SandDune’s Retirement Reads - Part 5

This is a continuation of the topic SandDune’s Retirement Reads - Part 4.

Talk75 Books Challenge for 2021

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SandDune’s Retirement Reads - Part 5

1SandDune
Edited: Oct 17, 2021, 2:08 pm

Welcome to my fifth thread of 2021, and to my tenth year doing the 75 Book Challenge. I'm a 60 year old accountant and, after spending most of my career in the City of London, I was until very recently the Finance Manager of a local charity which provides support to children and adults with learning disabilities. But 2021 will be a year of change as I retired on 22nd January, and my husband (aka Mr SandDune) started working part-time from January onwards. We live about thirty miles north of London although retirement may take us elsewhere in the U.K. Our 21 year old son (aka J) is now at the University of Lancaster in the North of England studying History. There's also our 9 year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Daisy, who tends to feature prominently in my threads.

I'm originally from Wales rather than England, so I do have an interest in all things Welsh (although I can't speak the language - at least only a few words) and I tend to get huffy if people call me English rather than Welsh! I am doing an introductory Welsh class this year though. I read mainly literary fiction, classics, science-fiction and fantasy, but I have been trying (and enjoying) some crime fiction. As far as non-fiction goes I’m interested in a number of topics in particular books about the environment and nature.

In 2020 I struggled with my reading (for the obvious reasons) and read a lot fewer books than normal, and more of those were a fairly easy read.

All my family are avid readers. J has inherited a love of reading science-fiction and fantasy from me and a love of reading history from Mr SandDune so our books are increasingly shared. I read hardbacks, paperbacks, on kindle and listen to audio books particularly when driving or walking the dog. Apart from reading I love travelling, eating out, and going to the theatre, most of which have been curtailed in 2020 again for the obvious reasons. I'm getting more and more concerned about environmental issues and I have been quite involved in campaigning on climate change.

During 2020 I got a lot of pleasure from looking at the birds in my garden, so I thought for 2021 I’d start my threads with pictures of my favourites.

The bird I have chosen for this month is the sparrowhawk. This is the only bird of prey that we see actually in the garden. I have seen one making a kill about two feet away from our back door but usually we just see the after effects: little piles of feathers or (occasionally) the sparrowhawk pulling the feathers out of the unfortunate starling or blue tit or sparrow.

Puffin

From Thomas Bewick’s A History of British Birds:



And in real life:

2SandDune
Edited: Oct 17, 2021, 2:09 pm

Five star books from past years:

2020:
H is for Hawk Helen MacDonald
The Curse of Chalion Lois McMaster Bujold

2019:
The Salt Path Raynor Winn
Wilding Isabella Tree
Mothering Sunday Graham Swift

2018:
City of Bohane Kevin Barry
Educated: A Memoir Tara Westover
Frederica Georgette Heyer

2017:
1984 George Orwell
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
Persuasion Jane Austen
The Outrun Amy Liptrot
Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders
Just William Richmal Crompton

2016:
The Shepherd’s Life James Rebanks
Gilead Marilynne Robinson

2015:
The Spire William Golding
Girl in the Dark: A Memoir Anna Lyndsey
The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro

2014:
The Lowland Jhumpa Lahiri
The Wall Marlen Haushofer
Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
Selected Stories Katherine Mansfield
Framley Parsonage Anthony Trollope

2013:
The Garden of Evening Mists Tan Twan Eng
Tooth and Claw Jo Walton
Barchester Towers Anthony Trollope
Northanger Abbey Jane Austen
The Ocean at the End of the Lane Neil Gaiman
Suite Francaise Irene Nemirovsky
Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward

2012:
Among Others Jo Walton
The Arrival Shaun Tan
The Tale of Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter
The Uncommon Reader Alan Bennett
Railsea China Mieville

3SandDune
Edited: Oct 17, 2021, 2:12 pm

Plans for 2021:

I belong to a RL (well, via Zoom these days) book club and we meet monthly (except January & August).

February: The Windsor Knot Sophia Bennett
March: The Accidental Ali Smith
April Night Waking Sarah Moss
May Hamnet Maggie O’Farrell
June Motherwell: A Girlhood Deborah Orr
July Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm Isabella Tree
September : Theatre of Dreamers Polly Samson
October : The House by the Lake Thomas Harding

November

We will also be reading the Costa novel shortlist over the first couple of months of the year:

Piranesi Susanna Clarke
Peace Talks Tim Finch
The Less Dead Denise Mina
The Mermaid of Black Conch Monique Roffey

4SandDune
Edited: Dec 11, 2021, 2:19 pm

Books read in 2021:

1. Piranesi Susanna Clarke *****
2. Back to Nature: How to Love Life —and Save It Chris Packham & Megan McCubbin ****
3. The Magician’s Nephew C.S. Lewis *****
4. Lolly Willowes Sylvia Townsend Warner ***1/2
5. Lowborn: Growing Up, Getting Away and Returning to Britain’s Poorest Towns Kerry Hudson ***
6. Windsor Knot S.J. Bennett **
7. The Inheritors William Golding ****
8. The Goblin Emperor Katherine Addison ****
9. Peace Talks Tim Finch ***1/2
10. The Accidental Ali Smith ***
11. The Pride of Chanur C.J. Cherryh ****
12. Paladin of Souls Lois McMaster Bujold ****
13. The Less Dead Denise Mina **1/2
14. Night Waking Sarah Moss ****1/2
15. The Mermaid of Black Conch Monique Roffey ****1/2
16. Hamnet Maggie O’Farrell *****
17. The Grey King Susan Cooper ***1/2
18. Tribes David Lammy ***1/2
19. Silver on the Tree Susan Cooper ***
20. The Heavens Sandra Newman ***1/2
21. Penric’s Demon Lois McMaster Bujold****
22. The Town House Norah Lofts ***
23. Necessity’s Child Sharon Lee Steve Miller****
24. Motherwell Deborah Orr ****
25. Dragon in Exile Sharon Lee Steve Miller****
26. Head On John Scalzi ***1/2
27. Penric and the Shaman Lois McMaster Bujold ***1/2
28. Penric’s Fox Lois McMaster Bujold ***1/2
29. I Belong Here: A Journey Along the Backbone of Britain Anita Sethi**1/2
30. All Systems Red Martha Wells****
31. Wilding: the Return of Nature to a British Farm Isabella Tree *****
32. Masquerade in Lodi Lois McMaster Bujold ***1/2
33. Artificial Condition Martha Wells ***1/2
34. The Dictionary of Lost Words Pip Williams
35. A Wizards Guide to Defensive Baking T. Kingfisher
36. Old Baggage Lissa Evans
37. V for Victory Lissa Evans
38. Barchester Towers Anthony Trollope *****
39. The Unknown Ajax Georgette Heyer ***1/2
40. A Theatre for Dreamers Polly Samson ***
41. Notes From the Burning Age Claire North ***1/2
42. Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City K.J. Parker ***1/2
43. Small Pleasures Clare Chambers ****
43. The House by the Lake Thomas Harding ***
44. The Witness for the Dead Katherine Addison ***1/2
45. All the Lonely People Mike Gayle ****
46. Roadside Picnic Arkady Strugatsky Boris Stugatsky ***
47. Exit Belinda Bauer ***1/2
48. Blood Child Octavia Butler ***1/2
49. None So Blind Alis Hawkins ****
50. Foreign Affairs Alison Lurie ***1/2
51. Guards! Guards! Terry Pratchett ****
52. Komarr Lois McMaster Bujold ****1/2
53. Back Trouble Clare Chambers ****
54. Disclaimer Renee Knight ***1/2
55. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
56. My Mess is A Bit of a Life Georgia Pritchett***
57. In Two Minds Alis Hawkins ****
58. Winterfair Gifts Lois McMaster Bujold ***1/2
59. The Dispatcher John Scalzi **1/2

5richardderus
Oct 17, 2021, 4:06 pm

Hallo Rhian! Happy new thread.

6FAMeulstee
Oct 17, 2021, 4:43 pm

Happy new thread, Rhian!

7quondame
Oct 17, 2021, 4:46 pm

Happy new thread!

>4 SandDune: You have lots of books I enjoyed on that list!

8PaulCranswick
Oct 17, 2021, 9:55 pm

Happy new thread, Rhian.

9ArlieS
Oct 17, 2021, 11:50 pm

Happy new thread!

10Sakerfalcon
Oct 18, 2021, 7:10 am

Happy new thread Rhian!

11msf59
Oct 18, 2021, 7:21 am

Happy New Thread, Rhian. Congrats on your 10th year. How exciting. I love the sparrow-hawk up there. What are the common birds you see in the garden?

12charl08
Oct 18, 2021, 7:57 am

Happy new thread.
Spotted a huge bird of prey perched on the side of the road on Saturday, but there was nowhere to park so didn't get a chance to find out what it was, exactly. Those puffin books were marvellous objects, such a lovely illustration you've posted here.

13drneutron
Oct 18, 2021, 9:34 am

Happy new one!

14Whisper1
Oct 18, 2021, 11:23 am

Happy Monday Rhian. It is a lovely fall day here. My neighbor helped tremendously by tearing down seven butterfly bushes and misc. plants in a large space at the back of my yard. We went shopping for grass seed, hay to place over it, and found misc. other things for the yard care.

I can't imagine living without my friends in this neighborhood. Never a day goes by without a phone call asking how I am doing. And, likewise, my calls to them.

I haven't had a lot of time to read lately. Caring for a two-story house with basement and attic as well as a nice sized yard, seems to take most of my time.

I hope you are enjoying your retirement!

15richardderus
Oct 18, 2021, 2:08 pm

I've joined you...new thread time al round.

16BLBera
Oct 18, 2021, 2:27 pm

Happy new thread, Rhian.

17SandDune
Edited: Oct 18, 2021, 3:32 pm

>5 richardderus: >6 FAMeulstee: >7 quondame: >8 PaulCranswick: >9 ArlieS: >10 Sakerfalcon: >11 msf59: >12 charl08: >13 drneutron: >14 Whisper1: Welcome everyone!

We are away from home at the moment, staying in a place called St Dogmaels just outside Cardigan in West Wales. We are having a week away over Mr SandDune’s half term. The weather is not forecast to be great, unfortunately, but yesterday and today have not been too bad. Tomorrow is forecast for heavy rain all day though.

Yesterday, we pottered up the coast from where we are staying. We visited Mwnt beach and Penrhyn beach (where we had lunch in the delightfully named Plwmp Tart cafe - we discovered later that the village just up the road was called Plwmp) and then on to New Quay, which was the inspiration for Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood.

Here is Mwnt, a lovely beach where Daisy could rush around to her heart’s content, but unfortunately followed by a little pack of chihuahuas. (What is it with chihuahuas and bigger dogs - they just seem to have no sense! I mean Daisy could almost swallow one whole but they still rush at her barking furiously! Luckily she ignored them.



And here I am, with Daisy, walking back from Penrhyn beach. I think I’m trying to decide if the vegetation counts as temperature rainforest, as it was very ferny and mossy. Left to its own devices most of this part of Wales would be temperate rainforest, but there are too many sheep.



18SandDune
Oct 18, 2021, 3:31 pm

And today we went to Aberystwyth where we toured the bookshops. In Waterstones I bought None so Blind by Alis Hawkins, a historical crime thriller set in the area we are staying, and My Mess is a Bit of a Life by Georgia Pritchett, our RL book club choice for December. I also had a very nice conversation with a fellow customer who must have been about 70 and who was buying Dune to replace a copy that had gone missing, about reading sci-fi and fantasy as an older lady! We then went to a predominately Welsh language bookshop and I bought Agor y drws and Am ddiwrnod which are two (very easy) Welsh language readers. Have I said I am learning Welsh? I have not progressed very far as yet, but it is an excellent course, so I will definitely continue.

We then went to Aberaeron on the way back, which is a pretty little place. Apparently, when I was small - about 6 or 7 - my parents nearly moved to Aberaeron. It’s interesting to think how things would have turned out if they had. I’d probably speak better Welsh for a start.




19SandDune
Oct 18, 2021, 3:32 pm

>16 BLBera: Hi Beth!

20Whisper1
Oct 18, 2021, 3:33 pm

Thank you so much for posting these lovely images of Wales.

21SandDune
Oct 18, 2021, 3:51 pm

>11 msf59: Birds we see every day are sparrows, dunnock, blackbirds, great tit, blue tit, robin, wood pigeon, collared doves, starling and magpies. We see goldfinches, sparrowhawk, jackdaws, crows and wren from time to time. Anything else is a rare visitor indeed. I did once see a heron stealing the fish from our pond, but we haven’t had fish for some time now so there is no more temptation.

>14 Whisper1: It’s good that you’ve got friends to help, Linda! I wouldn’t like to have to care for a house on my own.

22MickyFine
Oct 18, 2021, 4:14 pm

Your Wales photos look lovely, Rhian. I admit I'm flummoxed over how to even attempt to pronounce "Mwnt." The Welsh ability to spell things without vowels amazes.

23SandDune
Oct 18, 2021, 4:30 pm

>22 MickyFine: Ah, but it has got vowels. In Welsh there are an extra two vowels: w and y. And w is usually pronounced like the ‘oo’ in look.

24alcottacre
Oct 18, 2021, 5:04 pm

Happy new thread, Rhian! Love the pictures!

25MickyFine
Oct 18, 2021, 5:12 pm

>23 SandDune: Oh that is excellent to know. My brain was pronouncing Mwnt like "mount" instead of "moont."

