SIX WORD SATURDAY

.For several years, along with many other bloggers, I used to write a post each Saturday entitled “Six Word Saturday”. The idea was to describe your life in six words. So each Saturday I would do just that.

I wrote about a Disaster and a Ruined Pot; Sweeping the Patio – Clearing the Leaves; Only Barbecue this Summer with Friends; I asked Is Life Better with a G&T? and also Are We Having Any Fun – No! I even mentioned Trump and his phobia. What is it you ask – Trump’s Phobia is Fear of Sharks, Unfortunately, Six Word Saturday and it’s originator ceased to exist a few years ago.

I obviously enjoyed this challenge as there were so many more Six Word Saturday posts. But one of my favourites was written on June 30, 2012 – Please Do Not Disturb – I’m Reading. I described how it was a miserable winter Saturday and having started a new book in the morning, after lunch I settled down to read more. it was a book by one of my favourite authors, Zoe Sharp.

Have you come across this writer and the protagonist in her first series? Note – in 2012 there was only one series. So, Charlie Fox is the protagonist and on that day I was reading “First Drop” book No 4 in. the series. If you click on the Zoe Sharp link above, you will see how many books she has written since then.

Lee Child has been quoted as saying “If I were a woman, I would be Zoe Sharp . If Jack Reacher were a woman, he would be Charlie Fox.”

As I said, she is a favourite author and I have read and reviewed all of her books.

Harking back to my Six Word Saturday post, if you read the post all through and down to the comments – you will see that Zoe commented a couple of times (blatant self promotion here):

Zoe Sharp | July 5, 2012 at 01:59 

Hi Judith
Thank you so much for a fabulous review of FIRST DROP. I’m delighted that you enjoyed the book. There is a full list of the Charlie Fox books, in order, on my website – http://www.zoesharp.com – and I’ve tried to include the order of the books as part of the titles on Amazon. Sorry for the confusion – it’s a long story. Thank you to everyone who’s commented, too, and I hope you’ll give Charlie a whirl.
Pass on my apologies to Lotte and I hope she enjoyed her belated walk 🙂

Perhaps I will continue Six Word Saturday posts, if not every Saturday, maybe some. Something to think about.

“She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it).”
Lewis Carroll,’Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland’.

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Traipsing Around on Tuesday

“What day is it? asked Winnie the Pooh. It’s today, squeaked Piglet.
My favourite day, said Pooh”

Yesterday was a blah day on which I did nothing. The family rallied round this ancient soul and generally took over.

But today – all is well, and I am back to normal (or as normal as I will ever be).

The sun was shining brightly so after washing the towels which my grandson hung out for me, I sallied forth with my list of things to do.

But…Not everyone is back at work and so many shops have not yet opened again.  

My first stop was to the other side of town to have a lamp repaired.  The other night when lounging in bed watching television, I turned suddenly, and a pillow knocked the lamp onto the floor.  The lamp is unbroken, but the wiring is adrift. Electrical repairers – well repairers of any sort – are few and far between nowadays.  Do you remember the little man in the village who could repair anything?  Those days and those men are long gone. There was no sign on the door to indicate when the shop would reopen.

The next stop was the drycleaners and yes, they are closed until January 17, so the clothes, together with the broken lamp came home with me.

Then a trip to pick up an ordered top – unfortunately they had ordered the wrong size; another wasted trip.  They did say that when the correct size is available, it will be delivered to me.  That is great customer service.

So to the supermarket. And wouldn’t you know it, several of the things I wanted were out of stock, so I had to go to another one.

So, my list of things to do is still long.  I am putting it away until next week.

But the sun continues to shine so all is well. I sat outside. in the sun for a while finishing my book. Have you read State of Terror by Hilary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny? Fascinating and well worth reading. And that grandson brought in the towels for his Granma. Lucky me 

We are told by NIWA (National Institute of Water and Air) that last year was the hottest on record for New Zealand –  An average of 1.09 degrees warmer overall. And if you are still with me, and not dozing off during the weather report we are also told  “”Of the six main centres in 2021, Auckland was the warmest, Dunedin was the coolest, Wellington was the wettest, Dunedin was the driest, Tauranga was the sunniest and Hamilton was the least sunny.”  

