Mutterings - May 11

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

1. Relief :: Road
2. Flutter :: Heart
3. Match :: Paris
4. Viewed :: Http logs
5. Soul :: Music
6. Recognize :: Own
7. Ambitious :: Power
8. Dancing :: Dirty
9. Paths :: Grave (lead but to the...)
10. Joke :: Feed line (Patricia supplies them!)

Teaser Tuesday - May 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!

To Ammu her twins seemed like a pair of small bewildered frogs engrossed in each other's company, lolloping arm in arm down a highway full of hurtling traffic. Entirely oblivious of what trucks can do to frogs.

Back in December, in our book group, we each had to choose a book for someone and the parcels were randomly chosen. My giftee didn't like my choice so we swapped and I'm now - between books reading Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things and I'm quite enjoying - finding it hard to get a handle on the narrative but then you have teasers like this! I was also tempted by the lines I read last night- but they were nowhere near lines 7-12:

Chacko said that going to see The \sound of Music was an extended exercise in Anglophilia. Ammu said 'Oh come on, the whole world goes to see The Sound of Music. It's a World Hit.' 'Nevertherless, my dear' Chacko said in this Reading Aloud voice. 'Never. The. Less.'

Going on a bit to those little details of interaction. And there's a sing-a-long Sound of Music (or maybe that should be 'Sing. A. Long.') at St Michael's Macclesfield later this month!
But for the actual teaser there's the wonderful 'lolloping' to my mind more associated with rabbits than frogs but a lovely sound. Stripping away the charm I see the Oxford Dictionary has its origin as 'Mid 18th century: probably from loll, associated with trollop.'

Mutterings - May 4

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

1. Button :: Hot
2. Mindset :: Rigid
3. Tart :: and Vicar
4. Very unique :: Arrgh!
5. Hologram :: Illusion
6. Comedy :: of Errors
7. Smartly :: Dressed
8. Posted! :: Nailed! (probably along the lines of proclaiming an opinion)
9. Surge :: Election (we have one of these fast approaching, and various parties always claim that the surge is with them)
10. Introduction :: Spoken (probably to a recital)

Mutterings - Apr 26

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

1. Thank you :: Kindly
2. Pills :: Pop
3. Watch :: Stop
4. Don’t move :: or I shoot
5. Meeting :: Strange (Wilfred Owen)
6. Physical :: Stress
7. Finding :: Trail
8. Dangerous :: Moonlight (I don't think I;ve ever seen it)
9. Closely :: Guarded (secret)
10. 8 days :: Film

GAFCON's contempt for the Church of England

Here's Nick Baines (Bishop of Leeds) on GAFCON's latest conference and communique.

I was once at a meeting of evangelical bishops in England when three English Gafcon men came to meet us. They had stated that this was the case and that bishops were giving their clergy a hard time. We asked for evidence so we could consider it before we met. Bishop Tom Wright and I were just two who were outraged at the misinformation, misrepresentation and selective re-writing of history presented to us. When we began to challenge this, we were told that we shouldn’t get bogged down in the detail and could we move on. And they got away with it. I am not making this up.

But go and read the whole article. Anyone who isn't signed up to their shibboleths is automatically an enemy - if Nick Baines feels this then they need exposing and naming for what they are before they damage more churches with their self serving rhetoric.

Mutterings - Apr 19

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

1. Roller coaster :: Ride
2. Notification :: popup
3. Yellow :: Submarine (I don't think I've ever seen it!)
4. Humor :: Pun
5. Parental :: Control
6. Blow :: Low
7. Duck :: Billed Platypus
8. Height :: Dizzyness
9. Wolf :: Clothing (sheep must be in there somewhere)
10. Troubling :: Memories

Teaser Tuesday - Apr 14

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 looked imploringly into his eyes, aware that he had paid far too much money for a meal that would leave him hungry in an hour's time. Her own appetite was gone, quite gone.

Anita Brookner's Hotel du Lac - a re-read - it is the Book Group's book for this month. Here's a fairly randomly chosen review! Brookner's study of a single woman staying at a Swiss Hotel in the off season a quiet, gentle study an age away - apparently - from England in the 80s. She loves these plots on reflective single women, I remember the initial read (just) and bits of the TV version but only the atmosphere, so am awaiting events with anticipation!

A teaser up on Tuesday - shocking (and I finally notice the move of the original website!)!

Mutterings - April 13

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

1. Science :: Knowledge
2. Everywhere :: Waves
3. Seed :: Corn
4. Comedian :: Mask
5. Philadelphia :: Cheese
6. Disillusioned :: Angry
7. Rolls :: Bread
8. History :: Personal
9. Eagles :: Dare
10. Disappointed :: in love

Teaser Tuesday - April 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!

Yes it's even later than usual, I blame the bank holiday (possibly!)

Eventually, he too, like Handel, travelled all over Europe, but precious little is know about what he got up to. He spent the last couple of years of his life in Vienna, where sadly, he pulled off the Composers End No 207 - the so called 'Death in Poverty' position - perfectly.

The last years of Antonio Vivaldi from Stephen Fry's 'InComplete & Utter History of Classical Music' - this was a Christmas present and I'm quite enjoying it. Quite a bit of uinformation I didn't know - though my reading the pre 19th century music was a bit lacking. There's some cringeworthy references to Jimmy Savile - the book was published in 2004. It's also sometimes a bit disconnected, reading like bits have been shoved together - - p113 compares the Beethoven Eroica with Haydn and Mozart symphonies saying it's not in the same playing field 'It's EPIC it's AMAZING'; then p118 on the Beethoven 5th 'Up to now the most amazing thing in the world of symphonies has been Mozart or Haydn' - he should make up his mind! I was also surprised last night to get past 1827-8 with no mention of the deaths of Beethoven or Schubert.

Spring

In the current warm spell, many things are blossoming.