26richardderus
Oct 18, 2021, 6:13 pm

>18 SandDune:, >17 SandDune: Learning Welsh! Gracious. It's very beautiful, is Wales, but when "Tregrug" was pronounced "TruhGREEG" to me, and "cwm" as "coom", well...lotsa unlearning to do. I admire your fortitude.

Daisy's sure a punkin pweshus. What a lovely story, sharing a love of SF with a peer! Makes one all happy, don't it though.

27SandDune
Edited: Oct 19, 2021, 11:26 am

>24 alcottacre: Hi Stasia!

>25 MickyFine: >26 richardderus: Welsh is actually much more phonetic than English, so once you’ve learnt the basic rules, you’re good to go. But there are different numbers of vowels and different numbers of letters generally. Ch, Dd, Ff, Ll, Ng, Ph, Rh and Th all count as separate letters. I don’t find the pronunciation difficult, as I was brought up surrounded by lots of Welsh place names, but I can’t roll my r’s unfortunately, which you are supposed to do.

We have an American lady in our (online) class who is now living in my home patch and has sent her children to a Welsh language school. She is very keen.

>26 richardderus: Daisy really enjoys herself on the beach. She was charging around like a puppy.

28Berly
Oct 19, 2021, 9:02 am

Happy new thread and I love all your photos! Good luck learning the Welsh. My Hubby just talked me in to signing up for DuoLingo and I am refreshing my French. (Which after seeing all the double letter letters up above, I am thinking must be easier!)

29elkiedee
Oct 19, 2021, 11:13 am

Years ago, I had a colleague whose interest in Welsh language rock music changed her and life. She started learning Welsh produced several issues of a bilingual fanzine. She met and fell in love with a Welsh speaking man who had been living in London through social events organised in London's Welsh community. They married and moved to Wales more than 20 years ago. I took on two of her cats, part of a larger litter which meant that she was living in a 5th floor council flat with 7 of them. One of them lived to be nearly 19.

I learned French for a long time - I lived in Paris for a year as a toddler so once must have spoken it better than English briefly, but sadly forgot most of it when we returned to England. There are quite a lot of unpronounced syllables, elissions and run on sounds and quite complicated grammar in French, and I think I lost a lot of confidence through various less than brilliant teaching at secondary. If I made a serious attempt at learning it properly again, I'm sure lots of buried memory could kick in and help me, but I'm probably a bit too lazy to do so.

30SandDune
Oct 19, 2021, 11:39 am

>28 Berly: >29 elkiedee: To be honest I’m learning Welsh and French. I was learning French last year online with the City Lit in London, so I’ve carried on with that. Last year I was Level 2 Upper and now I’m Level 3 Lower, which is a sort of intermediate level.

One change that the pandemic has made is that it has opened up all these online opportunities for learning. It’s much easier for me to do my online class than trog into London or Cambridge to find a real life one. And similarly with my Welsh class, it’s being run online by a South Wales university (at an incredibly cheap price I might add) and I just wouldn’t be able to access it under normal circumstances.

>29 elkiedee: I think language teaching used to be dreadful, although to be honest I’m not very well up on language teaching at a normal school. Jacob’s school specialised in languages, so they did immersion teaching from Year 8 in their main foreign language. Speaking a second language was seen as absolutely normal.

31SandDune
Oct 19, 2021, 12:05 pm

Some signs from Cardigan, just a mile or so from our cottage:

Just as well Daisy can’t read - she’d do anything for a free sausage!



The next one caused some confusion. I saw it as we were driving past the cafe a couple of days ago. “Look” I said to Mr SandDune “There’s a Welsh Black Lives Matter poster”. We then had a slightly confused conversation where he seemed to be saying that it was discriminatory. It turned out that what he’d understood me to say was that Welsh Black Lives Matter (rather than English or Scottish or any other nationality of black lives). What I’d meant to convey was that there was a BLM poster written in the Welsh language. We sorted it out eventually!



32BLBera
Oct 19, 2021, 1:09 pm

Love your photos, Rhian. Thanks for sharing. It sounds like you are having a lovely time.

33alcottacre
Oct 19, 2021, 1:37 pm

I am with Beth, Rhian. Love the pictures!

34richardderus
Oct 19, 2021, 2:20 pm

>31 SandDune: Aw! Poor Daisy. I'd've read it to her, mean Puppymommy.

>30 SandDune: Take >29 elkiedee:'s story, make it "Spanish" and that's me. I get horribly self-conscious speaking non-English languages after a bad moment when, trying to say I was embarrassed, I said I was pregnant. MUCH hilarity.

I found it...less amusing.

>27 SandDune: Pity about the "r"s. That wasn't a problem I had because of such early Spanish-speaking. But it makes some people mental...like the "ll" in Spanish, which isn't like the "ll" in Català or the "gl" in Italian, all of which cause English speakers acute agony.

35Ameise1
Oct 19, 2021, 2:30 pm

>31 SandDune: LOL great poster.
Thanks for sharing all the lovely photos.
I wish you a most lovely vacation in Wales.

36johnsimpson
Oct 19, 2021, 4:16 pm

Hi Rhian my dear, happy new thread.

37SandDune
Edited: Oct 19, 2021, 5:02 pm

46.Roadside Picnic Arkady Strugatsky & Boris Strugatsky ***



Twenty-three year old Redrick Schuhart has a legitimate day job at the Harmont Branch of the International Institute for Extraterrestrial Cultures. But at night he’s a stalker, someone who goes into the mysterious zone to get out the extra-terrestrial artifacts that have been abandoned after the Earth has been visited by aliens. Who the aliens were or what they wanted or why they left behind so many objects has never been explained, but one explanation is that it is purely the detritus of a spacefaring roadside picnic:

“A picnic. Imagine: a forest, a country road, a meadow. A car pulls off the road into the meadow and unloads young men, bottles, picnic baskets, girls, transistor radios, cameras … A fire is lit, tents are pitched, music is played. And in the morning they leave. The animals, birds, and insects that were watching the whole night in horror crawl out of their shelters. And what do they see? An oil spill, a gasoline puddle, old spark plugs and oil filters strewn about … Scattered rags, burnt-out bulbs, someone has dropped a monkey wrench. The wheels have tracked mud from some godforsaken swamp … and, of course, there are the remains of the campfire, apple cores, candy wrappers, tins, bottles, someone’s handkerchief, someone’s penknife, old ragged newspapers, coins, wilted flowers from another meadow …”

The novel follows Redrick as he continues his increasingly dangerous (and illegal) occupation. The zone is hostile to human life, and stalkers don’t usually live long: by the time he has reached the age of 30 Redrick is a veteran stalker whose competitors are mostly dead or maimed. But Redrick has his own problems, the children of stalkers don’t develop like other people’s children, and Redrick has a daughter …

I think I wanted a little more explanation from this book, probably unfairly as the whole premise of the book is based on the fact that people have really no idea of the true reason that the artefacts have been left behind. Ultimately I found it dissatisfying, although it may be one of those books that stays with me.

38SandDune
Oct 20, 2021, 2:56 am

>32 BLBera: >33 alcottacre: Thank you!

>34 richardderus: We wanted to eat in a fish place overlooking the river. But Daisy did get a little bit of our fish platter (she’s pretty keen on smoked fish) to make up for lack of sausage. We had a table overlooking the River Teifi and could watch the bird life, including a curlew and kingfisher.

I can do the ‘gl’s but my Italian ‘r’s aren’t right either! It’s not a problem for understanding in either language, but I suppose it sounds as if I’ve got a lisp.

>35 Ameise1: Thanks! Wr are having a nice time, though the weather could be better!

>36 johnsimpson: Thanks John!

39PaulCranswick
Oct 20, 2021, 4:50 am

Thank you for the photos of the Welsh coast, looks splendid and it is a place I want to visit soon.

>31 SandDune: Love the sausage poster.

I would like to brush up my French but also learn Gaelic/Irish given my antecedents.

40Caroline_McElwee
Oct 20, 2021, 5:20 am

Glad you have had a nice break Rhian, and that you have a happy Daisy.

41msf59
Oct 20, 2021, 7:10 am

>21 SandDune: I like the variety you see in your backyard, Rhian. Very nice.

42alcottacre
Oct 20, 2021, 1:08 pm

>37 SandDune: I think I will give that one a pass for now. I hope your next read is better for you, Rhian.

Happy Wednesday!

43richardderus
Oct 20, 2021, 1:18 pm

>38 SandDune: Kipperpup! She can have mine, too.

"R" in English is a hard sound for many other speakers to make, so it's only fair. The British, f/ex, simply leave it out of many English words where it quite clearly appears. So odd.

44SandDune
Oct 20, 2021, 1:28 pm

Today we went to the Dolaucothi Roman Gold Mine, the only known Roman gold mine in the U.K. It’s so calm and peaceful now that it’s difficult to believe that nearly 2000 years ago the Romans were mining there on an industrial scale, with thousands of slaves and a whole fort full of soldiers to guard the gold. Mining continued for about 140 years and the Romans pretty much got all the accessible gold, as it was tried again in the 19th century and the 1930’s but all the good seams of gold containing quartz had been mined out.

Here is the pretty solid Roman mine shaft:



This is the site today, looking down towards where the Roman fort was. Very peaceful. Wouldn’t have been so peaceful in Roman times or so pretty. Apparently they had built a 17 mile long aqueduct to bring water from higher ground, so that they could wash away all the vegetation and top soil to strip mine Dolaucothi.



45richardderus
Oct 20, 2021, 1:44 pm

A couple thousand years and it's all back to being a beautiful nature spot! On the planet's timescale, that's an attack of hives.

46SandDune
Oct 20, 2021, 2:23 pm

>39 PaulCranswick: This is the third time in about four years that we have been to West Wales. We really like the area, and this time are a little bit further north than we have been before.

>40 Caroline_McElwee: She hasn’t been quite as happy last couple of days as we haven’t been to the beach, but we will be rectifying that tomorrow as it’s supposed to be drier.

>41 msf59: We have quite a lot of nesting places in our garden, and plants with berries on that attracts them. At the moments the blackbirds are trying to strip all the berries off the rowan tree.

>42 alcottacre: I’m not inclined to seek out anything by the same authors to be honest, but maybe it’s just me. Most reviews on LT are pretty good.

47SandDune
Oct 20, 2021, 2:31 pm

>43 richardderus: Do we leave out our r’s? I’d never noticed. Like when?

>45 richardderus: To be honest once you started looking carefully you could see that the ground was very uneven with an unusual number of holes, even now. But the biggest quarry dug by the Romans basically removed half the hillside, so you can still see the impact of that one. But of course it’s all covered with trees now.

49elkiedee
Oct 20, 2021, 3:04 pm

In Czech, one of the most common consonant sounds is a combination of a french soft j as in "je" (different from English, Spanish or German and several other European languages, with a rolled "r" sound, but in one consonant. I lived for a couple of months at the end of a tramline in a suburb of Brno called Reckovice but pronounced Jrrrretskovitsay (but more like a French e acute than English "ay" - shorter and sharper. I'm sure I made it obvious that I was a foreigner but I managed to say it so people could understand after ooh, about a week. On the positive side Czech is a pretty phonetic language so if you know the sounds associated with each letter including accented letters as separate sounds, you can work out how to twist your tongue so people understand what you're attempting to say!

50quondame
Oct 20, 2021, 11:25 pm

>44 SandDune: I think it was about the time I was reading The Debatable Land but it could have been during an earlier Rosemary Sutcliff phase that I looked at map of Roman roads in Wales. So many of them, especially compared to the southern England. They really were in it for the minerals. Or there were more just because you had to have one per valley and the valleys pile up in Wales.

51ronincats
Oct 21, 2021, 11:59 am

Sounds like you (and Daisy) are having a wonderful time in Wales, Rhian! Re: your conversation at the bookstore, it may be time for a re-read of Dune. I read it a number of times in the 15 or 20 years after it came out, but probably have not read it for over 30 years.

52SandDune
Oct 21, 2021, 3:47 pm

Today we went for a (very blustery) walk along the coastal path from Poppit Sands at the mouth of the River Teifi, just a mile or so from where we are staying.





I’ve realised that I’m hugely less fit than when we last came to Pembrokeshire at Easter 2019. I was finding all the ups and downs on the coast path a lot easier then. Mr SandDune says it wasn’t a strenuous walk at all but at 21,000 steps and 115 flights of stairs climbed (according to my Fitbit) I beg to differ.

Daisy found sticks to play with as per usual:



53SandDune
Oct 21, 2021, 3:57 pm

>48 richardderus: But I’ve listened and I really can’t think how else you would pronounce those words!

>49 elkiedee: I think the fact that I can’t pronounce the r’s properly in Welsh annoys me as I would have heard the correct pronunciation when I was small so I should be able to do it. My grandmother lived with us when I was tiny and she spoke Welsh as her first language, so I would have heard the right pronunciation when I was learning to talk. If you don’t hear the sound at an early age then you’ve definitely got an excuse for not being able to say it properly, but I don’t feel I’ve got that.

>50 quondame: There’s definitely not one road per valley - I think they were just connecting up places that were important to them. There was definitely a road going to the gold mine.

>51 ronincats: I read it ages ago as well - probably 30 years for me too.

54richardderus
Oct 21, 2021, 8:34 pm

>53 SandDune: Like this, with this just lovely young Californian.

"In American English, we never drop the r sound."

