezing it in portions has made life very easy.  

We have a gooseberry bush in our garden and each year there are more and more fruit on it and it's hard to know what to use them for.  Last week I found a recipe for a gooseberry crumble cake and it was lovely!  It is really just a normal sponge recipe but you cook it in a deep sided cake tin, spread the gooseberries over the top and cover with a crumble topping.  I was surprised how tasty it was and am already thinking that I will be able to do something similar using apples instead of gooseberries.

Another recipe I discovered was using mince meat.  It's from an instagram account called 'boredoflunch'. It's called Hot Honey Sweet Potato Bowls. I don't have an air fryer so I just browned the meat on the hob.  I'd never tried hot honey before - honey with added chilli flakes - but it's so yummy drizzled over the cottage cheese and sweet potatoes.

Self Care

This one is on a bit of a hiatus.  I'm still enjoying my Zumba and I'm still going to Pilates but I can't say I'm loving it.  Whereas I look forward to Zumba and come out full of happy vibes, Pilates is still something on the calendar that I feel I have to go to.  The teacher is lovely, the class is lighthearted but I am no more flexible now than I was when I started in January! However they are fitting air conditioning into the hall that we use (and about time too!) so there are no classes in August.  I've signed up for an online week of classes so I'll let you know how that goes next month.

There was a haircut; I had been toying with the idea of changing my style after seeing a picture of Fern Britton in a magazine where she had her hair tucked behind her ears and I was very tempted to go shorter and more layered to try and get a similar effect.  In the event, although quite a lot of hair was cut, it doesn't look that much shorter!

Days out

There haven't been many of these, apart from a visit to a garden centre.  We also went our our grandson's football presentation afternoon.  It's been his first year of playing in a proper team and he was very proud of his trophy!  

For the last two weeks we have either been childcaring or dog sitting but those dates in the diary are over now and we can get back on track. We had planned on going out for dinner the first day we had the house back to normal but quite honestly, it was nice just to be able to relax at home.

So, it was a quiet month for me, but I bet that the other Deb over in Australia had a busier time.  Let's go and check here ...

Time for 1 Second Everyday

My book list for July

 I actually started this book on holiday in June!

Twenty years ago, nine friends made predictions for each other with the agreement that they would meet again in twenty years time to see just how accurate they were.  We meet them all at Ivo's family home on Dartmoor where they have arranged a weekend together to reveal the predictions.  Not all of them are still alive.  Some are remarkably successful in their careers. Some are living ordinary lives. One of them is a murderer.

I liked the idea of this storyline and the story keeps you guessing up to the end. I did feel that it dragged a little in places however and the characters are a little stereotyped but nevertheless I did enjoy it.

Next - something completely different!

Now there was a point that I nearly gave up on this book!  But it has good reviews and it is certainly something unlike any other books I have read.  

Imagine if you could erase any bad memories or bad behaviour, wipe your conscience or your memory clean and start again with a fresh slate.  Imagine how many secrets would be hidden.  This is where the Binders come into their own.  Books are not as we think of them nowadays; books are where your confessions or bad experiences are written down, bound into a book and locked in a vault for safekeeping.  

Emmett Farmer is summoned to become a Binder's apprentice and although he, and his parents, are reluctant to let him go, he has no choice in the matter.  He starts to learn how to prepare the books for their contents and gradually learns how to complete a book.  Then one day he comes upon a book with his own name on the cover.  In a past time that he can no longer remember, he must have visited a Binder to have this memories erased and the details hidden away forever.

The two central characters have both met before, despite a huge gulf between their lives, but neither can remember how or when.  It's hard to pinpoint the era in which this is set.  There are no real clues other than it was a time where witchcraft was feared and in my imagination, the town of Castleford resembles the era of Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist.

This was a cleverly written novel and each part gives us a little more information as to how Emmett and Lucien met in a former, forgotten life.  It's not the kind of book I would say that I thoroughly enjoyed, but it is a very clever concept and well written.

