Books

Tuesday, 20th November.

Pretty miserable weather or gey dreich the day. Must really try to keep up to date with my blogging, as Christmas is approaching fast and there will be so much going on. I’ve decided to do most of my shopping online and I’ve got most of the family’s presents already. Books arrived today from booksfromscotland.com which include “Maw Broon’s Cookbook” and “Doh ray me, when a was wee” I believe Maw Broon’s is ahead of Nigella Lawson’s in the cookery book stakes! Some of the old recipes of course are considered unhealthy nowadays.but it’s a very entertaining read with old adverts, comments etc. The other one is a compilation of childhood rhymes and songs from all over Scotland, which is also very good. Many of them are still well known round about here, but there are others I don’t know including this one which is sung to a well known tune

BETTY BETTY

Betty Betty show us your leg
Show us your leg show us your leg
Betty Betty show us your leg
An inch above the knee

(I’m sure John would have liked singing that one to me!)

Talking of legs Ailie was asking her Mum about the Commonwealth games and saying she would like to start training in a sport. Margo is going along with it and to encourage her told her that I was a school champion at running (I kid you not) and of course she ( and her brothers) laughed in disbelief. When they were here on Sunday they asked if it was really true, so we hunted through all my memory boxes (of which there are many) but couldn’t find the certificate I won. It will be somewhere, as I’m a compulsive hoarder. I did have a shot at dancing along with a DVD they had brought with all the moves, but I didn’t last 2 minutes! Kay says Douglas is keen to start training too! It’s lovely for them to have dreams.

Enjoyed “Cranford” on Sunday night but not sure if Mrs Gaskell would approve.Must read the book again (if I can find it) and compare.

The results of the Lterary Quiz were in the Times on Sunday and we had three wrong, two of which were modern versions of stories from ancient texts. One was from Ian McEwan’s “A Child in Time” and another from Christopher Fry’s “ A Phoenix Too Frequent.”.We’ll have to change our ideas a bit and not rely too much on the classics, but it was good fun doing it anyway. Finished reading “Fire in the Blood” but I wasn’t impressed. Not nearly as good as “Suite Francaise” . I see a film has been made of “The Jane Austen Book Club”. Wasn’t very great either.Liked “To the Nines” by Janet Evanovich-very funny. Reading “The Piano Tuner” at the moment. Got these from Sandra. She was away for a couple of days, so asked me to look in on her new kitten. He’s a delight-so tiny,and so mischievous.

Kay here today and lifted down my Christmas card box as I want to take stock to see what I need.I have lots left from last year.Also brought me some shopping and helped organise the stuff from the kitchen cupboards. I’m really pleased with the doors on the units.They were so shabby before, but they look like new now. Chris came in from invigilating and she too was impressed. I gave her the painter’s phone number, as she’s thinking of having hers done.Choosing worktops and tiles now. It will be nice when it's all finished but I find coping with decorating etc a bit much now. I told Kay if I mention having anything else done to remind me of the muddle I've been in. Bobby came in on way home to put out recycling boxes. Loads of papers as I forgot about them last week. We had a good blether and a laugh.