Oh, it’s all such fun living in our house! Loads of things are broken and in need of repair because of regular Autistic meltdowns by our Elder Son. The latest problem is that the sliding doors on his wardrobe are not working and he can’t get to his clothes! He banged them so hard several times in a rage and now they are falling off the runners and are jammed together. So, we have to try to find someone to mend the wardrobe. It seems to be so difficult to find tradespeople who are willing and able to do relatively small repair jobs. Just about impossible, in fact.
Lovely Husband and I are beyond exhausted by all of this, but what can we do? Our son is so vulnerable in many ways and needs the safety and (relative) stability of his home as well as our advocacy. I cannot bear the thought of sending him to live somewhere else. He would be back here, crying piteously at the door until we let him in. It’s all just heartbreaking.
We just don’t know what to do.
Anyway, I am now trying to distract myself from these worries by looking at beautiful things. I saw this website the other day:
I had a post planned for today. Yesterday, I had an appointment for a haircut and so I was going to take photos and show you the look, together with my nicely organised outfit, based around my pretty kimono jacket from One Hundred Stars.
Sadly, it all went wrong. I felt far too ill to go out, so had to cancel the appointment. Instead, I spent the day in bed feeling really under the weather and very sorry for myself!
So, the outfit will have to wait until I feel a bit stronger. At least the two issues that I wrote about on Monday – the broken dishwasher and the mobile phone muddle – seem to be finally sorted.
This is the kimono jacket, by the way:
Outfit of the day with One Hundred Stars’ China Tree kimono jacket
Looking at that image, my planned outfit was going to be very similar! Funny, really 😂🤣😂.
Anyway, I really am hoping that my health will soon improve enough for me to get out of bed for longer than a few minutes. I need to try to do some very short walks, for a start, as I am becoming very frightened about my future – I am so weak now and dependent on my “chaps”.
OK, I think I had better sign off now and pick up my latest book so that I don’t become even more gloomy! I will try to improve my mood over the weekend and will write more positively on Monday.
Well, apologies to those of you who have come here to read my latest book reviews – I haven’t managed to finish a book this week! With all of the family hassles that are going on, I have either been sorting out mobile phones or trying to get our washing machine mended. I just haven’t been able to concentrate on reading.
Instead, I will leave you with this lovely quotation:
I do hope that you all had a great weekend. My Lovely Husband had a nice Father’s Day with presents and a lovely chat with Younger Son on the phone. He usually has his “Music Evening” on a Sunday, when he plays his favourite music for a couple of hours. Last night the neighbours has gone out so he was able to turn the volume up! As he was watching a DVD of a fabulous concert by The Who, I went downstairs to join him for a while and we had a companiable time together.
Today, unfortunately, Elder Son woke up in a really awful mood and, in a rage, managed to break the dishwasher. Sadly, our house has lots of damaged and broken things from his Autistic meltdowns. Anyway, once things were relatively calm, I was able to look inside the dishwasher and discovered that only a tiny part was actually broken. I was able to source the part pretty quickly (it is on its way) and also a man who can fit it. In the meantime, ES can roll up his sleeves and wash the pots in the old fashioned way – ha!
We have also been having issues with two of our mobile phones. I won’t go into the details because it drove me crazy trying to sort this out and it took two days before an agreed solution was reached. But, I think (hope) that this problem is also on the way to being fixed!
You may remember that I am suffering from memory issues from my stroke in September 2019.
I really don’t need complicated problems to sort out.
Aargh!
So, to cheer myself up, I am looking at the new season’s colourways for this Hermès shawl – La Danse des Amazones by Edouard Baribeaud, 140cm cashmere/silk (REF: H243593S)…
Here are the shawls again with their Hermès reference numbers for those of you who need them:
H243593S 04
H243593S 06
H243593S 08
H243593S 10
H243593S 11
H243593S 13
H243593S 15
H243593S 16
And, as a tea addict, this is rather cute: Hermès Tea Time by Jonathan Burton, 70cm silk scarf (REF: H983782S). Please let me know if you need the full reference numbers.
I am planning to purchase a shawl for this Autumn/Winter and I really like the pattern of La Danse des Amazones, but I am struggling to work out which colourway. I have two shawls already, the Liberty Hera in blues and purples and the Hermès Plumes en Fête in grey, mauve and pink. So which shall I choose?
I am feeling very ill today, so there won’t be much of a post. Hopefully, I will recover a bit over the weekend. Anyway, I have found a few images in the meantime. They are all things that have caught my attention over the last few months:
Studies in blue
So that’s all for this week. I do hope that all visitors to this blog have a great weekend.