The next book was the one chosen by our online book club

The book begins in 1961 when Mari arrives at Martha's Vineyard to supposedly research the paintings of Elizabeth Devereux.  While going through her mother's possessions after she died, she has found the name of the artist and is intrigued to learn more about the connection.

We then go back in time to 1942 and meet sisters Briar and Cadence Smith who are trying to maintain a sense of normality as the war in Europe is escalating and US soldiers are training to go off to war.  Their brother Tom is called up and leaves the two girls and their grandmother to keep the farm going in his absence.

They are trying to adapt to their new 'normal' with troops training around the area of their farm and beach when a soldier is found, washed up onto the beach.  The girls rescue him and allow him to recover in their boathouse, their sympathy drawn from thinking of their brother and how they would hope that he would be treated if it were to happen to him.  But the man is German, having tried to escape from the U boat where he was working as a medic.  His family are all living in America and he just wants to be reunited with them and not drawn into the fighting in the war.  Is he telling the truth?  As they did not report finding him straight away, the family has put themselves into danger as harbouring the enemy is a serious offence. 

He insists there is a spy on the island and a U boat is waiting to pick them up, his story seems convincing but who is about to betray their country? More to the point, how is Mari associated with the family? 

I enjoyed this book, I've never been to Martha's Vineyard, but the author makes me feel like I can imagine how it looks and the people that would have been there in the war years.  All in all, I enjoyed this book, it's not your typical WW2 story and I would recommend it. 

Me on Monday

 i think it's fair to say that I am now completely back in the old routine after our holiday!  Once the cases are back in the loft and the washing is all done and back in the wardrobes it's almost as if you've never been away.

We had a curry night with a group of friends that we get together about 3 times a year.  We used to all live in the same street and struck up our friendship when our children were young.  It's nice to keep in touch even though we've all moved from the original street.

Our grandson Leo had his first school residential - two nights away from home which is a big deal when you are only eight! He had a great time even though he lost a tooth on the first morning there.  

Our son had a great day on Saturday.  He and his wife were offered corporate tickets for Centre Court at Wimbledon.  How lucky was that?  Especially bearing in mind that Djokovic was playing that evening.  Look at the view from their seats!

Just before I went on holiday Gail from Is This Mutton asked me if I would join in a blog post she was compiling about people's favourite dresses.  You can read it here. The idea was to show your favourite dresses, but this was the day before I went on holiday so I had to slightly alter mine to be my 'favourite dresses to take on holiday' The main criteria for holiday dresses is that they must not crease as I don't like ironing at home so I certainly won't be ironing when I go overseas.  

This Monday sees me going to pilates and then into town to look for inspiration as we have three birthdays coming up. I'm sure that I will be given ideas for Max and Leo but I still like to get them a surprise or two.  Much harder to shop for our daughter though, if she wants something she tends to just buy it rather than hold on until it's her birthday.

To be honest, I am going to try and relax and enjoy this next week as once schools break up our childcare will be increasing, not to mention a certain little dachshund coming for a 10 day stay while her family head off to Turkey for their holiday.  This also clashes with a 3 day visit from Max and Olive while their mum and dad go to a 'no children' wedding in Manchester.  Wish me luck!

Have a good week x

#WBOYC in June

 

The halfway point of the year! I'm joining in with the Australian Deb's World to share my month. Please pop over there to see how life is on the other side of the world!

Watching and reading

I am watching the Chelsea Detective.  It's not a new programme, but is new to me so I'm enjoying working my way through the episodes.  I tend to put it on while I am doing the ironing to take my mind off my least favourite chore!

Race Across the World has come to an end. My favourite couple didn't win but it was a good race to the end.

We are enjoying The Last Anniversary.  It's nice when we find something that we both enjoy!

My book list for the month is shown in this blog post.  Going on holiday is a good excuse for reading more than usual.

Eating

You can't go to Italy and not eat well can you?  We had some fab meals while we were at Lake Garda.  We'd booked bed and breakfast and found a different restaurant every night.  Every meal was delicious.  Let's also discuss gelato.  Wow.  So many flavours!  The most intriguing one was called Audrey Hepburn.  Yes, really! It was fruits of the forest and white chocolate, I wonder what made them think to call it Audrey Hepburn?

