Sorry, not much of an update today. I felt ill this morning, but managed to get to the hairdresser, thanks to a lift from Lovely Husband. When we got home I had a humongous coughing attack, due to a rogue piece of lettuce! So I am now shaking a bit and resting in bed.
At least my gorgeous new scarf arrived safely. 💕😍💕😍
Reading Roundup post tomorrow, assuming that I am well enough to write.
Best wishes,
💚💜💛💙❤️
I had a rather exciting time with an eBay auction over the weekend. For some time, I have been stalking a rather lovely scarf design called Les Secrets de Minos, by Hermès. As I was a student of Ancient History, I have been trying to start a collection of H scarves with either Ancient Greek, Egyptian or Roman motifs. I have three so far which fit with this: my first H purchase, La Promenade de Platon, then Escales Mediterranéenes and Mare Nostrum.
Having followed the knowledgeable members of the Purse Forum for a few years, I have discovered that there are several other scarves which I would be thrilled to own. As I am far from wealthy, however, I will have to take my time in acquiring them. Also, these designs are not common, especially in the colourways that I like.
Les Secrets de Minos by Hermès
So you can imagine how excited I was to see Les Secrets de Minos available on eBay in a lovely colourway. I had to wait a week until the end of the auction and then was gutted when I lost out in the last few seconds to another bidder. Anyway, I won’t go into all of the details but it has all turned out fine in the end and the scarf is heading my way via post!
When it arrives, I will photograph it and write a Scarf of the Moment post as soon as I have researched enough information. If anyone has any more details, such as the design story, please let me know as I would be so grateful for more background on this lovely scarf.
I am hoping to be well enough to go to the hairdresser tomorrow as I am in dire need!
Best wishes,
💚💜💙❤️💛
It had been such a lovely day here with brilliant sunshine and I am feeling pretty good because I was able to accomplish quite a few things. First of all, I managed to get out of bed and get dressed in something other than my pyjamas. Then I was able to stay downstairs for more than a few minutes (we watched Doctor Foster whilst shouting at the telly – if you are also watching the series, you will know why). After lunch, we went to the library and I chose my new stack of books, including one I have wanted to read for ages. When we had done that, we went out for a cup of tea and a wander. Oh, and I also did a few housework tasks. If our lads come home from work this evening in good moods, then the day will have been great!
I decided to show you a “new-to-the-blog” scarf in this post – well, I haven’t worn it for an Outfit of the Day post before. As well as my love of Hermès scarves, I also have a thing about some of the Liberty of London patterns. I have mentioned Hera a lot as I have two scarves and a bangle in this design, but my most favourite is Ianthe. This colourway is really autumnal with blues, green, orange, pink, deep red, yellow, lilac and black. I am waiting for another good colourway for this pattern to come along and then I will pounce!
Today’s outfit:
Outfit of the day 22/09/17 with Liberty’s Ianthe scarf
Hoping you all have a great weekend.
Best wishes,
💛💚💙❤️💜
One of the things which makes my health worse is stress. Stress brings on my coughs, stress links with my anxiety, stress affects my breathing. In fact, all of my health issues may have been caused by stress in the first place. The levels of stress in my life are often very high: simple daily life is fraught with it, even without major stressors such as bereavement, retirement, change, and so on.
Burnout and Stress by Florian Simeth on Flickr
So, what do I do to help with this? What strategies can I follow?
Well, I have several. Obviously, one help is my pile of medications. The anti-depressant, Citalopram, has made a big difference. For really difficult occasions, I have also taken Diazepam in the past. And that worked well at the time.
A really important way of combating stress for me is affection. Cuddles and hugs are a vital way for me to show love and support to my family, but they also work in return. I don’t think I could live without hugs and kisses. Luckily my chaps are a very huggy lot!
Most people find that exercise helps to alleviate stress and that was certainly true for me until my health collapsed to this extent. I loved to dance and also enjoyed using the gym and attending yoga classes. Walks with my lads were great too. But I cannot do any of those things now.
Humour is also a fantastic way of de-stressing. Unfortunately, laughing brings on my coughing attacks! I can still smile, though. 😀
Music helps many people, although not me, but reading takes me away from my worries to other places and times. Reading is my escape and I read so widely because I really don’t mind where I escape to! This afternoon I have been shooting the bad guys with Jack Reacher and then chasing a werewolf-like creature through a forest.
Unfortunately, I tend to turn to tea and cake when I am stressed and that helps in the short term, but then I become more upset by the thought of the weight I am piling on! So food is not good for stress.
Anyway, I have spent all of this post writing about the things that help, without telling you about the very best thing of all…….
Bubble wrap 2 by Keith Williamson on Flickr
Popping bubble wrap!
