Monkeys and a Dragon

As you can see I have been busy making sock monkeys again. The first two are to be given away to people. The last one I have made for myself. I brought some socks back from Amsterdam and decided that I would use a pair to make myself a souvenir. His name is Dutch and he used to be a boat tour guide. He now makes a living as a romance writer under the pseudo name Delila. I have been considering taking him on any travels I might go on rather than Mr Sparkles. Poor Mr Sparkles is looking a bit poorly (have learned since to never use sparkly socks). As much as I want to make sure Mr Sparkles doesn't get any worse I do prefer having him along with me. The other option is for Dutch to keep me company in work. I haven't decided yet.

Quite a while ago I stitched this elemental dragon onto black fabric with the intention of turning it into a book bag. Last week I stumbled across it again and this time decided I wasn't putting it down until I had finished stitching it all together. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. Although I think I will think twice before I make another one of these in black again. I am working on another one. This time for a friends birthday. I have had to design the pattern myself as I couldn't find one that I wanted. Just hope it turns out. Will post a pic of the cross stitch part as soon as it is done.

Lili, I am glad that you have become a Doctor Who fan. I do like Christopher Eccleston but I have since begun to favour David Tennant as the Doctor. Mind you they both have very different styles. I think you will like Tennant. Billie Piper leaves at the end of season 2. I did like Billie's character although she did begin to annoy me a bit at the end. Came across as too needy when her character seemed strong in season 1. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on season 2.

It's been a while since I read Curious Incident. I do remember that it was a very sweet story and also a little sad. I also found myself laughing at various points but felt guilty for doing so.

BSG: Season 3

The third season of Battlestar Galactica came out a few weeks ago and I have now watched all but the extras. The end of season 2 saw the last of the 13 colonies on New Caprica a year after they had settled there when the cylons once again attacked. This time Admiral Adama ordered both Battlestars to retreat as they had no way of beating the cylons and protecting the people scattered over New Carpica. This season starts a few months after that. The Battlestars are endlessly training their crew for a rescue mission while the people of New Caprica are having to cope with a Cylon occupancy. Colonel Tigh, Anders and the Chief are part of a large group of dissidents making life difficult for the new cylon regime. While Baltar is being held by the cylons and made to carry out their bidding. The first few episodes are based on the fight to free the people of New Caprica.



After that the Battlestar continues almost as normal. They are following a path to Earth while constantly on the look out for the Cylons. There is a divide amongst the people. There are those who remained on the Galactica and those who were left behind. Once that is sorted out another divide appears later. One that divides the officers and the manual workers. The most interesting part of this series are all the episodes which focus on the Cylons themselves. Thanks to Baltar being taken prisoner by the Cylons we see more of their ships and learn much more about them. It does mainly leave more questions which can only be a good thing as it leaves you wanting to learn more. Especially at the end of the season.

I did enjoy the first and second season more than this one. I think that might be a reason why the producers have decided to end it on the fourth season. When I first heard about this I was disappointed. Why would anyone want to end a perfectly good show? Now I can see why. End it before the fans get bored and are frustrated from not learning more about the cylons. For me the first and second season are the best because I feel that the season two cliffhanger is a difficult episode to beat. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the third season. There were a lot of great episodes in there which are definitely worth watching. Now though I will have to wait impatiently for season four to come out on DVD and try to avoid reading about what happens at the very end.

For all you book lovers out there I read a very interesting post on the way people organise books on Craft. The idea is to organise your books by colour. Seeing the picture on the Craft website it does look very pretty. An artist in San Francisco organised an independent bookshop in San Francisco this way. With a couple of helpers it only took him the one night. In a book store it would be total chaos as you would never find anything. Although I did hear about one bookseller who organised the area she looked after by colour and after she was told off about it she changed it to size order! It would be interesting to organise books at home like that. I don't have the space to organise all my books anymore. They are all packed into my bookcase in a way that will allow me to get as many in there as possible. I would maybe consider it once I did have the space though. Not sure how long it would last though.

Lili, I liked Menolly too but my favourite character was always Master Harper Robinton. I Just liked the idea of this old man who was so accepting of people, had a great sense of humour and fun but was pivotal in the events that took place. I think your daughter might be glad about changing your mind on naming her Menolly, lol. Thanks for the offer of the chart but I already have it somewhere. I had actually planned on stitching it at some point but it was one of those things that I would be lucky to get round to doing. Makes your gift of it all beautifully stitched all the more precious.

