Feminism

I am beginning to wonder, as an ardent 1970's feminist, what we have done to the lives of women. So many of us are exhausted, stressed and unable to live a satisfying and enjoyable existence due to the demands of work and running a home. It has become the norm for both partners to work, leaving children to fend for themselves, homes to deteriorate and families unable to enjoy time together. I am beginning to realise how privileged I was to be able to spend time with my children and how intermittent work at home now means I can work when I choose.

I must be at the end of the book about the Gucci family, it has become a great sleeping draught. I have given up re-winding my VRS as missing 5 or 10 minutes seems to be unimportant with such a slow moving plot. I am also struggling a little with Tracks on my kindle, mostly due to my inability to spend any amount of quality time reading at present.

Writing has been left on the back burner, I have so many unfinished stories which I hope to spend time on soon, intellectual stimulation through writing is a true necessity and keeps me focused and looking forward. Yesterday I went shopping with my disabled daughter and we found a wonderful book sale at Whitcoulls. She purchased a book of New Zealand Landscape Painting for half price and I found a gorgeous expose of French interior decorating. Well worth the sore feet and a reluctant guide dog.

Cherie and I have spent each evening watching DVD movies, despite the considerable interruptions with her boyfriend ringing. On Friday we watched What Maisie Knew,  yesterday we delved into Salmon Fishing in the Yemen   and then decided to have a late night and watched The Butler. Apart from a large scratch on the fishing movie the movies were amazing. Again I was led to question my own role in bringing about equality for women and many years of feminist studies when I saw the damage parental indifference could do to a bright precocious young girl called Maisie. Perhaps it is time I re-visited some of my philosophical thinking - more reading!!  

More Gucci

Listening to the story of the family Gucci while working on Tuesday I looked up and realised my glasses case had 'Gucci' stamped on the inside. So much for my comment that this was a brand ordinary people like me would never have the opportunity to purchase. I suspect the case may belong to a fancy pair of frames for glasses I had made so I can still go to the movies. From memory the frames were about $500 so am guessing this may be my only Gucci purchase.

The book is rather long-winded and becoming quite boring. I have contemplated deleting it but should be more than half way through so am reluctant not to see it to the end.

I keep purchasing new books for my kindle at present. Last night I found a book on Paris, Journey to the City of Light  and On Re-Reading by Patricia Spacks which is about the joy of favourite books one reads over and over again, like Susan Hill in my case. I have also bought a book called Paris Was Ours by Penelope Rowlands which is a series of impressions by well known writers about their sojourn in Paris. Like any good library Amazon.com sometimes suggests and has available good books for purchase while at other times nothing appeals. I still find it very frustrating when I want to purchase a kindle book as I can no longer re-read the print copy only to find that it is not available for a kindle. Of the 14 books I have chosen over the last few weeks I cannot choose which one to read first which is really exciting.

Today I bought a beginners guide to watercolour painting which hopefully will help me with my art journaling. Although I now have two more busy weeks of work coming up it appears I am getting more savvy about ensuring I have time for reading, relaxing, art and study.

Gucci

I have recovered enough from my extremely busy week to begin reading again. I have delved more deeply into the history of the Gucci family and am beginning to enjoy the background to this famous family. The narrator obviously speaks Italian which makes for a much better audio, people stumbling over difficult words and foreign languages makes me cringe.

I have always enjoyed books about books and over the weekend I have purchased several new books for my kindle on this subject. My appetite was whetted when I read Out of the Flames by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone and also Lawrence's book Used and Rare.






Both these books look really interesting and as soon as I have finished reading Tracks on my kindle I will begin one of them. Books have always been such a large part of my life and I miss being able to walk into a library and choose a huge pile which became my constant friends while I travelled the enchanted worlds in their pages. Kindles are wonderful for people who are vision impaired and blind, the Voice Over accessibility option makes it easy to explore any book on the planet. I go through buying phases, often reading a book straight away, other times savouring its presence in my personal electronic library. Strangely, I have still not read the first kindle book I purchased,   it looks really interesting but has avoided my clicking on it for almost 2 years!

Jay always plays up in windy weather, on Friday he saw one of those rather nasty dogs walking along the footpath and growled and lunged at it. Very embarrassing, not safe and difficult for me to deal with. Perhaps I need to purchase a book on golden retrievers!   

Sleep

After days of stress and not sleeping properly, to some extent due to a neck manipulation, I have finally managed to return to sensibility after a long night of relaxing sleep. Now I can plan and make choices for my days again, rest and read, do my art journaling and hopefully write again.