Self Care

Still doing pilates and zumba still but the best self care was a week's holiday in Malcesine.

Days out

Does a week away count? Malcesine was a beautiful location and we spent many hours wandering around, discovering the town.  

We also got the ferry across to Limone which was another charming resort.

Some friends of ours are going to Riva del Garda in a couple of months time so we thought we would get on a bus and see what it was like there.  It's really nice there and I think they will enjoy it!

So all that is left now, is for a 1 Second Everyday roundup

My book list for June

 I started the month as I did in May, with a Richard Osman book.

It was good to read it so soon after the last one as the characters were all fresh in my mind.  This book deals with some emotive subjects and there were some thought provoking chapters in amongst the mystery.  

An old friend of the Thursday Murder Club has been killed and a mysterious package that he had received has gone missing.  While trying to solve the 'why' of his death and the 'where' of the missing parcel, the group get involved in the antique business, art dealerships and even online romantic fraud.  

I think this may be my favourite book of the series so far and I have no doubt that book five will be downloaded in the not too distant future!

This book caught my eye as I wandered around Stansted Airport before our trip to Italy.

I had already read a couple of Claire Douglas' novels before so felt confident that I would enjoy this.  I was correct in that assumption!  Lena overhears a conversation between her new neighbours which sounds suspiciously like they are planning to commit a crime.  Her friends and family are sure she must have heard something out of context as Henry and Marielle seem such nice, ordinary people.  

But something niggles in her mind and she decides to investigate further.  The previous owners of the house had left a spare key with her in case of emergencies and had not asked for it back when they moved out.  When Lena is sure that the couple have gone away for a weekend she lets herself into their house to see if there is anything there to verify her suspicions.  All seems perfectly normal until she opens the door to a room which has a wall covered with newspaper cuttings.  This leads her to investigate further.  

The answer lies back in the late 90s when Lena was fresh from school and completing her nursing training.  Something that happened then is the catalyst for the new neighbours strange behaviour.

Did I enjoy this? Yes, very much!  I read it in two days!  

I also took with me a totally different book

Now I thought that this may be a bit predictable but it had a clever variation on a theme.  Two women from polar opposites of the social spectrum, both members at the same gym, a mix up with gym bags ...  

Sam is shocked to find that she has picked up a bag with designer clothes in it rather than her comfortable work wear, but not quite as shocked as Nisha who opens the wrong bag to find high street clothing.  Where is her Chanel jacket?  What about her Laboutin sandals?  She travels home in gym flip flops and a dressing gown, gets in the lift to the rooftop penthouse suite and finds her way barred by her husband's bodyguard who tells her that she is not allowed back into her home and that he is seeking a divorce.  

Nisha's journey from living the highlife to finding herself homeless and having to find work cleaning the rooms in the fancy hotel rather than living there is cleverly written. Her divorce settlement is dependent on her returning her fancy sandals to her husband who does not believe her when she says she doesn't know where they are.  What importance do they have and how will she track them down?  All is revealed with several twists along the way.  

This was a great holiday read and was not as 'chic lit' as I thought it would be!

Catching up Tuesday

 Thank you for popping by, it feels like a long time since I was last writing a blog post. I have naturally been spending time out in my new Mini, it’s so much fun to drive and very different to my last one.

We’ve also been getting organised for our forthcoming trip. The cases are down from the loft and Coco is eyeing them suspiciously every time she goes upstairs! Little does she know that she has a little vacation of her own coming up, spending time with her ‘friend’ Daisy 😆 Paul is practising his Italian and I am making lists of things to pack! 

Our son’s dog had a horrible accident at the weekend in the woodland near their house. He went romping through the undergrowth and speared himself on a sharp branch of a tree. So we had unexpected childcare duties while he had an unexpected emergency surgery to sew him back together again.

As you can see, he is none too impressed with that cone!

The weather here has been gorgeous and the garden is looking good.  Paul has been working hard out there and I've helped now and again but all credit should really go to him!

