Lunacat Returns, Part 2

Ridiculous thread topper

Books read in no particular order but I'm not counting, perhaps I'll count in the New Year:

The Children of the New Forest by Captain Frederick Marryat
Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great by Judy Blume
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson
Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey
Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
The Executioner Always Chops Twice by Geoffrey Abbott
Junk by Melvin Burgess
Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson
Arcadium by Sarah Gray
Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones
The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones
Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones
The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones
The Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
The Curse of the Pharoahs by Elizabeth Peters
The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters
Lion in the Valley by Elizabeth Peters
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen
Wonder by R. J. Palacio
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny

Wow. That's 29 books. After thinking I've hardly read anything this year and didn't read anything for the first seven months, I'm pretty pleased with that!

Happy New Thread, Jenny. I love this photo. It reminds me of a cat we once had.

My latest creation - arm knitted scarves from over the weekend. They took about 45 minutes and I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

OH!! I love your thread topper, and your arm knitted scarves are GORGEOUS! Thanks so much for sharing, Jenny, and happy new thread! I was busy catching up on your previous thread, and when I finished, you had started a new one!

29 books is nothing to laugh at. Way to go! :)

Oh those look way cool. How is it different from regular knitting? Or is it even different? I remember when I first learned how to knit...all I did was scarves. I have enough to last me a lifetime I think...haha!

>3 lunacat: Jenny, those knittings are beautiful. :-)

I found you!

Happy New Thread, Jenny!
Love your thread topper - could be our Sparks or Lulu!
I've never heard of arm knitting, but I'm off to find out.
And 29 books already is doing very well indeed! I'm not sure that I'll get to my 75, and I've had all year.

Happy New Thread, Jenny! Love the kitty topper!

>1 lunacat: OMG! Life is too hard...

>2 Ameise1: Don't know anything about knitting (except how to pick up stitches that don't exist), but those scarves look cool. What's arm knitting?

And 29 books is pretty good; you're only just behind me and I've been reading (trying to) all year.

Happy new thread! Cute kitty, and do all cats like to snuggle down into too small containers? Also love the arm scarves. I too knit but have never heard that term. Off too Google it.

What weight yarn did you use? They came out great!

Wow, arm scarves look great! And echoing the 'what's arm knitting?' question.

Happy New Thread, Jenny!

My schnauzer dog also likes to snuggle down into spaces that are too small for her. One of her favorite spots is in a kitty bed.

BTW, Station Eleven is now the book for my next book group month: January. Whoo hoo.

Adding my congrats, Jenny. Happy New Thread!

>2 Ameise1: Cats are daft, aren't they. He's in the basket again as we speak.

>4 Crazymamie: Thanks Mamie, I'm really pleased with how they turned out. I've got more wool on route to make a couple of extras as I haven't pinned down exactly who is getting what for Christmas this year.

>5 jolerie: I was pleasantly surprised when I added it up to 29, and flicking through my Kindle I realised I've read a couple of others as well, but of course I can't remember them now. Arm knitting is basically normal knitting but cast-on on your arms instead of needles! I followed this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPer3Xv2QSM&feature=youtu.be

>6 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara.

>7 AuntieClio: Hi Clio! Thanks for stopping by.

>8 LizzieD: Hi Peggy. Well I've had all year to get there but not reading for a large amount of it has stunted my numbers. I know it's not all about the figures and I'm glad to be getting back into the habit of reading but I'm hoping I'll do better next year. See the link above if you want to know more about arm knitting.

>9 msf59: Hi Mark! Yeah, we love him except when he's driving us crazy :)

>10 humouress: Life is always too hard for Tashi, he is SO over-dramatic. To hear him talk, he's a rescue case. I can also pick up stitches from thin air, I think it's a good talent to have. See further up this post for a link to arm knitting.

>11 Storeetllr: Hi Mary. Yeah, I think most cats do ridiculous things like that. It's our boys that do it, the girls prefer sprawling out on my bed. See above for arm knitting video.

>12 ronincats: Hi Roni. I used superchunky, which is apparently also 6, or super bulky. It worked really well.

