I was made to feel so welcome back at work yesterday that I wondered if 'the new me' was shining out in blinding brilliance. Weeks of dreaming, planning, setting out ideas and making decisions meant I went back to work with a new spring in my step and an attitude of gratitude for the opportunities Dio presents me with.
Early this morning I began listening to this on my Victor Reader Stream. Initially the narrator was annoying as she speaks with an affected voice but this has been enhanced as she attempts to use various Russian accents to put people into character. The story of Vladimir Putin, reading this is timely with the angst over the acceptance of gay people at the Sochi Olympics. Putin has taken Russia back to the days of fear and this book should offer some insight into his mysterious persona.
I have ordered three books from Amazon.com and hope they will arrive in the next few days. All about art journaling, I still am enchanted by this method of writing and memory building. If they are delivered today little else will be achieved as I devour their ideas.
My list of books I wish to purchase for my Kindle is growing, I now have three pages in a large notebook. As my interests change I doubt I will order them all but reading is my main occupation this year and I will buy as I need to expand my Kindle library.
Guide dog handlers will know what the WOF test is. I am waiting for a new instructor to arrive so I can do my test for her. Hopefully Jay and I will be issued with our WOF for another 12 months and will not have to undergo any further training.
Self published books on Kindle are a real lucky dip. I am a third through The Wander Year and I am beginning to wonder how it managed to get published. So many of these travel stories are written in a very basic style, we went here, we went there, we did this, we did that. This book lacks any real focus other than a couple travelling the world together for a year in their forties. I will continue to read it but wonder why it was one of the more expensive travel books I have purchased for my Kindle.
My children loved Winnie the Pooh and I have a very old and battered copy. Several years ago I bought a new copy which included all the AA Milne books. Last summer I was stunned to discover my 10 year old grandchildren did not know who Winnie was. My son made me read the book and then read it again when he was young. I bought all the books and a large stuffed toy which I recently gave to a lovely young woman of 21 who still idolises Winnie and whose room is filled with his memorabilia. A wonderful book to read, re-read and enjoy as an adult, particularly if it has those wonderful pen and ink drawings in black and white. When I stood outside Buckingham Palace in 2007 I kept repeating Christopher Robin's poem.
I love quotes and include at least one daily on my Facebook page. Here is a wonderful quote - "In books I have travelled, not only to other worlds, but into my own" - Anna Quindlen
Dvorak's cello concerto fills my home, its haunting melodies transport me back to the five wonderful days I spent in Prague. A city of extreme beauty filled with music, history and an ethereal sense of belonging I could not quite understand. Its new freedom pervades everything like wisps of fog filled with opera, authors, politics and chains thrown off.
I am almost at the conclusion of The Fourth Estate having listened to it in the wee small hours while coping with excruciating toothache. I feel it is a book that people interested in writing and journalism will follow with great interest but one reviewer has stated that the dialogue is quite cardboard. I would have to agree as in places one is waiting for the next takeover or swords at dawn between Armstrong and Townsend. It reads more like a series of newspaper reports in the financial section about the continual takeovers and underhand business affairs of these two famous - or infamous - men. I feel that other of Archer's books may hold my interest more.
This is a book I read several years ago which fascinated me and made me wish I could afford to be a rare book collector. The book chronicles the story of Christianismi Restitutio and the burning at the stake of its author, Servetus, during the sixteenth century. Following my re-reading of several sections of Out of the Flames I visited the University of Edinburgh library where one of the three surviving copies is held. To my absolute surprise I was welcomed into the rare books room and the precious document was brought to me from the storage room below within minutes. I discovered that the copy I held was that of John Calvin and was marked with passages questioned during the trial of Servetus. To this day I feel honoured that I was given the opportunity to hold such a rare Latin manuscript.
Memoirs make wonderful reading. They allow us to examine our own lives through the lens of those exploring similar circumstances who have found the language to share intimate experiences with their readers. I have lots of Memoirs on my Kindle and always seek them out when visiting the library or searching for books to order for my talking book machine.
