John's 2016 Thread - A Year of Normality 5

Please visit soon.

BOOKS READ IN JANUARY

1. The Handsome Man's De Luxe Café by Alexander McCall Smith
2. Mistletoe and Murder by Carola Dunn
3. The Corridor of Certainty by Geoffrey Boycott
4. I Should be so Lucky by Judy Astley
5. Death of a Prankster by M.C.Beaton
6. Death of a Glutton by M.C.Beaton
7. Playing it my Way, My Autobiography by Sachin Tendulkar
8. Burn by James Patterson
9. Hunger: The Autobiography by Sean Kelly
10. Theodore Boone: The Activist by John Grisham
11. Things I Want my Daughters to Know by Elizabeth Noble

BOOKS READ IN FEBRUARY

12. Shakespeare's Champion by Charlaine Harris
13. Born to Ride by Stephen Roche
14. A French Affair by Katie Fforde
15. Die Laughing by Carola Dunn
16. Fred Trueman: The Authorised Biography by Chris Waters
17. NYPD Red 2 by James Patterson
18. Mightier Than the Sword by Jeffrey Archer
19. Death of a Travelling Man by M.C.Beaton
20. Eddy Merckx: The Cannibal by Daniel Friebe
21. Magnificent Seven:Yorkshire's Championship Years by Andrew Collomosse
22. The Afghan by Frederick Forsyth

BOOKS READ IN MARCH

23. Head of State by Andrew Marr
24. The Eagle of Toledo: The Life and Times of Federico Bahamontes by Alasdair Fotheringham
25. Agatha Raisin and The Blood of an Englishman by M.C.Beaton
26. Nadia Knows Best by Jill Mansell
27. Last in the Tin Bath: My Autobiography by David 'Bumble' Lloyd
28. A Cotswold Mystery by Rebecca Tope
29. Bring Me Home by Alan Titchmarsh
30. The Haunting by Alan Titchmarsh
31. Second Honeymoon by James Patterson
32. Death of a Charming Man by M.C.Beaton

BOOKS READ IN APRIL

33. Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer
34. Sleepyhead by Mark Billingham
35. Glorious Summers & Discontents by Mike Atherton
36. The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine by Alexander McCall Smith
37. The Maiden by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
38. Witch & Wizard: The Gift by James Patterson
39. Slipless in Settle by Harry Pearson
40. The Good Life by Martina Cole
41. Takin' the Mick by Mick Grant

BOOKS READ IN MAY

42. A Highland Christmas by M.C.Beaton
43. Body of Evidence by Patricia Cornwell
44. The Seafront Tea Rooms by Vanessa Greene
45. Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
46. The Road to Gandolfo by Robert Ludlum
47. A Mourning Wedding by Carola Dunn
48. Ruling Passion by Reginald Hill
49. Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
50. The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah

BOOKS READ IN JUNE

51. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
52. Cross my Heart by James Patterson
53. Starry Night by Debbie Macomber
54. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
55. The Cat Who Turned On and Off by Lilian Jackson Braun
56. Death in Ecstasy by Ngaio Marsh
57. Target by Simon Kernick
58. Fall of a Philanderer by Carola Dunn
59. An April Shroud by Reginald Hill
60. Death of a Nag by M.C.Beaton

BOOKS READ IN JULY

61. Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh
62. The Magic of Christmas by Trisha Ashley
63. The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall
64. Her Giant Octopus Moment by Kay Langdale
65. Hope to Die by James Patterson
66. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

BOOKS READ IN AUGUST

67. Blood in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope
68. Angels by Marian Keyes
69. The Flood-Tide by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
70. Gunpowder Plot by Carola Dunn
71. Invisible by James Patterson
72. Wedding Tiers by Trisha Ashley
73. Vanish by Tess Gerritsen
74. Dishing the Dirt by M.C.Beaton

BOOKS READ IN SEPTEMBER

75. The Bloody Tower by Carola Dunn
76. Loving by Danielle Steel
77. The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly
78. 14th Deadly Sin by James Patterson
79. A Vicky Hill Exclusive! by Hannah Dennison
80. Love Rules by Freya North

BOOKS READ IN OCTOBER

81. The Magician's Nephew by C.S.Lewis
82. Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
83. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S.Lewis
84. Private Games by James Patterson
85. The Horse and His Boy by C.S.Lewis
86. Prince Caspian by C.S.Lewis
87. Killing Floor by Lee Child
88. The Voyage of The Dawn Treader by C.S.Lewis
89. The Silver Chair by C.S.Lewis
90. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
91. The Last Battle by C.S.Lewis
92. The Last 10 Seconds by Simon Kernick
93. Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell
94. When The Bough Breaks by Jonathan Kellerman

CURRENTLY READING

Die Trying by Lee Child
The Black Ship by Carola Dunn

Wow, first in the hit parade of your new thread. Hello John. Love and hugs to you and Karen.

BOOKS ADDED IN 2016

1. Dark Fire by C.J.Sansom
2. Friends Forever by Danielle Steel
3. Private Sydney by James Patterson
4. Not Quite Nice by Celia Imrie
5. The Swallow and The Hummingbird by Santa Montefiore
6. The Manning Grooms by Debbie Macomber
7. The Case is Closed by Patricia Wentworth
8. Mrs Jeffries Dusts for Clues by Emily Brightwell
9. Skinner's Ordeal by Quintin Jardine
10. Deception in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope
11. Alfie the Doorstep Cat by Rachel Wells
12. The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
13. Trouble in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope
14. Confessions: The Private School Murders by James Patterson
15. The Best Day of Someone Else's Life by Kerry Reichs
16. The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
17. The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy
18. Jack Hobbs by John Arlott
19. The Captain's Diary by Bob Willis
20. A Donkey in the Meadow by Derek Tangye
21. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
22. A Death in the Dales by Frances Brody
23. The Little Shop of Happy Ever After by Jenny Colgan
24. A Vintage Wedding by Katie Fforde
25. Reckless:The Life and Times of Luis Ocana by Alasdair Fotheringham
26. An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear
27. The Monuments by Peter Cossins
28. By Heresies Distressed by David Weber
29. Truth or Die by James Patterson
30. The Shadow Hour by Kate Riordan
31. A Year of Marvellous Ways by Sarah Winman
32. Return to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez
33. Unnatural Exposure by Patricia Cornwell
34. The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell
35. The Third Life by Caroline Gray
36. The Associate by Philip Margolin
37. Theodore Boone: The Fugitive by John Grisham
38. No Place Like Home by Debbie Macomber
39. I am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley
40. Speaking From Among the Bones by Alan Bradley
41. The Haunted Season by G.M.Malliet
42. Playfair Cricket Annual 2016 by Ian Marshall
43. The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild
44. Wisden Cricket Almanack 1970 by Norman Preston
45. Cricket and All That by Henry Blofeld
46. Solomon's Song by Bryce Courtenay
47. Tandia by Bryce Courtenay
48. Leaving Everything Most Loved by Jacqueline Winspear
49. Murder in the Afternoon by Frances Brody
50. Sidney Chambers and the Forgiveness of Sins by James Runcie
51. A Girl's Guide to Moving On by Debbie Macomber
52. The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson
53. Alert by James Patterson
54. Redemption by Leon Uris
55. Death and the Olive Grove by Marco Vichi
56. Time of Death by Mark Billingham
57. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
58. Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare
59. Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman
60. The Raiders by Harold Robbins
61. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
62. A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear
63. Death of an Avid Reader by Frances Brody
64. Death of a Policeman by M.C.Beaton
65. Slaying the Badger by Richard Moore
66. Mrs Halliburton's Troubles by Mrs Henry Wood
67. Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich
68. Superfluous Women by Carola Dunn
69. The Death of Lucy Kyte by Nicola Upson
70. London Rain by Nicola Upson
71. The Lake House by Kate Morton
72. NYPD 4 by James Patterson
73. The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
74. Scaredy Cat by Mark Billingham
75. Another Woman by Penny Vincenzi
76. New Spring by Robert Jordan
77. Black Notice by Patricia Cornwell
78. From Potter's Field by Patricia Cornwell
79. The Reversal by Michael Connelly
80. Milk Glass Moon by Adriana Trigiani
81. Old Boyfriends by Debbie Macomber
82. Silver Linings by Debbie Macomber
83. 1105 Yakima Street by Debbie Macomber
84. 6 Rainier Drive by Debbie Macomber
85. 8 Sandpiper Way by Debbie Macomber
86. Mountain of Black Glass by Tad Williams
87. Die Trying by Lee Child
88. Reamde By Neal Stephenson
89. The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield
90. Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett
91. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1969 by Norman Preston
92. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack Australia 1999 by Gideon Haigh
93. The J.M.Barrie Ladies Swimming Society by Barbara J. Zitwer
94. The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay
95. The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
96. The Last 10 Seconds by Simon Kernick
97. Dark Blood by Stuart Macbride
98. Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs
99. Christmas at the Cupcake Café by Jenny Colgan
100. This Country Business by Max Hardcastle
101. Stalingrad by Antony Beevor
102. A Midsummer's Nightmare by Garry Kilworth
103. The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
104. The Witness by Simon Kernick
105. Get Even by Martina Cole
106. Shadows in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope
107. Malice in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope
108. The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris by Jenny Colgan
109. Christmas at Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop by Jenny Colgan
110. Death of a Dreamer by M.C.Beaton
111. The Villa By Rebecca Ley
112. When The Lion Feeds by Wilbur Smith
113. Naamah's Blessing by Jacqueline Carey
114. Song of the Skylark by Erica James
115. The Secret of Orchard Cottage by Alex Brown
116. Lonesome Road by Patricia Wentworth
117. The Treatment by Mo Hayder
118. The Ambleside Alibi by Rebecca Tope
119. The Troutbeck Testimony by Rebecca Tope
120. Odalisque by Fiona McIntosh
121. Emissary by Fiona McIntosh
122. The Wings of The Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri
123. The Track of Sand by Andrea Camilleri
124. The Song Collector by Natasha Solomons
125. The Ice-Cream Makers by Ernest Van der Kwast
126. The Scarpetta Factor by Patricia Cornwell
127. The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
128. Murder House by James Patterson
129. Indemnity Only by Sara Paretsky
130. Deadlock by Sara Paretsky
131. Vanish by Tess Gerritsen
132. Killing Floor by Lee Child
133. Murder Underground by Mavis Doriel Hay
134. When the Bough Breaks by Jonathan Kellerman
135. Sacrilege by S.J.Parris
136. Prophecy by S.J.Parris
137. 15th Affair by James Patterson
138. Sweet Tomorrows by Debbie Macomber
139. The Little Pieces of You and Me by Vanessa Greene
140. Cometh the Hour by Jeffrey Archer
141. A Leap of Faith by Trisha Ashley
142. The Virginians by W.M.Thackeray
143. Corpse Pose by Diana Killian
144. Thirteen Guests by J.Jefferson Farjeon
145. Village of Secrets by Caroline Moorehead
146. The Badger by William Fotheringham
147. Manchu by Robert Elegant
148. Fire in Babylon by Simon Lister
149. Love or Nearest Offer by Adele Geras
150. Third Man to Fatty's Leg by Steve James
151. Winston's War by Michael Dobbs
152. The Stonecutter by Camilla Lackberg
153. Death of a Sweep by M.C.Beaton
154. Standing my Ground by Matthw Hayden
155. Lamentation by C.J.Sansom
156. One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
157. The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown by Vaseem Khan
158. The House on Bellevue Gardens by Rachel Hore
159. Precious and Grace by Alexander McCall Smith
160. A Crimson Warning by Tasha Alexander
161. Dangerous to Know by Tasha Alexander
162. Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander
163. Killed in Cornwall by Janie Bolitho
164. Plotted in Cornwall by Janie Bolitho
165. Betrayed in Cornwall by Janie Bolitho
166. Framed in Cornwall by Janie Bolitho
167. Snapped in Cornwall by Janie Bolitho
168. Herring on the Nile by L.C.Tyler
169. The Herring in the Library by L.C.Tyler
170. The Herring Sellers Apprentice by L.C.Tyler
171. House of Cards by Michael Dobbs
172. To Play The King by Michael Dobbs
173. The Final Cut by Michael Dobbs
174. Pushing up Daisies by M.C.Beaton
175. Wisden on the Ashes by Steven Lynch
176. Shadow Watch by Tom Clancy
177. Against all Enemies by Tom Clancy
178. Napoleon's Pyramids by William Dietrich
179. The Enemy by Tom Wood
180. Drums of War by Edward Marston .................. 176 to 184 Books given by a relative
181. Act of Treason by Vince Flynn
182. Desert God by Wilbur Smith
183. Tripwire by Lee Child
184. Wings of Fire by Dale Brown
185. Spectacles by Sue Perkins
186. The Gypsy Madonna by Santa Montefiore
187. The Edge of the Fall by Kate Williams
188. The Railways-Nations, network and people by Simon Bradley
189. Brighton Belle by Sara Sheridan
190. London Calling by Sara Sheridan
191. England Expects by Sara Sheridan
192. A Lesson in Love by Gervase Phinn

>12 karenmarie:, Welcome Karen, you were on the ball my dear. Hope you are having a lovely day.

