Welcome to this week’s update about our house move. We have now almost reached the end of Week #04 and things have been pretty quiet. I had to send a couple of documents to our solicitor at the beginning of the week, but, since then I have been using my time to organise things at this end.
So, there has been a lot of very tiring photo scanning and Elder Son has helped me to clean and tidy one bookcase. I have also continued to go through my bedroom storage. We are rapidly building up piles of “stuff” that we will need to re-home in some way, perhaps in the rubbish bin!
Younger Son is coming over next week for a few days and we have hired a skip. He and his brother will be helping us to throw out any unwanted items that are not fit to give away. I am sure that there will be some family disputes about such items, but I am not sentimental about such “stuff” and I really don’t want to have to find homes for unneeded things in our new home.
Now is the time to sift out the cr@p! We librarians call it “weeding”!
I must admit that I have spent most of the week in my pyjamas and only managed to wear one nice outfit. My lovely Hermès cashmere/silk shawl, Plumes en Fête, is set off beautifully by this purple cashmere jumper (Pure Collection) and amethyst earrings (Blue Nile)…
Outfit of the day 24/02/25 with Hermès’ Plumes en Fête shawl
OK, I think that is all I have to say for this week. I am hoping that we will all have a productive time next week and that Lovely Husband can be persuaded to go out with his family for lunch in a local pub. It would do us all so much good.
Welcome to this week’s Reading Roundup post, dear friends and visitors. If you are new to my blog, I have been posting every Wednesday about the books I am reading for many years. At the moment, my family is in the process of moving house. As you can imagine, I am very excited about this, particularly since we have been living in this house for over twenty years!
As I am having to take the lead, my brain is full to the brim with “house stuff” and I am finding it very difficult to concentrate. We are now in the fourth week since we put in an offer on the bungalow and the first flurry of work has eased off a little, for the time being at least. At the moment, I am busy every afternoon scanning old photos into my laptop and the Cloud. But more about that in Friday’s post.
All of this is leading up to the fact that I haven’t much head space for reading my usual ebooks. My concentration levels are awful! I have managed to read for a couple of hours during the last two days and I am going to see if I can keep this going. I miss my books!
To Green Angel Tower by Tad Williams
So, I am about 40% through To Green Angel Tower by Tad Williams and have just managed to remind myself of the plot, after such a long break.
The days and weeks are whizzing past and so it’s Friday again! Welcome to my blog friends and visitors from near and far.
So, we have come to the end of the third week in our house moving story. Everything appears to be going well and moving forward. The brain ache about my identification documents seems to be almost at an end. Just this morning, I had a call from our doctor’s surgery to say that she has written and signed a letter for me and I will pick that up on Monday with Elder Son and will then put it in the post to the solicitor’s head office. They have also accepted my expired driving licence as proof of my identity.
I exist!
Well, that is a relief!
We have also been sent other documents about the house and I have been dealing with all of it using my iPad. Alongside all of this I have continued to develop my long list of furniture and equipment that we need for the new house. Much of our existing stuff is very tired and tatty. We spent a lot in the first ten years here to upgrade this house, but that is a long time ago and we definitely need a lot of new furniture and fittings to make our new place a comfortable home for us, as we age, and also ES.
I am feeling very conflicted about one piece. We have a very old piano which once belonged to my grandfather. I used to enjoy playing it very much, but found that I couldn’t carry on after the stroke in 2019. As it has not been played for such a long time, I am wondering if it is still in a good enough condition. Would anyone want it? My grandfather was an excellent pianist and actually taught piano, so it was probably a reasonable instrument. I think that it is possibly over 100 years old! Anyway, one of my tasks over the weekend will be to see what it sounds like now and then think about what to do with it. Perhaps we can give it to someone who wou,d make good use of it? I hope so.