>13 souloftherose: See further up this post for the youtube link to arm knitting.

>14 scaifea: Hi Amber. Many thanks for stopping by.

>15 maggie1944: Yay, I'm so glad to hear about Station Eleven being your book group read! You'll love it, it's amazing.

>16 jnwelch: Hi Joe, nice to see you here.

Love the thread topper and the arm knitting! I am always amazed at the small spaces cats will squish their bodies into. ;-)

Happy new thread, Jenny!

Jenny, I love the thread topper and I'm glad I've found (and starred) your thread. Just in time for all of us to start thinking about our 2015 threads! :-D

Oops. I got a little enthusiastic with my arm knitted scarves for Christmas. Four more made over the last two days.

They are beautiful, and whoever receives one for Christmas shall surely be pleased!

Those arm knitted scarves are gorgeous, Jenny and I agree with Karin, anyone who receives one of those for Christmas will be greatly pleased.

>20 lunacat: Beautiful!

Happy Saturday, Jenny! I could use one of those scarves for the coming weeks. LOL. Hope you get in plenty of R & R this weekend.

>21 maggie1944: I hope so Karen, although I'm not 100% sure. I like my presents to be quite personalised and individual, and I'm not sure scarves really fit the bill, but they are good fun to make and will be good to go along with something else.

>22 DeltaQueen50: See above!

>23 EBT1002: Thanks Ellen :)

>24 msf59: I'll happily send you one Mark, perhaps the hot pink one at the end?! ;) There will be a lot of sorting of Christmas presents this weekend but hopefully some downtime as well. Sadly I just slipped down our stairs and landed heavily on my posterior, giving myself a splitting headache which isn't lending itself to much pro-active enthusiasm for the tasks ahead.

I'm thinking of starting a dream diary as I always have truly bizarre dreams and I'd like to chart them.

Last night's was very intriguing. I was living in a place that had a long beach where goats were living (no idea why goats were living on the beach). They were apparently an extremely rare species of goat, indigenous to this beach alone, who also swam a lot. Unfortunately there was also a pride of lions that had been pushed out of their inland territory and had begun to prey on the goats. They would also swim. By the time I arrived, there were only four of these goats left in the world.

The beach was packed with people sunbathing and we were trying to gather the goats together to take them to a sanctuary and preserve the species. We were aware of two or three groups of lions moving through the surf towards us, but we couldn't run fast enough to stop the goats scattering into the water. The lions pounced, and got one of the goats in it's jaws, and I ran to try and free the struggling animal which hadn't been killed yet. Somehow I got it free, and we bundled the goats off somewhere, but the lions were still loose on the beach in their various prides. Without food, they then started to prey on the people coming to sunbathe. There was an overwhelming sense that there was nowhere to run to, and that running wouldn't do you any good. You simply had to try and continue on with your day to day routine without attracting the attention of the lions and hope for the best. Trying to hide didn't work either as they were aware of your fear and would come to get you. I was terrified, always keeping an eye out for the lions but walking on the beach like nothing was wrong and just hoping they didn't turn to pounce on me.

Not sure what happened after that as it faded into a much fuzzier dream involving a huge flood and a ship tipping over, which was preferable to being lion food.

>20 lunacat: Well done, Jenny. I wish you afabulous weekend.

Wow, that was some dream! If you were to ask me my interpretation, I'd say it sounds like concern over the environment and worry about global climate change and an overwhelming sense of helplessness to change the situation. At least that's how I read it.

ETA Oh, yes, about the arm-knitting ~ I LOVE it! Going to go through my chunky yarn to see if I have enough to make a scarf or two that way. If not, I'll be visiting a yarn store, though I said I'd not buy one more skein until I use up at least half of the two large bins worth I have waiting to be used. :)

Jenny, the scarves look great! I think we like the same colours - those lovely teals and purples. Yum. I watched the video you linked to and I can see it would tie you up while you were doing them, but they look like a fun thing to do in front of the TV.

I hope your headache has gone away - what a nasty slip.

