Don't panic Mr Mannering!...I'm still here.......

Thank you 'inquisitive lady' for 'delurking' and leaving your message and prompting me to blog. I'm fine thank you and everything is good here, I had the snots for a couple of weeks so didn't feel like blogging. Then the last week I was feeling pretty lethargic and probably suffering from that SAD thingie. It's been pretty gloomy here, I'm not a lover of cold, damp & dark wintry days, although there have been a few sunny days to lift the spirits. Also I started taking some liquid iron supplements with other vits such as B12 etc in it, all natural and just after 2/3 days I'm feeling a lot brighter, well I got up off the sofa!
Probably the simplest thing to do is just do a quick recap from the last post to now.....here goes.

Goodreads book challenge

The last book listed was this one, last months Book Sharing scheme choice.

The Road to Urbino by Rome Tearne

Ras, a Sri Lankan who fled his country as a child following the violent death of his mother and his father's disappearance, has committed a crime. Dogged by his past and unable to come to terms with the killing of his mother, he struggles to make a new life for himself in the UK. Alex has loved Dee since he was 19 but failed to realise that it was a love he wouldn't find again. After Dee's marriage, he too struggles to build a meaningful life for himself. But when Ras' and Alex's lives connect, each man takes a new path culminating for Ras in the theft of a della Franceso painting, while Alex comes ever closer to Dee through tragedy in her life.

Beautifully written, with a strong narrative, The Road to Urbino is the story of two very different men and their love for the women in their lives, set against the backdrop of the heartbreaking horrors of the long-running conflict in Sri Lanka. 

My thoughts ★★★★☆ I really liked this, beautifully written. Very sad at times. There was as mixed reaction to this at our book club, about half of us didn't like it.

 Nick Hornby's: About a Boy

 His second bestselling novel is about sex, manliness and fatherhood. Will is thirty-six, comfortable and child-free. And he's discovered a brilliant new way of meeting women - through single-parent groups. Marcus is twelve and a little bitnerdish: he's got the kind of mother who made him listen to Joni Mitchell rather than Nirvana. Perhaps they can help each other out a little bit, and both can start to act their age.

My Thoughts ★★★★☆ This is a book I've read after seeing the movie, loved the movie and loved the book even though the endings are quite different. I don't think I'll ever understand why, if a book is good enough to turn into a film, why the film can't stay true to the book, or at the very least have the same plot!

 The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

What secrets lie behind the doors at Misselthwaite Manor? Recently arrived at her uncle's estate, orphaned Mary Lennox is spoiled, sickly, and certain she won't enjoy living there. Then she discovers the arched doorway into an overgrown garden, shut up since the death of her aunt ten years earlier. Mary soon begins transforming it into a thing of beauty--unaware that she is changing too. But Misselthwaite hides another secret, as Mary discovers one night. High in a dark room, away from the rest of the house, lies her young cousin, Colin, who believes he is an incurable invalid, destined to die young. His tantrums are so frightful, no one can reason with him. If only, Mary hopes, she can get Colin to love the secret garden as much as she does, its magic will work wonders on him.

 My thoughts:★★★★☆It's been a lifetime since I must have read this as a child. At one point it had me in tears for the two miserable forgotten children who suddenly began to see joy in the world, we should all take time to see what is around us. A wonderful book that shouldn't be restricted to just children. Also this is on the BBC 100 books to read.

 Stig of the Dump by Clive King

Nobody believes Barney when he says he's discovered a boy living wild in the dump. But for Barney, Stig is totally real. They become great friends, learn each other's ways and embark on a series of exciting adventures.

My thoughts: ★★★★☆ This was a blast from the past, I remember reading this as a girl. There was BBC programme years ago called Jackanory, famous people would read a childs story through the week. Once they did Stig of the Dump and I was particularly excited about it because my Uncle who, at the time, worked for the BBC and had sent me the script. Sadly the script is long gone. This is a lovely story and shouldn't be limited to just children ;-D 

 Anne Frank, the Diary of a Young Girl

 In July 1942 Anne Frank and her family, fleeing the horrors of Nazi occupation, hid in the back of an Amsterdam warehouse. Anne was thirteen when the family went into the Secret Annexe and, over the next two years, she vividly describes in her diary the frustrations of living in such confined quarters, the constant threat of discovery, the hunger and fear. Her diary ends abruptly when, in August 1944, she and her family were finally discovered by Nazis.