The other task that I need to tackle is going through our old photos. We have a collection of albums from when our chaps were small. I couldn’t bring myself to throw out any photo, however distorted, awful, or badly posed they might be. This week, I found a local company who could scan them all onto a DVD or memory stick, but the cost is too high for the poor quality of the originals. Simply not worth the price. So, I have decided to pay the company to digitise important or precious photos, such as our wedding album, then I will scan selected family snaps myself, using our printer’s scanning function. I will focus on photos of people and a few selected ones of scenery and places. It may take a long time…
Right, that is definitely enough waffle for this week. I will leave you with a few recent scarf photos. These are more of the lovely new Hermès’ Le Caroussel du Tigre Royal, plus a quick snap of an outfit I put together the other day…
Le Caroussel du Tigre Royal – HermèsLe Caroussel du Tigre Royal – HermèsLe Caroussel du Tigre Royal – HermèsOutfit of the day 07/02/25
Well, Wednesday has arrived swiftly once again and it’s time for me to write this week’s Reading Roundup post. Yet again I have to admit that I haven’t been able to read my ebook! My brain is simply too overloaded and I cannot concentrate enough to immerse myself in the story. I do hope that, by the time I am able to resume reading, I haven’t forgotten the plot!
I definitely feel like I have “lost the plot” at times!
What I have been doing, when I am not sorting out house moving, is re-watching one of my favourite TV shows, based on one of my favourite book series: The Expanse. I was really sad when the final series ended before covering the last books. Anyway, I saw some great news this week: the authors of The Expanse, pen name James S A Corey, have published a new book:
The Mercy of Gods by James S A Corey
I am so excited to see this! The book is The Mercy of Gods, #01 The Captive’s War. I have ordered the ebook from Amazon and this is the blurb…
“From the New York Times bestselling author of the Expanse comes a spectacular new space opera that sees humanity fighting for its survival in a war as old as the universe itself. Invasion is only the beginning . . .
The Carryx – part empire, part hive – has waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy in its conflict with an ancient and deathless enemy.
When they descend on the isolated world of Anjiin, the human population is abased, slaughtered and put in chains. The best and brightest are abducted, taken to the Carryx world-palace to join prisoners from a thousand other species.
Dafyd Alkhor, assistant to a prestigious scientist, is captured along with his team. Even he doesn’t suspect that his peculiar insight and skills will be the key to seeing past their captors ‘ terrifying agenda.
Swept up in a conflict beyond his control and vaster than his imagination, Dafyd is poised to become humanity’s champion – and its betrayer.
This is where his story begins.”
I can’t wait to read it! Let’s hope that my ability to concentrate returns very soon. I have such a huge collection of ebooks waiting for me and I really need to get my brain working again.
See what I did there? Welcome to my Valentine’s Day post! As I wrote last week, I am using these Friday posts to document the stages of England’s house purchase and moving processes. Let’s hope that it all goes smoothly. This family could do with a break!
1) Identification
So where are we towards the end of Week 2? I seem to have spent a large part of the week trying to identify myself in the eyes of the law! Seriously! Our solicitor has asked for proof of identity for both me and Lovely Husband, in the form of a driving licence or passport, plus a utilities bill in each name (or joint). This was perfectly straightforward for LH – he has retained his driving licence even though he cannot drive at the moment, and all of the household bills are in his name (for very good reasons which I won’t expand on here). But my situation is not straightforward at all. Let me explain…
I have written quite often that I had a stroke back in 2019. This left me with issues affecting my vision. In addition, I also suffer with chronic cough. This is not a normal type of cough, but a frightening and uncontrolled coughing attack that can come on with no warning and result in choking, inability to manage movement and total collapse. These attacks can also affect bladder control and cause vomiting. Imagine trying to drive a car in this condition!
So, I gave up my driving licence, thinking that I would never need it again…
BIG MISTAKE!!!
Added to this is that I don’t have a passport! LH and I last went on a holiday abroad in 1989. It was absolutely lovely and we planned to have many such vacations and adventures in the future. But Life decided otherwise for us and we ended up taking most of our holidays in the UK and at the same hotel complex. Having a son with Autism meant that we could enjoy holidays at a familiar place, but if we tried to go anywhere else we would “struggle” (that is putting it mildly!).
Anyway, this is why I don’t have a passport.
What about the bills? Well, these are all in LH’s name for personal and historic reasons, which I won’t go into. No, LH is not a controlling spouse. In fact, I manage all of the bills and finances via my trusty (I hope) iPad with various apps and websites, but using his details because he is not at all techie. Now, this situation also “bit me on the bum”: I haven’t got a bill in my name for the solicitor!