55drneutron
Oct 22, 2021, 10:28 am

>54 richardderus: Really? Even in Boston? Or Georgia? 😂

56SandDune
Oct 22, 2021, 1:13 pm

>54 richardderus: I don’t think I can do that!

>54 richardderus: Hi Jim!

57richardderus
Oct 22, 2021, 2:32 pm

>56 SandDune:, >55 drneutron: Well, there are regional variations, of course, but Network Standard English (like Received Pronunciation from Auntie Beeb, only correct) doesn't.

58magicians_nephew
Oct 22, 2021, 2:48 pm

Enjoyed your trip to the Roman Gold Mine.

Yes I imagine Roman Empire efficiency would have pretty much stripped the place bare.

But it looks peaceful now. Are you allowed to go down into the shafts?

59karenmarie
Oct 23, 2021, 10:16 am

Hi Rhian and happy new thread.

From your previous thread, your kitchen remodel is gorgeous. I particularly like the overhead cabinets being a different color from the lower cabinets. I have a shelf for cookbooks in the kitchen, too, and it’s sooo practical!

>17 SandDune: and >18 SandDune: Your West Wales holiday looks wonderful. Thanks for sharing the pics. Yay for book shops.

>44 SandDune: Fascinating. And I love the rainbow.

60SandDune
Oct 26, 2021, 2:11 pm

>57 richardderus: I don’t think the BBC do Received Pronunciation any more (maybe it just sounds like that if you’re not British).

>58 magicians_nephew: Yes you can go down one of the shafts, which is pretty substantial. I found it amazing that somewhere which is so out of the way now was a hive of industry all those years ago.

>59 karenmarie: Actually, the wall cupboards aren’t different colours - I think it’s just the way the lighting shows up in the photos. I was determined to have a place for cookery books. They were scattered previously: on top of the fridge; piled up on the work surfaces; and in a cupboard. And now they are all on view, with room for expansion as well.

61elkiedee
Oct 26, 2021, 2:27 pm

I caught an episode of a radio sitcom on the subject of RP in broadcasting earlier today. The main character was a working class man from Lancashire working as a sports commentator and hiding his origins and talking in RP though it's not his natural voice. A rival at work and in love tries to blackmail him and then to out him as working class. All ends happily. I'm not sure if it was a very old programme or a slightly more recent one sending up RP. I think maybe the latter. By the time I was growing up, accents were much more normal on the radio, and there are lots of Radio 4 broadcasters with middle class but audibly regional accents. Before she retired from many years on Woman's Hour, Jenni Murray played a clip of herself and a previous presenter of the same programme talking much more posh than the way she normally speaks on the radio etc now.

The new lead presenter of Woman's Hour is 30 years younger than Jenni Murray, and also comes from somewhere in the Manchester suburbs, but interestingly Emma Barnett sounds much more RP than Murray or Jane Garvey. I think they all went to private/selective schools. Apparently Emma Barnett's father earned much of his income and her school fees as the owner of a string of brothels.

62sirfurboy
Oct 29, 2021, 11:07 am

Glad you had a good time in Wales. Good luck with the Welsh language learning. I presume those Welsh books were from Siop y Pethe.

Mwnt is indeed a lovely beach.

63alcottacre
Oct 29, 2021, 6:29 pm

I continue to enjoy your photographs, Rhian. Thank you for sharing them.

Happy Friday!

64PaulCranswick
Nov 2, 2021, 9:56 pm

Fascinating discussion on pronunciation, Rhian.
With my rounded northern vowel sounds I sometime find "the Queen's English" a little bit annoying on the ear.

65elkiedee
Nov 3, 2021, 10:51 am

>64 PaulCranswick: Years ago when I was temping I did several assignments at the same accountancy firm as an audio typist. I was quite taken aback when some of the women there, both permanent staff and other temps, mentioned difficulties with accents. I found the Irish guy's dictation really easy and the Indian senior partner's dictation wasn't difficult, although his Indian business English was sometimes a bit differently phrased. He had a lot of Indian clients as well. I thought the English guy who sounded very public school (but was of the generation where grammar school kids and university students often learned to sound very posh indeed even if they weren't) harder to understand and more grating.

I don't sound very northern and probably sound quite RP to a lot of people, but I think I never picked up the Leeds accent because my mum and I lived in Japan for 6 months when I was a baby, France for a year when I was 2 to 3 (when children go from a few words and phrases to a much wider fluency and I think take on accents too) and Beijing from 5 to 6. A lot of people in my family had also lost accents - my grandfather went to Oxford at a time when he would be expected to sound less Kiwi (the 1930s), my stepdad moved from Wales to England with his family at 10 and was mocked for his original accent, several other significant adults in my life spoke English as a second or third language.

66SandDune
Nov 5, 2021, 12:55 pm

>61 elkiedee: >65 elkiedee: Both myself and Mr SandDune have lost accents along the way. My Welsh accent only really comes to the fore when I’m speaking to someone else with a Welsh accent, or when I pronounce ‘year’ and ‘ear’ exactly the same when I’m very tired (something that I remember my mother trying very hard to stop me doing as a child). It wasn’t an intentional loss though, just something that happened over time, and I never had a very strong accent to begin with. Mr SandDune’s the same: he clearly doesn’t have an accent from South-East England (too many short ‘A’s) but people might struggle to place exactly where he came from. His parents (and his sister) had reasonably strong Yorkshire accents. Neither of us sound RP (at least not how I think of RP) but we both now have fairly neutral middle class accents, as does Jacob. Although both of us stick the odd word in now and then that belies that: we both invariably refer to our evening meal as ‘tea’, for instance.

>62 sirfurboy: It was Siop y Pethe! I am hugely enjoying my Welsh course at the moment. It’s interesting how different the language is from what I was taught at school - I think they taught very formal Welsh then. And I’m not sure they distinguished between north and south Welsh.

>63 alcottacre: Thanks Stasia!

>64 PaulCranswick: Yorkshire can be a very nice accent, Paul!

67elkiedee
Nov 5, 2021, 12:56 pm

I still refer to tea and teatime too.

68SandDune
Edited: Nov 10, 2021, 10:28 am

47. Exit Belinda Bauer ***1/2



Felix Pink is an ‘exiteer’ - he doesn’t exactly help the dying exit this life, but he keeps them company while they are helping themselves. Exiteers are supposed to stay on the side of the law - just - but when Felix is working with a new and inexperienced partner he is horrified when she provides the little bit of assistance that is all the would be suicide needs. And he is even more horrified to discover that the man that they are supposed to have assisted is not the person who is actually dead…

In the front bedroom an old man was leaning out of a bed by the window, trying to reach a walking stick that had apparently fallen on to the wooden floor. He propped himself on an elbow, glared at Felix and grumbled: ‘You took your time!’ Felix froze. Took in the gaunt, grey face, the frail body, the bedside table filled with pills … Then he stepped backwards out of the room and pulled the door smartly shut behind him. Amanda was at his shoulder now. ‘What is it?’ she said, but Felix couldn’t speak because all the words he’d ever known seemed to be whirling around inside his skull like bingo balls. The ones he needed finally dropped slowly from his numb lips. ‘We killed the wrong man.’

As a man in his late seventies whose wife and son are dead, Felix feels it is for him to take the blame, rather than his young partner Amanda. But things get more and more complicated…

This was a good light read (despite the subject matter) and one that I enjoyed. Until the final denouement that is, which I have to say was just plain stupid in my opinion! But I might try another book by this author.

69richardderus
Nov 5, 2021, 3:16 pm

>68 SandDune: That subject interests me a great deal, so I'll have to catch up with that read.

Have you had your fill, or may I suggest you try the very short The Dispatcher?

Have a delicious tea this evening.

70quondame
Nov 5, 2021, 5:02 pm

>69 richardderus: I can also recommend The Dispatcher, probably because richardderus clued me onto it.

71alcottacre
Nov 5, 2021, 5:51 pm

>68 SandDune: I already have that one in the BlackHole, so I do not need to add it again.

Happy weekend, Rhian!

72LovingLit
Edited: Nov 5, 2021, 9:44 pm

>31 SandDune: What I’d meant to convey was that there was a BLM poster written in the Welsh language. We sorted it out eventually!
Language and its interpretation: the source of much confusion. lol

>43 richardderus: >47 SandDune: re: 'r's in the British/American/NZ English.
When I taught English in Taiwan the American tutor who was taking over after me stated "finally, we'll get some 'r's in this classroom!". Meaning, that when I taught the kids to say "car park", for example, what I was teaching them was "kaaaa paaaak". I guess to a lesser degree, that is what a British English speaker would also say. Whereas a US national would certainly emphasise the 'r's.

73magicians_nephew
Nov 7, 2021, 6:00 am

>72 LovingLit: Of course in America we would say "parking lot"

74richardderus
Nov 7, 2021, 9:22 am

>73 magicians_nephew:, >72 LovingLit: I immediately picture a race-track with a rally circuit when y'all say "car park"...a place to take your car so it can play.

75SandDune
Nov 7, 2021, 12:59 pm

>67 elkiedee: 😀

>69 richardderus: >70 quondame: I haven’t heard of The Dispatcher but will add it to the list.

>69 richardderus: We did have a delicious tea thank you, but not home made as Friday was my cleaning day.

>71 alcottacre: Hope you had a good weekend Stasia.

>72 LovingLit: >73 magicians_nephew: >74 richardderus: Jacob’s version (when he was very small) was ‘par cark’ - not sure why he should have found that easier to say!

Jacob has been here for the weekend (well since Wednesday actually) although he went into London overnight on Friday to take his girlfriend to the theatre for their 3 year anniversary. It’s been really nice to have him home - he’s just gone back now. And Daisy has been so excited!

76Caroline_McElwee
Nov 8, 2021, 10:41 am

>75 SandDune: What did they see at the theatre Rhian?

My next theatre adventure is T S Eliot's Four Quartets performed by Ralph Fiennes, on 22 Nov.

77magicians_nephew
Nov 8, 2021, 11:02 am

>76 Caroline_McElwee: Lot of good buzz around this even on this side of the pond.

we're hoping that they will stream it or something.

78SandDune
Edited: Nov 10, 2021, 10:54 am

48. Bloodchild Octavia Butler ***1/2



I’ve been meaning to read more Octavia Butler for some time (only ever read Kindred) and I heard Bloodchild recommended on the Radio 4 programme ‘A Good Read’. I didn’t realise when I bought it that it was a collection of short stories along with some of Octavia Butler’s other writings. In the introduction Butler describes herself as predominantly a novelist, and I think that shows in this collection. The title story ‘Bloodchild’ (the one discussed on the radio programme) is very good indeed, describing how future planetary colonists become parasitised by the indigenous species for reproductive purposes. Another story, ‘Speech Sounds’, describes how a worldwide pandemic has deprived people of the power of speech or even of understanding language. But some stories were a little uneven. I was expecting them to be consistently science-fiction or fantasy in nature, but a couple didn’t fit this description at all.

It’s always difficult rating short story collections, but this one was particularly erratic in quality I felt.

79SandDune
Edited: Nov 10, 2021, 3:33 pm

49. None So Blind Alis Hawkins ****



The Teifi Valley in West Wales in 1850. Harry Probert-Lloyd, the son of a local landowner and magistrate, has returned home, as the onset of blindness has meant that he is unable to continue his work as a barrister in London. When farm workers uncover the body of a young woman, possibly that of farm servant Margaret Jones who disappeared seven years previously, Harry has a particular reason for wanting to find out the truth …

The story of Margaret Jones’s death is bound up with that of the Rebecca Riots, which took place in Wales in the 1840s. We touched on this in History at school, but I couldn’t remember any more than that there were men dressed as women tearing down toll gates. None So Blind presents a fuller picture of the events of that time, and paints a fascinating picture overall of life in Cardiganshire in the middle of the nineteenth century, with its English speaking landowners and Welsh speaking tenants.

Recommended to anyone who likes historical mysteries. I’ve ordered the next book in the series: In Two Minds.

80SandDune
Edited: Dec 11, 2021, 2:20 pm

To go with the previous book review here are some pictures of the River Teifi from our recent holiday. The events of None So Blind are set a little further upstream, largely centred around the town of Newcastle Emlyn, but they provide a little background.


81SandDune
Edited: Dec 11, 2021, 2:20 pm

Something very weird is happening to pictures! Some won’t show at all and others are huge. Will try to fix later

82alcottacre
Nov 10, 2021, 12:06 pm

>78 SandDune: I need to read more Octavia Butler, but it sounds like I can give that one a pass.

>79 SandDune: That one sounds good. I will have to look for it. Thanks for the recommendation, Rhian!

Thanks for the pictures, no matter their size. I appreciate you sharing them!

83richardderus
Nov 10, 2021, 12:53 pm

>81 SandDune:, >80 SandDune: They're lovely! I had a similar issue earlier with images being cranky about taking my size instructions. Hopefully the bug or whatever is transitory.

84magicians_nephew
Nov 10, 2021, 2:51 pm

The Rebecca Riots sounds like an interesting chapter in Welsh history. I may have to give this one a go

85SandDune
Nov 10, 2021, 2:58 pm

>76 Caroline_McElwee: They saw ‘& Juliet’ which is a musical about what would have happened if Juliet had not died at the end of Romeo and Juliet. Not my sort of thing at all, but they seemed to like it. It’s funny, but Jacob seems to think his girlfriend has not done sufficient London’s things growing up, so he is trying to rectify that. We used to go into London frequently when Jacob was small and took him to the theatre from a relatively early age (it was cheaper than getting a babysitter). Funnily enough, one of things that he is most shocked that she has not done, is visit Foyles the booksellers. Jacob loves Foyles and will happily stay there for hours.