This book provides a deeply moving and unforgettable portrait of Anne Frank - an ordinary and yet an extraordinary teenage girl.

My thoughts:★★★★★ I've read this before, a long time ago. It's one of those books that made a lasting impact on me and now having read it again it has affected me deeply once more. I hardly dared read the last letter as I knew what was about to happen and I held the book tightly to my chest thinking of that young girl, no, young woman who had so much hope of her future. I could hardly see to read the Afterword and the Legacy of Anne Frank at the end of the book. ".....The typhus epidemic that broke out in the winter of 1944-5, as a result of the horrendous hygiene conditions, killed thousands of prisoners, including Margot and, a few days later, Anne. She must have died in late February or early March. The bodies of both girls were probably dumped in Bergen-Belsen's mass graves. The camp was liberated by British troops on 12th April 1945." That haunting image will be with me forever I think, she almost made it to the end.
“I wish to go on living even after my death.” ― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
You did my lovely, you did.

I'm two books ahead in my Goodreads 52 books in a year challenge and at the halfway point.

And that's it for the books, my Next book will be for this months Book Sharing Club.

 Other stuff

So what else happened? Well we had a birthday. Michael turned 23 on the 8th June and I made him a Willy the Waiter lap quilt for snuggling under this winter. Willy the Waiter is the little character on Waikato Draught beers and paraphanalia, he also got a tattoo on his arm a couple of years ago. Here's the quilt, he was pretty happy with it, although he never nearly got it, my machine threw a hissy fit and I ended up having to get it serviced! What started out as a thrifty quilt ended up being a bit expensive, ah well the machine needed doing.....

 Michael's birthday was on the Monday so Joe cooked a roast on the Sunday before, it left Michael to do his own thing on his birthday, he was working so he didn't do much.

 Joe wanted to get Michael a present too and as Michael and Natasha had his rugby ball coming up I suggested he bought him some new shoes. His were in a right old state and wouldn't have looked so good with the new suit, shirt and tie!

Here they both are in their glad rags

 Rugby pose!

Don't they look gorgeous, they weren't quite so gorgeous when we picked them up in the wee small hours! I'll come back to that in a minute, I just have to share this story with you first...

Michael helped to set up the rugby rooms for that evenings ball, he'd been to work and also had a game that day. Anyway, he was asked if he would put a table out for the canapes, so he grabs a table, opens the outside doors and begins to take it to the outside area, 

Where are you going with that? 

Outside under the canopy!

Not under the canopy...for the canapés

What the **** are canapés?

Posh finger food!!! 

Oh!

Flippin' eejit! hahahha

Okay so when we picked them up they had rather over imbibed on the the old booze, poor Natasha needed Joe to stop the car on the way home (sorry Tash but the story's too good not to tell) if Joe had gone just 5 metres more he would have been on a tarmaced driveway and not next to a ditch! Tash got out of the car and I suggested Michael go see if she was alright, we forgot to mention to him about the ditch, we'd told Tash and assumed he'd heard. He hadn't, he didn't fall in luckily but he did wonder what the hell was going on. Needless to say his balance was a bit off. Back in the car we continue home, as we pulled into their drive and Joe was turning the car around, Tash opened the door again, must have been the canapés! As she was hanging her head out of the door, Michael leaned over her to close the door....three times..... on her head! She wasn't best pleased and said a few choice words and got out of the car, at which point Michaels says to me....

"Why did you let her get out of the car!!!!"

"Cos your home numbnuts!'

Flippin' eejit! hahha

That lot will probably do you for today, I still need to share the redecorated bedroom but that still needs some finishing so that will have to wait a bit longer. I've also got some crafty things to share, some still works in progress.

I shall go and sip my G&T Joe's just brought me. Have a great weekend one and all and I'll try to get around to reading your blogs over the weekend. 

Toodle pip xx