Latest reading stats:

Books on shelves at 1-8-16 - 2210
Books added in August - 11
Books read in August - 8

Revised book total - 2213

Pages to read at 1-8-16 - 959,521
Pages added in August - 4,662
Pages read in August - 3,236

Revised total pages to read - 960,947

August's READING STATS

Books Read...................... 8

No of Authors.................... 8

New Authors...................... 0

Male Authors..................... 1

Female Authors.................. 7

Pages Read.......................3,236

Daily Avg...........................104.39

Book Length avg................. 404.50

Hi again - I'm so sorry about your mortage woes, John, from the previous thread. Banks and paperwork and incompetence seem to go hand-in-hand, don't they?

I hope things are back on an even keel for you and Karen.

Happy New Thread, John. So sorry for your mortgage woes. Really dreadful that the bank should make an error the way they did and won't make good on it. You and Karen are such a perfect pair! Hugs to both of you.

>17 karenmarie:, Hi Karen, hopefully with me making that payment the young lady will be able to sort the mortgage out on Tuesday but I will be contacting the Banking Ombudsman about the two errors that they have made. If I get any recompense that would be good but it is to highlight the errors and lack of grace we have been shown that I want to highlight and hopefully they will get a rap on the knuckles about it.

We are both fine and looking forward to Mr C's and his brother's 50th birthday party tonight, I will post pictures of us in our Black Tie and Evening Dress wear along with others. Sending love and hugs.

>18 vancouverdeb:, Hi Deb, hopefully the mortgage will be sorted out on Tuesday and I will be contacting the Banking Ombudsman to see what they can do to make sure this doesn't happen again. Thank you for saying we are a perfect pair, I will post pictures of us in Black Tie and Evening Dress at Mr C's and his brother's 50th birthday party along with others. We are so looking forward to it, I have only worn Black Tie twice before, back in 2006 for the Cricket Club's Centenary ball and the first time I wore a white tux with red bow tie and cumberbund at the Police training centre for our pre-passing out parade dining in night. Sending love and hugs.

Happy new thread, John!

It is Saturday evening here in Tuscaloosa and it is the firs game of the football season. The game is being played in Dallas so there are no crowds here. That will be next Saturday. By this time you have attended Paul's birthday party and I hope that all of you had a great time. I look forward to the pictures. You did such a good job on posting the pictures of the wedding a year ago that I know all of us will be well informed of the festivities.

I am going to a friends house for pizza and a movie with periodic checks of the football game score.

How lovely - Paul and his twin's 50th Birthday Party! I hope it was wonderful. Looking forward to the pics.....

Me and Paul last night at the birthday party

I think I scrub up well

My darling wife

Mr and Mrs S

You do scrub up very well, John and your wife looks lovely! I enjoyed the pictures that Paul ( Hani) posted to facebook! So glad you all enjoyed yourselves! :)

Looks like it was a great party. I am so glad that you and Karen could go and show the LT love to Paul and Hani that so many of us can't. Both of you looked great!

Happy new thread, John. Thanks for the lovely pictures, you all look great!

You all look amazing!

Nice pictures, John - thank you for posting. You do scrub up well.

>28 vancouverdeb:,>29 benitastrnad:,>30 DianaNL:,>31 scaifea:,>32 karenmarie:, Thanks guys. Had to represent LT in celebrating Paul's big birthday.

After a really good night on Saturday at Paul and his brother's fiftieth birthday party we were up early after only six hours sleep as Karen was working. I dropped Karen off at work and then went through to Amy and Andy's to take Amy to a friend's parents to pick up some chairs. I got to Amy's just after 10am and after a quick chat we set off. We had a lovely drive and managed to find the cottage, once the chairs were in my boot Leni's mum offered us both a drink and so we had a quick coffee. Just before we left Leni and Howard turned up as it was Leni's brothers birthday. We set off back to Amy's and once we got there I had another chat with them before making my way home with the chairs that are being stored in my garage.

Once home I made myself a pot of tea and watched the Tour of Britain Cycling on television until it was time to pick Karen up from work. This was Karen's last shift for two weeks.

Today we have had a busy day, after having had breakfast I popped out to pick my prescriptions up and get some cash out to pay a bill. While I was out Karen put a load of washing on and did some ironing, when I got back she was having her nails done with Debbie her nail technician. Once Karen's nails were done we had some lunch and then decided a plan for the afternoon, in the end I was sent to go and get some more Blackberries while Karen pottered about. I got back with Blackberries and was a little bit tired, we cleaned and bagged up the Blackberries to put in the freezer, I had picked just under 3.5 kg. The bushes were loaded so Karen decided that after a little rest and a pot of tea we aught to go and get some more. After a rest and a drink we set off and started picking more, we were doing well and then a chap walking his dog told us that about 50 yard further up the bushes looked completely black with berries. We moved up and just picked and picked until we were both tired and achy, we slowly made our way home and cleaned and bagged most of the berries up leaving a kilo in a pan for Karen to make jam in the morning. Between us we had picked another 4.5 kg of Berries.

By this time I was in agony with my back and Karen quickly made me a fish dish before I went into the shower to clean up and then I gradually turned the heat up and directed the shower towards the base of my back, by the time I felt the heat soothing my back the water temperature was very high and I had to make sure I didn't scold my arms or legs. We now have lots of fruit to make various dishes and more jam if we need any.

John, when I was a girl we used to pick both wild blackberries and muscadines for jams and such too. One year the chiggers (tiny biting bugs) were especially bad so Dad put kerosene on his arms and legs because that was the only thing he knew would keep them from biting. He picked more blackberries than ever and Mom spent hours putting them up in the freezer. When winter came we could hardly wait for the first blackberry cobbler. Finally, Mom made one and we all dug in...and got a very strong taste of kerosene! As it turned out, all of the blackberries had to be thrown away and we only had muscadine jam from wild berries that winter.

Now my parents have both passed and when my siblings and I talk about old times, the story of the no blackberry winter always comes up!

Today I had a bit of serendipitous shopping. At the kitchen store Sur la Table I found a big wide Le Crueset enameled cast iron pot that is ideal for cooking jam (Or soup). It was on sale for $199.00. It was regularly priced at $299.00. It was not a color I like, but for that price I didn't hesitate. I bought it. It will be perfect for so many kitchen uses. Including jam making.

John, thanks for helping make my birthday celebrations just that little bit more special by you and dear Karen attending and helping me fill my "DeVito" table. Kyran was fascinated by your tales and I do hope you enjoyed yourselves.

Fingers crossed for today and your attempts to resolve the mortgage morass.

>35 clue:, Hi Luanne, the bugs are a nuisance when picking wild fruit but I never thought of using Kerosene and after that tale I will not in future. Although it eventually had me sweating the boiler suit (coveralls) did the trick and I didn't get bitten or scratched.

>36 benitastrnad:, Hi Benita, that sounds like a good bargain and you will use it many times making soups or jams. We had some of the soup Karen made yesterday and it was delicious.

>37 PaulCranswick:, Hi Paul it was great to be a part of your birthday celebrations and it would appear that I didn't bore Kyran to death and I am glad he was fascinated with my tales. He is a really good lad and we could have spoken for a lot longer but that would have been a bit rude of me. You have a great family mate and we are so glad we are your friends. I will be posting about the mortgage, safe to say it has been sorted.

After a really busy day yesterday I managed to get off to sleep last night and didn't keep Karen awake either. This morning we got up and had breakfast before I put a load of washing out, then we cleaned the kitchen tiles and the kitchen whilst waiting for a call from the bank about the mortgage. As Kirsty told me last Wednesday when she started at ten she might have to take calls but would let me know if she would have to ring later, by 10.45am I had heard nothing so rang them and got Claire who said Kirsty was busy with a call and I told her what she had said and then said the best time to ring would be anytime after 3pm, this was agreed.

Once we knew where we stood we went to do a little bit of food shopping before going onto the farm shop for some bread. We called at another store and Karen went in leaving me in the car, Kirsty rang out of courtesy to apologise about this morning and was anytime after 3pm ok, I said it was and she said she would ring at 3. We got home and unpacked the small amount of shopping and put the bread in the freezer, we then re-bagged the Blackberries for the freezer and Karen put a kilo bag to one side along with a jar of Jam for our friend Ann. Ann's husband Malcolm passed away suddenly two years ago yesterday and we bumped into her and her grandson in the supermarket and Karen told her she would pop round with Blackberries and Jam.

Once the berries were sorted out we had a pot of tea before Karen decided that we needed to eat and so we had some of the soup she made yesterday, it was delicious. Once we were fed and watered I went and did the upstairs housework while Karen did the ironing, I finished the housework and Karen the ironing and then made us a pot of tea just in time before Kirsty rang back.

Kirsty was on time ringing and forty minutes later the mortgage was sorted out, my monthly payments are down by ten pounds a month but the payback period is longer but all the elements are on a repayment basis and I can make capital payments or pay it off early without any redemption fees. We just have to wait for information to be sent to us and then ring her for a verbal agreement and then send the documents about earnings to them and then I have one more call to make and she will make sure everything is logged on and it is up and running. She was a lovely lady and explained things easier and she apologised for all the inconvenience that the other member of staff had caused.

Once the phone call was completed I made us a pot of tea and we watched an antique show before I went out tot he garden to potter about, Karen picked the apples off one tree as they were ready and I cleared a couple of pots. After another pot of tea we had something to eat before relaxing for the evening. All in all it has been a really good day.

Yay, I've finally read my Seventy-Fifth book of the year.



I finished my 75th book late last night, The Bloody Tower by Carola Dunn. This is the 15th in the Daisy Dalrymple series and finds Daisy writing an article about the Tower of London for a new magazine. On her first visit she is not only given a tour of the Crown Jewels but also introduced to the Raven Master and the Yeoman Warders and then is invited to attend the Ceremony of the Keys ritual which involves spending the night in the haunted Bloody Tower.

Having survived the night Daisy can't wait to get home and in her eagerness she trips over the body of a Yeoman Warder. Daisy realises that this is murder most foul on account of the Halberd sticking out of his back and Alec is assigned to investigate and so once again Daisy finds herself enmeshed in a murder case.

Who did it and why? As usual it becomes complicated and Daisy finds herself visiting the Tower on more than one occasion to members of the militaries families, could they be involved and if so who.

>39 johnsimpson: Wow, John, you sure know how to fill up a day! Both you and your lovely wife looked just beautiful for Paul and his brother's big birthday celebration! How wonderful that you could attend! And, thank goodness, you got the mortgage straightened up, that had to be so upsetting to you both. And, more blackberries! We used to pick them every summer while I was growing up in NC. They were so good, we ate as many as we picked that's for sure. Have a great week!

>40 johnsimpson: Congratulations!!!!!!!

>41 Dianekeenoy:, >42 Dianekeenoy: Thanks Diane.

Onwards and upwards to the 100 mark and hopefully I can reach 120 for the year.

How wonderful that you attended Paul's birthday bash. This makes me smile!!!

And, congratulations on reaching the 75 challenge goal!

Congrats on 75, John!!

Congrats!

Congratulations, John! Sending love and hugs to you and Karen.

>45 Whisper1:,>46 scaifea:,>47 drneutron:,>48 karenmarie:, Thank you all for your congratulatory messages.

We have had a fairly busy day but this was to get things done before we go down to Oxford tomorrow until Sunday. After breakfast Karen put a half load of washing on the line while I went to put some diesel in the car, pick up a pint of milk and get some money out for our trip and for the hairdresser. When I got back I made us a pot of tea and then Karen went upstairs to pack while I did some shredding before the refuse collectors came.

When we had both finished our tasks we had another pot of tea before doing a couple of small jobs and then we had lunch. For lunch we had the homemade soup from yesterday and a couple of sandwiches and then I got on with the downstairs housework while Karen had a shower. Once we had done I made another pot of tea and we settled down to watch Escape to the Country, after the programme had finished we went outside to plant some Primroses that Karen picked up yesterday. The Primroses will give a lovely display right up to Christmas and the patio will not look empty and drab, I will get some Polyanthus plants when we get back from Oxford.

By the time we had finished planting we had another pot of tea and by the time we had finished our drinks Bridget the hairdresser arrived. Karen was first to be done as it doesn't take long to sort me out, after Bridget had finished and we had cleaned up the locks of hair we had something to eat and then put water globes in the pots to water the plants while we are away.

