Alien Spouse

2012.

Happy New Year!

We spent yesterday evening at Randy and Laura's house with a small grop of friends. It was a very nice way to end 2011, and start 2012.

Today I slept late; finished playing "Arkham Asylum"; got half-way through "Genius Wars" and had a most satisfactory afternoon nap.

Doc started playing "Arkham City" (Catwoman! Squee!); made vegetable stock form the HF-W cookbook; looked on-line at houses for sale and has now settled in for a "Star Wars" marathon.

2012 is off to a cracking start!

Asheville Saturday - December.

Journey - We drove to Asheville today for my haircut, on the way we stopped in a shop that we've been interested in going to for a while because it also serves slices of pie with coffee. The pies are baked in house and are really delecious; we both got pecan pie this time, but I'm going to have to try the coconut cream pie next time.

Shopping - Even with a stop for pie, we still were 45 minutes early so we shopped for books. I scored two kids books by Catharine Jinks and "Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain. Doc C was giddy to snap up a $2 copy of a Bertrand Russell book, so that was good too.

Haircut - Seeing as I won't be at work for a couple of weeks, I asked Naomi for a slightly edgier cut than I usually get and I think she enjoys having a bit of creative freedom! She took a couple of photos with her phone for her portfolio.

Food - Sushi! We ate miso soup and seaweed salad, then an excellent selection of sashimi and sushi. So delicious.

After that we came home.

It was a good day.

Students: Compare and Contrast.

 

Doc C checked Facebook last night and found this video on a friend's wall. I have watched it a couple of times this morning, posted it to my own wall and even listened to students in the hallway outside my office apparently prepping together to have this conversation with their professor en masse.

sigh.

Then a student, whom I know slightly, came into my office carrying a paper sculpture that she had made for an English class project, and was now giving to her professor.

It's Alice talking to the Caterpillar in Wonderland, and it was made from a maths book (which is genius in itself). There are different types of flower, different sizes of toadstools and a butterfly covered in calculus.

This makes me very happy.

 

Toning Down Christmas.

It occured to me this morning that I had not yet decorated the house for Christmas, but at the same time I'm right in the middle of reading "Miss Minimalist" (on my Kindle) and it just feels wrong to glitter the whole house.

So I compromised and hung up the faux vintage ornaments I bought in Boston last year on the twig arrangement from Halloween, then I added in a couple of other ornaments to balance those out and that's that.  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

 I love the faux vintage ornaments almost more then I did when I bought them last year, they are delightfully tacky and rather adorable in their own very plastic way. Doc C is a particular fan of the angels, who are all holding their hands out in front of them in the manner of fisherman describing the one-that-got-away. They also all have black eyes, which gives them quite a creepy alien-being ambience.

Finally, on the dining table, I've put up the sad little Christmas tree beloved by Charlie Brown and all those who get a bit tearful when watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965) ...*cough*Doc*cough*...

Vintage Crime Spree.

One of the joys of the Kindle shop(Oh hey, have I mentioned that I have a Kindle?) is that there are vast quantities of Victorian and Edwardian detective novels available for little to no cost and that means I will never be short of something to read.

I downloaded half a dozen of them only yesterday, and I anticipate going back for more once I've skipped through these.  I selected these six with a very definite research purpose in mind; I read Agatha Christie's "Partners in Crime" years ago, which is a cracking collection of Tommy and Tuppence short stores, however each story pays homage to a popular fictional detective that readers of the period would be familiar with. I wasn't, and I know I missed out on some of the references. So I pulled up the "Partners in Crime" Wikipedia page and systematically went through the Kindle bookshop looking for the authors and detectives being pastiched - And I found all of them! Usually for free, but in one or two cases I had to pay a whole 99 cents. 

I'd already downloaded volume one of the "Dr. Thorndyke Mysteries Collection" and I've just finished "The Red Thumb Mark" the first book in the series. These are a delightful mix of very precise scientific analysis of the fictional evidence and a less condescending version of a Holmes and Watson pairing.

The primary function of all fiction is to furnish entertainment to the reader, and this fact has not been lost sight of. But the interest of so-called "detective" fiction is, I believe, greatly enhanced by a careful adherence to the probable, and a strict avoidance of physical impossibilities; and, in accordance with this belief, I have been scrupulous in confining myself to authentic facts and practicable methods. The stories have, for the most part, a medico-legal motive, and the methods of solution described in them are similar to those employed in actual practice by medical jurists. The stories illustrate, in fact, the application to the detection of crime of the ordinary methods of scientific research. I may add that the experiments described have in all cases been performed by me, and that the micro-photographs are, of course, from the actual specimens.

Freeman, R. Austin (2008-09-05). Dr. Thorndyke Mysteries Collection, Volume One (Four Books in One Volume!) (Kindle Locations 3110-3116). ignacio hills press (TM)IgnacioHillsPress.com. Kindle Edition. 

(I also LOVE how easy it is to pull nice chunks of text from the Kindle, with the source reference already attached. Happy sigh.)

And the Kindle edition still has the illustrations! Yay!

 

Book Box.

Have I mentioned that I bloody love my Kindle? I've been curled up with it for pretty much the whole of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and, since it arrived a week ago, I've read three novels on it. Well, a novel and two vintage murder mysteries, if you're being pedantic about genre differences - but I'm not too much of an intellectual snob to say that I far preferred the company of Tommy and Tuppence, or Nero Wolf and Archie Goodwin to the miserable Anthony and Gloria of F. Scott's "The Beautiful and the Damned".

I've sort of given up on Goodreads, since the book swap feature has been closed, but I've set up the Kindle to prompt me to tweet a star rating when I've finished a book.