Happy new thread Jenny :)

Great reading this year and - hooray for managing 26 books quite a feat.

>3 lunacat: >20 lunacat: Love them scarves. I watched a couple of videos on youtube and they do look quite simple to do. Also, I do wonder if you could attempt different patterns with them?

>26 lunacat: quite interesting and lively dream. I agree with Janet's interpretation, that's what I would have thought as well. I love the idea of the dream diary. Unfortunately, I belong into the category of people who virtually NEVER remember their dreams. I sometimes wake up because I am scared, but that's about it.

>27 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara. I'd like to go and dive off that deck, as long as the water is warm!

>28 Storeetllr: Huh, who knew I was so concerned about the environment?! I do my little bit (recycle glass and paper, yadda yadda ya) but it's certainly not a top priority in my life! I do worry about the world in a overall way, as I see things getting worse not better, but don't think it's weighing on my mind much.

I've just done two scarves with chunky rather than super chunky wool, using four strands rather than two, and it's worked really well. I'll try to remember to take a photo.

>29 susanj67: It's not too bad, you're fairly functional once you've finished a row as it just hangs on your arm, and I've been able to transfer it to a rolling pin on the couple of occasions I've been interrupted. It's fantastic for when watching TV as it requires no glances at all. I'm not confident enough in my normal knitting to simply get on with it and not watch what I'm doing the whole time. The headache remained for much of the day and now I've twisted something in my back so I'm doped up on painkillers and hopefully it will ease in time to go and ride Connie.

>30 drachenbraut23: As above, not sure I'm that concerned about the environment but maybe I am subconsciously!

I'm looking into doing different patterns with them as I've got quite a few 1/4 balls of super chunky wool left over so I need something to use them up. I'll let you know if I find anything.

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Last night's dream:

Apparently I've got a thing about the beach at the moment, although this one is easier to understand as I am re-watching Band of Brothers at the moment and my dream was set in Normandy.

I was a young girl, early teens perhaps, and I'd moved to an old millhouse on a beach in Northern France. It was very windswept and isolated, although there was a small village spread out a little bit along the coast. I was living with parents (not my parents, but I was aware of them being my parents in the dream) and a younger brother. It was absolutely gorgeous, with beach grass and sand dunes everywhere, but seemed desolate as well, and I was aware we were ostracised from the nearby village. My bedroom in the mill was right at the top, up many stairs, with only a mattress in it and no glass in the window, just shutters. There was a shower head on the landing that I couldn't get to turn off once I was done - I kept pressing the off switch and the water would fade to a drip, but the moment I went to step towards my bedroom it would start up again and spin and flip water all over the floors and walls, and towards my bed.

When out with the little brother, playing in the sand dunes, I came across two French men who were jeering at us, and grabbed hold of my bag. I started yelling and fighting with him but he simply laughed at me, so I sent little brother to go and get our father. He came and said I should learn to get on with the people as it was important for his job.

The mill house was lovely, all salt stained wood and peeling paint, wind bleached tones and pale yellows, blues, greens and off-whites, and we were happy there.

Two pottery creations that we've decided to keep instead of gifting, as we absolutely love the glaze. It didn't come out exactly right as the technician at the class put the kiln on too hot, but it's still very pretty.

Oh, those potteries are so beautiful. I would keep them for myself too.

My best friend and I have been busy making sweets for Christmas. It's become a tradition, and I get cook's perks as an added bonus. Everything is made from scratch.



Honeycomb



Truffles with coconut and honeycomb coating



Coconut ice



Peanut butter cups



Turkish delight in lemon and rose flavours

oh! I love Turkish delight! And yours look so pretty, and professionally made, too.

Love the scarves and pottery, Jenny! You remind me that I forgot to take a picture of the scarf I made yesterday while watching the game--I'll go do that now. And today is baking day here as well.

>26 lunacat: This one reminds me of a YA post-apocalyptic novel, for some reason, although that may not make any sense.

>20 lunacat: Lovely!

Oh! Lovely pottery! And the confections! Can I come live with you? :) Barring that, could you post the recipes for the turkish delight and the coconut ices?