Timewarden, it surprised me you choosing "Crime and Punishment". Simply because I assumed that everyone would choose a light book for comfort. I guess though whole point though is not just comfort but to find a book you can really lose yourself in. Not sure what music I would chose though. To be honest I haven't been in that situation or much like it. If I am feeling a little bit down though I tend to listen to songs that are more upbeat. The Zutons first album is a good one for that (for me anyway).

Crazee4books, like you I never got past the first Wheel Of Time book by Robert Jordan. I found the first one to be repetitive and dull and so didn't bother with the second. Such a shame since I know of so many people who love them. I was more disappointed for myself than in the book. I didn't realise that the author very recently passed away. 58 is such a young age too. There will be many fans out there who will be upset. I don't think he even finished his series.

It's a shame about Madeline L'Engle too. I read "A Wrinkle In Time" for the first time not that long ago and very much enjoyed it. It's one of those books I wish I had read when I was younger. I hadn't heard of the author or this book until a few years back and I was reading about books that had been banned. That's what made me want to read this book in the first place. It always surprises me when I see how many children's books have been banned at some point.

You're right it is two great losses to the sci fi book world.

Booking Through Thursday

Okay . . . picture this (really) worst-case scenario: It’s cold and raining, your boyfriend/girlfriend has just dumped you, you’ve just been fired, the pile of unpaid bills is sky-high, your beloved pet has recently died, and you think you’re coming down with a cold. All you want to do (other than hiding under the covers) is to curl up with a good book, something warm and comforting that will make you feel better.
What do you read?
(Any bets on how quickly somebody says the Bible or some other religious text? A good choice, to be sure, but to be honest, I was thinking more along the lines of fiction…. Unless I laid it on a little strong in the string of catastrophes? Maybe I should have just stuck to catching a cold on a rainy day….)

This is actually very easy to answer. If I was to chose a book purely for comfort I would probably chose one of Anne McCaffreys books from the Pern series. To me something that will make me feel better is an easy read but one that I have fun reading too. The Pern series fit that for me. I would probably chose one of the later ones since I have read the first few a couple of times. I am thinking possibly the Masterharper of Pern as it involved one of my favourite characters.

Crazee4books, thank you for your comments. I must admit that I too prefer those frogs than the other type of frogs involved in stitching. I first saw Earthshock years after it had first been broadcast so I knew that it was the one where Adric died. Even then I was pleased that he had left. He wasn't my favourite character. Still a good story though.

Thank you lili, lol. I will see what I can do with your cards. Glad you are enjoying the first season of Dr Who. That episode put a lump in my throat too. Glad you are also enjoying the Diary of Anne Frank. I can't even begin to count the number of times I've read it. My sister is reading it just now too.

It's About Time!

Yes, I have actually finished off some crafts. Lili you will be pleased to know that I finished stitching the frog trio. I have attached it to the front of my paper journal. It was actually very easy to stitch and had I took the time to do it I could have finished it in a couple of days. There are no fractional stitches and the majority of it involved half stitches for the shading. I quite like the way it turned out. It also brightens up my boring notebook.

Yes, another frog. This is the lovely pin that Lili sent me for my birthday. I loved it so much it really didn't take me long to stitch. I couldn't put it down. I love kits which involves a lot of bead work. Thank you again Lili. I think Mr Sparkles will wear her for me.

Lastly, a friend of mine gave me a beautiful Christmas card making set which will keep me going for at least a couple of Christmas's. I had to try it straight away and put this one together fairly quickly. The candy cane and the snowman are made from clay. They can both be removed from the card so that the candy cane becomes a tree decoration and the snowman becomes a fridge magnet. I am thinking of attaching these to most of my Christmas cards this year.

And just for fun I came across the Simpsons movie site. It allows you to turn yourself into a Simpsons character. You can either design your own or you can download a photo and have them do it for you. I used a photo as the one I did myself didn't really turn out.

Timewarden, I have noticed they seem to be bringing out the poorer episodes too and they are bringing them out so much more quickly too. I just wish they would go back to bringing out some favourites. The one I really want them to bring out is "War Games" with Patric Troughton. It's a family favourite that we once had on VHS but was lent out and never returned.

Lili, I agree that Fforde still came up with great ideas. It's the little things that I seem to really enjoy about his books. While I feel that maybe he is now just producing them because they have proved to be popular I would still read any future ones. It would be interesting to see what else he comes up with.