Oh, I've also re-named my Kindle from the out-of-the-box "Jennifer's Kindle" to "Jennifer's Box of Delights", after the John Masefield book. It is somewhat ironic that after I did this I discovered that "The Box of Delights" itself is one of the only titles I've looked for that doesn't have a Kindle version available.

Black Friday: Cleaning Day!

Today I have been in organisational mode, which wasn't entirely my plan for the day, until I found myself cleaning the stove and then the upstairs bathroom in my pajamas. Then I changed into some comfy work-out clothes before taking on the major job of re-shelving my library, whilst also removing everything that was not a book from the bookshelves.

Then I had a cup of coffee and read an Agatha Christie mystery on my Kindle.

At this point I decided I needed to re-fold and re-classify all of my tops, so now my t-shirts are stored by sleeve length, colour and then by how much I like it. It's a complicated system, and it took me 2 hours (whilst watching a cheesy thriller) to get it properly done. I also packed my summer clothes and shoes into suitcases then put them in the loft.

Doc decided to vacuum the living room, so the cats and I retreated to the bedroom and read some more Christie.

Finally I cleaned the downstairs bathroom, including the litter trays (by the way, I use Dr Bonner's liquid soap to clean the litter trays - which is Gwyneth Paltrow's shower gel of preference. That is how fancy my cats are.)

By this point I was completely sick of cleaning, so I had a shower and put on some clean lounging pajamas and made myself a gin martini, with a splash of angastora bitters and an olive. Because, omg, I deserved it!

Book Bites.

I'm sorry, I can't blog at the moment, because I'm reading book samples on my new Kindle. Usually you get a chapter or two, which is quite a delicious amuse bouche for a reading glutton such as myself. It's my new favourite thing.

A Kindle's Journey.

For my birthday Moth gave me some Amazon gift tokens, so I could buy a Kindle! I ordered it on my birthday (along with a olive green leather case, and a book for the Doc) and have been tracking it's progress ever since. Wheeeee!

That's really been the focus of this week for me, so I've found it very hard to write blog posts that weren't just detailing the Kindle's journey from Amazon's mysterious seller facility, the location of which is merely given as "US". The first stop on the trek was Hebron, Kentucky, which gives us a clue as to the seller facility's location because it only took an hour to get to Hebron from there. We can also deduce that Hebron must be delightful, because the Kindle spent 7 hours there. What do you think? Brunch with some of the other parcels, maybe a mini spa day?

Happily refreshed the Kindle spent the next day travelling from Kebron KY to Charlotte NC, where it checked in for the night. Kindle left Charlotte for Alienspouseville at 2 o'clock this morning, and I kept checking the shipment tracker, and when it's arrival was logged I got VERY excited; so I walked to the post office at lunch time.

Did I mention that today has been the first day we've had proper snow? And, naturally, the heaviest flurry was at lunch time, so I walked to and from the post office - in the snow - to get my Kindle and...

...The delivery it was on hadn't been unpacked yet, so I have to go back tomorrow.

It'll probably snow again, and there will be some sort of geological event that will mean I'll have to walk up hill both ways. Actually it was quite a nice walk really, and it wasn't an entirely unfruitful trip, the birthday present I'd ordered for Doc C (and the t-shirt I got at the same time) had arrived, so that was something. Doc's present was an apron in suitably drab colours, the man lives in drab, with the slogan "I (pictogram of a loaf of Bread) Bread"! "I Loaf Bread"! Love it!

Alcohol and Comedy.

You know what rocks? Martini and a collection of P.G. Wodehouse short stories that you haven't read before. That delightful combination totally restores one's jolly old equilibrium.

Clearance.

Yesterday I decided to move the bookcases on the mezzanine; at the same time I also decided to get rid of some of the books that I'd read and was unlikely to read again. I lugged a laundry bag full of books into work this morning and left them on the giveaway table, by the end of the day only a few of the really cheesy looking detective novels were left.

The main reason for re-organising the mezzanine is to clear the floor space, because I've found a really nice rocking chair on sale on the Urban Outfitter's website, and I think that plus a nice rug would make that area a perfect place to curl up with a book and a cat.

I am never going to be a shining proponent of minimalism, but it's actually kind of relaxing to reduce the amount of STUFF in my home. Actually, whilst Doc's away, I think I'm going to go through my wardrobe and thin that out too. Maybe. I'm not promising anything here.

Plans for the Weekend.

I went to work today, because I was feeling a fair bit better and I knew that there was work to be done on next semester's schedule. I feel very noble, particularly as since I got home this evening my sore throat seems to be bent on developing into a full-on head cold.

On a more positive note Doc C also picked up a large stack of brown paper parcels from the post office; books I'd requested from Goodreads.

So this weekend will probably be spent curled up with a book, as I sit in front of the fire with a never-ending mug of tea.

Mmm... Garlicky...

I have finally got the hang of baked aubergine (it's a very American dish, so it's usually called "eggplant parmesan" - I just can't do it myself), thanks to Sophie Dahl's first cookbook, and Doc C even likes this version where as he could never see the point of this particular meal before.

One of the best parts of making this is that it's really delicious with home-made garlic bread, and that's a treat we've not had for a while. It isn't that we're totally eschewing carbs, but equally we aren't training for any marathons in the near future, so there's absolutely no need to carb-load on pasta AND bread.

So garlick bread is back in the meal plan! Hoorah! I use a loaf of fresh French bread baked that morning at our amazing local bakery, and that bread is delicious in itself, so it's hugely tempting to eat the whole baguette in one meal - but I've been freezing half, which is hugely restrained, don't you think?

Weekend Status Report.

The Good: I am reading Donna Tartt's "The Secret History" and loving it. It's sort of a murder mystery with academic overtones, but whodunnit is never any sort of a puzzle. It's gripping.