And now as my day is coming to a close, may I add this.  This was a particular favourite of my sister. She died in California last year and today would have been her birthday:

“If I should die, think only this of me:
 That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. 
There shall be in that rich earth a richer dust concealed
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam;
A body of England’s, breathing English air, 
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.”
Rupert Brooke, English Poet. 1867 – 1915

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Filling Time

“Friendship … is born at the moment when one man says to another
“What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

I’ve walked, I’ve read, I’ve cooked and I’ve brought out the vacuum cleaner and rapidly replaced it.  Now, what to do?  My sister Christine has the word “noodling’ which she uses to describe moving around on the internet, just looking and maybe learning something new.

So noodling was what I have been doing this afternoon.  Merriam Webster is, of course, a favourite site as I am a Word Junkie (the description my DYS gave me so many years ago). Today I found this on the site.  Go and see what the staff are reading under the heading

M-W Picks: Books for When
You’re Hunkered Down
You too can read like a dictionary staffer.

There’s a good selection and I am sure you will find something to your liking. A new author or protagonist perhaps?

My first pick is from Serenity Carr, Assistant Editor. She chooses – Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson
“This is a psychological thriller about a young woman from London who decides to trade apartments with a distant cousin in Boston. When she arrives at her cousin’s apartment building, she discovers his neighbor has been murdered. There are some huge and unexpected plot twists that kept me completely hooked until the end. Without giving away anything, I’ll just say this book is super murdery, and if that’s your thing, I can’t recommend it enough.”

I can’t get to a bookstore and deliveries of books are on hold, so I went to the local library online, and joy, it’s available in both hard copy and ebook. The library is, of course, closed so the ebook is now downloaded and on my TBR list.

She also recommends The Stillwater Girls by Minka Kent and The Deep, Deep Snow by Brian Freeman. Both are added to my want to read list.

I am sure I will go back again during this locked-down time to refresh and just to see what others are reading.

Neil Serven, Associate Editor offers The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai.
‘This novel was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2018, and feels relevant at time when the specter of contagion casts a shadow over us and fear and uncertainty inflame our discourse. The disease in this book is AIDS, and the story concerns its impact on Chicago’s gay community in the 1980s, as well as its lasting impact on the survivors of that community thirty years later.
At the center of the story is Yale Tishman, a young gallery worker who is close to making a major advance in his career by acquiring a valuable collection of art from an elderly, eccentric prospective donor. Yale’s friend Nico has just died of AIDS-related illness, and other friends within their circle are becoming infected. Yale’s strongest support comes from Nico’s younger sister, Fiona; in an interwoven narrative, we follow Fiona thirty years later as she tracks down her estranged daughter in Paris.”

And On the Beach by Nevil Shute. Of this book, he says “When I read this book for the first time, I was a high schooler laid up with my own serious illness, so perhaps I have always associated it with infirmity. I decided to read it again last year, before the thought of being confined against a scourge became reality.
What is striking about this book is how the characters strive to live as though things are normal. Even as fate comes knocking, there are attempts to cultivate relationships, and efforts to live in the hopes of seeing lost loved ones who are almost certainly dead. The story reaches a mood of strange and patient optimism even in the face of annihilation.”

So when you find yourself with nothing left on your To-Do list, take a look at this site. I hope you find something to amuse you while we all stay home and safe

“I have to be alone very often.
I’d be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning
alone in my apartment.
That’s how I refuel.”
Audrey Hepburn: Many-Sided Charmer, LIFE Magazine, December 7, 1953.

LOCKED IN

We talk about being locked-in but are you aware there is a medical condition of being locked in?

Medically known as Pseudocoma, “it is a rare neurological disorder in which there is complete paralysis of all voluntary muscles except for the ones that control the movements of the eyes. Individuals with locked-in syndrome are conscious and awake but have no ability to produce movements (outside of eye movement) or to speak (aphonia). Cognitive function is usually unaffected.” NORD (National Organisation for Rare Disorders

I first came across this disorder while reading The Diving Bell and the Butterfly the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby the editor-in-chief of French Elle and the father of two young children, At the end of 1995, he was the victim of a rare kind of stroke to the brainstem and after 20 days in a coma, he awoke and found his body had almost stopped working.  One eye only was still functioning.

This is a book showing man’s desire and ability to overcome almost anything.  It’s well worth a read. I am going to reread it while sitting in so-called locked-in.

