Birthday Feast

Books I Read 2012

Some of the better books I read this year were Cloud Atlas, Carrion Comfort and The Power of the Dog, but the clear winner of  the Purple Book Award this year was The Grapes of Wrath.

• 43. '48 by James Herbert
• 42. C by Tom McCarthy
• 41. Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk
• 40. The Bowmen and Other Legends of the War by Arthur Machen
• 39. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• 38. From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjon
• 37. The Godwhale by T J Bass
• 36. Odd Hours by Dean Koontz
• 35. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
• 34. Lionel ASBO by Martin Amis
• 33. Then by Julie Myerson
• 32. The Separation by Christopher Priest
• 31. In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
• 30. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
• 29. Kelwin by Neal Barrett, Jr
• 28. The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow
• 27. Vandenberg by Oliver Lange
• 26. Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons
• 25. Blood Red Snow by Gunther K. Koschorrek
• 24. Crater's Edge by Michal Giedroyc
• 23. Escape From New York by Mike McQuay
• 22. The Man With the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren
• 21. Attack State Red by Richard Kemp & Chris Hughes
• 20. Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
• 19. Twelve Days on the Somme by Sidney Rogerson
• 18. Pure by Andrew Miller
• 17. With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge
• 16. Dog Boy by Eva Hornung
• 15. The Great Escape by Paul Brickhill
• 14. Summer of no Surrender by Richard Townshend Bickers
• 13. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
• 12. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• 11. Afterlight by Alex Scarrow
• 10. War by Sebastian Junger
• 9. The Pastel City by M. John Harrison
• 8. Genesis by Bernard Beckett
• 7. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
• 6. The Dog of the South by Charles Portis
• 5. Pendulum by John Christopher
• 4. Run by Blake Crouch
• 3. The Woman by Jack Ketchum
• 2. Them or Us by David Moody
• 1. The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Bracket

 

Settling in

We used Guy Fawkes night as an opportunity to get rid of the piles of garden waste and builders debris left in Mum's garden. We had two big bonfires over the weekend and have managed to get rid of the lot, including a big pile of thorny shrub which had inch long spikes and would have been a nightmare to transport to the tip. It looks like this now - not brilliant, but a big improvement:-

This is the front garden, showing the smart new driveway and the flower bed which we have planted up with perennials and 190 spring  flowering bulbs:-


Mum has been in for just over a week now and is gradually becoming accustomed to all the new gadgets and putting things where she can find them.

Conservatory:-


 Mum in the Living room watching her new 42" TV:-


 

Downstairs bathroom:-


Mum's Bedroom:-

 

 
Study area:-


Cara's room:-

The kitchen:-

The Joys of City Living #1

Drunken idiots testing their strength on my wall:-



The twerp must've tired himself out as he only managed one coping stone on the next house along. Oh well, I guess that after a year and a half, I was due some more wall damage. Fresher season will hopefully be over soon.

Nearly there

I visited Mum's new home on Wednesday and took these photo's. Fitting out works are progressing well and will soon be completed. Carpets will be fitted on Monday. The kitchen:-

Lounge:-

 Downstairs bedroom:-

 Upstairs bathroom, there were 2 plumbers busy on this when I visited. The painting was nearly completed, with 2 painters finishing off the glosswork:-

 Upstairs front bedroom,with a feature panel in "Sarah & AJ" blue:-

Upstairs rear bedroom:-

 Front garden, cleared and levelled, ready for the imprinted concrete driveway to be laid:-

Francis Upritchard Exhibition

I had a look at this exhibition at the Nottingham Contemporary - primarily to see the Alfred Kubin drawings, but the sculptures were good as well.

Gallery 1: "War Dance" - A collection of sculptures depicting medieval soldiers in martial arts poses:-

Gallery 2: "Hippies and Holy Fools" - more figures, in psychedelic colours:-

In the other two galleries there is a collection of 60 drawings by the Austrian artist, Alfred Kubin (1877 - 1959). The drawings in the exhibition were all made when he was in his twenties, shortly after his suicide attempt on his mothers grave in 1896, and subsequent nervous breakdown.  Unsurprisingly, the  drawings are very dark, showing monsters and visions of hell.

Bestwood Mill Lakes

The dogs enjoyed meeting up with Diane and Otis today for a circuit of the lakes and then a pub lunch. We exchanged the usual pleasantries with this dog walker......and resumed our walk half an hour later knowing the life history of each of his dogs, past and present.