This Week.... Books and Aspirin

On Monday I shoveled paths and steps ..threw grit on the ice and then promptly fell flat on my face... no lasting damage but as my Ma would've said "It came sharp"
It was department of confusion day ..the offspring were coming home on the bus as their Dad had an appointment ..but unbeknownst to us the Buses don't run on Seward's Day. Everything else seemed open and running except possibly the Library ..so I suspect Seward is being used as an excuse for cost saving...ho hum  One long wait and a cab later, all was well.

On Tuesday it had snowed a little, just a light dusting that covered the ice on the sidewalks nicely . So of course I fell flat on my back ...you can't claim I don't go in for variety... and I'm sure to any spectator I must've looked like a comic turn .You see we have a lot of snow piled up between path and road ..from knee to chest height it depends on the stretch of road . It was dark still..about 7am and I had been cautiously walking the Collie..I kind of knew where there was solid snow underfoot and where there was ice (Kind of turns out to be a grossly inaccurate phrase) and had almost reached home when a new neighbor drove past and pulled into his drive ..in time (if he had been looking) to see me turn and then promptly disappear from view ...just like that ....magic...   that one came sharp too ....a bit sharper in my opinion. The dog was most concerned ...why was  his human suddenly spread eagled across the path? Much affectionate face licking ensued ..as no neighborly head appeared over the top of the berm I think my circus trick was missed by the audience and I was able to carefully tiptoe home ..where much tea and aspirin was consumed and I spent a quieter than planned day. ...rather sore but not damaged ..except for a severe dent in the area of my pride....

"Just like this ...I think she just wanted attention"

Wednesday ..nature decided everyone should stay home as we had a "Snow day" 12 inches of fresh wet snow and the collie had to play indoors. Actually looking at the travel reports the schools made a good call as the roads stayed atrocious for most of the day. It carried on snowing and the plows were playing catchup. More adoration of the woodstove and tea (with aspirin).

Thursday ..I was a coward and didn't walk the dog...

"A much better idea Dogs do not need walks"

Friday ...inspiration.... just walk the dog down the non icy paths ...snow is fine (can you cross fingers and type at the same time  yes you can) and back track rather than complete the loop . He doesn't care that much and he still gets a walk and I miss my gymnastics work out... actually I fall rather more like a clown ...dramatically with lots of air time and embarrassing landings.

Between and before these exciting events I did actually complete some  reading.....

Michael Gilbert's "The Night of the Twelfth"
People keep mentioning Gilbert (Thank you Mr Edwards) and I realised that a Radio play   I had enjoyed called "Smallbone deceased" was based on his story. So I thought I'd give it a try and I like it.  Cover to cover straight read, no peaking to the end and no regrets on choice.

 The story is set in a Small private boys school in a rural location It concerns a child murder but compared to today's standards is not graphic at all. It's a very English postwar s. tory (even though it was published in 1976 it feels earlier) If it were a film it would be in black and white.

I shall now look out for more Mr Gilbert and see if they work for me as well. 

This weeks optional Classic - I listened to Cranford by Mrs Gaskell .
Why Cranford mainly because my Mother had a small nicely bound edition that I remember. It had been given to her by a friend and I always wondered what it was about.
It's a relatively short book and much older than I'd realised. It was published in 1853 It's really a collection of pieces that overlap and link ..vignettes is the term I think ......."vignette--a brief evocative description, account, or episode" so yes vignettes .
It was a pleasant  and enjoyable listen ...it coped with interruptions. Wasn't gripping, it was too gentle for that, but there were some interesting phrases and some gentle irony sneaked in and I suspect an in joke  re Dicken's work ? Cranford was apparently first published in installments in a magazine he edited.
"A man is so in the way in the house"  Cranford.... I wondered where that quote came from ..so now I know.