The peonies are beautiful this year and it was lovely to pick some to bring into the house

I’ve been ‘Knitting and Nattering’ and learning how to make a colourful blanket without having to join any edges, you join as you go.

Right, I think it is time to say ‘arrivederci’ and ‘hasta la vista’!

Ciao!

Me on Monday

 Just like that, we are in June.  Half way through the year!

Something good happened last week.  My new car arrived 😁 The right model and the right colour and the right number of doors!  

So this week starts with a trip to see our financial advisor.  The joys of being of pensionable age eh?  Asking him to oversee our accounts back in 2011 was the best thing we did, his advice has been invaluable over the years.  A morning in his office will be time well spent.

Coco is hoping to have a better week this week.  She had to have a small procedure to remove a lump from the top of her head last week.  It was a bit like having a skin tag removed for a human and she had to have a crucial part of her fringe shaved so she's looking a little different!  Then we had Daisy the dachshund come to stay for a couple of days while our daughter went to visit her in-laws. So it wasn't the best of times for Coco, she doesn't like sharing us with other dogs!  

I've got my pre-holiday hair cut booked in for Tuesday so hopefully I won't be copying Coco with the dodgy fringe.  I think I've also reached the pre-holiday stage where I should probably check that my swimming costumes still fit, I don't want to get overseas and then find I don't have anything to wear around the pool!                 

I had an email last week that got me thinking and I'm wondering if it's something they are sending to people all over the UK.  It was entitled 'Are you ready for anything?' and it was from the Local Resilience Forum of our county constabulary.  It was a survey to see how prepared you are in case of an emergency event.  Being of a suspicious nature, I wondered if they know something we don't know!  It also made me buy a litre of bottled water, a dozen AA batteries and a dozen AAA batteries when I went to the shops. Just in case ... 😳   I'm not sure a litre of water would last us long but it felt like I was a tiny bit more prepared!

I need to find a new project for my 'knit and natter' get together on Friday, I could continue with my ongoing blanket, but it's got to the stage now where it's heavy and hot on your lap when you are working on it.  I need something smaller!  

So I'm off to trawl through online crochet pattern websites, wish me luck!  Hope you have a good week!

                                                                                             

#WBOYC in May

 

The months are galloping along aren't they? I can't believe it's time to join in with the other Deb's World in Australia and do a brief recap on the last four weeks.

Watching and Reading

The Essex Millionaire Murders caught my interest as we live about 45 miles away from where it happened.  I can't believe I hadn't heard about it at the time but oh my goodness, what an evil mind their killer had.

The series Malpractice was really good, as was The Game which changed my opinion of the actor Robson Green! We just started watching The Chelsea Detective which I think is going to be good.  

Code of Silence with Rose Ayling-Ellis is very good and makes you really appreciate how difficult life must be to be deaf, and how useful it is to have good lip reading skills.

Still watching Race Across the World and still in awe of how they find their way around with no internet access and absolutely no knowledge of the language.

Following the election of the new pope we were inspired to watch Conclave!

I started the month reading the third in the series of books by Richard Osman, The Bullet that Missed.  They are very easy reads. I also enjoyed Philly Barker Investigates by Joanne Tracey and will be downloading the second book in the series for my holiday in Italy next month.

Eating

We have a kind of tradition that at the beginning of summer we go to our friends who live around the corner to us and they cook a paella.  So after a week of wall to wall sunshine, it was decided that the time had come!

We had friends come to us for dinner. I decided to make a tried and tested chilli con carne because I knew I could make that in advance and have a more relaxed evening with me slaving away in the kitchen while everyone else sat outside with a pre dinner glass of wine.

I met up with friends for lunch a few times, it's good to keep in touch with people I used to work with and on one occasion I met up with someone I was at school with and that was a very long time ago!

Fish and chips at the beach, it always tastes so much nicer doesn't it?

Self Care

Still keeping moving with my pilates and zumba, some weeks easier than others to find the motivation first thing on a Monday morning! My bottom also made an appearance on the teacher’s instagram page 😳

I took a break from the blanket I'm crocheting and started a new, quick project for my 'knit and natter' get together. It was nice to relax and work on something smaller using springlike colours.