Mutterings - April 5

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

1. With me :: Be Gentle
2. Goodbye :: I'm leaving you (the curse of the Sound of Music..)
3. Cap :: Peaked
4. Idiotic :: Statement
5. Forever :: Friends
6. Bleeds :: Heart (I'm probably thinking of the computer vulnerability)
7. Expected :: Long (long expected Jesus.. and Advent hymn)
8. Touching :: Place (oh dear that's another hymn!)
9. Shells :: Spiral
10. Awake :: Shake

Mutterings - March 29

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

1. Twins :: Conjoined
2. Seven :: Perfect
3. Canceled :: Meeting
4. Video :: Game
5. Mistress :: Affair
6. Puppy :: Love
7. Sadness :: Grief
8. Cleanse :: Pores
9. Impostor :: Hypocrite
10. Fruitless :: Campaign

On the Canal

Last week was beginning to feel Spring like so we decided a lunch at the Vale Inn Bollington surrounded by a walk would be good. We walked there along the Middlewood way and back via the canal - part of the tow path is closed in Bollington so a diversion through an estate was necessary but on getting back to the canal we saw this: We were convinced, initially, that a barge owner had a very ornate bow decoration but then it moved, caught a fish and ate it in a nearby field.
I've just received the church walk schedule for the summer, I'm leading a walk ending up at the Vale so I think I'll need another reconnoitre!

Teaser Tuesday - March 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!

And why would you want to be goin' on a diet, Jamie? Sure there's nothing much wrong with the way you are.

From Christina McKenna's The Misremembered Man. Alternating humour and dark tragedy, it's our book group book of the month. Here's a review

Mutterings - March 22

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

1. Ringtone :: Obstrusive
2. Slab :: Marble
3. Harness :: Die in
4. Couple :: Sex
5. Shovel :: Snow
6. Game :: Park
7. Patriotic :: Salute
8. Bleed :: Colour
9. Top :: Monitor
10. Leafy :: Glade

Mutterings - March 16

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

1. Hunt :: Royal (...of the Sun)
2. Spinal :: Tap
3. Groom :: Bride
4. Red light :: District
5. Delayed :: Train
6. Forgetfulness :: Pardon?
7. Tennis :: Elbow
8. Best of luck :: Wish
9. Badge :: of Honour
10. Autograph :: Book

Mutterings - March 8

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

1. Neutral :: Gear
2. Renovation :: Repair
3. Metallic :: Clang
4. Filling :: Tooth
5. Designate :: Bishop
6. Bee sting :: Vinegar
7. Neighbors :: Fences (probably via make good neighbors)
8. Bracket :: Hinge (though I'm thinking of Brackett!)
9. Call me :: Back
10. Pretty :: Young

Teaser Tuesday - Mar 3

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 arm that had been around Sukey's waist flexed above my head.
'Poke him in the eyes.'

from Emma Healey's Elizabeth is Missing a study of old age and it's indignities and frailties. Our BATS book of the month, it's the meeting tonight and I haven't yet finished it - according to the download from Sainsbury's ereader, I have 346 pages to go - I rather doubt this! I've no idea what's wrong with the page numbering. But I think I intend to finish...

Rather too long since I did one of these.

That's a rather unfair teaser - the final sentence is a punchline!

Mutterings - March 1

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

1. Jude :: Obscure
2. Erased :: Rubbed out
3. Addiction :: Internet
4. Curls :: Electric
5. Hotel :: du Lac (Anita Brookner)
6. Bloomers :: Underwear
7. Membership :: Society
8. Family :: Kith
9. Handle :: Struct - Pimpl
10. Questioning :: Truth

Mutterings - Jan 22

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

1. Fatty :: Lumpkin (Lord of the Rings - I had to look it up though - one of Tom Bombadil's ponies)
2. Injection :: Steroid
3. Fearless :: Brave
4. Overflow :: Saucer (Porgy and Bess)
5. Contract :: Software (anyone want to employ me?)
6. Steal :: Cheat
7. Heartless :: Fraud
8. Flap :: Wings
9. Baseline :: Hypotenuse
10. Merger :: Financial

Mutterings - Jan 15

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

1. Tripple :: 20 (do the Americans spell triple like that, don't they do removal of surplus letters
2. Ownership :: Deed
3. Promising :: Beginning
4. Bonding :: Brotherhood (and blood, Gotterdammerung act 2!)
5. Flurry :: Snow
6. Weather:: Sattelite (or balloon)
7. Conclusion :: Full stop
8. Scolding :: Bridle (I guess mediaeval torture implements to keep women 'in their place')
9. Nipple :: Breast
10. Freezing :: Thermometer (or icicle)

The Wall

Last week Silk Screen showed Julian Polster's The Wall

A film of the novel by Marlen Haushofer from the 1960's and a study of nature and our relationship to it. A wonderful performance by Martina Gedeck ('The Lives of Others'). Nature photography, the animals, the mountains, solitude and focus. There were echoes for me of Winterreise - the crow combining that song and der greise kopf it's a white crow. A solitary tramping though a wilderness. Was the novel written with the Berlin Wall in mind?

The Interrogation

But the financiers will ask
In that day: Is it not better
To leave broken bank balances
Behind than broken heads?

And Christ recognizing the
New warriors will feel breaching
His healed side their terrible
Pencil and the haemorrhage of its figures.

R S Thomas

I'm talking about Thomas in a prayer group tomorrow and this poem seems apposite for the week.

Mutterings - Feb 8

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

1. Tripple :: Metre (or maybe fall!)
2. Rationing :: Book (I had one when I was young!)
3. Wrong :: Right
4. Mother :: Home
5. Lotion :: Calamine
6. Hesitate :: Lost
7. Home :: -ward bound
8. Stumble :: Limp
9. Procedure :: Function
10. Faithless :: Friend

A little late....