Best wishes,
😄😄😄😄😄😄
Image details
I am not even going to make excuses any more for using my Goodreads reviews on these weekly posts. It makes sense to do so, as I will not have to repeat things I have already written! Anyway, I am feeling very drained today and cannot write very much. On weeks when I feel better, I will try to add more comment around the copied reviews, as I have done on previous Roundup posts.
Make Me by Lee Child
I am still relying on our library’s excellent ebook service because I have been too unwell to visit and borrow print books. My first book this week was Lee Child’s Make Me (Jack Reacher #20):
An excellent book in this series with a great twister of a plot. This one has lots of travel across America, guns, violence, interesting detection, affection, evil “baddies” and a good ending. One of the best Jack Reacher novels I have read recently.
I think that this was probably the last of the “traditional” Jack Reacher books, before the author decided to write prequels to the series. There is a particular feeling left at the end of this book which brings me to that conclusion, but I won’t spoil things by saying more. I gave it four stars.
Enigma by Catherine Coulter
My second book of the week was Enigma (FBI Thriller #21) by Catherine Coulter, which I gave three stars:
OK, easy and quick to read thriller. Two stories running alongside each other with no connection except for the FBI investigators who have been in previous books in the series. I would be happy to read other books by this author if I had nothing else in the book pile. This was an ebook from the public library service.
Persuader by Lee Child
I am now a good way through yet another Jack Reacher – this time #7 in the series – Persuader. There are not very many left for me to read! I will let you know what I think of this book next week.
Best wishes,
💜💛💚💙❤️
I am not really sure how I feel today and apologies if some of this is a bit TMI, but I need to write this down. This morning I had an appointment with my wonderful lead consultant who has overall charge of my many health issues. As I have written many times in this blog, I am very upset about my weight and shape, particularly over the last few months. In fact, this morning I couldn’t do up my bra! I don’t usually wear a bra because I have hardly ever needed them in the past and I find them so uncomfortable, but I do wear one when I go out of the house. So it has been a while since I last tried to do one up and it just wouldn’t. Even if I had managed it, it would have been excruciating to wear for more than a few minutes.
So I arrived at the clinic, already feeling down. The first procedure is always to check my blood pressure, weight and BMI, and my weight shocked me. I have never been so heavy in my life, even when nine months pregnant. I felt awful and really miserable.
My consultant is lovely and really listens, so when I told him how I was feeling about my weight issues, he understood and immediately came up with some ideas. I have known for some time that the steroids I have to take are contributing to my weight gain and the stereotypical “moon face” I now have. He suggested that the dose should be lowered and that, if this still works for me, I should begin to see an improvement in a couple of months. Of course, I also need to try to watch what I eat and do more exercise. Anyway, lets see what happens. I am going to measure myself all over and then try to track how it goes.
Please keep your fingers crossed for me!
There was also some better news that I may be eligible for a new cough drug that will be available for its final trials after Christmas. It would be great if I could stop taking some of the cocktail of pills and potions that sit on my dressing table.
Anyway, I decided to wear some nice items today in honour of leaving the house for a few hours. I don’t look my best in the photo below, but I love this little gavroche so much and it cheers me up.
Today’s outfit:
Outfit of the day with Hermès’ Appaloosa des Steppes gavroche
Now for some reading!
Best wishes,
❤️💙💚💛💜
Apologies to my readers, but I am too ill to post properly today. The weekend was very stressful with Elder Son fully exercising some of his more negative behaviour, to put it mildly. ASD meltdowns are very challenging, especially when the parents are ill and disabled themselves. The effect on my health is awful and I am having real difficulty in functioning properly. Lovely Husband is also very shaken.
I have an appointment with my lead Consultant tomorrow and I am hoping for some good news. This will be in tomorrow’s post, if I am well enough to write.
As I have no self-control at all, I will post here a photo of an item that I am very excited about:
But you will have to wait to find out the details!
Best wishes,
💜💛💚💙❤️
It is Lovely Husband’s birthday today! We bought him a commemorative volume of historic newspaper headlines about his favourite football team, Hull City. I thought that this would be a special gift for his landmark birthday – 65. There have been the expected jokes about state pensions and bus passes, but even so I find it hard to believe how fast the time has gone. He was 34 when we started going out together.
I was hoping to be well enough to have lunch out, but it was not to be, so we stayed in and watched TV and chatted about this and that. During our talk, I remarked that it was great that we still have so much that we want to say to each other. It is true, we are never the couple sitting at the pub table with nothing to say. We do drive each other mad sometimes as neither of us can stop talking over TV programmes, even if we try really hard. In fact, it was one of the things that attracted me about him – the fact that he could out-talk me, and still does so!
I had bought this new dress from Lands’ End and intended to wear it this lunchtime, but it will keep for another day. It is made of a lovely fine, soft merino wool with a cowl neck and elbow length sleeves, which will nicely show off a bracelet. It comes in three colours: plum, charcoal and this navy. If you like it, then wait until there is an offer on (there is 25% off at the time of writing), as it is quite expensive.
