{quilt} while you're ahead

*115**

No 2 made me a bookmark:

... awwww....

Last night I finished reading NW by Zadie Smith.  Brilliantly written but I should have read it slower because I missed one vital clue and the end didn't make sense.  Had to search for an explanation on 'goodreads'.  Luckily somebody tied the loose ends for me (and I wasn't the only one!)

Next up:  Here I am.   I couldn't resist reading the first 4 or 5 pages... I love his writing style of writing.  

Can't wait.  Might have to sneak a few more pages before the day is over... (I normally tend to read in bed at the end of the day, anything else and it feels too indulgent.)

 ...

And just to bring things back to earth... this is what happens when you forget the garlic bread in the AGA oven overnight...

sigh...

*103**

Randomly on a Wednesday:

I finished Bruce's autobiography.  Brilliant Book.  Fair enough I might be a teensy weensy bit biased but I really enjoyed it.  I made me re-listened to a lot of music I hadn't listened to for years and years.... It was quite... grounding for want of a better word.  Like it tightened the connection between my younger, free/dreaming self and my middle aged (let's not kid ourselves here), mother/wife/housewife self.

I am but one an only.

I don't like biography but weirdly and the only three I've ever read have been of musicians: Keith Richards, book club choice.  I'm not a Rolling Stone fan, and the one of the crazy singer dude of the Red Hot Chilly Pepper, and I don't like their music either, maybe the book was a present?  They were both vaguely interesting in a 'they're-life-could;t-be-more-different-from-mine kind of way. 

 

Mr M and I have finally and very belatedly joined the "homeland" fandom.  I think it's safe to say we're obsessed.  We watched two or three episode a night... We're only half way series 3 so DON'T say anything. Please.

 

I've finished No 3's quilt and I'll try photographing it later... I need his 6'2" height to hold it up... and as you know teenagers are not always collaborators, not when 'he's playing a competitive and he'll get banned if he stops'.  Whatever.  Bloody computer games.

 

I've started de-constructing the indigo dyed vintage quilt:

The hideous background who didn't take the colour as it's obviously synthetic needs to go and be replaced.  It's quite a slow process but I like the fact I'm in no rush and can unpick a little bit now, a little bit later... It's meditative in an otherwise frantic day to day.

I almost don't want to do it quickly.

 

First day of half-term for us today.  It's 9.40 and the boys are all still in bed.

They also brought home their school reports.  Some take things less seriously than others:

 

It's Autumn... and people have started losing stuff:

*100** let's talk books!

I love reading.  LOVE.

When I was young my mum used to tell me off because I read 'too much' and I had to go off to do... 'something else'.  That was her suggestion: stop reading and go do something else.

Helpful, right?... And totally hilarious now that she says the same thing to my kids replacing books with phone.  You're on the phone too much, go and do something else.

History always repeats itself.

(Also my mother has a smart phone, an Instagram account and must have been the 4th person in the world to join Facebook.  Just saying...  

 

The last book I finished was this one:

It was a birthday present and I wasn't sure about it at first.  The writer 'Sasa Stanisic', was born in Visegrad (Bosnia) just like the narrator, and just like the narrator moved to Germany as a teenager refugee during the war.  I don't know how much of the book is autobiographical... I haven't been able to find out.

The story is not linear at all and it took me awhile to piece together the characters and who was who and when the action was happening etc.  I struggled at first, but I was compelled to carry on by the quirky language and in the end I loved it.  Maybe things clicked in my head and I 'got it'... I don't know but I'm so glad I persevered.

The story is loosely based around the time of the  Bosnian war, the narrator is a boy who talks about his family scattered by the war and his town destroyed by it.  Atrocities are mentioned almost in passing so much so that at times I had to go back and make sure that I'd read it correctly.

It's different, the style, the language... all of it.  Different.  I'm glad I was given it.  Worth a try if you fancy something different.

 

Next up (who am I kidding I'm already 50 pages into it is this...

... and love it... let's face it... Bruce is a legend, right?

 

What are you reading at the moment?

*99** food.

Catchy title, I know.

