FLUFF
THINK OF THIS CATEGORY AS THAT ONE DRAWER IN THE HOUSE WHERE YOU TOSS THINGS THAT DON'T FIT IN, BUT MAY COME IN HANDY SOME DAY
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MEANWHILE…#5
This is what I’m getting up to lately… Reading: Just finished “The Half Heroes” series by Ian W. Sainsbury. Loved it but couldn’t help feeling the third book was a little rushed at the end. Rereading Julian May’s “Saga of the Exiles” Series after 40 years. Finished book 1 The Many Coloured Land and most of the way through book 2 The Golden Torc. Every bit as good as I remembered it to be, despite some language and references that would cause a bit of a stink if it was published recently. The series is out of print and I had to buy the four novels from an online site selling second hand books. When the ban cheile saw the well thumbed books she was amazed I’d actually have books that battered. But the urge to read…
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MEANWHILE…#4
This is what I’m getting up to lately… Reading: Not reading anything like the volume of books I should be reading since I’m in holiday mode for the past couple of weeks. Just finished Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. It’s a really satisfying twist on the whodunnit. Just started The Rise and Fall of DODO by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland. A SciFi (sort of…) novel about quantum physics and magic. Watching: Not finding TV very satisfying lately. Sticking to my staple diet of Luke Cage Season 2 with a smattering of Who Do You Think You Are? – both US and UK. Jessica Biel and Liv Tyler came across as very likeable indeed. Listening To: TED Talks mostly and some Robert Thurman podcasts on Buddhism. Making: Bookmarks from stone and beads and elastic and stuff. Doing: Enjoying “pottering” – nothing…
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MEANWHILE…#3
This is what I’m getting up to lately… Reading: I’m reading two books at the moment. The first is the latest from John Connolly Game of Ghosts and the other is for work Professional Development As Transformative Learning (!) by Patricia Cranton. Watching: Coming down from a staple diet of DC and Marvel binges, I’m on the lookout for something meaty. NCIS and Bull are keeping me sane in the meantime. Listening To: Not much really if I’m to be honest. I’m relishing the silence of late (a lot of voices ringing around my head all day in work at the moment). Making: Concentrating on the blog lately means the pieces of slate I picked us to make jewellery are still decorating the boot of my Jeep. But soon…very soon. Looking Forward To: The weekend.
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MEANWHILE…#2
This is what I’m getting up to lately… Reading: I’m reading two books at the moment. The first a thriller I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes. The second a very interesting book called Quiet by Susan Cain. Both are on my #BigBookChallenge list. Watching: As well as the usual gogglebox fodder I’ve been watching Childhood’s End, an adaptation of an Arthur C Clarke novel written in the 1950s. Listening To: Believe it or not ABBA! I heard an interview on the radio a couple of weeks ago that said the type of music you listen to can help kickstart your day…I’ll keep you posted. Making: At the moment I’m buying picture frames and distributing them around the house. It’s part of a clean sweep to change the look of the place and brighten things up for the summer. They’re appearing on walls but…
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VELLICHOR
The website World Wide Words gives credit to the creation of this recently coined word to John Koenig on his website The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. Koenig describes Vellichor as meaning – the strange wistfulness of used bookstores, which are somehow infused with the passage of time — filled with thousands of old books you’ll never have time to read, each of which is itself locked in its own era, bound and dated and papered over like an old room the author abandoned years ago, a hidden annex littered with thoughts left just as they were on the day they were captured. It’s a very powerful sense memory for me because I invested thousands of hours in my youth and beyond, patrolling the aisles of old bookstores, rummaging through musty tomes liberally sprinkled with dust in search…
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MEANWHILE…#1
This is what I’m getting up to lately… Reading: The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. I’m a huge Connolly fan and think the characters that populate his Charlie Parker novels are amazing. This novel is more fantasy/fable type than supernatural crime drama like his other books. Just started it, but already hooked. Watching: Madame Secretary, Elementary, Blue Bloods but I’m trying out South of Hell. The possessed woman uses her inner demon to perform exorcisms. A cast of unknowns as far as I’m concerned shows some promise but the jury’s still out. Listening To: James Taylor’s new album “Before This World”. Nine out of the thirteen tracks are worth a spin. ‘Far Afghanistan’ and a haunting version of ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ are the stand-out songs. Taylor sounds as good as ever and the sleeve notes certainly give context…
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CHIWEENIES……THE MOVIE?
Yep I think I’ve finally cracked 🙂
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SELFIE
“Other words were considered, as you will see from our shortlist, but selfie was the runaway winner.” Oxford English Dictionary – I tried to take up a 365 Selfie challenge once and made it all the way to day 40. It just didn’t make sense to me after a while. Don’t get me wrong I don’t have any problem with selfies, but when you get to my age you don’t look much different from day to day (you could tell weekdays because of the shirt and tie though!). I might try a 25 selfie challenge and take one shot a year. Honestly I’m not sure even then will there be a significant change.
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THROWING DOWN THE GAUNTLET
Little did I know when I suggested a Blogging Challenge from September to December that returning to work after the summer break would mean my brain would work to rule and refuse to let a single thought solidify enough to write a meme never mind a blog post. My “Things to Do After Work” list has apparently reduced to just one item – vegetate in front of the TV before sliding into fitful sleep. Okay so it’s only one week and anyone can find themselves too busy to write over a single week, but this is Sunday and my brain still feels like it’s been playing with the switch on the Novocaine machine( so please excuse the mental drooling). Despite that I still feel the urge to throw down the gauntlet and challenge anyone who wishes to…