This will be a short post today as I am not feeling very well and I only have one book to write about.
Pine by Francine Toon
My book of the week was Pine by Francine Toon. Here is the blurb:
”They are driving home from the search party when they see her. The trees are coarse and tall in the winter light, standing like men.
Lauren and her father Niall live alone in the Highlands, in a small village surrounded by pine forest. When a woman stumbles out onto the road one Halloween night, Niall drives her back to their house in his pickup. In the morning, she’s gone.
In a community where daughters rebel, men quietly rage, and drinking is a means of forgetting, mysteries like these are not out of the ordinary. The trapper found hanging with the dead animals for two weeks. Locked doors and stone circles. The disappearance of Lauren’s mother a decade ago.
Lauren looks for answers in her tarot cards, hoping she might one day be able to read her father’s turbulent mind. Neighbours know more than they let on, but when local teenager Ann-Marie goes missing it’s no longer clear who she can trust.
In the shadow of the Highland forest, Francine Toon captures the wildness of rural childhood and the intensity of small-town claustrophobia. In a place that can feel like the edge of the word, she unites the chill of the modern gothic with the pulse of a thriller. It is the perfect novel for our haunted times.”
I chose this book entirely at random from our public library’s ebook system, so I had no preconceptions at all. This is the review that I wrote on the Goodreads site:
I am not sure what to make of this book or how to write a review! It appears that there are very mixed reactions to it on Goodreads also.
So, what did I like about it? The atmosphere and setting were very well written. There was a real disturbing creepiness, alongside beautiful descriptions of nature and the changing seasons. Many of the characters were also very well depicted – particularly Lauren and her father. The situation that the two of them were in was also very sad and haunting.
True, the pace was somewhat slow with most of the “action” crammed into the last few pages. But at least there was a clear and satisfying ending.
This was completely different to my usual style of book. Usually I like fast-paced plots with vivid characters and plenty of action: the kind of books that really stay in my mind for a long time. Pine wasn’t at all like that, but will, for different reasons, remain with me for a considerable time.
After this book, I chose The Other People by C J Tudor. As I have only just read the first few pages, my response will appear in next week’s Reading Roundup post.
The Other People by C J Tudor
I do hope that you are all reading great books at the moment!
First of all, I hope that you all had a lovely weekend and that those of you who have it are enjoying the sunny weather. In this part of the UK it is very warm and sticky at the moment and I really wish that we could live near the sea!
When I have had enough energy, I have been trying to sort out one of my wardrobes. I keep my gorgeous Massaccesi handbags at the bottom, so I got them all out yesterday. Whilst they were out, I decided to take some photos of them all. Here they are…
Handbags by Massaccesi
The handbags are, from back row left to right:
Full size Victoria in grape Croco leather with handles in carmine Nappa leather,
Midi Modena in white Pebbled leather,
Full size Diane in titanium and silver Metallic leather,
Full size Victoria in amethyst Pebbled leather.
Middle row left to right:
Midi Selene zip in dark blue Africa leather,
Midi Muse in bluette Pompei leather,
Full size Minerva in teal pebbled leather,
Midi Selene in purple Africa leather.
Front row left to right:
Midi Penelope in bronze Africa leather,
Midi Victoria in teal Flor and teal Nappa leathers.
So that you can see them all more clearly, I have gathered some images into a slideshow…
I am so lucky that I can afford such a beautiful collection! Most are pretty large as I have so much stuff that I need to drag around with me. Small bags won’t hold enough for me these days. Now, I think that I shouldn’t buy any more as I have more than enough handbags for every occasion. Although one in a bright turquoise would be nice – after all that is one of my wardrobe colours 😂🤣😂🤣😂!
OK, I think that is all for now. Please don’t hesitate to ask me any questions you might have about Massaccesi handbags in the comments section. There is also a long thread about them on The Purse Forum. Oh, and I’m only writing about them because I adore the whole experience and the products. Marco is such a lovely man and deserves support from his customers!
If you read Monday’s post, you will be aware that I am trying to find some Summer nightwear! I hadn’t had a great deal of luck, although I had managed to find two nightdresses from John Lewis, which are both lovely. In fact, I am wearing the one on the left in the image below as I write this post…
Nightdresses by John Lewis
I really love the chemise style (above, right) for this very hot weather (and so does Lovely Husband), so I looked on other sites for something similar. Eventually, I chose these two items from Marks and Spencer…
Nightdresses by Marks and Spencer
The parcel arrived this morning, so I tried both of them on and I am happy to keep them. I wore the navy nightdress on the left when I went downstairs for lunch and it was comfortable, cool and looks almost like a dress. It comes down to my ankles and skims over my rather unfortunate shape! I think LH will like the other one, although I wish it were available in more colours – something cheerful and bright for the Summer?
