February Reading List

 February - 10

Total to date: 19 (11 / 8) 1 non-fiction

New books / re-read books / *Non-fiction

- The Girl in the Letter, Emily Gunnis

- The Sixth Man, David Baldacci

- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, John le Carre

- 16 Lighthouse Road, Debbie Macomber 

- Flying Too High, Kerry Greenwood

- Persuasion, Jane Austen

- Yesterday, Sue Grafton

- Cocaine Blues, Kerry Greenwood

- Girl Waits with a Gun, Amy Stewart

- Phoenix Burning, Bryony Pearce

 January - 9

Total to date: 9 (6 / 3) 1 non-fiction

New books / re-read books / *Non-fiction

- The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates

- Small Pleasures, Clare Chambers

- The Last Wish, Andrzej Sapkowski

- *Homemade - Learning to make your own everyday items (Readers' Digest)

- The Empire of the Sun, J.G. Ballard

- Mycroft Holmes, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

- The Heretic's Apprentice, Ellis Peters

- Winter's Bone, Daniel Woodrell

- The Moneychangers, Arthur Hailey

2022 Reading List

 January

Total to date: 9 (6 / 3) 1 non-fiction

New books / re-read books / *Non-fiction

- The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates

- Small Pleasures, Clare Chambers

- The Last Wish, Andrzej Sapkowski

- *Homemade - Learning to make your own everyday items (Readers' Digest)

- The Empire of the Sun, J.G. Ballard

- Mycroft Holmes, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

- The Heretic's Apprentice, Ellis Peters

- Winter's Bone, Daniel Woodrell

- The Moneychangers, Arthur Hailey

More Making

 In looking through my photos from last year I realised I did a lot more innovative cooking (for me that means following new recipes, more or less), read slightly less than in 2020 (which I count as a good thing), and knitted three sweaters for grandchildren. I've shown you one of them, an apple green cardigan for Isla. 

I also made a coral red hoodie for Isla and a blue jumper (pullover sweater) for Struan. These were both challenging makes. The hoodie because I'd not made a hood before and attaching it was interesting; the blue jumper because of a strange 'knit in the stitch below' thing that I never figured out how to correct properly if I made a mistake. This meant taking out several rows instead of just one and re-knitting. Also, the wrap around collar was very short on instructions. Bill seemed to understand them better than I did, perhaps being more familiar with a wrap-around collar. I finished Isla's hoodie right before Christmas, but I was stitching together Struan's jumper in the car, driving up to Edinburgh Christmas Eve! I had to make Bill pull over halfway to have him explain (again) how the collar was to be stitched on. I really don't want to do that last minute stuff again. 

Another thing I made around Christmas time was some little Christmas trees. They were quite fun, if time consuming. Marilyn, from the Linskill Craft Group, shows us all how to make these. She had done a whole bunch and made bunting from them! I just made enough to decorate a few gifts with them. I will try to make more for next year.

I've started knitting another cardigan for Isla from a pattern written as a chart, sort of like a counted cross-stitch chart, only different. I've ended up writing it out row by row, which is very tedious. I'm wondering if everyone does this or if I'm just making work for myself. I can't see following this pattern across a whole row and keeping my sanity. 

New Year!

It may be a sign of getting older that a New Year doesn't quite inspire me as it once did. I used to feel I had a clean slate, a new beginning, practically a sense of redemption. It was the same in September with the start of the school year. Of course it's been decades since I went to university. And I never felt quite finished with 2021, or 2020 for that matter, not even 2019. I don't think I'm finished being 53 or thereabouts. Time really has begun to slide past, a rushing river rather than the trickle of molasses I used to experience. 

Nevertheless, the calendar says I must learn to write another set of digits and so I sit me down to see where I might push myself for a while before getting, not discouraged so much as, distracted. I struggle to remember what seemed so important in January that I can't do something different in February or March. 

Bill and I returned to pilates class yesterday. We even paid for new instruments of torture: a squishy ball  each and some exercise bands. He is very good at finding a quiet moment to practice in the dining room. I quit trying to do this because he always seemed catch me out and want to watch. I'm better at ignoring him, I guess. Our instructor keeps asking me if I'm not really proud of him, which I am, though it's becoming rather annoying how she fawns over him. He is often the only man in the class. I'm mostly proud that this doesn't bother him like it would many men. The other guy that sometimes shows up is also a long distance walker, but probably closer to 64 than to Bill's (very soon) 74. 