Yesterday, grounded due to toothache I started, and finished, a short memoir called Focus.
A very short memoir, Ingrid Ricks relates her journey with Retinitis Pigmentosa which is an inherited eye condition in which the sight gradually deteriorates until all the central vision has gone. Ingrid is the author of several memoirs but this one is poignant as she tells a story simply, a journey so many of us have lived either with RP or other similar eye diseases. Only 96 pages, Focus is a beautifully written story I will read again.
This book is the next to be read on my Kindle. I am always inspired by people who halt their lives and take off to explore the world or choose a new way to live, follow a dream to enter the unknown from a new crossroads. I am sure The Wander Year will inspire me and again lead me to consider the changes I need to make this year as I stand at my own crossroad.
Many books are begun and rejected, returned to the library, deleted or never opened. As one ages I am sure we become more selective and do not want to waste one precious minute on a book which is not going to enhance our lives.
Neighbours can be a huge problem but last night I held a drinks and nibbles at 5 at my home and we had a wonderful time. Seeing one, aged 87, get very under the weather and start talking about 'Spacebook' was hilarious, particularly when I suggested that Twitter may be more appropriate to the drunken revelry of a group ranging in age from late 40's to over 90!
I have just finished reading It Rains in February and am still stunned at the family acceptance of the inevitability of suicide. I am unsure of the moral issues around his wife setting up an email account and pretending to be a caring 'other person' in Britain. Perhaps as I mull over the issues involved and relate it to my own experiences I may feel less critical of the author. Somehow, despite her frank and well written memoir I am distressed by inaction. Now I need to decide which Kindle book to devour next as I continue with The Fourth Estate, often turning it on when unable to sleep and then missing bits before it turns itself off.
Hints and tips on blogging are useful but the book I am reading fails to explain where one does these adjustments on the blogging website. I spent ages yesterday trying to access some of their suggestions, all to no avail. Tech savvy people have no issues with these websites, but those of us with a moderate knowledge struggle.
I received an email this morning offering me books at a reduced price on ibooks by New Zealand authors considered icons. Most are serious well written novels in which I have little interest or are already movies. The growth of the Kindle and ibook market must be making the sale of these books more difficult given NZ authors were very reluctant to allow their books to be sold as e-books due to copyright and other issues. I assume their attitudes are changing as The Luminaries was readily available online before easy access in traditional bookshops.
Cancer is a frightening word, here in New Zealand melanoma is becoming so common that this diagnosis is often dismissed as not being serious. Caught early and removed a melanoma is not fraught with other similar diagnoses but if not leads to other cancers and slow painful death. I had a melanoma removed 16 days ago. Yesterday I had the stitches out, all 12, leaving a long scar. Expected further surgery was deemed unnecessary but now I am on a lifelong watch full of suncreams, sunhats and moisturisers. My relief after the visit to the specialist was palpable - I was unaware how scared I had been.
Reading It Rains in February is very difficult. Depths of love and despair are invoked in single words and the desperation with which Leila attempts to keep her depressed and suicidal husband alive. South Africa seems a place where health issues go unresolved despite the momentous changes of the last 30 years. Links can be broken so easily but the tearing of these links provides life long pain and stress. Admiration for the author's frankness is mixed with anger at her inability to obtain help and her husband's refusal to accept it. What will her children think as they read the book, one assumes the eldest who is now 13 or 14 may have already done so. Could this add further harm to a difficult and painful journey?
My neighbour has lent me her German cookery book, it is fabulous! I love German food but have never attempted to cook it. Culinaria Germany is rich with illustration, full of ideas and I would imagine is the ultimate guide to food from all regions of this exciting country. I love their outdoor cafes, food on the run, ciders and most important, Apfel Strudel - my first destination on arriving in Europe - a cafe with good quality strudel with warm vanilla sauce prepared with care and love.