Depending on what we are doing and internet connection I may not post too much but I am taking my tablet with me to try and keep up to date with things.

Congrats on reaching 75. Well done! Enjoy your weekend at Oxford. Love and hugs xx

Finished book Seventy -Six earlier today, Loving by Danielle Steel. Bettina Daniels is pampered, adored and adorable, a golden girl with the world at her feet. She lived for the gilded world of her father's dreams and has his love, fame and wealth but when he suddenly dies despite the millions he has earned from his books he leaves her with a mountain of debt. Now she has no family, her mother died when she was four and although she has helped make sure that all the parties her father held were stupendous and talked about by everyone and everyone coveted an invite he has left her nothing but debts even his future earnings were borrowed against.

At nineteen she has to clear his debts and find her own way in life, she has one friend in Ivo Stewart who she has known all her life but will he be able to help her find her niche in life or is she doomed to failure.

I have to say that I enjoyed the book and all the machinations going on in Bettina's life, six books by Ms Steel and god knows how many more to go.

Hello everyone, we are back from our short trip down to Oxford and back to the normal daily life. We had a nice journey down to the Hotel and parked up in the park and ride and used the bus to go into Oxford. We headed to a café for a drink and a bite to eat before having a wander around, after a few hours we made our way to our hotel and checked in and unpacked and relaxed before going down to the restaurant for something to eat and a couple of drinks. When back in the room Karen went online on her phone and booked us a tour around some university buildings on Friday morning.

On Friday we got up and had a pot of tea before getting dressed and then walking to the park and ride which was only about half a mile away and headed into Oxford. Once in the centre of Oxford we found a café for some breakfast and a pot of tea before having a little mooch around until it was time to meet our tour guide. The tour started at 11am and lasted for two hours but didn't have too much walking, our first bit of history was to walk a short distance to the spot where the "Oxford Martyrs" were burnt alive at the stake by Queen Mary for denouncing the Catholic faith. From here we went to the building where the graduations take place, apparently there are 22 graduation ceremonies each year. The guide was very knowledgeable and informative and made us chuckle at times. From here we made our way to Wadham College and the chapel where he explained about how learning was first done and how it happens now.

From Wadham College we headed to the Bodleian library where scenes in two Harry Potter films were filmed, we had a short time to go into the shop to compare room sizes where students had lectures initially. From here we went to Brasenose College and he told us about how it got its name and how the door knocker that gave it its name was stolen before heading to St Mary the Virgin church where the "Oxford Martyrs" were tried. After exiting the church the guide showed us the door opposite the church where C.S.Lewis found a carving of a lions head and then turned and found a gaslight and to add a final touch it was snowing and this gave him the inspiration for the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the door was to the house of Mr Tumnus. The tour ended there and we made our way back to the Bodleian shop and we purchased two book badges, a pencil and a silk book tie for me. From here we made our way back onto Broad Street and went into Blackwells bookshop to have some lunch and a coffee before perusing the books, I was very restrained and we came out with five books. We had a wander for a short while before going to the Ashmolean Museum and had a good look around. We went into the museum shop and Karen got a nice bangle and I picked up a ceramic fountain pen. We then headed for our bus and made our way back to the hotel, after a rest a drink or two of tea and a shower, we went down to have something to eat. After we had eaten we got in the car and went for a drive to look for a nice pub restaurant for Saturday evening.

After two lovely warm and sunny days we knew that Saturday was going to be wet and miserable and supposedly our best bet was to head west. We got up and had a pot of tea before getting washed and dressed and then headed to the car and headed west. We drove towards Cirencester going over the border to Gloucestershire, we passed an antiques centre at the Burford crossroads and Karen didn't fancy that at that time so we continued driving. We got into Cirencester and once parked headed for a coffee shop for some breakfast and a coffee, as we got parked up it seemed as if the rain was stopping but after a short walk it started again. We found a nice coffee shop and had something to eat and drink before exploring the town, unfortunately the rain did not let up. We did a bit of shopping, I picked up a couple of books and Karen got a nice necklace and a tunic top in the sale at Fatface. From there we went into an arcade that was having a craft fair and Karen picked up a nice jumper top and as we were coming out we found a nice shop that sold wine and spirits, they had a wonderful display of Gins and she picked up a nice bottle of Cotswold Gin and it had two lovely Gin glasses free with the bottle. We continued down the street and we picked up another book in a charity shop, we had had enough and went back to the car. Once in the car we headed back towards Oxford and called in at the antiques centre at Burford. The centre had some lovely furniture and at some steep prices, across the road was another antique place and so we went across, this shop had better antique furniture and I fell in love with some fabulous items but would need a bigger room in all dimensions. I loved one or two writing desks that were from the period 1810 to 1835 and some other pieces that Karen liked that went up to the 1890's, the prices were steep but I didn't think they were excessive.

From here we headed down the high street of Burford which is classed as one of the best in England, by now we were hungry and so looked for somewhere to eat. The café we found was very nice and they have accommodation for a future visit, I had Prawn Mayo sandwich and Karen had Celeriac soup. Once we were sated we wandered up and down the high street before heading back to our hotel. We relaxed and then showered and changed before heading out in the car to The Turnpike pub/restaurant for our meal. We had a lovely meal and came back to our hotel full. Before getting ready for bed we packed as much as we could ready for our departure on Sunday morning.

Sunday morning arrived and we got up and had a pot of tea before getting washed and dressed and finished packing before checking out. We set out heading north and for some reason I wanted to go to Chipping Norton, we arrived a short time later but I realised this wasn't the right place and after checking my road atlas found that it was Chipping Camden I was after. We drove on and as we were getting near saw a sign for Broadway, we loved Broadway last time we were in this neck of the woods so we headed there first. As we drove down the high street we realised that something was going on, it seemed that we had visited on the day they were having the annual Broadway food festival and vintage car rally. This was a bonus and we managed to get parked up and headed up the high street, we found the Market Pantry café which we loved last time and so popped in for breakfast. Once we were fed and watered we mooched around the high street and visited the food fayre and looked at the vintage and classic cars. After we had done this we headed back to the car and called into a charity shop and I came out with a book, from there we got back to the car and set off for Chipping Camden. Unfortunately when we got there it was not what we thought and so continued along the road and decided to go into Worcester.

We got parked up in Worcester and strolled up the high street and had a look in a few shops before stopping for a coffee. We didn't really buy anything but I did get another book before we decided it was time to get back to the car and make our way home. After a couple of stops at motorway services we arrived at Rob's just before 7pm and after an hour chatting with them we drove home finally getting in at 8.30pm. Leo was really pleased to see us and after giving him a good stroke we unloaded the car and brought everything into the house. We unpacked the case with the dirty washing in and loaded the washer before making a drink and some toast with our blackberry jam. We had a fabulous time over the four days but we were soon ready for bed.

After a slow start to September on the reading front I hope to pick up the pace a little bit but I have a plan for October. I have decided to read the Narnia series as my bedtime reads, there are seven books to read and 31 days in the month so I think it is possible to do this along side whatever I choose as my daytime reads. I think I will reach 100 for the year now and would like to average 10 a month so need to push on to get to 120 by the end of the year.

What a glorious day it has been, as predicted the hot weather from Spain and France arrived and it has been 29C today. After having a pot of tea in bed we got up, washed and dressed and had breakfast before I put a load of washing on the line.

Once that had been done we got our things together and Amy's birthday cake and loaded the car and drove over to them. We had a lovely chat and a pot of tea before Amy and Karen popped into Selby town centre, Amy had a parcel to pick up from the post office and then they had a look in some shops. They had to stop off for a drink as they were so hot, I chatted with Andy and he showed me some PS4 games on the television. Once the girls were back we had a bite to eat and a drink and then had some birthday cake. It is not her birthday until Sunday but she wanted a piece and to share with us.

After chatting a bit more we decided we ought to be making our way home. We set off and 40 minutes later were home, while Karen did a couple of things I brought the washing in off the line and then made us a pot of tea. We watched the local news and the One show and looking out of the living room window we could see the sky darkening. A short while later we had a fantastic light show as sheet lightning and horizontal lightning took place and then the heavens opened, it looked like a river down our street as the rain was so heavy and lasted for about 45 minutes. The lightning continued for a short while before moving eastwards, the weather tomorrow is another day of temperatures reaching 27C, let's hope that we don't have more lightning and rain to follow.

Hi John! Sounds like a lovely trip. I envy you the lightning show, although not quite so much of the rain - still, I'd like some. We're looking at a dry week with somewhat cooler temperatures (mid-80s F) and less humidity.

Quite a relaxing sort of day for us, after breakfast I put the washing on the line and then pottered. Whilst I pottered Karen did the ironing and then we had a pot of tea, after this I read for a short time and Karen decided to make Flapjack. As Karen started to make Flapjack she decided to experiment a bit and so we ended up with apple and jam flapjack using apples from our tree and homemade blackberry jam, they were absolutely delicious.

After some lunch I got on with getting all the information together for the mortgage people, (payslip, bank statement and award notice) and then put it in an envelope and went to post it. Once back it was time for a pot of tea and then we just enjoyed our drink and read.

We have had a lovely date day in Bakewell, the weather has been glorious all day and we had a good mooch around. We had breakfast and then set off and arrived just before 11am, first stop was to the Bakewell Tart shop for a coffee and then we just strolled around the town. I picked up two books from the local hospice shop and then we had a look around a nearby antique centre. After having a good look around we went back to the car to pick up our picnic lunch and then we walked down to the river and found a bench to sit on while we had something to eat and drink.

After we had finished our picnic we headed back to the car and made our way to Brierlow Bar where there is a large book shop and we had a good look around. I managed to pick up two more books and Karen got some colouring books for Hannah and some small stationery gifts and a birthday card for a friends 70th birthday. Once we had paid we got back into the car and had the last of the coffee from the flask we had taken with us and then we set off home. Date days are great days with my number one lady.

>60 Dianekeenoy: Good afternoon, John! That sounds like a perfect day! We're finally having beautiful weather, bright blue skies with perfect, open the windows, weather!

>60 Dianekeenoy:, Thanks Diane.

It was a really miserable start to the day this morning, heavy rain and dark skies. After breakfast I popped out to pick up our prescriptions and my usual Friday newspapers and then went into town to do some banking. While I was out Karen went to wash her hair and do a bit of ironing. Once back I made us a pot of tea and we both read, Karen had a bite to eat before her friend Mandy came to pick her up, Mandy has breast cancer and has had surgery but was going for her first Radiotherapy treatment and asked Karen if she would go with her. Karen asked me if it was ok and I told her not to be silly, Mandy wanted her to go with her and she should.

After Karen left I had a pot of tea and pottered about until it was time for me to go and pick Hannah up from school, once I had got Hannah we had the best part of two hours together before Karen got home, it was nice to have Hannah to myself for a period of time. By the time Karen got home she only had just over an hour with Hannah before it was time to take her home and pick her daddy up from the railway station.

John, I am looking forward to seeing Diane Keenoy and Bill (weird-o) tomorrow at the local library book sale. We spend time at the sale and then head to a very nice hotel for lunch. The conversation is always book centered, and there are lots of laughs. I know you would enjoy our meet ups and could add a lot to the spirit of friendliness and love of books.

>63 Whisper1:, Hi Linda, thank you for your message and lovely comment my dear, so much so that I have a tear in my eye. It would be so lovely to meet up with you guys, hopefully it may come to pass that we get over to the States at some time.

Hi, John! Happy weekend to you and Karen!

>65 scaifea:, Thanks Amber.

We have had a really lovely Saturday, we had a bit of a lie-in before getting up and dressed. Once downstairs we had breakfast and by the time we had finished and done a couple of things the first load of washing was ready to put on the line. While I hung the washing out Karen put the next load on and then we popped out to get some vegetables and some meat for tomorrows Sunday lunch as Rob, Louise and the girls are coming over.

Once we got back I made a quick pot of tea for us while we put the little bit of shopping away and put the second load of washing on the line. Once all this was done we set off to loot at the scarecrow festival throughout the village, our next door neighbour had a fabulous display and was getting a lot of admiring glances and as we were setting off one of the judges voted it her favourite and so they got a medal and a box of chocolates.

To say we have lived in the village for 32 years you don't always realise how far you can walk when going up and down the streets, we got to the halfway point at the Methodist church and looked at their Scarecrow display and had a pot of tea and a bun to re-fuel before continuing on our way following the route map of Scarecrow displays. By the time we had finished and then popped into Karen's brothers with a birthday card for his partner and then got home we had been out for about three and three quarter hours. Some of the Scarecrow displays were really good and Karen took photos but we were still adamant that our neighbours was the best and so our vote went to him. The festival continues tomorrow and so more villagers will get the chance to see them, as Karen said, it was nice to see so many folk out looking, lots of families and families on bikes and we bumped into lots of folk we know but haven't seen for a while.

