Dream Catching

The Christmas season has been overshadowed by Chocolat's health. She lies next to me getting as close as possible without tripping me up when I make a move. I think she knows her time here is short and she is determined to make it as fulfilling as possible. She wheezes and snores as I run my fingers gently over the area where the lump appeared just a matter of weeks ago. An aggressive sarcoma will come back, when is the question. I just hope I can keep her as comfortable as possible as she continues her decline. 

Reading has become my major pastime as I try to relax during the summer holidays. Just lying around sleeping and absorbing knowledge from an interesting book as well as eating good food and catching up with Facebook make my relaxation time wonderful. This morning I have a CD of Malvina Major singing some of her favourite songs in the player, perhaps this will be a day of music, who knows!

Fed up with a rather boring modern novel I was listening to on my VRS I changed in the night to 'A Harrowing Journey'.



A retired couple who spent many years living on the Kapiti Coast in New Zealand purchase a yacht and save, plan and dream of sailing around the world. Eventually they leave, as part of a group sailing to Tonga, and carry on from there across the Indian Ocean which is frequented by Somali pirates. It looks to be an interesting read full of danger and adventures.


  
After a lifetime of city living, I fell for a farmer and, well, Love at the End of the Road. My memoir, a love story about life - present and past - on a remote coastal farm, features a very gracious old dame - our gorgeous villa. The book inspired an episode of the much-loved Kiwi TV show, Country Calendar, and was deemed "charming" (in a good way) in a NZ Herald review. Check it out here:http://www.raeroadley.co.nz/media-room/ 




Soon after returning to her hometown in Northland, New Zealand to work as a journalist, Rae meets farmer Rex Roadley through a rural dating service.
Rex’s beef and sheep farm at Batley, on the Kaipara Harbour, has been in his family for almost a century, however these days the only evidence of the spot’s fascinating historic past is a magnificent two-storeyed villa standing alone on the point.
Neither Rae nor Rex are youngsters and their love affair, developing relationship and life together go through many twists and turns before they eventually marry.

Meanwhile Rae, a lifelong city dweller, learns to cope with mud, managing a large house and garden, the intricacies of farming, and the frustrations of life in New Zealand’s backblocks, all the while getting to know the locals and an assortment of animals - from wild kittens to wild bulls.
Rae’s charming story is beautifully written from the heart and, not only does she find love with Rex, but she finds out more about herself than she ever knew. Woven through her account is the story of the great house itself at Batley and the history of the surrounding countryside. 

 

This is a book which is not only easy to read but evokes memories of times spent at the beach, travelling in Northland, and the family tensions which predicate on a marriage into a family farm. I am enjoying it but have wondered if the journalist in Rae has cultured a need to explain things too simply. Much of the book is written at the level of a 12 year old, a rule often used by journalists to target their audiences.

 

 

 

   

Sadness

I have not posted in a while due to work pressure and huge achievements with our CCS project Measuring Accessible Journeys. Having received many accolades both nationally and internationally we are now invited to speak to the OECD. A huge honour.

Also, I am very sad as my old retired guide dog, Chocolat, is most unwell. Yesterday she had surgery to remove a lump I had found on her side but it could not be taken out as it was attached and through to her abdominal wall. I now await pathology reports to see what the next step is.

Reading has taken a big back step while life has been so hectic, I have only just finished 'The Little Paris Bookshop' and have now started reading on my Kindle:

 

A house and marriage violently disintegrate. Left along to raise an infant in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina while her husband lives it up in Miami Beach, Julie is surrounded by the rubble of her life - stripped bare by love and loss. It is a time of unprecedented clarity. She must acknowledge her own pain, while sharing the heartache of others in her community who are also rebuilding their lives. NAKED is a powerful true story of loss but also of triumph, a path to true love of self. Struggling to find meaning in her journey, Julie shares a remarkable story with humor and tenderness.

A member of my WLM group, Julie's story has been on my kindle for several months. I am always interested that members such as her, well educated and worldly savvy write such popular and plain English books. Not sure why I expect more, imagine such clever women would write more academically and in more depth. 

An inability to concentrate for any length of time has meant magazines on my VRS are taking precedence as well as in real life. I have a huge pile of unread magazines I hope to get through this weekend which is given over to minding Chocolat.  