I have also been dipping into a book of blogging hints. While some of the ideas are beyond me I hope to attempt others. Time will tell. I return to work next week and will ask for advice from the resident blogger about upmarketing and easy ways to make this blog more attractive to others.
Later today I party - Jay and Chocolat will love it as all the neighbours are coming for drinks and nibbles. Their anticipation at crumbs and lost crackers will keep their minds occupied all day.
Yesterday I visited Browsers Bookshop in Victoria St in Hamilton. It was one in a long line of shops, mostly selling clothing, that I visited before a specialist's appointment. Rudeness seems to abound when one attempts to purchase something. No one in the bookshop asked if they could help me and after visiting dress shops looking for a very upmarket frock for a wedding I returned to my local shop and purchased what I had already tried on there. Assumptions that disabled people, especially those with guide dogs, have no money to spend is my reaction to my experience. I have enquired of a friend in a wheelchair who says she has the same experience. In contrast a very wealthy friend has similar experiences and refuses to shop where no one asks if they can help her.
This is the latest book I have started reading on my Kindle. While I am unsure if the outcome, suicide, is a topic I should become engrossed in again due to two family losses from this, I am finding the poignancy of her writing very attractive. Writing about a family suicide can be difficult, devastating and reinvents grief in a way that those who have not experienced this type of loss can even begin to understand. It is a book I will read in pieces, when my own grief makes it too difficult to continue I will repair to something less emotional. Sharing this type of death with others is both brave and challenging, this is a road fraught with much misunderstanding.
Jay is bored, two days of dress shopping is more than any self respecting man should have to bear. As if to admonish me he rushed out the door when we arrived home banging my sore knee and completely oblivious to Chocolat's need to welcome him home again. Men!
Conversation with intelligent people is so satisfying. This morning I invited a neighbour over to help me re-hang a picture which fell off the wall a few days ago. A coffee, tea and two hours of conversation later about news, books, psychology, family dynamics and life with oneself we parted to have lunch. Interactions like this are rare today but as a result I have a new book, Focus, by Daniel Goleman to purchase for my Kindle.
Today I also parted with a 30 year old photocopier I bought to help me with my studies. The print in many books was too small, increasingly so as my sight deteriorated and I moved towards a Masters degree. Enlargement of everything was very important and allowed me access to documents in tiny fonts. The copier had stopped working, jammed, or spilt ink over everything so I rang Minolta and asked them to take it away. I now have some free space and an deciding where to put the empty desk. Life moves on and no one would have any use for a black and white photocopier when there are such amazing copy shops everywhere.
My reading has changed little, I have devoured several old NZ Listeners but I am entranced by The Fourth Estate and am enjoying the parallel stories. I spent much of the afternoon yesterday with a friend who also loves books of many genres and she, like me, has spent most of the summer with her nose in a book. I also love decorating magazines, cooking magazines and those describing the alternative and smallholders lifestyle. A far cry from the Jack and Jill magazines my mother used to order from the bookshop at Davies Corner.
A whole new world of books beckons this year, my friends and neighbours will be my guide to those I do not source from my usual VRS books or the Kindle store.
Lazy Sunday's have become part of my lifestyle. After lunch I nap and dream of what I may read later in the afternoon and during the coming week. Yesterday was no different as the heat and humidity made slow swirls around the afternoon peace and I descended into a light sleep. A visit to the library on Friday elicited a very interesting book about decorated journals. While the ones in the book look very professional and exciting I am tempted to try making one of some of my travels.
I pored over the book most of the afternoon like waiting for a delicious cream cake at a cafe. Checking online I found several shops selling beautiful but expensive journals in which I would fear making a mistake. Several weeks ago Kirsty Allsop - the Honourable Kirsty I believe - showed viewers how to make journals. While this is beyond me given my sight I may be able to find a website which sells homemade journals. I have seen them in a craft shop somewhere but cannot remember where. I will devour more of the book before making a decision but often feel that my travel mementos are shut away in boxes where I can no longer enjoy them.