Days out

We had four days in Norfolk, which was glorious.

Now to condense all that down to 1 Second Everyday

My book list for May

 I'm not sure that I can call this a 'list' when there is only one title to include!  I don't know why I haven't read so much this month but here is the one book I finished

I downloaded this book as I wanted something nice and easy to read when we went away to Norfolk.  In the end I didn't get as much reading done as I expected as that Norfolk sea air made me so tired in the evenings I barely read a chapter a night.

This is the third in the Thursday Murder Club series and you do really need to have read the previous books to know the ins and outs of the characters who live Coopers Chase retirement home.  Although I had read the earlier books, it took me a couple of chapters to remember all the characteristics and personalities!  

The Thursday Murder Club are a group of elderly residents who try to solve cold cases and they are about to investigate the disappearance of a local news reporter who is assumed to have died after her car drove off the edge of a cliff ten years ago.  She was on the cusp of discovering the whereabouts of a large quantity of money involved in a fraud case and there were several suspects who may have wanted to stop her enquiries.  Although there are many clues to suggest she was murdered, her body has never been found and neither has the money.

Then, out of the blue, Elizabeth is contacted by someone from her past with the demand that either she kills someone on their behalf, or she will be killed herself.  

You do, of course, need to suspend belief that such things could happen to someone living in a retirement home but once the story becomes more intricate (and bearing in mind Elizabeth's past life of espionage!) you become caught up in the twists and turns of the story.  

I enjoyed reading this, and will definitely be reading the next in the series to see what crime they get involved in next. 

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My next book was a little different.  There is a series of Philly Barker books and I downloaded the first book in the hope that if I enjoyed it, there were more to come in the future!

Philly Barker is an antique dealer and has bought a 'lot' at a local auction mainly due to her eye being drawn to an old painting of Whitby.  Along with the painting was a box of odds and ends which she does not look at properly until she returns home.  Little does she know that her successful bid has included some items that have caught the attention of someone else who is desperate to obtain them.  Upon closer investigation into the painting and wooden box she finds documents which lead her to believe that these items should never have been taken to auction and that someone will be desperate to have them back.

After her dealership is broken into, Philly decides that there is more to this than meets the eye and that there must be something of value in her possession.  She joins forces with a local policeman to see if she can solve the mystery before anyone else is hurt.

This is a nice, cosy mystery.  Likeable characters and an intriguing storyline. I shall definitely be downloading the next book in the series!

A weekend away

 Our planned weekend away coincided beautifully with the weather turning gorgeous here - it makes such a difference!  It was still a bit breezy on the coast but if you found a sheltered spot is was 'scorchio'

We headed up the Norfolk coastline to a town called Wells Next The Sea.  The photo above shows a sculpture of The Lifeboat Horse which is on a sandbank in the harbour when the tide is out, and submerged up to his head at high tide.  It's made from steel and whisky barrels and is a tribute to the horse that used to pull the town's lifeboat to the sea.  Wells is such a lovely place and so well positioned for going out and about.  Not that we planned to go far!  One of the nicest things about that area is that there are no chains of coffee shops or burger bars.  Every shop is independently owned and oh boy, the bakeries are amazing.

The beach at Wells is such a long, wide bay with literally hundreds of beach huts in between the trees and the sand.  Coco absolutely loved it there and was constantly rolling over and over in the sand.  Just a little further along is Holkham beach which is famed for its sand which seems to go on for miles and miles.

We also went to Walsingham which is a destination for pilgrims and has been called 'England's Nazareth'. It is also home to a tea shop which sells the most amazing lunches!  

All in all, we had a wonderfully relaxing weekend, Coco rolled in every bit of beach she could and behaved herself impeccably when we took her to the pub for a meal. It's definitely an area we will return to in the future.

My book list for April

 The first book I read this month was our online book club’s choice

Beth lives on a family farm owned by her husband Frank's family. Their lives are pretty settled until one day a dog runs into their field and savagely attacks their sheep.  The dog is out of control and Beth's brother in law, Jimmy, instinctively shoots it to save their flock.  This act will cause unimaginable devastation to the family as the owner of the dog is Gabriel, Beth's first love who has moved back into the area with his young son.  