So, I was able to use the app as asked by the solicitor for LH, but when it came to doing it for me I was stumped!
ANOTHER BIG MISTAKE!!!
So, where are we now? As I write (11.00 14/02/25) this still has not been resolved. Emails have been flying back and forth between me and the solicitor, and her with her own advisors. It seems pretty daft to me that the whole situation has arisen. I can’t be the only person like this! Can I? I will update either this post or next week’s when we have more news on this issue.
Another Edward VIII Post Box by Simon on Flickr
2) Paperwork
The other issue of the week has been sorting out all of the paperwork from the solicitor. She sent me a huge stack of stuff by email, which was fine by me. But, would it be fine for everyone in this situation?
Some people might need a printed version as there are a lot of sections to fill in and signatures needed.
I have a printer, so could have simply filled in hard copies the “old fashioned” way.
I was also able to work out how to fill in the forms using my iPad.
So, what I did was a two way process. I filled in all of the complicated stuff using my iPad, then printed everything and signed the hard copies.
Then, there are two ways of actually returning all of this to the solicitor:
a) Scan everything back into my laptop and then attach to an email and send to the solicitor. OR
b) Put it all in an envelope, walk to the Post Office (I can just about stagger there with Elder Son’s support), and send it to the solicitor by registered mail.
I am going to do b) this afternoon. I do hope it doesn’t rain!
3) Other new house stuff
Apart from making my poor brain ache with all of this, I have been spending every spare moment obsessing over furniture, curtains, bedding, equipment, storage, tumble dryers, dishwashers, and so on. I remember when I bought my first house back in the 1980s (i.e. before home computers) that I did all of this on paper and by trudging from shop to shop comparing prices. To be honest, I rather enjoy this part! Am I some kind of masochist?
Right, I had better leave this post and get on. There will be another update on the situation next week.
Until then, please wish us good luck and keep your fingers crossed 🤞!
Hello keen readers! Once more I have to admit that there has been no ebook or any kind of book reading here this week. The shame! The shame! I have been so immersed in the business of moving house that my brain hasn’t any room for reading fiction. I just can’t concentrate at all! My mind hasn’t any room left as it is filled up with room measurements, new furniture, writing emails to solicitors, puzzling about where our stuff will fit, nagging my chaps to sort out their (rubbish) belongings, curtain colours, surveyors, finance…
I do have one thing for you. My favourite author, Guy Gavriel Kay, has announced the cover for his new book. Well, I think it’s the cover for Canada and the USA. I don’t know about the UK version as yet. Anyway, I think it’s really lovely. What do you think?
Cover for Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay
I will update this blog if I find out more. Now, wouldn’t it be the icing on the cake if we could move into our new home, get reasonably settled, and then I could rest with this new book! Fabulous!
You are very welcome to my Scarf of the Moment post for my most recent purchase: Hermès’ gorgeous Le Carrousel du Tigre Royal. Unfortunately, I am struggling with illness and disability and so this post may not be up to my usual standard. I really try to make these posts interesting, informative and useful for the extremely large community of Hermès scarf addicts and anyone who may just find themselves on my blog.
So, let’s get started…
As I begin to write this in the last days of January 2025, my life is getting a bit out of control. Also, I am trying to reach a decision about how many more scarves I should purchase, given that I hardly ever leave the house! So, I will try my best to write something acceptable to my own standards at the very least. If I do “borrow” some elements from my previous posts about the design, well I make no apologies.
During the Autumn of 2024, the designs for the Hermès Spring/Summer 2025 began to appear on The Scarf Forum. I almost immediately fell for one design. I loved the colours and the pattern as well as the cute depictions of animals. Of course the scarf was Le Carrousel du Tigre Royal, designed by Katie Scott. The scarf is a 90cm silk twill, the purchasing code is H004206S 07 and the colours are Marine/ Lavande/ Bleu Glacier. Here are the images from the Hermès website…
Le Carrousel du Tigre Royal designed by Katie Scott for Hermès
Hermès fans might compare some of the design elements of this scarf with Sous le Charme d’Orphée, designed by Alice Shirley, which I own as a 90cm silk twill double-sided scarf and as a 149cm cashmere/silk shawl. In fact I have seen other Hermès scarves with this concentric circle motif. However, I felt that there are enough differences between the designs for me. My new scarf has a background with geometric elements, for example.
