A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 17th June

Saturday 17th was the date set by Jane for June's photo an hour. Here's what the day looked like...


8am - Starting the day right; as always, with books.

9am - A quick breakfast before heading out to a local NCT sale.

10am - After getting some bargains at the sale, it was time to sample a proper breakfast.

11am - Then into the library for a quick look round.

12pm - Back home and it's still a glorious day.

1pm - Raspberry sorbet is an acceptable lunch, right?

2pm - Trying out one of the purchases from the sale... #glastonburyoutfitsorted

3pm - Late lunch snack time.

4pm - Then off to the grandparents house while I cleaned up.

5pm - And do some laundry-sorting!

6pm - Toast as buttered by a toddler.

7pm - Dinner alfresco on a sunny evening.

8pm - And the post-dinner clean-up can be done outside too!

9pm - And then while she heads off to sleep, I got started reading a new magazine!

 

 

For June's photo an hour we had 22 lovely people join in:

Naomi from What Naomi Did Next joined in on Instagram and Twitter.
Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Twitter and her blog. 
Hazel from World of Joy joined in on Twitter.
Jennifer from Adventures in Pop Culture joined in on Twitter.
Susie from Secondhand Susie joined in on Instagram.
Siobhan joined in on Instagram.
Ruth joined in on Instagram.
Rebecca from Writing, Fatshion, Me joined in on Instagram
Jane from Is That You Darling joined in on Instagram
Louise from Ramblings of a Roachling joined in on Instagram and her blog.
Rebecca joined in on Instagram.

Amy from Fluffy Owl's Adventures joined in on Instagram.

Vikki joined in on Instagram.
The Mini Malpi joined in on Twitter and her blog.
Georgina joined in on Instagram.
Sarah joined in on Instagram.
Jodey joined in on Instagram.
Sarah from Sarah Rooftops joined in on Instagram.

Liz from Distract Me Now Please joined in on Instagram.
Saskia joined in on Instagram.
Charlotte from Discovering Charlotte joined in on Instagram.
And of course, myself here on this post, plus on Instagram and Twitter :-)


 

July's photo an hour will be Saturday 15th!

 

 

Also, check out what I was up to in...

June 2016

June 2015

June 2014

This Weekend at the Duckpond

We have mostly been...


Filling - up our plates at the local Toby Carvery with a voucher for 20% off the bill. The thing I find with Toby is you go along to get your food, spoon on a bit of each veg and walk back to the table thinking "yep, that's not too bad, I've been quite restrained and not had massive portions this time". Twenty minutes later and you're sat there stuffed thinking "I didn't think I had that much really...". You always have room for pudding though (Honeycomb Dream Sundae), that must go into a different stomach, I'm sure.

Collecting - a reservation from the library plus a selection of other ones that just happened to fall into my bag. Did you know Emerald Fennell (Patsy from Call the Midwife) has written a series of books for children? I didn't until the cover of 'Shiverton Hall: The Creeper' caught my eye and then I thought, "hmm, I recognise that name". It's the second book in the series though so I'll have to look out for or order the first one I reckon.

Admiring - the glorious sunlight on the trees over Frome late Saturday afternoon.

Defrosting - one of our freezers which resulted in wet towels, a damp floor and eventually a lovely shiny clean machine.

Baking - some raspberry and chocolate brownies using up some more fruit from the freezer. I was running out of a few ingredients so I ended up using white instead of milk chocolate, unsalted butter instead of salted and half the amount of raspberries were actually strawberries. It still tasted good though.

What did you get up to at the weekend?

This Weekend at the Duckpond

We have mostly been...


Collecting - books from the library, including one I'd reserved - The Mabinogion - which is number 2 on my 33 before 33 list (well, actually reading it is anyway).

Participating - in Jane's photo an hour challenge, the first one of 2015. I think quite a few people joined in this time so pop over to Jane's blog during the week to see who else took part.


Baking - Mincemeat and Marzipan Teabread, using up the last of the Christmas mincemeat. It's from a BBC Good Food book but you can find the recipe over on Google Books.

Clearing - out our old bedroom ready for it to be decorated, I think we're going with a grey and pink theme although we still have yet to actually buy the paint.

Washing - I did nine loads of laundry this weekend. Nine, I tell you! Okay, so we did change all the bedding around last week and I maaaay have actually not done any since the beginning of January. Yeah, I suppose that'll be why.

