Today - Cakes .......and Books

Now that I have more hours to do what I want to do, I have been baking cakes.  I always like doing those in patty cake papers.  So last week we had some sultana ones.  Today I didn't have enough caster sugar so I subsituted with part sugar and part Strawberry Conserve.  They were delicious.

I used to put icing on top, but we both find it very sickly since we got older. 

I also caught the bus to town today and promised myself that I would not pass this particular charity that "gives books away" for a donation.  I swanned into the door and said to the volunteers, that I had crossed my fingers before approaching the building willing that the doors would be closed!  Why??? Because with over 850 books still to be read ....I really do not want any more.

"Well" one of them said, "Now you are here, why not look around, you might find something you would like to read".  Ahhhh music to my ears.....

And so .....laden with three books - all in immaculate condition - I left with a smile on my face.

So what did I get......?  The first is The Priest by Gerard O'Donovan. Well this looks interesting - A killer stalks the dark streets of Dublin.  Not read any of this authors books.

Another - Bloodprint by Kitty Sewell.  The spellbinding new psychological thriller from the best selling author of Ice Trap.  Not read this author either ....

And finally a calmer book - a completely different genre.  Got you Back by Jane Fallon.  I am not a great chick lit fan - but I read another by this author and I loved it!  Its nice to have a book that is not a thriller or suspense now and again.

Now I don't really know when I will get round to reading these - first I need to see if they are part of a series, and then I will need to add to my spreadsheet and then they need to be placed on the bookshelf....... 

I think I need to cull some .....or get another bookcase.....I can't possibly fit anymore on here!!!

Book barn here we come....

So excited - I managed to find a place to stay so that I could enjoy the Book Meet at the Bookbarn in Farrington Gurney on Saturday.....if you like books then this is the place to go. 

We set out on Friday afternoon - brilliant sunshine, then it rained and finally it was a nice sunny day for the rest of the journey.  Ugly black clouds were looming, but we managed to circle those.

Our first hold up in traffice was in Bath - the A4 was bumper to bumper. 

And I am not up with technology and with a magnifying glass and a book map I was giving directions on which way to go.  Completely lost - so I said OK, lets take that turning.  Bad mistake!  We went up and up and up this large hill until we reached the University.  Not good - no idea where I was on the map or even with the road.

Eventually we found our accommodation - up on top of a hill.

Very comfortable one bed on a farm.  And look what I found - just not time to read any of them, but what a great selection.

Settled in for the night and next morning made the trip to Book Barn just 12 miles away to meet friends, coffee and cake, buy books. 

Rows and rows to choose from, some old some new, fiction and non fiction, childrens books, hardbacks and paperbacks - so much to choose from and only £1.00 a book.  I could spend days in here just looking......

I bought the following:

Disturbance by Jamie O'Neill
The Report by Jessica Francis Kane
Storm Warning by Sharon Sala

Afterwards we met at each others cars, where we all bought boxes or bags of books we did not want - and the boots were open for us to just help ourselves.  Too much temptation, especially when I for one have over 860 books to read on my shelves at home. Too many in a lifetime to get through.  But books are like magnets.  You see, you have.

I chose: 

Dead Lock by Sean Black
Misery Bay by Steve Hamilton
Hanging Hill by Mo Hayder
The Finest Type of English Womanhood by Rachel Heath
The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill
Target by Simon Kernick
Sister by Rosamund Lumpton
Union Jack by Val McDermid
Run for your Life by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge


Well we are not finished yet, we all move onto the pub down the road - The Old Carriage Inn.  Not certain, but I suspect it was part of the railway many years ago, which no longer exists.  At the rear of the pub is a carriage - where we met to eat the scrumptious food. 

Oh look!  A book dip.  Yes we all bring a book wrapped in pretty paper and put in a pile in the middle of the table. 

Arn't they wrapped well.  I had my eye on the pink with glitter and white spots.  The pile was passed round to everyone to take a pick.  What did I get?

The Ice Princess by Camila Lackberg......couldn't be happier since I already had one of hers and was eager to read it soon......

What a great day - the weather kept dry at the end, although I believe there were hail stones whilst were in the Barn.

Back to our accommodation and this morning woke early at 7.00 a.m. for the trip home. Oh no!  I opened the door to be comfronted by:

Snow!!!  Falling steadily.  So it was a mad rush to pack up the car to get moving, only when we reached the bottom of the hill, the roads were covered.  And miles further on it was getting worse.  Fallen branches everywhere....main road closed.

 

 

For over an hour and half we travelled (or should say slipped and slid in places) through the snow.  And then.....there was no more snow - just rain .....

and sunshine....

and a rainbow.

Except for the odd weather it was a great day and I look forward to going to another next year.

From 0 - 60 mph in 8 seconds.......

I wouldn't be in a car 0 to 60 mph in 8 seconds.....and.......

From "0"

To "60"

within a blink of an eye.

And now we come to the end of June, I know I have been busy every single day, but I can't account for any of it.  Have I achieved anything?  Well yes.....I have but nothing to show for the time spent.

We did go away for a short break, so that I could meet up with good friends on the beach.  The weather wasn't brilliant, but we all had fun.

I read only one book, I made one cake (ginger preserve gluten free), a mixed berry crumble, a meat pie and an apple pie - all made from ingredients from the cupboard.  Nothing creative and no recipes used.

Home projects are a disaster - the heating system is still not completed.....a setback.  The boilers were mounted on the wall and plumbed in, except no thought on how the cables were to be fitted to the unit....the hole at the side  of unit is still in tact and no means of knocking it out other than the plumber to take the boilers off the wall for the electrician to do his job and remount and plumbed in again.  An absolute expensive nightmare!

