Teaser Tuesday - July 30

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!

All our rooms are en-suite, Mother. Yours, I think, also has a TV and Wi-Fi. The other Sister, I'm not sure...

Hierarchy within nuns paying a visit! A final teaser from Salley Vickers The Cleaner of Chartres. This was a book which I found difficult at first and became more appealing and the ending kept me enthralled! Maybe a little neat in tying up ends but it certainly came with a punch.

Casterne Hall

Casterne Hall, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

Last weekend we walked from Wetton to Casterne Hall. Once there we were shown around by the owner and were served afternoon tea. I'd never heard of Casterne Hall before but it's a nearly perfect Georgian house, finding it by car is a bit tricky but the walk was much enjoyed. More photos of the day and the Hall are here

Mutterings - Jul 28

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

1. Packing :: Sent
2. Rent :: Flat
3. Inspire :: Vision
4. Anti-social :: Behaviour
5. Common :: Room
6. Repeats :: Marks (musical notation)
7. Dracula :: Whitby
8. Cross :: Jesusalem
9. Short sighted :: Glasses
10. Corrupt :: Business practices

Mutterings - July 21

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

1. Wine :: Bottle
2. Hand :: Cream
3. Bottle :: Glass
4. Soda :: Syphon
5. List :: Map (both standard c++ library containers)
6. Thimble :: Sewing
7. Sample :: Cross
8. Cloth :: Roll
9. Correspond :: Match
10. Taste :: Tongue

Teaser Tuesday - July 16

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!

And until lately God had played fair by not raising any troubling questions about his existence. Then, at 103, the apparently indomitable mother died.

Again from Salley Vickers' The Cleaner of Chartres.

Mutterings - July 14

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

1. Blood :: Water
2. Obvious :: Slip
3. Leadership :: Burden
4. Vest :: String
5. Praising :: Worship
6. Chair :: Electric
7. Think :: Muse
8. Carpet :: Flying
9. Without :: Pedal (thinking piano here)
10. Politics :: Messy

from the Old Park Gate

from the Old Park Gate, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

This week's walk was around the Peover Hall area ending up here at the Old Park Gate pub. The walks - or at least the photos I've taken of them are here. We've had a fine dry series of walks only one being rained on - this year they've alternated between Wednesday and Thursday and that helped (inadvertently?) to avoid the bad days. There's one more walk in the season though with the current good weather spell we're discussing extending the season a bit!

Teaser Tuesday - Jul 9

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!

Above her - now as then - Job lay on his comfortless bed of ashes, plagued by a grotesquely grimacing Satan.
Inside the cathedral, the musty air seemed to be perfused with a faint odour of onions.

Salley Vickers' The Cleaner of Chartres - our book group book of the month - I'm just getting into this so a little early for any views. My autocorrect on the phone changed Salley Vickers to Wallet Buckets...more seriously, here's the Guardian review.

Muttterings - July 7

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

1. Maintenance :: High
2. Tight:: Corner
3. Disillusion :: Weariness
4. Horizon :: Flat (Ringed by the Flat Horizon a quote from Eliot's the Wasteland used as a title for a orchestral work by George Benjamin)
5. In :: Out
6. Humor :: Joke
7. Purchase :: Hire
8. Delectable :: Mountains (Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress)
9. Stumble :: Speech
10. Words :: Stumble (I don't think I saw this when doing the previous line, I think this is another TS Eliot quote from the 4 quartets but I can't find it at the moment!)

Gawsworth sunset

Gawsworth sunset, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

Last night's walk started from Gawsworth before looping over the railway and coming back over Danes Moss. Cotton, a heron and finally a sunset - in my view it's a rather atypical bit of country you expect the hills we had boggy ground and very flat. The album with the rest of the photos from last night is here.

roofs of Macc

roofs of Macc, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

We've just had the roof repaired and before the roofer left I had a quick trip up the scaffolding to have a look and to take a few photos (there's 2 more on flickr, next to this one if you click on it!). I last went up a few years back when next door (and our chimney) was rebuilt. At least then the ascent was behind the house and if you fell you could aim for the flower beds, this was straight off the pavement and a little more intimidating. Repairs are looking good though!

Teaser Tuesday - July 2

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!

'I've got a bridge party.'
'But you can't play bridge.'
'I learnt in the thirty or so years of your absence. I had to pass the time somehow.'

I'm back on The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch and Bradley Pearson making assumptions about his ex-wife. I thought I needed those extra two sentences!