Hopefully I will be able to post some photos that Karen took on her phone. We are now relaxing and the old bones are acheing.

Scarecrow photos

Love the photos of the scarecrows, John! What a lovely village you must live in and a lovely area! Love and hugs to you and Karen!

What great photos of scarecrows. We hope to visit a touristy area tomorrow where each year they have a scarecrow contest and those who visit vote for their favorite one. I love Halloween. I always have! I think it may have developed from wonderful grade school teachers who had such interesting crafts for the class to make. Alas, because friends and family know I love Halloween, our basement contains many plastic containers filled with decorations.

It was a lovely meet up today. We shared comments about recent books we read and what we liked about them. And, of course, we all came away with great books from the library sale.

If you were there, we could have shared a spot of tea. Diane and I like unsweetened ice tea. Actually, we are so very much alike that it is scary...in a good sort of way!

Hi John, Finally made it to your thread! Happy Sunday and love and hugs to you and Karen!

>74 vancouverdeb:, Hi Deb, it is a nice village and we have been here since our wedding day 32 years ago. I came from another mining village about 2.5 miles away and Karen lived in a small village in the opposite direction and so when we were looking at where we were going to live once married we needed to be on a good bus route for Karen to get to work and I could ride my bike to the mine in the village where I was born and lived for the first 21 years of my life.

The village of Walton was a mining village and grew up around the colliery but the mine closed in 1980 and we moved here in 1984. We have a old hall surrounded by a lake with a bridge to get to it and it is called Waterton Hall after the owner and builder Charles Waterton and he was a naturalist a few years before Charles Darwin and brought many species back with him and some roamed the grounds including caiman crocodiles, it is now a hotel and gym and has been for many years. It also served as a maternity hospital where Karen's brother was born, there is an old tale that nurses carried the baby out and over the bridge when they left as some mother's suffering baby blues threw their babies in the lake previously according to old tales. We have a range of housing from Council owned to reasonably priced right through the scale to big expensive housing near to the hall and golf course.

As we went around looking at the scarecrows we came to Priory Square and there are small cottages there and housing has been on that site since 1210. We can get to the city of Wakefield within 15 minutes and the motorway within 20 minutes and can be in open countryside in 30 minutes. The old mine is now a nature reserve and we are surrounded by fields which is nice.

>75 Whisper1:, Hi Linda, glad you had a good meet-up and garnered some books, I am sure we would have had a good natter about books over a drink of tea. It is nice that you and Diane are so alike in good ways and it is great for me that I am friends with you both.

I hope you had a good visit today and a great day, sending love and hugs.

>76 connie53:, Hi Connie, thanks for visiting my dear, hope you have had a good weekend and the family are all ok. Sending love and hugs my dear friend.

Hi John, I love the scarecrows! Your neighbors are very imaginative. Linda is right, we would have loved to have you and Karen right there with all of us yesterday! It was a great day, that's for sure.

I loved the pictures of the Scarecrows. When I lived at home with my parents we did something like that for a door decoration. It was not as elaborate but close. When I retire in a couple of years I hope to do more of this kind of seasonal decorating.

I am more known for my elaborate Halloween costumes than for decorating. At one time I made and wore elaborate costumes to work for Halloween. I was the Devil, a ghostly Miss Haversham, an Owl, and Medussa. Then we were asked to not do this as some people found some of the costumes offensive. I was disappointed as I so wanted to fix up great Carmen Miranda, the Statue of Liberty, and Brunhilda type costumes.

I got bad news today. My cousins wife died. She had breast cancer and was only 6 months older than me. I want to go home for the funeral but it is on Tuesday morning and since it is still the beginning of the semester I have classes and students to instruct. Since I am now the only librarian in the building it is hard to find somebody to take over when I need them to do so. Five years ago there three of us, and it made it easier for me to be off when I needed to drive home. Not being able to travel home makes me feel like I am shurking my obligations. My cousin was married to Jolene for 40 years and she has been part of my family for that long. She was a great friend and I will miss her and all this makes me feel bad that I can't go home for the funeral.

>77 johnsimpson: Yes, I'll second that, John -Walton is a nice village! As you know I was born in the adjoining village of Crofton whilst you were brought up in the village adjacent to that Sharlston. You certainly stay in the better of the three villages nowadays!

Sorry to have missed your passing 75 books mate and I shall add my very belated congrats but my internet access was very limited at my mother's place.

I saw the news about Strauss refusing to allow Bairstow to play in the title decider with his old county Middlesex. It is a disgraceful decision when Johnny wanted to play and extremely disrespectful both to the County game and to Yorkshire themselves who have been accommodating of England calling up and then determining when Root, Ballance, Bairstow, Rashid, Plunkett and Willey can play. Rashid also wants a rest?!! I would show him the door tomorrow after this.

England's squad for Bangladesh is a surprise I have to say. Rashid, Ansari and Batty are all lucky to tour as spinners and Rayner and Leach should have joined Ali on tour. I don't know what Bell-Drummond has to do either as he has looked class every time I have seen him but they send the boy from Lancashire who would have been better served on a Lions tour first.

>82 benitastrnad: Sorry to see your news Benita. Hugs

Oh, John, we live in an old mining town, too! Just this summer we all three took a tour of the old mine (quite tiny, actually, but fun and interesting), and the university here started off as a mining school.
Happy Monday, John!

>84 scaifea:, How coincidental Amber. The National Mining museum is just a few miles away from us but having spent quite a bit of time underground it's not something I have been to. I must take Karen one of these days so she can see the type of conditions I worked in and her father and brother.

Have a great day Amber.

>85 johnsimpson: Yes, the working conditions, well, could have been better, no? We also took the mining exhibit tour this summer at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, and it was amazing.

Good day, John! Yikes, I have been away from your thread for 5 days and took a bit to catch up. I love the scarecrows even if I am not too keen on Halloween in the usual way. Our daughter loved Halloween until she got to be 13. She decided on her own to stop trick-or-treating, we living in a very rural part of our county and have never had trick-or-treaters here at the house, and so that was that.

Your village of Walton sounds delightful, and for an American when 'old' is 1700s here in central NC, 1210 is just amazing.

I hope you've been having a lovely day. Sending love and hugs to you and Karen.

>87 karenmarie:, Hi Karen, the Scarecrow festival got lots of people out and about around the village, it was nice to see whole families walking or cycling around looking at the different Scarecrows.

Within the Wakefield area there were three Scarecrow festivals taking place over the weekend and there have been a number throughout the County of Yorkshire since the beginning of May. There seems to be a bit of confusion about these as they are not linked to Halloween in the UK. A map of the village was produced and this could be picked up at the village hall and cost £2 and you also got a cup of tea and a bun, the funds going to the village association. At the Methodist church they had a scarecrow display and refreshments could be purchased there and at the C of E church near the war memorial where there display was the coat of many colours and they had refreshments on sale. The village school had a number of Scarecrows, one depicted Gulliver and the Lilliputians and the library had a display of scarecrows depicting the Brownies, Girl Guides and the Scouts.

A nearby scarecrow festival had the theme of music for its displays, luckily the weather was very good over the whole weekend for all the festivals.

Karen has gone back to work after her two week break and I am back to jobs and housework, sending love and hugs.

Finished book Seventy-Seven a short while ago, The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly. In this one Harry Bosch is suspended from the LAPD pending psychiatric treatment, his house is condemned following an earthquake and his girlfriend is long gone. With nothing to do until the evaluation is complete he opens an old file on his prostitute mother's murder and is drawn into the shadowy past. He realises that his mantra that every case counts doesn't seem to have applied in this case and determines to find out what happened and who was responsible. Harry discovers a trail leading to the high ups in the Hollywood Hills and that the flames of old passion don't die, they merely kindle fresh fires.

Another interesting read from one of the best writer's of American crime and I look forward to the next one.

>81 benitastrnad:, >82 benitastrnad:, Hi Benita, so sorry to hear of your cousins wife passing away and the fact that you will be unable to go to the funeral due to work commitments. Please don't feel as though you are shirking any obligations as I am sure that she would appreciate the circumstances you are facing. This happens a lot to staff here but their problem is normally that they are not directly related and struggle to get time off, Karen found this last year and she felt the same as you. Hopefully there may be a way for you to attend, meanwhile I am sending you lots of love and hugs my dear.

>83 PaulCranswick:, I agree with your comments Paul regarding the cricket wholeheartedly, it was funny yesterday that I had just asked Rob a question regarding the refusal of a central contract when we found out about the Bairstow situation. Currently Jonny is not centrally contracted yet Yorkshire still have to ask permission for him to play and as he has said he is ok and rested and has not played for 16 days and I am nonplussed about the situation. As for Rashid it now appears that his grandmother is ill and he has added that alongside wanting a rest for his request. Andrew Gale tweeted he was a little annoyed but would take 11 players onto the field who would die for the cause but said he would not comment about the ECB refusing to let Jonny play as he didn't want a fine and a ban, lol.

I think central contracts should be done away with, with modern travel and communication and the reduction in the number of games what is wrong with players. I can hear Trueman, Closey and many others turning in their graves at what is happening with cricket at the moment.

I am very pleased with the selection of Hameed as I think it is about time we blooded youth as others do although I agree that Bell-Drummond has done enough to have warranted selection in the main squads rather than the Lions tour.

I hope that Yorkshire can claim the Pennant despite all the help Strauss is giving his old county, if the lads can't do it I hope Somerset come up on the rails to snatch it from the London boys. I am not sure if the weather may complicate things and Somerset have the easier task on paper against Notts but as Rob said yesterday, Notts have nothing to lose and may just put in a performance to show what they can do but haven't all season.

Hope all is well after your long journey home with Yasmyne and that things are sorted out and she has a good flight back to Edinburgh.

Your village sounds very lovely, John. It is seems so amazing that you have lived in the same area for all of your life. It is amazing that you have have housing that is from 1210. Canada is such a relatively much younger country, that something that is about 75 years old is considered to have " heritage building " status. I've lived in my city for 51 of my 55 years, but it started as a small , not much populated area into what is now a mix of quite dense housing , though we also have some countryside and agricultural reserve lands. In the 50 years that I have lived here, I suppose the my particular city has grown from about 20,000 to over 200,000 and the general area from about 800,000 to now about 2. 5 million. I 've enjoyed the growth of the area.

>91 johnsimpson: We have had the discussion before but is the England set-up so much better than before Central Contracts? - I would hazard not. What is markedly suffering though is the County game. How on earth is it beneficial to the root and branch of the national game if its main competition is so profoundly devalued by someone who had benefitted from its existence (Strauss). If the man had an ounce of honour he would not have involved himself in the discussion. Yorkshire have been disrupted the whole season by national calls and the restriction of having to seek permission to play its best players. In natural justice we will give them a pasting and retain the title.

Hameed and Duckett are in different ways exciting and I cannot argue too much with their selection but Bell-Drummond's figures both for Kent and the England Lions is phenomenal. Averaging almost 80 in the county game he has surely merited selection to tour. My touring squad would have been:

Tests : Cook, Bell-Drummond, Hameed, Duckett, Root, Hildreth, Bairstow, Foakes, Ali, Rayner, Leach, Stokes, Woakes, Anderson, Broad, Wood

One Day : Northeast, Buttler, Roy, Bell-Drummond, Duckett, Root, Bairstow, Billings, Stokes, Woakes, Rashid, Ali, Ball, Willey, Wood

>93 PaulCranswick:, I have to say that I agree with your comments mate and as you say, natural justice will prevail and we will stuff them. Bairstow has had no cricket for over two weeks, how much will he get before the first test in Bangladesh. If as usual we have a couple of warm up matches they will be next to useless and apart from continual netting and other conditioning exercises that will be it.

I fear for the county game as WE knew it, it was expanded to a four day game to give the county players a better understanding of the Test game but now we are reducing the first division. As Ben Duckett pointed out, they always said if you played in Div 2 you couldn't get in the Test side but the selectors are going to have to look at Div 2 in a better light.

Speaking to Rob on Sunday we discussed this and looked at the current season, Notts are going down and probably Hampshire will join them. Hampshire have struggled both this season and last when they got out of jail on the last day, I don't think they are a Div 1 team but Notts are and I would expect them to be favourites to come straight back up. Durham will struggle next season with the loss of Stoneman and Borthwick but now Div 2 is getting more competitive and with only one place for promotion it will be a real fight and some players will really shine.