Vegetables are growing - beetroot, carrots, potatoes, marrows, courgettes, pumpkin, beans, gooseberries, pears, rhubarb and apples.  But with the extremely cold weather for the middle of summer, I don't think we will get a good crop of anything this year.

Another book meet with  good friends to finish of the month,  with something in common - books.  We had a fab time -

All the books for the book dip, were nicely wrapped, some wishes (books on "wish" lists)  were granted  and more books were provided to take .  Lunch at the Italian Restaurant was very nice, and two of us even had a desert!

This was followed by a stroll around the charity shops, but because we talked too much at lunch, we did not have an awful time left.  Of course, like book addicts do, we acquired more books on our never ending piles to read. 

Right for the month of July I am going to set myself some challenges. 

1.  I am re-instating the Photo a Day Challenge - I missed not doing this in June.  Not sure if I will get started today though.

2.  Cooking - I love making cakes etc.  anything sweet - and I never get round to it.  So at least one recipe a month.

3.  Read quicker.  One book in a month is not acceptable.  So my challenge is to read no less than 50 pages a day/night.  That would mean the average book should take me less than a week.

4.  Another challenge is to get on with something I really enjoy doing, whether it be a DIY, knitting, sewing, painting, sorting out photos, etc.... just anything - to actually complete a project before the end of the month.  That is my biggest challenge!

5.  To use my senior Bus Pass at least once every two weeks - travel somewhere different, meet new people, read books, shopping, see the scenery......and to remember to take the camera! 

So thats it folks........ not the most exciting month for me - room for improvements.  Now to plan my day tomorrow, so that I can at least fit in one challenge.

Jottings for April - and where has that time gone!

Yet another busy month for me.  No time to do the things I want to do though.  I have found so many blogs of people doing so many crafts and reading books, I wonder where they find the time! 

I had a little stroll round the garden today - not that we have much to look at - mostly trees, bushes and the vege garden.   Not much happening except the grass is growing and getting greener, and it has been too cold to put out the plants, or seeds into the vege garden.  Too much bad luck, so waiting for the warmer weather.  Well my strawberries are surviving, lots of flowers (and weeds - must pick them out soon).

For Christmas I was given a small rosemary bush which I planted out in a pot - but it was struggling - not surprised as I am hopeless at plants.  I bought some herb seeds with the intention of planting these, but someone planted the parsley in a pot for me, and after several weeks it began to shoot, and this has now been put outside in an old Butler Sink together with the rosemary.  There is still space to plant some chives, corriander, and goodness knows what else I have in the seed box.  This is the first time I have had a herb garden, I just got to get used to cooking with herbs.

And a good many days in April was taken up planning the new heating system.  I had to measure each room and take into account the insulation (double glazed windows and wall insulation) to work out the correct output on the radiators, measure them and finally ordering the lot! 

The next job was the worse, and still continues into this month, is to move the furniture, the accummulated everything and find a home for it temporarily whilst that room had some of its floorboards up and the pipework and radiators put in.

Absolute nightmare!  But now its started I think I can cope to the end.  Here is our first radiator.

I know its just a radiator!  But to me it is more than a radiator - hopefully it will be a warmer house.

Oh and forgot to say this, is that when I measured the radiators I decided to get them all 600 cms deep, not realising that my two front rooms would not accommodate 600 cm radiators - which meant another trip to the plumbing centre to exchange the radiators.  Whee I was glad I had not unwrapped them!

I read just two books - Unhallowed Ground by Gillian White and Remote Control by Andy McNab.

Now the latter surprised me - I don't like books that is military of any sort, but something on the back of this one attracted my attention.  Nick Stone, the character, was "running" to safety with his friend's young seven year old daughter - and I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed the read!  Also it was the first of the series of Nick Stone - so just maybe I will try another one........  

Of course I accumulated more books for my never ending pile - 884 books on my shelves!  I keep threatening to give them all away and start again, but I know if I saw one that I like I would just add it to the shelf.  Well I did pick up six at the weekend!  Shhhhh......

I wanted to add another photo, but it would mean travelling back to the spot where I found a "sign", but at the time did not have my camera.  It was a "No Through Road" sign, but had an arrow going to the left.  Well that reminded me of me.....I had intended to carry on to the road to retirement, but I have made a slight detour.  I have upped the hours I work!  Not decreased, but increased....now how mad is that. 

Hopefully this month now the weather is warmer and the nights are longer, I might just achieve some of the things I set out to do.  My first job is to get out those summer clothes and get in the mood......

Photo a Day Challenge - 19th April - Orange

That one is easy! Took a bit of sorting out though, as my "to be read" bookshelves are stacked hicklety picklety til I get a chance to arrange.  No I don't put mine in colour order but rather in author order.

Well now, what have we here? 
Jonathan Kellerman - well he certainly likes orange.  There is "Devils Waltz", "Compulsion" and "Bones".  (I love JK books so looking forward to reading these)
Stephen Fry - "Moab is my Washpot" - now I am not sure about this author's books - I have seen Stephen Fry on TV, but not read his books.
John Grisham - "The Appeal". I have read one book by JG and enjoyed it.
Lisa Scottoline - "Dead Ringer".  Having read two others by this author, really looking forward to this one.
J.G. Ballard.  "The Kindness of Women".  Never heard of this author. 
Santa Montefoire.  "Meet me under the Ombu Tree".  Not sure if this is my type.
James W. Nichol.  "Midnight Cab".  Not read this author before
Robin Cook.  "Seizure".  Love Robin Cook.  Can't wait to read more.

So all these books main colour is "orange" - look at all the different shades.  Look great together, but alas have now been put back on my shelves.   Another job to be done and that is tidy the book shelves.