Kabul on the television - '91

I've been re-reading 'Pushing The Boat Out' an anthology of poetry edited by Kathy Galloway, and came across this poem of Alyson Hallett:

Young boy vomits blood
sees camera sings
us a song 'one by
one the petals fall'

His thigh fits in a circle
of finger and thumb
lips held tight
with smile of death

Children wake old
limbs of women grow
cold, amputated,
men pull tears, triggers

Empty shrapnel full
bellies groan
bloody fingers clasp
shredded flesh close

In the shells
of heart and home
cries of leave
us in peace.

At a time when the intention is for UK troops to pull out of Afghanistan, I think this is relevant again. The 91 in the title of the poem is of course 1991.

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

Teaser Tuesday - May 28

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!

Now the time had come to break up the strange domestic arrangements at Crespigny Road. Blackwell and Tooth were almost as sorry to see Freda and Diane leave as Chapman himself.

Our bookgroup book of the month - Agent Zigzag - Ben Macintyre the tale of a double agent during World War II a man of very mixed motives - but a fascinating story. I did wonder about some of the details - why did the Germans allow Chapman to bring his Iron Cross into the UK on a spying mission for them?

View from the Edge

View from the Edge, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

Last week there was another All Saints' walk - and the evening turned out beautifully for a walk over Alderley Edge ending at the Wizard.

Mutterings - May 26

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

1. Rental :: Car
2. Collapse :: of stout party
3. Seismic :: Shift
4. Barricade :: 1968 (Paris)
5. Dip :: Fondue
6. Teamed :: Cattle
7. Jeans :: Pair
8. Why not? :: Indeed
9. Honing :: Knife
10. Dough :: Bowl

Sunset

Sunset, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

Earlier this week I led the church walk with a walk around Bollington from the Vale Inn. You'll find the flickr album of photos as the walking season progresses here. The Vale Inn sells a book of walks one of which we used - in a truncated form! You can see the full route and download a route card and a GPS file. We missed out the walk up to White Nancy (booo!) and did the walk in reverse cutting across to Ingersley Vale at around half way around - well it was the evening and we needed to get back to the pub for chips - which were enjoyed! The photo was taken from just beneath White Nancy. Our walk next week is on Wednesday (not Thursday!)

Mutterings - May 19

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

1. Arrow :: Time (..flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana)
2. Hum :: Ho
3. Cornerstone :: Arch
4. Flight :: Departure
5. Music :: Life
6. Determine :: Calculate
7. Analysis :: Mathematical
8. Better day :: Tomorrow
9. Audio :: Plug
10. Meditation :: Silence

Teaser Tuesday - 14 May

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!

Oh, my lordy, lordy! Raf'? Dey ain' no raf' no mo', she done broke loose en gone! - en here we is!

That's probably 4 sentences but it may only be 2? Huckleberry Finn and Jim getting into a scrape...but it's a good teaser!

Mutterings - May 12

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

1. 537 :: odd
2. Horizon :: Ringed by the flat.. (George Benjamin work and a quote from Eliot's The Waste Land)
3. Episode :: Soap
4. Character :: Set (and gives me a chance to link to a recent xkcd!
5. Crossed :: Palm (with silver)
6. Shipping :: Lanes
7. Jump :: to it!
8. Bowling :: Alley
9. Grumpy :: Dopey
10. Them :: Us

Teaser Tuesday - May 7

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 kind of lazy and jolly, laying off comfortable all day, smoking and fishing, and no books nor study. Two months or more run along, and my clothes got to be all rags and dirt, and I don't see how I ever got to like it so well at the window's, where you had to wash and eat on a plate, and comb up, and go to bed and get up regular, and be for ever bothering over a book and have old Miss Watson pecking at you all the time.

Huckleberry Finn with his Pop from Mark Twain's book. I've not read this since I was young and I'd been wanting to re-read it for some time and was given impetus by a blog which quoted from it and the relationship between Huck and Jim (the escaped slave), I shall see how it goes!

Mutterings - May 5

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

1. Interests :: Common
2. Bloom :: In
3. Ceiling :: Rose
4. Tears :: Fears
5. Jerk :: Pull
6. Weight :: Light
7. Friends :: Companions
8. Camera :: Flash
9. Chicken :: Scared
10. Hose :: Doublet

Teaser Tuesday - April 30

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 decides on the 'Goldberg' Variations. He has four recordings here and selects not the showy unorthodoxies of Glenn Gould, but Angela Hewitt's wise and silky playing which includes all the repeats.

