Postcards from middle-age

Welcome to this, my first postcard from middle-age:

MoMa and MoPa gave Sam and I a year's National Trust membership for Christmas, and today we finally got around to visiting our first property; A La Ronde near Exmouth.

We had driven past the sign for A La Ronde for years and said we would go and visit because it's supposed to be a quirky little place which it really was.  Built by a pair of second cousins; Jane and Mary the building was inspired by their grand tour of Europe (which took an impressive ten years).  A 16-sided building with amazing views of Exmouth and the sea it is filled to the brim with curiosities like these dolls:

Shell-inspired lampshades:

The main gallery area is decorated in such a way to give the impression of being under the sea.  The walls are painted to emulate being in deep water followed by fabric drapes to represent the waves breaking on the shore, just behind the railings is the shell gallery representing the beach and on the ceiling is a ceiling rose representing the sun.

There are handcrafted items throughout the house made by Jane and Mary including the shell pictures below:

Them girls did love their shells...

Silhouettes of the family are a big theme throughout the house:

And finally a fairly ace sink that I quite liked.

When visiting the lovely brummies a few weeks back we shyly admitted to having National Trust membership, at which point they got their iPhones out to show us the National Trust apps they had.  I guess we've just reached that age?  To be fair who doesn't like a good scone and gift shop?

I spy with my little eye....

The Lampshade of awesome....

The tulip of rad...

The blurry beetle of nightmares...

And the watch of not being told off...

So yeah, in essence this is a non-focused blog post of rambling and things I've seen this week:

• The lampshade of awesome hangs above the formica dinning table of lush.  I bought it in Next, it was a pig to construct but works really well in the dinning room and I t'aime it.
• The tulip of rad, found in the pub of post work Tuesday drinks, quite possibly the weirdest flower I have ever seen...
• The blurry beetle of nightmares.  I'll grant you that this is not the best photo I've ever taken, I used a point and shoot and it just wouldn't play ball.  Anyway this little chap was a birthday present from my mum and dad to MozzyMr, he's been compiling a little collection of stuff trapped in resin and this fits in perfectly, his little round yellow eyes are a wee bit harrowing though.
• Finally the watch of not being told off.  For years now I've just used my phone to tell the time but when I checked it in the middle of a meeting I got 'the glare' from a colleague so I thought it was best to buy a watch.  Lovely ASOS watch.

Sorry about the complete lack of focus to this post, I've had fun taking the photos though and I like talking about rubbish so this has been fun for me!

A month of reading

Last year I made a resolution to not buy new books.  I could borrow from friends or the library, buy from car boots sales and charity shops but that was it.  A good plan I thought, especially as I do tend to spend a lot of money on books, however the problem with this plan is you only really get a certain type of book, lots of Bridget Jones' Diary, The Da Vinci code and more copies of Tony Parson's work then I care to remember.  This year I scraped that rule and here is what I've been reading this month:

1. Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

You may well suspect this is a book aimed at 9 - 12 year olds, and well  yes you'd be absolutely right, but don't let that put you off.  Katy my friend of almost 14 years now (gulp), and ex-colleague from the Waterstone's era lent me this book.  97% of the time Katy recommends great books (End of the Affair, and Persuasion aside, sorry Katy) and this is one of them!  I seem to remember kid's books being quite patronising when I was young, so much so that it put me off reading and it wasn't until I started doing my A-Levels that this started to change so it is great to read a kid's book that is funny, sarcastic and doesn't have flaky, boring female main characters.  Skulduggery is a skeleton who happens to also be a detective and the series of books follow him on his adventures in a completely non-Harry Potter magical way. 

2. After Dark by Haruki Murakami

In my last 'month of reading' post I asked for recommendations as I was running low on inspiration and my cousin suggested anything by Haruki Murakami.  I'd already read Norwegian Wood back when I was at uni and really enjoyed it so I don't really know why it has taken me so long and a prompt from my cousin to read more.  Reading the first chapter it struck me how cinematic the writing was and how easy it was to imagine the story, as I read from chapter two onward Murakami begins to describe scenes from the camera's point of view so my first interpretation of the writing really hadn't been far off.  This isn't a happy novel, nor overly bleak just an exploration of the good and the bad, the mundane and the violent, loneliness and companionship.  I will certainly be reading more of Murakami's books now that I remember how good they are (dur).

3. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

4. Street Gang - the Complete History of Sesame Street by Michael Davis

Both of these books are completely my thing and definitely what I would choose to read (again both lent to me by Katy) but my concentration span at the moment is virtually nil.  I tried reading both of these but either the size of the novel (Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell) or the density of the text (Street Gang) put me off on this occasion.  I'm hoping when things start to calm down at work and I can relax a little bit more I'll have the time to read and enjoy them....

5. The Driver's Seat - Muriel Spark

In the spirit of nil concentration the size of this book was what I was initially drawn to when I was on the scavenge in the library, plus I'd never read any Muriel Spark before and had heard good things.  This book is weird, and confusing and I spent most of my time wondering if I'd missed something really obvious as Spark's style of writing is fractious and seemingly random.  It was only when I read the final chapter that everything slotted into place and the book went from one I just didn't get to one that I thought was brilliant!  I get this little review of it might not make you rush out and buy/borrow it but it was really good and it felt good to ponder what I had read and see how it all fitted the puzzle.  Plus if nothing else it's really short so if you really don't like it, it won't take you long to finish and move on to something else!