Going back to Central contracts, when Andy Caddick played he always said that he needed competitive overs in his legs. If he did not play before a Test his first innings figures were dismal yet with anything up to 36 overs in his legs he bowled well in the second innings and therefore needed to play County games. If he was Centrally contracted it would only be for one year because he would be poor and would in all honesty not have got one for the following year. I believe that match cricket is more important than netting, it even applies in the village game, we had a couple of lads who were brilliant in the nets, they had all the strokes and shots but on a Saturday they were bloody hopeless and it took a while to get through to them to build an innings before going for the shots, the nets masked the poor shots and it was the poor shots that were getting them out.

I was in favour of the ECB hierarchy at the beginning of the season but now I have grave misgivings and think that Graves and Harrison are chasing the money to the detriment of the County game and the Counties and with this farce about releasing players it is getting worse.

Good news for Yorkshire with Sidebottom agreeing another year contract and Azeem Rafiq on for another year but I think we need another good pace bowler to work alongside Brooks in the long term. Duckett has stated that he wants to play for Northants for the remainder of his career but after he gets a taste of international life he may reconsider as he only has a year left on his current contract, could be another Yorkshire look at to sort our top order out as he can play anywhere in the top four.

Finished Seventy-Eighth book a short while ago, 14th Deadly Sin by James Patterson. This latest Women's Murder Club book finds Detective Lindsay Boxer having to investigate the possibility that SFPD cops are turning rogue and taking out drug dealers and stealing their money and drugs as well as attacking pay day loan outlets and robbing them and in some cases shooting the owners. Alongside this she is the first officer at the scene of a fatal stabbing in broad daylight with people around yet no positive ID of the assailant from the numerable witnesses.

As the investigation into possible rogue cops Boxer gets messages not to cross the thin blue line and snitch but these crimes are causing hell for the SFPD, San Francisco mayor and the Governor of California and she alongside partner Conklin need to nail them and will she be able to find the murderer involved in the fatal stabbing which appears to be part of a pattern, five murders on the 12th May over the last five years and all Stabbings. Read on and find out, I enjoyed this as usual and look forward to book 15.

Back to the normal household jobs now, after taking Karen to work I got back and had breakfast and a pot of tea before getting on with things. Once I had eaten I finished my book as I only had 35 pages to read and then I did my book stats and notes. Once this was done I needed to go online so I popped on here and updated my thread and had a quick look around before doing what I needed to do online. By this time it was time for a pot of tea and I put the cricket commentary on as it is the last round of matches and three teams can win the Division one Championship with the top two meeting, Middlesex against my beloved Yorkshire.

Once I had finished my pot of tea I did a couple of small jobs and then had another pot of tea before going to do the upstairs housework. The cleaning this week will take me a bit longer as we were naughty last week and didn't do anything mainly because we were out most of the week. Once I had finished I made myself some lunch and a pot of tea and listened to the cricket. Once this was done I went outside and mowed the lawn, it was desperate to be done because of the weather and being away. I raised the cut setting and mowed the lawn and then lowered the setting to give it a good trim, by the time I had finished I needed a drink so made another pot of tea. Whilst it was brewing I did a bit of trimming of the Buddleia in the front garden and then when my tea was ready I took it with me to the top of the back garden and while it cooled a bit I dug some large weeds out and started assessing what needs to be done with the border. By the time I had cleaned myself up it was time to go and pick Karen up from work.

I think I may have done a bit too much as my back is killing me but luckily my patches are changed tonight, I will have to take my time tomorrow with the downstairs so I don't end up in pain.

You have lots of tea, John! I thought I drank lots, but you are a champion, ;-))

Good day, John! Harry Bosch is one of my favorite detectives and Michael Connelly, thereby, one of my favorite authors. I'm from Los Angeles, so my reading is enhanced by knowing the roads, cities, places, and emotions relating to being an Angeleno. I didn't read the series in order when I discovered Bosch, but will definitely re-read it in order when I decide that it's time to do so. Have you read any of his Lincoln Lawyer series with Mickey Haller? It's excellent, too, and intertwines with Bosch in a satisfying way.

I hope that when you read this you've escaped the potential gardening back pain.

Sending love and hugs to you and Karen!

>97 connie53:, Hi Connie, I am a bit of a tea monster and on a good day can have between 10 to 15 pots of tea a day and that is why we buy catering packs of tea bags from Costco that have up to 1250 tea bags in them. Hope you are having a good week my dear, sending love and hugs.

>98 karenmarie:, Hi Karen, I initially started reading the Harry Bosch books out of order and then read a Mickey Haller and then started picking more Connelly books up so I am reading in order at the moment until I come to one I have already read. It is good if you are reading a book that you can relate to as in your case being an Angeleno with the Bosch books. I have done this with the Jack Sheffield Teacher series, as an ex-Teacher and Headmaster at a Junior School in North Yorkshire the books start in 1977 and the latest book begins in the 1985/86 school year, it is great to remember those years at what was on Television, what we were wearing, the music at that time and what was happening news wise. I was 14 when the books start and as the latest book starts I have been married a year and have been back at work six months after the year long Miners strike.

Luckily the change of patches and a nights sleep helped with my back although I took things steady until lunchtime before doing the housework.

Sending love and hugs Karen my dear.

After suffering with my back last night, the patch change and a nights sleep helped but I took things steady this morning. I took Karen to work and then parked up near the store entrance and did the weekly shopping as I always do on a Wednesday. Once the shopping was done I got home and then unpacked and put the shopping away before having some breakfast and a pot of tea. I pottered about before settling down with my book and listened to the cricket commentary on the radio, I got up occasionally to go outside and have a smoke and make a fresh pot of tea.

Just before 1pm I got on with the downstairs housework but I took my time so as not to aggravate my back, once done I made myself some lunch and a pot of tea. Once I had eaten I settled with my book, my drink and the cricket but was disturbed by a phone call. I don't know what is going with us lately but we seem to be attracting calls demanding money. The call was from an energy firm saying I owed £1,685 and could I pay, I asked what it was about as I had not heard of the firm and was told it was to do with a pub in Bridgewater in Somerset over 200 miles away. I told the young lady I had never worked outside of Yorkshire, never been to Bridgewater and did not owe this money and thought a fraud was being done with my name and their firm, she told me she would investigate. A short while later it was time to go and pick Karen up from work.

After getting home we had a pot of tea and then watched the two programmes I had recorded this afternoon before we had something to eat. While Karen was making us something to eat I got a phone call from a debt agency to recover a debt for the energy firm who rang this afternoon, I explained about the call and told the lady I had never run a pub etc etc. I asked for her name and the firms name and she told me to hold on a second and then said in a voice that was annoyed but not at me that although the name was the same it could not be me and that the number they had rung and spoken to was the pubs and that she was going to contact the energy firm as she was not happy with them and why had she been given my details when it was plainly obvious that it could not be me who owed the debt. She told me she would contact them in the morning and get back to me as she was not a happy bunny having as she said been given false information. I just hope that this is sorted out and does not affect my credit rating or I will want compensation for them not getting the right person.

I love hearing about all of your pots of tea, too, John!

>102 scaifea:, Thanks Amber.

A very steady day, while Karen made breakfast I moved my car off the drive as Rob was coming over and wanted to leave his car on the drive and didn't want to block me in. Once the car was moved I had breakfast and then Rob arrived, after a quick chat I needed to take him to the railway station. By the time I got back from dropping Rob off Karen was doing the ironing, I made us both a pot of tea when she had finished and we just sat reading. We had another pot of tea and then Karen decided to go and wash her hair and I went to the high school where I am a governor for a History Departmental meeting. The meeting lasted just over an hour and it was nice to see the headmaster and the head of the History department, as I left I told them I would see them next Thursday when the school holds its open evening for prospective pupils and parents.

When I got back Karen was pottering about and so I made us a pot of tea and then we watched Escape to the Country and then Antiques road trip. When the programmes had finished it was time to go and pick Rob up from the railway station. Rob had some tea with us and a drink before he set off to the cricket club meeting.

Earlier in the day everything was sorted out with the Great British Bake Off with Mary Berry joining Sue Perkins and Mel Giederoyc stepping down from the show with the move from the BBC to Channel 4. Shortly after the news about Mary Berry it was announced that Paul Hollywood was going to stay with the show and move to Channel 4, both Karen and I are not sure what it will be like and who will be picked to join Paul Hollywood as presenters. I have no doubt we will watch the first show to see what it is like but think it will suffer from the change of channel.

Just before I came on here I put the first of our book orders into the Book People so they should arrive in the next couple of days.

>104 johnsimpson: This whole mess makes me so mad! Love Productions wants more money but I think they may have shot themselves in the foot. I don't have anything against Paul Hollywood but I don't think he can carry the show alone and I don't think they will find another baker with Mary Berry's knowledge and charm. It's the Paul and Mary team that make it so successful. And certainly Sue and Mel played their part as well. Darn! I don't watch much TV but didn't miss this the 3 years it has been on in the U.S. It will be interesting to see if Mary Berry has another show of some kind on BBC. One of my favorite books this year is her autobiography. It will be interesting to see if at 81 she starts another show. I hope I have her attitude when I'm her age....supposing I GET to her age!

>105 clue:, Hi Luanne, I think the BBC are planning something with Mary, Sue and Mel but nothing has been finalised. We just love Mary and have her book but I have not got to it yet. I am sure you will get to Mary's age and counting as will I. Hope everything is well with you my dear, sending love and hugs.

Not a bad day, we had a little lie-in as Karen wasn't feeling too well as she hadn't slept well, once up we had breakfast before I dropped Karen in town while I went to the hospital for an x-ray on my elbow. The elbow saga is ongoing, I went back to the doctor last week as it had filled up again and the new doctor thought there might be something underlying and wanted an x-ray. I booked my appointment last Friday and on Saturday received four letters confirming my appointment and this when the NHS is saying they are running out of money. I wasn't waiting too long for my x-rays to be done and when finished I went back and picked Karen up.

Once we were home I made us a pot of tea and put the cricket commentary on for the final days play in the Middlesex V Yorkshire county championship match. As the day started any one of three sides could win the pennant, Somerset who were top of the league as they won yesterday and both Middlesex and Yorkshire. Both sides needed to win to deny Somerset and play went on sedately, after lunch the game meandered on until 2.15pm when the captains had obviously agreed a run chase and so occasional bowlers fed the batsmen easy deliveries to score off. After 30 minutes Middlesex declared setting Yorkshire 240 off 40 overs, Yorkshire manfully chased the target but with 4overs and four balls left to bowl Middlesex bowler Toby Roland-Jones took a hat-trick to give Middlesex a 61 run win, Yorkshire finished third.

Back to me, we had another couple of pots of tea whilst listening to the cricket and then we had some homemade soup before I had to go and pick Hannah up from school. Hannah played with her toys along with watching some kids TV before she had something to eat. While I had a curry Karen took Hannah for a bath before I took Hannah home.

I broke down and ordered a Technovrum Moccamaster coffeemaker today. It cost almost $300.00. It has great endorsements from several of the cooking magazines to which I subscribe. It is made in the Netherlands and keeps the coffee at the optimum temperature for a longer period of time so that the coffee tastes better. I had promised myself that I would buy this as my retirement gift. Since I almost retired in July I decided to go ahead and purchase it anyway. It should be here on Tuesday and I am looking forward to using it. WOW! A new computer and a new coffeemaker. I should be all set for retirement when it does happen in two years. I will be able to keep up with all the LT people I know and read books while drinking a good cup of coffee.

We had a great Date Day yesterday, we set off to see Anthony Gormley's standing figures and I thought they were at Formby beach so that is where we headed. We found no signs for it and eventually asked an elderly lady in the railway car park and she pointed us in the direction of the beach. We followed the road and then a narrow one lane road until we came upon a young chap near the lifeboat station who told us we were in the wrong place and we needed to head to Crosby which was about six miles away.

We turned the car around and set off for Crosby, eventually we found brown signs for Anthony Gormley's Standing Places, after negotiating the roads we found the sea front and the Coastguard station and car park. We parked up and went for a stroll along the beach and spotted the standing figures, they were quite dramatic and looked great. As we walked along I picked up some shells for Hannah and some nice ridged shells so we can do some artwork together, we both said that it took us back years picking shells up and just strolling on the beach.
After a while we made our way back to the car and had our picnic lunch we had brought with us and a drink of coffee. Once we were full we packed things away and set off to Lytham which is not far from Blackpool.

We arrived and parked up in Lytham just before 3pm and wandered about the small town, I popped into a couple of charity shops and picked up a couple of books and Karen bought a small set of Playmobil for Hannah. After we had had a good stroll around we made our way back to the car and had another drink before setting off for home. We arrived back just before 6.30pm and unpacked our picnic bag and I made us a drink, I checked to see if we had any post and found cards saying parcels had been delivered and were in the Greenhouse. One parcel was for Karen and the other was our book people order.