Another teaser from Ian McEwan's Saturday a carefully chosen non-random one - as at the point around where I am in the book there's far too much danger of a spoiler! The main character is a brain surgeon and he's just selecting the music to accompany an operation.

Mutterings - April 28

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

1. Industry :: Revolution (Hive of..)
2. Jerry :: Can
3. Detour :: Long
4. Mug :: Cup
5. Steer :: Guide
6. Link :: List (..linked list)
7. Harmony :: 4 part
8. Epic :: User story
9. Suspect :: Dodgy
10. Translate :: Equivalent

Teaser Tuesday - April 23

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 watched the strange programmes that the television pumped out in the small hours. Open University documentaries about glaciers.

From Mark Haddon's A spot of bother our book group book of the month like the teaser for last week. For some reason I'm reminded of a Brian Rix farce! Still trying to identify the period, late night OU programmes are reminiscent of a certain era.
(fixed title - was I that far ahead of myself?!)

Mort subite

Mort subite - i, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

Back in 2009 I went on a trip with some folk from work to a Beer bar in Altrincham - Morte Subite it has a certain atmosphere - from googling I see thta it used to be the local mortuary! As we were in Altrincham yesterday I paid a return visit, when you get used to the illumination level to be able to read the menu there's a wonderful selection of beers!

Le Havre

Yesterday we went to Altrincham for an Open University day of French Cinema. After an introduction we saw Kaurismäki's Le Havre - here is the trailer A film about and set in the French port of Le Havre, it pays homage to French cinema of the 30-50's as well as merging together the eras! A film about a shoe-shiner and his encounters with an illegal immigrant who is attempting to get to London - it's funny but when you consider the story it's somewhat of an un-funny tale, but that didn't detract from it. Produced by Sputnik films with a dog (a fairly important character) called Laika(!), with a female lead called Arletty (as the 30's French film star lots of scenes and constume reminiscent of those eras. Modern mobile phones abut with phones from the 30's - delightful. I enjoyed the moment after the priests (smoking - as does nearly everyone) have their shoes shined and Monet (the detective in pursuit of the immigrant) appears to go into church and a wooden panelled confessional to be addressed by someone off screen, but after a moment you realise he's in the police station talking to his boss! Delightful!
In the afternoon we had some sessions discussing the film which helped to place the insight of others alongside what I'd seen as well as clips from the related historic films.

Mutterings - April 21

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

1. Pork :: Scatchings
2. Work :: Opus
3. International :: Rescue
4. Board :: Game
5. Idea :: Balloon (those things which appear in cartoons when you have an idea)
6. Spinning :: Top
7. Relations :: Friendly
8. Dresser :: Welsh
9. Poster :: Bed (and easy step from the previous one!)
10. Inappropriate :: Conduct

Teaser Tuesday - April 16

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!

Jacob stopped crying. 'Can I have a polar bear drink tomorrow?'

From Mark Haddon's A spot of bother our book group book of the month. Here's the Guardian review - yes I have been wondering about the absence of mobile phones too! I'm also finding the pace a bit relentless, I just wish he'd stop have a look around and take a breather!

Mutterings - April 14

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

1. Travel :: Mind (as in 'broadens the')
2. Eager :: Beaver
3. Boobies :: Hatch
4. Supreme :: Commander
5. Toss up :: Pancake
6. Plants :: Trans
7. Small talk :: Chatter
8. Haven :: Port
9. Starring :: Poster
10. Bahamas :: Ocean

Cats and televisions

have their dangers! I've not posted a link to a Simon's cat for ages and this one is out today!

Teaser Tuesday - April 9

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 judgment doesn't help him deliver the service he needs, for this is his last chance to get back in the game.The ball goes so wide of the wall that Jay is able to step to his left and reach for an easy forehand smash.

A literary game of squash in Ian McEwan's Saturday. An air of menace hangs over this description of the day of the anti-Iraq war march in 2003. I see I've not teased for 3(!) weeks.