I always thought journaling was a handwritten version of blogs, the ones in this book are works of art!
I started a new talking book yesterday, The Fourth Estate by Jeffrey Archer.
I had never read his novels until recently when i read Sons of Fortune about a set of twins who were separated at birth. This gripping tale was all the encouragement I needed to order two more of his books from the RNZFB talking book library. The Fourth Estate is the story of two media barons and their contrasting backgrounds and lifestyles. The necessity of making choices from a reduced number of books available as talking books has meant i have worked outside the square and are able to make choices of books I would previously never have considered.
This morning I received this post from Letters of Gratitude on my Facebook page.
"I've been stabbed in the back by those I needed most. I've been lied to by those I love. I have felt alone when I couldn't afford to be. But at the end of the day I had to learn to be my own best friend because there's going to be days when no one is going to be there for me but myself".
My friends are amazing people but family have, in the main, walked all over me and the reactions of my children to my separation and divorce from their father is completely represented by the above quote. They have stamped all over me, lied to me and fail to explain why. I hope I am my own best friend but there are days when all I want is a friend to hug me, to perhaps see my grandchildren who I wonder if I would even recognise and to feel I mean something to a family member. Perhaps this is why I like quotes so much as they provide a salve to a person requiring answers.
My reading has finally descended into holiday mode, probably because many people have returned to work while I am still relaxing despite nursing a large wound on my arm from surgery. I have a large pile of Healthy Food Guides www.healthyfoodguide.co.nz on my coffee table which visitors seem to peruse more than me. The latest issue arrived in the mail late last week but I have not even opened it yet. I have borrowed a large pile of Homestyle magazines from the library and am really enjoying looking at ideas I could put to use in my home. My visit to the library was an off-the-cuff affair concurrent with my feelings that I should not put off any ideas in case of missed opportunities. I also found a book I am now enjoying; A French Garden Journey by Monty Don, though it does not seem to be about French Gardens but more about his journey's through France. I have read another of his books but enjoy his manner and way he discusses his gardening projects on his television programmes. As I continue with A Reader on Reading I am finding it very thought provoking.
The Book Thief is a movie I had been eagerly awaiting. I understood it respected the book and little had been changed. While this is generally so, I found it unemotional, the narrator - The Grim Reaper - had been reduced to a very minor role and the connections between Liesel 'borrowing' books' and the path this led to in her life seemed almost tenuous. Levels of emotion, philosophy, Nazis and their abhorrence of the Jews and others seemed to be an afterthought. Reality was so much starker than that portrayed in the movie. Was this due to box office demands, informal discussions with Germany or just the fanciful view of the producers who beliefs may be so different from that of the author. It is sad to be disappointed in a much anticipated movie of a loved book.
I have just started a new Kindle book and am unsure if it will meet my expectations.
It is a collection of essays by someone described as the Casanova of reading. If this is so I am fascinated by his opening with Alice in Wonderland which is a book I have always loved. I will discuss this book further as I read it and discover how Alberto wends his way through literature and the reading habit.
My guide dog did not enjoy The Book Thief, this may have been in some part due to the unusual hour I went to the movies, the presence of a friend or just boredom after a long day. He is so much fun, but how he hates shopping. I tried on a couple of tops yesterday and as usual attempts to sneak out under the curtain had to be forcibly curtailed by me. Everyone wants to pat him and this does make every shopping expedition long winded.
Intelligence seems to be a rare commodity today. Watching 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' should confirm this, the simplest general knowledge questions seem too difficult for many of the competitors. People seem happy to let their lives slip by without any use of their grey matter. Someone told me last week that only 50% of the population have any intelligence, perhaps a bit harsh, but most seem unlikely to use what they do have. The unusual looks I get when I try to initiate a conversation around something serious brings instant reversal of companionship and a shared cup of coffee and good company.
