Rhian's reads in 2026

Welcome to my second thread of 2026 and to my fourteenth year doing the 75 Book Challenge. I've been retired (from accountancy) for five years now - my husband (aka Mr SandDune) now works part-time as a history teacher and will be retiring himself in July. We live about thirty miles north of London and our 25 year old son Jacob lives with his long-term girlfriend Caroline in a nearby town, so we see both of them frequently. Our much loved Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Daisy, died at the end of 2025 and I still miss her terribly. But we have acquired two seven month old kittens, Smot (female) and Seren (male) who are cheering me up.

I'm originally from Wales rather than England, so I do have an interest in all things Welsh and I tend to get huffy if people call me English rather than Welsh! I've been studying the Welsh language seriously for the last four and a half years and am now doing the advanced course part 2. I've also started doing an M.A. in English Literature with the Open University, which is keeping me very busy.

I read mainly literary fiction, science-fiction and fantasy, and some crime (but nothing too gruesome). As far as non-fiction goes I’m interested in a number of topics, in particular books about the environment and nature. I’m also starting to read books in Welsh, although still only ones designed for learners or children at the moment.

All my family are avid readers. Jacob 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 frequently shared. I read hardbacks, paperbacks, on kindle and listen to audio books.

Apart from reading I love travelling, eating out, and going to the theatre. Since my retirement I've been enjoying craft activities, particularly crochet. I dabble in family history from time to time as well. I'm also getting more and more concerned about environmental issues: I'm a member of the local Green Party and have been quite involved in campaigning on climate change.

I'll continue this year with photos of Wales. As it is St David’s Day when I’m posting this, here is a photo of the cathedral at St David’s, officially the smallest city in the U.K. (actually it’s really only the size of a large village). Unusually for a British cathedral it is in a hollow, so that it could not be seen by Viking raiders back in the day. And also unusually for a British patron saint, St David was actually born and lived in the place where he is celebrated. Back when Britain was still Catholic, apparently two pilgrimages to St David’s equalled one to Rome.

1. Wild Dark Shore Charlotte McConaghy ****
2. Fiends in High Places D. C. Farmer ***1/2
3. Paradise Lost John Milton
4. Caleb Williams William Godwin ***
5. Finna Nino Cipri ***1/2
6. Pulling the Wings Off Angels K. J. Parker ***
7. Ysabel Guy Gavriel Kay ***
8. Raising Hare Chloe Dalton ****
9. These Days Lucy Caldwell ****
10. Northern Lights Philip Pullman *****
11. Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life Anna Funder ****1/2
12. The Last Gift of the Universe Riley August ****
13. Crooked Heart Lissa Evans ****
14. The Complete Stories Anita Desai
15. About Love and Other Stories Anton Chekhov.
16. Northanger Abbey Jane Austen *****
17. Fasting, Feasting Anita Desai ****1/2
18. Windswept: Why Women Walk Annabel Abbs **1/2
19. The Killing Time Elly Griffiths ***1/2
20. Clockwork Boys T. Kingfisher ***1/2
21. The Wonder Engine T. Kingfisher ***1/2
22. Small Bomb at Dimperley Lissa Evans ****

And here is a photo of the litter of puppies, having a little snooze. We expect to get one of the darker boys:

Puppies!

Did I miss what breed? The mama looks Lab-ish?

Happy new thread, Rhian.

>4 katiekrug: Yes they are working strain labradors. We had a video call with the breeder yesterday and was very impressed, and will be going to choose a puppy in 3 weeks. He should be ready to bring home towards the end of April. We are going for one of the fox-red boys. They are all boys, apart from the one with the pink collar.

Hi SandDune,
I loved reading about your projects and your two- and four-legged family. I have been on LibraryThing for a long time, but never used it to its advantage. I am trying to change that this year--I am retiring in July! (from higher education in South Carolina, USA).

One project is adding a backlog of books to LT. Another is to post more here.

I took a beginning Welsh course about 20 years ago, and I don't remember much at all. I have been reading Rhys Dylan's Warlow mysteries (set in the Brecon Beacons), and I am proud when I recognize the words and phrases that he peppers in.
All Best,
Rhonda

>5 SandDune: - So exciting! I am very partial to labs, as all my dogs have been lab mixes. Nuala is part lab and part some sort of hound, but her personality is all goofy, loving lab.

>3 SandDune: Oh my gosh those puppies are so cute! Their mama has similar coloring to our lab Woody (RIP). Lilly, our first lab, was of the British chocolate variety. I agree with Katie they have great personalities.

>1 SandDune: Around the World in 80 Spiritual Places opens with Bardsey Island - have you been there?

Lucky you to adopt a beautiful puppy!

Happy new thread, Rhian!

>6 rhondak101book: How interesting that you learnt Welsh! Do you have Welsh connections or did you just like the sound of the language? I’m always surprised that we have so many people learning Welsh just because they like the language. I retired fairly early five years ago but my husband is retiring this year.

>7 katiekrug: >8 lauralkeet: The breeder is sending us regular photos and videos. The mother is very calm with them, but it’s her third and probably her last litter so she’s an experienced mother. I can’t wait to see them in person.

>9 m.belljackson: I’ve never been to Bardsey Island, or Ynys Enlli as it’s called in Welsh. It’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, but I’ve never got near enough to conveniently visit.

>10 drneutron: Thanks Jim.

Puppies! That is so exciting. We had a lab as well, and she had a great personality.

>11 SandDune: SandDune, I would not go as far as to say I learned Welsh. I took a summer class and learned some basics. (All of which I have almost forgotten). At that time, I had just finished my Ph.D. in medieval literature. I had written a dissertation chapter on Gerald of Wales (who didn't like the Welsh at all) and I thought it would be great to learn the language of the people he helped oppress!