Forums and Twitter

Preparing for a large, and very important forum, in Wellington is very stressful. I am sure once it is over I will wonder what the worry was about but having to speak to influential people is rather difficult for me. On top of this CCS Disability Action asked that I open a Twitter account or be linked into theirs. I felt it was easier for me to write in my own account and then ask them to retweet. Unfortunately they are not as dedicated to passing on the results of our survey as we are. After I have spoken with them next week hopefully there will be more attention to the detail.


 

Audere, agere, auferre.To dare, to strive, to conquer.For generations, privileged young men have attended St. Oswald's Grammar School for Boys, groomed for success by the likes of Roy Straitley, the eccentric Classics teacher who has been a fixture there for more than thirty years. But this year the wind of unwelcome change is blowing. Suits, paperwork, and information technology are beginning to overshadow St. Oswald's tradition, and Straitley is finally, and reluctantly, contemplating retirement. He is joined this term by five new faculty members, including one who -- unbeknownst to Straitley and everyone else -- holds intimate and dangerous knowledge of St. Oswald's ways and secrets. Harboring dark ties to the school's past, this young teacher has arrived with one terrible goal: to destroy St. Oswald's.

As the new term gets under way, a number of incidents befall students and faculty alike. Beginning as small annoyances -- a lost pen, a misplaced coffee mug -- they are initially overlooked. But as the incidents escalate in both number and consequence, it soon becomes apparent that a darker undercurrent is stirring within the school. With St. Oswald's unraveling, only Straitley stands in the way of its ruin. The veteran teacher faces a formidable opponent, however -- a master player with a bitter grudge and a strategy that has been meticulously planned to the final move, a secret game with very real, very deadly consequences.

A harrowing tale of cat and mouse, this riveting, hypnotically atmospheric novel showcases New York Times bestselling author Joanne Harris's astonishing storytelling talent as never before. (less)

Like all of Joanne Harris's books I am finding this book fascinating. The theme weaves in and out of the pages as one waits for the next event to befall this school. I am listening to this on my VRS and finally have a book I can stay awake to listen to. 

 

I have been reading this book in short spans as there has been some good TV on lately. I am a little lost on some of the themes but am enjoying exploring the mind of Perdu as he takes his Literary Apothecary on a journey from Paris to the south of France. Many ideas are interwoven and I am sure I will have a better idea of where this books is journeying in the next few days.

Two neighbours are meant to be moving this weekend, it looks as though Sharon is packing and I am sure that Margaret will be very happy to see the back of her boarder. When Carolyn is leaving is in the lap of the gods. She has told one neighbour she is going on the 27th and another on Monday, tomorrow, so not sure. 

The dogs are both well although Chocky is definitely reaching her most senior years. I hope she improves as the weather warms up and can enjoy the summer and just lazing in the sun.     

Summer!

Authors keep writing to me when I have complimented their book asking me to put a review on Amazon, Goodreads and similar websites. I don't like writing reviews as anyone who googles my name can discover what I have been reading lately. My reading varies from genre to genre, I am reading far more fiction than I used to, but I am a little nervous of people I no longer connect with or a future job interview being impacted by my taste in books.

Summer is now here, well at least it is warm enough for me to pack away my winter clothes and hang the summer ones on hangers. I have kept out a few warmer tops, hopefully I can also store those in a couple of weeks.

Last Sunday I finished reading 'Born for Life' by a New Zealand midwife and started reading 'Hope in a Ballet Shoe'.
 

 Orphaned by war, saved by ballet.

Growing up in war-torn Sierra Leone, Michaela DePrince witnesses atrocities that no child ever should. Her father is killed by rebels and her mother dies of famine. Sent to an orphanage, Michaela is mistreated and she sees the brutal murder of her favourite teacher.

But there is hope: the Harmattan wind blows a magazine through the orphanage gates. Michaela picks it up and sees a beautiful image of a young woman dancing. One day, she thinks, I want to be this happy.

And then Michaela and her best friend are adopted by an American couple and Michaela can take the dance lessons she's dreamed of since finding her picture.

Life in the States isn't without difficulties. Unfortunately, tragedy can find its way to Michaela in America, too, and her past can feel like it's haunting her. The world of ballet is a racist one, and Michaela has to fight for a place amongst the ballet elite, hearing the words "America's not ready for a black girl ballerina".

And yet...

Today, Michaela is an international ballet star, dancing for The Dutch National Ballet at the age of 19.

