Year in Books 2016/2017 and Burns.

During 2016 I took part in the Year in Books organised by Laura at Circle of Pine Trees, with the aim of reading at least one book per month. Before I reveal whether I achieved my target, there are 4 books to show you which I didn't get around to reviewing.

The first, read in September, is The bookshop on Rosemary Lane by Ellen Berry which was given to me as a birthday present. It's the story of Della who decides to open a bookshop selling cookery books with the books she inherits from her mother. As the book opens, she is struggling with a purpose in life: her mother has just died, she's bored with her job, her marriage is failing and her daughter is just about to go off to university. It sounded like just my kind of thing - bookshops, cooking, what's not to like? A shame then that I found it all a bit disappointing and cliched.

October was the only month I didn't manage to complete a whole book, though I did read a couple of short stories. I'd deliberately saved The mistletoe bride and other haunting tales by Kate Mosse to read during the spookiest of months. I usually love her books but, to be honest, the two I read, both based on the mistletoe bride folktale, were a bit average. What I did like were the author's notes saying where she got her inspiration or some anecdote around the writing of the story. I'll probably save it and read the other stories this October.

Thankfully, November proved to be much better with The ocean at the end of the lane by Neil Gaiman. Here's some blurb from the back cover:

'An ancient little girl, and an old woman who saw the moon being made; a beautiful housekeeper with a monstrous smile; and dark forces woken that were best left undisturbed'.

Clearly it's a fantasy novel, though set in the near past, and narrated by a man looking back at events from his childhood. I really enjoyed this one and will be looking out for more by Neil Gaiman (the film Stardust, based on one of his novels, is one of my favourites).

However, the best was yet to come in December with The snow child by Eowyn Ivey. It's the story of Jack and Mabel who are struggling to make a living in Alaska in the 1920s. They moved to this remote area to escape the tragedy of losing a baby and the resulting childlessness. Their lives change when a small girl appears by their cabin the night after they build a snow girl.

I loved this one! I've always been fascinated by the pioneer experience so enjoyed that aspect of the story. The characters were very well drawn and made you care about them. And the descriptions of the Alaskan wilderness were magical. A great end to the year.

So, did I meet my target? Well, I initially set out to read a book a month but was amazed to find I actually managed 21!

Actually, make that 21 and a half. I started out reading this one, month by month, but then forgot about it! I'll have to pick it up again this year.

Am I going to continue with the challenge? Well, I signed up on Goodreads to read at least 10 books. I probably would have been more ambitious if I'd realised what my 2016 total had been! I definitely plan to keep working through my stash which continues to grow rather than reduce! I'm not sure whether I'll stick to the structure of month-by-month posts though but will let you know my progress.

Onto 2017 then. My January pick, which I'm reading at the moment is The box garden by Carol Shields.  I've read quite a few of her books so my expectations are high.

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Tonight is my annual Burns Night dinner with my friends Sue and Gordon. I'll be following the usual running order which I've written about here and here and the 'highland games' from here.

New this year is pin-the-tail-on-the haggis (image from here). And I might show this YouTube video.

Whatever happens, I know it'll be great fun. There's still lots to do, so I bid you 'Soraidh' (farewell) and 'Lang may yer lum reek! ('live long and prosper!). xx

Kirigami 2016 finale

It seems a little ridiculous still looking back to 2016 when we're almost at the end of January. However, I wanted to round off a couple of the regular posts I did throughout last year.

The first of these is my kirigami-a-day challenge. For those who are new to it, I bought a calendar which had a kirigami project for each day of the year and set out to see if I could complete it. For the first few months I did stick to the schedule and made time each evening to work on a design. After a while though, it ended up being more convenient to do them in a batch at the end of the week.

By the time we came to October/November, well, it all fell apart and I only ended up finishing earlier this month.

By the end, I also ended up only doing the designs which interested me as I'd learned by that point which were enjoyable and which were more of a chore.

The designs varied in quality and complexity. My favorites were probably the simple snowflakes. My least favourite were probably the weaving projects though they also produced some lovely effects.

Some of the Japanese designs, like the pair of cranes here, were particularly stunning.