>12 BLBera: We’ve been doing surveys as to what dog is right for us and a Labrador is coming up very high. I love staffies, but it’s possible that we would want to take a future dog abroad, say to France, and staffies can be more problematical. And Mr SandDune says that he wants a dog that people aren’t worried about, and people can be worried about staffies. Personally, I’ve never met a nasty staffie and Daisy was the sweetest dog, but it is a definite thing.

>13 rhondak101book: I had just finished my Ph.D. in medieval literature. Wow that’s very impressive. I am currently doing the first year of my M.A. in English Literature, and finding the essays tough enough! This year is taught and then next year is the dissertation …

Happy new thread, Rhian!

>3 SandDune: How cute! What an astonishing tail on top second from right!

>3 SandDune: What beautiful babies!

Happy new thread, Rhian.

Exciting news about the puppy- it will be one of my first tasks when I finally get relocated back to the UK.

Well done on finishing the essay on Paradise Lost which remains Kyran's favourite work of literature.

Happy new thread, Rhian!

>3 SandDune: Those puppies are so cute. How exciting to be getting a new one for your family!

I saw that Princess Kate delivered a message in Welsh. Was her Welsh good?

Oh, the pupples look darling, Rhian! Enjoy your new puppy when you get him. I stopped by my mom's today and my niece was visiting and she just put a down payment on a Wire Fox Terrier. She will get one of the three male puppies and they looked very cute too, as she had a couple of pictures. She is trying to decide on a name and wants something old fashioned,like Norman or Gordon or Basil or something along those lines. This well be her first puppy as a 24 year old adult. She is a veterinarian, and her family has a welsh terrier, which is very similar, so I am sure she will be an excellent dog parent.

>16 laytonwoman3rd: >17 PaulCranswick: They are gorgeous aren’t they. We are getting daily updates and videos. Funnily enough, although Mr SandDune was highly resistant to the idea of getting a dog when we first had one, he misses Daisy as much as anyone and is very keen on the whole puppy idea!

>18 atozgrl: Well … I suppose I have to say that she was better than him, but then his pronunciation was … dreadful. Both sound like they are reading it phonetically from an autocue, it’s just she’s doing it better. When I heard this originally I’m afraid I had a bit of a rant at Mr SandDune (you have to remember that I’m an ardent anti-monarchist) that went something along these lines:-

He’s known he was going to be Prince of Wales his entire life and she’s known she’s going to be Princess of Wales most of her adult life. They lived in Anglesey for several years when he was in the R.A.F., an area which has a high proportion of Welsh speakers. It would have been a great place to learn the language and have real life conversations with people. But obviously neither of them did. Being Prince of Wales is literally his job - he is supposed to be supporting Welsh culture and language, that’s what he’s there for. And apparently he’s so concerned about doing a good job at this that he’s learning off Duolingo. (I’ve done the Duolingo course, it’s fine for vocab but there are serious drawbacks with it and it’s pretty short). No proper lessons, no private tutors, nothing else. The royal family must be harder up for money than I thought … Talk about lack of respect! And why do we need an English Prince of Wales anyway…

Anyway, rant over, but you get my general gist!

>19 vancouverdeb: I love Welsh terriers. We had one when I was small, and then my aunt had one and then my sister later on.

Here I am as a baby with our Welsh terrier (Siân):

I loved These Days, Rhian. I'm glad it worked so well for you, too.

Will your puppy have a Welsh name?

>23 lauralkeet: We are debating! I am rooting for ‘Cadno’ which means fox, as we are going for one of the fox-red ones…

>22 SandDune: I also loved These Days, Rhian. I knew nothing about the Belfast Blitz before I read this.

>14 SandDune: I just realized I will have defended my dissertation 25 years ago this coming July. Wow! I wrote about how the medieval English built their identity by using the Irish and the Welsh as foils--they are what we are not. The English portrayed the Irish and the Welsh as a mixture of barbarian pagans and mystics. Something that I think might interest you, SandDune! Congratulations on starting your M.A. What periods of literature are you interested in?

>26 rhondak101book: I wouldn’t say I am interested in any one period over another. At the moment my very vague dissertation ideas are as follows (but they change weekly):

- the portrayal of women’s crafts by female writers of 1920s /30s (maybe someone like Dorothy Whipple)
- idealisation of Italy (maybe specifically Florence) by English writers of the 20th century

I was thinking of doing something about traditional detective story tropes in science fiction, but have given that one up as too difficult (for me anyway).

As it’s only an M.A. I won’t have to defend it, thank goodness!

>26 rhondak101book: The English portrayed the Irish and the Welsh as a mixture of barbarian pagans and mystics. That is something I find annoying to be honest, the number of books that are written about Wales or Welsh people (by people outside Wales) that have some sort of mysticism in them and have very little to do with Wales as it actually exists!

>21 SandDune: What a great picture of you and the Welsh Terrier, Rhian! I love my brother and sister in law's Welsh terrier too. He is named Hudson. Cadno sounds like a good name, let us know what you choose in the end. I also enjoyed These Days very much last year.

>20 SandDune: Wow, that's quite a strong response to the address! But I can certainly understand your feelings about it. It does seem like they could make a better effort at learning Welsh and getting to know the people. I feel a little sorry for Mr SandDune having to bear the brunt of your initial response.

I have to say that I don't understand the obsession some Americans have with British royalty. It doesn't make any sense to me.

>20 SandDune: Yes I must admit as an Anglo Irishman and a republican the same as you, Rhian, that I find the idea of an "English" Prince of Wales patronizing and more than a little specious.

On dissertation I would choose something that you certainly wouldn't as I have quite a number of collections by Welsh poets of the first half of the 20th Century and I would probably trace their rise, substance and lasting impact on poetry.