Teaser Tuesday - Feb 3

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!

Genuinestarts of the Cirque d'Hiver," Jenny marvels. "How high up was your trapeze hung?"

from Emma Donoghue's Frog Music. A tale of (ex-)circus folk and a seller of frogs legs in San Francisco in the 19th century. Early days but I'm rather enjoying this! Based on a true story - rather like the woman who gave birth to rabbits and Astray also by Donoghue - both of which I've recently read but rather than a short story this is a full novel, will see if it sustains interest in a longer read.

Mutterings - Feb 1

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

1. Greatness :: Stature
2. Struggling :: Mess
3. Noise :: Barrier (probably via noise -> sound
4. Doorway :: Lilacs (I see it's dooryard
5. Soap :: Soft
6. Cancer :: Crab
7. Sipping :: Tea
8. Stacks :: Book
9. Perfect :: Tense
10. Test :: Written

Mutterings - Jan 25

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

1. Astrology :: Bogus
2. Funeral :: Parlour
3. Candor :: Dandy (Candy is dandy, yes I know that's not candor but that's the way my mind worked!)
4. Dynamic :: Personal
5. Oh my god! :: Shock!
6. Cancer :: Struggle
7. Ross :: on Wye
8. Heroes :: Help (Help for Heroes is a UK charity supporting injured ex-service people)
9. Rachaell :: Sarah (can Rachel really be spelt like that?)
10. Effortlessly :: Glide

Mutterings - Jan 18

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

1. Language :: Barrier
2. Obvious :: Trick
3. Skull :: -duggery
4. Insidious :: Worm - I think this is half-remembered William Blake in the Britten setting - invisible rather than insidious (though it's both in the poem!)
5. Struggle:: Titanic
6. Unspeakable :: Acts
7. Orchid :: Pink
8. Fish :: Rotten
9. Annoyingly :: Consistent
10. Payroll :: Security

Teaser Tuesday - Jan 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!

What do I lack? And the answer seemed to her to be so immediately obvious.

Alexander McCall Smith's Love Over Scotland this is my book group book of the month - well actually the book for Dec & Jan - we don't have a meeting in Jan and at the last meeting we all brought a gift wrapped (different hopefully!) book which were shared at random. This is nice and light for the season, I suspect my choice was rather harder! Having spent a month working in Edinburgh back in 2013 it was nice to revisit the city in literary form! And that's a rather good teaser!

Mutterings - Jan 11

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

1. Decree :: Solemn
2. Seats :: Bucket
3. No no no :: Nannette - I see the musical which I've never heard has only 2 No's - If the association had been 2 No's then I'd probably have come up with Luigi!
4. Fess up :: Man (up)
5. Construct :: C++
6. Page :: Buttons (must still be pantomime season)
7. Laughter :: Off
8. Audience :: Participation
9. Freezes :: Windscreen
10. Stuck up :: Pompous

Teaser Tuesday - Jan 6

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 pod is completely dark and sound-free (although the one I used did offer customers the option of 'calming music') and you feel neither temperature nor gravity. I was generously given a double session, because my friend felt that I was more used to silence than most people and a single hour would not be enough for me to get the full benefits.

Sara Maitland's A Book of Silence - I've been wanting to read this and happened to notice it in the library - a book on the value and dangers of silence. In the teaser she's describing a session in a flotation tank at a health spa.

Mutterings - Jan 4

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

1. Note :: Crotchet
2. 2015 :: New Year!
3. Earlobe :: Knighthood - due to a 60's comedy show I parse that word as Earl OBE
4. Sunburn :: Lotion
5. Hashtag :: Twitter
6. Special :: B (the B specials were a overwhelmingly protestant police force in Northern Ireland)
7. Spacious :: Flat
8. Happening :: Stockhausen (many of the 60s Stockhausen works had the ethos of a 60s happening)
9. Blank :: Memory
10. Humid :: percent

Mutterings - Dec 28

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

1. Locked out :: Strike
2. Hourly :: Rate
3. Criminal :: Negligence
4. Seventeen :: Janis Ian
5. Assistance :: Legal
6. Closes :: Handbag
7. Cubicle :: Headphones
8. I´m just saying :: Lie
9. Paperless :: Office
10. In charge :: Management

Mutterings - Dec 21

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

1. Disappointment :: Despair
2. Searching :: Wandering
3. Counters :: Snakes (and ladders)
4. Snippet :: Paste
5. Carol :: Concert
6. Tiresome :: Rage
7. Booger :: Sniff
8. Freak show :: Vulnerability
9. Summarize :: Bullet point
10. Heartache :: Separation

A Pennine pub crawl

A bit back now I joined a group doing a rail trip back from Hudderfield via various pubs - this was the report from one of the travellers:

We weren’t de-railed but “beer-railed” on Friday 21 November when eight blokes from All Saints visited five hostelries in Yorkshire. After re-grouping on Piccadilly Station, Manchester, we travelled to Huddersfield where the magnificent station provided a large range of alcoholic drinks and excellent food (not at all fast). Off to Slaithwaite (pronounced “Slouwit”) for a short walk to a friendly local for more beer. Back to the station and next train to Marsden, down-hill to village and pub with brewery attached. More beer (some had very large sausage rolls to assuage their hunger). Back to the station and next train(s) to Greenfield and later Stalybridge for repeat performances. As the rain fell heavily and more and more of us squashed together in the platform shelters with the other groups (about 50 men), on the same pilgrimage, the noise and banter level increased proportionately to the amount of alcohol consumed. Phil met some former colleagues but this paled to insignificance when one of our party admitted (under pressure) to being the father of Jamie Donaldson. This most enjoyable trip ended for most at roughly 9pm and our thanks are due to Phil Marsh for his communication and leadership skills. “We’ll all drink to that!”