They were also entertained by small riot outside Parliament made up of anti-vaxxers and anti-lockdown people as far as they could tell.

>76 Caroline_McElwee: >77 magicians_nephew: We are also going to the theatre next week - as long as I don’t get too scared - to see the NT production of Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane.I wanted to see that pre-COVID but it had great reviews and the tickets sold out quickly.

86SandDune
Nov 10, 2021, 3:07 pm

>82 alcottacre: >83 richardderus: I don’t know what is happening with pictures. I have posted four, but only two are showing, and one is bigger than the other although they should be same size.

>84 magicians_nephew: The book as a whole painted a vivid and convincing picture of life in West Wales in the mid-nineteenth century. I picked it up on holiday as it was in the local interest section of the bookshop, but I think it would be enjoyed by anyone who enjoyed a historical mystery.

87SandDune
Edited: Nov 10, 2021, 3:37 pm

50. Foreign Affairs Alison Lurie ***1/2



American Vinnie Miller is a professor of children’s literature on her way to London for a six month sabbatical. London is where Vinnie, a somewhat plain woman in her fifties, feels is her true spiritual home. Annoyingly, sitting next to her on the plane is another American, the type of American who Vinnie has absolutely no desire to associate with:

Besides, this man looks like someone Vinnie would hardly want to converse with for seven-and-a-half minutes. His dress and speech proclaim him to be, probably, a Southern Plains States businessman of no particular education or distinction; the sort of person who goes on package tours to Europe. And indeed the carry-on bag that rests between his oversize Western-style boots is pasted with the same SUN TOURS logo she had noticed earlier: fat comic-book letters enclosing a grinning Disney sun.

Vinnie, not to put too fine a point on it, is a snob. But her London life will entwine with that of Chuck Mumpson, her erstwhile travel companion. And it will also entwine with that of Fred Turner, her younger colleague, who is supposed to be in London researching the eighteenth century author John Gay, but who is instead bemoaning the break-up of his marriage.

This was a beautifully written and engaging book which I read for my November book club meeting. I had a couple of petty annoyances. Vinnie’s circle of friends in London seemed just a little unlikely, and why, oh, why do American visitors to London always end up at some grand country house party? So clichéd! But well worth the read nonetheless.

88SandDune
Nov 10, 2021, 3:36 pm

I’ve also been reading Terry Pratchett’s Guards! Guards! and Lois McMaster Bujold’s Komarr. Both favourites which I think I’ve reviewed before, so won’t review again. I’m conscious that there aren’t very many of Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan books left for me to read. So I’m savouring them.

89richardderus
Nov 10, 2021, 7:07 pm

>88 SandDune: Have you discovered Penric & Desdemona by Bujold? They're delightful as well.

90PaulCranswick
Nov 10, 2021, 11:32 pm

91SandDune
Nov 11, 2021, 3:33 am

>89 richardderus: Have you discovered Penric & Desdemona by Bujold? I have - and I like them too. I think in order of preference I would put the Vorkosigan books top, then the longer Chalion books (The Curse of Chalion etc) then the Penric and Desdemona books. But they are all very good.

>90 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul!

92elkiedee
Nov 11, 2021, 5:42 am

For Octavia Butler, I've been meaning for a long time to read more of her work, but highly recommend Parable of the Sower as well as Kindred. I need to read the follow up, Parable of the Talents, which I understand features the daughter of the young woman in the first book.

93magicians_nephew
Nov 11, 2021, 8:12 am

Our book group took a look at Foreign Affairs a while back - its a good 'un.

Yes Vinnie is a snob but its just her defense mechanism. She can love and she does - and that's the book.

94SandDune
Nov 11, 2021, 9:06 am

>92 elkiedee: I’ve read Kindred and it’s one that stayed with me. Parable of the Sower has been on my WL for ever.

>93 magicians_nephew: I read it for my book group too (can’t remember if I said that) and everyone enjoyed it and thought it was very well written while at the same time being a little bit surprised that it won the Pulitzer. I will admit to being a little bit prejudiced against the book when I came across this description of a (albeit imaginary) dog on page one:

a medium-sized dirty-white long-haired mutt, mainly Welsh terrier’

Welsh terriers are my archetypal dog, the dogs of my childhood. We had one, our friends had one, my aunt had one, and my sister had one. And they do not have dirty white long hair. Luckily the book was good enough for me to get over my unwarranted prejudices.

95BLBera
Nov 11, 2021, 9:54 am

Great photos, Rhian.

None So Blind sounds like one I would enjoy. I'll look for it.

I've read Kindred, and the "Parable" books. I loved Parable of the Sower. I used it in a dystopian fiction class, and I think it was one of the students' favorites.

96alcottacre
Nov 11, 2021, 3:53 pm

>87 SandDune: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the review and recommendation, Rhian!

97charl08
Nov 12, 2021, 8:10 am

>87 SandDune: This one is very tempting!

98SandDune
Nov 12, 2021, 9:36 am

>95 BLBera: I looked to see if None so Blind was generally available in the U.S. as I had my doubts as to whether it would be and the paperback edition doesn’t seem to be, but it is available (pretty cheaply) on Kindle.

>96 alcottacre: >97 charl08: I could have sworn I’d read something by Alison Lurie previously, years and years ago, but for the life of me I can’t remember what.

99BLBera
Nov 12, 2021, 9:54 am

Thanks Rhian.

100PaulCranswick
Nov 12, 2021, 9:51 pm

>95 BLBera: I read both Kindred which was well done as well as Bloodchild which was far less successful. I will certainly read without trepidation, Parable of the Sower relatively soon.

101SandDune
Edited: Nov 15, 2021, 5:37 am

53. Back Trouble Clare Chambers ****



Philip Scrivener is approaching forty and dissatisfied with how his life has turned out. His girlfriend has returned to her home in New Zealand, his publishing business has failed and he has the bailiffs at the door. And to cap it all, his brother has returned home to London from Canada for Christmas to remind him of his somewhat more successful life. After an accident renders him immobile for a number of weeks, Philip angrily decides to take his brother taunts at face value and write a book about his childhood…

Philip’s recollections of his childhood are interspersed with his more recent life with his girlfriend Kate. So at one level this can be read as a romance, or another level it’s a good account of growing up in the fifties and sixties. And it’s an excellent account of a child living in a family where the tension between parents is apparent on a daily basis, such as when a new fitted carpet, the first one his parents have ever owned, is purchased, not to his mother’s satisfaction:

She had come home to find the job finished and Dad sitting comfortably in his armchair reading the newspaper. Behind him, under the window, was a strip of bare floorboard two feet wide where the carpet had failed to reach the skirting board. It was this that precipitated the longest of their Great Silences.
Mum had come back from the shops expecting to see a carpet which stretched to all four corners of the room but was instead greeted with this truncated mockery.
‘What’s that?’ she said,staring in disbelief at the gap, as though peering over the edge of a precipice.
‘Oh - the piece wasn’t big enough,’ said Dad hopefully, not bothering to look up from his paper.
‘But that’s no good,’ she said shrilly. ‘We paid for wall to wall. They can’t just leave it like that.’
‘It’s all right,’ Dad replied, laying down the paper at last. ‘They said they’d come back tomorrow with an extra bit.’
‘But we don’t want two bits. We want one whole bit.’
‘Well, then you’ll have to get on to them. You ring them up and tell them —‘
‘I’ll have to get on to them ?’ Mum said indignantly. ‘You we’re here when it was done. You ring them …’


Back Trouble was written in 1994 and I think I probably first read it fairly soon after it was published. I reread it now after having enjoyed Small Pleasures, her more recent book. This one reminded by a lot of Jonathan Coe’s work, and I’m surprised that she has not been more popular

102SandDune
Nov 14, 2021, 3:54 pm

>100 PaulCranswick: That’s pretty much what I thought Paul.

103SandDune
Nov 15, 2021, 12:53 pm

Well we’ve been going out and about the last few days and have been to both the theatre and the cinema. We last went to the theatre in late December 2019 to see Touching the Void at the Duke of York’s theatre in London. This time we went to see Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane, funnily enough also at the Duke of York’s theatre. I’d wanted to see the production when it was on at the National Theatre pre-Covid as it had great reviews, but we couldn’t get tickets, so it was good to eventually see it, and it was a wonderful production.

Can’t remember when we last went to the cinema but it probably wasn’t any more recently: we don’t go to the cinema much more often than we go to the theatre (although I always mean to). I remember we had tickets for Parasite in March 2020 but then I refused to go as it was when COVID cases were just taking off. But I can’t remember the last thing that I actually did see. Anyway, today we went to see Dune which I enjoyed a lot (probably at least 30 years since I read the book). As we went to the 13.20 showing and there were only 4 other people in the cinema it was probably pretty safe Covid wise as well.

104Caroline_McElwee
Nov 16, 2021, 2:45 pm

>77 magicians_nephew: Interesting you are hearing about the production there Jim. I'm seeing it Monday night and looking forward to it.

105lauralkeet
Nov 16, 2021, 5:33 pm

>76 Caroline_McElwee:, >77 magicians_nephew:, >104 Caroline_McElwee: Back in 2019 we attended a recitation of TS Eliot's Four Quartets. It was impressive simply on the basis of memorization. Although the performer was quite expressive in his delivery, I can only imagine what Ralph Fiennes would bring to it. Lucky you, Caro!

106SandDune
Nov 17, 2021, 3:11 am

>77 magicians_nephew: >104 Caroline_McElwee: >105 lauralkeet: I’ve never really got on with T.S.Eliot to be honest, although Ralph Fiennes is always worth watching. We are thinking of going to see him in ‘Straight Line Crazy’ at the Bridge Theatre next year.

107magicians_nephew
Nov 17, 2021, 12:26 pm

NT Live occasionally livestreams stuff from The Bridge Theatre so we have hopes.

Some years ago Alec McGowan had a show up here where he recited from memory the entire Gospel Book of Mark. An impressive feat. Actors are used to memorizing stuff but even so.

108alcottacre
Nov 17, 2021, 12:42 pm

Happy Wednesday, Rhian!

109richardderus
Nov 17, 2021, 12:52 pm

Not being a poetry lover, I totally relate to the TS Eliot not-getting-on-withness, though probably for different reasons. (If you have something to say, spit it out don't keep mumbling and waving your hands! Jeez.)

110SandDune
Nov 18, 2021, 3:34 am

>107 magicians_nephew: The Bridge Theatre is one of my favourites. It’s a new theatre and so there’s just more room than in some of the older ones. The old ones can look beautiful but the bars are always like a tin of sardines and there are not enough toilets. And they do have some really good productions as well.

>108 alcottacre: Hi Stasia!

>109 richardderus: I do like some poetry, just not T.S. Elliot.

111SandDune
Nov 18, 2021, 11:10 am

It's been a busy day today. I'd finished all the house cleaning by lunchtime (usually it goes on past lunch but I was working hard) and I was looking forward to a more relaxing afternoon. Then I had a phone call from the people who provide my Mum's support. When they started a few months ago they booked an appointment with the occupational therapist to assess her need for more equipment to help with bathing etc. Apparently the therapist came this morning, recommended all sorts of equipment which will make her life easier, including the crucial bathing aides, and my mother refused to have any of it. So the carers phoned me up to let me know, and after speaking to them, to the therapist, and to my Mum, I have finally persuaded her to at least have the bathing aides. What her objection is to them is a mystery to me.

So then I spent the next part of the afternoon looking into what we can do to activate the lasting power of attorney which was set up some time ago, as I think the time has come for this. From what I can see there should be no problem with using the power of attorney for financial decisions, but health and social care decisions such as this one would depend on my mother being assessed as not having capacity to make the decision herself, and I'm pretty sure she would be assessed as having capacity at the moment.

So not quite the relaxing afternoon I was planning.

112lauralkeet
Nov 18, 2021, 6:24 pm

That healthcare POA is difficult, for sure, Rhian. I hope you're able to work with the caregivers to make the necessary adjustments. I understand why these agreements exist but living in the gray area between fully cognizant and incapacitated is really tough.

113richardderus
Nov 18, 2021, 7:45 pm

>111 SandDune: A really unpleasant passage. I'm deeply empathetic. Some good reading might help! (Finding time for it is the main issue.)

114SandDune
Nov 20, 2021, 1:52 pm

>112 lauralkeet: >113 richardderus: It is a difficult situation. I have some knowledge of assessments of capacity due to my previous job, so I know that making what most people would consider a bad decision is not the same as not having capacity. People have the right to make bad decisions.

115richardderus
Nov 20, 2021, 2:58 pm

>114 SandDune: They do indeed; the issue becomes, "when does consistently making bad decisions with potentially lethal consequences become evidence of diminished capacity?"

Very, very hard.

116lauralkeet
Nov 21, 2021, 7:22 am

>114 SandDune: well put, Rhian. That's very insightful.

117SandDune
Nov 21, 2021, 11:52 am

>115 richardderus: >116 lauralkeet: It is difficult though.

Jacob sent me a picture today of his denuded Hotel Chocolat advent calendar which we sent him a week or so. He has apparently eaten all the chocolates, AND DECEMBER HASN’T EVEN STARTED YET!. His excuse was that he had lots of essays ….

And he managed to completely confuse me in regards to my Netflix password. Netflix kept telling me that I had a new login from Germany, so I changed the password, let Jacob know the new password and then it still said I had a log-in from Germany. Discovered that he is signed into German Netflix ….