Edward Thomas, RS Thomas, Dylan Thomas, WH Davies, Alun Lewis, Dylan Marlais and others. It was a real flowering of talent.

>28 vancouverdeb: I would definitely have a Welsh terrier on my list of potential dogs to own, but Mr SandDune isn’t keen unfortunately.

>29 atozgrl: Support for the monarchy is definitely decreasing here. I looked up the statistics to make sure that it wasn’t wishful thinking on my part, but according to the British Attitudes Survey the percentage of Britons who thought the monarchy was very or quite important has fallen from 86% in 1983 to 51% in 2025, and 38% would prefer an elected head of state, with younger people being much more in favour of an elected head of state. Interestingly, people who identify as Welsh seem to be the most anti-monarchist of the whole U.K., with 64% of us favouring an elected head of state, compared to 62% of those identifying as British favouring the monarchy and 68% of those identifying as English favouring it. Personally, I would go for the elected head of state model, but with limited powers and a set duration , something along the lines of the Irish model.

I wasn’t really brought up in a Royalist Household although I watched the royal weddings, more for the dresses than anything. But my Dad would always refuse to stand for ‘God Save the Queen’, which was played more often then. These days, apart from specifically royal events, the only time that national anthems are played are at international sporting fixtures, and of course for a Welsh person ‘God Save the Queen’ is always the anthem of the opposition as it’s the one that England use. I still remember my Dad’s extreme indignation coming home from an England - Wales rugby match (in the early seventies I think) because the band master decided he would not play ‘Mae Hen Walden Fy Nhadau’ and only play ‘God Save the Queen’ as it was the anthem of the whole U.K.!

>30 PaulCranswick: It’s definitely not going to be on poetry Paul as that is not my strong point.

>27 SandDune: Those are great ideas, Rhian. I really like the one about women's crafts.

>32 BLBera: It so difficult to know what to choose. I think I would be better doing something where I can look at historical context so at the moment I am looking a pre WWII books and authors.

We have been having a busy week this week. On Tuesday we had our RL book club to discuss Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s original life by Anna Funder which was very illuminating on George Orwell’s character. Pretty much everyone enjoyed this (review to follow). And after 25 years our book group has now acquired a second man to keep Mr SandDune company, the husband of one of the other members.

Thursday was Mr SandDune’s birthday so we went out to a local pub for dinner. We hadn’t been there for years and while the food was nice enough I felt it was overpriced for what it was and I don’t think I shall be rushing back.

On Friday we went up to Cambridge to hear Louise Kennedy, the author of Trespasses speak. It was interesting to hear how her own life experiences had impacted the writing of the book, with her family having been forced to move south in the 70s as a result of the Troubles.

Then today we went into London to see Ballad Lines at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant. This is a small off west-end theatre (with the advantage that ticket prices are a lot cheaper). Ballad Lines is a new musical looking at how traditional songs moved over hundreds of years from Scotland to Ulster to Appalachia, while considering the choices available to the women who sang those songs. It was a good production and I enjoyed it a lot. We met up with Jacob and Caroline to see it - it was actually Caroline’s second visit she’d enjoyed it so much. We had lunch at a local street food market (I had a duck bao bun followed by Uzbek dumplings) and then went back after the production with Jacob and Caroline (when I had pad Thai).

I’ve just finished The Last Gift of the Universe by Riley August. Reviews on LT are a bit mixed but I loved it. And it has a cat called Pumpkin in a spacesuit. What more could you want?

Well we’ve been having a bit of a traumatic afternoon. We’ve had a slow leak around our shower in our en-suite bathroom which meant that the floor under the shower tray was damaged and needed replacing, so the whole shower cubicle needs replacing too. The guy was here for the first day today removing the tiles and the old floor and putting in the new one. I did mention that the cats like to explore small spaces and he was keeping the bedroom door firmly closed, but Seren must have sneaked in when he popped out to get something…

And then later in the afternoon I couldn’t find Seren anywhere in the house and started to worry that perhaps he had got out the front door when the plumber was fetching things from his van (they usually only go into the back garden and can’t get out of it at the moment). So we went to search outside but no luck… And then we heard the pitter patter of tiny feet on the dining room ceiling underneath the shower. So we had to phone the plumber and get them to send someone back to remove some of the floor, as Seren had clearly been floored in! He came out about an hour later, fairly filthy, but otherwise unharmed.

>37 SandDune: As a cat companion (I would never say "owner"), that's the sort of story I have nightmares about. So glad it didn't result in any actual harm to the cat---you might need some trauma counseling, or even some medication, though?

>38 laytonwoman3rd: Well we had a glass of wine once he had been released. It would have been Seren - he is always the one who is more adventurous. He probably thought it was great fun in there until he realised couldn’t get out again.

>37 SandDune:, >39 SandDune: Oh no ... that's very traumatic indeed! You deserved that glass of wine, and then some.

The cats were traumatised again yesterday, but it was self-inflicted. One of them, (I’m guessing Seren based on Smot’s reaction to him later) knocked off everything that was on the windowsill, which fell off with a very big crash. Smot avoided him for the rest of the evening and arched her back at him any time he came near her, so I think she blamed him. But she seems to have forgiven him today and they’re curled up together as usual.

Hi Rhian my dear, Happy New Thread, dear friend.

>43 johnsimpson: Thanks John.

Thinking about evacuees has made me think of something. When we moved to Bishop’s Stortford back in 1992 neither me nor Mr SandDune had ever heard of it, but my mother had, as during WWII my grandparents had had a refugee from London. They kept in touch for a long time after the war, and went to his wedding in the 1950s. He’d moved to Bishop’s Stortford as an adult, so that’s where the wedding was. I can’t help thinking that if you needed a replacement mother as an evacuee, my grandmother was a good one to get, as she loved children.