The thing is I've just had a very stressful hour and I'm still a little frazzled.  

Why?  You may ask... let me tell you .... One thing that you might not know about me is that I get dates wrong.

A lot.

And I don't mean I miss birthdays or important dates (I'm good at remembering those)... no I mean I book things on the wrong day, or I forget I booked something and don't show up, or I book it on the right date and write it down in my diary on the wrong night so I still miss it...

I mean... I don't do this 'all the time' (now that would be worrying)... just frequently enough that it's getting noticeable.  (Drives Mr M slightly mad.  Just a little bit...)

Sigh.  

So this afternoon my mother called me and tells me the flights I booked for her and dad to come and look after the boys when Mr M and I go to Palm Spring at the end of the month... are the wrong way around... the outbound flight on the inbound date and vice versa.

AAARRGGHHHH...

 

It's all sorted now but Mr M's eyes are still in the back of his head he rolled them so much...

 

Anyway, back to food.  

I love cookery books.

Recently I had a little tidy up and got rid of the ones I know I'll never use (and put the left over in some sort of colour coordinate order - which btw will change as soon as I'll finish writing this post, it's just not right) and leafed through the others.

I found this one I didn't even know I had?!  A present?  It's brilliant so why hasn't it ever been used?

I'm not very good nor very confident in cooking meat but the boys love it so I picked a recipe and got to work

Ribs.  Who doesn't love ribs, right?

And the results?

It kind of proved my point about cooking meat.  It's never as easy as it seems.

The recipe for the sauce was great and tasted delicious... The meat was... hard.  

Was it the meat's fault? A bad piece?  I followed the recipe but maybe I went wrong somewhere?  The wrong sort of ribs?

I don't know,  The boys ate them because they're feral and rather than eating the braised courgettes they'd have eaten the chairs but still, I was a little disappointed.

 

Tonight we'll try another new thing:

Purple potatoes.

"Violetta" potatoes to be precise.

I'm going to mash them... they should make a lovely lilac mash which tastes the same as the normal one.

(Although it'll clash terribly with the green beans and the salmon... oh well)

*97** what a day

So yesterday was quite an insane day.

In the morning I put my body through TWO exercise classes because I'm a klutz who can't even manage her diary obviously.  Oh boy.  Let's just say that if anybody mentions 'planks' or 'burpees' in my presence I won't be responsible for my actions. (Truth be known that not much will actually happen because I'm way too sore to do anything meaningful at all).

I then attended TWO school meetings TWO hours apart and had to go back home in between and feed my children some dubiously nutritionally balanced microwave lasagne for dinner.

The shame.

Italian mother's guilt and all that followed, but I told myself that it could be put down to a life-lesson for when they'll be in college and let's face it... they will most definitively not be cooking lasagne from scratch. 

The 'smell' certainly brought me back to my student days!!  Alarmingly Tesco still sells lasagne ready meal for £1.00 a pack.  That is an increase of only 0.01 pence since 1995.  That can't be right... right?  It's scary.  Either we were over charged (if you'd tasted them you'd see the irony of this statement) or today's price/ingredients should be investigated.  For real.

So two classes, two meetings, one visit from the cabinet maker, one from the glazier, one from the builder/contractor.  Numerous coffees were brewed for all of them.  The dog was walked.  

The hem was sewn on the Esme tunic from yesterday's post.

I went to bed without taking my mascara off which is as bad as feeding the precious fruits of loins microwave food.

I also started this book:

After my' two Popes in one day' day I couldn't resist it.  It's intriguing.

 

And don't you love a book with the bookmark/ribbon thingy?  What can I say... I'm easily pleased!

*54** reading

I've been on a slight reading slump recently.

"A little life", amazing book that it was, completely wiped me out and a part from a 'chewing for the brain' children fantasy book the reading mojo had upped and gone on holiday.

Also, I'm still trying to go through the shortlist for last year Booker Prize... and let me tell you... yes they're beautifully written... yes so far they're all great books... but a laugh a minute they're not.  Can anyone explain to me why drama is more 'literature' than funny?  Not that I like funny ha ha books, but happy books?  Doesn't 'happiness' make for good literature?