Other reads .... I've tried some Samples on my Kindle (Samples are a dastardly temptation to buy books....and I'm afraid I'm with Mr Wilde on tempation)

"Berlin Diary" by William Shirer   ..So far very readable I've just got to Goring's Wedding ..Mr Shirer received an invite but didn't go.  I think I'm going to have to purchase this one.

A Time of Gifts- On foot to Constantinople by Patrick Leigh Fermor ...gosh darn it the sample ended too soon. This is very tempting it's also the first book that I've appreciated reading more on an ereader as I can look up the exact meaning of words that I "kind of think I understand but may not know the exact meaning of " very satisfying now if only I could be sure of remembering what I find out!

Well wishing you all a happy weekend! I'm off for more tea and aspirin.

i didn't have any exciting photos of anything in particular ...I'm sure my acrobatics might have made a good shot but fortunately I was not witnessed (well except by the Collie...both times and I don't think he has a camera) so I shall litter this post with pictures of the cats and the collie ..for no good reason other than I like them.

 

Reading books and Playing in the Snow and on the ice.

Erm you know how I planned to read the Classics  ? ..well a classic story.... erm...I ending up reading Modern Novels ..At a Stretch I could call them modern Classics..would that be cheating? Oh gosh and darn it who cares. I enjoyed them.

Books read/listened to ...

1.The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham.  An unabridged audio reading by Sam West.
Very enjoyable and far more detailed than I remember it. It must be a rather long time since I have read the book...(cough cough a couple of decades) but I have listened to various enjoyable adaptions for radio. I just hadn't realised how much of the story was pruned for the Dramatisations.

2.The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie. An unabridged audio reading by Joan Hickson.  Pleasingly familiar and listening to this I realize it's the first Miss Marple mystery where she is introduced to the World.  Joan Hickson does not have my favourite reading voice but that's just personal taste. She read this clearly and well and I enjoyed her presentation far more than I expected.

I think I have managed more reading lately as we've been out and about playing in the outdoors and getting home satisfactorily tired allows for guilt free diving into a book or two ..lovely.

OH skied whilst I walked the dog (I'm an uncoordinated wimp who doesn't like sliding)  We drove to one of our favourite spots Eklutna Lake. OH skied on the Lake ..I walked the dog on the Lakeside trail path. I started to walk the dog on the Lake but when his master skied off without him said pup (who is old enough to know better) Yelped and howled and squealed desperately and embarrassingly and made me rethink this idea. He darn nearly towed me after his hero ..but as this would have meant I was spreadeagled on my face being towed by said hound... I mustered up my muscles and we did a rapid about turn.

Other half is the tiny figure !

The Lake from the trail.

The start of the trail.

 Faithful hound waiting.


A couple of days later we returned to the Lake with our fat tire/tyre bikes (snow bikes) and had a lovely pedal down the lake ..well about half way down. Then we scrambled up the Lake side onto the path and I found that my front tyre was leaking air ....so boo hoo that was not much fun ..having to pedal down hill gave it away.  Anyway half the ride was fun.

Yours truly posing...Can you tell I have three layers of fleece on ?

 The Lakeside didn't look very steep until we tried scrambling up it! The cracks are where the ice had sunk and broken (safe but tricky to scramble over) This took an embarrasing amount of effort but as sitting down and crying wouldn't do me any good I gritted my teeth and pushed on . Well it did get me warm ...lol



Oh and did you know playing outdoors encourages the baking of cake?
It's true it does. Honest.
 My skill at Swiss rolls is no longer Rusty.
Do you prefer Plain with Strawberry jam filling
or
Chocolate with Nutella filling?

Somehow I better show restraint or I think my Summer body is going to look like I'm wearing three layers of fleece even when I'm not ..................look I'll put the rest in the freezer...

Frogs, Princes, kissing and Classics!

A Classic a day ...no chance (once possibly but that was long ago when I was single and solitary.)
A Classic a Week ? ...Possible ...especially  if I include audio books ..probably audiobook are the only way this will be possible. Modern day life doesn't really accommodate long stretches of uninterrupted reading does it ?