>42 SandDune: That sounds like a real winner, Rhian. I have always enjoyed stories of children surviving through wartime situations.

I think Crooked Heart was the first one I read by Evans -- I loved it and will now read anything she writes.

Wifedom sounds wonderful as well, though not surprising.

>37 SandDune: That is a great cat story.

I've read all of Lissa Evan books, I think, and liked them all very much.

Jacob and Caroline are in Prague for a few days. So far we’ve not been sent a lot of pictures of historical monuments, but several of Lidl, Tesco and lots of photos of coypu. Apparently they have coypu in the centre of Prague, much to Caroline’s delight. I’d assumed they were beaver at first but their tails were wrong: apparently they do have beavers in Prague as well.

I’m getting photos and videos of the puppies daily, but I had to share this one. They’ve been put in the basket while their bedding is changed:

I love the basket o' pups!

>50 rhondak101book: They are gorgeous aren’t they?

>27 SandDune: I love the idea of women's crafts. There's so much more crossover now that includes material culture and live experiences in literature theses and dissertations.
When you said detective tropes and sf, I immediately wanted to send you a list. I love that type of crossover.

I knew you'd get my point about looking at the Irish and the Welsh, reductively and stereotypically. It was fun to research and write, but annoying to see--if you know what I mean.

>52 rhondak101book: I actually think there could be quite a lot to look at with traditional female crafts in literature: whether women are doing them because they want to or because they feel compelled to be doing something ‘useful’; hierarchy of male vs female hobbies/crafts; denigration of crafts seen as specifically female; rebellion against requirements to do crafts; craft vs art etc.

>53 SandDune: Yes, so many ways to go. You are probably going to be spoiled for choice in relation to type of craft, etc.

I am thinking of the period prior to the one you mentioned with the 19th century "Angel of the House." Then, of course, someone has surely written about the needlework in Jane Austen or Little Women. I hope you have so much fun with your research--when you get there!

>49 SandDune: The puppies are so cute, Rhian! How many weeks until you get your puppy ?

>45 PaulCranswick: >46 BLBera: >47 vancouverdeb: I’ve enjoyed all the Lissa Evans books that I’ve read. They haven’t all been wartime, but around that time period.

>54 rhondak101book: At the moment I feel I would do better with books where I can also look at the historical context, and I also don’t want to look at something that everyone has written about. Paradise Lost was so overwhelming in that respect.

>55 vancouverdeb: We should get our puppy in 6 weeks, when he’s 8 weeks old.

>53 SandDune: I think you are right, Rhian. That topic has a lot of possibilities.

>49 SandDune: Those pups are adorable. You will have one soon!

>49 SandDune: oh my goodness! I want all of them please.

We’ve chosen our puppy! We were going to go next Friday but the breeder had an eye operation a few days ago and has her follow-up appointment on the Friday, so we couldn’t go then. And Saturday and Sunday Mr SandDune has a college reunion event that he really wants to go to. So we went today. Jacob and Caroline came back from Prague yesterday so they came as well. So the one we have chosen is the one with the turquoise blue collar second from bottom on the right in the picture in >49 SandDune: above. To be honest I’d have been happy with any of them. The mother was really calm and I was very impressed with how the puppies were being looked after by the breeder. She clearly knows what she is doing. It’s not one of the very dark ones as we’d originally intended, but apparently they tend to get darker as they grow.

>59 SandDune: Awww...so lovely to know which one is yours now! Is the name settled yet?

>60 laytonwoman3rd: Not yet. We are still debating.

Still catching up, but wondering how the family group chat called "down with the monarchy" is going!? Haha, I did chuckle.

>42 SandDune: Sweet cover, I feel like I've seen several similar to that lately, design-wise.

>49 SandDune: Oh my, that is heart-filling! And I'll admit to coveting your bucket o' puppies :)

>62 LovingLit: Well it’s been called that for the last couple of years so I think the name will stick now. At the moment it mainly consists of puppy photos and videos: I get new ones daily from the breeder.

>59 SandDune: How exciting, Rhian! What a cutie!

What a cutie!

I had a very busy Friday as I went to my Open University study day in Milton Keynes. Somewhat surprisingly, given that I’ve already done a degree with the O.U. previously, I’ve never been to the campus before. I was very surprised to find it so large: as all their teaching is done virtually, I couldn’t help wondering what on Earth went on in most of the buildings. Anyway it was a productive day, apart from the time it took to get there. Milton Keynes is only 51 miles away, but despite not encountering any major traffic jams it still took about an hour and a half to get here. Going in that direction from here is always a pain as there are just no fast roads.

In the evening we went to a quiz, which we (very surprisingly) won. For some unknown reason they had no scoreboard up so we had no idea that we were doing well at all so it was a shock. For my American friends I’m sorry to say that this was the joker provided:



Then Mr SandDune went off to Oxford Saturday morning to go to a college history dinner and meet up with some old friends at the same time, so I’ve been on my own for most of the weekend. I’ve been trying to discourage a neighbour’s cat from the garden as it seems to be trying to intimidate our cats. It is much bigger and heavier than they are but I am hoping when they grow a bit the fact that there are two of them will dissuade it. So far they have just stared at each other, but today I had left the back door open to let the cats come and go (the weather is quite nice at the moment) and found the other cat in our kitchen having a staring match with Seren! I don’t recall seeing it in the garden before the kittens arrived, so I don’t know if it is new in the neighbourhood, or it is just trying to make sure that the new cats know who is boss.