The one i've started and 'paused' is this one:

(illegal immigrants/family dramas/poverty and exploitation...)

Any suggestion to contradict my above statement is greatly appreciated.  (I don't think a Nobel prize for literature was ever given for the happiest book in the world. 

Is happiness boring?  

No way, Jose'.  I love 'happy'.

 

Anyway, back to the subject .... then my sister bought me a couple of books for my birthday and the fire was rekindled.

 

I just finished this one:

Has anybody else read it?

Can you explain the ending to me?

I'm very very confused.  And I don't like being confused.

I really enjoyed the book - not a great advertisement for a holiday in the North of England coast... but still... it's written beautifully, the language is challenging (had to get the dictionary out a few time, and I like that), the atmosphere intriguing and it really makes you want to race ahead because you know SOMETHING will happen.

Well, I know what happened now... I just don't get how.  Or why.

 

Please help.  Someone go ready it and explain it to me.

Pretty please.

*34**

Let's talk books today.

What have you read that was noteworthy lately?  of what have you read that was totally rubbish?  Sometimes it's useful to know that too!

This is what's on my bedside table at the moment.  From the top:

Knitting yarns (writers on knitting).  Really lovely.  I love having a bath at night time and I love reading in the bath... the problem is... some books are just too heavy.  Physically heavy.  Tomes.  Bricks.  Impossible to hold up out of the water for too long.  Hence the necessity of a 'small book.

How superficial... not only I'm swayed by a good cover.. but by size too!  Call me fickle.  And I totally don't blame you if you never want to read this blog ever again.

Not in this photo is another recently finished bath-book: "The fifth wave", a YF dystopian world/end of the world book.  Really interesting story and total escapism.  If you have young teens who love this stuff, this is a good one.  Trust me... I've read a few.

Birds without wings by Louis de Bernieresu.  One of my favourite writers, although between you and me this is not my favourite book of his.  Whilst it was interesting to find out more about the history of the Balkans Wars and how terrible the whole period was for the populations involved (I had no idea!)... the chapters relating this history were a bit dry and confusing.  There were however plenty of beautiful tales of people and characters which I think it's what he does magnifically.  Took me a while to read because... it's not a bath-book.

A little life.  Huge.  Another one not for the bath, shortlisted for the Booker Prize last year and I'm looking forward to start it tonight.  Don't know much about it so... watch this space.

Complete Italian Grammar.  No I'm not brushing up on the old mother tongue... I'm trying to help a reluctant teenager in his GCSE.  Lost cause.  You know how people say how stressful the GCSE exams are? Well not around here... No 1 is so laid back he's horizontal.  Which is probably a good thing if he was putting a little more effort in, right?  Oh well.  There's only so much I can do as a mother...

He's also just announced that he doesn't want to read anymore....

WHAT?  I blame the reading marathon of all 21 Lee Child's novels.  Or maybe the Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy.  (Can't stand that book, apologies).

 

hashtag teenagersareweird.

 

Anyway.  I'm procrastinating once again.  The ironing boards awaits.

*9**2016

It's early morning and the sky glows pink in the window in front of me.  It must be windy outside because the purple clouds fly by.

No 3 is still asleep.  Tonsillitis. High temperature.

I should be tidying up ready to drive to the airport and pick up mum later, instead I'm faffing here and deciding what to have for breakfast.  I know I'd feel better with a green tea and gluten free something.  Instead my body is craving sugar and coffee.  

I was always of the opinion that it was good to listen to your own body... but not this one.

Traitor.

Can you believe Christmas was only a month ago?  It feels like ages.

And we haven't had any snow.

Pants.

We're going to Venice for the Easter break and then to my parents for a few days.  

I'm sure the boys will fall for its magic.  It's a place like no other.

When I grew up it was the main school trip destination but I haven't been in 25 years or so. Geesh, that makes me sound old!

I can't wait.  

To see Venice, not to be old.

What should I read when I'm there. Don't say Shakespeare... I won't.  I would like something romantic and old fashioned...