Bill and I have been doing some running "together" several days a week. We've been doing something called 'parlauf', which apparently just means paired interval training. Bill has always used the term to refer to running in circles. We used to do this with the running club where he paired the fastest runner with the slowest then the next fastest with next slowest and so on. As part of a group, each pair would run around the pond at Exhibition Park until they met their partner, then they would each turn around and run until they met again and so on. This meant each person ran to their ability, with the faster person running further. Bill and I have a circular course that includes our front gate and circles the Metro station. My side of the course is slightly hilly, into the sun and wind on the way back and passes two bus stops (people waiting surely wonder what I'm up to if their bus is slow); I've no idea about his side of the circle. Of course I'm familiar with the route, but things look altogether different when running. The fact that I can't do more than two out-and-back efforts tells me I'm ridiculously unfit.

I've been moving our (my) diet towards being more plant-based, and seasonal. My current rotation for main courses through the week is (Sunday) soup/stew, roasted vegetables, beans, lentils, grain, fish, meat or cheese (Saturday). We each cook our own lunch and Bill frequently chooses sausage or beef burgers. I try to keep my opinions to myself, but of course I don't succeed. He is aware of both the personal health and the environmental issues associated with these choices and that's all that I can do. He nearly always eats whatever else I put in front of him cheerfully, so I can't complain. While I'm not likely to ever be vegetarian, never mind vegan, when I do eat meat I really appreciate it. 

I have pages and pages of other wishful thinking I'll not even mention now, but if anything comes of it I'll try to let you know. 

A lovely Christmas present from Helen & Martin.

December Book List

We had a lovely Christmas at Sarah and Gareth's house (with 3-year old Struan and 7-month old Ilsa). Then we gathered at Helen and Martin's house (with 9-year old Charlotte) where Sarah's family and Simon and his wife Katie were also to be found. It's the first time we've all been together at the same time in far more than two years, so it was very special. We all took lateral flow tests on the morning of each gathering so I felt relatively safe. It's to the point where 'normal' feels a bit odd...

Looking forward to 2022, other than a little concern about what the final consequences of Brexit may bring us, with lots of staying at home over the winter (love my solitude!) and planned visits one-on-one with friends.  

- Grave Mistake, Ngaio Marsh

- *How to Cook a Wolf, MFK Fisher

- *Codebreaking Sisters - Our Secret War, Patricia and Jean Owtram

- *The Five: the untold lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper, Hallie Rubenhold

- The Wardrobe Mistress, Natalie Meg Evans

*Non-fiction

November Book List

I'm certain it will be 2022 before I know it. I am excited about this for two reasons: the US Census for 1950 will become available and the adoption records of my Dad's half-brother, Albert, will be 100 years old and therefore accessible. How easy that will be remains to be seen.

I read another six books in November, two of them (*) non-fiction. The Philip K. Dick book became the film Blade Runner, which I remember seeing but nothing about electric sheep stuck in my mind at all. I found it interesting to see how many bits of modern technology the author accurately predicted. Thankfully, we do not all (yet) buzz about in hovercars. The Appeal was particularly clever.

- The Sisters of Auschwitz: the true story of two Jewish sisters' resistance in the heart of Nazi territory, Roxane van Iperen*

- Dress Codes - How the laws of fashion made history, Richard Thompson Ford*

- The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, Charlie Mackesy

- The Appeal, Janice Hallett

- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick

- The Manningtree Witches, A. K. Blakemore

October Book Update

I'm struggling with the diminished light of late and dreading winter. I think I may have to bring down my Lumie light from the attic (or as Bill calls it, Loonie Light). I keep falling asleep while reading, which is bad enough, but also while knitting which is disaster! Was due to join my WI for a walk, but I've wimped out due to gale force winds and piercing rain. 

Finally gave in and subscribed to New York Times Cooking section. It was only $25 for a year (on top of my regular subscription). We'll see if it pays for itself. 

October Book List (6):

- Specials, Scott Westerfeld

- Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

- The Pearl Sister - CeCe's Story, Lucinda Riley

- Sex and Vanity, Kevin Kwan 

- Moriarity, Anthony Horowitz