I almost deleted Hotels, Hospitals and Jails but decided to continue reading this talking book. His life is so damaged by the years he spent serving in the marines, yet I wonder if this is truly the reason for his rampant sexual appetite. His father appears to be much the same and what little I listened to at the gym his brother also seemed to be this way inclined. It is certainly not the type of book I would normally read but this is one of the joys of talking books - variety and unexpected surprises. I do miss seeing the photos in these types of books though.
I have two dogs, Chocolat is my retired guide dog and was 11 on Christmas day while Jay is my working dog and will be 5 in March. Arthritis has caught up with Chocky but at present she seems much better after a course of injections. Both dogs are gorgeous and my only companions who love me unconditionally and would care for me under any circumstances.
"Don't let my body tell me what I can do". I heard this wonderful quote on TV last night from an African American who, despite being on dialysis, was working full time and giving so much of himself to friends, family and work colleagues. As our bodies age we tend to fall into line with the restrictions on our life but perhaps this man has a very valid point in that we should ignore the aches, pains, poor sight and other ageing processes and just continue to live life to the fullest.
I love quotes. Every day I put a 'thought of the day' on my Facebook site along with a place of the day, somewhere I have travelled in Europe over the last 7 years or in NZ or Australia other times in my life. Since I started doing this other Facebook friends have also posted quotes and interesting stories and videos so in a very small way I am attempting to make a difference and bring about change in people's lives.
I started reading this book last night on my VRS. While I have only read it for about an hour it is teaching me much about memoir writing. Truth, as the author sees it, is far removed from my experience and life truths. His preoccupation with sexual encounters will, I hope, fade as he explores more of his ex-marine life and experiences coming to terms with the violence and anger of being an American military man.
I finished Stolen Innocence yesterday and after checking the Sally Clark website I emailed the address listed. This morning I received a lovely reply from Sue and a reassurance that the family has moved forward. I was not sure if I would get a reply so was thrilled. It has led me to think about SIDS, child violence here in NZ and how we view family rights and the law.
Enforced time at home to heal has meant reading at a level and speed unknown to me for a long time. I spent several winters in bed as a teenager with the effects of nephritis and devoured every book I could lay my hands on. A weekly visit to the Doctor for tests brought with it the joy of a visit to the library to borrow another 15-20 books. I seemed to eat them, probably the basis for my wonderful general knowledge which so annoys people today. I always have several books on the go at once, a talking book, I have just this minute finished Stolen Innocence by John Batt and was devastated to read on Sally's website that the experience overwhelmed her and she died of acute alcohol poisoning. I instantly deleted the book and have just opened the next one. I am still reading Forty-Something Phoenix on my Kindle and have two actual books on the go also.
A wonderful friend gave me Street Fight in Naples for my birthday two years ago. To my shame I thought it was a novel and relegated it to the "I will read one day" pile. Desperate for something different with reasonable sized print I looked at the sub-title; A book of art and insurrection. Written with the extensive help of Italian and other archivists, the reason she gave me the book as a gift, it seems, after reading only a few pages, to be the history of the city of Naples. This thoughtful gift has been gathering dust and could have been a much loved book by now. I do have one query, why are the covers shown on websites so different from those of the books which sit here beside me as I write.
As for travel; I have recently been told about a website called www.airbnb.com on which people list accommodation available in their homes. After several years of international travel I am truly surprised that I have never heard of this website before. Now if only I could figure out where the suburbs are in Brisbane so I could make a booking!
My arm is still sore and trying to type makes it worse, plus my clumsiness makes it difficult to touch the correct keys. Not only is this preventing me writing but it also makes it difficult to work with any form of speed.
Yesterday I had several visitors, one of whom is, like me, unusual in her thinking and values. We enjoyed a nice wine, cheese, grapes and crackers and hopefully will meet once a month. Like me she is also struggling with past issues which have impacted on our present and together we compare and analyse not only our thoughts but our dreams for the future.