Mutterings - April 7

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

1. Flashlight :: Torch
2. Criminal :: Gang
3. Gathering :: Gloom (I think my association is something Victorian rather than Moody Blues?)
4. Passed :: Exam
5. Medal :: Empire
6. Renovation :: Kitchen (still ongoing here!)
7. Sweat :: Brow
8. South :: Gone
9. Ginger :: Root
10. Jersey :: Sark

Mutterings - March 31

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

1. Mailbox :: Post (either what goes in it or what supports the traditional US form)
2. Creamy :: Yogurt
3. Deal :: Fair
4. Eyeglasses :: Sea view
5. Bag :: Grab (as in 'to bag' something)
6. People :: Individuals
7. Candy :: Man
8. Orange :: Chocolate
9. Frosting :: Lemon
10. Surrender :: Hands-up

Mutterings - March 24

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

1. Taco :: Bell
2. Serve :: Table
3. Cubicle :: Computer
4. Moonlighting :: Grimes (I've just heard the Britten 4 sea interludes with it's invocation of moonlight on the sea)
5. Creaky :: Bones
6. Bittersweet :: Coward (Nöel)
7. Hop :: Beer
8. Install :: Script
9. Quick :: Dead
10. Hybrid :: Plant

Teaser Tuesday - Mar 19

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 yellow medallion on the carpet was glowing like a jewel. Kitty, wearing a long peacock-blue evening dress with a pendant hood, was gazing at me.

And back to Murdoch's A Word Child, her novel on forgiveness viewed through the eyes of a deeply difficult individual - there's times when you really want to shout at the 'hero'. Just before this post I got directed (by @christineburns) to this article on the NHS website picking up the forgiveness theme.

Bollington

Bollington, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

This afternoon we had Sunday lunch at the Vale Inn and the a walk around the village using one of the routes in their walk book. We were researching a route for a walk I'm leading in May, I think it'll need a bit cutting off the route if it's to fit in the constraints of an evening walk (followed by chips!) - but I think a shortcut will be straightforward!

Mutterings - March 17

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

1. Sweetpea :: Trellis
2. Fuss :: Bother
3. Stocky :: Build
4. Reason :: Loss (of)
5. Humble :: Monk
6. Purposeful :: Determine
7. Week :: End of
8. Intimidate :: Bluster
9. Choice :: Free
10. Coming home :: Joy

Teaser Tuesday - March 12

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!

Yes I know it's not tuesday and not 12th March - I've been away and I took this book with me:

It was this realization along with the fact that he was in M. Dupont's room, presumably addressing this most crucial personage, that caused me to stop my hand from knocking, and continue to listen instead.
The bedroom doors of Dartington Hall are of a certain thickness and I could by no means hear complete exchanges, consequently it is hard for me now to recall precisely what I overheard, just as, indeed, it was for me later that same evening when I reported to his lordship on the matter.

What the butler heard.. from Kazuo Ishiguro's getting under the skin of the 1930's English ruling class in The Remains of the Day -our book group book of the month.

Mutterings - March 10

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

1. Align :: Planets
2. Collar :: Feel
3. Orphan :: Annie
4. Program :: Start (or should that be begin?)
5. Waves :: Make
6. Accident :: Ambulance
7. Offices :: Corrupt
8. Corrupt :: Absolutely (I don't think my eyes drifted down with the previous association!)
9. Tears :: Fears
10. Family :: Home

Mutterings - March 3

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

1. Schedule :: Work
2. Guest :: Table (George Herbert also lurks!)
3. Stall :: Horse
4. Cold :: Ice
5. Editorial :: Column
6. Striped :: Pajamas
7. Curtains :: Death
8. Cramping :: Style
9. March :: Rhythm (and Death again!)
10. Folder :: Filing

Mutterings - Feb 24

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

1. Scalp :: Trophy
2. Fix :: Bug
3. Should :: Ought
4. Believing :: Faith
5. Cares :: Concern
6. Eyelash :: False
7. Sick :: Rose ('Oh Rose thou art sick' Blake as set by Britten)
8. Heart :: Core
9. Marble :: Faux (a long story concerning a trip around the chateau at Compiegne, 'Ne Mange pas les murs')
10. Money back :: Offer

The Senate House's greenhouse

The Senate House's greenhouse, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

There's an e-luminate festivsl going on a Cambridge at the moment and very pretty it looks - though the Senate House wasn't quite as lit up as in the link!

Teaser Tuesday - Feb 19

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!

No one could have lived more cheaply than Crystal. Her biggest weekly expenses were entertaining Arthur and me.

From Iris Murdoch's A Word Child - I used to read Murdoch and haven't read any for a long time, I had a go a bit back with Bruno's Dream - that died the death (for reasons little to do with the book) but am trying again. As someone writes at Goodreads'Hilary Burde (the principal character and the 1st person in the above), is simultaneously compelling and repulsive'. This is a reread - as you may gather - and I was much entertained by the first chapter - early days...

