Silent Sunday- June 2019

Moments of Tranquility in Rhaeder Gwy (Rhayader, Wales). In Welsh the name means Waterfall on the Wye.

The view from the B&B where we stayed. Our companions here

A Chaffinch

and Red Kites.

Sights to heal the soul.

 

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June Books-2019

It has been a month for escaping into books. Here we go…

Camilla Way- Watching Edie- An innocent school girl friendship between Edie and Heather falters when Edie meets Connor,  leading to a terrifying end. Sixteen years later Heather makes contact with Edie at a time Edie needs a friend. Themes of love, loss, friendship. bullying, domestic violence, motherhood and remorse. A very good psychological thriller with an expected but unexpected ending. If that makes sense. It was a good read, but I found it rather unsettling.

Jane Harper- The Dry-A very good thriller set in Australia during a drought which has lasted two years. Who killed the Hadler family and is it linked to the death of a teenage girl years ago? Scrublands is a novel I had read also set in the drought in Australia, which gave for me a much better impression of what extreme prolonged heat feels like. I did like The Dry because this book demonstrated the knock on effect of failing farms on the local community and the desperation and hopelessness emotions that take hold, with tempers frayed and fights likely to happen. Lots of twists and a real page turner.

Donna Tartt- The Secret History- I really enjoyed this book. Richard Papen is a young man from an ordinary family who goes to college in New England. He enrolls in a small class of Ancient Greek classicists. The first part of the book details what sounds like an idyylic time for him, amongst clever interesting people, they have money and he enters a world of wealth and entitlement. There is an atmosphere of brooding menace, and towards the end of part one there is Trouble. Part two deals with the crumbling of that world as the protagonists move towards the ultimate conclusion. At times I wondered if the author was trying to make the book comic as the lives of everyone came crashing down, it certainly had moements of being ludicrous. On the whole I think it wasn’t meant to be amusing! Just me. A good read and the characters are likeable enough that you get drawn into their world and wish them well even when they deserve not to be happy.

Love to know what you thought if you had read this one. I prefer it to her Goldfinch.

Denise Mina- Garnethill- mmm don’t know quite what to say about this book. Set in Glasgow, a woman awakes from a drunken sleep to find her married boyfriend dead in her sitting room. She turns detective to clear herself and then to bring justice to the murderer. The basic plot was fine but I found the style clunky and either I missed bits or some aspects just got missed by the author. I almost gave up on it at the start, then got caught up in the middle section but found the end disappointing. Val McDermid gives her a wonderful introduction, and I don’t like Val McDermid’s writing, so maybe it’s down to personal taste. Please disagreee with me…

Jojo Moyes- after you- the sequel to “me before you”. I loved it. It made me laugh and cry. Theme is grief and moving on. Highly recommend it but you must be familiar with “me before you.”

Danya Kukafka- Girl in Snow- A who dun it. The who is revealed slowly through three narrators all linked to the victim or to each other. A nice steady pace, and not gruesome.

Erin Kelly- The Burning Air-This is a very good psychological thriller, although the library has classified it as Crime. An extended family go to Devon to their holiday home. The youngest son brings along a new girlfriend, who offers to babysit a sister’s baby, so she can go out with her sons to a village event. On the families return there is no sign of the girlfriend or the baby. The plot unfolds from the perspective of different people. A frightening story of delusion and revenge. Thanks to whoever recommended this one to me, it’s a good one.

Is that really seven books this month? No wonder the knitting and sewing has taken a back seat. Have you read any of these, what did you think? Have you read anything good in June? Love to hear from everyone. Now where is my book, the weather is set for very hot, so my book under a tree sounds perfect.

Such a perfect day!

Blue skies and sunshine, a country church, a beautiful bride with flowers in her hair.

Not too shabby a Groom

Cousins

Second Cousins

Agreed?

As to that hat, what hat? I went with the perfectly acceptable one I wore ten years ago.

 

Friday Natter!

Family dramas abound this month, can’t say much but I had to go to Wales last weekend, not good. But life goes on whatever.