118karenmarie
Nov 21, 2021, 12:04 pm

Hi Rhian!

Skippety-skip-skip. Line in the sand, etc.

>117 SandDune: Too amusing about Jacob denuding his advent calendar in November.

119lauralkeet
Nov 21, 2021, 12:25 pm

Jacob and his advent calendar serves as a fine example of your previous comment, "People have the right to make bad decisions." 😀 Although given academic pressure -- or really, even just the tiniest pressure of any kind -- I might have done the same!

120elkiedee
Nov 21, 2021, 3:11 pm

We will have to get chocolate advent calendars for Conor and me after Mike's payday. Danny's not keen on chocolate. I have a separate stash of cheap chocolate (though our calendars are also cheap chocolate, usually Maltesers or something similar from the supermarket) and we're quite good at sticking to the dates. I've actually been known to forget the Advent Calendar for a few days and end up finishing it later in December or even January!

121PawsforThought
Nov 21, 2021, 3:18 pm

Ooh, chocolate calendars! My mother’s always bought those for my brother and I (yes, the super cheap and not very tasty chocolate), even though we’re grown up and my brother has a family of his own now. I’ve always been steadfast and only eaten them on the correct date, my brother’s always eaten them all on the first day. I went grocery shopping with mum this weekend and she bought a calendar each for my brother and nephew (who will undoubtedly also eat them all at once) and a tea calendar for me, which I’m very pleased with.

122SandDune
Nov 21, 2021, 5:28 pm

>118 karenmarie: >119 lauralkeet: >120 elkiedee: >121 PawsforThought: I’ve always been a ‘you must not eat your advent calendar chocolate until the day it says on the door’ sort of person. Although any other type of chocolate I will gobble down as quickly as possible. But when I was little chocolate advent calendars hadn’t been invented, we just had pictures.

When Jacob was little my sister gave him one of those permanent advent calendars, which had a pocket for each day (it had belonged to my youngest nephew) and she had filled it up with little things to unwrap for each day. Just tiny things, but a lot of thought had gone into it. This is lovely I thought, and then the next year and the year after that I realised it was going to be me searching out the little things to go in it. It took longer than buying the Christmas presents!

123SandDune
Nov 21, 2021, 5:33 pm

Mr SandDune is going through a game cookery phase at the moment, so for dinner we had roast pheasant, with purple carrots and roast potatoes, plus Brussel sprouts with balsamic vinegar and bacon as recommended by Katie. All very nice, except that something had caught in the oven and he managed to set the fire alarm off and frighten Daisy half to death.

124alcottacre
Edited: Nov 21, 2021, 5:36 pm

>111 SandDune: Your mother sounds an awful lot like my father who, when the home health aide came to his door, promptly shut said door in the woman's face. After his last trip to the hospital, they put him in rehab instead.

>123 SandDune: I do hope the fire was put out promptly and that Daisy has recovered! Poor Daisy.

Happy Sunday, Rhian!

125quondame
Nov 21, 2021, 5:35 pm

>117 SandDune: I thought I had found the perfect advent calendar for Becky this year, now that Harry Potter is off the menu and we've done Nightmare Before Christmas (perfect!) and Yuri on Ice isn't current. But the Haikyu!! set was one of those scams. PayPal did provide a refund and this year it will be Marvel.
I wonder if the success of the scams will motivate the licensees to provide more variety next year.

126katiekrug
Nov 22, 2021, 6:57 am

>123 SandDune: - I'm glad the brussels sprouts turned out nicely, but poor Daisy!

127richardderus
Nov 22, 2021, 2:37 pm

>123 SandDune: Oh dear...yes, game needs careful, careful tending when not simply slung on a spit over an open flame.

>117 SandDune: ...but...but why eat *those* chocolates when the whole world is practically seething with the stuff?

I don't really see the appeal anyway, though, so it's all *shrug* from me.

128quondame
Nov 22, 2021, 3:59 pm

>123 SandDune: After I talked my mother out of Turkey for Christmas dinner, and after duck and goose were passé, we did pheasant and quail and what other game birds, though picking the shot out wasn't my favorite part of the process. I was tasked after we dined on the breasts with scraping the leg meat off the tendons - we would then mix it with moister fillings like cheese and make it into ravioli. Good, though not quite worth the effort unless just hanging out in the kitchen working is the activity of choice.

129SandDune
Nov 23, 2021, 3:46 am

>124 alcottacre: Oh she let the assessment woman in, they had a nice chat and then she just refused everything. At least we’ve got her to accept the bathing equipment which is what she really needed. I’ve never heard of an advent calendar scam before!

>126 katiekrug: Brussel sprouts aren’t really our favourite but we get this vegetable box and don’t get a choice of what vegetables are in it. So sometimes we have not choice but to have them if we are still going to have the box that week. Thankfully Brussel sprouts are not frequent and the only other vegetables we dislike are broad beans. But cooking Brussel sprouts in balsamic vinegar really took some of the bitterness out of them and they were much nicer.

>124 alcottacre: >127 richardderus: There wasn’t an actual fire. Just something splashed on the floor of the oven which had then burnt a bit. I’m very surprised that the smoke alarm went off at all. But she hates smoke alarms.

>125 quondame: We only really do the chocolate ones - Jacob is very keen on chocolate.

>127 richardderus: I think the chocolates that were in the advent calendar were much nicer quality than Jacob feels he can afford on his student loan, and Jacob is very much a foodie. If you offered him two bars of cheap chocolate or one bar of expensive chocolate he’d definitely take the latter.

>128 quondame: We usually have duck or goose for Christmas - pretty much never have Turkey. The game stuffed ravioli sounds wonderful - I have a pasta maker sitting at the back of the cupboard but it has not made an appearance in some time. We don’t often have game - occasionally I buy some local venison (surprisingly we have a lot of deer locally) and sometimes we have rabbit. But Mr SandDune is planning lots of game recipes at the moment.

130SandDune
Nov 23, 2021, 4:08 am

We have our new sofas (and chair)!

These were ordered back in April / May and were originally supposed to arrive by September at the latest (which was already a delay from the normal delivery times). At one stage it looked like we weren't going to get them until after Christmas so we're actually quite pleased to be getting them now!

There is a dispute about the colour of the second sofa. In real life it looks much more blue (well, duck-egg blue) rather than the grey it appears in the picture.

The cushions are some of our old ones, but we'll need to get some more.





131Sakerfalcon
Nov 23, 2021, 5:34 am

I love the sofas and chair! My mum needs to replace her three-piece suite and I may suggest she goes for something in this style. It looks comfortable and contemporary but not in a way that will become dated.

132Caroline_McElwee
Edited: Nov 23, 2021, 6:06 am

>130 SandDune: Very nice.

Are your pictures Glynn Thomas pieces? I have a couple too, including 'Last orders' the cat dreaming about a lighthouse in a glass?

I hope Daisy has recovered from her shock of the alarm Rhian.

133SandDune
Nov 23, 2021, 6:53 am

>131 Sakerfalcon: comfortable and contemporary but not in a way that will become dated Yes, that's what we thought. And the seat cushions aren't too deep either. There are a lot of soft, squashy sofas out there which have very deep cushions which just doesn't work if you're short like me!

>132 Caroline_McElwee: They are Glynn Thomas prints - well spotted.

We have this one (Aldeburgh Beach):



And this one (Blakeney Moorings):



I love the way that he curves the horizon around (especially on the Blakeney one). And we are very familiar with most of his locations.

We have other Glyn Thomas's too (single 'n' this time) as that was my father's name, and he took up painting after retirement. We have paired these two together as they are both of the same location: Porthcawl pier. The first one is one painted by my Dad depicting a nice sunny day (with the tide out); the second is a copy of an award winning photograph from a couple of years ago of the same location in a storm.



134lauralkeet
Nov 23, 2021, 7:39 am

I love your new furniture, Rhian!

We don't have a traditional Christmas menu that we do every year, so around this time we start thinking about our options. Do you have favorite recipes for duck & goose?

135SandDune
Nov 23, 2021, 7:55 am

>134 lauralkeet: Thank you!

Cooking of the Christmas dinner has always been Mr SandDune’s domain (I’m not great at cooking a roast). We don’t do anything very fancy with the bird, just roast it whole with some stuffing which varies from year to year. We always have roast potatoes and roast vegetables (usually parsnips, carrots, red onion, sometimes swede) and then another green vegetable.

What is traditional is the pudding: I don’t like Christmas pudding at all so we’ve always had ginger puddings which are like individual sponge puddings made of gingerbread. They are very rich and do have the right Christmasy taste. I relent and let everyone else have the Christmas pudding on Boxing Day,

136lauralkeet
Nov 23, 2021, 7:59 am

Thanks Rhian. I've found some recipes that are fairly traditional roasts, so those are possibilities. My challenge with Christmas is not wanting to essentially replicate our Thanksgiving meal. Ham is very popular for Christmas here, but we're not huge fans of it. So I always try to find something nice that's not turkey.

137SandDune
Nov 23, 2021, 8:06 am

>136 lauralkeet: I frequently cook a piece of gammon on Christmas Eve, half simmered in cider and then finished off in the oven with a mustard and Demerara sugar glaze. Then we have cold meat for Boxing Day if there isn’t too much duck or goose left. Whether I’ll do that this year or not I’m not sure as we’re going to my sister’s on Boxing Day. But the stock with the cider in does make lovely pea soup …

138PawsforThought
Nov 23, 2021, 8:26 am

Really nice new furniture! I'm peeking at new stuff myself, and the two sofas that are at the top of my wishlist are both quite similar in style to what you've bought.

>133 SandDune: And the seat cushions aren't too deep either. There are a lot of soft, squashy sofas out there which have very deep cushions which just doesn't work if you're short like me!

Amen! I can't stand the super-deep sofas that are so popular nowadays. It makes me feel like a five-year-old (and it's not good for your back).

139katiekrug
Nov 23, 2021, 8:37 am

Love the new furniture, Rhian, and I'm glad it arrived before Christmas!

>136 lauralkeet: - Our Christmas dinner has alternated the last few years between a crown roast and chicken vodka parmesan :) I believe the in-laws have requested the former for this year, so The Wayne will make that, along with some sort of veg. And potatoes of course...

140magicians_nephew
Nov 23, 2021, 9:09 am

Love gingerbread never liked Christmas pudding.

The new couches look very curl up and read upon able

141Caroline_McElwee
Nov 23, 2021, 9:16 am

>133 SandDune: Great painting by your dad Rhian. How lovely to have it.

142PawsforThought
Nov 23, 2021, 9:47 am

>137 SandDune: That sounds similar to the Christmas ham my family eats (except for me, as I don't eat pork).

143MickyFine
Nov 23, 2021, 1:05 pm

Love your new chair and chesterfields (pulling out the Canadian-ism because I can :P). I love red anything but our common areas in the main part of the house are all green so I had to go for a dark grey when we bought our couch and chair last year.

144richardderus
Nov 23, 2021, 1:59 pm

>130 SandDune: How wonderful to get them pre-Holiday need, and they're both very nice colors when I figured out what "duck-egg blue" was. The Glynn Thomas images are very lovely...seaside/scape work wins, in my estimation. Shocking, since I live in a beach town.

I completely understand Jacob's priorities. I'd choose good over abundant in almost all circumstances.

145SandDune
Nov 23, 2021, 2:29 pm

>138 PawsforThought: Thank you. The chair is definitely more upright. As I wanted somewhere where I could comfortably do my crafts.

>139 katiekrug: As we don’t have thanksgiving (obviously) Christmas is the big family holiday, and Christmas goes on for ever. So Christmas Day for most people is a big roast that gives you lots of cold meat for the coming days.

>140 magicians_nephew: I think it’s safe to say that a fair amount of reading will be done!

>141 Caroline_McElwee: We have a few of his paintings. He never painted a thing until he retired at 66, but he spent quite a lot of time doing it after that. It was something he always wanted to do, but never really had time before.

>142 PawsforThought: I think ham or gammon makes a great roast.

146SandDune
Nov 23, 2021, 2:44 pm

>143 MickyFine: It’s amazing how many words there are for the same thing: settee; sofa; couch; chesterfield. Any other offers? Chesterfield is one that we definitely don’t hear here, at least not where I live.

>144 richardderus: What I most like about the Glynn Thomas pictures is that you can turn them upside down and you get a completely different perspective.

147quondame
Nov 23, 2021, 3:01 pm

>130 SandDune: The new seating and the paintings create a great look. So calm and collected. I love reds too.

148BLBera
Nov 24, 2021, 7:41 pm

I love your new furniture! It looks super comfortable, good for reading.

149alcottacre
Nov 25, 2021, 12:43 am

>129 SandDune: At least we’ve got her to accept the bathing equipment which is what she really needed.

I guess something is better than nothing, right?

I love the new furniture too!

150SandDune
Nov 27, 2021, 12:59 pm

>147 quondame: >148 BLBera: >149 alcottacre: Thank you all!

>149 alcottacre: Apparently the equipment is coming tomorrow. She seems to have resigned herself to it now, thank goodness.

151SandDune
Edited: Nov 27, 2021, 2:50 pm

54. Disclaimer Renee Knight ***



Catherine, an award-winning maker of documentary films, is reading a new book. She's not quite sure where it came from but it looked interesting. But she is horrified to discover that while the heroine of the book might have a different name, the book is unmistakably about her: it tells her deepest, darkest secret, one that she has kept for 20 years and never disclosed to a living soul...