Today we have just relaxed after our Date day yesterday, after a late breakfast we put a load of washing on and when finished I put it out on the airer while Karen put another load on, when that finished I put that load on the airer. We had another pot of tea and then made a list of ingredients and quantities for Christmas cakes, Karen put a message on Facebook for her friends to ask if anybody wanted one making and now she has orders for nine cakes and with one for us, she has ten cakes to make.

After another pot of tea we both pottered about before Karen went to wash her hair and I read for a while. We had a pot of tea once she had done her hair and then we made a late Sunday lunch before settling down to read and watch a bit of Television.

Morning all.

Good morning!

Hi John!

I just checked out Anthony Gormley's Standing Places - how interesting!

I hope you are having a wonderful day and reading interesting books. I am drinking my first cup of coffee of the day and am getting ready to do some reading.

All caught up here after my LT absence. Congrats on the 75 and I am totally jealous that you attended Paul's 50th celebration. But thanks for representing us LTers and you looked mighty fine in your suit. : ) Hugs to you and Karen.

>112 drneutron:, Thanks Jim.

>113 karenmarie:, Hi Karen, not too bad a day for me.

>114 Berly:, Hi Kim, Paul's birthday bash was a good one and we had a lovely time.

After taking Karen to work I popped into the store to price up ingredients for the Christmas cakes Karen is going to make. From here I popped into the Aldi store to do the same thing before heading home to have breakfast and a pot of tea. Once I had been fed and watered I read for a while before having another pot of tea and then read a bit more.

Soon it was time for another pot of tea and while enjoying my drink I went online to e-mail a complaint to Holiday Inn and then had a quick browse on LT. Once I had done online I got my self ready and set off out, first call was to get some money out and then onto Pets at Home to get some arthritis tablets for Leo and then I drove to Costco in Leeds. I picked up a few bits but could only price two items for Karen. From Costco I headed home and unpacked the few bits before making a pot of tea and some lunch. After I had eaten I went into the third bedroom to get into the loft as I had a few things to put back in the loft. I finished my drink of tea and went to pick Karen up from work.

Once home I made us both a pot of tea and we watched the Antiques Road Trip that I had recorded before Karen made us something to eat. Once we had eaten I made us another drink and then worked out the costings for the Christmas cakes, besides a cake for us she has ten to make for friends so she is going to be busy soon.

Finished book Seventy-Nine, A Vicky Hill Exclusive! by Hannah Dennison. Vicky Hill is a cub reporter on the Gipping Gazette and desperately wants a scoop but all she does is cover Funerals, make the tea in the office and other menial tasks. Added to this there is another girl who started a few months after Vicky who treats Vicky with disdain and thinks she is superior in every way. Annabel uses her jutting bosom to get attention and appears to be trying to sleep her way to the top.

Suddenly a tip leads to what might be the scoop of a lifetime for Vicky, it involves three grisly chicken corpses and the unusual death of local hedge-jumping enthusiast Sir Hugh Trewallyn. Vicky gets to the local refuse site to see the corpses when rival Annabel turns up and tries to scupper poor Vicky's plans. Soon the market town of Gipping-on-Plym is rife with rumours but when Vicky opens its Pandora's Box, her own secrets come back to haunt her.

Add to this Topaz who runs the Copper Kettle who appears to want a lesbian tryst as it sounds fun, Mrs Poultry who runs Cradle to Grave catering and rents a room to Vicky, Chester the strange American, the local police and a number of other weird and wacky characters and you have a light-hearted novel to warm your cockles. Already looking forward to what Vicky gets up to next.

Another steady day here, after taking Karen to work I got home and had breakfast and a drink of tea before finishing my Seventy ninth book of the year. I am one away from my best reading total in a year and have nearly finished my Eightieth so it is going to be a record year for me. After finishing my book I did updated my book stats although I haven't recorded the back cover notes on a record card yet or filled in my book record book. Once this was done I selected my next book and made a pot of tea and began reading again, before long I had had another couple of pots of tea and it was 1.30pm.

Time to get on with the upstairs housework or I might be in trouble with the boss, once the housework was done I made myself a couple of sandwiches and warmed up the bit of homemade soup that was left. Once I had been fed and watered I got my tape measure out and went into the third (box) bedroom and measured the wall space at the side of the bulkhead for some shelving. I am hoping that the firm that made our room furniture can make me this shelving at a reasonable cost, it doesn't need a back board and I will fix it to the wall as it will rest on the bulkhead. The shelving is for my Wisden Cricket Almanacks and hopefully my Yorkshire County Yearbooks and the Playfair Annuals. The shelves have to be able to take a weight of 25 pounds as 15 Wisdens will fit on each shelf. Once this was done I had another pot of tea before going to pick Karen up from work.

Once I had picked Karen up and got home I made us a pot of tea and we waited for Amy to arrive before we had something to eat. Amy arrived at 5.50pm and I made us all a drink while we chatted and then we decided to make something to eat. It has been nice seeing Amy and catching up on things as we haven't seen her since just before her birthday on the 18th. As I finish typing this Amy is getting ready to set off home before it gets too late.

I have updated my Ticker Factory counters but they don't seem to have updated on my thread, they are correct when I go to the counters to update but not on my thread, wonder what has happened.

Finished book Eighty this morning, Love Rules by Freya North. Best friends Thea Luckmore and Alice Heggarty have differing ideas about love, Thea loves romance and lives for the magic of true love. She is determined only ever to fall head over heels or rather heart over head. Alice on the other hand has always loved lust but now she's fed up with dashing rogues. She has set her sights on good, sensible husband material. And with her good, sensible husband she's found him.

Thea has a chance encounter on Primrose Hill that ignites the elusive spark. Saul Mundy appears to be the perfect fit and Thea's heart is snapped up fast.

Newly-wed Alice finds that she's not as keen as she thought on playing by the rules with her good, sensible husband and she starts to break them left, right and centre. At the same time, a shocking discovery shatters Thea's belief in everlasting love.

When it comes to love, should you listen to your head, your heart or your best friend.

A really good read from an author I like, glad I picked this up from the TBR pile.

Another steady day here in Walton with above average temperatures at the moment. After dropping off Karen at work I re parked the car and went into the store and did our weekly shopping. Once home I unpacked and put the shopping away before having breakfast and a pot of tea. Once I was fed and watered I finished my book and then did my book stats and notes.

I pottered about and had another two or three pots of tea before setting the DVD up to record a couple of programmes before doing the downstairs housework. Once the housework was finished I made myself some lunch and a pot of tea before it was time to go and pick Karen up from work.

Once I picked Karen up we popped next door to the Aldi store to pick up a couple of bits before going onto the doctors as Karen had an appointment for her smear test. Once done at the doctors we made our way home and once in the house I made us a pot of tea. We had our tea and chatted until Debbie came to do Karen's nails. I made us all a drink and then left them to it while I read until I decided I was hungry and made myself something to eat, as Karen was still having her nails done she said she would sort herself out later. Just before my food was ready, Debbie finished doing Karen's nails and left. As I tucked into my food Karen had a drink while she decided what she wanted.

We have just finished watching this week's Great British Bake Off episode and are now watching Grand Designs.

As I finished my 80th book of 2016 I equalled my best reading total and so will now set a new record of hopefully 100+ for the year.

Just finished a cup of my "Christmas Morning Tea" by a company called Stash Tea. Yum, John! I tend to drink a cup of tea in the fall and winter when it is cooler here. Nice warm me up. Congratulations on reading your 80th book! Sorry about your ticker troubles - I've not updated my ticker in a few days, so I'm not sure what is up with the ticker factory. Nice sunny day here, but I think soon we shall have to turn on the furnace.

Yes, congratulations on reading 80 books thus far!

Hmm - just tried to update my " ticker" too, and you are correct, it did work for me either. I'll wait a day and then I'll try creating a new one.

Good day, John, and congratulations on your 80th book of the year. I wish we needed to turn on the house heat - we're getting nasty August thunderstorms even though it's September. Last night was quite a show with lightning and house-shaking thunder and heavy bands of rain. This a.m. is overcast and humid with forecast of more thunderstorms today.

Sending love and hugs to you and Karen.

Latest reading stats:

Books on shelves at 1-9-16 - 2213
Books added in September - 29
Books read in September - 6

Revised book total - 2236

Pages to read at 1-9-16 - 960,947
Pages added in September - 11,338
Pages read in September - 2,197

Revised total pages to read - 970,088

SEPTEMBER'S READING STATS

Books Read...................... 6

No of Authors.................... 6

New Authors...................... 1

Male Authors..................... 2

Female Authors.................. 4

Pages Read...................... 2,197

Daily Avg........................... 73.23

Book Length avg................. 366.17

Yesterday we had a steady day, after breakfast I put the first load of washing on the line and set another load of washing off, when that was finished I put that lot on the line as the weather was really good. Once this was done we went to Blacker Hall Farm shop to get some nice bread and then we treated ourselves and went into their coffee shop for a nice coffee. Once back home we pottered about and then had a pot of tea before having some lunch.

Before we got settled I did a couple of small jobs and Karen did the little bit of ironing before we watched Escape to the Country. Once that was done we put back up a couple of small pictures that have been missing since the decorating started, after this we put fresh bedding on our bed and then put some steak pies in the oven to cook while we watched Antiques road trip. As soon as the programme had finished our pies were ready and we quickly warmed up a tin of mushy peas to go with the pies. We were eating early as I was going to the high school's open evening for prospective parents in my capacity as a school governor.

I left for school just before 6pm to make sure I could get parked and to catch a couple of teachers before the parents started drifting around to show them Amy's wedding photos. The teachers all taught Amy and always ask about her and "Miss" Sally did me a favour by using the school embroidery machine to embroider the names of Amy, Karen and the two main bridesmaids on their Dressing gowns that Karen had purchased for them.

I had a lovely evening and lots and lots of parents turned up and the comments I overheard as well as some of the teachers were very positive. I left just after 8.30pm and when I got home I told Karen about the evening and had a drink of tea and before I knew where I was it was too late to go online.

We have had another steady day, after a lie-in we got up and washed and dressed and came down to make breakfast. While Karen did the porridge I went to get my usual Friday papers and once back home I read then while I had my porridge and a pot of tea. Karen put the towels on the washing line and then we set off to the place where we got our oak furniture to get a price for some shelving to go in the small bedroom so I can display my Cricket books better. After I had got a price we headed home and called into a garden centre on the way. Once home I made us a pot of tea and we just relaxed reading, we had another pot of tea before Karen made us something to eat. We watched the news and then I read while Karen did a bit of knitting, before long it was time for me to go and pick Hannah up from school.

Once back with Hannah she made a beeline for the fridge to get some cheese out and Karen had brought her dolls stuff down for her to play with. While Hannah played happily I read and had a pot of tea before Hannah wanted a DVD on. Before long it was time to make Hannah something to eat and then I had a curry, while I ate Karen took Hannah for a bath. Shortly after it was time to take Hannah home but we didn't need to pick her daddy up from the railway station.

I am starting my October bedtime reading a night early, I intend to read the Narnia series as my bedtime reads and that will boost my reading total both book wise and page wise. if I complete this and with my daytime reads I should read between 14 to 16 books this month.

Enjoy your weekend, John and love and hugs to you and Karen! By the way, the ticker factory is working again. Who knows what happens with these things!

The first day of October came in with a bang, we awoke to a very foggy morning, damp and miserable at 6.30am. We washed and dressed and had a pot of tea before it was time to take Karen to work, on my way back home I called into the newsagents/Post Office to pay a bill and pick up my Yorkshire Post newspaper. Once I had done this I made my way home and had a pot of tea and watched the Breakfast news programme. After I had had my drink I decided to have some breakfast so I had Weetabix and another pot of tea, once I was fed I decided to read my paper.

Over the next couple of hours I read my paper and then picked up my book and had a couple of pots of tea and occasionally broke off to have a smoke. Just before noon Robert rang me to say he would be over by 1pm to cut my conifer hedge, once the call ended I had a pot of tea and read until Rob arrived.

Rob arrived just before 1pm and he wanted to get straight on with cutting the hedge, I made a pot of tea and then put a big tarpaulin on the lawn to collect the hedge clippings. It was the first use of the new hedge trimmer and Rob was impressed and said to me that it was the sharpest edge he had cut since he started cutting the hedge. He quickly got on with the cutting and then I had to hold the ladder while he did the top, before long it looked like he would get it done before I had to go and pick Karen up from work. Just before 1.45pm he sent Karen a text to say I might be a few minutes late as he had nearly finished the edge. As it turned out Rob got the hedge done by 1.55pm and I arrived to pick Karen up at 2.05pm but she wasn't out so I didn't end up being late.