Listening - to a few different podcasts. As per my 33 before 33 list, I've been trying to train myself to listen to chatter and do another task at the same time. I've been listening to The High Tea Cast, Rhod Gilbert's Best Bits, Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast this weekend whilst cleaning and tidying but if you've got any recommendations, chuck 'em my way!  

 

What did you get up to at the weekend?

This (Long) Weekend at the Duckpond

We have mostly been...

 

Collecting - a few books from the library. I only actually reserved 3 of them, the others were just ones I stumbled upon in the 10 minutes I spent there!

 

 

 

 

Eating - far too much food. We had a Tesco Clubcard Prezzo voucher which needed using so after we'd done the book thing we went off for a 'date' (is it still a date after 7 and half years of marriage?)

Anyway, I'd forgotten how big Prezzo's meals were! Although we did still manage a pudding - that goes into a different stomach doesn't it?

 

 

 

 

 

Packing - a few bits and pieces for going off to the Great Dorset Steam Fair.

 

 

 

Watching - the first procession of South West England's illuminated Carnival season. Last Saturday's parade was in Sturminster Newton in North Dorset and there's now at least one Carnival somewhere across the South West every Saturday until the middle of November (so yup, sorry, you'll be hearing a lot about them again, same as last year)

 

 

 

 

Judging - the entries at the Carnival procession. Even though this was only a small Carnival, it can still be surprisingly difficult!

 

 

 

 

Heading - off in separate directions. Not in a bad way or anything! Andrew took his lorry off to the Great Dorset Steam Fair on Sunday morning and is staying down there at the moment. I stayed home to catch up with some jobs around the house and do a bit of coursework for my degree and I'll be going down to join him on Wednesday.

 

 

What did you get up to at the weekend?

This Weekend at the Duckpond

We have mostly been...

 

 

Collecting - a few reserved books from the library and dropping off some I'd finished with. One of the one I picked up was the Blogger Book Club book - Tampa by Alissa Nutting - which I'm planning to read on the train up to Edinburgh tomorrow.

 

 

 

Scheduling - several blog posts for this week when we're off at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

 

 

Making - a gate. Well, Andrew did anyway; it's not yet finished but he had a good go at making the frame yesterday.

Marvelling - at my stargazer lilies which have flowered. I planted two bulbs about 4 years ago and this year, they're sporting 12 buds!

 

Visiting - Carters Steam Fair in Bath's Victoria Park. We went along Sunday evening as the sun was setting.

 

 

What did you get up to at the weekend?

52 Lists - Your Favourite Books



 

This is a really difficult prompt - where on earth do you start choosing just a few?

 

 

 

 

So instead of this post being all of my favourite books, here's a selection of some of my favourite books, starting from the bottom of the pile...

 

 

 

Rent by Jonathan Larson

This is the book of the cult musical - scripts, history, cast, rehearsal pictures, anything and everything you ever wanted to know about the show is in here. I first saw Rent back in 1998 in the West End and like pretty much most of my GCSE Drama class, we fell in love.

I bought the book from London's famous (and sadly now closed) Dress Circle shop near Seven Dials and when I went to New York in 2002, I took a list of all the places in the East Village which were mentioned in the show and did my own little tour.

I love this book for the memories it holds; the times me and my classmates used to play 'guess the next line', the times we'd ask it a question, let the pages fall open and use it like a magic 8 ball and the times we'd pore over every last line of the script memorising it till we knew every word (and still do now, 16 years on).

 

 

Our True Intent is All for Your Delight: The John Hinde Butlin's Photographs by Martin Parr

I grew up fascinated by Butlins; it was a magical place I wasn't allowed to visit. I read Billy Butlin's autobiography at uni and fell in love with the story of the John Hinde photographs and the colourful 60s life they depicted (50% fake of course).

I always wanted this book but it was really expensive (well, £25 on a book is a lot when you're young) and then Andrew bought it for me the second Christmas we were together.

 

 

Tristan and Yseult by Kneehigh Theatre

Another show I fell in love with when I first saw it back in 2003 - this book has the scripts from that show and two of their other ones. They first premiered the show at Restormel Castle in Cornwall 11 years ago, did it the following year at the Minack Theatre and the Eden Project and then in 2005, won themselves a run at the National Theatre on South Bank. I went to London to see the opening night of the show and bought their newly-published script book from the theatre shop.