According to Goodreads.com there are 227 books set in Venice.

Should I go for the classic 'Death in Venice' by Thomas Mann?  Henry James' 'Wings of a dove'? or a more modern Jeanette Winterson 'The Passion'? or a detective novel like 'Death a la Fenice' by Donna Leon?  Or maybe Hemingway's 'Across the river and into the trees' (which I'd never heard of by the way)?

Too many choices.  Unquestionably not enough time.

 

No 3 in his pre-tonsillitis pre-delirious phase had decided he was going to set a 'children's party'.

The manifest is simple: more television, less school, no work.

Sigh. 

He'll be prime minister in a few years time.

And all because I asked him to take out the rubbish.

You never know what will inspire your children, folks!

I bought myself a new pair of fabric scissors.

My old ones were not the same after the electrician 'borrowed' them.  Yeah... let's not dwell on that...

These are nice.  VERY nice.

And if anybody touches them... they'll DIE.

Simple.

89-2014

Let's talk books.

It's a glorious Autumn morning,  the Booker Prize Winner was announced last night and we should stay topically on topic and talk books.

I have tons of books by my bedside table.  Most of the time I adhere to my self-inflicted rule of one from the pile and one new.  Most of the time.  Recently I even read two from the pile before treating myself to a new one.  But sometime I fall off the wagon big time and end up buying the whole Booker price short list.

 

I got the 'stack' from  The Book People and it's always an excellent deal.

(Mind you... I haven't finished last year's shortlist yet... I still have two books to go.. soooo moving swiftly on...)

I was really tempted to start with the Anne Tyler book - I love the title and I loved all her books (the one where the protagonist walks away from her life/family because she has had enough etc.?  that keeps popping into my head, you should read it "ladder of years" I think it is.. ) - but I told myself no... try something different, something new... chances are you'll love that one so be brave.

Well sometimes being brave bites you in the behind. 

Geesh.  My brain hurts.

I can see it's a very 'clever' book.  That you need to be smart and imaginative and knowledgeable and deep and with a huge vocabulary to be able to write it... BUT... but it's quite hard to read.  For me.  You might think it's the great novel of the century.  And it's totally 'of this time'.  It's about society, a future society? or maybe our contemporary society... I don't know.

I find it hard going.  It's dry.

To me.  In my humble opinion.  And I will finish it because I it's intriguing at the same time as being frustrating.

I keep wanting for something to happen ... but it doesn't, you know?  I like plots.  Plots are good.

I read a review (I think it might have been in the Guardian) that it said that once you finish it you'll want to throw the book to the wall and then pick it up and read it again.

Mmmmhhh I know which part I agree with.

 

Still on the subjects of books I always have a few on the go at the same time... on my kindle I'm reading  "Stone Mattress: Nine Tales" by Margaret Attwood.  She's one of my favourite and never lets me down; in the car door and usually read whilst waiting to pick up No 3 from school is "Cranford"  by Elizabeth Gaskell which I'm enjoying enormously and I can't believe it escaped me when I went through my I'm only reading Classics phase.

Phew,  there.

If only I'd more time....

80-2015 "Stanley's tomato soup"

Soup season is upon us.

I'm actually very happy because my AGA has just being turned on, the last few radiators are being installed and the sun has come out of the clouds.

It's getting warmer.

Anyway, soup.  I love soup.  I still haven't managed to impart my love of soups to the rest of the family so today I'm trying a new recipe.  Fingers crossed, people, fingers crossed.

When I say Stanley I mean this guy:

... because, come on, who doesn't have a secret crush on the lovely Mr Tucci? 

Anyway, the book is not bad either, lots of easy recipes (although he does tend to over-do it on the anchovies, but hey, nobody is perfect right?  I'm sure he's not the type of man who squeezes his toothpaste tube in the middle so it balances out..)

 

Squishing the plum tomatoes with my fingers was a surprising pleasant experience, just saying.

And you know what? It tastes deliscious, especially when it's buried under a mountain of mature cheddar cheese and accompanied by buttered soda bread

... mmhhhh...

Now I feel rather stuffed.  I better go walk the dog..