Yesterday I also finished The Lost Child of Philomena Lee and was left wondering why it bore little resemblance to the movie which moved me so deeply and passionately. Most of the book is the story of Michael Hess or previously Anthony Lee, his homosexual debauchery, relationships with loving caring men he then destroyed due to the thoughts many of us who are adopted experience, and his rise in Republican politics. The movie is sourced from the final chapter and epilogue which I find sad but wonder how the story of a gay adopted man would be a box office hit in any country, particularly Ireland.
I have now started the above book on my Kindle and am loving her memoir of travelling alone. As this has been my experience, visiting countries where I am unable to speak the language, staying in places I am not entirely sure are safe and meeting people in fleeting ways which one hopes may lead to friendship or perhaps even more. I will write more about this book as I read it over the next couple of days. The author has also written a book of hints for those who also wish to write a travel memoir which I have just downloaded.
This will be a short post. I had plastic surgery yesterday to remove a possible melanoma from my left arm. I have a very long line of stitches, impressive dressing and bandage so typing is all one fingered.
I spent much of the afternoon reading The Lost Child of Philomena Lee and noting all the similarities between Michael's thinking and my own about adoption. I downloaded a couple of adoption books and will read them soon.
Recently I read about a woman's growing fascination with poetry as a writing medium. In order to grow in understanding of the flow of words she began by reading the work of William Butler Yeats. I have decided to implement this also and as a contrast also bought a kindle book of Rilke's poetry. This is an odd mix, brought about by watching the movie The Reader which I found gripping. My desire to explore new intellectual avenues in solitude this year is already paying large dividends.
People laugh when I tell them I collect cookbooks. I do not have a huge collection but I have those books I can use regularly and extract recipes from that are tasty and healthy. I received a beautiful Italian cookbook for my birthday two years ago, Italia has provided me with recipes, dreams of beautiful gluten free pasta and simple saucces. The friend who gave me this lovely book always encourages me with lovely thoughts and caring actions.
I have also received a lovely cookbook for Christmas which I will devour in the winter. I love my slow cooker, I was never allowed one when I was married; making beautiful rich and saucy casseroles, lamb shanks and cooking whole chickens in them is satisfying and produces both comfort food and a wonderful smell that emenates from every corner of my home. I have not had time to peruse many of the recipes yet but most certainly will do as the weather cools. When I first got my slow cooker/crockpot I made everything I could think of including steamed puddings in it. Now ageing and reliable I even stew apples and rhubarb in it much to my friend's amusement.
My other favourite cookbook author is Annabel Langbein. Her range, literally given their titles are The Free Range Cook and similar variations of it are all supported by television series, You Tube videos and online tutorials linked to her website. I met her once and she was curious as to how I could cook. A simple demonstration of my method for reading recipes has been usurped by the use of my ipad to photgraph and then enlarge all recipes. I will write more about Annabel in another blog post. The book below is my favourite, one her earlier books and the only one I have filled with sticky notes, bookmarks and have adapted recipes from. It is wonderful, as is her special autograph to me which fills a whole page. If a blind cook can win Masterchef USA I can cook anything I put my mind to.
Holidays are a time for meditating, cogitating, thinking about what the new year will bring. I am a thinker, a philosopher. Friends say I am different, almost bohemian in my attitudes and several fail to understand my bluntness and honesty. I am beginning to enjoy being seen this way and hope that I can develop it further over the next few years.
Anam Cara was a book I discovered on my return from Ireland and Britain in 2012. Searching for a way to discover transposing my kiwi spiritual being onto my newly absorbed celtic insights I borrowed Anam Cara from the library and ordered a copy even before I had finished the borrowed one. I also ordered several of his other books through Fishpond and am at present reading Eternal Echoes: Exploring Our Hunger to Belong. Although I no longer see myself as Christian and these books are written by a scholarly catholic priest they touch my heart. His poetry echoes the western coast of Ireland, I have visited the Aran Islands and was moved by its peace and soul driven lifestyle. I have so much reading on the go that books such as these are read during the heat of a beautiful summer afternoon, notes made, dreams envisioned.
