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Showing posts from October, 2008

Knitting for colder days.

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These has been this weeks project, a pair of legwarmers for my daughter. Boy, do we need them , it is so cold ! They were very quick to knit. However, I was a little surprised with the wool, which she bought online. I haven't done much knitting for a while and from what I can remember 'chunky' wool was a lot thicker than this , but maybe my memory is playing tricks. I know there are some wonderful knitters out there , they may not agree. Opinions welcome.

Booking through Thursday

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Over on Booking through Thursday the discussion this week is Are you a spine breaker? Or a dog-earer? Do you expect to keep your books in pristine condition even after you have read them? Does watching other readers bend the cover all the way round make you flinch or squeal in pain? Well I'm certainly not a spine breaker and I hate to see books with pages turned down or in anyway damaged. This is a pet subject of mine and I really don't see any need to deface books at all.

The Sunday Salon

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Well this week has seen some reading. I finished 'The Cross legged Knight' by Candace Robb. You can read the review here. I'm about to start 'This year it will be different' by Maeve Binchy. This is a collection of short stories with a Christmas theme. I ordered this book from the library last October and I was still on the waiting list in February 08 so I withdrew my name . When I visited the library last week it jumped off the shelf at me so I've got it at last!! I've read a couple of Maeve's books before, and I do like the way she writes , she's a good storyteller. The clocks were changed last night so the evenings are getting dark sooner. Winter is coming. I really don't like the dark nights but there is one consolation, there is more time for hobbies. So it's reading and sewing/knitting, but more of that later .Hope you all have a good week.

Book Review.

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The Cross legged Knight by Candace Robb. This is an 'Owen Archer' mystery. Set in England in 1371, it begins with the tale of the Bishop of Winchester's near 'accident' in the grounds of York Minster . The story then enfolds with a fire in a townhouse in York where the body of a young woman was found. Owen Archer, a one -eyed spy is asked to solve the mystery of the fire. With the help of his wife and Magda a 'natural ' healer from the riverside a complex tale is discovered. This is a really good read, you can just about smell Medieval York. I think it's no. 8 in the 'Owen Archer' novels , I intend to read more. The curious title is the name of a carving placed onto coffins of Christians who died for their faith, in this instance someone who has been on a Holy Crusasde.

Christmas Recipe.

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I've made a start with my Christmas cooking, I know it's still October but some recipes need time to develop. This is taken from November 2006 Good Food magazine. It's title is Classic Christmas Chutney. As I have a lot of apples from the tree in the back garden I thought this was a good way to use them up. I made it last year and it was delicious. Here's the recipe if you care to try it, 1.85kgs. cooking apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped. 250g. sultanas. 100g. crystallised ginger. 7 garlic cloves, roughly sliced. 1 half teaspoon mixed spice. 1 half teaspoon cayenne pepper. 1 half teaspoon salt 1 half teaspoon ground coriander 600mls. malt vinegar 750g. light muscovado sugar. METHOD. 1. Tip apples, sultanas, ginger and garlic in food processor and pulse till roughly minced, but still quite chunky. Tip the fruit into a saucepan with 100mls water, cover then cook over a high heat for 10 mins. 2. Stir in the spices and half the vinegar then cook uncovered for 45 m

The Sunday Salon

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I haven't participated in 'the Salon' for a few weeks, but with a book finished(Yes 1 book finished, lol!)I thought I'd add a couple of lines. The book in question is 'Villette' by Charlotte Bronte.You can read the review, here. Although I am going to start bits of sewing this week, I have a library book that I want to start, it is 'The Cross legged Knight(funny title) by Candace Robb. It is set in Medieval York and is a murder/mystery.So hopefully I'll get this read soon so my return to the 'Salon' will not be so long next time. Hope you all have a good week.

Book Review.

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. As I mentioned earlier in the week I found it hard to get back into the 'reading mode'. However, I managed to finish' Villette 'by Charlotte Bronte today. It was a little slow in places, this is something I had forgotten as I did read it many years ago. I could see similarities with Jane Eyre, but this was not a problem as I loved J.E. The author's dislike of Catholicism was evident in the story and being a practising Catholic I found this difficult to swallow. But like all Bronte's tales good overcomes evil and happiness is found in doing the right thing. This book was read for the final part of my Bronte Challenge.