I seem to have little patience lately with writing that is Ok but not really "Good". When time to read is precious. I must confess that "meh" is not enough of a comment , and a flick of the wrist and a good throw of the offending tome to the other side of the room would be far more satisfying.
But, darn it,   as I wish my ereader to last restraint must be the order of the day and evil muttering the  outlet varied by  much humphing and tutting. (Much as I appreciate growing Old ...it so beats the alternative...I don't wish to grow Grumpy and Old !)

It's tricky, because I know there are good authors that I haven't met yet (reading wise ..I'm not that ambitious) but it's rather like looking for your Prince ...you have to kiss such a lot of frogs..and I'm not in the mood to kiss frogs.

So what do I do? ...much pondering and the result is these possible options....

1.Stick to known fail safe authors (and if they are living.... will them to write faster)

2.Carefully peruse wonderful blogs and benefit from their Prince detection skills (Special shout out to Cath here ..Thanks Cath! ..but she is not alone ...Danielle, Liz, Nan and Cheryl also deserve bouquets..thanks ladies)

3.Explore the lovely variety of Classics available. ( On an ereader these can be especially easily available via Project Gutenberg and similar sites. Not forgetting amazon where they often offer discounted audio narrations with the ebook at least they do in the US. Do they in the UK? and elsewhere? I'm afraid I don't know)

Pondering on this problem, whilst enjoying the Sun pouring in through the window this morning and whilst waiting for the temperature to rise outside to a level that encourages me to stick my nose out of the door., I suddenly thought. What if I set myself a mild challenge  ..all of my own ..read/or listen to...  A Classic each Week ......
Because, after all, I know there are Wonderful books out there that I may enjoy and that I will never pick up without a prod of some sort. A daft self challenge may be just enough of a shove. Lets face it if I don't manage it ...well such is life.... but if I do ....well I may have some enjoyable times and stretch my imagination a little. Who knows?

It won't stop me sneaking in some new novels (I'm thinking of Mr O'Brian's here) but it will stop me potluck buying cheap ebooks that have been wafted in front of my nose as bargains that I impulsively snap up and find are totally unsatisfying and frustrating, and a waste of pennies.... I'm afraid I just don't have the patience for less than great at the moment. The 'they can tell a story but have poor writing skill's ...'yes it has potential but it needs work'... 'wow it started well but then it died a death'. ...etc etc

I have read a variety of Classics in the past ..not so much at school but when living in the country and working on farms ...They kept me company and stretched my brain in the evenings and ultimately introduced me to a study of literature and history at University which I really enjoyed. I have to confess though, that during my entrance interview, when the Lecturer who was questioning me on my interests, probably assumed my expressed enjoyment of Auden was related to his serious poetry and not, as was the actual case, my love of Old Possum's book of Practical Cats...still such are the strange ways of fate and it got me in. But this was all a long time ago ....calculating how time has flown by I'd better say a Very long time ago.

So enough Woffle ...just between you me and the gatepost I shall give A Classic a week a go and see what I find (and I shall continue to be thankful for all the kind people out there prepared to not only kiss lots of frogs but to also  kindly let the World know when they find a Prince.)  Oh and if I fail miserably you may feel free to laugh at my foolishness ....because I will. ....haha

Out of Bounds by Val McDermid

Noticed by chance at the library yesterday ..dipped my nose in last night. Couldn't put down today. Finished in time for tea ....Scrumptious (and not uncomfortably graphic) Val McDermid writes so well and so vividly that her word pictures can be too rich for me at times. But this was a real treat.

Good reads describes the story thus...
"When a teenage joyrider crashes a stolen car and ends up in a coma, a routine DNA test reveals a connection to an unsolved murder from twenty-two years before. Finding the answer to the cold case should be straightforward. But it’s as twisted as the DNA helix itself.

Meanwhile, Karen finds herself irresistibly drawn to another mystery that she has no business investigating, a mystery that has its roots in a terrorist bombing two decades ago. And again, she finds that nothing is as it seems.