Any resemblance to persons living or dead … The disclaimer has a neat, red line through it. A message she failed to notice when she opened the book. There is no mistaking the resemblance to her. She is a key character, a main player. Though the names may have been changed, the details are unmistakable, right down to what she was wearing that afternoon. A chunk of her life she has kept hidden. A secret she has told no one, not even her husband and son – two people who think they know her better than anyone else. No living soul can have conjured up what Catherine has just read. Yet there it is in printer’s ink for anyone to see. She thought she had laid it to rest. That it was finished. But now it has resurfaced. In her bedroom. In her head.

And then her son, who has struggled all his life to live up to the expectations of his successful parents, is given the same book. And as revelation follows revelation Catherine's life starts to fall apart...

I find with most thrillers of this type I'm keen to read on to find out what is going on, and this one was no exception. Definitely a page-turner. But it's really not my genre of choice so I'm never very anxious to read anything similar. I didn't find the resolution here terrifically believable, but it kept me reading throughout.

152SandDune
Nov 27, 2021, 4:45 pm

It's been a miserable day here today. The first named storm of the winter (Arwen) has been battering us, and it has been very cold and wet as well. It hasn't been snowing here, although it has been further north. I phoned up my Mum today and she announced that it wasn't windy: I think she's just so deaf now that she can't hear the wind, as the lifeboat station within walking distance of her flat apparently recorded 65mph winds overnight. We popped out to a Farmer's market this morning where we mainly bought alcohol: raspberry gin liqueur, blackberry gin liqueur and salted caramel vodka. That last one sounds disgusting if you ask me but I know someone who will probably like it a lot! But the rest of the day we've been staying at home. I was hoping that a delivery of yarn would arrive to enable me to finish my crocheted hippo which I am making for my great nephew's Christmas present.

This is what he looks like so far:



He is supposed to have a green rubber ring to finish off but I have run out of green yarn and it was not delivered today as hoped unfortunately. The whole thing is considerably bigger than expected and has taken much more yarn.

153SandDune
Nov 27, 2021, 4:53 pm

I've been listening to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy narrated by Stephen Fry over the last few days. I wanted something easy to listen to while finishing the fiddly bits of the hippo. I won't do a review as it's so familiar, but it's always good fun.

154richardderus
Nov 27, 2021, 5:33 pm

>153 SandDune: There isn't much more perfectly suited to >152 SandDune: than that listening choice. While >151 SandDune: sounds a bit *much* for me, I was equally suckered in by 56 Days...read it in a day. Suspenseful and twisty.

Sorry for Arwen's effects being so wretched. It's cold and windy here but no patch on 65mph winds, thank goodness.

Salted caramel vodka sounds revolting.

155lauralkeet
Nov 27, 2021, 9:28 pm

Sorry about the weather but that hippo is adorable!

156charl08
Nov 28, 2021, 4:19 am

Another fan of the hippo here, hope the green wool comes soon.

We lost a bit of the fence in the wind but seem to have got off quite lightly. I walked through town yesterday and there were workers out trying to clear / fix a damaged roof (complete with dramatic broken tile smashing).

I like the sound of the blackberry gin liqueur.

157SandDune
Nov 28, 2021, 4:35 am

>154 richardderus: no patch on 65mph winds Well, that was just where my Mum lives. The highest winds recorded in the country as a whole was 98mph which I would not want to be near at all.

Salted caramel vodka sounds revolting It does, doesn't it? It is for Jacob's girlfriend, who is lovely, but has somewhat different tastes in alcohol. I reckoned that anyone who likes mint chocolate flavoured Baileys would like salted caramel flavoured vodka. Personally I think even normal flavoured Baileys tastes disgusting, but I'm obviously in a minority on that one.

>155 lauralkeet: Thank you. The pattern is from the book Zoomigurumi 3 and the introduction said The patterns don't give the yarn quantity. The amounts are rather small ... You could use some of the remnants from other projects or start with a new ball of yarn. One or two balls of a colour is usually enough' So far I've used six 50g balls of grey yarn, two balls of red, two of white and one of green (and I'm waiting for another ball of green), and I feel that, actually, a bit more indication of the amounts required would have been helpful ...

158SandDune
Nov 28, 2021, 4:43 am

>156 charl08: Thank you! It was very windy here but I don't think it was windy enough to start blowing things down. The wool is with Hermes apparently. I'm hoping it might come today or tomorrow at the latest.

We had a sample of the blackberry gin liqueur and it was very nice. We've bought a bottle of the raspberry gin one before and it got drunk pretty quickly. (I should say they are small bottles!) And this time they had a discount if you bought three ....

159Caroline_McElwee
Nov 28, 2021, 6:02 am

>152 SandDune: Adding love for the hippo Rhian.

160lauralkeet
Nov 28, 2021, 7:42 am

>157 SandDune: I agree with you about the lack of yarn quantities in that book, Rhian. I love the idea of using scraps and remnants to make tiny things. But the pattern information on Ravelry says this hippo measure 13", a proper plush toy.

161SandDune
Edited: Nov 28, 2021, 9:04 am

>159 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks Caroline!

>160 lauralkeet: this hippo measure 13" Actually my hippo measures 15”! As I said - it is huge! But my green wool has arrived now so I can finish it off.

162elkiedee
Nov 28, 2021, 9:41 am

I'm very impressed by the hippo. J have an American book friend who collects them.

163BLBera
Nov 28, 2021, 10:34 am

I love your hippo, Rhian. I agree that caramel flavored vodka sounds disgusting. I hope your weather improves soon.

164MickyFine
Nov 28, 2021, 10:49 am

Your hippo is adorable!

165richardderus
Nov 28, 2021, 11:08 am

>157 SandDune: I think even normal flavoured Baileys tastes disgusting, but I'm obviously in a minority on that one We are, aren't we. It's tolerable when dumped into hot, poor-quality coffee...rescues both from unpleasantness elevating them in concert to blah consumability.

I had, until now, been blissfully ignorant of the existence of "mint chocolate flavoured Baileys" and how I long for that paradisical state. *shudder*

166magicians_nephew
Edited: Nov 28, 2021, 1:33 pm

Humming Flanders and Swann's "The Hippopotamus Song" to myself

The Hippo Song

167quondame
Nov 28, 2021, 3:25 pm

I'll be over here sipping my Baileys. Sometimes I mix it with Kahlua. The bad habits of my 20s haunt me.

168SandDune
Nov 29, 2021, 4:22 am



One finished hippo!

169CDVicarage
Nov 29, 2021, 4:25 am

>168 SandDune: How lovely! It looks very cuddly.

170lauralkeet
Nov 29, 2021, 7:07 am

>168 SandDune: So cute! I love it, Rhian.

171katiekrug
Nov 29, 2021, 8:06 am

>168 SandDune: - Oh! I love this. I have a thing for hippos...

172SandDune
Nov 29, 2021, 9:19 am

>162 elkiedee: >163 BLBera: >164 MickyFine: >169 CDVicarage: >170 lauralkeet: >171 katiekrug: Thank you all! I think perhaps I should have chosen something a little easier and smaller for my first amigurumi, and with more detailed instructions. The crochet pattern was fine but there was not a lot of guidance as to how it was all sewn together and finished off ...

>165 richardderus: I've never liked Baileys under any circumstances to be honest.

>166 magicians_nephew: My hippo is not going anywhere near mud, glorious or otherwise, thank you very much.

>167 quondame: I'm not very keen on coffee flavoured things full stop apart from coffee itself and coffee and walnut cake. And I definitely do not like creamy drinks either. So Baileys was never going to hit the right spot for me.

173Sakerfalcon
Nov 29, 2021, 10:12 am

>168 SandDune: How adorable!

174richardderus
Nov 29, 2021, 10:43 am

>172 SandDune: Nasty sludgy stuff, IMO.

>168 SandDune: I love the hippo even more with the green rubber ring!

175MickyFine
Nov 29, 2021, 12:51 pm

>168 SandDune: Even more adorable. Hopefully if you tackle another amigurumi the instructions are much better.

176Caroline_McElwee
Nov 29, 2021, 1:26 pm

>168 SandDune: Adding to hippo love Rhian.

177SandDune
Nov 29, 2021, 1:38 pm

>173 Sakerfalcon: Thanks!

>174 richardderus: Apparently the green face is supposed to be a frog. Personally I’m thinking it’s much more snake like ( it was like that in the original pattern too, so it’s not just my crocheting.

>175 MickyFine: I will be doing a highland cow as a present for Jacob’s girlfriend. It was going to be a Christmas present but that isn’t going to happen, so it will have to be for her birthday. As I said there was nothing wrong with the actual pattern, I just needed more guidance on the peripheral bits. I ended up finding a lot of useful videos in YouTube.

Got frustrated with my mother again today - after having persuaded her to accept the bathing aids today was delivery day. And she didn’t like the look of it and told them to take it all away again, which they duly did. More hitting head against a brick wall time …

178charl08
Nov 29, 2021, 4:00 pm

>177 SandDune: Oh no re the delivery. How frustrating. Hope she can be persuaded to have them back again.

(I love the hippo's bathing ring, but I would also have gone for snake rather than frog, if asked!)

179SandDune
Nov 29, 2021, 5:15 pm

>176 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks

>178 charl08: Hope she can be persuaded to have them back again I don’t think there’s much chance of that unfortunately. I can’t see the occupational health people being prepared to come back when they already had one wasted visit.

180quondame
Nov 29, 2021, 8:53 pm

>168 SandDune: What a great stuffie!

181lauralkeet
Edited: Nov 30, 2021, 7:25 am

>177 SandDune: Oh no, I'm so sorry your mum was difficult with the occupational health people.

182klobrien2
Nov 30, 2021, 12:34 pm

>168 SandDune: Wonderful hippo!

Karen O

183SandDune
Dec 1, 2021, 8:40 am

>180 quondame: >182 klobrien2: Thank you!

>181 lauralkeet: I know - it's very difficult to know what to do about it to be honest.

184johnsimpson
Dec 1, 2021, 4:47 pm

Hi Rhian my dear, i am so far behind after RL got in the way and i have been trying to get my thread up to date and try and catch up with all the threads i follow. I do love the two sofas and the chair my dear, i could see them in our living room as they would really go with the decor and they look really comfortable.

185SandyAMcPherson
Dec 5, 2021, 8:35 pm

Hi Rhian. The hippo is adorable and I'm surprised the bathing ring was billed as a frog. It definitely looked like a snake to me, and I thought it was appropriate. Hope the great nephew adores it.

186SandDune
Dec 10, 2021, 5:12 pm

I'm getting behind on posting and reviews. With my mother's 100th birthday coming up, I'd volunteered to put together a photo book of her life (pictures of her parents, grandparents, married life, children and grandchildren etc) which has proved much more difficult than expected. I haven't had any problems with the older photos, of which I already possessed quite a few. But getting photos out of my nephews and nieces (or at least suitable photos) has proved harder than expected. One niece sent loads and loads of photos, but all very recent ones of her grown-up children, and none of when the children were younger. and quite a few of my Mum in hospital. I don't know about anyone else, but if I was given a book of that type if I got to be 100, I don't think I'd find photos of my 98 year old self in hospital very interesting. With others getting hold of any photos is like getting blood out of a stone. My sister is the worst for providing photos actually: at the moment I've got a gap of about 40 years with only one photo in it! What with getting hold of the photos in the first place, and then various formatting issues (some people decided to shrink down the photos to their smallest size before sending them) it has all been very time consuming!

187SandDune
Edited: Dec 10, 2021, 5:36 pm

One photo that I have acquired and which I had never seen before is this family group of my great-grandparents and their family. The oldest girl standing in the middle in the white blouse is my grandmother, and assuming she was maybe 13 or 14 in this photo it would have been taken about 1915-16.



It's funny that my grandmother looks tall in this photo as she was in fact tiny. The second oldest girl died in 1919 (I wonder if it was Spanish flu) and the boy was killed in a mining accident in his early thirties, but I can remember my great aunts who were the two little girls in front.

188SandDune
Dec 10, 2021, 5:27 pm

>184 johnsimpson: Thank you John! They are so much more comfortable than the old sofas which had got very saggy indeed.

>185 SandyAMcPherson: Hopefully! We should see them over Christmas (Covid allowing of course).

189richardderus
Dec 10, 2021, 6:44 pm

>187 SandDune: Your great-grandmother looks teensy! Your grandmother's relative height is explained by the age gap, I'm guessing, and your conjecture about Spanish flu certainly sounds at least possible. That strain was unusual because it disproportionately affected those in their 20s to 40s...the very ones usually safest...and not the young or elderly.

My maternal grandmother lost a baby to Spanish flu in 1918 at 26.

>186 SandDune: Re: photos...totally agree. Good luck filling in the gaps!

190quondame
Dec 10, 2021, 6:56 pm

>187 SandDune: What a great picture to have.

191charl08
Dec 11, 2021, 4:49 am

>187 SandDune: Beautiful photo Rhian. The sailor outfits are so much of their time, I think.

We have one of my gran's family from 1912ish - my gran was one of 7 girls (and one boy) but they are all so different in the picture, the photographer caught some great expressions.

192SandDune
Edited: Dec 11, 2021, 3:12 pm

56. My Mess is a Bit of A Life Georgia Pritchett***



Georgia Pritchett is an award winning writer who has written for 'The Thick of It', 'Veep', 'Have I Got News For You', 'Miranda' and many more. She is currently writer and co-executive producer on 'Succession'. A successful life, one might think, but one in which she has been plagued with crushing anxiety since childhood. As she says at the start of the book 'As a very last resort, before I chose how to make my exit from the world, I decided to see a doctor.', and My Mess is a Bit of a Life has grown out of her reflections for her doctor on the causes of her anxiety.