The Bad: The weather this weekend has been really humid and sticky, my least favourite kind of weather personally. I cannot wait for Autumn proper to kick in with some nice crisp mornings.

The Ugly: The cream that the dermatologist prescribed causes a rash to flare up on my chest, and so it suddenly feels as though every single t-shirt I own has a scoop neck to it which hits me in just exactly the wrong spot. Yesterday I discovered that wearing a scoop neck backwards creates a boatneck at the front which conceals and protects the itchy bumpiness. This will look intentional with most of my tops; the exception being henleys, so if you should happen to notice that I have a row of buttons down my back, can we just pretend it's a new fashion trend from Europe or something?

The Fabulous: Monday is Labour Day, it's like Bank Holiday Weekend, and I have finally treated myself to a copy of "Portal 2" so I intend to be spending several hours of my day off in my pajamas playing that, with occasional breaks for coffee and toast.

Book Pile-Up.

I love books, but I especially love second-hand books. When I discovered Goodreads I was immediately smitten by the swap feature, which allows users to list books they no longer want and then other readers can pay the shipping and get the book.

It does still cost $3 or $4 in postage fees, so I try to limit how many books I request, but occasionally a glut of titles that I want happen to be listed in close proximity. This is how I ended up receiving Donna Tartt's "The Secret History", Sarah Waters' "The Little Stranger" and Tim Gunn's "A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style" in the post this morning, whilst I'm still only about half-way through "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson.

Books! FOR ME!

Unconscious Repetition or Homage in Blogging.

The post I wrote yesterday about quickly skipping through a book you don't really care about seems oddly familiar. I mean I know I wrote it so it shouldn't feel completely alien to me, but it feels like maybe I've written it before maybe, or perhaps that someone else wrote something similar that I read ages ago.

Of course if I've written this before that isn't a huge problem, because it's the nature of blogging, and writing in general, to re-visit ideas; but if it did come from somewhere else then I want to be able to properly attribute it with links or something. I'm usually pretty good at remembering were I've read something, because usually I can place the authorial tone of whatever snippet I remember; but I have no idea where this might have come from if I did read it somewhere else first.

Where would I have read about a sort of messy speed reading though? It's most perplexing.

Speed Reading for Lesser Works of Fiction. *

That book I didn't finish reading has been snapped up on Goodreads, along with two others so I sent them off in a nice neat package this morning. I was intending to send them at the weekend, but then I realised that I hadn't actually read one of them so I had to give it a quick squiz.

I read really quickly, for example as a teenager I sat down and read "Wuthering Heights" in a single day (I remember feeling very stiff when I eventually finished, and I'm sure I can't have absorbed every single word but this was the required summer holiday preliminary read-through before we actually studied it at school, so that was fine); so it didn't seem unreasonable to try and read 288 pages over a weekend but I didn't get around to it until Sunday afternoon. Fortunately it didn't really grab me, so was able to employ my "I don't love this book and I want to be able to read something else, but I suppose I want to know what happens" reading method. It goes like this:

1) Read a good chunk of the start of the book, ideally to the point where you have met all the main characters and can keep track of them

2) Open the book every 10 pages or so, read whatever seems interesting and seems like it might help to follow the gist of the plot.

3) Read the final chapter. If that doesn't make sense for some reason, then repeat step two backwards and in smaller increments until you find the pertinent detail that clears the fog for you.

4) Job done.

I wouldn't recommend this as a method for reading non-fiction, or fiction you are supposed to be reading for academic purposes, but if you have a limited investment in the book and are only vaguely interested in finding out how a story ends, well then it's sufficient.

 

* By the way, by "lesser works of fiction" I mean whatever doesn't grab you personally as an enjoyable book for what ever reason, I am increasingly of the opinion that there are too many good books out there to waste too much time on books I'm not enjoying. Move on!

Migraine Avoidance Techniques.

Today I sat quietly at home, read a couple of chapters of a nice soothing murder mystery and drank mug after mug of tea.

I successfully avoided getting another headache that made my teeth feel like they were throbbing, and I'm celebrating by introducing Doc C to Russian horror sci-fi.

Dubious Books That You Can Have!

I've been doing a lot of reading this summer, and I tend to stockpile books because we don't have a big bookshop in town, and certainly not a good second-hand bookshop; this means I have a shelf full of pre-selected but unread books to browse through whenever I finish whatever I'm reading.

Earlier this week I started reading one of these stockpiled titles that I taken a risk on because it sounded interesting and I liked the cover art. Yeah, I know the axiom about not judging a book by it's cover but that is just not true, cover art is actually a reasonably good guide to what you can expect from a book - It's like that maddening "Forrest Gump" quote; you DO know pretty much exactly what you are going to get in a box of chocolates because there is a little guide on the lid, and most chocolates are shaped to give you some sort of clue anyway. Except for Revels, I will concede that they are tricky to identify without biting them, and it is always a shock when you are certain that you are about to eat a Malteaser and then it turns out to be a really large coffee cream. Ok, I'll give Gump Revels, but other than that it is a very unsatisfying analogy.

What was I saying?

Oh, right, so the book I started reading had very mixed reviews on GoodReads, it was a real Marmite debate between those who adored it and those who loathed it. I read three chapters and decided that I didn't want to spend anymore time with the title character and narrator of the book, so I stopped reading it and got another book from my stash. This is a very liberating feeling, to simply decide that my time is more valuable than this particular story, and move on without guilt. ***

If you'd like to see if you love this book or hate it, then I'm giving it away on GoodReads along with 11 other corkers, and you can peruse the list here and guess which one it is (Hint: It was added to the list today). Please note the list is not for mocking, it is purely to find new homes for books that I don't want, so they aren't my favourites but that doesn't mean they are bad; except not that etiquette book, that is rubbish.

