Bargain hunting

Yesterday Ian and I went to a car boot sale near daughter's flat, think we should have left earlier as by the time we actually entered the field punters were leaving and sellers were packing up. On the other hand, perhaps this was a good thing, for the above 17 knitting patterns and 1930s book cost the great sum of fifty pence. Both patterns and book are so vintage, but still interesting. Other great buys were a box of drawing pins for 5p, two trays of plants for £5, Ian bought an enormous book of calculus - wouldn't you have guessed it would be maths - plus a smaller book titled The Joy of Numbers, also a Rose Elliott low calorie vegetarian cookery book, a corner shelf, still in its wrappings and with fixings and so right for a plant in our porch.

 We boobed slightly on the one pound iPad transparent cover, thought it would be useful for Martha's but apparently it's not quite right. However, will protect the screen clean when she isn't using it. We have been to few car boot sales, say two or three, but this was not pressurised or scary, lots of kid's clothes, ancient paperbacks, odd collection of china but above all pleasant and friendly stall holders, even if the stall was just a blanket on the ground. Afterwards we rewarded ourselves with delicious coffee and millionaires shortbread at the farm cafe before a few purchases at the farm shop.

 Main thought about the weekend, was when we go anywhere, like this car boot sale, or the local shops is that is is very unlikely we will meet any one we know. Very liberating,coupled with the fact that no one knows where we are, even our son had forgotten we were away cat sitting. No pictures of the moggies, they hid from us under the sofa most of the time. They are still young, so maybe they will become less timid.

I took the photos of the patterns and the book with my iPad, wrote the above but failed to cut and copy the photograph across, even emailed it to myself and tried to copy across from that. Now back at PixieParent Towers have transferred photos to lap top and downloaded from that. Feelings of frustration when I cannot work out how to use iPad. I know, if  all else fails, read the instructions again.

Must get on, clothes to unpack; laundry, well it is Monday, and all the catching up from three enjoyable days away.

Added book to Ravelry so thought you should all see it too.

Daybook again.

MONDAY, MAy 14, 2012

Simple Woman's Daybook:  14th May 2012

Outside my window ... it looks cold, windy and has been raining. Not sure I want to go out this evening, AGM time at the local history society, am aware I would be letting my friend down with whom I go and it gives Ian a chance of peace and quiet for his 'sums'.

I planted the 'bee friendly' plants in the front garden yesterday the gentle rain of today is probably a good thing in spite of the soaking I gave the plants and soil. Thank goodness for the water butts, they are full still.

Here's a view of the front garden, shews the gaps for which we have hollyhock and morning glory seeds.

Eventually the poor quality grass will be replaced by plants, but as we have spent over £200.00 so far, augmented by gifted, transplanted and freecycled plants and seeds it is not a project to be rushed.


From the learning rooms ... Ian is working hard on the last few details of his Maths TMA, in between relishing the extra space obtained by moving out some of the furniture and repositioning the table into the centre of the room.

I am thankful ... that I have a new battery in my 5 year old Toshiba laptop. thought it would have been a difficult project, we had asked at John Lewis as we'd had purchased it there, they gave us details of a company who specialise in Toshibas, we phoned, we found the right parts number, paid the amount requested - far less than a new machine - were told the battery would come some time this week. We were blessed with delivery on Saturday, there were no instructions but I found the original pristine manual and was surprised how easy it was to remove the old and install the new.

I am wearing ... my faithful old jeans, so pleased I can fit in them again and a warm White Stuff top. Will need to change before I go out though.

I am creating ...  a sleeveless Shalom cardigan, the pattern was downloaded from here
http://involvingthesenses.blogspot.co.uk/. I has been quite a learning curve form me, a little frogging has been necessary, not the fault of the designer I might add but my lack of attention to detail. So much to learn, so little time.

This is how far I have come, it's a top down pattern, no seaming as knitted in the round, am just below the armholes, am pleased it was designed for some one tall so I know it will be long enough for me. I dislike a gap at my waist (well where my waist was) when tops are too short.

I am reading ...  Songs of blue and gold by Deborah Lawrenson, have completed part 1. Needless to say this is a reading group book, am keen to keep going as it not a heavy or blood thirsty read. Well not so far, I don't know what happens next.

I am hoping... Martha's cats 'take' to me, which reminds me, they are brother and sister, not sisters. the declaration about this on Facebook prompted over 70 comments, many of which involved much discussion about choice of name now that Tabitha was not. He is now Tabs so the poor soul is not too confused. Toby was a runner up in the naming stakes.

I am hearing ... very little, the house is quiet, no planes and even more lovely no building, drilling or cutting noise from next door's building works. Is the work nearly complete? Will we be able to sit in our garden without being deafened or covered in dust? These are important questions chez Pixie Mansions.

One of my favourite things ...  old documentary films, a recent find was this, http://film.britishcouncil.org/london-terminus . It was fascinating that the trains to Reading and Camberley stopped at our local station at this time (1944) but nowadays we are told that South West trains cannot do this. I know it was war time but the passengers all seem to look smartly dressed and no one appears overweight as life was physically tougher then. (Using a manual typewriter used more calories than an electric one so when the latter cam into service apparently typists put on more weight)

A few plans for the rest of the week ... little planned, except for volunteering at Local Studies and maybe knitting group in their new venue. Oh, yes, it is Christian Aid this week so I shall be smiling at everyone near a pedestrian crossing in the High Street on Saturday. Give generously folks so others may have life before death.

