New York New York

No, I haven't teleported myself there overnight (shame!) but reading today's Martha Stewart Craft blog did make me wish that I could just drop into two of my favourite shops: M&J Trimmings and Toho Beads, featured in the article. Wonderful places, both and if the other addresses included in the feature are anything like as good, then I think my next visit will result in one or two additions to my little black book.

Maybe my favourite New Yorker will be tempted to scout them out in advance? Or maybe she'll just add them to the ever increasing list of things to do/places to go. Like we might ever be stuck for ideas...

(I'm also experimenting with posting to my blog from my iPad. Haven't quite worked out how to include a link yet, so will simply copy the Martha Stewart link here: http://thecraftsdept.marthastewart.com/?p=16846 I think including a photograph needs further thought, too, since all my pics are on my pc! Oh my, there's always something new to learn)

After the ball was over…

There might not have been a ball as such, but oh my, that’s not to say we haven’t had fun during the last couple of weeks.  But good things come to an end and this morning it was time to say goodbye to our friends and start the clear up.

New Year’s Eve was spent at home in the company of some of our oldest friends for whom a simple kitchen supper cooked on the hob (because yes, we’re still having oven problems) didn’t matter one jot.  Earlier in the day I’d cranked up the oven to get it hot enough to bake Delia Smith’s Mincemeat Soufflés which I could microwave when the time came and realised that it just wasn’t going to be worth the bother of even trying to use it to cook our main meal.  So, it was Jamie’s Gravadlax (again!), then pasta and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s Tupperware Meatballs before the mincemeat soufflés and/or Tiramisu.

Time to make a few wishes, then, with the Flying Wish kit I’d bought for the birthday celebrations last July and put somewhere safe…

By the time we looked at our watches, it was nigh on midnight.  We watched the chimes of Big Ben and the fireworks over the river on the TV before stepping outside and having our own little sparkle.

After which it was time to watch Dinner for One, of course: “the same procedure every year”, just how we love it to be.

With our dear friends off on their train first thing today, it was time to say goodbye to Christmas for another year.

Somehow, we’re always ready to put it all away and to clear the decks again, much as we love having the house decorated for the season.

In the last couple of days, we’ve watched as our tree has quietly wilted and begun to look very sad.  There’s no doubt, it’s time.

Just the one calamity as I swiped a glass dish of sweets off the table.  There’s a few less calories to worry about.

Now, we’re more or less back to “normal”.  Hmm….

Book heap #1

Time to take a closer look at my Christmas books, I gathered the first five and settled down to read.

The first, Dan Price’s How to Make a Journal of your Life  is a small book in an interesting handwritten format.  Quite a bit of good advice in there which could be summed up in just a few words – just get on with it!

The next one, Old Bucky and Me, was a latecomer to the party.  Well, that’s not strictly true because it had been there for some weeks, because the parcel from our dear friends in New Zealand arrived at the beginning of December, before the Christmas spirit had really descended on the house.  I tucked away the goodies beside Paddington and Aunt Lucy and completely forgot about them until we had an email from Fiona on Boxing Day.  What fun to have more parcels to unwrap!

This first hand account of the events in Christchurch last year makes for stirring reading, especially in the light of more recent earthquakes.  Whilst the vivid news reports give a pretty clear picture of what the city looked like after the earthquake, there’s nothing quite like reading about the everyday experiences of an ordinary person to bring it to life.  I’m about half way through and find it hard to imagine how I’d cope – I guess the answer is, that I’d simply get on with it in the same way as everyone else.  But oh my goodness, the contents of this book really do make me feel thankful for everything.  As is often the case in such events, it’s the warmth and human kindness which shines through on every page.

Next in the pile is a long standing item on my wish list – so long that I’d forgotten all about it. David Gentleman’s Design is a fine example of the kind of book I’d never buy for myself but which I will dip into time and again to rediscover the beautiful images inside.

It’s only a small book, nothing at all like the coffee table size it suggests, but it’s packed with many fine examples of David Gentleman’s work.

The quality of the paper and print is very much in keeping with the subject matter, too and I’m looking forward to time to settling down to read the contents in detail.

I feel the fourth book in the heap needs no introduction at all.  Having read The Hare with the Amber Eyes on my Kindle, I had no hesitation in adding the new illustrated edition to my wishlist because I really wanted to see the details of each of the netsuke which feature so large in the story.  I don’t normally reread books at all but I couldn’t wait to get into this one again and am finding it as compelling a read the second time around as it was the first.  Brilliant!

It too is a beautifully produced book, printed on gorgeous, smooth paper in clear, fine print.  I remarked in an earlier post that the printed book appears to be making a comeback in a rather more considered form.  It seems as though publishers have discarded the restrictions of producing cheap and cheerful mass market editions in favour of creating real gems which are not only lovely to read but also destined for a long life – unlike the glued bindings which fall apart after a year or two.  That’s fine with me.  I’ll happily buy the read-once-and-forget-about-it novel on my Kindle, but pay more for the high quality, real book to own and to cherish.  Seems like a fair compromise.