 

*** Postscript - The book I'm talking about here is "Mathilda Savitch" by Victor Lodato. I did pick up the book again to skim read the last couple of chapters backwards, just to see whodunnit, or if anyone did anything at all really. There was a fairly pedestrian plot twist that any one reading a book about teenage girls should really be half expecting, and an icky description of Mathilda first experimentation with sex - It's like Judy Blume re-wrote "Catcher in the Rye" whilst in a particularly foul mood.

Third Day of the Weekend.

Today I did a zumba routine, cleaned both bathrooms, battled gladiators (and won! Roar!), washed three loads of laundry, played petanque with Doc C, read half a book, "walked" the cats, and helped to recapture the cats after they both escaped in separate prison breaks.

Not bad considering it was the first day we've felt the need to turn the ceiling fan on, because it was the first warm summer day and I do not do well in heat.

All in all, an memorable Memorial Day -slash- Bank Holiday Monday.

Mystery Book.

When we got home this evening there was a package sitting on the chair next to the front door, and it had Doc's name on it. This was mysterious as he never uses our home address for deliveries; we both get stuff sent to our PO box or our offices.

It was quite clearly a book, and when he opened the padded envelope it turned out to be a new book on Hume that had been sent by the publishers. That isn't unusual in itself, publishers send free copies of books to academics in the hopes they will add them to a class reading list, but you do usually have to request them. And, again, that is exactly the sort of thing that would normally be sent to Doc's office. There was a dispatch receipt in the envelope too, and I noticed that had our PO box address on it, not our home address.

So now we are very confused, and still no closer to working out who sent this to Doc or, rather, suggested the publishers should. Would anyone care to take credit? We'd be most interested!

I was toying with the idea of telling him there was a magical creature, like the Easter Bunny, who brought nice new books to good little Doctors of Philosophy, but something tells me he probably won't fall for that one.

Cookbooks.

Whilst I was at Mum's I phoned all of my aunts to say hello, and, after I'd rhapsodised over M&S food halls, Waitrose supermarkets and Pret a Manger Sandwiches, one of them said "It's all about food with you Jen!" Which, it has to be said, is true. Hence the need for calorie counting, Zumba and Pilates; so I can have my cake, eat it and fit into all my clothes still.

Mum's cooking has always been great, and I love visiting so I can try out her new favourite foods and read through her cookbook collection, on this visit she had three or four new ones that must be added to my next Amazon order. Fortunately I already have the Jamie Oliver book she particularly likes, but I hadn't actually been using it. Tthe main problem problem was that a lot of the recipes I liked the sound of called for creme fraiche, and that's quite tricky to find over here, in fact after some internet research I tracked down a supplier in North Carolina - But it's Dean and Deluca in Charlotte, which doesn't seem a very practical option for such a simple ingredient. I followed one of Jamie's recipes to cook a really nice pasta with a dead easy cheese sauce this evening and that called for a creme fraiche base. I swapped in sour cream instead, and that was fine; but it wouldn't have occurred to me to try that if I hadn't read it in Sophie Dahl's recipe book when I was browsing in Norwich. Sophie has a transatlantic background, so she's got quantities in both metric and cups, plus she makes excellent substitution suggestions, naturally her book is also on the list.

Another cookbook score from Mum's house was a small book on sweets and pastries that she hadn't found useful, but which Doc has been drooling over ever since I handed it to him. Today we bought a mini-muffin tray, an icing bag (with 28 different nozzles) and some tiny cup cake cases. So far Doc's made lemon shortbread, but I think there are mini lemon meringue pies in the not too distant future, Yum.

A Cure for Colds - Hot Drinks and Good Books.

Today I still felt awful, so I stayed at home to drink hot drinks, take DayQuil (We've run out of the gel capsules, so now I'm onto the syrup and it is disgusting) and read. I am feeling so much better this evening, so I should be able to go to work tomorrow.

For the book portion of the cold cure I've been reading my way through Jaclyn Moriarty's Ashbury High series. I bought the fourth, "Dreaming of Amelia" (American Title: The Ghosts of Ashbury High) in England and read that in a day and a half, yesterday I read the second in the series "Finding Cassie Crazy" and today I'm powering through "Becoming Bindy Mackenzie" (American Title: The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie). I've read the first one in the series "Feeling Sorry for Celia" so many times that I didn't need to re-visit it, but the others have only been read once and were perfect for a sick day entertainment; absorbing, witty and with just enough substance. Perfect. I have always particularly loved young adult novels from Aussie and Kiwi writers, such as Margaret Mahy, John Marsden and Ruth Park, and I think Jaclyn Moriarty does them proud.

The other essential part of the cure for colds is to have a cat that adores you, and doesn't move more than three feet away from you all day. Edith has been very diligent in this respect, and is clearly living up to her name sake Edith Cavell's nursing legacy.

The Past in Boxes.

This afternoon Mum suggested that I look over the stuff that was put in storage in the attic when Doc C and I left for America. It's all those things I haven't seen for three years, some of which I've missed desperately (all of my earrings!), some of which I frankly had forgotten I owned but have fallen in love with again (a pair of trays decorated with girly playing cards!), then some stuff that could immediately be put in the charity shop pile (I love Calvin and Hobbes, but they are big books to pack and imminently replaceable) and still more stuff that I was bemused by (I found three odd socks carefully packed in a lovely gold box. What was I thinking there?)