A heart-breaking, inspiring autobiography by a teenager who shows us that, beyond everything, there is always hope for a better future. (less)

ebook, 272 pages

Published December 30th 2014 by Faber & Faber

more details...edit details

Get a copy:

• Amazon
• online stores ▾

sponsored books

I am a lover of ballet so this story has really touched my heartstrings. Written with passion and forgiveness, this young woman's journey from war torn Sierra Leone to the Dutch National Ballet is a lesson in what persistence can achieve. I admire her tenacity and drive to achieve what she had so longed for.

On my VRS I am reading:
 

Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet . . . So begins this debut novel about a mixed-race family living in 1970s Ohio and the tragedy that will either be their undoing or their salvation. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother’s bright blue eyes and her father’s jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue—in Marilyn’s case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James’s case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party.

When Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart.

I have only just started reading this book but it is so interesting I keep rewinding my machine in case I have missed something by going to sleep before it turns off. It seems to be a very powerful novel and one I am really enjoying.  

Life is Frenetic

I feel very guilty for not writing in this blog more often at present. I know some people only blog once a month or less but I like to put up a couple of posts a week. Blame it on work; the Measuring Accessible Journeys project has taken up a huge amount of my time, much of it unpaid.

I still take time in the evening to read - my VRS and Kindle are working overtime. I have almost finished listening to 'Julia's Chocolates' which has been at times bawdy and others sad, an interesting introspective look at how women interact and support each other.

Last night I finished reading:
   

A nurse aide position in the local maternity annexe at the age of sixteen gave Julie a love for being with women during labour and birth and caring for mothers and their babies. 

Life could not have been happier until the tragic death of her own baby in the first hour of life, led to depression, loneliness and despair. 

This true story tells of Julie’s struggle to triumph over adversity and follows her journey to fulfill her dream and become the midwife she was born to be. 

I emailed Julie after I closed the book and discovered she is now living in Palmerston North. This book helped me remember all the small things that happened to us after having a baby in the 1970's, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some of the language was very basic but all in all an enjoyable read.

I have now started:
 

Growing up in war-torn Sierra Leone, Michaela DePrince witnesses atrocities that no child ever should. Her father is killed by rebels and her mother dies of famine. Sent to an orphanage, Michaela is mistreated and she sees the brutal murder of her favourite teacher.

But there is hope: the Harmattan wind blows a magazine through the orphanage gates. Michaela picks it up and sees a beautiful image of a young woman dancing. One day, she thinks, I want to be this happy.

And then Michaela and her best friend are adopted by an American couple and Michaela can take the dance lessons she's dreamed of since finding her picture.

Life in the States isn't without difficulties. Unfortunately, tragedy can find its way to Michaela in America, too, and her past can feel like it's haunting her. The world of ballet is a racist one, and Michaela has to fight for a place amongst the ballet elite, hearing the words "America's not ready for a black girl ballerina".

And yet...
Today, Michaela is an international ballet star, dancing for The Dutch National Ballet at the age of 19.

A heart-breaking, inspiring autobiography by a teenager who shows us that, beyond everything, there is always hope for a better future. 

As I only started this last night I am not sure of the storyline from my viewpoint but I have always loved ballet so assume it is a story that will enrich my life.

Spring is now here and the garden is full of roses, irises, honeysuckle and lots of lovely cottage flowers. It looks lovely and the scents are very special. Jay is enjoying it and loves lying in the sun on the newly mown lawn. 

Labour Weekend

I find it rather ironic that I am busy working on writing for both my employers on a long weekend which is designed to commemorate the introduction of the 40 hour working week. Unfortunately time frames are often short and deadlines must be met.

I am still busy reading 'Still Alice' but am almost finished. It is a very honest account of a highly intelligent woman descending into dementia, It makes one consider options if they should develop this, not an outcome one would wish for their lives.

I have just started a new talking book, it is:
 

"I left my wedding dress hanging in a tree somewhere in North Dakota. I don't know why that particular tree appealed to me. Perhaps it was because it looked as if it had given up and died years ago and was still standing because it didn't know what else to do..."

In her deliciously funny, heartfelt, and moving debut, Cathy Lamb introduces some of the most wonderfully eccentric women since The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and The Secret Life of Bees, as she explores the many ways we find the road home.