6. Paper Towns by John Green

You have to read this book.  Seriously.  There are two books that I tell everyone they have to read; The Book Thief by Marcus Zuzak, and How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran.  If you haven't read these books then seriously you must they're ace and I re-read them alot.  Paper Towns was recommended to Katy by another ex-Waterstone's Colleague Joe (little two's Joe if you read this) and then Katy announced to all on her Facebook page that it was great so of course being the little lambkin I am who just has to join in I hurried out and bought it.  And lo!  It is great.  A 'young adult' book this time (yeah I might get back to reading adult books, or I might not) it centres around Quentin Jacobsen and Margo Roth Spiegelman.  I don't want to give a synopsis of the plot the Wikipedia entry for it can do a better job of that than me.  Instead I'm going to rattle on about how well written it is, and how it makes me want to read all of his books and that I read it in a couple of days because I couldn't put it down.

Ok

Finally here is the reading seat, up in our bedroom low enough that people can't see me and low enough that I get to look up into the sky and sit in the odd sunbeam like the cat who usually circles me waiting for me to leave so she can steal the prime spot.

Weird and wonderful things are happening in the kitchen

I bought MozzyMr a gourmet mushroom kit for Christmas and before he'd even activated it (you should in theory soak the bag of coffee waste which contains the mushroom spores overnight) but these came poking through the corner of the box so we thought it was best to open it up and give them some room.  They're weird things, sort of velvety and ear lobe like *shudder*.

On the other side of the kitchen on the windowsill we have the tomatoes coming up, another week and they'll be ready to transplant to the polytunnel...

MozzyMr's handmade Birthday

MozzyMr got a little bit older recently.  Birthday's aren't really his thing, and this year he seemed to be taking a particularly disgruntled view of the big day so I wanted to make him something that might crack a smile when he opened it.  Hence the pug.  He's loved the Pedigree Chum advert where the dogs wear human dentures, his favourite was the pug but they cut it from the recent adverts so I thought I would make him an embroidery of it with sparkly thread for the teeth (classy).

It did make him laugh, but I think some of his laughter was because I'd actually bothered to make something so weird.  Secretly I'm quite pleased with it, it's the first embroidery-type thing I've ever made and it has turned out quite neat.

So on his actual birthday we drove up to Birmingham to see our Brummie chums, and the lovely Bon had made him this:

A sock creature (made from socks forcably "donated" from her Husband's sock drawer) that MozzyMr has named Leonard (I think, might be Lionel).  Leonard (Lionel) sits in Mozzy's chair in the living room and commentates throughout every TV programme we watch.  He likes Neighbours but not Home and Away and thinks You've Been Framed is barbaric, Leonard (Lionel) is unsure of the cat and plays dead when she's around, just in case.

Last but not least...

A birthday isn't a birthday without chocolate, especially knitted chocolate!  This little selection box was created by MozzyMa: knitting genius.  MozzyMr loves a knitted novelty item (we have knitted helicopters, chips, peas, invisible grandmothers, doughnuts, liquorice all sorts, roses, daisies and a knitted Waluigi) I think for his next birthday I might have to get him a display case for it all!



A month of reading

1. (not pictured) When God Was a Rabbit - Sarah Williams

I wasn't sure about this one, a number of people had recommended it but I suspected it wasn't for me.  Yes, I admit it; I judged a book by it's cover.  Unsurprisingly the old adage was correct, I really shouldn't have.  It was a pacy book and at no point felt like a struggle to read, the relationships between the characters are complicated at times, but touching as well.  This book hasn't changed my life and I don't think it is one of those books that everyone MUST read but is a good in between book when you've finished a really brilliant book and don't know what to read next. I've lent this one to my mum (hence not pictured) and I'm vain enough to not lend people books that I don't think reflect well on me!

2. The Imperfectionists - Tom Rachman

I read a review of this book on another blog and thought I would give it a go.  The story is set in the office of a failing newspaper, each chapter is written from the view point of one of the members of the office outlining the personal and professional politics, power struggles and ambitions of the staff.  I'm indifferent to this book, which sounds so much more damning than I really want it to.  It is a good book and I didn't struggle to get through it and at no point did I want to give up on it, but the characters were whiney and selfish and I struggled to find a redeeming feature amongst them (I am aware this was a necessary part of the plot, but it doesn't mean I have to like it).  Don't let me put you off this book but borrow it from the library, don't buy it new. 

3. The Confessions of Katherine Howard - Suzannah Dunn

Utter, utter meh.  My (not so) secret shame is an interest in the Tudors and I thought this one might be good.  It was eye meltingly dull I don't give up on books readily, and I didn't with this one but it came close a couple of times.

4. One Day - David Nicholls

This book didn't come to my attention until the film came out, now anything associated with Anne Hathaway makes me yawn, equally anything that is over-hyped switches me off so I wasn't that inclined to read it.  However last weekend my lovely sister-in-law gave me a copy, the copy she had received as part of World Book Night and I'm really glad I got over myself and read it because it was great.  My assumption had been that because Anne Hathaway was involved with the film that the character of Emma Morley would be a bit soft, but no, she was switched on, sarcastically funny and so well written.  This book was great because it portrays what I'm sure we've all experienced; the struggle to identify what we really want to do with our lives and how to achieve it.  Go forth and read this book!

So what have I learnt this month via the medium of books; I am very snobby and judgemental when it comes to choosing books, but equally am happy to admit when I'm wrong about these judgements so that's sort of ok, right?

What books would you recommend?

Another photographer in the family?

At the weekend MozzyMr and I travelled up North to Lichfield to celebrate our Jim's birthday.  Everyone was there to celebrate including our lovely nieces.  Little big niece was sadly poorly and not on her usual good form, Little small niece was full of smiles and had lots of fun with my camera.  To begin with we had lots of photos with fingers over the lens but then she really got the hang of things.  Here are a selection of her photographs, I think you'll agree she's got some real potential I hope it is something she explores further (she's only 4!).

I love that she went off and took photos of the toys she loves, she also got the best portraits of the family including this one of MozzyMr.