The chapters are split between the 1950s and 1960s and we become aware that there has been a death and one of the brothers is accused of murdering the other.  

The characters are well written and one can sense the dilemma that Beth finds herself in, loving her kind and honest husband but still feeling the attraction of first love.  She arranges to help look after Gabriel's son, Leo, and feels a deep affinity to him as he reminds her so much of the son she and Frank lost in a tragic farming accident a few years earlier.  While you cannot condone how this storyline unfolds, you can feel how she is torn between the two loves of her life.  Her brother in law Jimmy is unhappy at how much time Beth spends at Gabriel's home and suspects there is more to the relationship than everyone believes.  Although Jimmy comes across as a man on the verge of alcoholism and the unpredictability that it involves, the author invites you to sympathise with him and you can sense his loyalty to the family is behind much of his behaviour.

So, was it murder or just a terrible accident?  Whose finger was on the trigger before the fatal shot?  Can the family survive however the trial ends? 

My second book was The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Harold Fry receives a letter from someone he used to work with, telling him that they were in a hospice and did not have long to live.  Harold immediately writes a reply and sets off to send it, leaving his wife upstairs doing her normal housework.

Somewhere between home and the post box Harold makes a decision to personally deliver the letter and sets off on a walk.  The 'slight' problem is that Harold lives on the south coast of England and the hospice is in Berwick on Tweed, not far from the Scottish border.  Over 500 miles away.  Harold is not wearing any appropriate clothing or footwear for such a huge journey. Nor has he taken his mobile phone.   He has set out on a whim with the belief that if he can keep walking, Queenie will stay alive until he reaches her.

Harold meets many different people along the way, obtaining help in unlikely places, meanwhile his wife is left at home waiting for a call from phone boxes along the way to let her know that he is safe.  Both of them have time to reflect on their family life in ways they would never have done before, stuck in the rut of routine.

Whilst the story is a little unbelievable as I don't think someone in their 60s could suddenly walk that distance with no proper walking shoes or equipment, and at times a little drawn out, I did enjoy reading it and I understand it has now been made into a film.

Me on Monday

 We’ve woken up to glorious sunshine again today and it looks like it’ll stay  for the rest of the week 😊

It was a weekend of flowers and flour for me. We visited some beautiful bluebell woods on Saturday. I love this time of year!

The photo doesn’t really do it justice, it really was a carpet of blue and absolutely gorgeous. Perfect dog walking country.

Then on Sunday I went to a cooking academy for a class in how to make pasta

It was in a lovely location, about half an hour from me, in a courtyard filled with sculptures and individual studios for potters, artists and a bakery.  I have no photos as I was either busy making or eating pasta! Everyone left their phones in a different room and it was great to see everyone totally engrossed in the class with no interruptions. We made a basic dough and turned it into ravioli, spaghetti and tagliatelle. We also made three different sauces, carbonara,arrabiata and Alfredo, then it was lunchtime and we sampled everything we had made. Such a fun day. 

Today is normal routine after the Easter break, with pilates to start with.  My arms are aching from all that kneading of the pasta dough so I'm hoping she will go easy on us!  I'm hoping we will go to Cambridge one day this week as I have a few birthday presents to buy and it's nice to look round some of the little individual shops there.

No other firm plans for the days ahead but as the weather forecast is good I'm planning to just take each day as it comes and do a little bit more work in the garden.  Or maybe sitting in the garden watching Paul do the work 😉

#WBOYC in April

 

This month seems to have been quite a gentle progression into spring.  We've had some lovely weather and the gardens are looking colourful and full of new growth.  So, how did I spend my days?

Watching and reading

The new series of Grace still has as many twists and turns and red herrings to keep your brain challenged.  I still enjoy watching Interior Design Masters, and can usually guess which person will be sent home after an untasteful project. 