The wedding of my youngest son is rapidly approaching now. I am rehearsing my reading and trying very hard not to over dramatise the word “woe”. It’s in Ecclesiates, 4,v 9-12 , but you need the King James version to find the word woe! I love the idea of people needing people, it’s apt for my family at the moment, well for all of us. Don’t know where I would be without my fellow bloggers.

I still don’t have a hat, I may go hat less this time. At least I persuaded Mr E he needed a new shirt and tie, well I went out and got him them.

And as if that is not quite enough stress, Mr E decided he needs a new to him car…. All I want to say on that score is that it is not a good idea for a sales person to keep vanishing when selling a car, nor to to focus on features within a car which are unusable/inappropriate to the purchaser.

Enough- knitting, virtually none, sewing ditto. But I can tell you about my quilting class. And it turns out that sometimes a poor workwoman can blame her tools. Or that the 1/4 inch foot I was using that I assumed was supposed to wobble about like it has done since I first attached it, is not supposed to wobble about at all, just needed tightening. What a difference.

I even persuaded Mr E to help me change the needle, I know high time I changed it after 6 years , but scary. I got the old one off with ease but for the life of me couldn’t see where to put the new one. Fortunately for me MIL had shown him on numerous occasions as she was a prolific dress maker. And what a difference a new needle made too.

So the border fabric is attached and I am doing the quilting bit now. I reckon learning to quilt is like learning to drive. Terrifying when you haven’t a clue what you are doing, wonderful when you acquire the skills and highly enjoyable when you just sit down and do it. Please tell me it will be like this….

My tablet has gone off for repairs, back next week, which will make it easier to read all my favourite blogs, so sorry I haven’t been able to comment as much as usual.

There is more I could tell you about, but it’s early days still.

So to finish, no lovely pictures of things I made, but a rather jolly

Lion. Isn’t he just gorgeous.

So what are your plans for the weekend? I shall be hat hunting I reckon . Do please join in the natter.

Be Happy,

Cathy

 

Yarn Along, June 2019

It seems ages and ages and ages since I was organised enough to do a Yarn Along post, shame on me. Without further ado,

I am absolutely loving The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I am about half way through. So far we have an idyllic picture of student life, with an undercurrent of menace. It’s well written and beautifully plotted and I am savouring every word.

When I stated before that I had used up all my stash of leftover yarn on the crochet blanket I made for a homeless charity , I was of course slightly fibbing. I had nearly three balls of yarn leftover from a jumper in Sirdar crofter yarn, which is enough for several projects and therefore does not yet qualify as leftover scraps of yarn. So far I made some fingerless mittens with it and now I am knitting some legwarmers. I shall send both off to the homeless charity too, in the hope that it cheers and warms someone.

I am joining with Ginny for Yarn Along

Yarn Along {June}

June Windows- 2019

It’s the first Tuesday in the month so it’s time for joining in with the Window photo challenge hosted by Wild Daffodil

Here are the windows which caught my attention in May.

I love stained glass windows in churches, this however, is natures’ own stained glass, I just loved the new green foliage colouring the clear panes of glass.

We were having lunch in Shepton Mallet and I fell for this window display.

Did you spot the windows opposite through the window?

I just had to capture the mosaics on the window sills of the library opposite the restaurant.

Aren’t they wonderful?

Hope you liked my little selection, which is your favourite?

 

 

Field of Gold.

Buttercup field May 29th 2019

Buttercups and the North York Moors steam train.

My favourite field at its best. I wonder does anyone else have a favourite field or is it just me? This one has so many memories- walking dogs, playing Swallows and Amazons with my best friend, falling out of trees ( I have the scar still), sledging in the snow and rolling Easter eggs, a tradition that I now do with my sons and their children. The Costa beck runs through the field, where the tree line begins in the train picture. Many a paddle , many a stick thrown for dogs. One year swans nested on the river bank, even the cows were scared of them.

A field of gold, a field of golden memories.