Friday

Couldn't really think of a title for these ramblings so Friday it is. Suppose I could add adjectives like chilly, cold, wintry but I didn't. I had stayed indoors much of this week, didn't want to go out in the cold wind but today braved the weather and went to the Local studies library. Had the option to do more work on the illustrations collection or data entry, chose the former, prefer to write on paper. Photographs were of Richmond Hill, which I discovered used to be called Hill Rise. Now that name is used just from Richmond Bridge to the junction with Compass Hill. Wonder why the name was changed in the 1920s. Had some advertisements showing business premises with the old address, all helps to identify the date, although there are plenty of local directories to confirm these. One business was for corsets, trousseaux and baby clothes, from the directories it had been there from early 1900, maybe a little earlier and from the advert it had moved from New Bond Street to Richmond.

These photos and information about them will be scanned, eventually you will be able to browse them in the comfort of your own home. Although that is good, there is still the delight of visiting a local studies library for the serendipity of finding nuggets in the directories for example. It is surprising how long some businesses had survived, many local names were listed that I remembered from my childhood. Then there is the excitement of coming across ones grandparents' names as residents in the directory.

Just so my readers know where I, and many other volunteers spend our time. The library is at the top of the Old Town Hall and affords views to the west  over the River Thames to the Middlesex bank. Thus there are some beautiful sunsets to be seen, I have attempted to capture one today although it was not one of the best, neither the photo or the sunset.

In the far right there is a hump on the horizon that is the famous Rugby Football Union ground, the foreground is part of the Quinlan Terry development that so transformed Richmond Riverside back in the 1980s.

Now I must leave my keyboard to carry on with The hare with amber eyes: a hidden inheritance as would like to finish it before reading group meets. Need to read it with computer or iPad handy to look up some of the references. Have to admit  the book hadn't registered with me at first, hadn't even realised it was non-fiction.

Books wot I 'ave read

"The Bookworm"  has seen this meme on both Facebook and the internet recently.Quote from Bookworm follows:-  "Melanie has done a bit of research and established that the list is an urban legend, but never one to miss a good book meme, I'm going to play anyway ...

The BBC claims (supposedly!) that most people haven't read more than six books on the list. How many of these have you read?

Instructions: Bold those books you've read in their entirety. Italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. (I skipped the tagging bit - play if you want to play!)

Many thanks to Bookworm, I have emboldened, italicised and lightened my entries so will my readers add their twopennorth?

Madeleine

who has been out to play the last two days, both events so different. 

Instructions: Bold those books you've read in their entirety. Italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. (I skipped the tagging bit - play if you want to play!)

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10.Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare 
15. Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18. The Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch – George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy 
32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens 
33. Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34. Emma – Jane Austen
35. Persuasion – Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Berniere
39. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41. Animal Farm – George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50. Atonement – Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52. Dune – Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72. Dracula – Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses – James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal – Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession – AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94. Watership Down – Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

Book bonanza

Happiness is finding books that I had thought had gone from my life for ever.

Background is that we are trying to have a clear out, yesterday an unwanted vacuum was Freecycled and Ian decided to clear more from garage so bought in crates of books. Now I thought these books were kids university ones and was delighted to find that many were ours, there were old Pelicans, black covered Penguins covering classical Greek literature and history for example. These have replaced Martha's Harry Potter collection on our shelves in the hall as can be seen here.

This bookcase that was found in the garage when we moved into this house, it was used for storing paint pots, now it is in the dining room and has our fiction collection, like Barbara Pym, Howard Spring and now Nevil Shute and Ian's Asimov collection that have come from the garage. Some of the fiction is light reading stuff that will go once read. So short of time, what with blogging, knitting, cooking/baking, meeting friends, Local studies voluntary work so how did we work and run around after two children.

Must get on, want to sort out more books, haven't attempted the DT quick crossword yet, am meeting friend for lunch in Kew Gardens and to look at the photography exhibition there and then there is the knitting. Didn't do any yesterday but climbed Mount Ironmore instead.

Byeee, Madeleine

Saturday evening thoughts

Why would anyone take recreational drugs? I'm taking codeine & paracetamol as well as non steroid anti inflammatory drugs and although these are just about making the pain bearable they are making me feel very whoozy, not with it and lethargic. Have spent much of the day in bed sleeping.

Thanks to our efficient local National Health Service I had X-rays taken of my hips yesterday and have an appointment next week to discuss the results. Also, when I found it impossible yesterday to cope with the pain with just paracetamol, I had a telephone consultation with GP who provided a presciption. Darling husband collected this, had it dispensed so I was able to sleep for 8 hours without being woken by the pain. None of this has cost us anything, although I was prepared to pay for X-rays if there had been a long wait.

Last night I was able to catalogue more of our books using Library Thing. Quite surprised that we have books that no one else owns and for which there is no British Library catalogue entry either.  Using my professional skills, but so different from Anglo American cataloguing rules and writing entries on 5 x 3 cards.  http://www.librarything.com/home/PixieMum

Views of some of our IKEA Billy bookshelves in our hall showing the books I added.

Am off shortly to watch a programme about City of Detroit. Have been there before its demise, remember having a meal in Hudsons department store and watching people in the shopping mall, long before malls came to England. My penfriend of some 50 years lives in Michigan, about 30 miles northwest of the city.

PixieMum