Wednesday February 29th, 2012
Books in February
- Recalled to Life by Reginald Hill [read by Brian
Glover]
Returning to Dalziel and Pascoe to read the 13th in the series. Dalziel has the opportunity to visit New York, while Pascoe stays at home worrying about the state of his marriage (and Dalziel).
I like the way Dalziel is portrayed as a tough, intelligent, and serious-minded policeman, (though to some extent, a figure of fun as far as his colleagues are concerned). He may be "the Fat Controller" but he is also fit, making him a physical as well as a mental force to be reckoned with.
Brian Glover made an excellent reader, both with and without his Yorkshire accent. - The Dogs of Riga by Henning
Mankell
Working through the Kurt Wallander series with this, the second, book. First published in 1992, the theme is around political change in the Eastern Block countries and what it means when "the authoritites" are corrupt and cannot be trusted.
It is due to be one of the English (Kenneth Brannagh) adaptations of the Wallander novels - series 3, not yet aired. - Death Comes to Pemberley by P D James
More P D James than Jane Austen pastiche, which is what you might expect. The author has used the characters, and, in my opinion, kept them pretty well all in character.
I found the introduction, revisiting previous scenes, quotes, and general scene-setting, rather dull - I feel I am already overly familiar with the material "to date", although I appreciate that the book needs to stand alone, and it might be useful for those who are not familiar with Pride and Prejudice. The author does advance theories about the relationships between the characters, somewhat outside the original novel, which I found quite interesting (never having studied English Literature academically), though I am not sure I agreed with all of them. - Telling Tales by Ann Cleeves [read by Julia Franklin]
I wanted to read these books as I saw the excellent TV series with Brenda Blethyn playing DI Vera Stanhope. Having listened to this one (the second in the series) I think they did a pretty good and faithful job of dramatising them - and Brenda was wonderful of course, making a fair stab at disguising her many positive physical attributes in order become the frumpy Vera.
The book had a slow start for me, only becoming interesting once Vera appeared on the scene - but the I obviously warmed to it and I became just as interested in everyone else as I got towards the end of the book.
Sunday February 26th, 2012
Unravel 2012
A few photos from Unravel in Farnham. This year my sister came along, even though this isn't really her sort of event, she enjoyed the artistry of works on display.
I was smitten with this cushion.
Noah's Ark did not win "Best in Show" but it got our vote.
In addition there was a complete farmyard on display in one of the stairwells.
The woolley Art was not limited to the confines of the building. I thought these knitted moles erupting from the grass were very cute, (more so than the real thing I have to say).
And as usual, Well Manor Farm provided the warm-blooded woolley items. I was sorry not to see the Gotlands this year but this one with her little black lamb.... aaaah...
Friday February 24th, 2012
Design and production
We managed to get in to see The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman at the British Museum with only a couple of days to spare. I had read about it, and it really was a thoughtful and interesting collection. I am very glad we made it.
The manner of our gaining entry when all tickets for the day were sold, was to join the museum as a member. I think this is very good value for money - you only have to go to about 2 exhibitions a year to make it worthwhile - and it allows you instant access to the exhibits. [It also gave us a 10% discount on our Cream Tea in the restaurant!].
The main reason for our afternoon in London was to take a look at A Snapshot Behind the Scenes of Sarah Greenwood's Sherlock Holmes which is at the University of the Arts in London until March 9th. A fascinating recreation of her design studio (or in fact a very small "set" version of it) for anyone to look at, but especially interesting for Rob's students.
Sarah Greenwood in her own words.
Other notable events of the day were my pursuing some poor would-be air traveller all over London Bridge Station trying to let him know he had dropped his boarding card - finally catching up with him as he was on the train with all doors firmly closed. We then had the mutual delight of finding that I was able to slide the documents through the rubber trim of the doors! What larks, eh?
On the same theme, the day ended with my making a mad dash half way down the A3 to deliver George's passport to him, which absence he discovered when trying to board the ferry for a weekend of peace and freedom in France. Although he did make it back to Porstmouth in time (I hate to think how) his weekend in France is turning out less of a peaceful rural retreat than he had hoped; the car has developed a serious problem, and is currently still at the port in France awaiting repair!
Saturday February 18th, 2012
Braiding with wire
The Guild workshop involved just the braiding techniques we have tried before - but with fine wire instead of fibre, which can make various items of jewellery. The process for warping threads was just the same, and we tried different wire weights, as well well as braiding techniques.
We started with finger loop braiding (English) and then moved on to kumihimo.
Before attempting the Japanese finger loop braiding, we practised with wool.
It was the usual full day, and we took the findings home to complete our bracelets at our leisure...
Wednesday February 8th, 2012
Sign of Leo
...all things are liquid...
We braved the extreme cold weather (predicted tonight) and went to a private viewing of the work of Jim Stitch at the Hampton Hill Playhouse. It was an informal gathering in friendly and comfortable surroundings.
Rob was smitten and bought the work "Union"; I preferred "Town and Country" of the paintings, but my favourites were the pair: "Cast Iron Red" and "Granite Blue" - these are 3-D sculpture pictures. I think the overall favourite was the sculpture "All things are liquid 1 - Chain", which can be seen as a series of photos here
Sunday February 5th, 2012
Just snow
I have to admit that the "winter wonderland" scene in my garden is becoming a bit of a habit. But even if it happens every year - it is really wondrous when you wake up and find a virgin blanket of snow. Later on in the day, you find out how much wildlife activity there really is in your garden!