Mr SandDune was back at lunchtime so, the weather still being nice, we went out for a walk down to a nearby lake. It used to be our go to walk with Daisy if we just wanted something easy and didn’t want to get muddy or go further afield, as it goes through two parks and there was opportunity to let her off the lead around the lake. I realised as we went along that I hadn’t walked the route for such a long time. For the last nine months of her life it was too far for her and the last time we took her to the lake we ended up driving there. I can’t quite remember why, but the four of us ended going in Caroline’s tiny two door car and we couldn’t manoeuvre Daisy into the back seat. So we had three adults squashed onto the back seat while Daisy sat in state on the front seat!

>66 SandDune: That joker gave me a good laugh! Thanks, Rhian.

Happy birthday Rhian! LTers were recognizing Darryl's birthday over on his thread and I remembered you share a birthday. Hope you're having a great day!

Laura beat me to it! I remember your birthday because of Darryl's, whose I remember because it's also my husband's :)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Rhian!

Happy happy birthday!

Happy Birthday, Rhian!!! Have a lovely day with family and pets.

Happy Birthday, Rhian!

Happy Birthday, Rhian!

Happy birthday, Rhian!

Happy birthday!

Happy belated birthday, Rhian!

Many thanks for all the birthday wishes. I had a fairly quiet day and then went out for a meal with Mr SandDune and Jacob to a nearby sushi restaurant, one of my favourites.

It sounds like you had a lovely birthday, Rhian. Many happy returns.

Mr SandDune started his Easter holidays on Friday - he’s off for two weeks. On Friday we had his discussion club here (they meet once a month and rotate houses), so much of Friday afternoon was spent on working out the best way of organising the sitting room to accommodate twelve people, in such as way so that they can all see the T.V. for his presentation, not the easiest thing to do in our sitting room. His talk was on ‘What does in mean to be English?’ (as opposed to British that is), a topic that is surprisingly complicated. Apparently it went well, but I hid upstairs and left them to it.

Today we have spent most of the day going back and forth to the recycling centre with stuff from the garage. It’s funny, I really like the house to be organised, I hate clutter and am not a hoarder by any stretch of the imagination, but these feelings do not extend to the garage, which is frequently full of junk. Also, there are spiders in it, which tends to put me off ferreting around in there. But we bit the bullet today and got rid of loads of stuff.

Yesterday we went to the Courtauld gallery in London to see the exhibition of Seurat and the Sea.

Clockwise from top left:
‘The ‘Maria’ (Honfleur) 1886
‘The Hospice and the Lighthouse of Honfleur’ 1886
‘Port-en-Bessin - the Outer Harbour (Low Tide) 1888
‘Port-en-Bessin - the Bridge and the Quays’ 1888

A belated Happy Birthday, Rhian. I like the paintings of the sea especially the one with people in it. When do you get to bring the puppy home? It will be interesting to see what the cats think of the new addition.

>83 SandDune: Thanks for posting these. We have the "Sunday in the Park" painting in Chicago but its good to recall he used the "pointulism" technique on many other works.

>83 SandDune: This is on my list of exhibitions to see! Your photos have come out beautifully.

>83 SandDune: This looks lovely - I wish I lived a bit closer to catch this easily.

Impressed re the garage clear out - any plans for the space you have acquired? I dream of a potting bench but no such luck.

The puppy pictures are gorgeous, I don't know how you chose just one...

I love the Seurats, Rhian!

>84 Familyhistorian: We should be going to get the puppy on 24th April. I’m get photos and videos daily from the breeder and it’s incredible how quickly they’ve come along.

>85 magicians_nephew: >86 Sakerfalcon: >87 charl08: >88 BLBera: I like going to an exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery. They are pretty small but not so crowded usually, and you are able to appreciate the individual paintings. And their general collection might not be huge but it has some very famous impressionist paintings in it. We go to more art galleries than we used to, Mr SandDune has been doing some art history courses over the last few years so he’s always keen to go.

>87 charl08: We haven’t really got any plans for the garage - it’s more that we kept not being able to find things that were in it. I suppose we could put the car in it! I don’t think I’ve put the car in the garage for the last twenty years or so. It’s a double garage so there would have been room before if we’d just have moved things around … But I don’t think I know anyone who actually puts their car in their garage!

Choosing a puppy was very difficult - to be honest I would have been happy with any of them.

We are off into London again tomorrow, to see Summerfolk (by Maxim Gorky) at the National Theatre. I managed to get two Friday rush tickets for £10 each last Friday, which I was very excited about.

I have actually done some reading as well The Complete Stories by Anita Desai and About Love and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov. Both for my M.A., as you might guess we are doing a short stories module. Funnily enough, since I have started the M.A. course, I’m reading fewer actual books, as much of my reading time is spent reading about the books that I’ve read.

Things that we’re currently watching on T.V. and enjoying:

- ‘The Gold’ - the story of the Brinks-Mat robbery in 1983 and its aftermath. This was one of the biggest robberies in British history, when three tonnes of gold was stolen from a warehouse near Heathrow, worth about £290 million in today’s money. We’ve just finished the second and final series of this.

- D.T.F. St. Louis - A man ends up dead after signing up to a casual sex app. I thought there was going to be too much sex in this for me, but it’s very good.

- The Pitt - Medical drama - I watched the first few episodes of this on the plane back from Japan, but couldn’t watch the rest until HBO Max launched in Britain last week. And I was very pleased to find that HBO is included on our Sky package, as I wouldn’t have paid for yet another streaming service.

- Portobello - how a beloved Italian TV personality (host of Portobello, the most popular show on Italian TV in the early eighties) ended up falsely accused and convicted of conspiring with the Camorra. I was interested in this one as I remember watching Portobello when I lived in Italy, but I had no idea of its presenter’s fate. Mr SandDune likes this one too, so not just me.

>83 SandDune: These are such lovely paintings! How nice that you were able to see the exhibition.

>89 SandDune: We do actually keep both of our cars in our garage. Sometimes I wish we had a separate shed to keep our gardening stuff in, but we're managing. It does seem like most of our neighbors do not keep their cars in their garages.