I knitted my first arm scarf last night! It came out okay (I think), though I haven't put it together yet to make it into an infinity scarf. I'm going to take a photo of it when I do and will post it on my thread. It's white with little threads of gold running through it. I thought of giving it to my daughter or one of my nieces, the one who lives with us, even though I didn't get her as a giftee on our Christmas exchange this year, but I'm really tempted to keep it for myself.

Your dreams are quite amazing! So detailed! You could write a novel based on either of the ones you shared.

>39 Storeetllr:

Your wish is my command - recipes, but they are in British not in cups so you'll have to convert.

Coconut Ice

200g condensed milk
225g sieved icing sugar
175g desiccated coconut
1 drop red food colouring

1. Mix together the condensed milk and icing sugar. Stir in the coconut (mixture should be very stiff) and divide in half. Colour one half of the mixture pale pink, keep mixing until you have an even colour.

2. Double line a small plastic box with baking parchment or cling film before placing the white coconut ice on the base, pressing into a bar shape. Form the pink coconut ice into a similar shape and press firmly together.

3. Leave 2-3 hours until firm and cut into squares. Keep refrigerated in an airtight container and use within 3 weeks.

Turkish Delight

sunflower oil
90g cornflour, plus two tablespoons
2 tablespoons icing sugar
750g caster sugar
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 tablespoon lemon juice (we used two)
1 teaspoon rosewater (we used two)
pink and yellow food colourings
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest or 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (we used two more tablespoons of lemon juice instead)

Grease two square baking tins with sunflower oil, line the base and sides with clingfilm and lightly grease the clingfilm. In a small bowl, mix together the 2 tablespoons of cornflour and the icing sugar, and sift a light coating of the mixture over the clingfilm. Tip the excess back into the bowl and set aside.

Tip the caster sugar, half the cream of tartar and the lemon juice into a medium sized saucepan and add 350ml water. Set over a medium heat to dissolve the sugar. Pop a sugar thermometer into the pan and bring the syrup to the boil, stirring occasionally. Continue to cook steadily until the syrup reaches 125C/257F. Slide the pan off the heat and keep warm.

In another pan, whisk the remaining cornflour and cream of tartar plus 400ml of water until smooth. Bring to the boil over a low heat, whisking occasionally. As the mixture heats it will thicken dramatically and turn from a white liquid to a very thick translucent paste (ours looked like wallpaper paste). Simmer for 15 seconds and then pour one quarter of the hot syrup into the pan in a steady stream, whisking constantly to combine the two mixtures into a totally smooth paste. Add the remaining hot syrup in three batches, whisking constantly. Bring back to the boil and continue to cook over a steady low to medium heat for about 30 minutes until the mixture is smooth, very thick and glossy. Stir the mixture frequently to ensure it cooks evenly without catching on the bottom of the pan. It should be the consistency of softly whipped cream and come away from the sides of the pan in a seething mass (the recipes words, not mine!)

Take the pan off the heat and pour half of the mixture into a bowl. Add the rosewater and a tiny amount of pink food colouring to make a delicate rather than shocking pink turkish delight. Beat until smooth and thoroughly incorporated. Pour the mixture into one of the prepared tins and spread level. Add a touch of yellow food colouring and lemon zest or extract (we added two tablespoons of lemon juice at this point as well, instead of the extract), to the remaining mixture and mix to combine. Pour into the second tin, spreading level. Once completely cold, cover the tins with clingfilm and leave overnight in a cool place to set firm.

Tip the reserved cornflour and icing sugar mixture on to a large baking tray. Turn the Turkish Delight out of the tins on to the tray and carefully peel off the clingfilm. Using a lightly greased kitchen knife, cut into squares, dusting each piece in the cornflour icing sugar mix as you do so.

>35 maggie1944: Thanks! I've passed on your praise to my friend as well, who does most of the boring work. I simply haven't the patience. It didn't taste like much to begin with but it improved overnight.