As I work out at the gym and just before going to sleep I am listening to Stolen Innocence on my VRS. The story of an English solicitor wrongly accused of murdering her two baby sons and her subsequent conviction and incarceration for three years is gripping. Brought up to trust in the law and incredibly naive despite years of legal training this couple went through a nightmare, some of it of their own making after speaking so openly and trustingly to police. A lesson for us all that long held beliefs in the honesty of the legal system are not always correct. Wrong assumptions can destroy lives, families and eventually marriages.
I have received a wedding invitation for the 6th of April in Brisbane, Australia. I must go, what an exciting mail delivery that was today. I have never met the bride or groom but they are related to me via my adoptive father's family and I only found out they existed about 18 months ago. This is very important for me, a new and hopefully enduring family connection.
I started reading this book last night on my Kindle and am so engrossed in it I have spent precious time today turning the pages when I should be doing other things. Last week I went to the film Philomena which I found very upsetting and quite disturbing. The story aside, the cruelty of the nuns and the hierarchy of the catholic church which ensured that 'sin' would ensure the two never met, I felt a deeply personal connection to the story. Few understand the loss, rejection and sense of never belonging anywhere that adoption brings to an individual. The losses I have experienced since made the movie very personal. Previously buried feelings and my sense of aloneness and identity loss have once again risen to a surface filled with the potholes of my life journey. I applaud both Philomena and the Michael Sixsmith for bringing this terrible trade in children to the notice of the world.
A website I have previously mentioned listed an author, Orhan Pamuk, who I had not heard of. I reserved his travel memoir, Istanbul, and although the print is quite small I hope to gain some insight into the city he has lived in for over 50 years. Istanbul is a city I hope to visit one day so a personal insight into this mysterious city may bring planning and lead to other books and reading on the same topic.
Coffee yesterday with a Czech friend emboldened me. I love Marushka's company. She too found Christmas difficult and depressing this year as she keeps attempting to enrich her life. Reading, travel and contact with friends from Eastern Europe and Germany keep her sane, but she admitted to homesickness for the Czechoslovakia of her childhood. Ageing brings us full circle and a life lost in a country far from her home is causing her much sadness. I truly understand her depression and admire her strength in staying here with a sad and ageing husband who does not enjoy life as she does.
Travel has been the least of my priorities for 18 months as I was very ill during my last trip to Britain and Ireland in 2012. Assured it was due to my growing gluten intolerance I am slowly beginning to develop the travel itch again. I am now keeping a journal of possible destinations; France, Croatia, Scandinavia - hopefully I can go where the dream and wistful thinking leads me.
Kindle is such a wonderful invention. I am reading Our House in Not in Paris,this wonderful book by Susan Cutsforth. While there are many books about renovating houses in France this one seems to have a special resonance as the couple are Australian and only spent 6 weeks of every year in France. They also use our open Australasian way of thinking and acting to build a range of new French friends who help them oversee the renovations. Susan has just published another book, Our House is Definitely Not in Paris, this has been added to the journal I keep of books read and books to buy, order or dream about reading.
As expected my friend Ron has become reluctant to use his technology to develop his reading repertoire and has lots of books waiting to be downloaded and put on his VRS. Explanations of the wonderful transfer software seem lost on him so perhaps I can help him to download it one day.
Listening to radio interviews yesterday, one about a woman constantly sipping on a water bottle during a performance of Dvorak's cello concerto and the ensuing discussion on the prevalence of these awful bottles and another interview with someone whose life was changed after reading the poetry of William Butler Yeats reinforced my decision to read more poetry this year. The awful poetry we were made to read and analyse at school is so removed from the beautiful words of the milieu of poets published today it seems a shame I have wasted so many years not reading these moving compositions.
