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..

Incendies

It's a little time ago now but the first showing of Macclesfield silk screen's 2012-2013 season was Denis Villeneuve's Incendies

Incendies Trailer HD by eOneFilms
Here's a review a film telling of a family caught up in civil war in a Lebanon like country, told partially in flashback partially as the children discover the history of their mother. Raw and emotionally gruelling but strongly recommended! At the quiet day we attended the weekend after, somone was saying from a reading of Lucy Winkett's Our Sound is our Wound that for humans singing may have predated speech this, for me gave an added edge to the character of 'The Woman who Sings' in the film.

Le Sentier des Douaniers

DSCF8874, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

The next day of the holiday was walking Le Sentier des Douaniers and old smugglers path over to Trégastel. Spectacular rock formations next to the sea - and the weather behaved! Probably the most popular part of the coast but it was much enjoyed lots of little rocky harbours. The rocky outcrops reminded me of the Staffordshire Roaches with the tide in! Here's the link again to the flickr album.

Mutterings - Sept 30

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

1. Desire :: Wish
2. Paint :: Ball
3. Sides :: Rectangle
4. Gauze :: Muslin
5. Telegraph :: Bush
6. Slip :: Many a
7. Recommend :: Reference
8. Amused :: Laughed
9. Sorted :: Bubble
10. Canvas :: Tent

Teaser Tuesday - Sept 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 lagoon is full of secret currents, shoals, clinging water-weeds. Over most of its expanse, if you lie in the bows of your boat in the sunshine, with a hamper beside you and an arm around your waist, you can see the slithery foliage of its bottom scudding obliquely beneath your keel: until, rashly taking a short cut, you find yourselves soggily aground, your propellor churning the mud around you and your idylls indefinitely postponed.

A last lingering look at Jan Morris' Venice - a reminder of warmth and sunshine on this cold very wet day here in NW England!

Perros Guirec

Sundown, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

The next day was a rest day, we spent it wandering around Perros Guirec, a trip round a museum of local hostory, lunch at a creperie and a wander along the beach. Dinner again at the Manoir du Sphinx admiring the sunset.

Mutterings - Sept 23

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

1. Familiar :: Spirit
2. Style :: Magazine
3. More than :: words can tell
4. Glistening :: Treasure
5. Obstruction :: Swallowing
6. Orifice :: Hole
7. Hugely :: Annoying
8. Tempest :: Shakespeare
9. Sauce :: HP
10. Herbs :: Garden

Teaser Tuesday - Sep 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!

She closed the file, and for half an hour or more sat at the desk with her head in her hands, paralysed with shock and indecision. She could not reveal what she had found, and yet how could she live with the knowledge?

Approaching the end of The Thread - by Victoria Hislop - and a real teaser!

Mutterings - Sept 16

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

1. Social :: Media
2. Fairy tale :: Cinderella
3. 0 :: 1
4. Football :: Match
5. Action :: Man
6. Setting :: Bone
7. Boomers :: Baby
8. Rough :: Smooth
9. Words :: Speech
10. Account :: Book-keeper

Plage de Trestignel from the Manoir du Sphinx

DSCF0955 Plage de Trestignel from the Manoir du Sphinx, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

Day three started with a taxi ride to Port Blanc and then we walked to Perros Guirec for a 2 night stay at the Manoir du Sphinx - a long walk by the shore. Route finding was sometimes tricky. The weather was much better and the port of Perros Guirec was a good resting place before the final hill up to the hotel! The photo was taken from our room and the hotel restaurant jutted out over the hotel lawn giving stunning views as we ate - we were lucky with our table - some tables were further away from the windows!

Teaser Tuesday - Sept 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!

The four walls of her magnificent house were like a cage, within which she was safe. Food was brought to her, clothes were sewn for her, the hairdresser attended to her hair at home and now her son came and went without need for guidance or help.

Victoria Hislop's The Thread - our book group book for the month A pretty trailer but doesn't tell you much more than is on the back cover, The story of Greece (or maybe a story of Greece..) in the 20th century...