93 Now we have an electric car we couldn’t really put the car in the garage even if we wanted to, as the charging point is outside.

We went to see Summerfolk by Maxim Gorky at the National Theatre on Wednesday, and it was a good production. It took me a little while to get into it (it had a large cast, so it took a while for me to get everyone straight in my head) but I enjoyed it. I was very impressed with our £10 tickets - they were very good stalls seats so areal bargain).

Jacob and Caroline came over for an Easter meal tonight and to exchange Easter eggs. We’re away in North Wales from tomorrow so won’t be around on Easter Day itself.

We had a lovely week in North Wales, staying in Dolgellau at the head of the Mawddach Estuary, which I think is one of the most beautiful parts of North Wales.

Here is the estuary, initially closer up when the tide was right in (in the second picture you can just see the railway bridge which crosses its mouth), and then looking down on the estuary from the hills above Dolgellau.

>95 SandDune: Beautiful Photos!

>95 SandDune: Great photos!

Well, I have missed the entirety of your new-ish thread and trying to catch up, Rhian.

>95 SandDune: I love the photos of North Wales that you took! Thank you for sharing them with us.

>96 rhondak101book: >97 kidzdoc: >98 alcottacre: We were so lucky with the weather. The weather forecast the week before had suggested it was going to be torrential rain all week, but it gradually improved and in the end we on,y had one morning of rain. We caught the tail end of Storm Dave as we were arriving (50mph winds) but by the time we were out and about of Sunday the wind had dropped a lot (although it was still cold). Then the next few days were really pretty warm. Didn’t get much reading done though as I was always pretty tired in the evenings (we were doing a fair bit of walking).

And I found people every day to speak Welsh to, which was very good practice for me.

We also went to MOMA Machynlleth, a very nice small art gallery. They had a Boundaries exhibition based on a poem by Alberto Rios (who I had previously never heard of).

>95 SandDune: Beautiful! What great weather too!

>100 SandDune: One of my friends is writing a piece about thresholds. The other day we had a great conversation about boundary gods, like Janus and Eshu. I just sent her a photo of the Border poem.
Also, I am going to have to find more work by Alberto Rios.
Thank you for sharing.

>101 Sakerfalcon: We did have some lovely weather - we were so lucky!

>102 rhondak101book: It was an impressive piece of artwork, although it was impossible to do it justice in the photo as you couldn’t get far enough away. But you could walk through the banners and look at each part up close. It was an great little art gallery for such a small town.

North Wales is lovely. You always have such great vacations.

>104 BLBera: We have a couple more holidays booked. A week in Lithuania in July to celebrate Mr SandDune’s retirement (always assuming that the country hasn’t run out of jet fuel by then, of course). We went to Estonia and Lativia in the Baltic States in 2018 but didn’t get to Lithuania. And then we will be away in France in late September (to celebrate Mr SandDune being able to go away in the school holidays for the first time since 1988, basically our entire married life). Jacob and Caroline are accompanying us on that one.

CN̈N just reported the possible dire situation in Europe if traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is not normalized within the next 6 weeks. According to an analyst 20% of the world's jet fuel comes through the Strait, but 69% of it goes to Europe. Needless to say people who have summer travel plans to Europe will also be affected.

>106 kidzdoc: Apparently most of the UK’s gas and oil comes from places other than the Middle East, but most jet fuel comes from Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and Kuwait.

Forgot to mention that we had our RL book club on Tuesday, talking about Northanger Abbey. I’ve read it several times before and always love it but it was new to Mr SandDune so we listened to the audio while driving to and from North Wales. After over 20 years of being the lone man on the book group Mr SandDune now has a companion - the husband of one of the other members!

We went out this afternoon to get supplies for the new puppy who will be arriving a week today. Here is one of today’s pictures - our puppy is the one on the left with the blue collar. I’m hoping the cats are going to cope. The weather has been nice over the last few days and Smot has taken to paddling in the pond, somewhat surprisingly. I’ve never come across a cat that has voluntarily gone anywhere near water before!

>108 SandDune: Smot has taken to paddling in the pond...
Literally in the pond, not just patting it with his her paw? If so, that's one amazing cat!

I can imagine how excited you are about the new pup. He will be so much fun.

>109 lauralkeet: Literally in the pond! She was up to her knees in it! She splashed Seren when she came out yesterday and he wasn’t too happy about it.

Wow. So brave! Also, my apologies to Smot for mis-gendering her. I've corrected my post. 😀

I have never seen a cat voluntarily go into water...Smot sounds amazing. I hope to see puppy pictures soon.

Fingers crossed for your summer holiday plans, which sound amazing.

Puppies!!

Congrats!!

<111 To be honest, Smot is not a very girly name. But smot(yn) means ‘spot’ and she’s the one with the splodge or her face.

>111 lauralkeet: >112 BLBera: It so some weird. Every cat I’ve come across before has avoided water like the plague. Our very first cat, Edward, had a habit of walking around the bath tub when people were having a bath. Until one day he slipped and fell in, and went into such a complete panic that it took him far longer than it ought to have done to get out again. I remember he avoided the bathroom for ages after that and never walked are the tub again.

>113 Copperskye: I’m so looking forward to it!

Today we went into London to see ‘Into the Woods’, the Stephen Sondheim musical at the Bridge Theatre. I really enjoyed it, but Mr SandDune didn’t so much, unfortunately.

Puppy has been to the vets today for initial health check and all was fine. Not sure he was keen on the vets though. We are so looking forward to collecting him on Friday.

Aww, look at those giant puppy paws! What a handsome boy.

The Invention of Wales

From the Economist. Didn't know if you had seen this Rhian

>114 SandDune: Kids might get SMOT mixed up with the SN-- word.