This book is a series of vignettes, from Georgia Pritchett's earliest childhood to the current day. Some are funny (she is a comedy writer after all), others are very sad.

I lost my first tooth biting into a toffee apple. I was alarmed but my Mum tried to cheer me up by telling me about the Tooth Fairy. This was unwise. I was troubled by the concept of some weird old fairy breaking into the house while I was asleep and then taking body parts in exchange for money. It was the slippery slope. Where would it end? Was there an Ear Fairy? Was there a Toe Fairy? If I tucked my hand under my pillow when I was sleeping would she take that? Sometimes at night, my head would end up under my pillow. And my head had teeth in it. Would she just take the whole thing? What was a fairy's load-lifting capacity? And why did nobody have the answers to the really important questions?

I think the format of the short vignettes didn't quite really work for me: there was so much that was clearly left unsaid. I read this for my RL Book Club and other people clearly found it much funnier I did (including Mr SandDune who found it hilarious). But not really my sort of thing.

193Caroline_McElwee
Dec 11, 2021, 4:54 pm

>187 SandDune: Fabulous photo Rhian.

194SandDune
Dec 11, 2021, 5:35 pm

>189 richardderus: Well I just have one family's photos outstanding now, and they have promised to email them this weekend. I will be glad when it's finished!

>190 quondame: >191 charl08: Thank you! Looking at what people were wearing I've realised that I've already got individual photos of the three younger girls which were taken on the same day. But I'd never seen the family portrait before. This is the only decent photo that I have of my great-grandfather - I have another one but it's very blurry indeed - so I'm pleased to have it.

195SandDune
Edited: Dec 12, 2021, 2:22 pm

In Two Minds Alis Hawkins ****



The second book in the Teifi Valley coroner series, the first of which I read a couple of months ago. Harry Probert-Lloyd has been forced by his failing sight to return to his home in Cardiganshire in West Wales. When a body is found on a local beach, Harry is offered the job of acting coroner. With the help of John Davies, the solicitor's clerk who assisted him through the events of the first book, Harry is determined to investigate the death properly, to the annoyance of the local magistrates who are happy to put the death down to misadventure. But of course the real reason for the death turns out to be a lot more complicated ....

I'm really enjoying this series. As in the first book of the series (None So Blind) the story is told alternately from the viewpoints of Harry and John, and I'm enjoying the interplay between them. And I'm really enjoying the social history that the author has clearly thoroughly researched. The nuances of the class structure (and in particular here its influence on the spoken language (whether Welsh or English)), the role of men and women, the role of religion (and the influence of class there too), and the clothes that people wore, are all blended together to make a very believable historical world.

'I took my coat off and hung it on the coat stand by the door. Harry'd given that coat to me. 'I know they look ugly compared to cut away coats' he'd said 'but they're a lot warmer and more practical. London's full of them'. Mr Schofield'd raised his eyebrows at me the first time I'd come in wearing it. All I'd had before was my ordinary jacket. Like every other working man in the world, if it was cold outside I'd just got cold. Matter of fact, I'd been better off as a gwas bach – at least on a farm nobody cared if you wrapped yourself in sacks to keep warm because they were doing the same. But solicitors' clerks couldn't do that. Solicitors' clerks had a position to maintain. And it often left us cold.'

As with the first book in the series In Two Minds deals with an aspect of Welsh history: in this case the emigration to the United States. Personally I'd never given much thought about the mechanics of emigration. I'd assumed people had just travelled to a port town and bought a ticket, but apparently it could be more complicated than that.

I found this book particularly interesting as it covered almost exactly the area from our recent holiday in Cardigan, but I think any lover of historical mysteries would enjoy this series.

196SandyAMcPherson
Dec 12, 2021, 5:39 pm

>195 SandDune: What a great review! I think it's a series that will appeal to me.

Strangely when I looked up None So Blind, the indication that this is a series (at the top under the title) was missing. Usually a handy series list is available but the Teifi Valley series didn't get that.

197SandDune
Dec 12, 2021, 5:49 pm

>196 SandyAMcPherson: You’re right! It definitely is a series though. There are three books published already (I have bought the third one as well) and another is out shortly.

198richardderus
Dec 12, 2021, 6:13 pm

>195 SandDune: None So Blind is 99¢ in the US so, well...I was weak...

199SandDune
Dec 13, 2021, 3:16 am

>198 richardderus: I had a look on GoodReads to see what more people thought of it, as it hasn’t been widely reviewed on LT, and there are a lot of good reviews.

200Familyhistorian
Dec 14, 2021, 4:19 pm

Love the hippo, Rhian. The series you just posted about sounds like a good one.

201BLBera
Dec 16, 2021, 11:46 am

>187 SandDune: I love the photo, Rhian! Good luck with your photo project. It sounds like one of those family projects that ends up being incredibly time consuming.

I am really tempted by the Hawkins series...

202SandDune
Edited: Dec 16, 2021, 3:40 pm

I've been having a stressful day today. We'd been planning a birthday party for my Mum on her 100th birthday, 30th December. I've been getting concerned for some weeks as to whether that's a good idea, as the COVID numbers have been gradually increasing. But over the last few days the case numbers have sky-rocketed with the Omicron variant (which is apparently much more infectious than Delta), and the idea of having a party of 40-50 people for a 100 year old woman seems to me utterly ludicrous. Unfortunately, my sister seems to take the view that it's been organised, so it has to happen, and we had a real disagreement about it this morning.

My mother is staying with my sister for Christmas and my suggestion was that she stayed a couple of days longer and that we went over to see her on her birthday, so that she can have a very low key celebration. My sister seems to think that it will be far too inconvenient to her to have our mother staying with her for that length of time, and that she doesn't have time to change her plans. I feel aggrieved at that as we have had my mother for Christmas (and frequently her birthday as well) for probably eighteen out of the last twenty years, and would have had her this year as well if it wasn't for the fact that we have no downstairs bedroom (which my sister does) and she can't manage the stairs. So it really is my sister's turn. And my sister has her eldest son living next door, who has several grown-up children, who could all lend a hand if required.

I just don't understand her point of view. She's not usually unreasonable like this, we usually agree on virtually everything. And she's not a COVID denier - she has been double jabbed and had her booster jab. But she is very vulnerable, and she seems to be taking the view that if she's happy to go (which she is because she's so fed up of Covid) then everyone else should be too. Whereas I think that it's just irresponsible to be having a party such as this. And because most of the guests are on my sister's side of the family, it's hard to unilaterally cancel the party without her agreement. I'm pretty sure that my Mum wouldn't even want to go under the current circumstances, but that seems to be a secondary consideration.

It might sound odd, but I can't remember ever arguing with my sister before (she's much older than me so we didn't really do the sisterly bickering growing up) and I've found the whole thing very upsetting.

203katiekrug
Dec 16, 2021, 3:21 pm

I'm sorry about your difficult day, Rhian. I think you have the right of it, but it's always disconcerting to have these sorts of diagreements with family. I can't help but think that going on with the party puts guests in a difficult spot - they may not be comfortable attending but won't want to give offense by backing out...

204SandDune
Dec 16, 2021, 3:39 pm

>203 katiekrug: What I'm hoping is that Wales (where the party is going to be) introduces some more stringent rules about larger parties, so that the thing can't take place anyway. It is possible, both Wales and Scotland have adopted a somewhat stricter approach to COVID restrictions throughout the pandemic than have England, and there have been rumours that a change is on the cards. In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon is already saying to gather in groups of no more than 3 households, and I trust Nicola Sturgeon's advice much more than I trust Boris Johnson's.

205SandDune
Dec 16, 2021, 3:41 pm

>200 Familyhistorian: Thank you!

>201 BLBera: Well the photo book is now winging its way back to me, so should be here in plenty of time for the birthday.

206Caroline_McElwee
Dec 16, 2021, 3:52 pm

>202 SandDune: Sorry to hear about this Rhian. Covid has certainly caused some problems between family and friends. I think you are right to hope that new rules may provide a solution. Fingers crossed. It will be easier for your sister to save face if the decision is taken out of her hands too.

207SandDune
Dec 16, 2021, 4:07 pm

>206 Caroline_McElwee: I do hope so. I had to pass the phone over to Mr SandDune in the end this morning in the hope that he could talk some sense into her. (He is invariably calm in these circumstances whereas I am not, and also he has generally had a more relaxed attitude to Covid overall, so I thought he might be perceived as more of a neutral opinion.) I'm not sure that worked, and I came away with the strong opinion that she just thought I was being awkward, which I really resent.

208alcottacre
Dec 16, 2021, 5:50 pm

Well, I managed to get 50+ posts behind while I was out of town, so I am just going to try and keep better track from here on out.

>202 SandDune: I can understand why you would find the entire situation upsetting! My 83-year-old mother lives with my daughter and she is unvaccinated. I have told her repeatedly that I do not know what I would do if my mother gets COVID through her.

209lauralkeet
Dec 16, 2021, 9:28 pm

I'm so sorry you're going through this, Rhian. I hope your sister comes around, or is forced to do so by government regulations.

210elkiedee
Dec 16, 2021, 9:32 pm

Sorry you're having problems. Do the latest decisions of the Welsh government help at all?

211richardderus
Dec 16, 2021, 10:26 pm

>202 SandDune: I am so very sad to know this gawdawful plague has ruined another family gathering. It is the gift that keeps on giving, isn't it.

Your family ties will survive the awful testing, but it still hurts. So sad for you all.

212SandDune
Dec 17, 2021, 2:46 pm

>208 alcottacre: >209 lauralkeet: >210 elkiedee: >211 richardderus: The new Welsh arrangements aren’t stringent enough to prevent the party unfortunately, but they have hinted that further restrictions may well be needed. They are hampered at the moment, as while Wales controls public health decisions the U.K. treasury controls the money and at the moment no compensation is forthcoming for businesses that have to close. So we haven’t really moved forward in resolving this issue.

As far as I understand it my sister’s main argument is threefold:

(1) A lot of planning has gone into the party so it has to happen. In my view that is irrelevant to the decision of whether it’s safe for the party to go ahead. It’s either safe or not safe, and the amount of planning is irrelevant (To be honest the major planning has involved my sister persuading her children not to go skiing between Christmas and New Year, which as France has just closed the border to tourists from the U.K. wasn’t going to happen anyway.)

(2) Omicron is milder and no worse than a bad cold and the government is overreacting. That isn’t what the medical advice is saying here at the moment and even if it were, what’s mild for a 50 year old might not be so for a 100 year old.

(3) I’m really bored of COVID affecting my life and I want everything to be normal. Well so does everybody but I still think we need to protect other people.

What did cheer me up this morning was the Conservatives losing the North Shropshire by-election to the Liberal Democrats. North Shropshire was about as safe a Conservative seat as you could hope to see (22,000 majority at last election) and so for them to lose by 6000 votes to the Liberal Democrats is a big thing. And a very bad thing for Boris Johnson.

213richardderus
Dec 17, 2021, 3:47 pm

>212 SandDune: Bad for BoJo = good news!

Yes, your sister sounds like many many many people who're just Over It. But it isn't over. So get over yourself.

214Caroline_McElwee
Dec 17, 2021, 4:07 pm

>213 richardderus: What Richard said.

My sister lives in Shropshire, though not North. She too was very pleased at the result.

215lauralkeet
Dec 17, 2021, 4:13 pm

I heard somewhere today that the North Shropshire seat had been Tory for a century. That's huge. I'm glad to see Boris getting his comeuppance.

216quondame
Dec 17, 2021, 4:40 pm

>212 SandDune: Yes, Covid so doesn't care that we are tired of it. If what we wanted mattered, well, if granny had wheels she'd be a hearse.

217SandDune
Edited: Dec 17, 2021, 5:59 pm

>213 richardderus: >214 Caroline_McElwee: >216 quondame: It just seems out of character for my sister, when we’ve spoken about COVID rules previously we’d been pretty much in agreement. I think that’s part of the reason I got so upset. It seemed so out of character that I wasn’t expecting it.

>215 lauralkeet: I think it was 200 years! It’s not at all a likely constituency for the Conservatives to lose: true-blue Tory, pro-Brexit, rural. It would have been considered a really safe seat.

218richardderus
Dec 17, 2021, 6:02 pm

>217 SandDune: ...which is what makes it so very, very bad for the leadership.

219PaulCranswick
Dec 17, 2021, 7:35 pm

>202 SandDune: That is tough, Rhian. I can understand the ennui of your sister (and almost all of us) that COVID is still with us two years on despite the vast majority of us complying with whatever the health experts have felt is for our best. I feel safer for being double-jabbed and I will continue to do as advised but I am thoroughly fed up that I cannot travel and that life is so not normal.

There does seem hope for me with Omicron in that it appears to be a weakening of the virus that augurs well, but your mum will be 100 years old for heaven's sake and certainly needs to be kept well away from the possibility of exposure. I have to say, other than being your friend and wanting to support you anyway, I would have to take your part in your disagreement with your sister - it does seem a bit too much of a risk given the present circumstances.

My brother and I don't see eye to eye over COVID as he is a determined Anti-Vaxxer and comes up with all sorts of anecdotes about healthy people being in intensive care after two shots. He is my twin and I love him to bits and hope he doesn't get ill but if he does he may have wished he'd had the vaccine.