Overall then, a challenge I really enjoyed and would recommend. More paper folding is definitely on the horizon this year as a friend bought me a doodle origami book for Christmas.

Next time, how did I get on with the Year in Books challenge? x

Weather weather

A very belated Happy New Year to you all. It's been a few months since I last posted: a combination of being overwhelmingly busy and a lack of inspiration. I'm still not sure how much I will continue to blog but it's likely to be more erratic.

Still, I'm here now and to talk about that most British of topics, the weather! I love a bit of folklore and an article in the newspaper at the beginning of the month mentioned a 16th century way of predicting the weather for the rest of the year. Each day foretells what the corresponding month will be like. Well I couldn't resist and took a photo on each of the relevant days. Here then is what this corner of Lancashire can expect during 2017.

The photo above, taken on 2 January, predicts September to be bright and sunny.

3 January = October : cloudy and grey.

4 January = November: sunny, blue skies.

5 January = December: more of those sunny blue skies.

The morning of 8 January foretells June, whilst the afternoon predicts May. It was miserable, grey and misty all day. Oh dear. I've booked a holiday in Northumberland in May!

The morning of 9 January = August. Yep, miserable and grey. That's about right as it's my birthday in August and it pretty much always rains!

The afternoon of 9 January = July. Hurrah, blue skies.

And the temperature on 12 January gives a rough summary of the whole year. Bitterly cold then. It was the day it snowed heavily in some parts of the country, though not here. It was also one of those 'four seasons in one day' kind of days: grey, rain, blue skies and sunshine. Maybe there's something in this folklore after all!

You might have noticed that this particular piece of folklore didn't bother with January-April so it will all be a big surprise! It'll be interesting to look back to see how close the prediction came.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. We're going to see La La Land at the cinema tomorrow and really looking forward to it. xx

Ribble Valley Sculpture Trail

I'm struggling to find time for blogging at the moment, or even just logging on to the PC. A symptom of being back at work and adjusting to the work/eat/sleep routine. Luckily I had this post halfway written from when I was on leave a couple of weeks ago so I do have something to share today.

Back at the end of August, we headed to Clitheroe to visit the Ribble Valley Sculpture Trail which was launched just over 20 years ago and includes around 20 works of art. It takes you through Brungerley Park and Cross Hill Quarry with most of the sculptures having been inspired by the local area and wildlife. There's a leaflet with a map and description of each sculpture which you can download here.

We started at the Waddington Road end which is closest to the town centre.

First up was 'Common Comfrey' by Halima Cassell, a representation of the comfrey plants which can be found along the trail, not that we saw any that day.

Mushrooms in the undergrowth.

This is 'The Cook House' by Helen Calaghan. It was difficult to work out what it was without the close-up and the leaflet. Get ready to go 'ewww'! as it's a pan boiling over with tripe! The fossils represent those found in the limestone which underlies much of the area.

This one wasn't part of the official trail and had lost the front of his face, poor thing! I think he's meant to be an otter but it was hard to tell :(

'Leaving Touch' - Kerry Morrison

Beautiful views over the Ribble valley.

'Ivy'

'Butterflies'

These are two of the steel  waymarkers by David Appleyard. The plaques on top were developed in workshops with local schoolchildren.

'Fir cone' - Halima Cassell

After an open section, the path moved into the wooded section. Welcome shade on a hot day.

This was Chickpea's favourite: 'Sika Deer' by Clare Bigger. Apparently, real ones are found in the area after being introduced from Japan in the 19th century. Clare has done some amazing work - look at 'Leaping Man' on her website.

More beautiful views of the river Ribble, which wends its way from the Yorkshire Dales to the Irish Sea.

'Great Burnet' - Halima Cassell

At this point, we emerged at the far end of the park which is actually part of Cross Hill Quarry nature reserve. I hadn't realised it was run by the Wildlife Trust which was a nice surprise given I became a member after taking part in 30 Days Wild. More about the quarry shortly.

'Thistle' - Halima Cassell

We walked along the road for a few hundred yards and then back through another entrance into the reserve.