I read this book many years ago as a small child, fascinated by the freedom and sense of adventure I never experienced. Visiting a local bookshop, Poppies, I discovered a copy on special and purchased it. I am thoroughly enjoying re-reading this very British children's book, only discovering when looking for a cover to cut and paste that it has been filmed. I visited the Lakes District in 2007 and wondered where, of the many places I saw, which of them had been a part of Arthur Ransome's motivation for this story. I bought a copy with quite large print, all 500 pages may take me a while to devour, I will keep you posted. Do children have adventures anymore? Has the PC life overtaken risk, fun and family challenges so that children are ruled by decisions made in political offices?

    
I began reading this on my VRS a couple of nights ago. There was an introduction which took up quite a lot of reading time but last night I began with chapter 1, then promptly fell asleep. It looks to be a fascinating expose of such a well known fashion house and family. Gucci is a by-word for women wishing to have the best - clothes, handbags and more - the types of ephemera that those of us on a limited income can only dream about and probably have no desire to covet. This sounds like a very interesting read, I will post more when I have delved into the book properly.   

Wunderbar

Days have moved slowly this week as I have steeled myself for each busy day of work and willing 4pm on Friday to arrive. My bonus has been only being asked to work half a day today as the paperwork for my extra 3 hours of work has not been finalised. I have slept, caught up with the neighbour, transferred photos using Windows 8, all good.

I am still reading Zero Degrees of Empathy  and while I am finding the neuroscience fascinating my own exhaustion has meant that I am reading it in short bursts. I often start a book, put it aside, then carry on. This can be weeks later. Last night I returned to Howards End is on the Landing  after a couple of weeks of virtually no reading. Is this how other people approach good books?

I have purchased several new books for my kindle including A Writers Diary by Virginia Woolf, Susan Hill's Hunger, Our House is Certainly Not in Paris and German and Russian Short Stories. I intend to begin devouring them this weekend, hopefully their promise will be fulfilled.

Exhaustion

Tiredness has taken over my life. I cannot read properly, work has consumed my every waking moment for the last 3 weeks. Now I have a family dispute to deal with, hopefully that will resolve itself before too long. Writing a blog is amazing, this last few weeks it has been my only writing outlet.

Yesterday I finished reading Mud, Sweat and Tears by Bear Grylls on my VRS. Rather a light read, very entertaining, glad I have now discovered this interesting man who is the Chief Scout. His enthusiasm for life and adventure is catching, though I am unsure if I would ever want to follow in his footsteps.

I dream of picking up a book, real, kindle, anything which would get me back into my mission to read everything that comes my way. I did spend five minutes trawling the 'new book' shelves at the bookshop while I waited for the bus and must check if the ones I liked are available on kindle.

So many children cannot read properly today, my own grandchildren included, it is so sad they do not know the joys of reading across a wide variety of genres. Reading and bookworms will rule the world, knowledge and its positive use will not only expand minds but change the negativity which pervades much of what we see in the young of today. Roll on the next chapter!

Stress

Eyesight issues can cause all types of problems. I have worked every day this last week and am very tired from the amount of concentration required to 'see'. Good lighting is essential but not always possible, email programme changes at one of the schools I work at meant a two hour session with an IT technician from the Blind Foundation to reset gmail to make it 'blind' friendly. The stresses involved in not being able to access technology are momentous, not readily understood by the general population.

 
A run of poor or uninteresting books I ordered from the RNZFB meant I took a chance a few nights ago and began reading Mud, Sweat and Tears on my VRS. The chapters are really short which makes me feel I have not set the timer button, but I am fascinated. I have to confess I had never heard of Bear Grylls so this is an interesting discovery. His sense of fun, along with a spirit of adventure, makes this a racy book to read with plenty of excitement and humour to keep a reader interested.

I have also been reading my new cookbooks along with watching far too many You Tube videos of choirs, male singers and European royalty. I have downloaded several new books for my Kindle, including several volumes of European short stories but have reduced enthusiasm at present for any in-depth reading. Bookworms occasionally retreat into their lairs and recuperate and revitalise.

100 Years Old

My mother was 100 years old on Tuesday. This is a huge achievement, as the youngest of a family of 7 she has led quite a stressful life at times but was very happy to be the centre of attention on Tuesday. We are having a large family party on Sunday, speech writing is the order of the day.

Trawler is not living up to its early promise. Descriptions of unusual fish and the moods of the sea are getting a little wearing. Sea sickness was the theme of the early chapters but I seem unable to follow the route the author is taking. Finishing this book may prove difficult, especially as it is not one which can act as a sleeping draught!
  