One of the things that I really like about this design is that the animal elements are the “right” way up when the scarf is tied in many of the popular ways. I will show you what I mean later on in this post.
Description
This gorgeous design is of a carousel or merry-go-round with a range of animals and birds in two concentric circles. The design is orientated as if the viewer is underneath the carousel and can see upwards to the image of the Tigre Royal in the centre at the very top of the tent ceiling. This central element draws the eye inwards and creates a sense of perspective (this scarf would definitely be great to hang as a picture on the wall!). Some of the creatures are shown on poles just ready to be ridden. Others appear to be chasing each other round the circle between the animal seats, looking back to see who might be behind and ready to pounce! Many of these animals and birds wear saddles, even a pigeon and a frog! The inner ring of animals walk steadily around and look as if they are on the uppermost part of the tent.
The viewer can see that there is a plinth with geometric designs beneath the circling animals (i.e. around the edge of the scarf. In each of the four corners of the scarf, a different animal leaps forward as if trying to escape the excitement! The background to the design consists of geometric shapes and lines.
My scarf’s colourway (H004206S 07 Marine/ Lavande/ Bleu Glacier) attracted me almost immediately. Navy blue is one of the most important colours in my wardrobe, a “base” colour if you like. The other colours include an ice blue, a shade of lavender purple, teal and brown. In fact this combination of blueish green and greenish blue is stunning! Finally, there is a contrast hem in white.
Colourways
These are the colourways for the Spring/Summer 2025 silk twill 90cm scarves. I have added in the codes to help those of you who may wish to purchase a scarf.
Here are some closeups of my scarf in a slideshow format:
How I wear the scarf
This is such a lovely scarf and I adore it already, but I have been so preoccupied and unwell that I have only managed to wear it a couple of times since I purchased it. It looks great with my outfits in navy blue and I think cobalt, lilac, turquoise and teal work well too. I don’t wear anything in pale blue or brown, but I am certain that the scarf would enhance these colours.
Here are some quick photos that I have been able to take since I bought the scarf just before Christmas. As soon as I am well enough, I will add more “modelling” photos here and also attempt to make some collages.
Le Carrousel du Tigre Royal – Hermès
The photos above show the scarf with a range of cashmere sweaters in navy, turquoise and cobalt blue. I also plan to wear the scarf with items such as these…
Clothing, footwear and jewellery with Le Carrousel du Tigre Royal scarf
Scarf ties
I have tried on this scarf in a variety of ways. At the moment, as it is so new, the silk fabric is still crisp so doesn’t fall easily into soft folds. Anyway, you can get the general idea of how it looks when worn. Here are a few attempts:
Le Carrousel du Tigre Royal – Hermès
Background information
This is not the kind of scarf with lots of useful background details, but I have found the following. If I come across any more information, I will add it here…
First, something about the designer, Katie Scott – there isn’t much online that I can find, to be honest:
Katie Scott – Commissions Http://Katie-scott.com Her personal site with a little information about the artist and designer, and a shop for her lovely prints. I am very tempted! There are owls (Younger Son would like them)!
I hope readers have found this exploration of Le Carrousel du Tigre Royal both interesting and useful. Once again, if you find any errors or have any additional information that I could add, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Hello and welcome to my blog. In the last couple of weeks I have been rambling along a bit without much focus. My brain has been exhausted by so very many topics, issues and thoughts and it has spilled over on to this blog. The pressure on my shoulders and brain has felt almost unbearable!
Well, today my thoughts have begun to focus. Last Friday, Lovely Husband, Younger Son and I went to see a bungalow very close by. We talked it over all weekend and made an offer last Monday and it was accepted by the vendors by the end of the day! To be honest, I was thrilled 🤩🤩🤩!
