The best thing about being retired

I don’t know if it really is the best thing, but is pretty darn nice!

Perhaps it is symptomatic of old age. Since I don’t perform according to anyones’s expectations I find I can wander hither, thither, and yon.

So I set goals and then I might or might not work on them. When an idea floats by, we’ll, I just may head in that direction!

Currently it is my beloved knitting and audio books. It doesn’t take much to make me happy! Yesterday I wrote about this on A World Apart as below.

Feeling a little craftey

There are lots of things I could have done today. I mean I actually have a list, though I am not sure where it is.

There seems to be a fair bit of clutter, and taking the few minutes to tidy, a thought that sort of wafted across my mind, then evaporated, was just not doable.

So what had my attention for the last fourteen hours?

Why knitting of course. And listening to audio books from my library. Actually, the needle and yarn urge started a few days ago, and in the last eight days I have listened to;

Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith (JKR)

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny

The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny 

All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny (can you tell I am getting prepped for her newest one that has just been released today I think called A WORLD OF CURIOSITIES.

I am happiest knitting and listening.

I just finished this one for a friend and started working on another when something else caught my eye. (You know me, waylaid by another flashy thing)

This:

So that is what I am working on for the moment. Shouldn’t take too long then its back to the hat I love.

So from North of 43 I bid you adieu as I hasten back to the drawing board, I mean the needles and yarn

Afraid of the Light

I really must get more adventurous like JB!

« We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark ; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light » Plato Much has been said …

Afraid of the Light

Reflecting on Reading

JB is right. More of my day is given to reading and while I love the accessibility of ebooks from the library, some books are better held in two hands.

It seems that a good part of each day now is spent reading. I always manage to slip some time in for this very pleasant task(?).. And a winter’s …

Reflecting on Reading

Speculating on Sunday

Today, JB in wintery New Zealand shares thoughts that touch my heart

A sunny, midwinter Sunday with nothing to do and nowhere to go. So..

Have you ever read a poem that seemed to be written just for you?  This is such a poem and it speaks to me in my late husband’s words.  How often did he ask me to put down a book to see something he wanted to share or to tell me something he thought I should like to hear? 

Several years ago (11 to be exact) I came across this poem from James Rainsford. It seemed to be written just for me:

“Please put down that book you’re reading now
and gently close its pages.
So no harm shall come to damage its cold thoughts.
Look up.  Please, look up and see
what little there is left of me where you felt loved.“
© James Rainsford – Author, poet, photographer.

Thank you, James, for giving me permission to reprint your poem on my blog some 11 years ago. 

Since that time I have read many of his poems and every one is special.  Click hereto read more of his work.

“James says he is “a one time merchant-seaman, teacher, lecturer, salesman, company director, mushroom farmer, philosopher and inveterate reprobate.  Now trying (not too hard) to become a modern “Renaissance Man” pursuing the questionable consolation of writing, photography””

It was almost like the Roberta Flack song ‘Killing me softly with his song” and the words ” He sang as if he knew me in all my dark despair”.  I do think James knew what it was like to be where I was after my husband died.

So those are my thoughts for today. Oh and the definition of speculation according to the OED – is the act of forming opinions about what has happened or what might happen without knowing all the facts.

Today’s quote is from Wayne Dyer, American self-help advocate, author, and lecturer. 1940-

“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. 
Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice. “

And from Judith Baxter –

No matter how dark the night we know that whatever happens,
the sun will rise tomorrow and then all the shadows
will be chased away.”
Judith Baxter 1938 –

Let Them Eat Cake

Judith has created intrigue and I am looking forward to reading this book

I have just started to read Annette Vallon .  This is a  tale set against the turmoil of the French Revolution.  It follows the life of the mistress …

Let Them Eat Cake

COLD COLD BONES: an evening with

Just like big people I went out in an evening, rather than being in pjs by nine.

The evening was with Kathy Reichs, the creator of the Temperance Brennan character, who by the way are two different people.

TV Tempe is different than book Tempe, but both are intriguing strong women, and both are forensic anthropologists. Bones the TV series went for 12 seasons and Kathy R was also a producer on the show who also wrote a few of the scripts.

My friends and I were not too sure what to expect given her age. As a hint she is one year younger than I. And I am seventy-five. But I wasn’t that far from her, well really close when she signed my book, but you might mistake her for my daughter, well maybe much much younger sister. NO plastics, but glows with apparent good health.

So that was the first surprise.

The next was that she so people friendly, as comfortable as she might be in my living room. I have been to meet other authors some of which were stiff, uncomfortable, and obviously just wanted the evening over. One even had a body guard standing next to him.

Then it came out that she published her first book twenty-five years ago. And that made her pretty close to the big 50.

She has accomplished so much more than books that I wondered how she could seem so laid back.

The theatre of two hundred seats was almost full so I was glad I got our tickets early. And being swift of foot I managed to get close to the front of the line for the signing.

I joked on FB that she actually wanted to sign my copy to my bestie Christine, but we know that was not quite accurate.

But I got my book signed and sighed with pleasure.

Felt amazing coming home in the evening and feeling so energized. And thought to myself as I poured a G&T, I really should go out in the evning more often. But I wondered where I would go?

Thoughts for Thursday

“What is it with you and that book?”Rafael laughed. “We have a personal relationship.” Benjamin Alire Sáenz, American poet, novelist, and writer of …

Thoughts for Thursday

A New Favourite

Someone new you say? Always room for one more JB!

You will have read Chris’s post How The Light Gets In. I too am a great fan of Louise Penny and her Ganache character and all the other people who …

A New Favourite

How The Light Gets In

I love that our flaws are real, and sometimes destructive, but there is Grace, Forgiveness, and Love, sometimes just for ourselves. Sometimes

Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack, a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in. Leonard Cohen …

How The Light Gets In

I Love Audio

The advent of technology, specifically internet, wifi, zoom, YouTube has enriched my life immensely. And books on devices. I still like the feel of a…

I Love Audio