poppy

Further to my missing yarn saga ... I contacted the suppliers and apparently they sent two parcels. One appears to have been sitting at London Airport since the 1st July and the other is still continuing with its OE and at present visiting Heathrow! They have kindly sent me another parcel, but some of the original colours are out of stock, so I've had to order them from another UK stockist (they're not available here). Postage isn't cheap $20NZ but as long as it arrives I'll be happy. Fortunately the wedding isn't until February next year, so there's still plenty of time to make a blanket.

Lovely work, Luna. Your stitches are so neat and even. Have you ever stitched tapestries?

All My Loving ~ The Beatles

I get very hot under the collar with churches who insist on tithing, especially ones with predominantly poor congregations. We've got one in NZ where the minister swans around in luxury cars and owns multi-million dollar homes whilst insisting his followers, many of whom are beneficiaries and single parent families, give until it hurts. There is no mention of tithing in the New Testament.

I thoroughly recommend Gerald Durrell. His My Family and Other Animals is an all-time favourite of mine.

Recovering from covid and not feeling much like reading so have been listening to James Herriot's All Things Wise and Wonderful. Read by Christopher Timothy, the original James in the TV series, so feels very right. Next up, I've found a library audiobook by Gerald Durrell Beasts in My Belfry, which seems rather apt at present.

I'm waiting for a parcel of yarn to arrive from the UK so I can start making a crocheted blanket for our son and his partner's wedding next year. I've been tracking it and it arrived safely in NZ only to board a plane and head for Qarter! It now appears to be on it's way back to the UK again. As someone said, it would have been quicker to send it by carrier pigeon and it would've had a bloomin' sight better sense of direction 😏

I'm a Honky Tonk Girl ~ Loretta Lynn

Honky Cat ~ Elton John

Cat's In the Cradle ~ Harry Chapin

They look wonderful Muggle! Fruit and veggies are an absolutely ridiculous price at the moment. Cucumbers $5 or $6 each and tomatoes $16 a kilo. You'd be saving a fortune here! And so much better tasting. We often have sliced tomato, cucumber and onion in vinegar but your extra additions sound yummy. Not cilantro though (coriander here) I really don't like it. Are they telegraph cucumbers? I prefer those, they're never bitter and I like being able to eat the skin.

Cat People (Putting Out the Fire) ~ David Bowie

Lucky you like cucumbers, Muggle Do you just munch them as is?

Welcome Home ~ Dave Dobbyn

I had to laugh at this I think it's a good idea of yours to try various churches to see what suits you best. One church certainly doesn't suit everyone and I think it's great people worship in different ways. I don't attend church anymore but as a child my parents took us to a wide variety of churches ranging from Presbyterian to Pentecostal. I also boarded in an Anglican hostel when I left school and we were required to attend services. I found, for me, the reading from the Book of Common Prayer every time was rather repetitious and tended to lose its meaning because of this. I used to love the more happy-clappy upbeat tunes when I was younger but now I prefer the old hymns and a more conservative service. But I do like a good thought provoking sermon. I recently attended a wedding where the pastor started proselytising on hell and damnation plus informing the couple that they must NEVER divorce. I was horrified. It's that kind of thing puts me off some churches. Way back we had a home group, taken by the Baptist minister, that met each week. It was brilliant. He would just concentrate on a few verses at a time and he would find so much more meaning from them than I'd ever imagined.

Everybody's Talkin' ~ Harry Nilsson

Sleep of No Dreaming ~ Porcupine Tree

Talkin' Bout a Revolution ~ Tracy Chapman

Teach Your Children ~ Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

It's Too Late ~ Carole King

Shock the Monkey ~ Peter Gabriel

Yes, I'm rather sceptical too. It's not an issue for us at the moment as we have plenty of available firewood on our property, so use a log fire for heating.

Air conditioning is not something that's ever been common here either (apart from some businesses). However, heat pumps are becoming very common and as well as heating they can be used for cooling. They're not cheap to purchase and install but apparently work out cheaper than a lot of other heating/cooling options.

I haven't read any of Dexter's books so didn't have a picture òf Morse in my head. However, I didn't really like Morse as a character in the original TV series. I loved Endeavour and Lewis though. The actor Robert Carlyle really annoys me so I couldn't get on with Hamish Macbeth. I enjoyed M.C Beaton's Agatha Raison though, both books and TV series. I've read some of Ann Cleeves books and have seen the Shetland series, enjoyed both, didn't really notice the discrepancies in portrayal of Perez but that is probably more due to my poor memory than anything else

Everybody Hurts ~ R.E.M