>36 ronincats: I love baking day, mainly because of the cook's perks mentioned above. Today was sloe gin day, and I'm ever so slightly tipsy having sampled each bottle to make sure it was drinkable before I go gifting it.

>37 DorsVenabili: I'm not sure how I'd explain either the lions liking to swim, or the humans not being able to avoid the beach, but I can see what you mean. It's stuck with me all day today as well, much more than last night's dream did. Probably because I woke up gasping when the lions were stalking me, out of pure fear. Not fun. I often have to get up to change my pyjamas after waking up in a panic and covered in cold sweat, and that was one of those nights.

>38 ronincats: I LOVE that hoody. I want. And it's in my favourite purple. I can't justify any more jumpers or I'd be searching for one right now.

>39 Storeetllr: Not sure we've got enough room - three adults, five cats and a guinea-pig crammed into this small house at the moment! But as you can see, I've typed out the recipes as we used them so hopefully they are some help to you. I'll pop over to your thread to see your scarf if you post a picture :)

This was the view as I finished up riding Connie this afternoon:



And a couple of my view of Connie

>34 lunacat: Oh I am a real sucker for coconut ice and turkish delight.

Congratulations on so quickly racking up another thread. Guess it is fairly obvious that you were missed aound these parts. xx

Happy Monday, Jenny! I enjoyed the dreams, the treats and the lovely Connie photos. All put a smile on my face. Hope the day and the week goes well.

Gorgeous sky photos. I love the colours.

>43 PaulCranswick: I wouldn't say I'd been missed as I'm not sure I contribute anything but inane nonsense and too many photos. I certainly don't read or review very much, and buy very few books now, so I don't think I bring anything to the group. But it's nice of you to say so.

>44 msf59: I'm glad I could put a smile on your face. I found that recounting those two dreams actually made them less disturbing for me. Usually my dreams hang around for a few days when they scare me, and while these have hung around as well, the emotions and fear haven't stayed.

>45 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara. The sky tonight was even nicer but I only caught it at the tail end and couldn't get a good photo.

____________________

Finished another book, audio this time.

The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell was a action packed and well paced look at the beginnings of the myths of Arthur, Merlin and Guinevere from the point of view of a young boy who had been 'collected' by Merlin and was being brought up at his homestead.

There is a lot of violence (as perhaps to be expected in a historical novel of post-Roman Britain) but I thoroughly enjoyed the way Cornwell takes the main aspects of the myths and legends and brings a believable and realistic story from them. The narrator, a man called Derfel, is engaging and likable but with enough faults to make him genuine as well, and the same treatment is given to all the characters.

This was also brilliantly narrated by Jonathan Keeble, who added a lot to the story with the correct pronunciations of Celtic names that I wouldn't have had a clue about, although not seeing the names in print made the different tribes and countries mentioned a little difficult to follow at times. I found it hard to keep track of which King was ruling which area, but that was probably more an issue with my concentration than anything else.

All in all, this was a great beginning to the story and a lovely accompaniment to my riding, well suited to listening to in blocks of 30 mins or so. I've already downloaded the next in the series.

I'm so happy you enjoyed The Winter King, Jenny! It is literally my favorite book. I adore Cornwell. Nobody can write a battle scene the way he does.
Hope you enjoy the rest of the series.

Oh, I have some Cornwell sitting around somewhere in my boxes or on my shelves. I must get to them. I must. Just the kind of stories I love.

And my, goodness, you contribute a lot of fun and interesting comments to this group. No more minimizing your place here! I love reading your threads, and learning about how you and Connie are doing.

>46 lunacat: Oooh, I'm on the second one in the series now and loving it - so glad to hear that you liked the first one!

Oh look at you go with all that knitting and baking! :)

The Winter King sounds good and I added that to my list earlier this year. I'm a sucker for anything to do with Arthur. There is another series by Jack Whyte that also deals with the legend of Arthur but from more of a historical context. They are all chunksters but really good stuff as well.