Teaser Tuesday - Feb 12

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!

When first thy sweet and gracious eye
Vouchsaf'd ev'n in the midst of youth and night
To look upon me, who before did lie
         Weltring in sinne ;
I felt a sugred strange delight,
Passing all cordials made by any art,
Bedew, embalme, and overrunne my heart,
         And take it in.

Since that time many a bitter storm
My soul hath felt, ev'n able to destroy,
Had the malicious and ill-meaning harm
         His swing and sway :
But still thy sweet originall joy
Sprung from thine eye, did work within my soul,
And surging griefs, when they grew bold, controll,
          And got the day.

Two sentences saying so much! I was tempted to include the final stanza but that's another two sentences - read the whole poem here. George Herbert's The Glance - from my edition 'The English Poems of George Herbert' ed. Patrides - our contemplative prayer group looked at Herbert's poetry last Sunday so I thought a read of this might be good. A culinary sugared influence for Shrove Tuesday.

Mutterings - Feb 10

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

1. Massage :: Oil
2. Financial advice :: Suspect
3. Guide :: Girl
4. Packing :: Sent
5. Trombone :: 76
6. Water cooler :: Social
7. Delivery :: Chute
8. Smoke :: gets in your eyes
9. Cane :: Seat
10. Suitcase :: Set

Teaser Tuesday - Feb 5

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 first expresses the spirit of martyrdom in itself, its basic attitude: a spirit of love which cannot be defeated by suffering or injustice. A very young priest who was imprisoned at the beginning of the Russian revolution, and came out a broken man, was asked what was left of him, and he answered: 'Nothing is left of me, they have burnt out every single thing, love only survives.'

From Anthony Bloom (Metropolitan Anthony)'s book Living Prayer - forgiveness in extremis, a very practical and down to earth volume. I've had this book for a long time and this is a much needed re-read.

Mutterings - Feb 3

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

1. Baked :: Alaska
2. Excited :: Comments
3. Print :: Block
4. Obstruct :: Threaten
5. Bladder :: Full (or wrack!)
6. Matrimony :: celebrate
7. Car :: luggage
8. Reconstruct :: Replica
9. Lenses :: Strong
10. Best for last :: Anticipation

Teaser Tuesday - Jan 29

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!

One report describes a 'faint drizzle of applause at the end, and at a party afterwards the opera was jokingly described as 'Boriana' or 'Yawniana'. The journal Musical Times quipped 'Sic transit Gloriana'

from Humphrey Carpenter's biography of Benjamin Britten describing the premiere of Britten's Gloriana which celebrated the coronation, it was inevitable that the audience of the high and mighty were rather over-challenged. The biography doesn't avoid the darker side of Britten's character, someone of extraordinary generosity and yet, and yet... I acquired this book shortly after publication back in 2003 and this is a re-read, deliberately for the centenary of his birth and not sparked by the hoo-hah over a recent new biography. After my initial read I kept away from the Turn of the Screw for a few years I think now I can treat it in a more measured way.

Mutterings - Jan 27

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

1. Sophisticated :: Taste
2. Pelicans :: Crossing
3. Flat :: Land - Edmin Abbott Abbott's fantasy - I remember that my first secondary school had a copy.
4. Cheekbones :: High
5. Possible :: the art of the..
6. England :: Here
7. Jacket :: Shooting
8. Sunflower :: Seed
9. Hungry :: Food
10. Accent :: Acute

Mutterings - Jan 20

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

1. Offered :: Prayer (probably from 'Father hear the prayer we offer')
2. Center :: Mind
3. Benefit :: Jobless
4. Yay! :: Hurrah!
5. Wonderful :: Life
6. Currently :: Now
7. Resignation :: Defeat
8. Testing :: Laboratory
9. Strangely :: Moved (John Wesley..)
10. Clinic :: Doctor

Teaser Tuesday - Jan 15

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!

Take the firebreak which is to the left of the tracks and heads down to a wire mesh gate at the junction of two fences within about 50m of the ridge. Looking along a line from the fence to the village of Bérchules, a white painted cortijo and concrete water store can be seen.