Interestingly, again according to NORD

“The first description of the locked-in syndrome can be found in The Count of Monte Cristo authored by Alexandre Dumas. To describe a patient with a locked-in syndrome, the author used the following words:

‘Sight and hearing were the only senses remaining…. It was only, however, by means of one of these senses that he could reveal the thoughts and feelings that still occupied his mind, and the look by which he gave expression to his inner life was like the distant gleam of a candle which a traveler sees by night across some desert place, and knows that a living being dwells beyond the silence and obscurity. In his eyes, shaded by thick black lashes, was concentrated, as it often happens with an organ which is used to the exclusion of the others, all the activity, address, force, and intelligence which were formerly diffused over his whole body; and so although the movement of the arm, the sound of the voice, and the agility of the body, were wanting, the speaking eye sufficed for all’.

In this way, he brilliantly highlighted the potential that these patients have to maintain a meaningful life despite their extreme disability.”

It is amazing where our mind goes when we are looking for things to occupy us.

A David Bishop Weekend

“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again,
there is no use in reading it at all.” 
― Oscar Wilde

A winter weekend with nothing planned.  The family was all away and my son and his family had the dreaded lurgy, so what to do but settle down and read.

I decided to reread some of David Bishop’s books, in particular, the Linda Darby series.  I was introduced to this author last year when recuperating after my Adventure, and since then have read several of his books.  Isn’t it great how when you reread a book even one year later, you decide you like it even more than the first time round?

I won’t review these three books here but will do so on my other site in the next few days.  But as a taster – 

In the first book The Woman, we meet Linda Darby, a 30 something single woman.  She has been married to and divorced from a scoundrel about whom we know very little. She subsequently meets and marries her second husband who, unfortunately, is killed while on a secret operation somewhere.  

In an attempt to get over this loss, she settles in a small seaside town on the Oregan coast and here her adventures begin.  She is a day trader and this allows her to work from anywhere.  She keeps to herself and her only real friend in this town is an elderly widowed woman who runs a consulting business, which we later find out, has no visitors, is not listed in the phone book and sends and receives missives only by courier.  

Linda’s quiet uneventful life is disrupted when one night out walking she is attacked by two men but is saved by the intervention of a third man.  This third man disappears and the next day the newspaper reports the murders of the two men.   And then the day after that she learns that her close friend has been tortured and killed, leaving a letter for Linda that will change her life and her whole being, making her think and act in a completely different way.

And through it all,  she is helped, rescued and protected by the mystery man, Ryan Testler.

This is a fast moving and intriguing book, that makes one (or at least me) want to read more of this woman and her adventures.

The next book in the series is Hometown Secrets and it is followed by The First Lady’s Second Man.

I hope I have encouraged you to read some of Bishop’s stories.  There are two other series I have read – The Matt Kile Mysteries and Jack McCall Mysteries.  But I shall leave them to reread on another weekend with nothing planned and nobody home.

PS, Of course, all of these books are available from Amazon.  They are one-sitting reads and so good for a lazy weekend.

And I found this on Pinterest.  Thought Baldacci was spot on.

 

Thanks to pinterest.

PPS  We’ll get back to The Murderer and The Detective just as soon as I have worked out where to from there.

Movie going

“Fiction writers, magicians, politicians and priests
are the only people rewarded for entertaining us with their lies”
― Bangambiki Habyarimana, The Great Pearl of Wisdom

I was at a total loss what to write about today.  Then I opened Judy Reeves Prompts and Practices and what jumped out at me? “You’re in a movie theatre”

Well quite coincidentally, I was in a movie theatre on Friday with a friend.  I haven’t been to a movie for months, in fact, since before my latest adventure.  I have read the Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, the UK edition.  My friend hadn’t read the book and so we decided to go to the movies.

We are so lucky here in Wellington.  We have 4 Bijoux movie cinemas, three of which belong to a chain and one that is independent of the others.  We chose to go to our favourite, one of the chain.

We arrived in time to sit and have a cup of tea and a bit of a chat; then we were called into the theatre, the movie was about to start.  These are small theatres seating 100 people at the most. If you have a glass of wine (or in our case tea)or food before the movie starts, you are permitted to take these in with you.  Certainly not something that the big National chains would ever allow.

So we went into the theatre.  The lights were still up as we made our way to our seats.  There were probably only half a dozen others in the theatre and so everybody had room to stretch out.

I enjoyed the movie after I got over the fact that the story was now set in the US and not in and around London as in the book I had read.  It took some time for me to get over the difference in the houses displayed to the houses imagined by me.

Emily Blunt as Rachel was all and more of what I imagined her to be.  She’s an unemployed, alcoholic, divorcee.  Well,that’s enough to make one turn to drink anyway.  She doesn’t tell her flatmate that she has lost her job because of the alcoholism.  Her ex-husband also blames her for his losing his job even though he now seems to have got over it or at least, has found another job.

