Tuesday Teaser - 30 June

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

Afterwards people weren't allowed to keep dogs in the city and when she wasn't home the dog-catching squad took away the dog and killed it. She wept and didn't eat dinner.

From Gao Xingjian's Soul Mountain, an interesting insight into Chinese life past and present. Our current BATS (book group) book - my choice so I'm the one to blame!

Administrative note

Not much happening here at the moment - if I find an internet cafe with an SD card reader this may change - otherwise it will have to wait until my return. Tonight I'm sleeping at 1550 metres...but there are lots of other nicer weblogs out there!

Mütterings - 28 June

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Guest :: Hotel
2. Impact :: High
3. Unplanned :: pregnancy
4. Tactic :: delaying
5. Delayed :: train
6. Bombastic :: bully
7. Comfort :: zone
8. Trumpet :: voluntary
9. Joe :: bloggs
10. Budget :: holiday

Teaser Tuesday - 23 June

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

He mentioned the 'thought police', speculated about 'hyper-dimensional tunnels' and went on gabbling in the way he used to in his poems. The letter ended with the enigmatic sentence: 'all who know are saved'.

from Roberto Bolaño's Last Evenings on Earth short stories about short stories, or poets or other works of literature... but fascinating. I'm reading this as part of the Taks a Chance challenge..
Wanted to cite another section from Rowan's Rule which I teased about two weeks ago:

'I now have a remarkable collection of letters which say, 'Every Christian I speak to, and most people I know outside the Church, agree that...' - whatever view it is the writer holds. And these views are dramatically incompatible. It's hard to avoid concluding that most of us speak and listen mostly to those who share our world [view?], and assume it is indeed the natural one to belong to.'

for the way in which we close in our personal views.

Awaiting the art prize

Neat hills
Originally uploaded by rajmarshall

For a limited time only we have a 'Tate Modern' exhibit in our back garden. No doubt, tomorrow, it will be flattened and far less interesting!

Didn't Tiberius have an island!?

Meanwhile Antonio Di Pietro, the former magistrate who has become a respected opposition politician, has compared Berlusconi with the Roman emperor Nero. Even on the right, among Berlusconi's political allies, there is growing concern and the beginnings of a revolt. Gianfranco Fini, the speaker of the lower house of parliament and a key Berlusconi ally, has publicly warned that the number of starlets with stories to tell is threatening to turn voters away from politics. The influential journalist and loyal supporter Giuliano Ferrara said that the prime minister "needs to choose his friends better

Looks like the last days (I hope) this this corrupt emperor!
The accusation is that his enemies are trying to damage him before the forthcoming G8 conference - but I don't think they need any help - he can do the damage all by himself.
Once he is gone an enquiry into press freedom and independence in Italy might be apposite!

Mutterings - 21 June

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Divorce :: separation
2. Napkin :: table
3. Camera :: card
4. Leather :: gloves
5. Fractures :: bone
6. Flip out :: pardon?
7. Coroner :: death
8. Atomic :: Kitten (oh dear)
9. Liz :: Varney (preaching this morning)
10. Leave :: French (maybe that should be Swiss :-) )

Scargill at 50

Nigel, George and Kate and
Originally uploaded by rajmarshall

We've just returned from a trip to Kettlewell to celebrate 50 years since Scargill House opened and to mark the beginning of a process to lead to its reopening. It was a day of reunions, in this picture are,at least, (from my time) George, Kate and Nigel. A communion service, ander round the house, a trip to the walled garden and the estate walk. Got back for the question and answer session to find that there wasn't going to be room and so, after a longish day, decided to exit at that point. More pictures from the day are here

Don't look at the window!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Cheating a bit to have two of these on the trot but I couldn't resist this one!

Torture!

see more Engrish
Boggle, what on earth do they mean?

Doing it wrong

This mug appeals to my sense of humour, some other interesting ones on that site..

Teaser Tuesday - 16 June

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

Qaaf averted her eyes from Alif's disgusting habit. "They found him unconscious at the site"

From Gerald Weinberg's The Aremac Project - science fiction, software and terrorism...