Mutterings - Dec 14

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

1. Stuck :: Down
2. Elevator :: Buttons
3. Vaccine :: Ebola
4. Pepsi :: Cherry
5. Rotund :: Waistline
6. Wonder :: Awe
7. Solo :: Hans (that's a little alarming!)
8. Voodoo :: Pins
9. Sticky :: Back plastic (Blue Peter's non advertising circumlocution for Sellotape - oh dear I think that'll need translating too!)
10. Summarize :: Bullet points

Mutterings - Dec 7

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

1. Fantasy :: Final
2. Square one :: Chess
3. Impostors :: Masks
4. Hydrate :: Test tube
5. Card :: Christmas
6. Respects :: Last
7. Big city :: Manchester
8. Alert :: Danger
9. Scrabble :: Domino (the names of our first 2 cats)
10. Neighborhood :: Friendly

Disgrace

Last week, silkscreen showed Disgrace, the film of the J M Coetzee novel. We read this in our book group a few years ago - I can't find any mention of it on this blog. A study of shame, forgiveness and the new South Africa. It's very true to the novel (as far as I can remember!) as it confronts a nation in a state of change. Watching the film will probably lead - for me - to a re-read of the book!

The Cold season

Those who follow me elsewhere may have already picked up the news that I'm working again - out of IT - driving for a local artisan bakers Flour Water Salt - very local to us - 5 mins walk from the house. I get to drive though quiet bits of Cheshire countryside and there's frequent visits to Jodrell Bank. Today was the first really cold day, so here's a photo and a quote from T S Eliot's Little Gidding:

Midwinter spring is its own season
Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown,
Suspended in time, between pole and tropic.
When the short day is brightest, with frost and fire,
The brief sun flames the ice, on pond and ditches,
In windless cold that is the heart’s heat,
Reflecting in a watery mirror
A glare that is blindness in the early afternoon.
And glow more intense than blaze of branch, or brazier,
Stirs the dumb spirit: no wind, but pentecostal fire
In the dark time of the year. Between melting and freezing
The soul’s sap quivers.

Being out in the countryside in this cold, clear light brings life..

Teaser Tuesday - Dec 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!

'What earthly use are what-ifs?' she asked, pulling a golden muffin off her long fork and reaching for the honey. 'I was born in the body allotted to me.'

Something warming for a winter evening! From Emma Donoghue 'The Woman who gave birth to rabbits' a collection of fictions which are true. The quoted sentences come from the 'Salvages' tale - a wonderful collection of whacky tales full of entertaining historical detail. This is a re-read for me.

Mutterings - Dec 1

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

1. Smug :: Complacent
2. Swan :: Song
3. Ginger :: Nut
4. Doctor :: Finlay (harking back a bit!)
5. Handshake :: Masonic
6. Studies :: Op 42 (Scriabin piano work)
7. Pond :: Life
8. Register :: Awareness
9. Surgery :: Forceps
10. Compass :: Moral

.. a little late!

Teaser Tuesday - Nov 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!

I went up and down my tables like a ladder. I made the names of the Kings and Queens of England blaze across my mind like banners: Edward Edward Edward Richard Henry Henry Henry Edward Edward Richard Henry Henry Edward Mary Elisabeth James...

again Helen Dunmore's The Lie - this month's book group book.

Mutterings - Nov 23

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

1. Seal :: Arf!
2. Grown up :: Behaviour
3. Rags :: [to] Riches
4. Collar:: Feel (what the police do)
5. Fears :: Tears
6. Yellow :: Belly
7. Link :: Missing
8. Patrol :: Army
9. Fancy :: Little (of what you...)
10. Ears :: Big (and Noddy)

Mutterings - Nov 16

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

1. Drive thru :: Eugh! (sorry!)
2. Horse power :: Engine
3. Plates :: Meat (probably the cockney plates of meat lurking there!)
4. Coffee break :: Chat
5. Dress :: Sense
6. Ferrarri :: Red
7. Bangs :: Hair
8. Charisma :: Dazzle
9. Muffler :: November
10. Crossroads :: Serial (an old TV soap in the UK - I don't think I ever saw it)

Teaser Tuesday - Nov 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!

I rolled a granite boulder to the head of the grave. I knew how quickly green would cover the turned earth.

Helen Dunmore's The Lie, all very elliptic at the moment, our book group book of the month. No doubt the direction of the tale will get clearer soon?

Mutterings - Nov 9

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

1. Fencing :: Mending
2. Mediocre :: Attempt
3. 19th :: Century
4. Candy :: Man
5. Scorch :: Iron
6. Allergies :: Hayfever
7. Swirl :: Skirt
8. Level up :: Game
9. Modern :: Tate
10. Tasty :: Treat

Teaser Tuesday - Nov 4

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!

'Did you know that Mr Barber's life was insured with his wife as sole beneficiary?'
The question was like a wire drawn tight at ankle level: it brought her down with a bump.

A final teaser from Sarah Waters 'The Paying Guests' I'm now in the courtroom drama stage of the novel - maybe the different phases are rather taut and enjoyable! Here's my previous tease from the book.

Mutterings - Nov 2

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

1. Feelings:: Emotions
2. Bake :: Clam
3. Corrupt :: Management
4. Amber :: Insect
5. Awesome :: View
6. Peace :: Stillness
7. Benches :: Alpine
8. Sultry :: Glances
9. Choker :: Pearl
10. Juice :: Grape

Teaser Tuesday - Oct 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!

When Monte called in for his regular cup of tea in the morning, Tom and Rachel were introduced. He was the double of Harold, although a few stone heavier and with permanent laugh lines etched into his face.

From Peter Lihou's Rachel's Shoe our BATS (book group of the month) - rather too many names in those 2 sentences for a teaser. I wasn't impressed, it felt like teenage fiction (though I suppose there's nothing wrong with that) lots of derring do and a little predictable - having recently watched Edge of Darkness I preferred the rather similar denoument of the TV series.