From Jeremy Rabjohn's Holiday walks in the Alpujarras. Memories - not always good ones (but that was life rather than the holiday) of the time around when we walked in the Alpujarras ending in Bérchules (the link goes to my blog describing the walks - once you ignore this post which also appear with that label! and further links to the photos I took). I think the indicated postion is around here near the summit of Cima del Tejar:

View Larger Map
(how do you get a precise point in google maps rather than the points it knows about, I suppose I could tweak the coordinates but it's close enough and the preview won't let you do that and see where you now are...)

Mutterings - Jan 13

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

1. Lizard :: Leapin'
2. Swimming pool :: Dive
3. Tank :: Petrol
4. Horrible :: History
5. Cabbage :: Patch
6. Pet :: Cat
7. Photography :: Daguerreotype
8. 1970 :: A levels (the year I did them)
9. Ornate :: Cornice
10. Turkey :: Stuffing

Teaser Tuesday - Jan 8

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!

George had met Stokes once before, in Cambridge, when they'd all gone out in a punt, Cecil clearly exciting his guest by his lordly thrust and toss of the pole and the intermittent recital of sonnets. Stokes seemed not to remember that George had been of the party, and George didn't remind him, when the talk turned to their Cambridge days.

Alan Hollinghurst's The Stranger's Child for which there was an earlier teaser last week. A carefully chosen extract....

View from the Cloud

View from the Cloud, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

New Year's Day and so a walk to get some much needed exercise - this year instead ogf Shutlingsloe we did the gentler Bosley Cloud. I don't think I've walked up Bosley Cloud since the 70's! Muddy and very breezy but good views from not too far from the road and then there was the fox we saw thinking about crossing the road on the way there...
A New Year - looking at last year - 128 - that's the lowest number of posts per year on this blog since 2005 - a lot of the smaller items go on twitter/facebook now but I need to work out a theme for a process of revival here!

Teaser Tuesday - Jan 1

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!

Was this it, the sudden helpless breaking of the news? Perhaps not or George would have said something more.

Having finished our current book group book of the month on society around the first World War, I'm now starting another - though more time elapses in this - Alan Hollinghurst's The Stranger's Child. Myth and memory - reflections over the course of the 20th century, it's a long read but I've enjoyed most of his novels - here's the Guardian's review, and here's another from a blogger. I see the Independent review compares it to Middlemarch, maybe I should suggest it for our book group?

Mutterings - December 30

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

1. Princess :: Pea
2. First kiss :: Long ago
3. Humor :: Cracker (but not usually!)
4. Campaign :: Tents
5. Resolve :: Character
6. Intrepid :: Fearless
7. Rhythm :: Hangman (a useful word for that game)
8. Grand :: Duchy
9. Dirty :: Dozen
10. Tooth :: Fairy

Mutterings - December 23rd

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

1. Altercation :: Argument
2. Spiffy :: Simply
3. Mollify :: Curdle (I've no idea what's going on here, something to do with cooking eggs?!)
4. Heroic :: Eroica (Beethoven)
5. Rustle :: of Spring (Sinding)
6. Bride :: Dowry
7. Turbulence :: Fluid
8. Thirty :: Years War
9. Nonsense :: Rubbish
10. Ordeal :: Trial

Teaser Tuesday - Dec 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!

A lad called Baker had been sent back a few weeks ago with a kind of cancerous seeping blob in his neck, a swelling with some kind of life of its own. He'd admitted injecting paraffin wax ten months before.

Life (or death) in the WWI trenches from Louisa Young's My Dear, I wanted to tell you a tale both of those who went to war and of those left behind. Our book group book of the month.

2012 news

Much of this has appeared here in some guise or other but the annual Christmas newsletter of our doings is here.

Mutterings - Dec 16

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

1. Dragon :: Smaug
2. Battery :: Acid
3. Ziploc :: Huh?
4. Shiny! :: Gold!
5. 8 minutes :: 480 seconds
6. Photograph :: Still!
7. Future :: Perfect
8. Tie :: Level
9. Bangs :: Hair
10. Appointment :: Dental

Cat burglar

Via IcanHazCheeseburger - I'd not been there for ages!

New kitchen

kitchen - looking back, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

As some readers may know, we went for sudden death last month and had both the kitchen and bathroom updated at once. The dust has now (mostly!) cleared and here's the kitchen (I'll spare you a bathroom picture!). It - the kitchen - still needs painting, tiling and flooring but it's a lot better environment to prepare food in and the sink now looks out onto the garden (view of that in the next flickr pic to this).