From the train window,  Rachel watches the inhabitants of the houses in the street where she used to live. One day she sees something that sets her on a trip to places that she doesn’t want to go, or perhaps she does.

In the unlikely event that you haven’t read the book, I encourage you to do so and also encourage you to see the movie.

And in my least pleasant personna – I’m totally envious of
Paula Hawkins and her abilities.
How I wish I could write such a book.

And now as the south wind is blowing very strongly, I think the rest of the day will be spent inside.

I have been honoured by being sent the manuscript of a new Fitzjohn mystery from Jill Paterson.  Poisoned Palette is the title and if her other books are anything to go by, this will be another good read.  By the way, Jill is a friend and it is as a friend that I am reading and commenting on the manuscript.

I found this on Pinterest. I hope I’m not impinging on anyone copyright.

More Walking

“One must always be careful of books,” said Tessa, 
“and what is inside them,
for words have the power to change us.”
― Cassandra Clare, American author of young adult fiction,
1973 –

Many years ago I discovered Julia Cameron and her book The Artist’s Way.  Through this book, her suggestions and in particular, her Morning Pages, I found that what I really wanted was be a life coach.  I then discovered a special Life Coach, Cary Volmer in Minnesota, and found out first hand what a life coach does.  She encouraged me and subsequently I took a Life Coach course in Australia  and became certified.

So why am I telling you this today, many years after the event?  Well, today I purchased Julia’s next book – The Artist’s Way for Retirement.

As usual, I’m spending the weekend with my son and his family.  Today my son was asleep as he works as Night Manager at a Wellington Hotel, my grandsons and their mother were all working and so I took myself off for my walk and ended up in the local mall.  The bookshop, as always, drew me to it and I saw this book.  I picked it up just to look at it, you understand.  The book fell open and the first thing that jumped out at me was the paragraph that included:

“Walking makes” a quilt out of the silken patches of our experience.
So yes, it’s important that we walk.”

For me, walking has broadened my life, making me more independent than I have been for several months -4 or 5 kms a day makes all the difference to my life.  So of course, I had to buy the book.

As I’m almost completely recovered I now have to decide what to do with this life of mine and so I’m starting the 12-week course covered in this book to find out where I’m going next and what I am going to do.  So as we say,and if you’re interested, watch this space.

Summer Storm

Suddenly, after days of idyllic summer weather, Mother Nature turned her back on us.  Today has been like a day in July (mid-winter here).  Blustery almost gale force winds, trees blown over, pots blown off the deck and smashed and motorists warned against driving.

So a good day to do nothing but stay inside with a good book.  I’ve now succumbed to reading books on my iPad.  For months (years?) I resisted but when the Architect was ill in hospital it seemed easier to carry my iPad rather than a book.  In any case, I had the iPad to communicate with friends so..

I have read quite a few books since I moved here.  I’ve always found it a  good way to escape.  And I do like thrillers I’ve discovered – I guess I always knew this anyway.

So today was such a day.  I rose this morning made tea and toast and went back to bed, where I stayed for the rest of the morning. I was part way through a book entitled “Dead Wood” written by  Dan Ames.  This author was unknown to me and I now find that this book is the first in a series of four all of which are available to read on a kindle or in my case an iPad. So that’s where I stayed for the morning reading until I finished the book.

The story is told by John Rockne a disgraced police officer now turned private investigator.  Yes, I know there are many stories about police officers who become PIs but bear with me.  The young policeman was only six weeks out of training when he makes a terrible mistake that leads to the death of a young man. The mistake is perfectly understandable but we are simply told that he was suspended and his badge and gun were never returned to him.

A maker of fabulous guitars is killed and Rockne is approached by the father of the victim to find who killed his daughter and our hero suddenly finds himself the target of a violent ex-convict.  The twists and turns of the case kept me glued to the iPad for hours.

I’ve now downloaded the next book in the series – Hard Rock.  So if this weather doesn’t improve I shall spend tomorrow reading it.  And who knows.  There are two more books in the series.  I may just not do anything but read fr the next few days.

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow,
you gotta put up with the rain.”
Dolly Parton

Well Read on Wednesday

New Orleans was on my Must Visit list from the time I started making such a list, way back when I was a teenager.  I got to check this off in 1990 when my DYS (Dashing Young Scotsman) and I took an extended trip to the southern states of the US.  I was not disappointed.  I/we loved everything about it.  We loved the Hotel St Marie in the Old French Quarter  just a short walk from Bourbon Street; we loved the food, the beignets at the Cafe Du Monde, the music, the atmosphere and most of all we loved the friendly people we met.