"Time-Flight" & "Arc Of Infinity"

"Time-Flight"

The Doctor decides to take Tegan and Nyssa to the Great Exhibition to help them take their minds of the death of fellow companion Adric. Instead they end up at Heathrow airport just after a Concord has disappeared from its flight plan. Just for a change the Doctor and his companions aren't blamed. Instead, thanks to UNIT, they are recruited to help. Going along the same path they end up in prehistoric Earth which someone is trying to hypnotise them into believing is still Heathrow. They come across the mysterious Kalid and the Doctor is determined to find out just who he is and what he wants with the TARDIS.

This story was heavily criticised by fans as amongst one of the poorer in the series. Whilst not exactly the best I didn't mind it either. Yes, the sets are poor and the effects are bad even for Doctor Who. I think that I have a soft spot for it though because it features the Master and I do think there was a lot of potential there in the story. I do feel though that it was a poor way to end the season. They did try to turn it into a cliffhanger by making everyone believe that Tegan had left the show. I think though it would have been far better to have ended it with "Earthshock" and the death of Adric.

"Arc Of Infinity"

The Doctor and Nyssa are making some long needed repairs to the TARDIS. Suddenly the Doctor is attacked by a force trying to take him over from another dimension and he is recalled back to his home world Gallifrey. Instead of trying to help him the Timelords believe that the Doctor is guilty of helping this creature and so he is arrested and sentenced to death. Meanwhile Tegan has arrived in Amsterdam and is searching for her cousin who has went missing. The creature who is responsible turns out to be the same one who is trying to use the Doctor. Inadvertently that same creature discovers Tegans link to the Doctor and decides to use it to get what he wants. Which is to move from a dimension of pure anti matter to live in our dimension despite the disastrous consequences if he were to fail.

This episode is famous for a few reasons. First it was televised during the year Dr Who would be celebrating its 20th anniversary. It saw the return of nemesis Omega who last featured in the 10th anniversary story "The Three Doctors". It was also filmed overseas which hadn't been done in Dr Who in four years. Lastly it also guest starred Colin Baker as Timelord Maxil who later became the 6th actor to play the Doctor. This one was never one of my favourites. I just never saw the attraction of watching the Doctor run about the streets of Amsterdam after a copy of himself. Since then I have grown to appreciate it. But then maybe that has more to do with the fact that I love the city of Amsterdam than the story itself. I especially enjoyed watching it this time round as I had just come back from Amsterdam. Funnily enough this was one of my sisters favourites when she watched the show. Very rarely did we share favourite episodes. I think "Robots of Death" may have been the only one.

Book Reviews

It has been a long time since I have done one of these posts. Basically I haven't read that many good books of late. Most of what I have read I haven't finished because I am so easily distracted. Here are one or two reviews though for now.

"First Amongst Sequels" by Jasper Fforde.

This is another Thursday Next series and is set many years later. Thursday now has a teenage son and two daughters. Her husband continues to write while Thursday pretends to work for a carpet company. Thursday is really still working for Special Ops and Jurisfiction. Her main worry is encouraging her lazy son Friday to become the genius time agent he is supposed to become. She soon discovers however, that Goliath are up to their old tricks and trying to get back into jurisfiction and in the land of fiction there is a serial killer on the loose. Unfortunately Thursday's time is spent training other jurisfiction agents not that she lets that stop her.

I was so excited when I heard that there was going to be another Thursday Next story. I had believed that the last one was actually going to be the last in the series. While I didn't feel that this one was quite as good as the others I still very much enjoyed it. It had all the things that I loved about the others. So many books referenced and characters from them making an appearance (one of my favourites was Jiminy Cricket and his stunt double). I couldn't help but feel though that the author is now writing them just because they are popular rather than because he has a story to tell. Going by the way it ended there is definitely going to be more still which adds to that feeling. This shouldn't let fans be put off reading it because it's still a good Thursday Next story and worth reading.

"One For The Money" by Janet Evanovich

Stephanie Plum has just lost her job. She is now struggling to survive as she has sold just about everything she had worth selling. She is now hanging onto her flat with the edges of her nails but refuses to move back home. On one of those visits to home she hears from her mother that her cousin Vinnie is looking for a Secretary. She decides to pay him a call only to find that the position has already been taken. Instead she decides to take on another role as a Bond agent. Stephanie now has to bring in people who have run off after making bond. Her first one is a hard one. An ex cop who is accused of murder and has went on the run. Not only that he was her first love. Stephanie has to get over these feelings in order to bring him in but he insists that he's innocent.