Scargill

the best of the group, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

We've been back to Scargill for an ex-community reunion. It was good to see folk I'd not seen for 30 years even if we didn't manage a trip to the pub! The full flickr album is here.

Mutterings - Dec 2

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

1. Idiot :: Gibbering
2. Starving :: Crust
3. December :: Cold(-hearted - cold-hearted December is a quote from the Sitwell/Walton Facade)
4. Choose :: Moose (word patterns!)
5. Dreams :: Sweet
6. Clash :: Clang
7. White :: Snow
8. Meticulous :: Care
9. Bus :: Double-decker
10. Insubordination :: Courage

Teaser Tuesday - Nov 27

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!

At the same time as I 'played' with what it meant to be Rachel (the experiments with clothing, make-up, voice, bodily movement) I felt like I was becoming more myself. In the midst of the creation, the theatre and the play, I was becoming a solid person rather than a set of masks.

From Rachel Mann's Dazzling Darkness her story of finding herself - I was at the book launch referred to in the link and hope to be able to post a little more of a review once the reading is complete.

Mutterings - Nov 25

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

1. Statement :: Programming
2. Process :: Due
3. Monday :: Happy
4. Certain :: Sure
5. Reflection :: dans l'Eau (Reflets dans l'Eau is a Debussy piano work)
6. Ours :: Theirs
7. Components :: Pluggable
8. Engagement :: Ring
9. Learn :: Teach
10. Products :: Line

Teaser Tuesday - Nov 20

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!

Only a day late!

He had gone into every late or early public-house where there was a light (they were not a few at that time, the road being then much frequented by drovers), and had got down to talk to the turnpike-keepers. I had heard him ordering drink, and clinking money, and making himself agreeable and merry everywhere; but whenever he took his seat upon the box again, his face resumed its watchful steady look, and he always said to the driver in the same business tone, 'Get on, my lad!'

In search of someone... I'm getting to the final straight of Dickens Bleak House!

Mutterings - Nov 18

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

1. 32 :: feet/second squared
2. Ignore :: Snub
3. Wet :: Suit
4. Apartment :: Luxury
5. Translate :: Bishop
6. YouTube :: Movie
7. Stifle :: Burp
8. Plus :: Point
9. Thanks! :: for the Memory
10. Fiction :: Lies

Teaser Tuesday - Nov 13

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!

Alicia strides to the piano and begins the B minor Sonata. A shock wave wobbles through the room as the piano rings out, abruptly massive-toned. The American boy sits forward, chin on hands, watching her every move.

Adding another sentence to lead more than musicians in! Another teaser from our book group book of the month - Jessica Duchen's Alicia's Gift - the other teaser came two weeks ago, for me, a second read - an easy read after a few more involved novels!
And here's Gilels playing that movement:


I think the very start needs something less than a massive tone!

Mutterings - Nov 11

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

1. Crunch :: Credit
2. Resourceful :: Guide
3. Experience :: Teacher
4. One hour :: Lesson
5. Happening :: Occurrence
6. Mushroom :: Magic
7. Humid :: Damp
8. Mini :: Cooper
9. Earth shattering :: Crash
10. Mistake :: Slip

Mutterings - Nov 4

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

1. Throne :: Game of..
2. Adorable :: Kitten
3. Corner :: House
4. Others :: Care (for)
5. Chilling :: Fridge
6. Spied :: I
7. Limitless :: Space
8. Passion :: Anger
9. Hugely :: Valued
10. Devious :: Snake

Revenge!

The last film at Silkscreen was Susanne Bier's In a Better World, here's the trailer:

As the introducer said the Danish title is revenge and that's probably a better title as it is a study of revenge and bullying and the effect of violence on both sides. Very powerful and thought provoking with its two stories running alongside each other of family and school tensions and those in an African refugee camp. Not a comfortable watch but well worth it!

Teaser Tuesday - Oct 30

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!

She is the music and the music is her. The piano is an extension of her. As she plays the sustained unaccompanied start of the slow movement, the mesmerised atmosphere deepens.