>47 Fourpawz2: I loved it, thanks Charlotte. If I'd been reading it rather than listening to it I'd have got through it faster but I think I'd have lost some of the detail, and I wouldn't have heard the lovely pronunciations. The battle scenes were extremely well done as they gave the right amount of detail to be believable but never overstepped the mark. I'm thoroughly looking forward to the second one, which I started during today's ride.

>48 maggie1944: Karen, I think you'd love Cornwell. It was a great adventure story with lots of exciting moments and nicely paced drama, with quiet moments thrown in to keep the balance.

>49 scaifea: I started the second one this afternoon Amber, and the first 45minutes have been very good, so I'm looking forward to continuing it tomorrow morning. Glad to see you enjoyed the first as much as I did.

>50 jolerie: Not so much knitting or baking tonight, I've lost all enthusiasm. Maybe I'll find some tomorrow. You should definitely get to The Winter King, I am very much NOT an Arthur fan and I enjoyed this one a lot despite that, so for an Arthur lover, it's guaranteed to be a great read.

_______________

A new little friend joined us today: my car was in the garage this morning and I got a lift into town so I was at a loose end while waiting for the return journey and caught sight of him in a charity shop window. I couldn't just leave him here, so he's now hanging out on our Christmas tree instead.

>51 lunacat: It's so good to know that I'm not the only person in the world who feels sorry for adorable stuffed animals in thrift shops! I frequently rescue them, too.

Jenny, I wish you a lovely weekend and Merry Christmas.

We're doing a mini Christmas today because my best friend whom I live with (and her hubby) is going to Scotland for Christmas to be with husband's family.

So far I have received:



Hogwarts pyjama bottoms



Catopoly and a yoga kittens calendar

Ralph the guinea-wiggle joined in with the Cat-opoly playing

Adorable!

I'm thinking of dressing Connie up for Christmas...........reckon she'd cooperate with this??



And I finished another book:

The Last Camel Died at Noon by Elizabeth Peters.

Another fun-filled adventure with a side dose of archaeology and a few dangerous experiences thrown in. Not set in Egypt this time, and therefore a lot less digging and excavating which I missed slightly, but it was still a good mindless read.

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden

Ellie and six of her friends have 'gone bush', venturing out on a camping trip to a local area of wilderness called Hell, a place believed to be impenetrable and inhabited only by a hermit who had murdered his family and escaped to the isolation the place afforded them.

But, while relaxing in Hell, their lives are destined to change forever. It starts small, jets flying overhead during the night, but it's only when they leave and try to go home that they realise the scope of the disaster that has occurred, and how lucky they have been to escape it.

A thrilling and well-written YA novel, this not only raises some interesting questions about poverty, war and the rights and wrongs of killing, but also examines how quickly people can change and the lengths they are willing to go to do the 'right' thing. This is the first in a series, and I'm off to purchase the next right now.

Good review of Tomorrow, When the War Began. I like a good YA. I am looking forward to seeing Connie in her Christmas garb.

Have a great day, Jenny!

Indeed Tomorrow, When the War Began sounds like a good one. I'm a sucker for a good YA as well. Thanks Jenny!

>59 msf59: and >60 jolerie: I think you'd definitely enjoy Tomorrow, When the War Began. It's an interesting take on war, resourcefulness, and how we maybe underestimate teenagers.

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We had a new Christmas Tree decoration this evening:

OMG! So funny! And the tree stayed upright?

That's an awfully big kitty to be that high up on a tree!

Jenny, it's Chrismas Eve's eve, and so I am starting the rounds of wishing my 75er friends the merriest of Christmases or whatever the solstice celebration of their choice is.

Wow! Your kitty blends right into the tree. So funny!

Yup, the tree stayed upright and he didn't knock any decorations off getting up there! I knocked a few off getting him down though, he was clinging on pretty tight, and so pleased with himself.

He's our only cat to go up the tree. Hopefully this was a one off! And yeah, he's our biggest cat, so not ideal for Christmas Tree climbing!