 

Finally, the fifth book at the bottom of this particular pile.  The maverick of the bunch and the one about which the jury is still unsure.  I pop into the Photojojo website from time to time, so I really ought to have had a good idea of what was likely to be inside.  However, the kinds of things which seem perfectly ok on screen seem to diminish when on the printed page and I find the tone of the book a little irritating.

OK, it’s probably not meant for an old bat like me….

A whole page announces what a great book this is compared with some other, familiar titles and is representative of the style of the contents.  Reading this kind of thing on a web site or a blog, it’s apparent that there’s a kind of conversation going on and the mode is chatty and informal.  But put that on a printed page, in between two covers and it takes on a different guise.  Do I want/need a nbf in a book?

The actual contents are divided up into ideas of things to do with your photographs and how to take better photos in the first place.  Though there undoubtedly some good ideas tucked away here and there in the book, at this stage I find they are overshadowed by the format. 

So, for now, I’ll sit on the fence with this one and give it time to win its way to my heart.  In the meantime, I’ve just got to a fascinating bit of The Hare with the Amber Eyes…

Wonderful Day

Sitting quietly this morning, having enjoyed a lovely day yesterday even if most of it was spent in the kitchen!

Our Christmas celebrations began with our usual Christmas Eve Fondue, of which there was plenty – we made a note to buy less cheese next year!  Delia’s Mulled Wine sorbet was a great way to follow and we spent the rest of the evening enjoying the usual old humbug on the TV.  However many times we watch the Morecambe and Wise sketch with “Andrew Preview” we still giggle all the way though and watching Edward’s reaction to Les Dawson proved how good those old comedians were at making us all laugh. 

Christmas morning, we were up and in the kitchen early.  My hero was i/c turkey and having discovered that our oven still isn’t firing on all cylinders (or heating on all elements, more accurately), he spent an anxious morning eyeing the temperature. 

As for the rest of the meal, well, never has there been such beautiful sprouts!  Perfectly coloured to match m-i-l Bettine’s outfit for the day, I was very tempted to get started on ebay

until I realised that every one of them had an angel inside!

Meanwhile, there were stockings to investigate, presents to open.  Oh my goodness, how generous Father Christmas had been and what clever insight he has into our hopes and needs!  As if to prove the no-Kindle-because-I-love-books gang wrong, here we were, three Kindle owners with heaps of books between us.  Every one a beauty, each of them drawing us inside the pages as soon as we unwrapped them until we were reminded that there was yet another parcel to open.

I had a particularly interesting pile which is going to keep me quiet for some time, I can tell you.  I’m especially looking forward to rereading the Hare with the Amber Eyes, this time with illustrations of the netsuke and we all agreed that, in spite of (or because of) the Kindle, real, live, paper books seem to be blossoming and many are incredibly well designed and very attractively produced.  Allegra McEvedy’s “Bought, Borrowed and Stolen” is gorgeous and I know it’s going to be hard to decide whether to read that or Indochine first.

Seated beside the books is another new member of the family – a gorgeous Merrythought bear with a Royal heritage named “Charles” of course.

The day was full of food and chatter and more food and a glass or two of this and that.  Eating Christmas lunch at the kitchen table this year seemed to bring a more casual mood to the event and we had fun recording the spirit of the occasion with the Incredibooth app, which produced enough material to bribe several members of the family for a few years yet!

After the washing up and the sorting out, the fridge is as full as when we began, we have enough food to keep us going for several days and we didn’t even manage a spoonful of Christmas pudding.

How happy we were to sit back and relax then, take off new Christmas slippers (thank you, Father Christmas!)  and curl up on the sofa to watch Doctor Who, Strictly and the Christmas Downton.  I know Mary will be reading this so won’t offer any spoilers at all, but say only that the ending rounded off the day very well indeed!

The Day before Christmas

Started early in this neck of the woods, but oh how well rewarded we were for getting up and out.  Look at that sky!

We might have been one of the first in the car park,

but we certainly were not the first in the queue!

The posse of turkey-collectors hung around whilst their partners scurried around getting those last minute bits and pieces.  The shops have been so incredibly busy over the last few days, it’s hard to imagine that anyone could possibly need anything else. 

Except we did.

The fowl was safely delivered into my hero’s hands and was quickly joined by a couple of bags of salad, the ingredients for the gravlax which Edward will make later and the bread for our traditional Christmas Eve fondue.  By 8.30am we were on our way home.

Home for Jamie’s filo/puff pastry mince pies (delicious but oh my goodness, use a plate!) and to enjoy the day at home.

With a huge bunch of mistletoe brought to us from our neighbour, we look forward to a weekend of quiet celebration with those we love.  We’ll be thinking too, of Mary and her family.  Thankfully she arrived home to spend a few hours with her mother before she passed away peacefully on Wednesday evening.  A quiet time this evening, then, to remember and be thankful.

with love and good wishes for a peaceful Christmas Eve, wherever you may be.  I hope Father Christmas doesn’t forget to call and that tomorrow will bring lots of lovely surprises!