'Wildlife seat' - Martyn Bednarckzuk

I think this was my favourite sculpture as I loved all the carvings which stood out beautifully in the bright sunshine. The stone came from the park.

This is the view from the bench, looking across the valley to the Bowland Fells.

'Otter' - Fiona Bowley

One of three mosaic waymarkers by Paul Smith, again developed with local schoolchildren.

At this point, you follow a path into a clearing formed by the old quarry which was last worked in 1910.

The footprints by Thompson Dagnall were tricky to spot and difficult to photograph. Clever though. You could imagine them having been left there centuries ago.

I'd love to come back in spring to see which wildflowers grow in the clearing as there was lots to see in late summer. I wish I'd had more time to explore but we were starting to get hungry and there was still more to find.

'Lords and Ladies' - Halima Cassell

'Wildlife' by Louise Worrell, inspired by Victorian mosaics in the doorways of the shops in Clitheroe.

'As the crow flies' by David Halford. Annoyingly, we only realised when looking at the photos on the leaflet more closely later that there's a bird hiding amongst the leaves at the top. Well, unless someone had decided to take it home, which is what we suspect has happened to another of the sculptures which we searched high and low for and couldn't find.

'Brook' by David Appleyard. The poem on the top is by Pam Stewart who I think might be from America. I couldn't read it all from my photos but here's what I can make out:

'A green and watery place, Or will we muddy the waters? Watch this space.
Smile, shout, laugh long and loud. ...on...lovely banks. You the caretaker.'

The fast-flowing Ribble.

I'd come down to the riverside to find the next sculpture which was 'Fish mobile' by Julie Ann Seaman.

Further along and higher up in the park, this one is called 'Two Heads' (by Thompson Dagnall). We could only see the one though.

Last one, 'Alder cone' by Halima Cassell.

We really enjoyed this trail but then we do prefer walks where there are things to look out for. It's such a beautiful area too and there are lots of other footpaths and walks we could have explored. I think we'll be back :) For now though it was time to head into Clitheroe town centre to find somewhere to eat.

After seeing it on Shazza's blog, our destination was the Atrium cafe at the castle. I really wanted to try the picnic lunch which she'd written about but it wasn't available that day :( Instead we had to settle for their platter. All delicious, though I'd have liked more bread (one slice was a bit mean with 3 different things to spread on it).

Fully restored we decided to have a quick look around the castle.

Georgeous views across to Pendle Hill.

The cafe is the lower building. The others house the museum (entry charge) and an art gallery (free).

All along the courtyard wall were these plaques marking points in the town's history. I hadn't heard of Peg O'Nell but Chickpea went on a girl guide weekend at Waddow Hall which she's said to haunt! Luckily, Chickpea didn't know that at the time...

I didn't know this story either about Henry VI. Or that hipping stones are another term for stepping stones. So the plaques proved to be very interesting and enlightening. Lovely to see the braille on them too.

Up at the castle, we had a quick look in the keep. This is really all that remains of the early medieval fortress.

The best part is the 360 degree views from the walkway.

The town was looking pretty with all the bunting strung across the streets.

Another view of Pendle Hill.

As we were leaving the castle grounds, I spotted this white structure which I hadn't noticed on the way in.

It's one of the waymarkers on a 51-mile walk from Barrowford to Lancaster. The poem on top is one of the verses (or tercets) from 'Lancashire Witches' by Carol Ann Duffy which you can read here.  It was written as part of the Lancashire Witches 400 project which commemorated 400 years since the famous trials. Each of the waymarkers has one of the tercets and also the name of one of the people who were hung - in this case, Isabel Robey. I feel a project coming on to track down all the other waymarkers!

After this, we had a wander round the shops, mostly independents rather than the usual chain stores, and then headed for home. A lovely day out.

Well, I'm off to mow the lawn before tea (that's our evening meal for you non-Northerners!). Then some relaxation. Maybe watching the video of the veil dance we're learning at my belly dancing class. Yes the class, I'm loving it so much! Jingling around and wafting bits of chiffon about - what's not to love! Everyone is so friendly and we all leave the class with massive smiles. Highly recommended if you can find a class near you.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. xx