What to talk about first? The books or just life in general?
I suppose I should do the general stuff first to keep my regular readers happy. Last night we went out to a local concert (Coffee, Cake and Classics). Ian, Nathan, Cameron and I. Lilly was busy elsewhere and also has no interest in classical music at all. I thought Cameron was old enough to come along as it was a 7pm event, over by 8pm. Wrong. Ian enjoyed it, but then he didn’t have to sit next to Cameron. Nathan and I not so much, interrupted by the fidgeting of a 6-year-old the whole time. Next time he’s staying home. Not civilised at all. Add that to the change for daylight saving ending, makes for a grouchy mother this morning (especially while sleeping in the lounge, where there is NO peace and quiet).
Renovations to the bedroom are still happening, I think the ceiling might be painted today, but it’s not the best day for painting, it’s raining. I’m pleased it’s raining though as we were meant to get some last week but it didn’t eventuate. So it’s still a drought here. The garden will love the rain, I’ve been very slack with watering it the past few weeks. Now that we are close to having frosts in the morning I will start taking out all the tomato plants as most won’t ripen now. If we get some more rain next week I will finally plant some Autumn / Winter vegetables. The weather is definitely more autumnal now, we lit the fire yesterday, it was nice to get rid of the morning chill.
We had a bit of drama on Friday morning with our water pump breaking. Dammit! Another $550 that won’t be spent on renovations (I have to earn it first though).
I haven’t done a lot of quilting but made some wool baby shoes instead.
Yesterday I spent doing some mending. I had a nice pair of cotton underwear that must have got snagged on a sharp part of the washing line and got a hole in them, so I patched them. I couldn’t bear to throw away a pair that were almost new. I re-elasticated Cameron’s pirate Cotton On pyjama’s so we could get another winter out of them (the 3rd). I did the same for some of Ian’s and I cut up some jeans ready for a project I will make in spring, a denim picnic quilt. We do picnic a fair bit and I will probably back it with something waterproof to make it hardy. Today I’m going to make Cameron a new top (Sergeant Pepper jacket in black) and new pants (red velvet jeans). Real work tomorrow.
So onto the books. I have spent the last 2 months reading the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon (2nd time, but was the first time I’d read them in order). As soon as I finished the last book I dived into a couple of books that I’d picked up at the Sallies.
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand – Helen Simonson
This the the first novel by this author and I have to say it’s great! It was basically about love, for both young and old, materialism, culture, heritage, cross cultural relationships and heroism. It was funny, sweet and serious. Best of all it has a happy ending (for some). A really good not too serious read.
While I Was Gone – Sue Miller
I’ve read one of Sue Miller’s other books (The Good Mother) a long time ago and had remembered that I’d enjoyed it, so that made me pick up this book. This one took a while to get going, but after a few chapters I settled in. Although the book is about a murder it’s really more about the exploration of self and loss of self. Particularly for a wife and mother, how sometimes we lose our identity being those two people, we sometimes forget who we are. It’s about how relationships with our children change as we all age. I found the book a little frustrating, I just wanted to give the main character a bit of a shake and tell her to be more assertive and not such a doormat. This one, not what I’d call a happy ending, but you might disagree. Not a bad book, not fantastic, however the author did write some paragraphs that really resonated with me. I’ll add one below.
“As we drove home, I found myself wanting to tell my husband about that feeling, but then not knowing what to call it. He would hear it as a want, a need. He would feel called upon to offer comfort. I knew he would console me, but consolation wasn’t what I wanted“
This part really spoke to me. You know that people often joke about asking a woman whats wrong and getting the answer “nothing” or “I’m fine”, this is why. We’d like to share our feeling sometimes, but don’t want to have others feel like they have to help, console or fix things. Or sometimes we’d just like to feel, and not share.
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, especially when they are all nice to the small boy. Lilly had an early birthday party, we will do cake and presents on Saturday for her actual birthday and next week she has another outing planned with friends into Welly for Ice-Skating. So independent!
Bugger! He is okay now and all fixed up. He’s lucky that I’m a big softie.