I adore every word, sentence and paragraph of the script; the poetry and atmosphere created by the writers Carl Grose and Anna Maria Murphy is just magical and every time I flick through the pages, I can see what it was like that June night back in 2003.

 

 

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

It looks like I've thumbed the pages rather a lot but I've actually only read the story about 2 or 3 times. We had to study the tale of Heathcliff and Cathy during GCSE English Literature and I spotted this copy on a book stall at a fete in my home town at the start of May half term. I then spent the whole of my week getting stuck into the story (being taken round the Isle of Mull in a motorcaravan on holiday at the same time) and when I got back to school I was pretty much the only person in the class to have read the whole book. It was my English teacher's favourite book as well and I think it helped that I had a bit of a minor crush on him!

 

 

Junk by Melvin Burgess

I think I first read this from my school library; I worked in the library at lunchtimes and some of the books had warnings on them not to be lent out to the younger students. I had to help unpack the new books and add the stickers to them so I was one of the first people to get my hands on it.

It's set on the streets of Bristol (which wasn't too far away) and I loved the characters; Tar, Gemma and Lily are all so brilliantly depicted and you can really imagine the storyline quite vividly.

I bought this copy at the end of our summer holiday in Scotland from one of those cheap bookshops (like County Bookstores or The Works nowdays) in Glasgow and then read it for the second time all round Strathclyde Country Park. I've read it several times since which you can probably tell from how worn it looks!

 

 

Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell

I read this when I was a child and loved the true stories of living with otters in Scotland. We used to go to Scotland every year for our summer holiday so it was quite relevant to places we'd actually visited.

When me and Andrew planned a fortnight's touring trip up above the border back in 2009, I thought I should probably re-read the book before we headed off and managed to stumble across this vintage copy (plus it's two sequels) in a boxed holder in a local charity shop. I never read the sequels (The Rocks Remain and Raven Seek Thy Brother) when I was young so I spent most of our two weeks up north reading through every page. This copy is illustrated as well so it brings the stories to life even more than just words.

 

 

Tales from the Faerie Queen

I'm not sure who wrote this but it belonged to my grandmother when she was a girl. It's a compilation of faerie stories, wicked witches and handsome princes and is beautifully illustrated on almost every other page. I've never even read all the way through but I love it just for the fact that it says 'Noreen Noon, Form II' in my grandmother's handwriting just inside the cover - she was born in 1926 so that would have made it about 1932 or 1933 when she was thumbing the pages dreaming about myths and monsters.

 

 

 

And a couple of books that aren't pictured - because I haven't yet bought copies of them...

 

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

I know I've mentioned this before but I love this book so much. I don't consider myself a religious person but I love the idea of the life after death she creates. I would so love it to be true!

 

The Declaration by Gemma Malley

If you ever want an idea of what life might be like if there was a cure for death, then this is the book for you. It's part of a trilogy and all three books are so well-written, incredibly believable and with storylines that are almost too close to the truth (stem cell research, for example). I love it for many reasons, but mainly for it's ability to narrate the detail of what life would be like if we all never died.

 

 

Have you read any of these? And what are some of your favourite books?

 

 

This post is part of Ema's (Made in Hunters) 52 Lists Project

For a full list of all the other lovely bloggy people taking part, visit Scarlett's site (WorkRestPlayLove) for a nosy!

#BEDM Day 29 - Wishlist

Day 29 of Rosalilium’s 'Blog Every Day in May' Challenge

Back when I worked in my local library, we had several customers who would regularly order the latest bestsellers and things from the Richard and Judy list. Part of the job was to process books as they arrived, putting them out on the reservation shelf ready for collection.

What this actually meant in practice though was that we unpacked lovely shiny new books from their boxes, oohed and ahhed over each one in turn looking to see if we’d like it and then made a note to keep our eyes peeled for it once it had come back from going out to all the customers.

Consequently, I (and all the other staff, I’m sure) ended up with a mammoth list of books we’d like to read (almost 300!). Although I’ve had a GoodReads account for a few years, I used to keep my list on an Excel spreadsheet and only added books online once I’d actually read them. The other day though, it suddenly occurred to me that GoodReads had a ‘Want to Read’ function – I know I’d seen it on there and for some completely random reason, I’d been ignoring the fact that it would be a helluva lot more convenient to store my ‘want to read’ list online.

