Welcome to this week’s post. Unfortunately, I have been really struggling to read books. All the stress from our house move has meant that I find it very difficult to concentrate enough to read. My mind keeps flitting from one subject to another, suddenly remembering a task that I need to do, or thinking of an item that I must order. I have tried changing between different ebooks, but that hasn’t really made any difference. Even work by my favourite authors hasn’t been able to grab me! This is totally unprecedented for me and has never happened before to this extent!
In the end, I think I may have found something that I might be able to enjoy, but it will take me until next week to finish it. I won’t jinx it by telling you which book I have chosen!
So, I am wishing all of you the usual “Happy Reading!”
So, we have reached Friday once again and it is time to write another post. Things have been pretty quiet and peaceful this week and I wonder why that is??? Hmmm, could it be because Elder Son has been away on holiday?
Seriously, yes he has. From his regular texts and calls he has been having a great time exploring one of his favourite cities and visiting towns nearby. He has also been able to meet up with his brother for an afternoon and they sent me some lovely photos, which was nice.
He is due home tomorrow evening and I expect that I will be given loads of hugs! Our peaceful existence will definitely come to an end. To be honest, I have really missed him but have been so pleased that he is able to travel by himself and sort out any small issues that he might have come across. He always charms the hotel staff. I think that the female staff want to “mother” him!
While he has been away, Lovely Husband and I have continued with the unpacking and trying to get to grips with the selling process for our former home. We have now seen some estate agents and we really must make the decision about which one to choose. It’s a bit heart versus head! One has been very efficient and works for quite a large local company, another has been very attentive and helpful and has her own small business with very few clients! I think that I am going to step back and let LH choose! We have also been able to source a recommended cleaner to absolutely blitz clean the house, so I hope that can be done quickly so we can get the photos taken. I just want to get the house on the market as soon as possible.
During the week I have been selecting some more items for our new bungalow and trying to understand how the central heating works in preparation for colder weather. The boiler is quite new, which is great, and is controlled by the Hive system. I struggled to work it out at first, but soon got the hang of it and we put the radiators on for a short while to make sure that they are all working.
The purchases were two table lamps for the lounge, a small lamp for the hallway to make sure we can easily get to the bathroom at night, and speaker stands for LH’s sound system. The existing ceiling lights in the lounge have a barely twist central piece, so I decided to buy lamps with a similar shape. I am really pleased with them and also relieved because there was only one review of these particular ones on Amazon! I usually choose items on that site that have large numbers of positive reviews, so I took a gamble this time. Luckily it seems to have paid off!
Anyway, for what it’s worth, here are the lamps that arrived today. The one on the left is for the lounge and on the right there is the one I chose for the hall…
Table lamps from Amazon
By the way, in real life the lamp on the right is about half the height of the one on the left!
Well, I think that I had better draw this post to a close now. I will be spending the afternoon trying to attach the speakers from LH’s Bose system to the new stands. Please wish me luck!
Hello and welcome to my first reading post for September. I have recently finished a book that consisted of two novellas, one fantasy and the other science fiction…
Ice and Shadow by Andre Norton
The book was Andre Norton’s Ice and Shadow. Here is the blurb…
“Two bestselling novels of science fiction adventure set in the Forerunner universe from legendary storyteller Andre Norton together for the first time.
Ice Roane, a young archaeologist, makes planetfall on a previously off-limits world where the inhabitants have been implanted with false memories and conditioned to obey their oligarchic masters. Now Roane must fight to save the enslaved populace and her own inner essence by locating a powerful artifact that could bring new freedom to a planet locked in slavery.
Brother to Jofre, a young initiate to the assassin’s guild in a far future world, is betrayed and cast out by a corrupt nemesis. To save himself, Jofre must team with a crafty reptilian alien ally to find the hidden hoard of Forerunner technology and go forth and to find his destiny beyond the stars.”
These were two short novels in one book, one fantasy and the other science fiction. Both stories took a while to get me hooked and I very nearly closed the ebook. But I persevered and ended up really enjoying both tales. The first one had quite an abrupt ending and I feel that it could have sustained at least another chapter. The second one was much longer and came to a satisfying end.
I am sure that I must have read more by Andre Norton many years ago, but can’t remember now. After enjoying this book, I may decide to read more but I have a very long “waiting list” so I can’t be sure!
To be honest, I am really struggling to choose my next book. The house move has exhausted me and I am trying to find enough concentration to enjoy reading, without much success. Even though Elder Son is away on holiday this week and the house is peaceful, I can’t seem to really settle in with a book and have been flitting from one to another! Well, you will find out next week whether I do manage to recover my ability to concentrate!