Copyright MyDoorSign.com http://www.smartsign.com/Office-Courtesy/Do-Not-Disturb-Brilliant-Minds-At-Work/SKU-S-5271.aspx

Some may say that I wasted Wednesday afternoon but I disagree;  I spent it reading.  What was I reading all afternoon and well past dinner time?  The latest in the Charlie Fox thrillers – Die Easy, set in New Orleans.  Double pleasure.

If you were reading my blog posts in the middle of last year, you would know that I am a fan of Zoe Sharp and her feisty, female protagonist Charlie Fox.   I read the first book in the series after reading somewhere that Lee Childs thought Zoe Sharp one of the best thriller writers to emerge in recent times.  And I have followed/stalked Zoe and Charlie ever since.

I have awaited with impatience the publication of each book, and have read devoured each of them with undisguised pleasure, always in one sitting.  This tenth book in the series has not disappointed me and has kept me reading all afternoon.

This time we find Charlie and her partner/lover in New Orleans to act as body guards to a wealthy investor from Florida.   Many people feel that New Orleans the city and the people, have been ignored for too long and a celebrity  fund raiser is planned.  This is the reason Blake Dyer, the client, is going to be in New Orleans at this time.

As may be expected, this job does not go smoothly and is complicated by the fact that Sean Meyer, Charlie’s partner, has not totally recovered from the devastating accident that put him into a coma for several months.  He has woken from the coma  apparently recovered physically but there are large parts of his past that he doesn’t remember, including Charlie.

Even some of the skills at which Sean excelled before the accident seem to have deserted him/been forgotten and Charlie is not completely happy to rely on somebody who is not really at the top of his game to be part of her team.  However, she has no choice but to obey her boss when he says Sean is to be part of the close protection team.

Without giving too much away, Charlie has to face an opponent from her past, deal with a threat not only to herself but also to Sean and more importantly the client while all the time not being sure whether she can rely on Sean to watch her back.  A robbery turned hostage situation develops around the fund raiser and while there are many close protection operatives on board the boat, Charlie is thrust into the lead role as the one to ameliorate the situation and get the passengers off the boat unharmed.  As usual Charlie shows herself both physically and mentally able to cope with all that is put in her path, but with some disastrous consequences.

So I urge you to  get your hands on a copy of this book by fair means or foul – buy, borrow but perhaps I shouldn’t encourage you to steal – and set  aside a Wednesday (or any other) afternoon to read this book.

Once again I commend Zoe Sharp on writing this book, her imagination and her characters.  I like to think of her as a friend.

And I think this quote is particularly appropriate for this book.

“A good book should leave you… slightly exhausted at the end.  You live several lives while reading it. “~William Styron,  American novelist and essayist
1925 – 2006

Related posts

• Saturday Again
• A New Friend
• Hard Knocks
• Stalking Charlie Fox
• Wet Wild Windy Wellington Weekend

Five Facts on Frivolous Friday

I love Fridays – the end of the week and the weekend ahead – who wouldn’t like Fridays?

• We discovered a new vegan restaurant today.  The owners are Indian and the food was scrumptious.  I don’t know the names of the dishes, but I ate a 7 vegetable dish, rice, soup, salad, hot carrot pickle, poppadums etc.  I left feeling pleasantly full.
  
• I received a handwritten letter – yes not typed and not an email – from a friend today, whom I had not heard from for ages.  That was a real pick-me-up.
• Lotte and I met new people and their dogs at the dog park today.  I love making new friends.
  

  Just waiting to be read

• I found a new author at the library today – well new to me.  This is a Swedish writer and though I have often seen his Detective Kurt Wallander in the series on television I haven’t read any of his books.  So I am looking forward to reading The White Lioness.
  
  
• I have a friend with a large tom cat called Friday.  He is larger than Lotte and leaves her in no doubt who is in charge when we visit.  But Lotte just goes along with the flow and they seem to have come to some sort of understanding.

And so another less than memorable Friday hits the dust.  But the sun has been shining today even though it is still fairly cool.  Lotte has been exercising her lungs, barking at any and everything that moves in the street.

No sign of Andy yet.    I just know we are going to be great friends but I wonder where he is lurking.  Getting anxious about the little fellow.

 

Armadillos make affectionate pets, if you need affection that much.
William Jacob “Will” Cuppy (August 23, 1884 – September 19, 1949) was an American humorist and literary critic

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