I have said many times that I don't read crime. A friend of mine who is actually a very high brow reader surprised me by mentioning how much he loved these books. On this recommendation I decided to give it a go. Surprisingly I very much enjoyed it. It was a fun and quick read. Perfect for when you are in between reads and not sure what to move on to next. Or if you are looking for something light. I would definitely read the others in the series.

"Cross Stitch" by Diana Gabaldon

Claire is a nurse in 1948 who is recovering from working during the war and getting to know her husband all over again. They have taken a trip to Scotland where they first honeymooned. While there Frank is looking into his past lineage and Claire is learning about the plants in the area. One area in which both their interests cross is the standing stones of Craig na Dun. they visit there and discover the local women carrying out some sort of ceremony. Once over Claire goes back to find the flower she first saw only to disappear. She finds herself face to face with someone who looks like her husband but clearly isn't. just managing to escape him she is then kidnapped by a group of Scots and taken to their castle. There she realises she is in fact in 1743. While trying to find away back home she falls for the young Scot Jamie Fraser and is torn between returning home and staying with him.

Yes, once again I moved away from what I usually read. I thought that I really enjoyed that crime book and decided to give this romance book a go. I had heard that the author insists that her books are not romance (despite their classification as such in most book shops). She describes it as an historical fantasy. For that reason it stood out for me as one book I might consider trying. However, I only got about a third of the way through it. To me it was just a romance. While it did have a good beginning nothing much else seemed to happen after she got together with Jamie and I became bored with the story. It wasn't badly written but it just wasn't for me. I do think this is most definitely a romance book and if you enjoy historical romance then you might enjoy this.

Timewarden, hope you are well. I didn't watch "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" until after I had saw her in DS9. I wasn't a fan of Jack Nicholson and so it took me some time to be convinced to give the film a go (very glad that I did). I loved Louise Fletcher in the role of Nurse Ratchett. She plays that part and the part of Kai Win very well. I actually once saw her in a made for tv movie. She played the caring and worried grandmother. Nothing wrong with her acting there but I preferred her in the role of the bad guy.

Lili, while I do find it easy to slip into a book no matter where I am I do prefer to be on my own. When I think about it I can lose myself more easily then. When it comes to writing though, like Timewarden, whether it's my blog or a letter or email, I do need the conditions to be just right. I can't concentrate while someone is talking to me at the same time.

Booking Through Thursday

Goldilocks September 6, 2007
Filed under: Wordpress — --Deb @ 1:44 am

Okay, so the other day, a friend was commenting on my monthly reading list and asked when I found the time to read. In the ensuing discussion, she described herself as a “goldilocks” when it comes to reading–she needs to have everything juuuuuust right to be able to focus. This caught my attention because, first, I thought that was a charming way of describing the condition, but, two, while we’ve talked about our reading habits, this is an interesting wrinkle. I’d never really thought about it that way.
So, this is my question to you–are you a Goldilocks kind of reader?
Do you need the light just right, the background noise just so loud but not too loud, the chair just right, the distractions at a minimum?
Or can you open a book at any time and dip right in, whether it’s for twenty seconds, while waiting for the kettle to boil, or indefinitely, like while waiting interminably at the hospital–as long as the book is open in front of your nose, you’re happy to read?

I am not a Goldilocks reader. I can read just about anywhere. The only place I have difficulty reading is on a bus or car and that's due to travel sickness. I am one of these annoying people that can zone everything out to concentrate on what I am reading. Of course I can only do this if the book is good enough. If the book isn't good enough to catch my imagination then it won't happen. Many a time I have had people try to catch my attention and it takes a pat on the shoulder to drag me out of my book. Funny though, when it comes to sleeping I need total silence.

I do have ideal places to read though. I love nothing more than at the end of the day to sit in bed and read with a cup of tea. Or to soak in the bath with a book (lots of bubbles and a glass of red wine). Lastly I love to spend a day book shopping and then sitting in the cafe and reading something I have purchased while sipping a coffee. Unfortunately I very rarely get to do the last one. Especially since my favourite place to go has closed down.

I'm going to leave you now with some more sock monkey pics. Three of them are of Scarlett (the monkey I made for my mum) who has not long come back from Boston. Some pics of her were taken in a park. The last pic is of a new sock monkey. His name is Col. Pillage and he has went to the aid of a Viking.