Karen got in the car and didn't look too well, she was sniffing and snuffling and felt rotten, we got home and I made her a strong pot of tea before finishing tidying up the conifer clippings. Karen made herself a toasted teacake and when I got back in I made one for myself, we finished our toasted teacakes and then Karen took herself up to bed to try and relax and get warm. I put the heating on for the first time since April to try and warm her up. While Karen tried to get warm in bed I watched the football results programme and then a quiz show. In between I made Karen a couple of pots of tea and then just as Strictly Come Dancing started I put some fishcakes in the oven, 25 minutes later we were eating, me watching the dancing downstairs and Karen in bed watching the dancing.

As I type this Karen is still feeling a little under the weather and is tucked up in bed but she will be going into work tomorrow as she is the only one available for the photo desk this weekend.

Hi John! I'm sorry to hear Karen is under the weather and hope she recovers quickly.

It's funny you mention Narnia - I just found The Horse and His Boy in a 1954 MacMillan hardcover to complete my 6 out of 7 thrift store and one from Amazon hardcover collection. I also have a 1970s paperback boxed set. I shamefacedly admit that I've never read the entire series.... I have gotten bogged down at book 3 or 4 each time. Good luck to you.

Sending love and hugs to you and Karen.

Oh, I hope Karen is feeling better soon, John. Give her a gentle hug for me, please. And you've got me thinking that Charlie and I should get back to the Narnia books soon - we've only read the first one...

>133 karenmarie:, Thanks Karen, she managed to go to work this morning but when I picked her up she was feeling tired and sniffly but a full blown cold has not yet arrived.

>134 scaifea:, Hi Amber, I will give Karen a hug from you my dear, she finished work and felt tired and sniffly but a full blown cold has not yet appeared. I will finish the first Narnia book tonight and begin the second one. I remember listening to Mrs Dews or Miss Beaumont reading the first three Narnia books to us on the carpet in Junior school. These two wonderful teachers sowed the reading bug in me and they also read Stig of the Dump, Professor Branestawm, The Little Grey Men and The Weirdstone of Brisingamen to us, their voices were wonderful and conveyed the story with such love.

Aah....I have been away and missed these lovely updates. In the states, we are always behind on The Great British Baking Show. I did see an advertisement for special featuring baking tips from Paul Hollywood with Mary Berry as support. It was from a Tennessee PBS station that I was watching on my road trip this week. Not sure if it is a series and now, of course, I can't find a title or any other information.

I'm with you: the show won't be the same without the three women but I'll give it a chance.

Finished book Eighty-One last night, The Magician's Nephew by C.S.Lewis, this is the first in the Chronicles of Narnia in reading order. The book sets the scene of how Narnia came into creation and follows the story of Digory and Polly. Digory and his mother live with Uncle Andrew and Aunt Letty, a bachelor and old maid while Digory's father is out in India. While out playing in the back garden he meets Polly and a friendship is made, one day they decide to explore the attic of the house to the side of Digory's by going through the attic of Polly's and Digory's but fail to count correctly and they come down into Uncle Andrew's secret workroom.

Uncle Andrew believes he is a magician of sorts and experiments in making things vanish and hopefully they come back. As they stumble into this room Uncle Andrew is there and tricks them into vanishing out of this world, they see a beautiful sight but explore and come across a desolate land. Unfortunately Digory awakens a queen and as they try to escape back to the beautiful sight the queen hangs onto Digory and then when they try to get back to the attic she hangs on again, coming into our world. Mayhem ensues but they manage to get back to the beautiful sight and hear a lion singing and the land changes as do their lives.

This is a beautiful tale that introduces the reader to Narnia and sets the scene for the future books in a lovely way. Although I was read the The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Horse and his Boy, Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by junior school teachers over forty years ago, I have never until now read them myself and it is going to be a real pleasure reading them as my bedtime reads.

Book Eighty-two finished this morning, Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch. This is the second in the Peter Grant series and finds our trainee Metropolitan Police Wizard visiting Lesley, a friend and colleague but when on his way home he gets a call to look at a body. The body is of a part-time jazz saxophonist who dropped dead just after a gig. It turns out that this is not the first musician to drop dead of a heart attack after a gig, obviously Peter cannot start examining corpses and so it is back to Police legwork to look for similarities.

It doesn't take him long to realise that monsters are stalking Soho, feeding off the gift that separates great musicians from those who can raise a tune. Alongside this another story emerges, that of Richard "Lord" Grant, his father who was a brilliant trumpet player who managed to destroy his career not once but twice. Can Peter and his mentor find who is killing jazz musicians or will they come to harm.

This series makes you wonder what would happen if Harry Potter grew up and joined the Police. A great read and a wonderful series, looking forward to the next one.

I have had a busy and fruitful day but am feeling it now. After taking Karen to work I got back and had my breakfast before reading a chapter of my book. After this I sorted out garden waste, wood and old broken plant pots and loaded the car to take to the recycle centre. I burnt some old bits of trellis fence that had fallen apart, I left it burning in the Chiminea while I went to the recycle centre. Once back I had a quick pot of tea and read a few pages before I went to the doctors to see the practice nurse for my Flu jab. Once back home I finished off feeding the trellis bits onto the fire and went back indoors and made a pot of tea and finished my book. Once I had finished the book I did all my book stats and then selected a new read.

After pottering about for a short while I went to the garden centre to look for some supports for my two apple trees, I managed to get two supports and some Allium bulbs. Once home I made myself some lunch and set the DVD recorder up before going back outside to put the supports in the ground and re-tie the apple trees up and then did a bit of weeding at the top of the back garden. I think I may have overdone it as I came across some old roots that needed a hard tug to get them out. I decided it was time to get cleaned up and then take Amy's wedding dress to the Newsagent/Post Office to be sent to the dry cleaners. Once this was done I then went to pick Karen up from work. Karen is still feeling a bit under the weather and she was cold, we had a drink of tea and then made something to eat. Once we had eaten we watched a bit of TV before Karen went up to bed to read.

We had a wonderful sunny day yesterday, John! Nice and warm too! But I think it will soon time to put the heat on! I was chatting with one of my sons, William , and he was telling me that he felt very unwell due to a bad cold - so much so that he mainly worked from home for an entire week. He is an software engineer, so he can do that occasionally, but I was surprised he had felt so unwell. He is such a go- getter and more the sort to never miss work. Apparently his wife also had the cold , but it more short lived. William's wife teaches kindergarten and I think she picks up a lot of cold from teaching the young kids. I told William if is not feeling 100% shortly I will personally drag him off to the doctor! :)

Hi John! I'm sorry to hear that Karen is still under the weather. Sending love and hugs.

Sending healing vibes to Karen, mate. I trust that she copes ok in the gradually cooling weather.

>141 vancouverdeb:, Hi Deb, with Karen feeling unwell we have had to pop the heating on a little bit but I am ok. The weather here is pretty good for October so I am making the best of it. It seems that a cold virus is doing the rounds although it has not yet come out as a full blown cold.

>142 karenmarie:, Thanks Karen.

>143 PaulCranswick:, Hi Paul she is coping quite well but if it is to be a cold she wishes it would come out and she can deal with it.

Another pretty good day, after taking Karen to work I got home and had breakfast and then finished off burning the old trellis panel in the Chiminea. Once this was going ok I quickly popped into town to do a couple of things and then got back, made a pot of tea and put the last of the timber on the fire.

After tidying up in the garage I went back indoors and made a pot of tea and read for a while before going upstairs to do the housework. Once I had finished the upstairs housework I put my cleaning tools away and made myself some lunch. Once I had fed myself I went out to the old coal shed and emptied the bags of Anthracite a little bit and put the excess into other bags, this made all the bags more manageable to move and I placed them in the greenhouse waiting to be picked up. After this I did a little bit of gardening before cleaning myself up before going to pick Karen up from work.

Karen looked and felt awful bless her so once home I made us a pot of tea, after another pot of tea Karen checked what we needed for the shopping list and then made herself some porridge and then took herself to bed.

A little teaser for all my LT friends, I know it is a bit early but I will be asking for your help in a book choice, hopefully I will be in position to ask at the end of January. This is just an early heads up.

A steadyish day for me, after dropping Karen at work I went into store to do the shopping but this time I had two lists, one for the weekly shop and the other the ingredients list for the Christmas cakes. Once I had done the shopping I headed home and unpacked and put the supplies away. After this I had some breakfast before having a read of the Radio Times listings magazine and then my Railway magazine. In between I made myself a pot of tea or two and then read my book.

After another pot of tea I got on with the downstairs housework and when finished I had a pot of tea and read until it was time to go and pick Karen up from work.

Finished book Eighty-Three last night, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S.Lewis, This is the second in the Narnia series and finds Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensey evacuated to the country because of WWII. The house belongs to an old professor and he has a housekeeper, the children are bored and don't know what to do apart from keeping out of the way of Mrs Macready the housekeeper. One day while playing hide and seek Lucy goes into a room where the only furniture is an old wardrobe, she hides in it and finds herself in a land of snow, she happens upon a faun who takes her back to his house for tea. When Lucy gets back she tells her siblings of her adventure but they don't believe her as she has only been gone a matter of minutes. Edmund teases Lucy but when on another occasion of hide and seek they both enter the wardrobe, Edmund finds himself in the land of snow, he loses Lucy but meets the White Queen who encourages him to brings his siblings. When Lucy and Edmund get back Lucy is excited and has Edmund to qualify her tale but Edmund plays a nasty trick on his sister and denies her story. Later they are trying to keep out of Mrs Macready's way when she is showing visitors around the house and the only way to avoid her is to all enter the wardrobe, in this way they all believe Lucy when they find the land of snow.

From here they begin an adventure to dislodge the White Witch (Queen) and meet Aslan, Edmund disappears to find his Friend the White Witch and then things take a turn for the worse. Can Narnia be free of the White Witch and the constant winter and can Edmund be saved, read and find out.

I then began book three, The Horse and his Boy.

As soon as we were up and dressed we got downstairs and Karen started mixing her first batch of Christmas cakes, I juiced the oranges and lemons and assisted when required. As soon as they were ready Karen put them in the oven and we tidied up and put the dishwasher on. Before we had some breakfast I popped to the Pharmacy to pick up my prescription and then got back home. While the porridge was being made I put the first load of washing on the line and put a second load on. Once we had finished our breakfast the second load of washing was ready to be put on the line which I did. Along with the cakes Karen did a dozen tasting buns and when they were cool enough to eat I had one for quality assurance, the bun was lovely and I also had the scrapings left in the mixing bowl.

While the cakes were baking we watched the morning news programme and had a pot of tea, in between I read for a while. We had time for another pot of tea before Karen had to get ready to go with her friend and work colleague to the hospital for her last Radiotherapy treatment and I made a shopping list for the Christmas cake ingredients for the eight more that she has to make.

Mandy picked Karen up just after 1.30pm and I then set off to the supermarket to get the ingredients, once I was back home I made a pot of tea and read. From just before 3pm until 7.40pm I had a number of pots of tea and read waiting for Karen to arrive home. After Mandy had her treatment, which unfortunately was delayed, she then took Karen and two other friends for something to eat as a thank you for being there for her. When Karen arrived home she had a gift from Mandy for me, as no one wanted cake for dessert she had a piece and ordered a piece for me so that I didn't look as though she was eating alone. I had the cake after I had had something to eat and it was really nice, thank you Mandy. With the amount of reading I have managed today I will finish my daytime book tomorrow so that will be four read for the month, not bad going as tomorrow will be the 7th day of the month. I think I am on track for a good month at this rate.

Four books already! Fantastic. Imagine already starting Christmas cakes. Makes me hungry even though I just had a greek salad for dinner.

Hope Karen's much, much better and good luck on the next eight cakes!

Book Eighty-Four finished this afternoon, Private Games by James Patterson. The 2012 Olympic Games are under threat and only Private, the world's most exclusive detective agency can save them. Sir Denton Marshall a key member of the organising committee is found brutally murdered, Peter Knight, head of Private London is called in as Marshall was an important client and he was also the fiancé of Knight's mother. Is this a random murder or is it the prelude to more? A letter is sent to say Marshall is one of the corrupt involved in the modern Olympic Games and others will also be dealt with and it is signed Cronus.

The Olympics are under threat and no one knows who may be next to be murdered, the race is on to find Cronus before the world's greatest sporting event is brought to its knees.

A fast paced thriller from Patterson once again.

>150 karenmarie:, Thanks Karen, my Karen is feeling a little bit better, enough to do this marathon baking. Five cakes made today.