It was definitely a good thing that I looked over what I already owned before I went shopping in earnest, because I already have more belongings than I can carry onto the plane, so adding to it seems like a fool's errand. Being an ex-bookseller it is hardly surprising that my biggest problem is my beloved collection of books, some of which I've read and re-read a hundred times since I was a kid, and I've done well to reduce it down to just one medium size box - but in all honesty I can't actually close the lid on that already, and there are more books that I still want to bring. Mum's point about the usefulness of a Kindle is well timed, because I can see the benefit of having everything reduced down to a compact tablet. That still wouldn't be entirely sufficient, because a lot of my books are second-hand copies with great covers, or books that have fallen out of publication, or they've been signed by the author and how can you get that type of thing on a Kindle?

Anyway I have some time to further curate the collection before I go back to North Carolina, so in the mean time I've arranged it around the bedroom; so I can look at it at my leisure and make some difficult decisions. I suspect the framed photo of the 38 bus might just have the edge over the framed photo of seagulls on the Palace Pier, but we shall see.

Jet Set.

I've packed a variety of clothes and a crochet project, selected three books (Smiley's People; Hons and Rebels; Neuromancer) and cleaned the cats litter tray.

My work here is done for now. Time to catch a plane.

Book Choices.

My suitcase is packed and, as usual, I have a major dilemma over which books to take on the plane with me.

I've narrowed it down to:

• The Great Escape - Anton Gill
• Young Men in Spats - PG Wodehouse
• Hons and Rebels - Jessica Mitford
• Neuromancer - William Gibson
• The Oxford Book of Victorian Detective Stories
• Smiley's People - John Le Carre

 I've made a stack of these books next to my traveling clothes and I'll choose the finalists in the morning.

Catty Critiques.

The only problem with exercising at home is knowing that the cats are judging me. It's not quite so bad with Zumba, because they just run away and quite clearly think I've gone insane; with yoga or Pilates though there is a distinct air of smothered giggles as they watch me move into the required poses. Edith usually comes over to have a good look, and has been known to try to snuggle down on the yoga mat itself, but then she'll get annoyed with my feet bumping into her. It's not easy to keep your movements controlled when you have a cat rabbit-kicking your bare foot.

Still I have persevered every evening this week (alternating Zumba with Pilates), and that's a step towards the 66 daily repetitions that are (apparently) the average number it takes to form a habit. The trickiest bit has been timing it with dinner, but that's not insurmountable by any means.

I've also finished reading "The Virgin Suicides", and whilst it's a tough book to enjoy as such I did think it was well written and thought provoking. On now to "The Diving Bell and The Butterfly" an auto-biography by Jean-Dominique Bauby which he wrote after a stroke which left him paralyzed and "locked-in" to his own body. The only way Bauby could communicate was by blinking his left eye, so that was the only was he could indicate each character in the book. I suspect that it's going to be one of those stories to remember whenever I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself, and I already have a strong urge to break the fourth wall, so that I can lend it to the Lisbon sisters.

 

Pretty Good Tuesday.

Today I have been to work, did an upper body Pilates routine, read a nice chunk of "The Virgin Suicides", watched "RuPaul's Drag Race", cooked twice-baked potatoes with gruyere and mushrooms and now I'm watching "Tabatha's Salon Takeover" before bed.

Monday Morning Summary.

Yesterday sort of got away from me, I'd done my boring stuff for the day (Pilates and cleaning) in the morning, we'd had lunch and shopped for house stuff, then Edith and I had a nap. I'd only intended to sleep for half an hour, but it turned into three hours, which really wiped out my plans for the afternoon.I still had time to make dinner (roasted brussel sprouts with pecans and gruyere, I liked it but Doc didn't and who knew that pecans were so ridiculously packed with calories? What are they made from, lard?), so I did that and then went to bed with a raging headache.

I thought I'd feel better this morning, but I really didn't; so I took some advil, slept some more and came in to work a mere three hours late. I stopped briefly on the way to pick up the rocket fuel coffee that caused me to reorganise and clean the office on Friday, but this time I got a medium so hopefully this will be just enough to get me through the rest of the day without the hyperactivity associated with the large cup I had last time.

In other news I am doing really well with my intention to read more books this year, this weekend I polished off a ridiculous murder mystery, "Dorothy and Agatha", which was fun but as light as the Christie and Sayers' mysteries that it was inspired by. Now I'm moving the brows a bit higher with Jeffrey Eugenides "The Virgin Suicides". Last time I tried to read this I only got half-way through, mostly because I wasn't really in the right frame of mind to read about teenage suicide; the other reason was much more prosaic, there are no chapters and my usual method of demolishing a book is to read complete chapters every time I pick up the book until it's finished. This time I will finish it. No book shall defeat me in 2011!

***Post Script*** I tell a lie, "The Virgin Suicides" actually has 5 chapters, it's just the third chapter is much longer than the first two and that's where I got bogged down last time. Clearly I need to just power through those 92 pages, maybe with some Kendall Mint Cake to hand or something.

 

Geek Love.

I may have mentioned before I love reading, and I'm keeping track of all my books past, present and future, on Goodreads (oh hey, friend me on Goodreads!)

As a child I would read everywhere; whilst eating; when watching TV; as I was walking; Whilst getting dressed; in the car; up trees and even in the shower (it helps to have long arms for that one), but even for a seasoned compulsive reader it is really quite difficult to hold a paperback book and knit at the same time.  And, believe me, I have tried.

So I looked into book holders, and noted down several different designs as being of interest. I eventually decided on the Paperbax, not the cheapest but certainly not the most expensive, and with a very utilitarian approach to the problem. There is a rigid shelf from the center of which two spring-loaded arms are attached and these hold the pages back for you. Both the arms and the shelf have a rubberised back to them, so there isn't any slipping. Should you want the book to be free-standing, as in the photo, there are fold out wingy things on the back.

It's very simple but it works really well, and so far even the 737 pages of Sherlock Holmes didn't present it a problem.

I love this thing. Love it.