 

 

 So over the last few days, I’ve been swapping my gigantic list of titles from my traditional spreadsheet over to my online ‘Want to Read’ list. I’ve already listed about 200 books but I’ve still got a fair few more to add (and my list keeps growing, because I keep seeing things I’d like to read on Jane’s list!).

 If you’re on GoodReads, feel free to add me as a friend so you can take a nosy at what’s on my list!

 

Another Bloggy Book Swap

A while ago I signed up to take part in The Emerald Dove's Blogger Book Swap. I took part in one last year organised by the lovely Rosie (from A Rosie Outlook) and it was great fun choosing what books to buy so I thought I'd give it a go again.

 

I was paired with Cat from Through A Cat's Eyes and managed to find a book I really enjoyed based on the life story of 70s child sensation, Lena Zavaroni from the Isle of Bute in Scotland. I remember learning all about her back when I studied A Level Psychology and when I worked in the local library I spotted Andrew O'Hagan's novel based on her life.

 

Anyway, I packaged the book up and sent it on it's merry way up north to Scotland along with some little chocolates to enjoy. Stupidly I forgot to take any pictures at all of the book I sent but pop over to Cat's blog to see what she received.

 

My package arrived earlier this week and Cat had chosen the perfect book for me - Dewey by Vicki Myron!

 

It's all about a cat (called Dewey, fairly obviously) who lives in a small town library in America and gets into all sorts of trouble whilst winning the hearts of all the borrowers. She'd spotted that I used to work in the library and thought that would suit me, and she was right. Not only am I a fan of libraries themselves but I'm also a fan (albeit a very sad one) of the Dewey Decimal System. It's a brilliant way of classifying books!

 

Books Swaps are great fun - if you ever spot one running on someone's blog, they're well worth signing up for!

 

52 Lists - Things Beside My Bed

This weeks theme is all about what's beside your bed.
In our bedroom my dressing table is next to my side of the bed so that area always seems like a right mess and probably not the sort of thing any decent blogger would photograph.

But the one thing that's always beside my bed is my library books 'to be read' pile....

You might have spotted in my 'A-Z of Books' post a while back, that my worst bookish habit is taking out my quota of library books and then just never getting round to actually reading them for months on end.

So this is what my TBR pile looks like at the moment (complete with when I first took them out from the library)...

The History Room by Eliza Graham
(first borrowed on 16th November 2013 from Street Library)
The blurb on the back says this book is a "gripping mystery" and it involves private schools, war and a girl "determined to discover the culprit".  I think I chose it beacuse I thought it would be a bit like Kate Morton or Diane Setterfield, both authors I quite like.

I Can Make You Hate by Charlie Brooker
(first borrowed on 15th February 2014 from Street Library)
I like Charlie Brooker on TV (my first ever tweet was actually a retweet of his) and a whole book of him ranting seemed like a good idea. Andrew wants to read this one after me as well.

A Year of Doing Good by Judith O'Reilly
(first borrowed on 15th February 2014 from Street Library)
This looked interesting just from the front cover (tea and flowers) and the premise doing one good deed each day for a year sounded like fun, although the back cover does warn that she runs into lots of problems being good!

Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith
(first borrowed on 8th March 2014 from Clevedon Library)
I've read quite a lot of Alexander McCall Smith's stuff (I love his Isabel Dalhousie series) and this is a fairly short story about four strangers meeting on a train from London to Edinburgh, all with their own stories and experiences. The cover looks like the book could be entertaining, although it probably should be on some kind of Valentine's Day themed display.

Christmas at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan
(first borrowed on 23rd November 2013 from Midsomer Norton Library)
I took this out back in November thinking "ooh that'd be good book to read over the Christmas holiday" - it's still in my TBR pile.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
(first borrowed on 23rd November 2013 from Midsomer Norton Library)
I'd seen this recommended in a few places; the book's written from the point of view of the family's dog, Enzo looking back at his life story. It sounds like such a lovely idea, moving and uplifting all in one.

The Knot by Mark Watson
(first borrowed on 20th October 2012 from Taunton Library)
 I like Mark Watson as a comedian so I thought I'd give one of his books a go, all about a wedding photographer who searching for his own happy ever after.

The Shadow Wife by Diane Chamberlain
(first borrowed on 20th July 2013 from Junction 3 Library, Bristol)
I've read several of Diane Chamberlain's novels, they usually follow some
 kind of moral dilemma and the families involved - this one is all about illicit romances, unborn babies and brain injuries.