Three shires head

Three shires head
Originally uploaded by rajmarshall

Walked from Wildboarclough to Three Shires Head yesterday afternoon, warm, sunny and very quiet and arrived at this isolated spot.

An orchestral evening out

Out last night to hear the last Wilmslow Symphony Orchestra's last concert of the season (and the first we'd been to this year!)
Started with the Nicolai Merry Wives of Windsor overture. I used to hear this more often on the radio, I guess it was more popular a few years ago. The programme notes writer had the bit between his teeth at German opera between Weber and Wagner being ignored in the UK and I was thinking as they played that you could see where Wagner's Rienzi came from - maybe this was due the the boom-ching-ching of the cymbals and drum - (though not all!) but I see that this Nicolai performed in 1849 came well before Rienzi - but maybe the same milieu?
Then the Brahms Double Concerto - much enjoyed though I thought the violin section was having ensemble problems, again those cello solos I had logged as very much in Elgar's mind.
After the interval came the Martinů 6th Symphony - I used to have a tape of this and often listened to it, but not for many years and my memory was that it was a non-too-difficult work - wasn't how it came over last night - widespread incomprehension in the audience around me, so either my memory is faulty, my ears were more accepting then or they made a right hash of it?! Again worries about the strings in terms of ensemble and force though the 1st violin solo came over well. But the glassy (presumably) Copland inspired wide open space string sounds just didn't carry.
They finished with 3 delightful Dvorak Slavonic dances - though I do prefer the piano duet originals!
Seats and platform have changed since we last attended - I guess we blame the now non existent Macclesfield council - or is it East Cheshire striking early - don't think they've changed for the better!

100 books

Via Dave Mock on Facebook:

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?"

I've augmented the commenting slightly with these instructions:

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen x
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien x+
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
   
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee x+
6. The Bible x+
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell x
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman x
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien x
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks x
    
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger x
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger x
20. Middlemarch- George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens *
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy x
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy -
    Douglas Adams x
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh *
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky x
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck x
29. Alice in Wonderland- Lewis Carroll x
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth
    Grahame x
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy x
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens x
33. Chronicles of Narnia -CS Lewis x
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion- Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe -CS Lewis x
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini x
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden x (mostly)
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne x
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell x
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown x
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez x
44. A Prayerfor Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White -Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood x
49. Lord of theFlies - William Golding x
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan *
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert x
    
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram
    Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huley x
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon x*
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men -John Steinbeck x
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely
    Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary
    - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie *
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens x
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes FromA Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome x
78. Germinal - Emile Zola x
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt x
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens x
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of theDay - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle x
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad *


92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Eupery x
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks *
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams x
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three
    Musketeers - Aleandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare x
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I make that 41 out of the 100.
I must look at the css for this blogger style it removes numbers from ordered html lists, which (IMHO) is just perverse!

Mutterings - 14 June

This week's word associations from Unconscious Mutterings

1. Nudity :: flagrant (or maybe flagrante)
2. Domestic :: bliss
3. Burp :: Pardon!
4. Baby :: Milk
5. Dateline :: International
6. Retract :: apologise
7. Suppose :: Moses
8. Surreal :: Magritte
9. Infidelity :: dishonesty
10. Token :: male

Duck Islands

Lookin back through the blog - attempting to find an old post, I see I linked to this page on duck islands around a year ago. Was it a scoop? - though I did borrow the link from Andrew Brown..

Covet the t-shirt!

A picture from this morning's Inclusive Church meeting in Macclesfield. A short meeting but thanks to Clare and Clive's enabling (and other people's interjections!!) lots to think about.

Currently, the Church's role seems to be to mete out bits of punishment to people.

Sorry about the fuzzy photo!

very Breton

very Breton
Originally uploaded by rajmarshall

This memorial in the churchyard of St Lawrence, Over Peover (in the grounds of Peover Hall) always seems very Breton to me. Looking at the base, it is in memory of one of the Mainwaring family and erected in the early 20th Century. If it wasn't in such an obscure spot it would, no doubt have had some crying Romish!