Mutterings - 9th Sept

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

1. Middle :: Earth (pig in the...)
2. Runner :: Do a ... (bean)
3. Umbrella :: Stand
4. She :: Rider Haggard
5. Album :: Stemp
6. Speak :: Easy
7. Completely :: Honest
8. Underestimated :: Miscounted
9. Self-esteem :: Worth
10. Compartment :: Railway

A quiet lane in Tréguier

A quiet lane in Tréguier, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

Day 2 of this year's holiday was a walk to Tréguier along the coast past Neolithic remains and the Jaudy estuary. This was the day it rained - cleared up once we got there and the hotel for the evening had a starred Michelin restaurant.

Teaser Tuesday - 4th Sept

Try not to laugh (too much) it's been a busy week!


Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

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

In the plushy cafés of St. Mark's (Regency stripes and spindly chairs) spruce listen with deference to the interminable reminiscences of immaculate uncles: and in the cafés on Christmas eve 20,000 families giggle before the television sets, drinking Cinzano and eating sticky cakes, while the favourite melody of the day is passed from shop to shop, from square to square, down one dark alley to another, like a cheerful watchword in the night. The Christmas services are warm, bright and glistening; the cribs are crude but touching; the choirs sing lustily; and Venice feels less like a grand duchess than a buxom landlady, enjoying a glass of stout when the customers have gone (except for the mysterious permutations of clergy, gold and crimson and misty with incense, that you may glimpse passing and repassing the open doors of the Basilica).

A wonderful extract from Jan Morris's Venice - in the off season (if it now has one) - irrestible and draws one back! Soak in the atmosphere - this is a re-read for me - but probably a little old as a guide book.

Mutterings - 2nd September

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

1. Tenure :: Common (oh dear, church administration!
2. Baptism :: Growth
3. Holders :: Loo Roll (sorry! our church warden had an accident while drilling new holes for these a few days ago)
4. Irritation :: Itch
5. Academics :: Pale
6. Mug :: Tree
7. Charge :: Lightning
8. Percent :: Point
9. Clears :: the runway
10. Selfless :: Loving

Troezel Vras

DSCF0931Troezl Vras door hidden by hydrangeas, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

It's been rather a long time since we returned from our summer break - again an Inntravel tour, this time the Granite Coast of Brittany. So while I still remember it a few comments: we spent the first day on a circular walk around Troezel Vras, country lanes and coastal walks, we went past a large house which has some connection to the du Mauriers. Returned in time for a trip to a local wine merchant - this was one reason for going by car! The fish eater very much enjoyed the evening meal - we should have alerted them in advance that one member of the party isn't keen on oily fish! As you can see the accomodation came with a lovely courtyard. The complete set of photos from the holiday is here

Teaser Tuesday - 28 Aug

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 I noticed the first book missing, I thought I had simply misplaced it, but then I saw the outlines of some feet on the floor in certain patches of the light.
It made me smile.

Getting towards the end of my re-read of Markus Zusak's Book Thief.

Mutterings - 26th August

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

1. Call :: Phone
2. Instinct :: Gut
3. Toffee :: Hammer
4. Cleaner :: Joke
5. Gut :: Digestion
6. Leveled :: Scraped
7. Discover :: Surprise
8. Together :: Better
9. Attack :: Bot
10. String :: Puppet (Sandie Shaw....)

Teaser Tuesday - 21 August

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!

Enter Mr Guppy, who nods to Mr Snagsby, and touches his hat with the chivalry of clerkship to the ladies on the stairs.
`I was strolling away from the office just now, when I found this row going on' says Mr Guppy to the law-stationer, 'and as your name was mentioned, I thought it was right the thing should be looked into.'

More from Dickens' Bleak House - I'm nearly half way through the 750 pages...

Mutterings - 19th August

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

1. Course :: Golf
2. Delusion :: Paranoid
3. Silly :: Billy
4. Intrepid :: Disaster
5. Candle :: Both Ends
6. Entrance :: Grand (of the Queen of Sheba)
7. Voracious :: Hunger
8. Taste :: Honey
9. Bobble :: Hat
10. Horror :: Story

Cocktail Music

In the evenings I'm currently slowly reading my way through an anthology of the poetry of Chase Twichell - I've quoted her before here - I found a large anthology of her poetry at the Oxfam in Alderley Edge a few months ago. This poem seemed especially appropriate as, the evening I read it, we'd just returned from an evening which started with contemplative prayer and ended with a cocktail party (at the same place!) - note the initials of both events! Twichell has made a close study of Zen Buddhism and her poems reflect that.

