Friday post 04/04/25: Moving house #09: Completion day is getting closer!

Posted on 04/04/2025 by The Librain

Hi there everyone! Well, it’s Friday once again and I am looking at my task list for our house move. Our completion date is 8th May (that means we will actually own the new bungalow on that day and will get the keys). With that in mind, there are various things that we need to consider and sort out, for example, finding a good removal company and sorting out house insurance.

Along with all of that my current bout of ill health has not improved. On Monday we managed to get a GP’s appointment and he prescribed more very strong painkillers. In addition, I need to have an x-ray to make sure that I don’t have a fracture in my shoulder or arm. I’m pretty sure that I haven’t broken anything, but I suppose that it’s necessary to confirm that properly. To be honest, I am still really struggling, especially on waking and just before bed, and all of this is affecting my ability to do any physical tasks for the move. All of the sorting and weeding of our possessions is on hold. I suppose that, if the worst happens and I don’t get some relief from the pain very soon, we will just have to take everything with us to the new house and sort it all out later. Not what I want, but we may not get any choice!

During my wandering around the web looking for ideas, I came across some really gorgeous textiles on several sites. One in particular caught my eye and I fell for a duvet cover set on there. Unfortunately, I found out yesterday that the design is completely sold out, but nevertheless the other designs are worth a look. The designer is Clarissa Hulse and her work is vibrant, colourful and lovely. I consoled myself with a scarf from her sale and she sells cushions, towels and other home items…

And here I am wearing the scarf with my lovely cashmere v-neck jumper…

Outfit of the day 04/04/25 with scarf by Clarissa Hulse

I must apologise for the state of my teeth! Today I have had a dentist appointment and we discussed some treatment to rectify this. The problem is that I would really struggle to tolerate it because of my chronic cough. Perhaps I just have to live with this. One of the perils of tea drinking!

On a lighter note, I showed you my three orchids last week, with the new one given to me for Mother’s Day. I was also fortunate to be given a basket of pretty miniature daffodils and they had all opened by Wednesday…

Mother’s Day flowers 2025
Mother’s Day flowers 2025

I think I have plant killer fingers, rather than green ones, despite being a keen gardener before my collection of nasty conditions arrived! Despite that handicap I can manage to keep orchids alive for a while and I am hoping to be able to plant the bulbs from the daffodils in our new garden. They will be a lovely reminder when they come up again next year.

Happy Weekend everyone!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Wednesday 02/04/25: Apologies once again!

Posted on 02/04/2025 by The Librain

I am sorry to say that I am still very ill and not able to concentrate on reading ebooks, even those by my most favourite author! This is most probably unprecedented in my life to date. I am still in incredible pain and am finding it very hard to cope with life in general, never mind the stresses of moving house.

Anyway, I will leave you with this image that I came across on Facebook the other week…

Why I Love Reading

I think that all of those apply to me, what do you think? Lovely Husband sometimes questions my general knowledge and I tell him that my brain has soaked all of this up during decades of reading mainly fiction books since the age of around three years old. Just think about how much you can learn from over 60 years of immersion in a wide range of genres. Even fantasy, and certainly science fiction, has a basis in real life.

And on that note I wish you all Happy Reading!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Friday post 28/03/25: Moving house #08: In limbo and pain

Posted on 28/03/2025 by The Librain

I am finding it quite hard to believe that Friday has come around again! I do hope that everyone reading my blog is having a good time. Unfortunately, I am still struggling and in considerable pain. Despite very strong painkillers, there has been very little relief and I must admit that I am totally fed up! When my current prescription runs out next week I will have to talk to the GP again.

As far as the house move is concerned, we have now signed lots of documents, including the contract, and these have been sent by post to our conveyancer. All of the things that we need to get on with, such as clearing out unwanted items, have been put aside as I am too ill to do anything. I must admit that I am fretting and worried about this. We do have a lot of accumulated stuff that we really don’t need and I don’t want to move them to our new home! I have managed to do a little of the planning in terms of the new furniture and equipment that we need. It is such a long time since we last bought any new furniture that Lovely Husband is quite shocked at the cost, although I am hardly looking to make our home look like a stately mansion!