A Box Full of Murder

Today was the leaving do for Kay, the office manager of Doc C's department. I worked part-time in that office when we first got here, so I went to say goodbye as well.  Whilst we were chatting she mentioned that there was a box of books under her desk that I was welcome to take.  Not just books though, murder mysteries! Kay loves a good thriller even more than I do, which is saying something, so there are bound to be some absolute corkers in here.

I must admit to leaving a few behind though, and that was mainly based on cover design or a really off-putting plot synopsis. I did keep the one that promised me a hijacked airplane (and I quote "...complete with a beautiful English hijackeress." Hijackeress?!?!?), and then a murder with the only witness being a chimp that can communicate with plastic symbols (please, please let these be fridge magnets). Oh yeah, I can already tell that one is going to be amazing.

The Reading Room.

There aren't quite enough books on those shelves, the walls should be white with an accent wall in whatever colour I fancy that day, the rug should be a nice fluffy sheepskin and I'd really prefer the hanging chair to be an oversized Eero Aarnio bubble chair; but otherwise this is an uncannily accurate representation of the room I daydream about.

Image via bookshelfporn.com

Snow Wednesday.

The University was closed today because of the snow, so I read a lot and Doc did a lot of work; whilst the cats mainly found new and exciting ways to sit on me and sleep.  This morning I woke up with both felines snuggled up to me, and whilst Edith has been following me around all day, Nancy was quite content to make herself a nest out of my pajamas and just stay there for the past 9 hours.

After lunch Doc remembered he had an appointment for a check-up, so we did venture in to town and made a run to the supermarket to buy more staple foods for the larder.  I never want to be in the position where we are even close to being stranded with no tea in the house.

I also took this opportunity to post my Mum's birthday present!  Which means it's only going to be a month or so late!  I am TERRIBLE at getting to the post office when I have a parcel to be sent out.  This one came to Boston with us, had one or two things added to it, and then came all the way back home to sit on our coffee table.  It is a well traveled gift already, and it's still got an ocean to cross.

Stack of Books from Boston.

These are the books I bought in Boston.  All of them came from the Harvard Bookstore, all of them were either second hand or remainders AND Doc C happened to have earned a 20% discount.

Bliss!

They are, from the top:

Detection by Gaslight - A collection of Victorian detective short stories.

The Oxford Book of Victorian Detective Stories - A, um, collection of Victorian detective short stories.

The Haunted Looking Glass - A collection of ghost stories selected and illustrated by Edward Gorey.

The Enchanted April - Because my copy is in England right now.

Young Man in Spats - P.G. Wodehouse short stories.

Hons and Rebels - An biography of the Mitfords, by one of the Mitfords herself.

Balsamic Dreams - A satirical essay about the Baby Boomer generation.

Domiknitrix - A knitting book with some bite to it.

World History and It's Effects On Knitting.

As you may have gathered from the photo illustration for today, I've been doing some knitting over the holidays.  To be precise, I think I've added 4 diamonds in length to the scarf which I've been working on for... Oh... Three months now... To be fair to both the scarf itself and my own knitting ability, this hasn't been my primary project at any point over those months and it is the first intarsia pattern I've tried and, let's not forget it's double-sided, so really it's twice as long.  Sort of.

Anyway, the most exciting knitting development whilst in Boston was that I bought another knitting book, and was persuaded by it's glowing accounts of the high speeds that were achievable by knitting according to the Continental method. The main difference is you hold the yarn in your left hand instead of your right, so both hands do an equal amount of work and there are fewer steps involved in each stitch.

According to this entry on Wikipedia the Continental style fell out of popularity in the UK and America around World War II because of it's associations with Germany, which I find very odd.  I understand not wanting to look unpatriotic during a war, but why switch to a less efficient method of knitting just when it seems likely you'll have less time to waste when producing very necessary items of warm clothing?  It's most peculiar to think that a change in the way people knit was a lasting effect of the Second World War, but then this could easily be an urban knitting legend don't you think?  How on earth would one go about researching such a thing anyway?  Fascinating!

Last Day of The Hols.

I was up and in the shower before the alarm went off this morning, because I want to get home to my cats and all the television shows that were tivo'd whilst we were away.  Why don't any hotels seem to have Bravo in their cable package, damn it I thought it was a basic cable channel?  All I want is "Top Chef: Any Variety" and "The Fashion Show:Wrath of Iman" and I would be like a cat in a cardboard box.

Anyway...

Hopefully we will be home at a nice sensible time.  Tomorrow I'm back in the office at the inhuman hour of 8 o'clock in the morning, and I expect to be in a fugue state for the rest of the week.  Quite frankly I doubt there will be much going on, but that a good opportunity for me to write up all the fun stuff we did in Boston that didn't get a post of their own at the time.  And a photo of the stack of lovely new books I have.

And Rings On Her Toes.

Doc C's conference is in a pair of hotels which seems to bookend a rabbit-warren of a mall, which has some swanky shops in it including a Tiffany's.

The last time I saw a Tiffany's window display they were promoting their diamond key pendants, which was beautiful timing on their part because I'd just got my key tattoo.  This time they had a window displaying a fairytale village made out of tiffany blue books.  You have got to hand it to them, they know how to tempt a girl.

Yes that is a diamond snowflake hanging from the trail of stars, and there's also a ring in the beak of the bluebird; but for me it was the book village that was particularly enchanting.  Can I live there please?

This is a nice atmospheric shot with no flash, but I wanted to get the detail of all of the text on the stars and house gables, so I got a more harshly lit photo as well.

Isn't that lovely?  I'm not sure what the story is that the pages are taken from, but there was some text on the window with a story about a handsome prince who is turned into a bluebird whilst his lady love is imprisoned in a tower.  Does anyone know that story?  It's sounds like a mash-up of Rapunzel, the Happy Prince and that one about the swans.