Then onto a couple of travel inspired shows. The Pilgrimage is back, with celebrities taking on a pilgrimage route.  It is interesting to see how people of different faiths and opinions gel over a challenging route. This time they are in Austria and the scenery and architecture is absolutely beautiful. The new series of Race Across the World has just started and already you are seeing signs of a little discontent between some of the couples.  To be left without mobile phones or credit cards at the great wall of China and having to find your way to the finish point in India is not something I would be any good at!  

I've just finished watching Feud and had not realised that making an kitchen extension on the back of your house could cause so much trouble (or deaths). 

I'll be sharing my April reading in a post next week.  I've only read a couple of books but they were both good in very different ways.

Eating

We couldn't find a day over the Easter weekend that everyone was free so I ended up cooking family meals two days in a row.  Traditional roast lamb with lots of veggies on Easter Sunday and a pork and cider casserole with Jersey Royal new potatoes and veggies on Easter Monday.  I love it when it is the season for Jersey Royals, I think they just taste so much nicer than any other new potatoes.

We had an Indian takeaway with friends one evening and it was absolutely delicious.  We tried a restaurant that we hadn't used for a while and we will definitely be using them again from now on.  For once we did not over order.  It's so tempting to go through the menu and choose lots of starters and then can't eat the main!  Do you do that?  I could make a meal out of the samosas, onion bhajis, chicken chat, poppadoms and dips!

One of my 'knit and natter' ladies invited us to a party at the local golf club.  It was to celebrate her 70th birthday and it was such a nice evening.  It was a sit down meal; the food was delicious and it was fun to dance the night away.

Self Care

I'm still doing pilates and zumba, although there have been a couple of weeks off due to the Easter break.  I'd like to say that I did some exercising at home to compensate but we all know that isn't true!  First Zumba class back was yesterday and it was so good to get out and dance.

There's also been self care in the form of a haircut and one which I was apprehensive about - a dental check up.  Fortunately I came out of each salon/clinic with a smile on my face!

Can you consider booking a holiday 'self care'?  I think so - and am happy to know that this month we finally decided on a destination and we have a trip to Italy planned for June 😎

Days out

As the weather has been so lovely, we have been taking Coco to different places for her walks and it's been really nice to change the routine of staying close to home.  Even though we have a country park on our doorstep, it's good to go elsewhere sometimes.

I have a day out planned for this Sunday.  For my birthday, my son and daughter bought me a ticket for a pasta making class at a cookery school near to them.  I have never made my own pasta and I think it could get quite messy but I'm looking forward to learning something new!  

So all that is left now is to share 1 Second Everyday for this month and invite you to pop over to Deb's World  to read about her Awesome April in Australia!

Me on Monday

 You won't believe this but we have started today with glorious sunshine again! We have really been spoilt with beautiful spring weather in the last week, the garden has really woken up and it is a joy to see the colour gradually emerging out there.

So I have a tale to tell about a previous Monday.  Remember the Monday where I was looking forward to collecting my new car?  Well, when I went to pick it up, it wasn't the car I had ordered.  It was a three door, not a five door.  Which was a problem, not just because it wasn't the car I wanted, but I couldn't get Olive's car seat in the back!  So I had to drive off in it as the paperwork had all been done to trade in my old car and the new one was registered in my name.  How frustrating!  So now I have to wait for the correct car to be delivered to the dealership and I am pretty sure that the salesman will be counting the doors before he tells me it has arrived!  He was so shocked when I said it was the wrong car, I think he thought I was joking, but then his face fell as he realised the mistake.  

Imagine this, but with 5 doors not 3!  It is lovely to drive but not practical for me while I'm still involved in picking up and dropping off young grandchildren!

We booked a holiday 😎  After many searches through many brochures and websites we have decided to return to Lake Garda in Italy but to a different resort to those we've been to before.  It looks fabulous and I am now counting the days!

Today I am meeting up with a friend for a coffee and a croissant which is always a good way to start the day isn't it?  Then I have a couple of days of full day childcare as it is the start of the school Easter holidays here.  We had a very busy weekend so I am looking forward to just taking it easy today and preparing for the grandchildren being here tomorrow and Wednesday.  

I hope your week is starting off in the sunshine and that you have good things planned for the week ahead!