         Cocktail Music

All my life a brook of voices
has run in my ears,
many separate instruments
tuning and playing, tuning.
It's cocktail music,
the sound of my parents
in their thirties,
glass-lined ice bucket loaded
and reloaded but no one tending bar,
little paper napkins, cigarettes,
kids passing hors d'oeuvres.
It's drinking music,
riffle of water over stones,
ice in glasses, rise and fall
of many voices touching-
that music. Husbands grilling meat,
squirting the fire to keep it down,
a joke erupting, bird voices snipping
at something secret by the bar.
It's all the voices collapsed
into one voice,
urgent and muscled like a river
then lowered as in a drought,
but never gone. It's the background.
When I lift the shell to my ear
it's in there.

(from Dog Language)
And here she is reading Negligent Worldicide (from Horses Where the Answers Should Have Been)

Teaser Tuesday - 14th August

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 followed him over to the right and jabbed him once more and opened him up with a punch that reached into his ribs. The right hand that ended him landed on his chin.

Dramatic stuff! A re-read of Markus Zusak's The Book Thief - I teased this a few years ago it is now my book group's book for the month so I'm reading both this and continuing to progress slowly through Dicken's Bleak House!

Lilies - i

Lilies - i, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

Even though it wasn't a sunny day, the lilies were out in the garden and I wandered out at lunchtime to see them.

Mutterings - 12th August

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

1. View :: World (Room with a...)
2. Yoga :: Position
3. Giggle :: Fun
4. Raider :: Dawn
5. Summer :: (of) Love
6. Debt :: Clearing
7. Cleaning :: Party
8. Sneakers :: Pumps
9. Thwarted :: Scheme
10. Recipes :: Book

Teaser Tuesday - 7th August

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

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

In consequence of which she got into the habit of saying to me at meals, "Mr Snagsby, you haven't found Nimrod any work yet!" or "My Snagsby, why didn't you give that eight-and-thirty Chancery folio in Jarndyce, to Nimrod?" or suchlike. And that is the way he gradually fell into job-work at our place; and that is the most I know of him, except that he was a quick hand, and a hand not sparing of night-work; and that if you gave him, say five-and-forty folio on Wednesday night, you would have it brought in on the Thursday morning.

Sentences within sentences! Bleak House - Charles Dickens analysis of the intricacies of the 19th century English legal system. It's hard going - a very complex novel with lots of characters, I've never read it before and I dont think I saw any of the BBC adaptions - but it summons up an era. Look at that second sentence starting with 'And' together with a few more 'ands' in the rest of it - some of my English teachers would have had a seizure! The wikipedia plot summary may be helpful at the expense of a few spoilers!
(looks like I'm eventually back on the correct date for these postings!)

Mutterings - 5th August

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

1. Rude :: Health
2. Leather :: Chaps
3. Headquarters :: General
4. Good guys :: White hats
5. Blowing :: Bubbles
6. Doddering :: Stick
7. Instructional :: Manual
8. Standards :: Coding
9. Eatery :: Winery
10. Vampire :: Bats

Cloud Atlas

I seem to be on a run of David Mitchell at the moment, here's the trailer for the forthcoming Cloud Atlas movie:

.. to be released in October! (h/t bookriot and twitter's suzyklein)

Mutterings - 29th July

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

1. Alcohol :: Swab
2. Pocket :: Handkerchief
3. Squeeze:: Friendly
4. Football :: Goal
5. Fourth :: July
6. Snake :: Ladder
7. Reduced :: Bonus
8. Polka :: Dot
9. Intrepid :: Traveller
10. Paula :: Radcliffe (there's some Olympics consciousness there!)

Teaser Tuesday - 24th July

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!

Late again! I hope things will get back to normal next week! Another teaser from a book read on holiday, I read this one on the boat on the way home..

Dad was telling Mum a funny story about how his boss Craig Salt'd let Dad's trainee Danny Lawlor drive Criag Salt's DeLorean sports car round a go-karting track on a team building weekend. So instead of sloping off upstairs I went into the living room to watch Tomorrow's World on TV.

As you may guess this is set in the 80s lots of loving period detail! David Mitchell's Black Swan Green I'm not sure whether you had to be there then to appreciate this book and its study of adolescence but I was and I did!