Peover Hall grounds

leaving Peover Hall grounds
Originally uploaded by rajmarshall

Thursday's walk was to Peover Hall well, through the grounds, a little later than we've been in previous years, so there weren't as many flowers out as last year (for example here).

Teaser Tuesday - 9 June

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

In the theological scheme to which Rowan felt increasingly drawn, liberals tended to err through saying too little, while many conservatives overlooked the dangers of saying too much. The most credible stance was based on a balance between two sorts of awareness - that religious truth (as opposed to the truth revealed in a test tube) can never be simple or slick, because it lies at a depth where things are often murky; but the burrowing process must be engaged in with unflagging commitment nonetheless.

Rupert Shortt's Rowan's Rule a biography (though the cover says 'the biography') of Rowan Williams. I nearly foundered in the preface(!), but it is worth persisting - at least so far. As promised last week, another study - maybe I'm prejudging it - of compromise.

deconstruction - i

..during..
Originally uploaded by rajmarshall

Well the shed has gone and the cat looks suitably disgusted at the removal of her shelter. More brick to go as some of that which remains is missing any foundation! At least the rain is holding off.

Before..

Before..
Originally uploaded by rajmarshall

We'll have been in this house for 25 years next Spring and the garden has remained substantially the same as when we moved in. Well if you ignore the subtraction of rose bushes and a clematis covered tree stump. However, this week, radical things are afoot! (not being done by me - I hasten to add)

Wishful thinking?

I'm sure I heard the speaker in the service this morning say:

Jesus sent his disciples out to [a] mission in Paris

He thinks he said 'pairs', so maybe it was wishful thinking on my part?

Mutterings - 7 June

This week's word associations from Unconscious Mutterings are:

1. Hockey :: sticks (jolly)
2. Twirling :: give us a ....
3. Montreal :: Jesus of
4. Better :: Best
5. New :: car!
6. Rally :: car! (recover)
7. Stanley :: knife (Baxter)
8. USB :: port
9. Scouted :: Powell
10. Cough :: wheeze

spooky, we bought a new (to us) car yesterday and, in the last 12 hours I asthmatic and wheezing like mad - so some of the above came naturally.

It's only the truth

The most distasteful aspect of Silvio Berlusconi's behaviour is not that he is a chauvinist buffoon, nor is it that he cavorts with women more than 50 years younger than himself, abusing his position to offer them jobs as models, personal assistants or even, absurdly, candidates for the European Parliament. What is most shocking is the utter contempt with which he treats the Italian public.

for some reason Berlusconi didn't like this Times leader, here quoted from the Guardian

..and for tomorrow

hat tip to Bishop Alan

Ending like this

This picture seems to ring a political bell today!

Dropping off a generator

How not to upgrade a sub-station. Off the Northern news last night.

Great heights

Just got the itinerary for the summer holiday walks today where we'll be passing the highest wooden bridge in Europe. The route says that if you don't suffer from vertigo you should go to the middle and look down into the gorge. If you really don't suffer from vertigo there's always the Spanish Camino del Rey walk:

I posted a link to a film of this walk here some time ago, but that link appears to have gone, so the above is a different film of the same route - so you can be scared differently. The original film is - I see - also on you tube - in the related at the end of this!

Teaser Tuesday - 2 June

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

Mother had all but stopped playing the piano. Her take on the general situation boiled down to the following: 'I have my doubts.'

Günter Grass Peeling the Onion, a story of groping growing(!) up under the Third Reich and its compromises. Only just started it but it is clearly going to be a disturbing read.
Last night I finished Dava Sobel's 'Galileo's Daughter' another book about compromise, here's another teaser!

Here are some cakes I made a few days ago, hoping to give them to you when you came to bid us adieu, I see that this will not happen quite as soon as I feared, and so I want you to have them before they turn hard.

A letter from the daughter to her father before a summons to Rome.
I have another biography waiting which I guess will also be a study in compromise - but that will be for next week!

Every company should have one

see more Engrish