I have spent much of this extended summer holiday reading, dreaming and planning. Once again I stand at a crossroads wondering which way to turn. Almost ten years ago I left my marriage of 31 years and began a new life which has given me freedoms previously unknown. I need a new challenge and days of writing down ideas always brings me back to the same solutions previously cast aside.
Inspired by a book given to me as a christmas gift by a dear friend at work I am stopping to enjoy the silence and my own company. Solitude can be very healing. My Heart Wanders, A celebration of taking risks, letting go and making a home wherever you are by Pia Jane Bijkerk www.piajanebijkerk.com is a book of stunning photographs, quotes, poems and her journey from Sydney to a new life in Paris and Amsterdam. Pia took a risk leaving a career and a life in Australia to start anew with a Parisian she barely knew. It is one of those books we mull over, think about, gasp at the illustrations and wonder at the intuitive decision to give this to me as I explore my life decisions once again. Treasured it will be, dog eared it may become, this gift is exploding in my soul.
Visitors will arrive for lunch today. Ron is blind and like me loves books, podcasts and listening to the radio. He has not yet purchased a Kindle and finds his reading of free books from the Foundation a little restricted. He buys books from Audible.com and resists the knowledge that he is possibly spending money he does not need to. Worlds of print are now accessible to those of us who are blind or vision impaired but we need to use it or our years of campaigning to have equal access to printed matter will be of no accord.
My guide dog is hot and resistant to working, my retired dog tired yet happy. Every time I woke in the night I turned on my machine and listened to a wonderful podcast interview with Bill Bryson. I must see what the Blind Foundation library has of his books that I could read.
Yesterday was spent with a friend I have had for more than 10 years. She has been my guide as I negotiate the travails of a marriage dissolution, failing sight and a new exciting life.
With great excitement she brought out a book she had read recently, The Keeper of Secrets by Julie Thomas. I read it several months ago on my Kindle and found it a gripping story of classical music, violins, the holocaust and family loss and revival. A quite unrelated conversation with a new friend at the gym led me to the memory of a violin maker who lives near Cambridge where Julie also lives. He makes replicas of the Guarneri De Jesu violin around which the story is based. As a music lover with an unexplainable interest in the holocaust and recent European history this book is enticing.
Podcasts have become my listening genre as I try to relax and enjoy my hard won holidays. Conversations with Colin Fidler on the ABC are my first choice with interviews on the Radio NZ website a close second. My portable talking book machine, a Victor Reader Stream, has a folder especially for podcasts. Colin's interviews with people who have led both ordinary and amazing lives are both interesting and easy to listen to.
Several weeks ago a friend sent me a link via Facebook to a publishers website www.knopfdoubleday.com
which lists vintage and anchor books. These are mostly classic and newer novels listed for prizes but many of the books are also true classics. Today I heard of Orhan Pamuk and have ordered his memoir, Istanbul. If the print proves too small I will buy it for my Kindle.
Keeping secrets has led me to research and write the story of my adoptive father who died when I was 5 and of whom I know very little. Secrets have tumbled out over the last few months yet I am struggling to put this story together. I hope to enter it in a competition but if not finished I will find another method of publishing it.
My new year's resolution is to start a new and more interesting blog. I am myopic and a bookworm. I hope to write about books, writing, travel and being visually impaired.
Friends think I am different, eccentric and a dreamer. I have begun to realise I am unique and this is essential for my existence. So I will begin a journey of sharing who and what I am, the practical and the impractical, books I have read or am reading,what I am writing and some funny stories of living with a vision impairment.
Travel is off the radar at present due to difficulties with a gluten intolerance. Living on my own means books and creativity are an essential part of who I am. Many of the books I read are talking books or increasingly on my kindle which allows me to increase the print size. Today I have finished a talking book called Up With the Larks which, while about a family's relocation to rural Cornwall was funny, sad and imposed itself on the dreaming visions of this restless reader. I have ordered Tessa Hainsworth's next two books and look forward to many hours of listening to her wonderful stories.
upwiththelarks.co.uk