You have a wonderful thread! Looking at your "cat in the tree pic" I want to share something I just heard on an Italian radio station (thanks for web radio!): a woman called in to apologize that way to her daughter for last night's big fight after daughter's gattone (BIG cat) had destroyed the Christmas lasagna by jumping right into it! :)
So yours is clearly more careful and displays the good kind of Christmas spirit!
Have a wonderful Christmas - and All The Best for the New Year!!

So far, no cat disasters here. Well, that might be because we do not share our house with a cat, or more. Just two dogs. One of which jumps up and down when ever there is food left on a counter or table, and the other knows all the mountain climbing techniques known to canines. Leave them together in an empty house.... they will get to any good smells. Yes, they will. So all must be clean before we leave.

There we go. That's one reason we keep pets: they make us keep a neat and tidy home.

Happy holidays!

Happy Christmas, Jenny!

Connie was feeling festive yesterday :)

And I just saw the International Space Station going over! Gorgeous clear night to watch it. I could hear my neighbours telling their children it was Father Christmas flying in the sky.

Oh cool! I saw MIR going over my place a few times while it was still flying. Really fun.

From our family to yours!

>71 drneutron: I was incredibly pleased to see it! Whenever something like that happens it's either at stupid o'clock in the morning or really cloudy, but I happened to see the announcement flash up on facebook about 6 minutes before the time given so I went outside, looked in the correct direction and sure enough, at exactly the time stated, there it was! Amazing to see it going so fast.

Happy Christmas, Jenny. And Connie looks very festive :-)

Jenny, I opened your thread today and haven't stopped smiling! Connie's picture at #57 is priceless and your cat in the tree is hilarious!

Have a joyful holiday!

Jenny, I'm so happy to have made your acquaintance this year. I love your stories about Connie, and your sharp wit. I'm so grateful to have you in my life.

Stopping by to wish you a happy holiday season and all the best in 2015!

Jenny, best wishes to you for a very Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Jenny. Enjoy it.

Have a very Veggie Christmas with lots of good vegetarian fare, Jenny! ;-)

I hope to see you in 2015!

I hope you are having a lovely holiday, Jenny. Hugs!

Stopping by to ask you to give Connie a hug from me today and to wish all at your house a very happy day!

Jenny, I wish you a wonderful Christmas and I do hope that all your family and friends appreciate all these wonderful gifts they are receiving!

It has been great to see you back and re-energised in the latter part of the year, Jenny. Have a wonderful festive season.

/*Thank you so much to Paul, Bianca, Karen, Mark, Darryl, Barbara, Anne, Lori, Clio, Judy, Susan and Val.

I had quite a pleasant Christmas with my family, and although there were some stressful moments it was lovely to be around small children this year (nearly 5, 2, 15 months) and see their joy. The youngest struggled a little at the start with all the new people but by the end of Boxing Day was deliberately ensuring all the attention was on her.

We also played a couple of new Christmas games, one of which had us in absolute hysterics, and will become a new family favourite.

Books received were:

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow

both from Kim (Berly) as my Secret Santa.

Father Christmas brought me:

The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys

The Twelve Poems of Christmas: Volume One selected by Carol Ann Duffy

and

Dorothy Wordsworth's Christmas Birthday by Carol Ann Duffy

which has the most stunning illustrations



As gifts:

Tasty Knits Made with Love

and

Knitted Fruit and Vegetables by Susie Johns - not sure what I'm meant to do with these but I might make my cousins' children a set of play food from them.

And then I went slightly overboard in the Amazon Kindle sale and purchased:

Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse by David Mitchell

Humans: An A-Z by Matt Haig

The Queen's Agent: Francis Walsingham at the Court of Elizabeth I by John Cooper

An Autobiography by Agatha Christie (this was purchased because my mum says my grandfather is mentioned in it!)

On Cats by Doris Lessing

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Wildwood by Colin Meloy

The Physician by Noah Gordon

Lost London by Richard Guard

The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones

Joan of Arc by Helen Castor

And I was gifted a £15 Amazon voucher for Christmas as well which I didn't use on these, so I'll have to decide what to splurge that on.

Happy Saturday, Jenny! Glad to see you had a nice holiday. Nice book haul, my friend.