Mutterings - Oct 26

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

1. Family :: Nuclear
2. Leather :: Armchair
3. Chunky :: Monkey
4. Shaking :: Fear
5. Suffering :: Servant
6. Pockets :: Deep
7. Loose :: Change
8. Show :: Girl
9. Vest :: String
10. Finale :: Grand

Mutterings - Oct 19

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

1. Freak :: Out
2. Thrown out :: Pub
3. Wedding :: Ceremony
4. 99 percent :: Whole
5. Terminal :: Cancer
6. Culprit :: Thief
7. Bows :: Struck (I'm with the violins)
8. Stock :: Beef
9. Hospital :: Ward
10. Dodge :: City

Missed a week - we've been away!

Ginger shortbread

I cooked ginger shortbread yesterday for the during(!) morning service this morning and used a recipe from an old Scargill cookbook:

Ingredients

150g self raising flour
• 110g margarine
• 55g sugar
• 1/2 tsp ginger

For icing:
• 55g margarine
• 4 tblsp icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1 dessertspoon syrup

Method

Melt margarine and sugar.

Work in flour and ginger.

Bake in swiss roll tin in mod. oven 20-30 min (yesterday I found it was around 20).

Melt ingredients of icing and pour on shortbread while it is hot.

Cut when cold.

The cookies that were also cooked - I'd provide a recipe but my notes have the following as the instructions:
Rub in marg
and the ingredients say 'milk' with no quantity - so we're lucky they turned out well!

Mutterings - Oct 5

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

1. Candle light :: Carols
2. Kevin :: Bacon
3. Fireplace :: Stone
4. Pots :: Pans
5. Scarf :: Dr Who
6. Colossal :: Rhodes
7. Golf :: Ryder (Cup)
8. Construction :: First (First Construction in Metal is a work by John Cage)
9. Reason :: Sense
10. Washington :: State

Teaser Tuesday - Sept 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!

The salami and olives seemed to have disappeared: inroads had been made into the ciabatta. Mentally he substituted grapes for the sliced oranges with cointreau he had planned. His attention was claimed in a quite other direction.

Taking another sentence to the end of the paragraph - another teaser from our book group book for the month. As with the last teaser - choices!

Mutterings - Sept 28

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

1. 20 :: 20
2. Spark :: (fly) upwards (from the Old Testament book of Job)
3. Hangnail :: and I
4. Distant :: Relation
5. Muffin :: Mule I didn't realise (or had forgotten the BBC had recently revived this)
6. Compute :: Does not
7. Bangs :: Explosions
8. Mattress :: Springs
9. Tense :: Future
10. Sarah :: Rachel

Teaser Tuesday - Sept 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!

After this spectacular and, it seemed, defining reproach he felt he had only two options. One was to cultivate the life of the mind.

Anita Brookner's Strangers - I'm afraid option 2 doesn't appear for quite a few sentences so you'll have to remain teased both to the reproach and his other option! This is our book group of the month which I am, at last, getting down to! Here's Hilary Mantel's review of the book in the Guardian:

Sustained only by grilled sole, the pale repast of the dead, he haunts galleries and museums. Then, in the hopeless cause of cheering himself up, he locks up his gloomy flat and takes off to Venice. .... Each book [of Brookner] is a prayer bead on a string, and each prayer is a secular, circumspect prayer, a prayer and a protest and a charm against encroaching night.

Mutterings - Sept 21

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

1. Equality :: Justice
2. Strappy :: Underground (probably via the straps for holding onto)
3. Kitten :: Sex
4. Program :: begin (showing my pascal roots!)
5. Inventory :: List
6. Choice :: Road less travelled (Frost - though the word choice never appears in that poem and neither do my associations!)
7. Scuba :: Diving
8. Purchase :: Order
9. Promotion :: Value
10. Organization :: Corporate

Teaser Tuesday - Sept 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!

Soap left streaks on the black tiles. The first, wet rub was important for loosening the dirt, but it was the second bit that really counted, passing the wrung cloth over the floor in one supple, unbroken movement ... There!

More 1920's detail from Sarah Waters The Paying Guests and oozing with sensuality. Here's a review:

Frances Wray doesn’t know the first thing about being a landlady. The first thing about being a landlady is that under no circumstances should you sleep with your young married female lodger, especially if it’s 1922. But given that Frances is the protagonist of a novel by Sarah Waters, a torrid lesbian affair is perhaps only to be expected. The question in Waters’ new book, The Paying Guests, is just how spectacularly Frances’ decision will lead to disaster—and whether or not she will find a path through the wreckage to the other side.

An incoherent mumbling of ice-floes

I'm in the midst of reading (very slowly!) Thomas Merton's Journal for 1939-41 and last night I found this sentence:

Then the Archbishop of Canterbury, smiling in his sleep, announces like the incoherent mumbling of ice-floes breaking up in the wastes of the Antarctic, 'You know Russia is gravitating back towards religion. The people will insensibly return to God because they have to.'

Wishful thinking then, wishful thinking by some on the right now. Merton was obviously not a fan of Cosmo Gordon Lang!

Mutterings - Sept 14

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

1. Men :: Women
2. Partial :: Eclipse
3. Expenses :: Scandal
4. Notification :: Popup
5. Bubble wrap :: Squeezable
6. Speech :: Direct
7. Rumble :: West Side Story
8. Sounds :: Gong
9. Sweaty :: Wrist band
10. Mud :: Slide

Mutterings - Sept 7

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

1. Bubbles :: Squeak
2. Urges :: Primal
3. Doorknob :: Broomstick
4. Insipid :: Stew
5. Freckles :: Arm
6. Leafy :: Glade
7. Volkswagon :: Golf
8. Scrap :: Metal
9. Illuminate :: Display
10. Headboard :: Bed

Teaser Tuesday - Sep 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!