>115 SandDune: Puppy!! Yay, puppy! You will soon have your hands wonderfully full!

>116 katiekrug:. He is isn’t he?

>117 magicians_nephew: It’s an interesting article. When I was a kid, support for Welsh independence was in the low single figures, and as the article suggests it’s now running at about 30% (and apparently is very high amongst young people). I think I’d be quite likely to vote Plaid Cymru if I lived in Wales - it seems the obvious vote to keep Reform out. To me, Reform always seems like an English nationalist party in all but name, whereas Plaid seems a lot more inclusive. Funnily enough, I was in the Owain Glyndŵr Parliament Building (that it mentions in Machynlleth) a couple of weeks ago as it has a small bookshop with a good selection of books in Welsh, so I did buy a few …

I’d take issue with one thing it says though, about the borders not being fixed till the 70’s. (The issue was that Monmouthshire was considered part of England by some). I think that Welsh people were always pretty definite where the border was though. As a fairly young child I remember ‘correcting’ my parents’ atlas to put the border in the right place - to include it definitely as part of Wales!

Well we’ve had a good thing and a bad thing happen over the last day or so.

I was out in the garden when I heard some fairly consistent miaowing. I could see Smot - so it wasn’t her - but couldn’t see Seren anywhere. And then I did. He’d climbed to the top of the garage roof and was stuck on the top obviously feeling sorry for himself. Our garage has a proper tiled roof so the top is quite high and he obviously climbed up there, and discovered that climbing up was easier than climbing down. I was really at a loss to know how to get him down (apparently the fire brigade don’t rescue cats anymore unless they are trapped in some way). I wasn’t too worried about him hurting himself (he’d have slid down rather than fallen) but I did want to get him down. Eventually he managed to get down himself, so I’m hoping he won’t go up there again, but I get the feeling that Seren is just going to be one of those cats, after the shower incident and now this! I can’t remember any previous cats going up there at all.

Anyway, better news is that I had the results of a DEXA test which the doctor had sent me for, and while I have some loss of bone density it isn’t any worse that lots of other women my age. So lots of calcium for me but no osteoporosis.

On a slightly different topic we are currently watching ’The Americans’ on TV (didn’t see it when it was out first) and in my Welsh class on Monday I was surprised to discover that Matthew Rhys (who plays the male lead) is a fluent Welsh speaker and a member of the Gorsedd (the order of bards at the National Eisteddfod)!

>118 m.belljackson: This is the inspiration for Smot’s name - the Welsh version of one of my favourite books for tiny children.

>119 quondame: I think I will!

>115 SandDune: He is a cute puppy, Rhian! I do have osteoporosis and have had it since I before I was 50 . Oh well.

Puppy has been collected. He was very good on the way home - no car sickness. We have decided to call him Taliesin (Tali for short). The cats have seen him and look confused, rather than terrified, which is good!

>125 SandDune: Today's Atlas Obscura has a feature on the creator of Taliesin = Great name!

>126 m.belljackson: Is this a different Taliesin? I’m thinking of a Welsh bard from the 6th century, so wouldn’t really have a creator!

>124 vancouverdeb: I do have osteoporosis I hadn’t realised that. I hope it doesn’t impact you too much? I don’t think it runs in my family particularly. My mother didn’t have any major breaks until she was in her late nineties when she broke her hip, although she did break a couple more bones when she was over a hundred, but I suppose by that age you would have to expect it.

>125 SandDune: oh my goodness he's so adorable! It sounds like the cat introduction went as well as could be expected.

>127 SandDune: Marianne is probably referring to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin.

>129 lauralkeet: I’d never heard of the Frank Lloyd Wright house before. I expect he got the name from the Welsh one.

>125 SandDune: Tali is so cute! I hope you have a grand time getting to know each other.

>125 SandDune: Great name and super cutie!

>125 SandDune: Much Tally happiness! He’ll keep you busy!

>125 SandDune: He is beautiful! So grown up looking!

>125 SandDune: soon you may have Tali wagging his Tail

>128 SandDune: My osteoporosis has impacted me, but not lately, cross my fingers, Rhian. I had terrible pain that I thought was in my upper abdomen when I was 49, I think it was. It was bad enough that I went to emergency, where the thought perhaps pancreatitis or gall bladder problems or an ulcer. The doctor even wanted to give me morphine for the pain, but I didn't want it. They did a number of tests, which didn't show anything. Many months later I told my family doctor I wondered if the pain was actually coming from my spine and he sent me for an x ray. They found a healed fracture in my spine, and from there I went for a DEXA scan. That showed that I did have osteoporosis, and I had a healed compression fracture in my spine. A couple of years later I fell in my foyer and off to the hospital for what turned out to a be a fractured wrist and foot. I since been careful about what I do, or more careful. I did see a team about the osteoporosis where I was told what exercises not to do, supplements to take, and I saw an endocrinology at the same time. I was wary of the medications, so have not taken any.

Enjoy your new puppy! He is really cute!

The cats seem to be getting used to Tali. I don’t think they are particularly keen but they will get pretty close to him. Seren has been for a close sniff at him on more than one occasion.

>137 SandDune: A picture of Contentment!

Tali is a handsome boy! I found the puppy stage to be exhausting this last time but it doesn’t last long. Enjoy!!

Aww Tali is so cute! I hope you have fun getting to know him!

>125 SandDune: He already knows how to pose for a glamour shot! What a cutie.

>137 SandDune: How cute!!

So sorry that I have been missing for a few weeks. I have been completely rushed off my feet and rather stressed for the last few weeks.

Tali is settling in well and we can now take him out for walks (although only for 2 15 minute walks a day at the moment). The cats are getting used to him, although Seren does wind him up quite a lot. Tali likes to lick Seren and Seren does seem to quite like it as well, until of course Tali gets over excited and too boisterous. But they seem to be working it out.

