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.