It was as if a giant mouth had sucked a bag of boiled sweets and then given the house a lick. The faded carpet in her mother's old bedroom was lost beneath faded pseudo-Persian rugs.

Wonderful imagery and dripping with 1920's detail is Sarah Water's The Paying Guests, you just have this feeling that it is going to end badly!

Mutterings - Aug 31

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

1. Brownie :: Scout Hut
2. Randomly :: Walk
3. Congratulations! :: Card!
4. Curls :: Lip
5. Lipstick :: Pink
6. Memory :: RAM
7. Tea :: Caddy
8. Bulletin :: Sheet
9. Fragrance :: Forgotten (is there a poem somewhere..)
10. Pace :: Impatient

Mutterings - August 24

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

1. Burp :: Digestion
2. Inseparable :: Companions (or typo in its original form ;-)
3. Flights :: Ash (cloud)
4. Schedule :: Demands
5. Bucket :: Ice
6. Divorce :: D-I-V-O-R-C-E
7. Office :: Mayor
8. Tweed :: Jacket (and someone's nickname at school)
9. Mattress :: Bought (one yesterday!)
10. Priorities :: Right of way

Teaser Tuesday - Aug 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 plaque's inside the church. Brian John Edmondson aged 17 and a good swimmer.

from Julie Myerson's Something Might Happen a murder mystery but also a study in grief set in a small Suffolk town (clearly Southwold!) Here's the Guardian review. It's our book group book of the month - not a comfortable read but I think it's going to be a rewarding study. And a wonderful teaser!

Mutterings - Aug 17

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

1. Chocolate :: Dark
2. Spike :: Milligan
3. Puppy :: Affection
4. Corner :: Shop
5. Charcoal :: Burner (Swallows and Amazons lurking there i think)
6. Game :: Chess
7. 28 :: Perfect
8. Summitt :: Typo
9. Tuxedo :: Dinner
10. Winner :: Plaque

Mutterings - August 10

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

1. Supervisor :: Guard
2. Facebook :: Like (maybe!)
3. Almond :: Essence
4. Southern :: Cross
5. Hangnail :: Ouch!
6. Runner :: Do a
7. Authentic :: Jean de Florette (saying l'authentique with an appropriate accent!)
8. Curls :: Golden
9. Skirt :: Avoid
10. Detective :: Emil

Mutterings - Aug 3

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

1. I think I love :: You
2. Obsessed :: Angry
3. Dancers :: before God (I think that's Tippett and the Knot Garden)
4. Guitar :: Strum
5. Hurry up! :: Waiting
6. Thump :: Fist
7. Conquest:: Norman
8. Lights :: Harbour
9. Rose :: thou are sick (Blake), and Taylor-Milton
10. Birthday :: Party

Teaser Tuesday - July 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!

The pain of her relationship with Bruno lay in separation - not just in times and distances but sometimes, she felt, in the very fact that they were different beings. Even together they were apart.

From Sebastian Faulks A Possible Life about choices but I'm still unsure what it's really about! I need to re-read and study - for example - this review.

Mutterings - July 27

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

1. Fish:: Babel
2. Dreaming :: Floating
3. Living :: Fighting
4. Expectations :: Confounding
5. Mug :: China
6. Jacket :: Potato
7. Bowl :: Rice
8. Confession :: Truth
9. Socks :: Cat!
10. Tank :: Trap

I'm just finishing off preparation for taking a service - preaching and prayers this morning - and those first few responses appear to be still in that mode of thinking!

Mutterings - July 20

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

1. Strong :: Man
2. Bathing :: Beauty
3. Title :: Lord
4. Tick Tock :: Hickery Dock
5. Dispute :: Employment
6. Magazine :: Explosion
7. Stupid! :: Silly!
8. Safely :: Traverse
9. Reposition :: Marketing
10. So wrong :: Wrong-headed

Mutterings - July 13

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

1. Joke :: Pun
2. Away :: Manger
3. Reaction :: Chemical
4. High :: Kite
5. Movie :: Frame
6. Decide :: Meet
7. Afternoon :: Faun (Debussy)
8. Contrarian :: Obstinate
9. Understand :: Sympathise
10. Zone :: War

Teaser Tuesday - July 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!

There was not a drawer or a shelf. There was not a logical place to put a pen, there was no logic to any of it.

A final teaser from Ann Patchett's State of Wonder - exploring someone else's office deep in the Amazonian jungle.

Mutterings - July 6

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

1. Onion :: Layers
2. Greek :: Temple
3. Construct :: Language
4. Crunch :: Credit
5. Bottom :: Weaver (Shakespeare!)
6. Cream :: Scone
7. Slamming :: Deck
8. Jerk :: Pork
9. Closed :: Envelope
10. Texture :: Hatched

Teaser Tuesday - July 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!

An opinion isn't one thing or the other: it is neither science nor faith, but has a little bit of either one. It is a rationalization bolstered up by some orthodoxy which you happen to respect which naturally starves the mind instead of feeding it (and that is what people who have no faith imagine faith does, but they don't know what they are talking about, because faith is a virtue and active habit which cannot even pretend to rationalize anything: it seeks what is beyond reason).

I'm back on Thomas Merton and 'Run to the Mountain' Journals (Volume One 1939-1941).

Mutterings - June 29

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

1. Delicious :: Menu
2. Element :: Periodic (Table)
3. Cohesion :: Stick
4. Course :: Main
5. Blister :: Heel
6. Incomplete :: Definition
7. Socks :: Cat
8. Instruction :: Order
9. Pill :: Dose
10. Impressive :: Truth

Teaser Tuesday - June 24

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!

'Henry, so nice to see you again.' Mr Okabe wore grey flannel pants and a hat that made him look like Cary Grant. Like Keiko, he spoke beautiful English.