Navy merino wool dress – Lands’ End
I think it will look great with navy leggings or opaque tights and ankle boots. Either these:
Tan ankle boots by Ted and Muffy
Or these:
Tan ankle boots by Clarks
Or my black knee boots (I still have some footwear in black, although it is not one of my colours):
Black leather boots by Clarks
Another parcel came this morning containing a gift for my birthday, when it arrives in November. I opened it and was thrilled with the contents. But the parcel has now been put away and I will do the reveal after the day. It came from Italy, not France, and is not a Ferragamo item! So no-one will be able to guess 😉.
Elder Son has been at work today after some time off due to a holiday and then illness. So I hope that he comes back in a good mood. Younger Son should be home over the weekend after his holiday abroad with his friends. So I hope that he has had a great time.
Also I hope that all my readers have a good weekend, wherever you are in the world.
Best wishes,
💜💛💚💙❤️
It was a miracle that I was able to write the Reading Roundup post yesterday as I woke up really early with the most horrendous pain from acid reflux. The pain did go away in the end, but it took hours before I felt even slightly comfortable. Thank goodness for reading! Reading can distract me from just about anything.
So, I was very pleased to feel able to go out today for a visit to the garden centre – we haven’t been to one for ages. I wanted to go because I needed to buy a birthday card as it is Lovely Husband’s birthday tomorrow. It would be great if I could be well enough to go out for a meal with him to celebrate – I hope so.
Today’s outfit:
Outfit of the day 14/09/17 with Hermès’ Bateau Fleuri gavroche
The app I use to make these collages appears to have upgraded with new features, so I will have to see what I can do with them to make my collages more interesting.
Best wishes,
💜💛💚💙❤️
Thank goodness for ebooks! I finished my pile of library books a week ago, but have been too ill since to visit the library and choose some more. Luckily, their ebook service, using BorrowBox, has a pretty good selection so I have been reading my choice from this.
Night School by Lee Child
I have read most of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series, but there are still a few to go. This week I have been reserving the rest on BorrowBox and reading them as they have become available. The first was Night School (Jack Reacher #21). These more recent publications have moved the story timeline to a period when Reacher was still in the military. In many ways, they are not as good as the ones set after his army days:
I think that these Jack Reacher prequels are rather marmite, judging by the other reviews on Goodreads. Personally, I enjoyed the book as a thriller, although it was not one of Child’s best. I am still trying to read all of the books in the series, with not many more to go!
I gave the book three stars on Goodreads, maybe it deserved more.
The Hard Way by Lee Child
My next read was Lee Child’s The Hard Way (Jack Reacher #10), which I gave fours stars and then wrote this review:
I seem to be working my way through the last few books that I haven’t already read in this series. They are available as ebooks from our Public Library service and I have reserved the ones that are currently being read by others. This one was a classic Reacher with a good teasing and twisting plot leading to a violent ending. Some plot holes, as ever, but I don’t really mind those. Suspension of disbelief is essential in reading this series. Good stuff!
Godblind by Anna Stephens
Whilst waiting for the next Jack Reacher reservation to be ready, I downloaded this book on BorrowBox: Godblind by Anna Stephens, her first book and part one of a trilogy. I was looking for a fantasy novel and chose this one almost at random. And it was a fantastic choice! This was given a full five stars as I really enjoyed it:
Wow! Well that was a book and a half! Darkest, grimmest fantasy. Violence, horror, and traitorous, evil characters. Courage, guts, determination and brave, heroic characters. Strong women and caring men. First book of a trilogy and I can’t wait for the next one. I was even reading this at 6.30 in the morning and it was an ebook from the public library that I could read for free. It doesn’t get better than this. Well, if it does please give me the book 😂.
I think you get the picture – I loved this book. Well, as much as you can love a book where you read in trepidation waiting for the next character to either turn into a traitor or be killed in a particularly nasty way!
Make Me by Lee Child
I am now about a quarter of the way through another Jack Reacher, Make Me (#20), which I will review on Goodreads as soon as I have finished. I love keeping track of my reading in this way and it is good to see that the site has just celebrated its tenth birthday! All of those books and readers 😍.
Until next week’s Reading Roundup,
Best wishes,
💜💛💚💙❤️
Dear Lauren, thank you so much for your lovely comment, best wishes, Anne x
I love this CW Anne! It's approaching scarf weather I look forward to seeing a photo of it on. The…
Anne ! I love your teal blue tops that you purchased ! Perfect for Fall! But they do not compare…
Prayers
The Librain
Dear Lauren, thank you for your comment. Yes, the scarf is gorgeous! Best wishes, Anne x