One of the things I am doing to gather ideas is looking at the houses for sale on Rightmove. Amongst the less salubrious places there are absolute gems where the owners have created beacons of good taste. I find it really interesting to see what other people have done with their homes. Mind you, I won’t be copying one amazing and gorgeous house that I saw this week. The whole place was a homage to white, pale grey and cream with faux (I hope) fur, texture and sparkling mirrors. It was absolutely beautiful, but definitely not for us. We are far too messy!

Unfortunately, I haven’t got any nice outfits or scarf photos for you this week as I am being very lazy only wearing my pyjamas. I do have a quick snap of the lovely orchid that Elder Son brought home. It’s really one of my Mother’s Day gifts, but he couldn’t exactly hide it! This picture shows it on the right with two others that my sons have given me in the past. My touch is usually death to houseplants, but these have survived my neglect…

Selection of orchids 28/03/25

Well, my lunch is apparently on the way, so I had better sign off!

Happy Weekend to you all,

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Reading roundup 26/03/25

Posted on 26/03/2025 by The Librain

Welcome to this week’s Reading Roundup post. Followers of my blog will be aware that I am very unwell at the moment and suffering with intense pain. A form of comfort for me is re-reading my all time favourite books and so I have been trying to do just that. I must admit that I have been finding it very difficult to concentrate enough to read. Even with very powerful painkillers, my brain cannot focus on the plot, which really saddens me.

Anyway, I have managed to read one of my favourite Guy Gabriel Kay books: Thr Lions of Al-Rassan. Here is the cover of the ebook…

The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay

And this is the blurb…

“Hauntingly evocative of medieval Spain, a deeply compelling story of love, adventure, divided loyalties, and what happens when beliefs begin to remake – or destroy – a world.

The ruling Asharites of Al-Rassan have come from the desert sands, but over centuries, seduced by the sensuous pleasures of their new land, their stern piety has eroded. The Asharite empire has splintered into decadent city-states led by warring petty kings. King Almalik of Cartada is on the ascendancy, aided always by his friend and advisor, the notorious Ammar ibn Khairan – poet, diplomat, soldier – until a summer afternoon of savage brutality changes their relationship forever.

Meanwhile, in the north, the conquered Jaddites’ most celebrated – and feared – military leader, Rodrigo Belmonte, driven into exile, leads his mercenary company south.

In the dangerous lands of Al-Rassan, these two men from different worlds meet and serve – for a time – the same master. Tangled in their interwoven fate – and divided by her feelings – is Jehane, the accomplished court physician, whose skills may not be enough to heal the coming pain as Al-Rassan is swept to the brink of holy war, and beyond.”

This is my response on Goodreads…

Oh, and don’t forget to read some of the other proper reviews on there! 

The Lions of Al-RassanThe Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have no idea how many times I have read this book since I bought the paperback copy so long ago. It remains one of my favourite books of all time. GGK’s beautiful writing, clever plotting and wonderful characters draw me in and allow me to escape from my worries and fears. He takes real historical events and people as a basis for his alternative world under two moons, using these to weave complex and exciting stories.

I love the main female character in this book, Jehane. She is knowledgeable, brave, intelligent and resourceful. Such a strong woman. The two main males are also very attractive. As usual, the author also sometimes follows the stories of his lesser characters as sub plots, so that the reader can find out what becomes of them, but not always. As in real life, sometimes we don’t know what has happened to friends and acquaintances that we have met on the road of our lives. GGK also likes to tease his readers occasionally by leading us down alternative paths!

This book continues to resonate long after I have finished reading and I am sure that I will return to it again and again in the future.

View all my reviews

I am now reading GGK’s more recent work in the run up to the publication of his new book, Written on the Dark. His latest three books are Children of Earth and Sky, A Brightness Long Ago, and All the Seas of the World. This is my first re reading of these books, so I feel that I hardly know them!

Happy Reading everyone!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Friday post 21/03/25: With further apologies!

Posted on 21/03/2025 by The Librain

Unfortunately I am still very ill and cannot add an update to our moving house saga this week. In any case, nothing much has happened!

I hope I am able to update the blog properly with a Reading Roundup next Wednesday. Until then, I wish you all a very Happy Weekend.

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Wednesday 19/03/25: Apologies!

Posted on 19/03/2025 by The Librain

Sorry everyone, there is no proper Reading Roundup post today. I have an extremely painful arm and cannot type beyond a couple of sentences. Also, I can’t concentrate well enough to read my book!