Welcome to my blog! Today I am starting to log the steps we are taking to sell our old home. I have already written loads about moving into our new one and we are still in the middle of unpacking our stuff. There are still quite a few boxes that we need to open, but the most important things are sorted. Unfortunately, now that we have moved in, my health seems to have collapsed and I am unable to do very much on most days.
Oh, I should add a note for those of you who haven’t been following our house moving saga. We are very fortunate that we had enough savings to be able to switch around the usual method of selling and buying a home. At the end of January, we found this bungalow and went through the buying process without having to sell our existing house at the same time. We moved in at the end of July and have spent the last few weeks unpacking before starting the selling process for our former home. I hope that makes sense!
This afternoon we went over to our old house to meet with an estate agent who was there to give a valuation and talk us through the process. We also had lots of questions for him about how best to prepare the house for sale. We had lived there for over 24 years and had spent a considerable amount on improvements to the whole house. Sadly, both of us became disabled in recent years and some important repairs were neglected. We did have a new roof installed at the end of last year, so at least that is a bonus. Anyway, we will organise for another couple of estate agents and then make our decision. I just hope we can get the house on the market in the next week or so.
Now that we are back home again I feel very tired, so I will sign off.
Well, I had hoped that I would be able to finish my current book in time to write about it today. Unfortunately, I am still quite a few pages from the end and I don’t want to skim read it! So, I will apologise for this short post today and hold the reveal over to next week.
So, Friday has come around again and it’s time to write another blog post. We have now been living in our new home for just over four weeks. There are still quite a few boxes to unpack and we have to find good places for all of our stuff. I don’t feel as if this is “home” yet, but that will soon come, I am sure.
The main focus of our thoughts has to be on getting our old house ready to go on sale. It is now empty of most of our belongings (we had to get the removing company back to bring over some things that had been missed). Some furniture was left because we don’t need it here, so we must make some decisions about that too. We now need to hire a cleaner to absolutely blitz the place, a gardener to sort out the large garden, and also talk to estate agents about marketing the house. Lovely Husband is going to do most of the work to deal with all of this.
As for me, now that we have moved, I am really going to try to improve my fitness levels. LH was a Physical Education teacher and sportsman and has a great knowledge that I can use to help me with this. I know that I need to begin this process very carefully and slowly so that I don’t injure myself. So, yesterday you could have seen us outside in the street with me walking short distances under his supervision. The road outside our house is nice and flat, which is helpful. I must admit that my mood really improved afterwards, which was great!
Another thing that I must sort out is the state of my teeth! I drink a lot of tea and they have become very stained in recent years. Looking through my selfies on here has horrified me and I feel quite ashamed. Unfortunately, my health issues mean that I cannot cope with the cleaning system offered by my dentist: it brings on a dreadful coughing/choking attack. Instead, I am trying some special toothpaste to see if that might help. I do hope that it does because I cannot bear to take selfies for this site in my present condition.
I think that is all of my news for now, so I wish you all a Happy Weekend!
Hello and welcome to this week’s post, fellow readers. I try to write every Wednesday about the books I have read during the previous week(s).
Blue Thunder: Across the Shattered Stars by Gregg R Overman
The book I have been enjoying is the third in Gregg R Overman’s series, Blue Sunrise Space Opera, Blue Thunder: Across the Shattered Stars. Here is the blurb..
“A Transcendent Journey to the Edge of War—Where Only Faith Can Sustain Hope. For generations, Earth’s militant rulers have waged a relentless, low-grade war against a group of genetically modified humans, branding them as demons and a threat to civilization. Now, the conflict is spiraling out of control. Gracely Fielder has spent her life on the fringes of this war, engaging in small skirmishes, never expecting to be at its center. But a chance encounter in deep space uncovers a shocking truth—one that thrusts her into a battle her people cannot win. On Earth, her long-lost brother, Jered, has spent his life hiding his true identity from those who would destroy him. As war looms, his path leads him to an ancient force beyond time—one that defies the known laws of physics, reality, and faith itself. As parallel universes shift, wormholes open, and a great collision looms, Jered faces an impossible choice: How can he save his sister’s people without destroying the only world he has ever known?”
This was the best book in the series so far! I really liked the new characters and the writing about their daily lives on the planet Harmony and travels across space. There were some ingenious developments in the story about how adapted humans might interact with both alien life and humanity in general back in the Solar System and beyond.
I am not sure whether Overman considers that this book has brought the tale to an end, but it certainly felt like a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, for me at least.
Today’s post is really short because I am still suffering with the hot weather. I have been stuck in our bedroom all week. There is a terrific ceiling fan in here that is helping me to stay as cool as possible, so that is a bonus of this new home!
A few weeks ago I succumbed to my love of One Hundred Stars and bought this gorgeous tulip patterned throwover…
Tulip throwover by One Hundred Stars
I have managed to wear it once out of the house in this really lovely outfit…
Outfit of the day 30/06/25
The outfit consists of navy linen trousers, a white top by Lands’ End, blue topaz and gold stud earrings, navy leather sandals, and a gorgeous matching Persian green leather bangle and handbag by Massaccesi.