Mutterings - 22nd July

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

1. Missing :: in action
2. Crowded :: Room
3. Questions :: Answers
4. Flavored :: Sweets
5. Need you :: Role
6. Control :: Alt
7. Restaurant :: Menu
8. Scattered :: Ashes
9. Family :: Gathering
10. Regrets :: Sad

Teaser Tuesday - 17th July

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 little late but having just got back from holiday...

That is one of the many legacies left by your friend Dr. Eckman. I am sure there are more I have yet to come across. In the brief amout of time he was with us he managed to teach Easter the fundamentals of table manners as well as the alphabet, or most of the alphabet. I see the K is missing.

4 sentences I know! From Ann Patchett's State of Wonder. Here's Patchett talking about the book:I must read Conrad's Heart of Darkness, I was thinking of JG Ballard - someone she doesn't mention in that interview - and his Illuminated Man. Pay close attention to the opera visit and the Orpheus myth! I much enjoyed her Bel Canto but I think this is better. Very much recommended, we were about to head out for dinner (on holiday) and I decided I just had time to read the last chapter, I wasn't quite prepared for all that happens in those last few pages!

Faculties included?

The Churchfitters, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

We spotted this poster in Bourg near Trégastel in Brittany. I see from their website they're originally a UK group which moved to Brittany in 1993

Mutterings - 8 July

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

1. Purple :: Robe (argh - Graham Kendrick ;-))
2. Staying power :: Determination
3. Human :: Kind
4. Garden :: Flowers
5. Missing :: Link
6. Sucked :: Blew
7. Next door :: Neighbour
8. Poker :: Dot.. bikini (yes I know it should be polka!)
9. Strategy :: Plan
10. Crushed :: Velvet

Teaser Tuesday - 3rd July

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!

We are suddenly awakening, much too late, to the fact that we have been gorging at Belteshazzar's table, that blind pursuit of greed has made us skeletons at the feast.
At some future point in time, tar balls from a warm-water spill -- if not from the Gulf of Mexico then from some other blow-out -- will show up in Alaska waters to mingle with the crud left from the Exxon Valdez

a mediation on the damage we are doing to our world also - as last week - from Maggie Ross's Writing the Icon of the Heart. She has spent much time over the years in the wilderness and silence of Alaska.
(blogger tells me this is my 2000th post on this weblog not as much appearing here as in the past)

Mutterings - 1st July

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

1. Cycle :: Tyre
2. Pimple :: Spot
3. Tailspin :: Aircraft
4. Contact :: First
5. Prepaid :: Bill
6. Tremors :: Earth
7. Disgusting :: Allergy
8. Instrumental :: Solo
9. Taken :: Tablet
10. Forward :: Roll

Summer evening from Rainow

Sunset - ii, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

We seem to be fortunate in our walks from Rainow. Last year we caught a lovely sunset from the Robin Hood pub in Rainow and this year again the evening was beautiful

Teaser Tuesday - 26th June

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

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

Within this space are silence, stillness and waiting. Discretion is what Aristotle referred to as the space where virtue is found.

from Maggie Ross's Writing the Icon of the Heart - In Silence Beholding some good thoughts on discretion in that chapter - I read it last night and there was a lot of pausing for reflection. I heard Maggie Ross at the Manchester Theological Society last month - was a bit heavy - though the Q&A afterwards were far more helpful! I intended to blog on it but seem to have forgotten...

Mutterings - 24th June

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

1. Salon :: Hair
2. Tag :: HTML
3. Hawk :: Buckler (I think 'hawk and buckler' is a phrase from an Ivor Gurney song)
4. Continuous :: function
5. Sparkly :: Effect
6. Foam :: Kay-Metzeler - a company making foam products whose base I used to pass every day on the way to school.
7. Lovely :: Day
8. Jokes :: Humour
9. Shenanigans :: Dishonest
10. Bear :: Brown

Nat West!

The Nat West bank (in the UK ) has been having software problems and with apologies to the Pet Show Boys:

I do hope they don't get a take-down order! Lots of f-words in the above!
(h/t Jackschofield)

Greening the economy

Rowan Williams' message for the Rio+20 conference

If the world is a gift how to hand it on to future generations?

Teaser Tuesday - 19 June

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

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

As a matter of fact I do know a man who might fit the bill, but I'm not sure if he's available. I'll find out and give you a call back.

More from Jeffrey Archer's Only Time Will Tell.

