Mutterings - July 30

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

1. Pillow :: Talk
2. Calendar :: DLMS these last few weeks I'm been working on implementations of getting calendars off a smart meter.
3. Melissa :: Etheridge
4. Notebook :: Spiral (bound)
5. Circumstance :: Forced
6. Technical :: Document
7. Bracket :: Hinge (though that should be Brackett)
8. Horror :: Blanch
9. Pink :: Elephant (Dumbo...)
10. Polish :: Cavalry (I think this is a reference to a comment about one of the Chopin Polonaises - the Ab)

Teaser Tuesday - June 25

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!

The Iris Murdoch is still being read but we're getting to the end of the month so I really need to make progress on this one:

The driver was woken from sleep, Sir Selwyn and Dr Belcher got back into the coach and Darcy and Stoughton waited at the open door until the vehicles clattered out of sight.
As Stoughton turned to go back into the house, Darcy said, `Hand me the keys Stoughton. I'll see to the locks. I want some fresh air'

PD James Death Comes to Pemberley a Jane Austen murder mystery sequel - our BATS (book group) book of the month. I'm not a great fan of Austen and there seems to be some knowledge assumed but I'm getting on fairly well with it. Here's James writing about her book and her reaction to Pride and Prejudice.

Mutterings - June 23

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

1. Tears :: Fears
2. Press :: Pack
3. Rowboat :: Windermere
4. Society :: Wine
5. Magazine :: Cartridge
6. Mars :: Craters
7. Gone bad :: Plum
8. Celebrity :: Culture
9. Umbrella :: Shelter
10. Core :: Earth

Teaser Tuesday - June 18

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!

Her neck was dry and wrinkled, faintly reptilian, her face was smoother, more made-up than usual, and wearing the expression the French call maussade. She seemed to have lately washed her hair which made a smooth frizzy ball around her head.

Bradley Pearson observing women - another teaser from Iris Murdoch's The Black Prince. Maussade is sullen - I had to look it up!

Mutterings - June 16

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

1. Hook :: Peter Pan
2. Ringer :: Dead
3. Hoodwink :: Fool
4. Football :: Goal
5. Out of the way :: Quiet
6. Skull :: Numb
7. Enough :: Stop!
8. Scholarship :: Exhibition
9. Ruin :: Ivy (and 'Une ruine coquille vide' Eluard/Poulenc)
10. Lawyer :: Justice

Teaser Tuesday - June 11

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!

It was Priscilla. She marched past me into the sitting-room and immediately began to cry.

Iris Murdoch's The Black Prince. A mediation on art and ethics (and the Post Office Tower).

Looking up wharfedale

Looking up wharfedale, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

We spent last week at Scargill house on a summer gardens week, trips to various gardens in the vicinity - Beth managed all those, I went on the Parcevall Hall and Japanese garden trip, and otherwise just rested with a couple of evening trips down to Kettlewell. The album of photos I took is on line.

Mutterings - June 9

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

1. Rubbish :: Bin
2. Court :: Margaret (it must be the tennis season)
3. Bangs :: Exhaust
4. Affinity :: Sympathy
5. Wholesome :: Tasty
6. Jessica :: Cat (we had a cat called Jessica - that's her on the right seeing snow for the first time)
7. Trumpet :: Blast
8. Treatment :: Healing
9. Happening :: Event (60s)
10. Pain :: Ache (closely followed by - French - bread)

Mutterings - June 2

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

1. Progress :: Pilgrim's
2. Wife :: Partner
3. Denim :: Trousers
4. Wow :: Factor
5. Jacket :: Smoking
6. Studio :: Pad
7. Boyfriend :: Gay
8. Tablet :: Touchscreen
9. Hidden :: Caché (Michael Haneke film
10. Closer :: Danger