From the moment Julia Bennett leaves her abusive Boston fiancé at the altar and her ugly wedding dress hanging from a tree in North Dakota, she knows she's driving away from the old Julia, but what she's driving toward is as messy and undefined as her own wounded soul. The old Julia dug her way out of a tortured, trailer park childhood with a monster of a mother. The new Julia will be found at her Aunt Lydia's rambling, hundred-year-old farmhouse outside Golden, Oregon.

There, among uppity chickens and toilet bowl planters, Julia is welcomed by an eccentric, warm, and often wise clan of women, including a psychic, a minister's unhappy wife, an abused mother of four, and Aunt Lydia herself--a woman who is as fierce and independent as they come. Meeting once a week for drinks and the baring of souls, it becomes clear that every woman holds secrets that keep her from happiness. But what will it take for them to brave becoming their true selves? For Julia, it's chocolate. All her life, baking has been her therapy and her refuge, a way to heal wounds and make friends. Nobody anywhere makes chocolates as good as Julia's, and now, chocolate just might change her life--and bring her love when she least expects it. But it can't keep her safe. As Julia gradually opens her heart to new life, new friendships, and a new man, the past is catching up to her. And this time, she will not be able to run but will have to face it head on.

Filled with warmth, love, and truth, Julia's Chocolates is an unforgettable novel of hope and healing that explores the hurts we keep deep in our hearts, the love that liberates us, the courage that defines us, and the chocolate that just might take us there.

I am finding that I miss so many bits when listening in the middle of the night that I often lose track of the story. I may need to always rewind the book to find out where I remember finishing the previous night.

 

I have also purchased more books for my kindle - it has become a habit I am finding hard to break. I often wonder if it is any different from walking into an amazing library and being overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of the books there. I always took home more than I could read so perhaps this is a carry over from the days when I could read print books.  

 

My life is becoming more and more hectic as spring flashes by and summer is just around the corner. My work for CCS is expanding exponentially and the detailed work required often tires me. I dislike using my remaining sight too intently for fear it may leave me descending into less sight and more difficulties with coping.

I have now finished 'The Umbrian Supper Club' which I found to be a tad boring. I am beginning to wonder if Marlena de Blasi has begun to run out of topics to write about which makes her books appear to have stretched every last fact to extend the book. 

I am now enjoying;


I thought this book was nonfiction, although I missed the movie I thought it was a story about a real professor. I was quite shocked when a member of WLM told me it was a novel. It certainly reads like a memoir.

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she’s a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life--and her relationship with her family and the world--forever.

At once beautiful and terrifying, Still Alice is a moving and vivid depiction of life with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease that is as compelling as A Beautiful Mind and as unforgettable as Judith Guest's Ordinary People.





On my VRS I am listening to


n 1984, architect Scott Warren comes to China on a scholarship to study Daoist buildings, just at the time when the liberalisation policies of Deng Xiaoping are unfolding and Chinese people are experiencing new freedoms. Twenty-three years later he returns, to honour his dead wife's request to take her ashes back to China. He encounters a country that has been propelled into international commerce, culture and politics that has Western-style prosperity yet continued human rights restrictions and one-party rule. In this complexity, Scott confronts painful memories and revisits the past, which merges dangerously with the present. (less)

I am enjoying reading this book though falling asleep before the 15 minutes I set to turn off means I seem to have lost track of the plot. Another novel, again I thought it was non fiction, its portrayal of the huge culture shift in China is evocative.





I have also bought some more books for my kindle, mostly those recommended by WLM.





With more than two million copies of her novels sold, New York Timesbestselling author Geraldine Brooks has achieved both popular and critical acclaim. Now, Brooks takes on one of literature’s richest and most enigmatic figures: a man who shimmers between history and legend. Peeling away the myth to bring David to life in Second Iron Age Israel, Brooks traces the arc of his journey from obscurity to fame, from shepherd to soldier, from hero to traitor, from beloved king to murderous despot and into his remorseful and diminished dotage.

The Secret Chord provides new context for some of the best-known episodes of David’s life while also focusing on others, even more remarkable and emotionally intense, that have been neglected.  We see David through the eyes of those who love him or fear him—from the prophet Natan, voice of his conscience, to his wives Mikhal, Avigail, and Batsheva, and finally to Solomon, the late-born son who redeems his Lear-like old age. Brooks has an uncanny ability to hear and transform characters from history, and this beautifully written, unvarnished saga of faith, desire, family, ambition, betrayal, and power will enthrall her many fans.

I have enjoyed all her other books so hopefully this one is just as gripping.