Another one from Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. I think this is heading toward the school of Dan Brown.. I spotted this sentence on p 238 'Even though near the end, as wonderful as it sounded, she'd had little appetite.' - the end is a character's death and the 'wonderful' relates to the menu in the previous sentence, it's not the end that is wonderful! I think that's just a little convoluted! What sort of hat does Cary Grant wear?

Mutterings - June 22

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

1. Closed :: Pass (or the Cat & Fiddle Rd!)
2. Tourists :: Cameras
3. Footsteps :: in the snow - the Debussy prelude, here's Michelangeli playing it
4. Ginger :: Spice
5. Way :: Roman
6. Designer :: Handbag
7. Mattress :: Lumpy
8. Disaster :: McGonagall
9. Chips :: Fabrication
10. Campaign :: Banners

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!

'I mean they weren't just Chinese, they were super-Chinese, if you know what I mean. They were like ice cubes in America's melting pot, you know - they had one way of doing things.'

Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - our book group book of the month. A tale of the Chinese and Japanese communities in Seattle during World War II and its aftermath. Bit of a breathless style so far, I will see whether I settle into it! (Yes I'm late for Tuesday again!)

Mutterings - June 15

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

1. Today :: Redhead (Today is a long running BBC radio news programme - Brian Redhead who lived locally presented it for many years)
2. Lips :: Kissed - and I think this poem of Edna St. Vincent Millay
3. Seethe :: Anger
4. Desired :: Afar
5. Patrol :: Border
6. Nails :: Cross
7. Pastry :: Choux
8. Jacket :: Metal
9. Button :: Holes
10. Feel :: Nerves

Teaser Tuesday - June 10

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 wore a pair of nylon shorts and a green T-shirt that said "World Cup Soccer". ... Logic would dictate that this child would be selling something as well, children were industrious in Manaus: hawking fans and postcards and butterflies in wooden boxes, but his hands were empty.

Cheating slightly - two sentences from near the start of a page but it is my current reading and the conjunction of that, World Cup and Manaus was irresistible! Another teaser from Ann Patchett's State of Wonder -linking back to my previous teaser from this book.

Mutterings - Jun 8

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

1. Fringe :: Beyond the..
2. Helicopter :: Rotor
3. Netflix :: App
4. Humor :: Cartoon
5. Niece :: Nephew
6. Summer :: Lazy
7. Crazy :: Paving
8. Arrival :: Birth
9. Nipple :: Suckle
10. Code :: Machine

Machuca - 2 bike rides

Trailer Machuca from Wood Producciones on Vimeo.

Last night we saw Machuca at Macc college, it's a film set in the dying days of Allende's Chile before the military coup. It tells of a friendship between 2 boys one privileged the other from a shanty town. The second is one of a number of boys put in the private school by the Roman Catholic headmaster much to the horror of the parents. It's a growing up story beautifully acted by the young characters, harrowing at times but a real understanding of living it difficult times. I thought the sports field scene was rather lifted from Kes but the scenes on the bike had real power particularly the concentration on the face of Matías Quer (Gonzalo) as he grows up. The film is dedicated to Gerardo Whelan the real life headmaster of a school in Santiago who taught Andrés Wood (the director), here's an interview with him.
I'm afraid the trailer doesn't have subtitles - the initial snippet has Pedro Machuca - the shanty town lad asking Gonzalo if all those shirts are his, the collisions between the cultures are very well done.

My journey of faith (so far!)

Earlier this year I was asked to write an article for the church magazine on my journey of faith. Here it is.

I spent my early years in Birkdale on the Lancashire coast, my parents were occasional church attenders and I attended a Congregational (now URC) church there, I still remember being asked into the pulpit aged about 6 as part of a sermon being asked to read something!
As I grew older and busier church was left behind; I first moved to Macclesfield in the 60's when pharmaceutical companies set up there and my father moved with them. Eventually I returned to belief with becoming more independent and thinking around issues of significance, through looking at a meaning beyond ourselves and things like music and the vastness of mountain scenery were instrumental in that; I came to accept the reality of faith and a God I could then name.

After University I spent a few years in computing and then threw that over to join Scargill (a Christian community running holidays and conferences) and possible ordination. Scargill was a time of learning, of seeing me and other Christians values in a very hot house environment. Whilst there I met Beth we married and after a time in Leeds we moved to Macclesfield, we have 2 grown up children.

The last few years have been rather bumpy, events on various levels - family crises, losses of jobs (one very dubious) I'm currently looking around for employment, which in my 60s, has not been easy!

I have tried to follow the call of Christ particularly on justice issues - I was involved as a Traidcraft rep for over 20 years which helped me to think about issues of development and trade. For a number of years I've been a member of Changing Attitude a group which seeks to help the church to think positively about issues of sexuality. Both these calls have cost in terms of commitment and putting my self in difficult positions.

In the last few years I have gained much from the St Michael's contemplative prayer group - being silent in the presence of God and others to allow God to speak rather than a putting of my many concerns and agendas. Silence has its challenge but meeting God there without the defence of words makes me aware of our dependence upon him.

I am a Reader - someone who preaches & takes services. For many years this has been an opportunity to minister but also, I hope, to give time and space for me to hear God's call to me.

I think to draw together these thoughts as I've journeyed I've tried to meet God in the world as it is (and that's usually painful) and to hear His voice even in the noise and challenges we face everyday.
There's been a lot of long term journeys in the above, journeys are messy things it would be nice to arrive! But for the moment I try to find God in the journey, CS Lewis wrote `I believe in Christianity as I believe in the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but by it I see everything else.' Sometimes the messy nature of what's around us may obscure the view but the stops where is it clear and seeing the panorama give me confidence that the journey is worth while.