A great performance.

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Yesterday my husband and I went to a nearby theatre to see 'And then there were none'by Agatha Christie. This really was an excellent show. The acting was superb; Gerald Harper(Adam Adament, Hadleigh)took the lead role and he was supported by, amongst others Jennifer Wilson(she appeared in 'The Brothers') and a great surprise to me, Mark Wynter. Now the last time I saw Mark Wynter , it was during his singing career, and a friend and myself queued to get his autograph in Scarborough. All this took place about 40 years , how time flies!! lol ! His performance yesterday was very good I imagine his acting career now is just as good as his singing career had been many years ago. I have read the book of the play ,but that was a long time ago, so the story seemed quite new to me, but I think I will have to have a trip to the library!

Tuesday Teasers

Over on Tuesday Teasers we are asked to do the following, 'Grab your current read. Let the book fall open to a random page. Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given! Please avoid spoilers! ' So here are mine, 'With all his good looks and good-nature, he was not perfect;he must have been very imperfect if he roguishly encouraged aims he never intended to be successful. But did he not intend them to be successful?' These lines are from p.92.of Charlotte Bronte's 'Villette'. This is my second reading of the book and it has been a little slow this time around, this being no fault of the book just the reader. The longer I go without reading the harder I find the first book , once in the reading 'frame' all is well.

A purrfect finish?

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Well perhaps not so perfect, if you saw the back of the work, oh boy! Anyhow I haven't attached them to the cards yet but I wanted to let you see them. The top design is different to the one I started for some reason I lost my way on that chart and messed up big time . So I decided to start a whole new design. I really like them and I'm sure my daughter will too. She will display them in the cards and then in frames.

Cats are finished.

Yes, I have finished the crossstitch cats. I was just about to take a photo when the camera ran out of battery. So I'll take one tomorrow. I have already started my next project; it's a small tutorial on making a cushion cover by hand. One of my daughters is very keen to learn to sew(she has lessons booked in January) but she doesn't own a machine yet, hence the reason for hand stitching. Any now we'll see how it goes I hope to send her the photos when the camera is back in harness. It's been another beautiful day here and the paintbrush is back in my hand, I finished the garden railings so today it was the front door. The bad weather over 'summer' had really left it's mark so a new coat of paint was needed. Hope you've all had a good day.

ABC 3rd Round

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'L' is for Llamas.I was so surprised to meet these 'beauties' in Co. Durham. When I stopped to take their photos they ran over to the fence, they were so friendly and so very cute! More ABC's can be found here.

Beautiful day

It's a glorious day here in Co. Durham. So this afternoon I'm planning to do a little maintenance , in the form of painting outside. We undercoated the garden gate and railings over a week ago and I've been waiting for a dry day to gloss, so today is the day. We had a good weekend, I managed lots of stitching and nearly finished the second cat design . It looks good will post a photo when finished. On the reading front things are much slower , haven't worked out how I can stitch and read at the same time(lol!)apart from listening to an audio book.

Another week.

Oh boy another week over. This week has seen the sorting of sheep for breeding. We have also bought 25 ewes to replace the older ones.So the seasons move on relentlessly. The stitching is coming along slowly, I really need to put needle to thread more often. The WIP is for my daughter who has flown off to Spain for a long weekend(bet the weather is far better there) so maybe her pics will be finished by the time she comes back! Hope you all have a good weekend.

October.

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"There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October." - Nathaniel Hawthorne. Words and photo courtesy of this site.

ABC 3rd Round

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'K' is for Keukenhof. Whizzing through the alphabet , we are now at the letter 'K'. This is a photo of Keukenhof in Holland. I visited this beautiful place over 30 years ago and was amazed at the intense colour of all the tulips.Photo courtesy of the following site where more photos can be seen,check it out here. This is a good site to view on a cold October day! It reminds us that Spring will come again. More 'K' related items can be see here.