I felt it needed the extra sentence! This is a re-read of our book group book of next month (jumping the gun slightly!) - Jessica Duchen's Alicia's Gift a study of the stress of young musical genius - I last read it back in 2008 - and that's the Ravel piano concerto she's playing and on cue my music player's random play facility provides the music! And here it is:

Mutterings - Oct 28

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

1. Crying :: Game
2. Reluctant :: Unwilling
3. Decade :: Last
4. Mustache :: Beard
5. Water :: Feature
6. March :: April
7. Stripes :: Stars (and)
8. Friendship :: Committment
9. Weirdo :: Oddball
10. Contacts :: Lenses

Mutterings - Oct 21

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

1. Authorize :: (d) Version (& licensed)
2. Plunge :: Dive
3. Work :: Opus
4. Throttle :: Accelerator (& victim)
5. Drill :: Bit
6. Toot :: Horn
7. Conference :: Audio
8. Hodgepodge :: Mish-mash
9. Bumble :: Mr (Oliver Twist!)
10. Scandalous! :: Horrifying!

Teaser Tuesday - Oct 16

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 had lostseveral of his regular columns due to missed deadlines. Other papers were fearful of publishing his articles after receiving anonymous threats.

A final teaser from Carlos Ruiz Zafón's The Shadow of the Wind - it's our book group's book of the month - I borrowed the book from the library but I'm considering buying (or from a real bookshop...) as a re-read - having just finished it. Wheels within wheels and such a journey!

Mutterings - Oct 14

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

1. Textile :: Skip (for recycling)
2. Ginger :: root (and hair!)
3. Strength :: courage
4. Keeping :: well
5. Beard :: Hair
6. Pregorative :: Rights
7. Closing :: Speech
8. Podium :: Lectern
9. Rationale :: Logic
10. Secondary :: School

Islamey

Balakirev's Islamey (arr Zhyltsov)

..on an acccordion (h/t Kip W on rmcr). Apart from the hair-raisingly fast parts I thought the arrangement was especially effective in the slow atmospheric parts of the work.

Teaser Tuesday - October 9

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 must go immediately to the Boquería market to buy twenty duros' worth of boiled chickpeas and take them without delay to Police Headquarters (in a taxi if necessary) - or he must prepare to present his balls to him on a plate. Would you like me to repeat it?

Getting rid of the naive policman set to follow you in Carlos Ruiz Zafón's The Shadow of the Wind (again from the book group's book of the month).

Church at Bourg Trégastel

Church at Bourg Trégastel, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

The intention for the last day was to take a boat around the Sept Îles unfortunately the tides meant there were no boats that day from Trégastel. If you're doing this walk look ahead the tides may be better from one of the earlier stops. Instead we walked to the Vallée des Traouïero a rocky wooded area inland and then walked along the coast in the afternoon. Both evenings we spent at Trégastel we ate out at local restaurants by the port watching the sun set. Unfortunately in Bourg we just missed a concert by the church fitters but we spotted a poster

Mutterings - Oct 7

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

1. Exorcise :: Evil
2. Theory :: Gravitational
3. Possible :: Art of the
4. 1600 :: Pennsylvania Ave (& Bernstein)
5. Feeling :: Emotion
6. Excuse :: Any
7. Mortality :: Death
8. Trivial :: Pursuit
9. Pupil :: Eye
10. Challenge :: Risk

Blind Long Jumping

So this is how a world might
become small, coming down
to a clap, a beat, a voice
calling you on.

She’s heard it growing for years,
exploring where it goes, learning
its lead. Now she knows it well
enough. Who cares what has been
lost or found; there is only the beat
of hands clapping, a private rhythm
everyone understands .

If there was nothing else, it would
still be enough. She has faith.
She has it all. The silence, the breath,
the sound. She steps, she runs,
she leaps into dark, into light.
Into orbit at last.
(London Paralympics 2012 - Rachel Mann)

No doubt you've all seen this already - but having mentioned it at the quiet day, David Runcorn was talking about the trust and intensity of blind long jumping where the jumper uses a helper who stands in the track clapping while the watchers keep very quiet and the helper flings themself out of the way at the last minute! Let me quote it here - that quiet day was a fortnight ago now! - if you enjoy the poem keep a close eye on Rachel Mann's blog from which I've pasted it!

That link to David Runcorn's pages was tricky to find - there's lots of dead links to mac.com... let's hope citing it will improve its chances in google! My photos from the queit day at Cliff college are here.

Teaser Tuesday - Oct 2

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!

She kissed me shyly, and I planted a couple of noisy kisses on each cheek. She laughed. In her eyes I could see she was waiting for me to ask her about Clara, but I had decided not to.

A bonus sentence as the second is so short! From Carlos Ruiz Zafón's 'The Shadow of the Wind' our book group's current book for the month. A story of attempted book burning..