This book was recommended to me by the lady I stayed with in Australia. She had read it as she has a son with Aspergers. I am finding the discussion about empathy and the linking of evil and cruelty with neuroscience fascinating. It is not a long book but one which gives the reader insights into a world we all teter at the edge of.


I purchased this new cookbook this morning after having it recommended by my Osteopath who is a friend of the author. Gluten free recipes that are nice are often difficult to source so I am sure this book will be well used. A Raglan girl, Emma now lives in Perth and started her blog, My Darling Lemon Thyme several years ago and was stunned to discover how popular it was. This book is the result of many recipes posted on her blog and experimentation to find a diet which suited the allergies which had developed in her children.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is usually a non-event for me. My children choose not to wish me a lovely day so I wish myself lots of happiness. Today I went to 'Brunch with the Brunet's', a wonderful opportunity to spend the morning with Masterchef 2013 and experience the delights of his healthy breakfast. This capped off a very busy week of new work, a funeral, and attending a performance of the Phantom of the Opera last night. It was stunning, even more so when Jay decided at the very end to bark loudly much to everyone's amusement and surprise as well as my embarrassment. 

I have now finished reading In search of Anne Perry   on my VRS. As I progressed through it I discovered the structure of the chapters being in two parts, the first reflecting on some of her writing and the second part about the murder and her incarceration. I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in this murder and the outcome of the protagonists lives.


I have had this book on my VRS for about 3 years with little interest in reading it. Late last night I made the decision to begin it and am pleasantly surprised that it seems fast paced, interesting and about a part of the world I love, Scotland. Why did I wait so long to read it.

A busy week has meant little time available for reading of any kind, other than cookbooks. I hope to rectify this although much of this week will be taken up with learning how to become a Facebook page moderator. Wish me luck! 

Smells

I have been varnishing my front door, more correctly staining and varnishing. The smell is overpowering and I have every window and door in the house open as well as Pavarotti turned up really loud on the stereo to distract me from the drying varnish. My brother, who sells these types of doors, has informed me that 2 coats will be sufficient. Thank goodness, each coat takes an hour to put on and over 4 hours to dry.

I am continuing with the book about Anne Perry; I am not encouraged to read any of her books, murder mysteries make good television but are not a genre of book I would consider reading. I am finding that the descriptions of almost tenuous links between her writing and the 5 years she spent in Mount Eden prison almost monotonous and wonder when the pace of the book will increase.

I noticed last night that the movie Philomena   is now available for purchase. I intend to buy a copy of the DVD but find it so different from the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee that it is two different stories. I have a large number of kindle books as yet unread and diverse as travel, essays, writing guides, cook books, memoirs, Celtic spirituality and the history of the Cathars. Reading on a kindle is definitely not as sensuous as a new book one can savour and fondle the pages of but for me it is an ever increasing necessity if I am to continue reading the printed word and avoid total reliance on talking books. I find it interesting that the first book I ever purchased for my kindle I have yet to read. 

I often trawl my bookshelves for a book to re-read - I may return to Howards End is on the Landing  soon, somehow Susan Hill has the ability to draw the reader in and allow us to sit beside her as she investigates her own library and lifestyle. 

Exciting Possibilites

I have been approached about re-starting a writing project that I was employed to do several years ago but which died due to a lack of funding. I have the support of several important top level people within the organisation and have just emailed the new chief executive. A meeting in late May sounds like a positive response to my query about re-starting writing this history.

 Just One Look has not translated well into the talking book format. I have put it to one side while I explore other reading but may return to it in the future. It may possibly be a wrong choice of narrator but I found myself bored listening several days ago so have now switched to a book I have had on my VRS for about two years.

Anne Perry, a well know crime novelist, was eventually outed as Juliet Hulme, a New Zealand teenager who helped her friend murder her mother in the 1950's. Ostensibly New Zealand's most famous matricide and the subject of Peter Jackson's movie 'Heavenly Creatures', Anne now lives in isolation in a small Scottish village and was devastated to be found out. The reaction was most unexpected, little has changed and she was accepted for who she is now. This book examines links between her crime, her novels, and examines the inner workings of her life since leaving New Zealand. This is a book I am really enjoying.

Chocolat is looking old and is again losing weight. I am afraid this winter will not be kind to her, I just hope the long days outside while I am at work will not impact her health in a negative way. As Jay realises his loved companion is truly slowing down I also face the necessity of accepting that a Labrador of 12 and a half is not young. Arthritis is more than evident and she spends much of her time snuggled up next to me or sleeping in the shafts of sunlight pouring through the windows.