An enthralling, twisty read, Out of Bounds reaffirms Val McDermid’s place as one of the most dependable professionals in the mystery and thriller business."

see full text here 

This is the second "Karen Pirie" story I have read and is fourth in the series ..I've also read the third ...another chance library find. So now I'm off in search of the first two. 

#1 is "A Distant Echo"
#2 is "A Darker Domain"
#3 is "The Skelton Road"
#4 is "Out of Bounds"

 

Rather Cold Comfort reads/listens

It's cold and the children have been poorly  and the adults a bit iffy..you know how that sometimes happens.
The poor youngest was totally flattened for several days and the oldest missed three days of school . yuk and poor things.

We resorted to comfort reads ..me reading aloud and them in bed and just sipping water was as adventurous as we got.

Much good wood has been burnt as we are still in a cold snap 5 degrees f this morning with a cold wind to add to the fun.

Still today is Thursday and the children break for a weeks holiday tomorrow ..and are quite ready for it! I just hope it's a little warmer.

The cars squeak and groan from the cold as they pass ..locks start to freeze up and doors like to remain shut ..now what is the right amount to pull to open it without breaking anything or removing the seal? I talk to the car when I start her  to warm  up in the morning  (so if this blog abruptly ends it's because the men in white coats have taken me away) I sympathize with her for sitting out in the cold with no garage to keep her warm. My only excuse is an early career on farms looking after livestock where chatting was compulsory.

She is a great lass and copes as best she can. It's always a little nerve wracking though as sometimes the doors are frozen shut and when you get them open ...then that's how they want to stay. But touch wood my OH can charm them into good behavior  (flexible use of the term charm here) and we won't mention the day she rebelled and he had to exit at work via the hatchback....

We have gone from beautiful glittering branches of sparkling snow with huge deep snowy white berms of snow at the sides of the road to branches blown bare of any crystal (and a few twigs blowing along the ground) the deep berms are sinking into heavy compact masses ..that on the edges of the busy roads are brown or rippled from grit, dirt etc.

Everywhere the thick layers of snow on roofs, parked cars, fences, walls etc has been moulding itself into gentle shapes ...looking rather like thick layers of frosting generously layered onto a warm cake and beginning to escape. Now with a harsh wind they are losing that look and they compressed down are roughened and patterned by the wind. The roads and pathways are scoured of snow or packed by drifted snow ..it's rather like white sand in texture and how it sounds as you walk over it. The roadways and pathways are a jigsaw of tarmac, snow and thick polished ice all uneven like islands.

It's definitely good boots, warm mitts (I wear gloves, hand warmers & mitts) and decent hat weather and even then this morning I was holding my mitts over my nose as it was feeling the chill.

But the sky is blue and clear and the sun bright so it's cheerful to look out onto ..I just recommend brisk walking and No standing about!

( Full disclosure ...A bacon butty, Mug of fresh coffee and five minutes of comedy from youtube help the mood too ..ok 25 minutes ..well 30 minutes ....)

The big sled dog race started at the weekend ..the ceremonial start is in town and the practical start this year was moved to Fairbanks. We often watch the teams in town but this year that wasn't possible as the girls were poorly.

This year the Mushers have been facing much colder weather than we have minus 45 f and colder ..they are in real danger of frostbit of fingers and feet as they tend to their dogs.   Local paper report here I have my fingers crossed for Ally Zirkle she has come so close and darn it it's about time we had a female winner again.

Comfort books for reading when poorly or sad
Self
 "No Holly for Miss Quin" by Miss Read  Kindle book
"Little Lord Fauntleroy" by F HodgsonBurnett  Unabridged Audio reading

For the Girls
Double Trouble by Doreen Tovey
Cats in May by Doreen Tovey

Both are firm favourites and feel goods.

Wishing you warmth and health...I'm off to the wood shed for another log.