Shropshire was inevitable and I am pleased for the Lib-Dems. Boris Johnson seems determined to treat the populace as fools and impose rules he himself disdains as they apply to him and his cronies. Whatever your political affiliations, this is the best news to start our weekends!

I do despair a little of politics at the moment. America has bungling and bumbling leadership, the UK's is contemptible, our Labour leadership lacks charisma and the deputy leadership is to put it kindly uncouth, the Lib-Dems don't exactly inspire either. France is courting right-wing madness and Macron is trying to steal their clothes by being an ass-hole. Meanwhile Russia is eyeing Kiev greedily and China's dragon is breathing fire across the waters to Taipei. Let's hope that 2022 is a clean slate.

Don't over stress, Rhian, and have as good a weekend as possible. It could always be worse; you could - like MrSandDune and myself - be unfortunate in our footballing affiliations!

220SandDune
Dec 18, 2021, 2:20 pm

>218 richardderus: It does.

>219 PaulCranswick: it appears to be a weakening of the virus That isn’t what the medical people are saying here unfortunately, and they are also saying that even if it is less dangerous the fact that it is more transmissable cancels that out. I think the news that has come out today, with Sadiq Khan declaring a major incident in London, has made me even more adamant that it is utter madness. Mr SandDune feels the same: he went into town today and met a friend who he could talk it over with over coffee (outside, socially distanced). It’s always good to talk things over with someone who isn’t emotionally involved, and I think it clarified his thoughts that the party should absolutely not go ahead.

It does seem more and more unlikely that a party of 40 people will be allowed by the 30th though, so I do think the decision will be taken away from us.

I think I am more positive about Keir Starmer and Angela Raynor than you Paul. Personally, I feel that charisma in politicians is greatly overrated. After Boris Johnson I could would really like someone who is boring but competent. And Angela Raynor doesn’t always express things the way I would, to be honest, but I find myself agreeing with her on a lot of things.

221SandDune
Dec 18, 2021, 2:27 pm

Today has been devoted to present wrapping, which is now finished. We haven’t decorated yet, as Jacob wanted to help when he gets home on Monday. It feels quite strange before Christmas, as this is the first time that I have not been working so in a strange way it is more relaxing than usual. If you discount the stress about my Mum’s party, of course.

I felt very pleased this afternoon to have snagged a Tesco delivery slot for the 21st. Every year I think I must book my Christmas delivery slot at midnight the day they are released and every year I forget, but I’ve been keeping an eye out for the last week or so to see if there have been any cancellations, and managed to find one this afternoon. With Omicron about I really didn’t want to be going around a busy supermarket.

222PaulCranswick
Dec 18, 2021, 3:37 pm

>220 SandDune: The cancelling out depends upon which perspective it is viewed from, Rhian. There is incontrovertible evidence that the death rate per transmission has fallen dramatically which must in part be due to widespread vaccination but also because the strain is far less virulent in life threatening terms. This does not help the already over-burdened NHS, other than at an ICU level, and this is where the cancelling out phrase comes from.
In any event the upshot is that you are clearly right to question the logic of a large gathering to celebrate your mum's landmark birthday. My warmest best wishes to her by the way.

223BLBera
Dec 18, 2021, 8:57 pm

So sorry to hear about the stress related to your mother's birthday party, Rhian. I hope, for the safety of your mother, that it doesn't go forward.

Great news on the election.

224SandyAMcPherson
Dec 19, 2021, 1:52 pm

Hi Rhian. Delurking ~ sent you a longish PM.

Also, sending virtual support and an elfish hug of comfort,

225charl08
Dec 20, 2021, 7:23 am

So sorry to hear about the party stress. I thought that Sturgeon's emphasis on a three household limit might have helped across the UK (or at least make people who might have wanted to go all out think twice) but clearly not. But then I'm not someone who ever was rushing to attend a party, so I think I'm a bit empathy deficient for those feeling the loss of these events as a "big thing".

226SandDune
Edited: Dec 21, 2021, 6:21 am

>222 PaulCranswick: >223 BLBera: >224 SandyAMcPherson: >225 charl08: Well, we have cancelled the party. I can’t honestly say that my sister is happy with the decision, but the deed has been done. She still feels that the whole thing is scare-mongering by the media, and I am totally overreacting. Unfortunately, her eldest son (who is a consultant) seems to be taking a very blasé view of it all (unlike every other medical person I have come across) and this is presumably influencing her thinking. Her last argument yesterday was that we would have to phone everyone up and tell them that the party was cancelled and this wasn’t acceptable at such short notice, but everyone I spoke to this morning was relieved rather than anything.

I’m still feeling fairly stressed about the whole thing. We had quite an uncomfortable phone call last night where my sister wasn’t really engaging with me at all in any very adult way, and I still feel that I am being blamed for forcing her hand, even though it seems the only sensible course of action.

227lauralkeet
Dec 21, 2021, 6:40 am

I'm so sorry you've had to go through this with your sister, but also relieved that you were able to do what you knew to be best, and cancel the party. I hope in time you and your sister are able to make amends.

228PawsforThought
Dec 21, 2021, 6:57 am

I'm so sorry you have to go through this with your sister, but still what a relief to have cancelled the party and being able to keep your mother safe.

229FAMeulstee
Dec 21, 2021, 7:27 am

>226 SandDune: Glad to read the party is cancelled, Rhian, although your sister isn't happy about it.

230Caroline_McElwee
Dec 21, 2021, 7:43 am

>226 SandDune: Phew. I'm pretty sure most people were relieved. No doubt they didn't want to let you down, so were holding out for the official recommendations too. I'm sure eventually your sister will realise it was the right decision Rhian. Odd re your nephew's behaviour.

231katiekrug
Dec 21, 2021, 7:51 am

I'm not surprised most of the guests were relieved about the party! But I'm so sorry your sister had to make everything so difficult and stressful.

232SandDune
Edited: Dec 21, 2021, 11:27 am

>227 lauralkeet: >228 PawsforThought: >229 FAMeulstee: >230 Caroline_McElwee: >231 katiekrug: Well we’ve been trying to put the party saga behind us today, so now that Jacob is home we decorated the tree, which then promptly fell over, breaking several ornaments in the process. We put it up, tried to stabilise it, and it fell over again, breaking more ornaments. The third time seems to be working, fingers crossed, but we now have quite a few fewer ornaments than we started with.

233richardderus
Dec 21, 2021, 12:37 pm

>232 SandDune: I think we can put this holiday in the bin, Rhian. Clearly I read a prophecy when I finished up Satan Claus is Coming to Town...only it wasn't my town. I didn't mean to....

234Caroline_McElwee
Dec 21, 2021, 3:36 pm



I hope 2022 is a year with special moments Rhian.

235Caroline_McElwee
Dec 21, 2021, 3:36 pm

>232 SandDune: Oh dear, poor tree.

236quondame
Dec 21, 2021, 3:58 pm

>226 SandDune: I hope your entirely understandable stress has faded into relief by the time you read this. You may very well have enabled your mother to aspire to 101 and beyond!

237SandDune
Edited: Dec 22, 2021, 9:31 am

>233 richardderus: It’s beginning to feel a bit like that. Jacob now isn’t feeling well. He had his booster jab late yesterday afternoon so we hoping it’s side-effects from that rather than COVID. He did a lateral flow test this morning and that’s come back negative ….

>234 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks Caroline!

>236 quondame: Wales has announced further restrictions which rule out the possibility of Mum’s party. I just wish they’d done it a few days ago as it would have stopped a lot of angst. They have reintroduced the ‘rule of six’ (so only up to 6 people are allowed to meet together in hospitality venues) and gone back to table service only and social distancing required between groups.

The Welsh First Minister claimed that the UK government was in a ‘state of paralysis’ over COVID in his press conference, which is how it feels at the moment. There are too many political considerations for Boris Johnson in trying to keep control of his own party to allow any unbiased action on COVID. At least in my opinion. And because of devolution, Boris Johnson doesn’t control health matters in Wales or Scotland, so can actually only control the English response.

238BLBera
Dec 22, 2021, 11:32 am

Poor tree. I didn't put up a tree this year. I hope Jacob feels better soon and it is just the jab.

Good news that you were able to cancel the party; I'm sure your sister will get over it.

239richardderus
Dec 22, 2021, 1:28 pm

My goodness, this trend is disheartening. The bright spot is Jacob's most likely reacting to the shot. I hope that's all, and that you're on the other side of not-fun news and events.

240SandDune
Edited: Dec 22, 2021, 2:19 pm

>238 BLBera: >239 richardderus: He's still not feeling well, but he did eat a decent amount for dinner and he says he's feeling a lot better than he was. He did have similar reactions to earlier jabs so hopefully that is what it is.

241SandDune
Dec 23, 2021, 3:58 am

Happy to report that Jacob seemed much better last night and better still this morning, so it seems likely it was a vaccine reaction.

242alcottacre
Dec 23, 2021, 4:04 am

Merry Christmas, Rhian! I do hope the stress over the party is now a thing of the past.

243SandDune
Edited: Dec 24, 2021, 4:11 am



Or in other words: Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

244magicians_nephew
Dec 23, 2021, 12:11 pm

>243 SandDune: Beautiful Rhian. Thank you. and All the best to you and your family.

Following you on LT has been a treat this year.

245msf59
Dec 23, 2021, 1:36 pm

Merry Christmas to you and your family, Rhian! 🎄

246richardderus
Dec 23, 2021, 3:59 pm

>241 SandDune: That is a good Yule gift indeed, and not just to Jacob.

247johnsimpson
Dec 23, 2021, 4:33 pm

https://pics.cdn.librarything.com//picsizes/d5/a2/d5a2ada47f63cf66369376c7a674368422f7345_v5.jpg 3x">

248Familyhistorian
Dec 24, 2021, 12:57 am

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season now that the angst over your mother's party has been put to bed, Rhian. Fingers crossed that the tree stays up!

249PawsforThought
Dec 24, 2021, 6:00 am



Merry Christmas, Rhian! I hope you have the very best holiday the circumstances allow and that the new year brings with it only good things.

250karenmarie
Dec 24, 2021, 10:08 am

Hi Rhian!

Sorry I haven't been by for a visit, and I'm drawing a line in the sand. I'll try to stay caught up next year.

251humouress
Dec 24, 2021, 12:05 pm

Gosh, Rhian, I lost you; I'm afraid I have to confess that I skimmed through most of this thread. Thank you for your Christmas wishes. I'm sorry things have been tense between your sister and you; I hope it all smoothes over now.

Wishing you and your family the very best of the season and good health and happiness for 2022.

252richardderus
Dec 24, 2021, 12:31 pm


May all your surprises be good ones this Holiday season.

253ronincats
Dec 24, 2021, 2:30 pm

254PaulCranswick
Dec 24, 2021, 8:54 pm



Have a lovely holiday, Rhian.

255quondame
Dec 24, 2021, 9:10 pm

Happy Holidays Rhian!


256HanGerg
Dec 26, 2021, 8:38 am

Happy Christmas Rhian!

257AMQS
Dec 26, 2021, 3:29 pm

Dear Rhian, I have caught up with this thread and your last one also. Wow, for a retired person, you have an awful lot going on. I loved your photos of Scotland and Wales. You know how I feel about Wales - I would love to go to Scotland also. My brother did masters and doctoral degrees at the Univ. of St. Andrews, but t was at a time when the girls were little and travel to Scotland wasn't really a possibility. I regret not going. When Marina and I were in Wales some years ago, people we met always assumed we were "doing the grand UK tour" and when we told them no, just Wales, they were always overjoyed.

Your kitchen looks great! I hope that you are loving it.

I'm so sorry to hear about your struggles with your mother, and lately, your sister. Family conflict is just awful, particularly when already managing parent aging. I think it must be a relief to have canceled the party.

Best, best wishes to you!

258Berly
Dec 26, 2021, 3:33 pm

Wow. A lot going on in your household. Glad the tree is staying up. I think my family ornaments this year would have been appropriate LOL.



Here's to next year!!

259SandyAMcPherson
Dec 27, 2021, 10:46 am

>232 SandDune: Simply catching up here, Rhian. I will chime in to say that it was a relief to know the party was cancelled. The rising cases of infection in the UK are utterly devastating.

Re the tree falling over, years ago, we lost older, very sentimental glass ornaments whn a tree overbalanced. My husband said "Enough already" and bought a long shank, heavy hook and set it firmly in the ceiling (it was a corner placement) where there was a rafter board. Then he looped a thick green twine around the tree trunk, under one of the sturdy branches. It was brilliant. The tree was suspended into a water container and couldn't fall over. I don't know why we didn't do that right from the start.

Anyway, sliding into the new year and I wanted to say "Thanks for dropping by. I enjoy your comments on family, travels, gorgeous countryside and village photos, and of course, book reviews. Best wishes for a healthy, bookish year to come. Stay strong about the social-distancing-no-parties philosophy.

261johnsimpson
Dec 31, 2021, 5:14 pm

https://pics.cdn.librarything.com//picsizes/5d/02/5d029540654e5a9636b45767a774368422f7345_v5.jpg 3x">

262PaulCranswick
Dec 31, 2021, 7:37 pm



Forget your stresses and strains
As the old year wanes;
All that now remains
Is to bring you good cheer
With wine, liquor or beer
And wish you a special new year.

Happy New Year, Rhian and to MrSandDune & J.

I saw your mum's milestone on FB on a rare visit there. Give her a gentle hug from your friend in Malaysia.