One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern
(first borrowed on 20th July 2013 from Junction 3 Library, Bristol)
Again, another author I've read several books from and enjoyed. The blurb on the back describes a journalist who's lost her way then discovers a list of one hundred stranger's names and sets out to trace all their stories.

Move Along, Please by Mark Mason
(first borrowed on 15th February 2014 from Street Library)
I'm quite a fan of travel books, especially ones around Britain and this one is all about Mark Mason's journey across the nation using local bus services. I like travelling by bus myself (there's nothing better than a long journey where you can stare out of the window) so I thought this book would be really interesting. The author's route also takes him through a few local towns and places I've visited so I'm quite intrigued to see how he gets on!

There Is No Dog by Meg Rosoff
(first borrowed on 23rd November 2013 from Midsomer Norton Library)

I really liked Meg Rosoff's books, 'How I Live Now', 'Just In Case' and 'What I Was' and I've heard lots of good things about this one. It tells the tale of the seven days of creation from the point of view of a hormonal teenage boy just on the brink of falling in love - certainly an interesting idea!




Have you read any of them? Which one should I start with?

 

This post is part of Ema's (Made in Hunters) 52 Lists Project

For a full list of all the other lovely bloggy people taking part, visit Scarlett's site (WorkRestPlayLove) for a nosy!

The Bookworm Tag

I did an A-Z of Books last month but just before Christmas I also spotted this lovely Bookworm Tag over on Jen's Bows Bangles and Bakes blog.

 

Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?
Not really, I just remember always reading books. Every holiday we went on would contain a huge bag of books for me to read plus I used to pick up lots of extras in charity shops. I suppose, when I worked in my school library, that probably helped secure a love of books and reading.


Where do you usually read?
I'd like to say in bed and relaxing at home, but the reality is I only seem to have time to read on holiday and occasionally at work during lunchtime.


Do you prefer to read one book at a time or several at once?
I do tend to read a couple at a time but they're usually one fiction and one non-fiction.
Oh, and a few magazines as well!


What is your favourite genre?
Probably anything written for children or young adults along with travel writing and novels about history.


Is there a genre you will not read?
As someone training to be a librarian, I'd never say never to anything but I really can't get on with Westerns and Science Fiction.


Do you have a favourite book?
A three-way tie between Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin, Junk by Melvin Burgess and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.


What is your least favourite book?
I don't really have an answer for this; anything I really didn't like reading, I've probably forgotten!


What is the longest book you have ever read?
Apart from textbooks, I think The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova was almost 800 pages long.


What was the last book you bought?
I don't very often buy books but I did just buy (as an e-book) a recently published book about infertility -
The Pursuit of Motherhood by Jessica Hepburn.


Do you prefer library books or buying books?
Library books, definitely. My strategy is to get things from the library first and then if it's something I like enough to want to own, I'll add it to my Christmas and Birthday list.


What are you currently reading?
I've just started Ghost Children by Sue Townsend (on the advice of the lovely Janet from Words That Can Only Be Your Own)


Where do you buy your books?
I don't (see my answer a couple of questions above!).


Do you ever pre-order books?
Nah!


How many books do you buy a month?
Very few...


Do you use your local library?
Yep, but not as often as I'd like. The area where I live allows you to borrow and return from anywhere in Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and Bristol so I usually end up using libraries in other towns rather than the one down my own high street.


What do you think of library books?
Love 'em.


How do you feel about second hand charity shop books?
There's nothing wrong with them, I used to buy loads of books from charity shops when I was younger and I still usually have a browse nowdays.


Do you keep your read and to be read books together?
No, I have a pile of 'to be read' books next to my side of the bed, along with all my library books.
All the 'read' books or reference books are on bookshelves elsewhere in the house.


Do you plan to read all the books you own?
Hah, probably not! We do seem to have a lot of reference books (mainly about trains, engineering and history) which I don't plan to ever read thoroughly.


What do you do with books you own that you know won't be re-read?
It depends. If they're being kept for reference, then they get shelved with similar books in the house. If it's something I've read once but don't need to keep, then it usually goes to the charity shop.


Have you ever donated books?
Yep, there's usually a few in the bags we send to the charity shops.


Have you ever been on a book buying ban?
Nope, because I very rarely actually buy books.


Do you think you own too many books?
Probably, yes!



Feel free to give it a go yourself and hop on over to the lovely Jen's blog for a nosy at her original answers. :-)