Keeping Faith by Jodi Picolt

This was a good read, it brought up some interesting questions about religion, but I feel the ending did not really answer all the questions. Why did Faith just suddenly stop performing miracles? Was it really a happy ever after? It also made me quite angry about the idea that we have to suffer when we get close to God. Is this just a Christian perspective? Or do other religions belive in suffering?

by Robert GoddardName to a face was the latest mystery from Robert Goddard, and although it mentions an ancient mystery, it did not grip me as much as his other novels, In Pale Battalions being his absolute best in my opinion. I feel this novel just rumbled on with the usual characters just different faces. The ancient mystery seemed to just stumble in and out of the story without any real purpose. The way it was connected seemed to be at best tenuous. Still a good read nevertheless. Just wish he would go back to his historical novels. Medium Allison Dubois

Today has been a cold wet just the right day for baking! Had a desire for cherry cake, so I thought I would give it a go.  The last cherry cake I made was a disaster, all the cherries sunk to the bottom, but I found out that fruit cakes need more flour to help support the fruit.

I also made some lemon cup cakes for Clive, so that has cheered us both up on such a stormy rainy day!

Today is also Rememberance Sunday, and it so sad to see so many young soldiers suffering in conflicts today. When I was a child growing up, it was all about the world wars, which seemed a distant memory, yet now we see and hear of so many young men and woman killed in this conflict. I just wish they could all come home.

here is the cushion I made

close up of applique

We spent the last few days in Somerset, just over the border with Dorset, at Cricket St Thomas. (Another wonderful Warner hotel). Despite a worrying start, (the decorators seemed to be painting the rest of the corridor, and the pool wasn’t open) we had a wonderful couple of days. The room had a fantastic four poster bed, and a large spa bath. We could actually see ring tailed limas from our bedroom window.

We both needed the break, Clive was feeling stressed at work, and I was feeling quite tired. The weather was freezing, but the sun shone bright, Autumn had arrived!  We spent a very pleasant afternoon walking the fabulous gardens, with a secret walkway behind a fountain. There was also a zoo, with a cheetah, leopard, deer and monkeys.

After our long walk we had tea in the beautiful house, and felt very special, surrounded by a wonderful oak panelled walls and leather chesterfields.

On the way to the hotel, we stopped at the Craft Centre in Broadwindsor. I just love Becca’s Quilt Emporium. There are so many fabulous fabrics to choose from, that you feel inspired just looking round.

Luckily she mentioned she was holding a workshop on the Friday, which suited me as we were checking out early that day. I booked up straight away.

I was a little disappointed when I arrived on the Friday morning, as the weather was still bitterly cold, and the workroom only had a small heater. The heater was unplugged when the kettle went on or the iron was used, so it did not seem to get warm enough for me to take off my coat and hat!

Despite this, I managed to gather some wonderful fabrics and started work on a Christmas tree cushion.  And after completing the trees and the backing, I left early in order to complete the project at home. It worked beautifully with the velvet I bought at the WI auction! I simply love the result.

Workshop at Becca

I sat down in front of the television watching the programme Books on sky

while gently stitching round my little trees. I had forgotten how wonderful hand stitching is, so relaxing, compared to racing along on a sewing machine.  I just love the winter cosy nights of stitching as the wind and rain rattle the windowpanes!

I have just finished this book, Dave decided to cross America using only independent traders for fuel, accommodation and fuel.

I picked this up because I would like to visit America soon and I thought it would give me a little insight into the country, however, this book is a little disappointing as it is mainly about car breakdowns, terrible map reading and the hunt for gas. As well as a strange section on the mormons. The DVD is even worse!

However, Dave does have a point, it seems that all the small businesses in America are being squeezed out by the Chain stores, and it is happening here too. Supermarkets have forced local shopping areas to consist of mainly charity shops all the grocers and small businesses gone. The only competition for these big chains is the Farmer’s Markets and the butchers. Meat from butchers is just better! I will have to look out for some other travel books.

America unchained

The strawberry season is upon us, so we spent a pleasant hour strawberry picking at a lovely pick your own farm near Lymington. There is nothing like it, gathering the sweet berries and tasting the odd one or two. It is such a domestic pleasure all the joy of harvest without the hard work! However picking is just the beginning! We came home with six large punnets of strawberries and two punnets of raspberries so I have been cooking all afternoon!

