Mutterings - August 11

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

1. Games :: Olympic
2. Fame :: Spur
3. Construct :: Language
4. Pants :: Rubbish
5. Outlier :: Defence
6. Column :: Nelson's (followed closely by Trajan's)
7. Circus :: Piccadilly (afraid I'm now on a London thread!)
8. Remedy :: Medicinal
9. Other :: Spectral (the other)
10. Outlet :: Water

Teaser Tuesday - Aug 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 garden was in bloom and we had a maypole with garlands all the way up to the little banner at the top. But it was too bad that we never had any wind.

Tove Jansson The Summer Book. Last year the book group read Jansson's The Winter Book - for various reasons I was persuaded against choosing this one but it's so much better! A lovely tale of a small child and her grandmother in among the islands of the gulf of Finland. Very much recommended!

Mutterings - Aug 4

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

1. Weird :: Sisters (probably Macbeth rather than Harry Potter!)
2. Balance :: Scale
3. Personal :: Introduction
4. Reproduction :: Sex
5. Distraction :: Memory
6. Articulate :: Confident
7. Shovel :: Snow
8. Column :: Doric
9. Drastic :: Cleaner (a make of cleaning material - I think!)
10. Bombastic :: General

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!