Of course I stayed outside Tiffany's and just admired the window, but I still purchased some sparkle today.

Lovely shiny rings!  These were total bargains as they were reduced from $20 each, to a dollar each in the Papyrus sale.  Fabulous.  It's a pity these were the last two in stock, or you know I'd be wearing one on every available digit.

Book Tattoo.

This is my new tattoo, which is on my left wrist.  It's an open book, as you can see, and I wanted it to be blank so there wasn't just one correct orientation for it (This would have driven my high school art teacher crazy, the giant painting I once did of a compass was not supposed to have a right way up either and she kept telling me I had to choose, but I never did.)

I've also decided that I am going to design a coat of arms for myself and Doc C which incorporated my book and key tattoos, with his Koi Carp and suits of cards tattoos.  That way when anyone asks what the "significance" of the images is I will be able to honestly answer that it is part of my family crest.  Sneaky, huh?  Oh, plus we already have the perfect motto in Latin "Audio Video Disco", which translates to "I Hear, I See, I Learn".

My Weekend in Summary.

This weekend I have spoken to my Mum; been to a Zumba class; walked a dog who I would love to adopt; eaten frozen custard; watched Miss Marple solve the mystery of "The Body in the Library; made a pair of clawed feet for crochet Yoda; bought comic books; finished a Dorothy L. Sayers book; played video games; and had a really nice nap.

 

Snowy Saturday.

It started snowing yesterday, which was fine with me because I had my Coraline coat to bundle up in and besides it was only a light dusting so nothing really built up.  This morning there was some more light snow, which was really pretty; so we picked up some toasted cuban sandwiches and cafe con leche (there is a cuban cafe across the road from our house) and went for a walk around a lake.

On the way back we stopped to buy yarn because I am going to learn how to knit socks and I've got an idea for a crocheted teddy-bear sized amigurumi.

Apart from that I've been curled up in the warmest part of the house, the mezzanine conveniently enough, and reading Chine Mieville's debut novel "King Rat".

It has been a very nice Saturday.

Deadly Mermaid Cover.

I was really tempted to buy this book, purely because of the fabulously camp cover art.  A questionable red head, wearing an acid-yellow off-the-shoulder dress AND holding a freaking spear gun?  That is just the epitome of pulp fiction, isn't it?

In the end I settled for just snapping a couple of shots, because after I'd read the back cover blurb I knew I wouldn't actually read the book itself, and I didn't want to deprive someone who might appreciate that pleasure.

Weekend of Cat Walks, Bank Robbers and Books.

This is not an original observation on my part, but still; Where on earth does the time go?  When I was a child I distinctly remember their being acres of time that I had no idea what to do with, and now there is barely any spare time at all for just lolling around.  I seem to remember spending a fair amount of time as a child watching black-and-white detective movies, or following our two cats around the garden, and I was most often trying to get them to drop the rabbit or bird they were carrying in their mouths.  This was not always successful, but it kept us all amused and out from under my parents feet for a while.

This weekend has once again zipped by, but I have at least managed to socialise with friends who we went to the cinema with.  We saw "The Town" which is set in Boston, and the first bank you see robbed is Doc C's!  Well, from the outside anyway, the inside is nothing like that really.  I was most interested by the casting and it's always fun to watch a film set in a city you know at least slightly.

This afternoon I spent about forty-five minutes wandering around outside behind Edith as she sniffed things and ate grass, but she was wearing her smart blue harness and lead so the local wildlife was fairly safe.  Both cats now have their own harnesses, because we wanted to be able to walk them at the same time and it's a pain to have to keep resizing the harness when swapping it between cats.  Nancy shouldn't be able to back out of hers anymore, not that she's tried to actually, because she's too busy lolling around on the grass and watching the world from a new and exciting view point.

Apart from tending to my cat's recreational needs (I am definitely going to be a batty old cat lady, aren't I? sigh) I have read quite a bit today.  Which is good because in my anxiety about there not being a decent bookshop within 2 hours drive, I have developed a tendency to hoard reading matter.  There are between 25 to 30 books on my "To Be Read" shelf now, and I know there are a couple of others on their way from Good Reads' bookswaps.  Today I have read most of "Changeless" by Gail Carriger, which Laura leant me, and which I find to be very entertaining to spend a Sunday, snuggled up with a cat and a cup of tea.

Now all I have to do is find an extra few hours to catch up on my knitting, particularly as I seemed to have agreed to knit a sweater for someone else as well.  Damn it!  Where does all the time go?

My Free Time Needs A To-Do List.

So far this evening I have knitted 10 rows, finished the first volume of the complete Sherlock Holmes and added more books to Goodread's Bookswap.  I still have to eat dinner, put my clean clothes away, play with the cats and maybe play some video games.

I really have to start structuring my evenings more efficiently, so I can do more of the stuff I really want to do. Unfortunately, for me, scheduling is the very antithesis of relaxing so, yeah, that's probably not going to happen.

*postscript* I've had a glass of wine now, so all my clothes will remain un-folded for another day; but I did play with the cats, so I have my priorities in order.

New Projects.

This evening I started a new knitting project, a tank top in cornflower and dusty blue, and I've added half a shelf of books to the Goodreads Bookswap.

If you're interested in getting second hand books for merely the cost of postage, then it is a great way of getting more reading matter.  I am sort of getting addicted to hitting the "Request Book" button and then getting a fun parcel from the post office a few days later.

Oh, also if you look at the books I have put up to swap I would hasten to add these are not exactly the cream of my collection.  Some I really liked but don't think I'm likely to read again, e.g. "Millions", some I didn't read in the first place, e.g. the stack of Anne Perry books I bought second hand from Westminster Library, and some I hated, e.g. "The Fabulous Girl's Guide to Decorum"

On Ice. In Paperback.