Now, I’m going back to wishing for rain! Our gardens are absolutely parched around here and even some of the trees are drooping and wilting.
Hello and welcome to this week’s post. I am feeling unwell today, owing to the hot weather, and so this post will be the bare minimum. Apologies!
This week I have read the sequel to last week’s book, Blue Sunrise by Gregg R Overman, Blue Sunset…
Blue Sunset by Gregg R Overman
The book is the second part of the Blue Sunrise Space Opera. Here is the blurb…
”The aliens just want us all to die. Two men and a Martian “Scout Bug” have other ideas.
Earth is in political and economic turmoil in the wake of an unprovoked alien attack. NASA abandons the crew on Mars as power shifts to a reactionary political party, but they reconsider when new lights and radiation bloom on the periphery of our solar system. NASA needs Mars to once again act as the sacrificial lamb for the incoming missiles, but the Mars’ crew has their own problems after one of the missiles strikes Mars and turns the environment from inhospitable to unlivable. It seems their only choice is death by starvation, hypothermia or the next alien missile.Something on Mars awakens after millennia of stasis. It is hungry, and the human crew on the surface is obviously food, albeit genetically damaged food. The genetic damage will need to be corrected before the harvest.Astonishingly, the next round of incoming alien missiles begins communicating, and the Mars Crew learns that the galaxy has been subjected to a reign of genocidal bombardment for thousands of years. They have suffered much, but the crew on Mars and the fully awake Martians decide to go down fighting.
Once again, I found the book very enjoyable and was able to engage with it even during the major life event of moving house! At the moment, however, I am not well, so was unable to write much in response. If you are interested in the book, there are plenty of good reviews on Goodreads. This is what I did manage to write…
This was a really enjoyable sequel. The main characters were well fleshed out and this gave more insight into their motivations, especially those on Mars. In addition, the plot really moved further away from the standards of the first book. I wasn’t quite sure about some of this at first, but the different points of view worked in the end. I loved the wide variety of aliens and the clever and imaginative writing that really brought them to life. There was a nice touch of humour too.
When I finished the book, I saw that the author has written a sequel, so I have now started this book!
Welcome to my blog. Today, I am picking up the “story” of our house move once again. We have now been here for just over two weeks.
The mountain of boxes inside the house has been whittled down to one plus a mountain of stuff that needs to find a home! We asked the removers to come back and move a stack of boxes full of filing back out into the garage. The plan is to bring them in one at a time and sort through them ruthlessly. Well, that’s my plan. Lovely Husband seems to find it very difficult to throw anything away. We have a small room here which we are planning to use as a study with a row of files or boxes on a counter. I just hope that we can agree to only keep necessary paperwork. After all, I could scan and file electronically anything really important.
All of the rooms are still pretty messy. As I am doing most of the unpacking, I shoved things into the cupboards and drawers where I thought they should belong, trying to make logical decisions. Now, I am working back through some of them and kind of tweaking things a bit. It is all slowly falling into place.
Before the move, I decided to find a new home for most of my books. Since I had the stroke in 2019, I cannot read paper books and have changed over to ebooks. So, I planned to keep only those books to which I have some kind of sentimental attachment and donated the rest of my collection to the local library. As I am unpacking, I keep finding random books that I don’t want to keep and that I don’t have a home for. Just a small issue really, I know.
Now that we have moved, we need to begin the long slog of selling our old house. First we have to attempt to get it ready for sale (it needs a lot of cosmetic work) and then we will have to contact estate agents to get quotes. For insurance purposes, we need to visit every week, so it is just as well that it is situated just over a mile away from our new home. Elder Son and I went over today and I felt quite unsettled to see it empty of our things! I just hope that it sells quickly.
While all of this has been going on, ES and I went into town last week so that I could have a hair cut, followed by a lovely lunch. My hair was in a total mess as I hadn’t been to the hairdresser since February! Anyway, these are the before and after photos. They look a bit strange as my iPad caused a shadow to fall across my face. I will try to find a better place in the house to take selfies!
Outfit of the day 01/08/25: with Hermès’ Tulipomanie Detail gavroche
I thought that the pretty Hermès’ Tulipomanie Detail gavroche worked quite well with this turquoise top, but I will try it with pink next time! By the way, I have updated the Scarf of the Moment: Tulipomanie post with the details of this new 45cm scarf.
Former professional school librarian, now retired through chronic illness. Trying to keep cheerful by reading, drinking lots of tea, blogging my new life, and my love of bling!
The Librain
The Librain......retired 
Dear Lauren, thank you so much for this kind and lovely comment! Love & best wishes, Anne XXX