The Blackfield Horticultural Show is coming up soon, and I have been looking at the classes to enter, there is one for jam tarts so I thought I would try out my pastry making skills. After making the mistake of using self raising flour the first time I managed to create a sort of pastry cake! The second batch came out fairly respectable. I used two recipes: a normal plain pastry recipe and a tart recipe. Clive and I tasted one of each the tart recipe won as it had more buttery sweet taste. As for the jam, for now I used a conserve, will try the jam making tomorrow!

The shows are great fun to enter, costing only 40p per entry! I tried it last year for the first time and it was really exciting, taking my entries down early in the morning and returning in the afternoon to view the other entries and to see how I got along! I did fall foul of the rules with my Victoria sandwich by putting icing sugar on the top rather than castor sugar (I did not even realise there were rules for things like that!)I won a certificate for my shortbread, card and crochet phone holder which was very encouraging as I had only just taught myself!

The Waterside Arts festival starts soon as well, it is a great event the whole village gets involved. There are a number of poetry writing competitions an art exhibition, as well as live bands and music events. Should be fun! How I love the summer! Let’s hope the weather is good, it is surprising how everyone seems to smile more when the sun shines!

I remember all the summers, when I was a child, were warm and full of promise. Waking up with the day ahead to fill as I chose, reading, writing, sunbathing. It was a time before sunscreen and skin cancer, when you could lay in the sun all day and not even turn pink. I don’t remember being bored, but I do remember enjoying endless days lost in my books, or cycling to the library to get more adventures.

Without books I don’t think I would have survived my childhood, escaping into another world or another time seemed to be essential. The first book that really hooked me into reading was the magician’s Nephew, it was the first time I had read a book from cover to cover and I remember being so proud of myself, but what was really magical was the escape to another world, one that had different problems from my own, that could all be resolved, neatly by the end. I think that is why the magician’s Nephew today is still special to me. With books I created the childhood I wanted, trips abroad, adventures and mysteries to solve as well as romance. I could drop into another person’s life and be someone else for a while.

I think the most important book for me today is called the secret life of bees. Why is it so special? Because it is the story of a girl who goes in search of people who knew her dead mother. The book is so well written the author describes the longing and sheer determination to know that special person even though the child’s memory is blank. The way the writer describes how important it is for the child to know her mother, the need to have some point of reference for self, that it really is a joy to read. I think the writing must be autobiographical somewhere, because of the feelings and emotions she conveys reflect my own experience that I don’t believe that anyone could write with such conviction unless they knew.

C invited me to a girlie night out to the premier of Sex in the City, at the Casino, it was a fab night! We started off with Manhattans in the bar! It was great to dress up in heels and a lovely dress, we all looked fab!

I liked the film, but have to admit I hadn’t watched any of the television series! Obviously the TV series had ended with them all happily ever after, so the film started from that point! Ending up with the same, happily ever after!

I loved the clothes, and the guy next door (whoa!) but I must say I couldn’t live their life! I felt so pleased to be back in my own world after all that glamour! You just can’t beat a loving relationship!

I was reading an article in Psychologies Magazine, (absolutely fab, a magazine that deals with beauty inside rather than the superficial!) Well there is an article about happiness, apparently if you list 5 good things each night before going to bed, you actually sleep better, and feel happier. So I thought I would share mine today!

1. I bought a beautiful pink coat from a charity shop – it still had the shop label (£55) which I paid £10!

2. I found a wonderful wooden thread spool holder, I had been looking for ages, and something propelled me into  a shop I hardly ever go into! There it was!

3. Had a wonderful morning with Sally, tea and double choc biscuits and a great afternoon with Dawn, finding inspiration in a fabric shop! How wonderful to have great friends

4. My back is better, I can actually do more than sitting! (Even if when shopping I had to ask to sit down!)

5. Watching the first series of Desperate Housewives, I just loved it! Can’t beleive I missed it before! Nothing better than sitting (comfortably!! at last) watching DH and crocheting! What more can a girl want, and the end to a perfect day!