Mutterings - 17th June

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

1. Deep end :: Off the
2. Complications :: Medical
3. Silver :: Badge
4. Bridge :: Club
5. Delete :: Key
6. Spying :: Covert
7. Ripped :: Silk
8. Tunnel :: Channel
9. Pillow fight :: Children
10. Useful :: Hint

Teaser Tuesday - 12th June

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

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

Should the pace prove to be too demanding, one or two of you may fall by the wayside,' he warned, staring down at the front three rows.' St Bede's is not a school for the faint heated. So be sure never to forget the words of the great Cecil Rhodes: If you are lucky enough to have been born an Englishman, you have won the first prize in the lottery of life.

A headmasters pep-talk for the new prep-school intake in Jeffrey Archer's Only Time will tell (by the international best selling author of that name) - I couldn't resist including that extra sentence! The latest BATS (book group) book - it has beenj an interesting transition moving from Emma Donoghue's The Room - told in the voice of a five year old to this through the eyes of a youngster and with also a pared down vocabulary - nothing to frighten the masses! Here's John Crace's digested read on the book. I went to a prep school where I boarded for a term...

The Church of England lies!

Or at least a committee drafting documents in its name does! From today's document about the same-sex marriage consultation:

We have supported various legal changes in recent years to remove unjustified discrimination and create greater legal rights for same sex couples and we welcome that fact that previous legal and material inequities between heterosexual and same-sex partnerships have now been satisfactorily
addressed.

So far and no further hey? But that statement is manifestly untrue - the majority of Bishops in the House of Lords voted against those changes - historical revisionism rules!
[Updated 13 June] The Church of England has now put up a document here giving the contributions made by the bishops in the Lords during the debates on the civil partnerships bill, it says:

The bishops, consistent with their place as independent and non-whipped members neither spoke nor voted as a bloc on these issues when they were before the House.

So some bishops spoke in favour and some opposed - that still means a line 'We have supported various legal changes..' is misleading - none of the bishops who voted 5-1 for the wrecking amendment eventually voted for the passing of the bill.

Mutterings - 10th June

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

1. Stitches :: Hospital
2. Reckless :: Behaviour
3. Wealth :: Riches
4. Tenant :: Sitting
5. Recognize :: Features (as in face)
6. Hospital :: Medicine
7. Bangs :: Fireworks
8. Hello :: Goodbye
9. Folder :: Paper
10. Glamour :: Puss

Teaser Tuesday - 5th June

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

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

My favorite bit of Outside is the window. It's different every time. A bird goes right by zoom, I don't know what it was. The shadows are all long again now, mine waves right across our room on the green wall. I watch God's face falling slow slow, even orangier and the clouds are all colors, then after there's streaks and dark coming up so bit-at-a-time I don't see it till it's done.

Last week I wrote that this was a very dark book, maybe here with another extract redressing the balance! From Emma Donoghue's Room I'm cheating here as I wanted to quote this passage and it is far more than 2 sentences - here we have Jack seeing the world outside and a sunset (God's face is the sun) before there was only a skylight and getting used to the Outside, to freedom.

An African Elegy

We are the miracles that God made
To taste the bitter fruit of Time.
We are precious.
And one day our suffering
Will turn into the wonders of the earth.

There are things that burn me now
Which turn golden when I am happy.
Do you see the mystery of our pain?
That we bear the poverty
And are able to sing and dream sweet things.

And that we never curse the air when it is warm
Or the fruit when it tastes so good
Or the lights that bounce gently on the waters?
We bless the things even in our pain.
We bless them in silence.

That is why our music is so sweet.
It makes the air remember.
There are secret miracles at work
That only Time will bring forth.
I too have heard the dead singing.

And they tell me that
This life is good
They tell me to live it gently
With fire, and always with hope.
There is wonder here

And there is surprise
In everything the unseen moves.
The ocean is full of songs.
The sky is not an enemy.
Destiny is our friend.

Ben Okri

A clipped out copy of this poem has been around my work room for a few years, I found an electronic copy here together with other examples of his work.

Mutterings - 3rd June

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

1. Model :: Aircraft
2. Clash :: of Cultures
3. Frightening :: Vision
4. Instinct :: Animal
5. Award show :: Crufts
6. Editing :: Care
7. Frumpy :: Baggy
8. Everyone :: All
9. Lifting :: Gear
10. Agencies :: Government