Mutterings - June 1

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

1. Travel :: [broadens the] Mind
2. Glitz :: Glamour
3. Bark :: Tree
4. Wicked :: Witch
5. Fifth :: Amendment (not being an American I have only a sketchy idea what this is!)
6. Photography :: Darkroom
7. Yellow :: Belly
8. Counter :: Shop
9. Country :: Nation
10. Speech :: Figure of

Open Gardens

St Michael's Macclesfield is running an Open Garden event on 5/6 July this year in aid of the `Raising the Roof' fund. As part of that our (well Beth's) garden will be open - you can find the full list of gardens (as a pdf) here. Tickets are available on the day or you can get one from me. The photo is of our garden at the moment, no doubt things will be different in July! Hoping for good weather....

View Open Gardens in a full screen map

Updating Ubuntu

Earlier in the week I got around to updating the desktop to the new release of (K)Ubuntu 14.04 - I run the version using the KDE desktop - though I have lots of the ordinary Ubuntu packages installed too. Around 50 mins from the projected end of update the machine locked up - I was doing various other things at the time on it which may have contributed to this. No response to anything from mouse/keyboard - the sysrq magic keys had no effect either, but I was running an ssh server on the dekstop so I logged in remotely and rebooted.
When it came up again the boot screen appeared to think it was running 14.04 (rather than the previous 13.10) however at the login screen neither keyboard nor mouse got any reaction (and the ssh server wasn't running the machine hadn't registered with the router). I tried re-booting a couple of times with no effect.
I then broke into GRUB (at boot - press down the shift key) and booted the minimal 13.10 install (still there!) and ran the dkpg fix option (I previously tried minimal with 14.04 which again failed) which ran to completion. A reboot then gave me a working system!
Looking at the upgrade log file the last lines of /var/log/dist-upgrade/term.log read as follows:

Setting up openssh-server (1:6.6p1-2ubuntu2) ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/init/ssh.conf ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/pam.d/sshd ...
ssh stop/waiting
ssh start/running, proce

Yes it stops there! I had it down as a problem with the NVIDIA graphics driver, this might suggest something else - I wasn't connected via ssh when I was running the upgrade so it wasn't a a case of the connection dying. Still puzzled but putting this here in case it helps anyone else.
The other problem I found (so far!) is that Ctrl-Space doesn't appear to do anything - I use this key combo a lot - in Emacs. So it was a bit painful, a websearch reveled that ibus was the problem so I ran ibus-setup and stopped that grabbing Ctrl-Space for 'next input method' and assigned it to a different key.
So far everything else appears to work...

Mutterings - May 25

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

1. Apple :: Tart
2. Queasy :: Nausea
3. Cheeks :: Blow
4. Nostril :: Snort
5. Tee shirt :: Slogan
6. Enough :: is Enough (a book about over exploitation of the Earth from the 1970s)
7. Maybe :: Perhaps
8. How? :: Paleface
9. Palace :: Garden
10. Satellite :: Telstar (shows my age!)

Teaser Tuesday - May 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!

'I wanted to let you in on something very serious. The pope just phoned me from the Vatican, really pissed off at you.'

from Andrea Camilleri's The Shape of Water - our book group book of the month. An Inspector Montalbano mystery - here's a review. Needless to say that wasn't the Pope....

Mutterings - May 19

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

1. Submit :: Concede
2. Evidence :: Partial
3. Investing :: Time
4. Awkward :: Posture
5. Body :: Count
6. Extension :: Plug
7. Period :: Free (that goes back a long way to school!)
8. Support :: Bridge
9. Carried :: St Christopher (that's probably a combination of this and the previous one!)
10. Anxious :: Nerves

Teaser Tuesday - May 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!

Oh, Anders! To have been sent off on a mission you were never right for. To be regarded after your death as an error of judgement

I'm in the midst of a re-read of Ann Patchett's State of Wonder. I'm not sure if I hoped that this would be our book group's book of the month - it's on the list we draw randomly from.. but I picked this book up in a charity shop last week and thought I'd enjoy owning/re-reading it. Here's my original teaser, comments and a link to the author talking about it.

Mutterings - May 11

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

1. Warning :: Gale
2. Resume :: Restart
3. Meeting :: Business
4. Squares :: Diamonds
5. Alternate :: Current
6. Prison :: Iron Bars (... nor iron bars a cage)
7. Swamp :: Monster
8. Games :: Leisure
9. Months :: Years
10. Share :: Generosity

First walk of the summer season

We were the only walkers this evening so cut the walk short but not before a good view across the fields.

Teaser Tuesday- May 6

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 a day late...

In the middle of the trip
he picked some ripe lemons
and was throwing them at the water
until the water seemed golden.
And in the middle of the trip,
under the branches of an oak treee
the police came along and took him away.

Another from The Journals of Thomas Merton 'Run to the Mountain' - a bit of a cheat as here Merton is quoting from Lorca's poem The Arrest - Prendimiento de Antoñito el Camborio - here's the whole poem. Difficult in view of the circumstances of Lorca's own death.

Mutterings - May 4

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

1. Death :: Skeleton
2. Skirt :: Avoid
3. Lust :: Pant
4. You :: Me
5. Repeat :: Ad Infinitum
6. Exhaustion :: Mental
7. Obstruction :: Road Block
8. Secret :: Squirrel
9. Shiny :: New
10. Tell :: William

Beeston View

This afternoon I reconnoitered a walk I'm hoping to lead later this month up to Nab Head. We climbed out of Bollington and came to this view over the Harrop valley. Pretty close to the view from my room when I was a teenager - though with not so many houses in the foreground!

I used to often walk up Nab Head in the 60's until the foot and mouth epidemic and the path was closed. It was only opened again after a long struggle so seeing the route again was good! It's a steep climb but not as hard as White Nancy!

Hmm that doesn't look a very good link anyone running other browser's or OS's like to comment? Try here to take you to the photo.