I hope I feel better in time for Friday’s post.

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Friday post 14/03/25: Moving house #06: taking a break

Posted on 14/03/2025 by The Librain

Hello and welcome to my blog. At the moment, Friday’s posts are all about the sheer slog of moving house under the English system. Of course, it could be far worse if we were selling and buying at the same time, but we decided very early on to do this a different way. We are very fortunate that we can afford to purchase our new home in advance of selling our present one. When we have moved out we will then hire a cleaner to blitz the mess and will put it up for sale. I really hope that it doesn’t take too long to sell!

This week has been very quiet really. We hadn’t heard from either the estate agent or solicitor until today and their queries were soon sorted out. We have been given a completion date at the beginning of May, so we are working towards that. In the meantime, I am trying to organise lists of things we will need (furniture and equipment) in the new house and also weed out the trash. Last week we got rid of about half of that trash in a skip, but we will definitely need another one before all of this is over. I have also found out that our local council will remove larger unwanted items, for a fee, that are too far gone to sell.

One issue that worries me is my piano. It originally belonged to my Grandpa, who was a piano teacher, but, since I had a stroke, I can no longer play. I have sent a few messages around, but I do have to make more of an effort to find someone who will take it away and, hopefully, give it a good home!

Apologies if I have written a lot of this before!

So, I have been trying to keep myself occupied for most of the week. My issues with depression have been getting seriously difficult to handle. My GP has increased my dose of the antidepressants, but the horrible “black moods” arrive at about 17.30 on most evenings now. I am also logging onto a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy course online using my iPad, but am really struggling to see the point or any benefit. 

A more positive thing is that I am now able to read ebooks again. I have decided to return to comfort reading and by that I mean revisiting some of my favourite books as ebooks. I have continued to log these on Goodreads and on my Wednesday Reading Roundup posts.

I did dress up a little on one day and wore a fairly cheap and cheerful scarf…

Outfit of the day 10/03/25

I have forgotten who I purchased this from and will add this information to the post if I remember. Anyway, it looks quite lovely with my silver grey cashmere v neck and the pretty silver and gold heart earrings.

This afternoon I walked to our nearby Post Office with Elder Son and wore the gorgeous Plumes en Fête scarf by Hermès with navy clothing. I was too tired to take a selfie, so I will try to do that next week.

Happy Weekend everyone!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Reading roundup 12/03/25

Posted on 12/03/2025 by The Librain

Welcome to this week’s Reading Roundup. I have some good news…

I have finally finished my book!!!!

Yes, I managed to carve out some quiet time to read and I managed to concentrate enough to get to the end of this enormous book. Here it is…

To Green Angel Tower by Tad Williams

The book was To Green Angel Tower by Tad Williams (#03 Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn). At over 1000 pages this was such a long read, but I am so pleased that I decided to tackle it. This is the blurb…

“In order for the Storm King can cement his power over Osten Ard, he must find and defeat the rebel forces massing against him. But the rebels, led by the exiled Prince Josua, have rallied at the Stone of Farewell and are ready to fight the Storm King with every power they can muster. The key to their victory lies in finding the third sword of legend, Memory – but the sword has been lost for ages.Lost, that is, until Simon Snowlock realises that he knows exactly where the sword is and how to recover it. The only an undead army, bolstered by powerful magic, lies between him and his destination. It will take every ounce of Simon’s courage and intelligence to journey to and then recover the great sword Memory and bring peace to Osten Ard. If Simon’s quest is to have any hope, Josua must move against the Storm King himself – a journey that will take him across endless seas, through ancient forests and into the stronghold of the Storm King himself.TO GREEN ANGEL TOWER is the epic final volume in Tad Williams’ breathtaking, beloved series Memory, Sorrow and Thorn.”

Here is my response on the Goodreads website…

To Green Angel Tower (Memory, Sorrow & Thorn, #3)To Green Angel Tower by Tad Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodness! This was an amazing and complex book with literally armies of characters and incredible world building. The final book in the trilogy brought everything to a satisfying conclusion after journeys, the forging of friendships, amazing characters and exciting adventures.

My only complaint is that it was far too long! A good editor should have condensed some of the writing down and could have done this without losing the essence of the story. So, I am glad that I read the book, but also rather relieved that I have finally finished it!

