Random Rambling
Sep. 6th, 2010 07:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katharosI've got about six bites that are driving me nuts. Since almost everyone else in the family is similarly afflicted suspicions have landed firmly on Tessie-dog. Said Tess is now skulking around reproachfully with a load of stinky stuff on the back of her neck. That or we got them out at in a friend's garden (while spending a relaxing evening hauling upright an apple tree that had fallen down and digging out a hazel stump!) At the moment we're counting each others' bites and keeping an eye out for new ones.
Also on Saturday I entered the Village Show for the second year running. To understand the Village Show you must understand that it is controlled by the WI. For WI read: Mafia. And their assorted cliques of clubs, allotment associations etc... Into this nest of infamy of precise entrance guidelines shared only with said members (and probably burned after reading) I, innocent lamb, wandered last year. And won Best in Show for the photography section.
This year I entered again. And won it again.
...I'm not sure I feel safe walking the streets? *grin* One old dear came up to Mum and enquired whether I had won last year as well, hadn't I? *long pause* "Well, she must have a very good camera."
BURN.
The judge left lovely comments on my entry cards though and some tips which was really nice! I won First, Second, and Third place in three different categories. I also won first place on the tray bake competition. Three layer cake - dense brownie, vanilla cheesecake, and raspberry cream. Really, really delish.
All joking aside - I love the village show. It's one of those traditions you worry about disappearing, but it's got bigger over the past few years. And I'm really, genuinely, unironically thrilled to have won. *grin*
Went to Corfu for two weeks in August. (As we've done for the past thirteen or so years? We stay with the same people, in the same place - this year we had a ground floor apartment instead of our usual top floor! We were excited!) Anyway ate, swam, lazed in the sun, read. Read a LOT.
Unexpected star - The Third Man by Peter Mandelson. It's a REALLY good read - he constructs a great narrative. And it's fascinating. A lot of the things the book talks about happened while I was still a pre-teen with zero interest in politics but their aftershocks are still reverberating through the country now. It's also just great for an exploration of the murky underside of politics and the relationships that shape them and it's fun to pick through the layers and try to figure out what's truth what's spin and what's truth from another point of view.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin. - I ADORED this book. Adored it. I re-read it once and my favourite bits four times while still on holiday. It breaks several fantasy molds. It's a tale of gods and betrayal and screwed up family relationships and love always love. It's written in first person and the main character's voice is fabulous and gripping.
Soulless - Confession. I have a guilty love for urban fantasy particularly the kind with werewolves and vampires. Unfortunately most of them now bore me stupid. Soulless is just sheer good fun. It never takes itself too seriously it's got great characters and it's DIFFERENT. It's set during the Victorian period and the Werewolves and Vampires revealed themselves in Henry VIII reign. Ridiculous supernatural and Victorian social mores abound! Alexis, the heroine, is wonderful - extremely sensible and practical.
We also managed to find a place we'd never been to before - these two tiny churches/nunneries near the south of the ireland. Really exquisitely tiny. Also right by the end of the airport's single runway so we watched planes taking off and landing. There was a causeway you could walk out across the bay over, and it passed right under the flight path. No big passenger plane landed while we were stood there unfortunately *sulks*. Planes always look absurd close to land. I got a few pictures of these enormous metal machine hanging motionless in the air only a few metres above land - they look photoshopped.
Also on Saturday I entered the Village Show for the second year running. To understand the Village Show you must understand that it is controlled by the WI. For WI read: Mafia. And their assorted cliques of clubs, allotment associations etc... Into this nest of infamy of precise entrance guidelines shared only with said members (and probably burned after reading) I, innocent lamb, wandered last year. And won Best in Show for the photography section.
This year I entered again. And won it again.
...I'm not sure I feel safe walking the streets? *grin* One old dear came up to Mum and enquired whether I had won last year as well, hadn't I? *long pause* "Well, she must have a very good camera."
BURN.
The judge left lovely comments on my entry cards though and some tips which was really nice! I won First, Second, and Third place in three different categories. I also won first place on the tray bake competition. Three layer cake - dense brownie, vanilla cheesecake, and raspberry cream. Really, really delish.
All joking aside - I love the village show. It's one of those traditions you worry about disappearing, but it's got bigger over the past few years. And I'm really, genuinely, unironically thrilled to have won. *grin*
Went to Corfu for two weeks in August. (As we've done for the past thirteen or so years? We stay with the same people, in the same place - this year we had a ground floor apartment instead of our usual top floor! We were excited!) Anyway ate, swam, lazed in the sun, read. Read a LOT.
Unexpected star - The Third Man by Peter Mandelson. It's a REALLY good read - he constructs a great narrative. And it's fascinating. A lot of the things the book talks about happened while I was still a pre-teen with zero interest in politics but their aftershocks are still reverberating through the country now. It's also just great for an exploration of the murky underside of politics and the relationships that shape them and it's fun to pick through the layers and try to figure out what's truth what's spin and what's truth from another point of view.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin. - I ADORED this book. Adored it. I re-read it once and my favourite bits four times while still on holiday. It breaks several fantasy molds. It's a tale of gods and betrayal and screwed up family relationships and love always love. It's written in first person and the main character's voice is fabulous and gripping.
Soulless - Confession. I have a guilty love for urban fantasy particularly the kind with werewolves and vampires. Unfortunately most of them now bore me stupid. Soulless is just sheer good fun. It never takes itself too seriously it's got great characters and it's DIFFERENT. It's set during the Victorian period and the Werewolves and Vampires revealed themselves in Henry VIII reign. Ridiculous supernatural and Victorian social mores abound! Alexis, the heroine, is wonderful - extremely sensible and practical.
We also managed to find a place we'd never been to before - these two tiny churches/nunneries near the south of the ireland. Really exquisitely tiny. Also right by the end of the airport's single runway so we watched planes taking off and landing. There was a causeway you could walk out across the bay over, and it passed right under the flight path. No big passenger plane landed while we were stood there unfortunately *sulks*. Planes always look absurd close to land. I got a few pictures of these enormous metal machine hanging motionless in the air only a few metres above land - they look photoshopped.
