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Showing posts from December, 2009

Are you wearing your party shoes...

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...if you are heading out to a party I hope you have a safe journey and enjoy the celebrations. Thankyou all for visiting and commenting on my blog in the past year. It was good to 'meet' you all. See you in 2010.

The Prince of Darkness

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The Prince of Darkness by Jean Plaidy. The death of Richard the Lionheart places his brother, the infamous Prince John on the throne. He ascends the throne without little support from his family and the English people. Many believed that his brother Geoffrey's son Arthur would be better suited to rule, but John would have his way in this and many feuds throughout his tempestous life. A cruel and callous man who enjoyed games of depravity and seduction he made many enemies including the pontiff in Rome and the King of France . Married to Isabella of Angouleme who was twelve at the time, John fathered five children and probably many more outside marriage.In all his royal duties he never failed to show his demonic and sadistic nature, hence the title of the book. His subjects knew of his wicked ways and ---- 'The people said that the storm that blew on that October night(of his death) of the year 1216 was that aroused by the gates of Hell opening wide to receive the Prince of Dar

Hercule Poirot's Christmas.

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Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie. 'And families now, families who have been seperated throughout the year, assemble once more together. Now under these conditions, my friend, you musy admit that there will occur a great amount of strain.' What better time than Christmas to gather the family together. That was Simeon Lee's plan. His sons and their wives all arrived as expected . There were a couple of uninvited guests too; both from abroad, but Simeon welcomed them all the same. Gorston Hall was a large house, many rooms and passageways were available for criminal intent and revenge on everyone's mind. 'That'a another characteristic of the Lees--- they don't forget! They'll avenge a wrong if they have to wait years to do it.' A quick read for Christmas week. This was a good mystery kept me guessing right to the end. Highly recommended.

My beautiful church

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This was the scene before Midnight Mass at St. Mary's. The church' decorations are stunning. The candles lit,we awaited the placing of baby Jesus in the crib to complete the picture. An awesome sight. Photos are courtesy of this site.

Christmas Wishes.

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Wishing you peace and joy at Christmas.

Christmas stitching and an early Santa.

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The last few weeks have seen me sewing like crazy to finish the wallhanging in the photo. According to the pattern the pieces were patchworked into the background but I'm afraid there wasn't time for that so I appliqued them. It's my first wall quilt and I'm quite pleased with the result. The next photo shows my grandaughter in the dress I made for Christmas, she has grown so much lately I'm really pleased with the fitting. What can I say about the last photo ---- Santa certainly came early !!!

A new blog...

Say Hi to a NEW BLOGGER Check out the new blog on the block. Written by a witty gent, I'm sure it will prove to be a great read... here is the link.

Any 'Cranford' fans out there?

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What did you think of last night's episode? I loved it , especially poor Miss Poe's cage, what a hoot. The whole set and acting is fantastic and Rory Kinnear makes a wonderful devious Septimus!

Musing Mondays.

Here is this week's topic --- Well, just in case Rebecca is still on hiatus (which I think she is, as I seem to remember her saying she’d be gone ’til after the holidays were over), I’ve decided to come up with my own question… So, this week’s Musing Mondays asks… When you buy books, do they immediately go onto your bookshelf to wait until you’re ready to read them (even if that means months/years from then!), or do you read them right away? What makes you do this? If you’re a ’shelver’, why do you think you don’t read the books right away? Do you ever feel guilty for letting the books sit there, unread? If you’re a ‘read-em-now’ person, why do you feel they have to be read right away? Do you give away the books when you’re done, too? My answer: I'm ashamed to say I'm a 'shelver'. Just looking around this room I can see at least seven books bought this year and unread.That is only in this room, if I checked the bookcases upstairs goodness knows what I would find! I

Booking through Thursday

This week's topic is Suggested by Barbara H: What do you think of speed-reading? Is it a good way to get through a lot of books, or does the speed-reader miss depth and nuance? Do you speed-read? Is some material better suited to speed-reading than others? I don't speed read very often. A few years ago when studying with the Open University I was introduced to speed reading and I did find it helpful at times when time was of the essence. Nowadays reading for pleasure does not include a rush for the finish so I take my time. More discussions can be found here.

Will his dream come true?

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Will his dream come true... perhaps. Above is the scene here today.

Christmas Plants

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Good morning fellow bloggers! I feel as though I have neglected both my own blog and all your interesting posts. I thankyou all for the comments you have sent recently and I do intend to visit your blogs within the next few days. Life is hectic(as I know it is for many at this time), the bathroom is progressing well but the house does seem a bit chaotic, bathroom furniture here , there and everywhere. On a positive note I have baked all my mince pies, all 36! Every year I think there are too many and every year they are eaten!Most of the presents are wrapped and cards are posted. The photos show my lovely Christmas cactus and a baby one too. The larger one I have had for about 5 years and never fails to flower at this time of year, the small one I bought last year and really thought it had died till I saw a pink bud on one leaf. Maybe I will be lucky and it will grow in size, I do hope so , they add a cheery glow to the room. Well, I must go and prepare lunch and then visit relatives w

Musing Mondays.

I can't believe a wholw week has passed since my last post. I has been an eventful week ;Christmas preparations and we are replacing our old bathroom suite.So there has been little time for postings. The bathroom is not finished yet so there will be few posts for the next week or so... Anyhow this is today’s MUSING MONDAYS, a post is about library etiquette… For the regular library patrons among us: do you have your own idea of what constitutes proper library etiquette? Is there anything you always try to do? Anything you hate when others do? Well in my local library there are the usual signs regarding noise and mobile phones. These seem to be reasonable to me. The librarians do talk among themselves, but I suppose this is inevitable for work reasons.Mobile phone conversations are discouraged which is good as different conversations all around the library I would find very distracting. On a personal basis I do try and limit my talking and turn my phone off on entering. More library