View all my reviews

This trilogy was certainly well worth the effort it took me to read the whole thing, but I am now exhausted! My poor brain is struggling with so many issues: the house move, my health, my family. Anyway, I have decided to return to comfort reading again. I am now rereading The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay and after that will read his most recently published two or three books again before his new work arrives in May.

Happy Reading everyone!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Friday post 07/03/25: Moving house #05: Skip week…

Posted on 07/03/2025 by The Librain

Well, we have had a lot going on this week with our house moving tale!

Younger Son has been here for a few days and drove back to his home today. We will miss him so much as he brings such cheer with him. He has worked really hard with his brother and we are so proud of them both!

We ordered a skip for a few weeks, but have filled it in only three days. About 12 years ago, there was a massive hail storm in our area. The huge hail stones smashed roof tiles across the region, resulting in expensive repairs. At that time, I suffered from severe respiratory problems, and still do. Lovely Husband was really worried that opening up the loft to see what had happened to our stored items could cause a load of dust to drop down, resulting in serious issues for my health. So, we had kept the loft hatch sealed ever since!

I decided that we didn’t have any choice but to open it up again and bring down any boxes and crates that we had stored up there. Therefore, on Wednesday YS brought up a ladder and broke the seal. We had put down some strong tarpaulin and dust sheets and the resulting mess was not as bad as we had feared.

ES and YS spent all of Wednesday bringing box after box down and out into the front garden. I was totally shocked to see how much “stuff” had been stored up there for all of this time! We managed to completely fill the skip, with piles of boxes still to check over and assess. Another skip will have to be ordered at a later date as YS has to go back to work.

Yesterday, we all went over to the new house and YS helped me measure up so that I could start to assess where our existing furniture will fit. We will also have to purchase quite a lot of new items and I have been busy creating lists of what we will need. Whilst we were at the house LH and ES had a nice chat with the owners. It is so nice to be buying our new home from such lovely people.

When we had finished, YS drove us to a local pub for lunch. LH has not been able to do this since he had a fall almost two years ago, so it was brilliant for the four of us to enjoy a meal together. It really brought back memories of happy times when we all lived together. I must admit that I miss those days, but our grown up children need to fly the nest, however hard that may be for their parents.

I made the most of the opportunity to wear my newest shawl: Hermès’ Sous le Charme d’Orphée …

Outfit of the day 06/03/25 with Hermès’ Sous le Charme d’Orphée shawl
Outfit of the day 06/03/25 with Hermès’ Sous le Charme d’Orphée shawl

The outfit consisted of:

  • grey cashmere v-neck jumper from Marks & Spencer
  • navy cords from Lands’ End
  • pewter shoes from Hotter
  • lapis lazuli earrings from Etsy
  • Ianthe enamel bangle from Liberty of London
  • navy leather handbag from Marco Massaccesi
  • Sous le Charme d’Orphée cashmere/silk 180cm shawl by Hermès.

And this is the image of the full cashmere/silk shawl…

Sous le Charme d’Orphée shawl by Alice Shirley for Hermès

I also wore an old favourite scarf earlier in the week: this silk stole with a gorgeous blue centre and brown leopard print edges. Apologies for the tiny image of the scarf below, but it’s the only one I have. When I feel stronger I will try to take some better ones.

Outfit of the day 03/03/25 with Roberto Cavalli silk scarf
Leopard print scarf by Roberto Cavalli

I am now sitting in bed trying to hold back tears because Younger Son has just left! 😭😭😭

Well, I think that’s all for this week. Wishing you all a great weekend!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Reading roundup 05/03/25

Posted on 05/03/2025 by The Librain

I am sorry to say that this is yet another Reading Roundup post that isn’t about books! I have been able to start reading my latest book over the past few days, but the house is in turmoil with both sons working like mad sorting out decades of “stuff”! So, I still haven’t been able to finish it yet (it does have over 1,000 pages, though). Today my chaps have emptied the loft and there are stacks of boxes on our drive full of old toys. I almost can’t bring myself to open the boxes to see what else they contain!

As I suffer from multiple lung conditions, I am having to stay in our bedroom to try to avoid the dust. To be honest, I am sad because I can’t help in this process, as I would have done a few years ago.

When we have a quiet spell I will open my ebook again. I am really enjoying it again and my reading mojo appears to have returned 😊.

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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