Well done, Jenny! It sounds as though you had a splendid Christmas.

Books read over the Christmas period:

The Dead of the Night
The Third Day, The Frost
Darkness, Be My Friend
Burning for Revenge
The Night is for Hunting
The Other Side of Dawn

which are the rest of the series starting with Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden.

Jenny, I wish you a lovely weekend.

More read:

While I Live
Incurable
Circle of Flight

All by John Marsden

Wow! You must like this author.

>91 tymfos:

Well, they're a YA series starting with Tomorrow, When the War Began and going through until The Other Side of the Dawn, and then the following three are kind of an add-on trilogy set a little later.

Just thought I'd share this here:

Dorothy Wordsworth's Christmas Birthday by Carol Ann Duffy, with illustrations by Tom Duxbury.



FIRST, FROST at midnight –
Moon, Venus and Jupiter
named in their places.

Ice, like a cold key,
turning its lock on the lake;
nervous stars trapped there.

Darkness, a hand poised
over the chord of the hills;
the strange word moveless.

The landscape muted;
soft apprehension of snow,
a holding of breath.

Up, rapt at her gate,
Dorothy Wordsworth ages
one year in an hour;

her Christmas birthday
inventoried by an owl,
clock-eyed, time-keeper.

Indoors, the thrilled fire
unwraps itself; sprightly hands
opening the coal.

For she cannot sleep,
Dorothy, primed with herself,
waiting for morning ...

gradual sure light,
like the start of a poem,
its local accent.

Striding towards dawn,
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
swigs at his port wine,

sings a nonsense rhyme,
which Helm Crag learns and echoes
at the speed of sound.

The rock formations –
old lady at piano,
a lion, a lamb.

And, out on a limb,
he skids down a silvered lane
into a sunburst;

a delight of bells,
the exact mood of his heart,
from St Oswald’s Church.
New rime on the grass
where the Wordsworths’ graves will be
at another time.

Not there, then; here, now,
Dorothy’s form on the road
coming to meet him,

in her claret frock,
in her boots, bonnet and shawl,
her visible breath.

Then her arm through his
on the stroll to Dove Cottage;
spiced apples baking.

Wordsworth lies a-bed
in his nightshirt and nightcap,
rhyming cloud with crowd.

The cat at his feet
licks at her black-and-white fur,
rhyming purr with purr.

The kitchen table,
set for this festive breakfast,
an unseen still-life:

cream in a brown jug,
the calmness of bowls and spoons,
one small round white loaf.

And a tame robin,
aflame on the windowsill,
its name in its song.

They walk to the lake,
where Wordsworth skates like a boy,
in heaven on earth;

a tangerine sun
illuminating the hour
into manuscript;

so Dorothy’s gifts
are the gold outlines of hills,
are emblazoned trees;

Coleridge on a rock,
lighting his pipe, votive smoke
ascending the air ...

Nowt to show more fair –
ecstatic, therefore, her stare,
seeing it all in.

Later, the lamps lit
in the parlour, hot punch fumes
in a copper pan.

The feast: mutton pie,
buttered parsnips, potatoes,
a Halifax goose.
Coleridge’s flushed face,
never so vivid again
in Dorothy’s mind.

Loud boots at the porch
and a stout thump on the door
as the Minstrels come,

dangling their tin cans
for a free ladle of ale
after caroling ...

Bring us in good ale,
for that goes down at once-oh!
Bring us in good ale ...

All in each other,
Miss Wordsworth and the poets,
bawling the chorus;

their voices drifting,
in 1799,
to nowhen, nowhere …

but Winter’s slow turn,
and snow in Dorothy’s hair
and on her warm tongue.

wonderful illustrations! Great collection of new books! Whoo hoo.

What a perfect way to begin the new year. Here's to good reading for us all.

Happy Holidays, Jenny! I like those illustrations, too. I'm a fan of both Cinder and The Frozen Thames, so I'm excited that you got those.

My 2015 thread can be found here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185142

which is where I'll be camped out now as it's too confusing for my very small brain, keeping track of two threads and deciding what to post where.