For various working-in-a-university reasons, that I probably shouldn't go into for professional ethics reasons, by the time I got home what I really needed a stiff drink and a nice trashy true crime.

All that I had to hand was a G&T with vermouth, and a second-hand copy of "Party Monster".

Ahhhhhhhh!

Perfect!

Cover Art: The Strangled Queen.

The book table in my office hallway, where people leave books they wish to release back into the wild, hasn't had anything new in a few of weeks.  However there was one particularly splendid piece of cover art that I spotted a while back which I finally remembered to take a photo of this morning.

As I say it's been there for a while, so I thought that I would be able to come back later and note down some of the plot points from the back cover blurb - But, when I did, the book had gone.

I could probably look up the synopsis on-line, but in the meantime, and purely based on the cover art, don't you think the title should have been "The Dead Mardy Queen"? She looks like a right madam, mind you Prince Valiant doesn't look like a ray of sunshine either; so they are probably perfect for each other, but refuse to admit that until around page 117.

Mezzanine Storage Area.

You know last weekend I probably would have told you that packing was the most tedious thing ever; this weekend I have learnt that un-packing is in fact the most tedious thing ever.

Ugh!

I did have one moment of startling genius however.

We had decided that the bookshelves would go on the mezzanine, and I've been trying to work out the best use of the space up there.  It's a balcony that runs the length of the house and it's probably about 7 or 8 foot wide at it's widest point.  Our walk-in wardrobe takes a cube shaped bite of that floor space (the loft is basically the top of the wardrobe cube) and that left a little strip that I just couldn't see a use for.  It's dark and it's narrow, so putting a book case there wouldn't work and it would be really claustrophobic to sit there.  Then it occurred to me that it was slightly wider than the bookcases I was putting up there, and I could line one of those up with the wall, leaving a slightly concealed storage area behind it.

Today I put sliders on the bottom of one of the bookcases, so even when it's full you can quite easily slide it out and get to the nook behind it.  Then I took all of our empty suitcases and boxes and stacked them back there.  It all fits perfectly!  Very satisfying.

 

Good Reads.

I've signed up to Good Reads, which is a website where you can keep track of books that you've read, are reading and want to read.  It's geeky fun!

At the moment I've only got 18 books listed, and the majority of those are Dorothy L. Sayers because she's my current Queen of Crime.  I might add in books retrospectively, but otherwise I'll just add books in as I read them.  One thing I really like is that you can note down the page number of your current book on the iPod app and it syncs that up with the website, it even tells you what percentage of the book you have read so far.  This is oddly satisfying information to have.

You can also use it to swap recommendations with friends, so if any of you are on there already and want to friend me that would be great. I'm dead easy to find, as I've listed myself as Jen Alien-Spouse, and my avatar is the Green Queen.  Naturally.

Sunday on Target.

We had no plans for today, other than pancakes for breakfast, so we drove over to the nearest Target about an hour away.  We wanted to browse for furniture and kitchen stuff for the new house.  So we did that, and found a coffee table we both liked as well as a TV stand, bar stools and a sofa.  Well I really liked the sofa, Doc C has become very sentimental about the tartan 70's sofa bed we bought for $50 when we moved in here.  The one that was sort of a joke.  sigh.  What am I going to do with him?

Anyway, we also found the cookbook section and whilst Doc fell on "Weber's Way to Grill" with cries of delight, I flipped through "Jamie's Food Revolution" - both of those came home with us.  When just flipping through a cookbook makes you salivate, then you know it's a winner.

Then we happened to bump into Randy and Laura, who were shopping for their new house, so we arranged to meet them for dinner.  It was a very pleasant day all around!

Amy Sedaris Has Great Legs.

Amy Sedaris was appearing in town this evening as part of the University's Summer Arts Program, and I have been really looking forward to it since May.

Amy Sedaris was great; she was funny, gracious and incredibly patient.  This may seem like an odd thing to say after seeing a comedienne, but there was a Q&A session with the audience at the end and the host who had been chatting with Amy Sedaris earlier was choosing who got to ask questions.  The majority of the people who were invited to "ask a question" were just hogging the microphone to promote a local business.  At one point Amy Sedaris invited an audience member to make a craft project with her.  One enthusiastic young man was selected first, he literally vaulted onto the stage and really seemed into the whole thing.  There were really only enough materials for one craft project, but the host then pulled a woman out of the audience as well.  She turned out to be the owner of a large local shop, and getting her up on the stage seemed to be purely a way for the host to mention the name of it.  It was just so transparent.

Amy Sedaris is staying at a local spa, and, during the Q&A, the owner was given the mic.  She asked if Amy Sedaris liked eggs, Amy Sedaris seemed a little non-plussed by the question, but said no, not really.  Don't like eggs?  Umm, no?  This seemed to go on forever, until the spa owner eventually said that she had been planning to make Amy Sedaris breakfast.  It was like when a small child tries to tell a knock-knock joke to someone who doesn't know they are supposed to say "Who's there?" and the child just keeps trying to tell the joke anyway.  But obviously the owner of the spa is an adult, so it was more uncomfortable then that even! 

Amy Sedaris has a book, "Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People", coming out in November, that I think I might buy because she was just such a sweetheart this evening to put up with all the nonsense so politely.  And I wished I had a copy of her last book, "I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence" to get signed after the show, and I might just buy a copy anyway because she was so nice and funny.  We should all get copies!

p.s.  Amy Sedaris changed out of an ankle length gingham dress into a second-hand dress that a friend had altered for her and made extremely short.  This is how I know Amy Sedaris has great legs.