Anyway, I am now only waiting for the two items from Toast and then I will have finished restocking my nightwear for the time being.
I have just the one book to write about this week. The weather is so hot and I am finding concentration very difficult. In the past, I would have taken my book outside and read it in our gorgeous garden, with a pot of tea by my side. Since the stroke, however, I can’t read print books and the bright light bounces off my iPad, so I have to stay in my room. In addition, I seem to have developed a touch of agoraphobia and shy away from sitting outdoors. I lie in bed and look at the blue sky through the window and feel guilty, for some reason.
I wonder why that is?
Anyway, this is the book that I read this last week…
The Binding by Bridget Collins
The book was The Binding by Bridget Collins. Here is the blurb:
”Emmett Farmer is a binder’s apprentice. His job is to hand-craft beautiful books and, within each, to capture something unique and extraordinary: a memory.
If you have something you want to forget, or a secret to hide, he can bind it – and you will never have to remember the pain it caused.
In a vault under his mentor’s workshop, row upon row of books – and secrets – are meticulously stored and recorded.
Then one day Emmett makes an astonishing discovery: one of the volumes has his name on it.”
This is a book about love and memories, which is, in my present circumstances, rather poignant. You see (to those who do not know me), I had a stroke some months ago and I am left with a significant impairment with my memory functions! My short-term memory is poor and I can quickly forget something that has happened only minutes ago. On the other hand, my long term memories are coming back to me in all of their bright colours. I find myself whistling tunes from my childhood.
So imagine a world where painful or inconvenient memories can be removed. What’s more, they are then written down in book form. Other people can, rarely, read them, but the original memories are erased, lost.
How would we function as individuals? How would society work? The book explores these kinds of questions from different viewpoints.
Well, I think it does…. I have now forgotten even reading it!
I apologise for mentioning my stroke so often, but I hope you can understand what a profound impact even a mild version has had on my life. So much has been changed by my multiple conditions and the fall-out on my family has been very hard for them.
Right, I will stop feeling sorry for myself and think instead about all the wonderful books that I can enjoy! I am not sure which one I am going to choose next, although I have another one by Bridget Collins waiting in my queue. Perhaps something quite different would be a good idea?
Well, you can find out next week, if you are interested. Until then, Happy Reading to you all!
I now spend so much time in pyjamas. Most of my day involves sitting up in bed and even when I do feel well enough to go downstairs for a few hours, I am often too weak to get dressed properly. Over the colder months, I spent some money upgrading my pyjamas and then disposed of several badly worn and, to be honest, extremely frumpy tops and bottoms. Even though we have been married for over thirty years, I do think Lovely Husband deserves to see his wife looking a little nicer!
During warmer weather I usually wear old t-shirts and rather tatty underwear in bed. I had a little chat about this with LH and he encouraged me to treat myself to some new nightwear. So, I decided to hunt for some cool, attractive, comfortable and pretty items. LH even said that I could spend quite a lot!
My first port-of-call was Cyberjammies. They have a lovely selection on their site and you can also find their items on the John Lewis website. I chose these items…
Cami and shorts sets by Cyberjammies
They were both so pretty and arrived in a lovely package. Unfortunately, even size 16 was too small for me and I realised that the non-stretchy fabric wouldn’t work for me in this style.
So they had to be returned ☹️☹️☹️.
Then, I had a look at a different site: Toast. I have never bought anything from there before and I really liked several items – but the prices! Well, LH told me to go ahead and I ordered two items. I will show you one of them now…
Marigold Block Print Cotton Nightie by Toast
Isn’t this lovely? The style is Marigold Block Print Cotton Nightie. The cobalt blue is gorgeous! Anyway, when I tried it on I quickly realised that, unlike my purchases above, this time the larger size was too big. So, I have sent it back for an exchange as I intend to wear this. In fact, as the material is quite thick, it is suitable to wear as a sun dress rather than in bed, so I think I will keep it for that!
I hope that the medium size arrives soon and that the other item I ordered does too.
After this, I still hadn’t managed to purchase anything to wear in bed, which was rather annoying. So I then had a look at the John Lewis offer. Phew, they had plenty of nightwear to look through and I found two items which actually fit me! Here they are…
Nightdresses by John Lewis
On the left we have the Wisteria Cotton Nightdress and on the right the Mia Palm Print Nightdress. The one on the right is a bit daring for me, but LH really likes it!!!
OK, that is enough for today. I may continue to look for more comfortable and pretty nightdresses and I will show them here if I find some more.
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 
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