I have spent the rest of the working week setting all of the wheels in motion that are needed to buy a new home for those of us living in England and Wales (the procedures are different in Scotland and Northern Ireland). The system here is crazy and needlessly stressful! So, I have decided to use these Friday posts to outline any progress that we make, bearing in mind that I am trying to keep some kind of anonymity, although close friends and family will be updated in more detail.
Posts on other subjects, such as the Scarf of the Moment about Le Caroussel du Tigre Royal, will be posted on Mondays, where possible.
So, how far have we got since Monday?
Put in the offer.
It was accepted on the same day.
Asked for advice from friends, locals and the estate agent about solicitors/conveyancers and surveyors.
Selected three of each and wrote emails asking for quotes for the work needed to purchase the property.
Received two replies for each category and chose one solicitor and once surveyor.
Emailed both of the selected people with added details.
Emailed the rest with our thanks.
Tried to work out the cost of a full packing and moving service.
Spent hours randomly reading a mountain of “stuff” to do with buying houses.
Became lost in a blizzard of carpets, curtains, colours, room sizes, etc.
Became even more lost in a snowstorm of questions!?! Like, will this item of furniture fit? What additional items do we need to buy. Does ES like his new bedroom and will he cope with the move? Will the vendors leave X, Y or Z? Will LH and I cope with the move, given our health issues?
Made some important decisions.
Learned even more “tech” stuff: Numbers and Pages, how to send printing from our bedroom to the printer downstairs.
Ooh! One more thing:
14. I went for a haircut!
Blizzard (Route de Noirmont) by Darren Fry on Flickr
Right! I am pleased with our progress, but totally exhausted now, so I will sign off…
Welcome to my blog everyone. Yet again I must apologise for the lack of book reading content today. We are in the midst of house moving, having had our offer on a much more suitable home accepted on Monday. Hooray!!!!
We have lived in our present home for more than twenty years and, while it once suited a growing family with two young sons, it does not work for us now that Lovely Husband and I are ageing and disabled. As you can imagine, my head is spinning from one thought to another and I am really stretching my iPad skills trying to organise everything that needs to be done.
I expect that all of this will tax my poor brain to the limit for a while and I am finding it impossible to concentrate. This means I am totally unable to immerse myself in a book, even though I was enjoying a really good one. My mind is flitting from estate agents to room sizes to moving costs and I am having to teach myself Apple Numbers and Pages because I am doing all of the admin for the move using this iPad whilst sitting up in bed. One very useful thing I have learned is how to send my printing (LH needs hard copies) from our bedroom upstairs down to the printer in our study at the back of the house! I must admit that I am proud that my brain can still work stuff like this out over five and a half years since my stroke.
I hope to surface back into Librain reading mode as soon as normal service is resumed. When will that be? How long is a piece of string?!?
Sending love and best wishes from the manic and stressed, but also excited and pleased Librain,
Welcome to my blog. I hope you enjoy exploring these posts. Today, unfortunately, life is getting in the way of writing. I am working on the Scarf of the moment post about my latest Hermès purchase, Le Caroussel du Tigre Royal, and have almost finished. All I have left to do is take a set of modelling photos to show how the scarf looks with a range of scarf ties and outfits. To be honest, I just don’t have enough strength left to do this today. Hopefully I can manage to complete the post over the weekend.
The reason I am so tired is that this morning Lovely Husband, Elder Son and I went to view a house. As I have written before, we really need to make the move to something more suitable for us as this would help our present situation enormously. The visit was really worth the effort and we all need to discuss our responses as soon as possible, but I am now exhausted, but in a more positive way than usual!
These are some of the options we are considering. Of course, we will need multiple stairlifts and staff, but anything worth doing needs a little effort, no?
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
Option 4
Option 5
I’m not sure if any of the options 1 to 5 are spacious enough for all of our stuff, so I had to continue the search and found this. What do you think, or is it slightly familiar for some reason? I can’t quite remember. The garden looks a bit small and I don’t like the look of those crowds…
Option 6
I really hope you didn’t mind a little teasing 😂🤣😂🤣😂.
So, that is all I can manage today. Have a good weekend!
Love and best wishes,
Anne
💕💗💖💗💕
Images
Casa Loma Sunset by Viv Lynch on Flickr
A mansion on the side of Lake Geneva by I Am Sargant on Flickr
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