Unfortunately, soon after we got Tali, on the Friday just before the bank holiday (1st May, so everything is closed on the Monday) I went down with really bad toothache. I managed to get an appointment with my usual dentist on the Tuesday who decided that the X-rays didn’t show any problem. But it was still really painful so by the Friday I tried a different dental practice for a second opinion, and he took different X-rays and announced that there was indeed a problem, which he could fix temporarily there and then, but he recommended that I have a root canal filling with a specialist dentist. So anyway, he stopped the pain, but I have an appointment with the specialist in Cambridge next Saturday.

Then we had problems with the car. We had an error message that the electronic parking brake was not working last weekend, but when Mr SandDune phoned them up on the Monday the garage decided that they couldn’t do anything until the beginning of July. So most of Monday and Tuesday I spent on the phone arguing with the garage and also with the Skoda assist people (who were providing a courtesy car). It’s always me who is sent in if any arguing needs doing! So by Tuesday evening garage had decided that we could indeed take the car in the next day. So Wednesday morning I took the car in, and they said they would look at it this week but couldn’t guarantee when. Two hours later they phoned up and said it was ready to collect. So we had the courtesy car delivered from North London for no other purpose that to sit on our drive overnight. Anyway ….

And apart from all that I have been doing my final essay for this year’s part of my M.A. course, which meant that every single moment that I have not been looking after Tali, going to the dentist, arguing with garage, cooking, or doing housework I have been researching and writing my essay. And this afternoon I have just submitted it and had the first relaxing sit down with a cup of tea when I wasn’t supposed to be doing something else for weeks!

>138 m.belljackson: >139 Copperskye: >140 Sakerfalcon: >141 laytonwoman3rd: >142 norabelle414: So sorry that I hadn’t previously replied to you. What with one thing and another I have been really getting quite stressed over the last few weeks. But here is a picture of Tali and Seren to make up:

>144 SandDune: Awwww!

Sorry to hear it's been such a stressful few weeks, Rhian. Hopefully the rest of your summer is much more relaxed and you get lots of quality time with your cats and puppy.

>143 SandDune: Wow, you really have had a lot to deal with in a short time. Here's hoping that everything is good with the car and that you can get your tooth taken care of. At least you've finished your essay and Tali seems to be fitting in well. I hope you can have a season of calm and quiet now.

>123 SandDune: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the review and recommendation, Rhian!

>125 SandDune: Tali is beautiful!

>143 SandDune: I hope you are destressing at this point!

>144 SandDune: I love that picture! They are decidedly checking each other out, aren't they?

>143 SandDune: Wow...that is a LOT of stress. I hope you can take a breather now that the car is fixed and the essay completed. Root canal, though....it'll be good to have that done with. It must be fun to watch Tali and Seren learn to get along.

Adding my "wow" about your recent events, Rhian. Your dental woes made me cringe, but I agree with Linda it will be good to get the root canal done. Thank goodness for puppy antics! Seeing Tali making friends with the felines made me smile.

>144 SandDune: So Great you have Pets to comfort you through these challenges!

>143 SandDune: You have had a busy time, Rhian. Congratulations on finishing your essay. What was the topic? Good luck with the dental work.

>145 MickyFine: >146 atozgrl: >147 alcottacre: >148 laytonwoman3rd: >149 lauralkeet: >150 m.belljackson: >151 BLBera: I am definitely feeling much better over the last couple of days - my exam is submitted and Mr SandDune is at home for a week as it’s half term, so I have someone to help with Tali (who is lovely but also quite hard work). The weather has changed from not being hot enough to sit outside at all, to being too hot to sit outside in the middle of the day, so unfortunately it has been too hot for Tali’s walk today. So this evening, now it has cooled down, he is letting off steam running round and round the garden and has fallen in the pond twice.

>151 BLBera: This essay was on entrapment in Anita Desai short stories, but I needed to bring in some other books by her as well. You can see Fasting, Feasting on the table in the picture. Unfortunately both that book and my book of her short stories are now a little the worse for wear as Tali got hold of them and pulled the covers off! Next year it will be the proper dissertation and I am still thinking of a topic.

>144 SandDune: Great photo. Congratulations on making it through the last few weeks. Get some well deserved rest!

>154 rhondak101book: I am having a very lazy weekend thank you.

We have had to do a bit more puppy proofing this morning. All crochet blankets have had to be moved upstairs, and Colin the Sheep (who we bought on our recent trip to Dolgellau) has had to be moved upstairs as well from what we thought was a safe spot in the conservatory.

Here is Colin the Sheep. He was called Colin the Sheep after a sheep in Father Ted (according to Mr SandDune). But the sheep in Father Ted is not called Colin ….

>153 SandDune: I am enjoying your program vicariously, Rhian. I loved grad school, the research, writing, etc.

It sounds like Tali will keep you busy for a while. I don't think I could cope with a puppy now.

Tali is not really getting the whole ‘No getting in the dishwasher’ thing!

Oh that face! ❤️

>157 SandDune: Hes probably just getting warm.

>157 SandDune: Trying to reach the food?

>157 SandDune: What an imp!

>158 MickyFine: >159 magicians_nephew: >160 m.belljackson: >161 lauralkeet: He’s very mischievous.

>159 magicians_nephew: Not trying to keep warm today - more like keeping cool - it was 29°C this afternoon.

>160 m.belljackson: Looking for plates to lick I think!

A lovely day today. Plenty of time to sit and read. Jacob and Caroline came around this evening so they entertained Tali while we all sat in the garden and relaxed. We are having a very sudden heatwave. (Last week I was putting my coat on when I went out) and tomorrow is supposed to be a top temperature of 31°C.