Another baking day, the fruit was prepped yesterday which was a good job as Karen had forgot that the hairdresser was coming this morning. Bridget the hairdresser sent a message to see if she could come at nine instead of ten which suited us better. While Karen was having her hair done I juiced the Oranges and Lemons and when Bridget left Karen got on with the mixing and I popped out for my usual Friday newspapers. The cakes went in the oven just after 10.45am and after cleaning up we had some breakfast. The mix made four full size cakes, a mini bread tin cake and five tasting buns. The cakes came out very well and the tasting buns were lovely.

After a couple of pots of tea we had something to eat and then after watching this weeks Bake Off show that I recorded I set off to pick Hannah up from school. Hannah was a little bit tired when we got back home but played with her toys and watched a bit of children's TV before she had something to eat. I had a bite to eat while Karen took Hannah for her bath and then I took her home.

The small bread tin cake was a bonus and that has been sold so just four more cakes to make which will be done on Sunday, tomorrow we are having a date day but haven't yet decided where we are going.

Oh gosh, I'm so jealous of those Christmas Cakes. YUM.

Happy weekend to you and Karen, John!

Christmas cake sound wonderful! I am hoping to find time to bake tomorrow: mostly whole wheat bread and some apple muffins.

Have a happy weekend!

>153 johnsimpson: I was worried there for a second as I thought that the hairdresser was going into the cake mix!

Have a great weekend mate and hugs to Karen.

>154 scaifea:, Hi Amber, we have had a good weekend my dear, I will post below details.

>155 witchyrichy:, Hi Karen, the Christmas cake baking has gone well, hope you managed to get your baking done my dear.

>156 PaulCranswick:, Hi Paul, Can't lose a good hairdresser even if it only takes her five minutes to do mine.

We had a lovely date day yesterday, we got up a bit early for a Saturday to get some breakfast and sort things out so we could set off. We decided to go up to Northallerton, we haven't been up that neck of the woods in 2016 and we love the place. We had to make a detour as the junction we needed to get off on the A1 was closed, we skirted Thirsk which was the home to the vet James Herriot and got into Northallerton just about at the time I had envisaged. Once we were parked up we strolled across to the high street, our route takes us through the courtyard of The Golden Lion pub. We decided to call in and get a coffee before we started our stroll around, the pub has undergone some extensive work and they have done a really good job without spoiling the pub and its heritage.

Once we had finished our drinks we set off to stroll along the high street and see what was on offer, it was market day so we had some good stalls to peruse. We called into Waterstones bookshop just for a look but we came out with two books and a wall calendar, the calendar is an amusing Star Wars one and it is going to be a gift for Amy and Andy for their first wedding anniversary which is paper. We have got them a couple of other items but they will like this as they are both Star Wars fans.

We continued up the high street and popped into a couple of charity shops before getting to the top of the high street, we crossed the road and started down the other side. Karen popped into a few shops looking for a tweed checked skirt. We had to pop into Browns department store, this is an independent store and has some really lovely items in but they can be on the pricey side as there is some money in and around Northallerton. Karen spotted a display of some really fantastic shoes, the style and colours were amazing but unfortunately Ruby Shoes do not go up to a size nine. After a good look around we came out and continued on our stroll and my next stop was WHSmiths store, I picked up The Saturday edition of the Yorkshire Post and the Cricket Paper and a railway magazine and then spotted a book about railways that was half price, so I was on that like a flash.

We continued our browse of the shops until we got to the bottom of the high street and then crossed back over the road to continue back up until we got back to The Golden Lion pub. We called into a couple more shops to pick up some small items and then we made our way back to the car. Once in the car we had a cup of coffee from the flask we had brought and then once we had finished we set off to Thirsk. After a drive of about thirty minutes we arrived in Thirsk and managed to get parked up. From the car park we took a short stroll to the market square and first stop was The White Rose Book shop. This is a wonderful independent book shop that has received a grant from James Patterson's book shop fund, this is the second book shop in Yorkshire that we have been in recently that has benefitted from Mr Patterson's fund. We had a good look around before we left to stroll around Thirsk. As we strolled around I popped into the Oxfam shop and picked up a book and Karen found a nice little card that she liked and has a recipient for. After a short stroll we made our way back to the car and made our way home. Before getting home we had to call into the supermarket to pick up two small items for the last of the Christmas cakes to be baked on Sunday.

We have had a nice Sunday, once we were up and dressed we had some breakfast and while the porridge was cooking Karen put a load of washing on. Once breakfast was finished I put the washing on the line along with the towels from yesterday which we had forgotten were in the washing machine. While I was putting the washing out Karen was zesting the Oranges and Lemons for the cakes, once she was done I juiced the fruit and Karen started the mixing. A couple of people were coming to collect and pay for their cakes and I was sent out on an errand, while I was out Karen finished the mixing and filled the various tins and put them in the oven. I got back to the lovely aroma of baking Christmas Cakes.

Time seemed to be racing by and I made us a pot of tea and we both relaxed in the living room. Karen pottered about and I started to read, after another pot of tea the cakes were ready to come out of the oven. Once the cakes were on the cooling racks we started to think about having something to eat, another lady came for her cake and then we put some food in to cook and then had a pot of tea and went into the room to read.

Once our food was ready we sat at the dining table to eat and then cleared our plates and cutlery away into the dishwasher before Karen's nail lady came to repair her nails. Once Debbie the nail technician left we went into the living room and had a pot of tea, I read and Karen did some knitting before it was time to watch Countryfile and then Strictly come Dancing the results show which we are watching as I type this.

Finished book Eighty-Five last night in bed, The Horse and His Boy by C.S.Lewis. This is the third in the Chronicles of Narnia series and finds young boy Shasta learning that he is not the son of Arsheesh the fisherman. It would appear he was found on the beach and Arsheesh took him in to help him with the fishing but he is to be sold into slavery, Shasta hears of this and decides to run away. Shasta along with Bree, a talking horse decides to make his way to Narnia where he would be free. Along the way he meets up with Aravis and her horse and she goes along with Shasta, they have a number of adventures and scrapes and hope they find freedom, safety and happiness in Narnia.

As soon as I finished this book I began book four in the series, Prince Caspian.

>161 DianaNL:, Thanks Diana.

It has been a mixed day weather wise here, this morning and up to about 2pm it was dry and sunny and then we had heavy rain showers followed by a bit of sun and then more rain. The forecast for the next few days are showing more showers and the temperature is going to start dropping so I think Autumn has now arrived.

After taking Karen to work I got back and had breakfast and then did my book stats for the last three books I have finished. Once this was done I made a pot of tea and then read until it was time to go to my doctors appointment. Just before I did my book stats Amy rang me a bit tearful, she had had a bump in the car and needed to talk to Dad. She told me what had happened and that she had got the other driver's details, I told her what she needed to do and also asked her if she needed me to come through to her workplace. She told me she was ok but would contact me if she needed me later.

I went to see the doctor for the results of my elbow x-ray, there was no residual damage and no sign of any arthritis so that was good, it is just a case of Bursitis and it will go away of its own accord. I got back from the doctors and made a pot of tea and continued reading. After another couple of pots of tea and reading I was going to do a bit of pottering in the garden when the first rain shower appeared so I made my self some lunch and set the DVD recorder up to record Escape to the Country. By the time had eaten the rain had cleared and I got out into the garden but only for a short space of time before the rain started. This happened twice more and I kept getting out for about 20 minutes to do some tidying up. After the last rain shower I called it a draw and made a pot of tea before going to pick Karen up from work.

Hi John, thanks so much for keeping my thread warm. I'm sorry to hear about your elbow issue. I hope you'll feel better soon. I try to find my way through the threads and definitely hope doing better with my presence here. I missed you, too. Love and hugs for both of you xx
I wish you a wonderful start into the new week.

>164 Ameise1:, Thanks Barbara.

Hi John, been a rainy weekend here, too. Hope your elbow pain goes away very soon. Hugs from across that big pond.

We've had on and off weather here too, John. Yesterday was wonderfully sunny and warm! Today has been a mix - rain in the morning and sunshine later in the day. Hugs to you and Karen!

Hi John! Just a quick hello to send love and hugs to you and Karen!

>166 lit_chick:, Hi Nancy, the elbow is a little bit tender but it will heal itself, sending hugs my dear.

>167 vancouverdeb:, Hi Deb, sounds like we are having the same weather, it has been mainly rain today with the odd flashes of sun.

>168 karenmarie:, Hi Karen, nice of you to visit my dear.

It has been a really miserable day here in Walton with rain all day. After taking Karen to work I got back home and had some breakfast before settling down to read along with the obligatory pot of tea. After watching the lunchtime news programme I got on with the upstairs housework and once that was done I had something to eat. After satisfying my hunger I made a pot of tea and then read until it was time to go and pick Karen up from work.

Good evening, John. I hope you had a good day.

>171 Ameise1:, Hi Barbara, I have had a good day on the reading front but because of the horrible weather I didn't get any work done in the garden. Hope you are enjoying your Autumn break my dear.

Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that you had such awful weather. Here it's terribly dry since August.

Up until the last couple of days it has been quite dry and sunny here and we have had some good date days on our travels but I think Autumn is here to stay now. The forecast for the next few days is more rain with the occasional dry patch.

Happy Birthday To You!!!

Finished book Eighty-Six last night, Prince Caspian by C.S.Lewis. This is the fourth in the Narnia series and finds that troubled times have come again to Narnia. The Telmarines have conquered Narnia and are persecuting true Narnians. Prince Caspian is seeing all the evil done by his Uncle Miraz and is helped to escape by his tutor. He has the Great Horn of Narnia and has to blow it, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy hear it while sat on the platform of a railway station and find themselves drawn back to Narnia. Can they help save Narnia and restore Prince Caspian to his throne when of age.

I am really enjoying the series and began book five immediately.

Another miserable rainy day here in Walton, the day began dry and bright when I took Karen to work and then went into store to do the weekly shopping. Once home I unpacked and put the shopping away before having some breakfast. Whilst having breakfast it began to rain and was then raining on and off for the remainder of the day. I made myself a pot of tea and updated my book stats with finishing my latest book before doing some reading. I read until 2pm with occasional breaks to make pots of tea, answer the phone and knocks at the door and then I got on with the downstairs housework. Once the housework was done I made myself some lunch and read for ten minutes until it was time to pick Karen up from work.

Karen was very tired when she got in the car, the new firm taking photo over came in last night to start work on how they want the area to look but they cleared the wrong side. Karen and a colleague had to sort that out and then set about clearing all the music and video stock into crates as well as deal with any photo work. The photo work stopped when the machine packed in and so M&V work continued, the photo dept looks like a bomb has dropped according to Karen and she let a colleague who is in tomorrow know what she will walk into. Karen is not looking forward to the weekend when she will be on her own but is not going to worry about that until Saturday morning.

On the reading front I will use some cricket terms, I am on with my 87th book which is Australian cricketers unlucky number but as I am near to the finish it will not bother me and I should get to my maiden century at the 21st attempt.

Sorry to hear that you still have such bad weather but so you get lots of reading time. Oh dear, what a mess at Karen's work place. Give her my love, please, and tell her I'm thinking of her. I hope the weather improves tomorrow. Love and higs xx

>178 Ameise1:, No such luck on the weather front Barbara, rain is forecast right through to Monday but it is going to be mild. Have passed on your love to Karen.

Hi John. Love and hugs to you and Karen. As for the weather, we have three days of wind and rain warnings, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The " Special Weather Warning " as per environment Canada warns of high winds and extremely heavy rain " That means keeping candles and flashlights handy as well worrying a bit about my older son driving to work, as he has to travel on a highway about 1 hour each way each day. Water can pool etc and he travels very early in the day. I'll be glad when this weather is past us.

It has been a very dry October here in Alabama. In fact it is the second driest on record. The last day it rained here was on September 19. Even the air is dusty and dry. Work has been very busy, and I just can't seem to get home before 6:30 p.m. and tonight I have to stop at the grocery and pick up coffee filters. If I don't there won't be any coffee for me in the morning. Tomorrow I have to attend Active Shooter Training. All of the library employees have to attend, so I will be there putting in my time to learn how to run away from a shooter or attack him. Fortunately I have plenty of ammunition in this library. I can just throw books at him if I get a chance. I know it is a serious problem, but I am behind and need to get some things done here at work.

Hi John! Quick hello to you and Karen and sending love and hugs.

We have had a date day today and luckily for us we were indoors as it has been raining yet again. We went to Meadowhall shopping centre and picked up a couple of small gifts for Christmas and one or two ideas. Once we were back home I made us a pot of tea while we watched a recorded episode of Escape to the Country. Once this had finished I went and printed off some paperwork for tonight's full governors meeting and Karen made me something to eat.

I left for the meeting at 6.10pm as it started at 6.30pm and got back just before 9pm, it was a good meeting and quite a bit was done.

It's good to hear that you had a great day.

>184 Ameise1:, Thanks Barbara, we had a nice stroll around and picked up one or two ideas for presents and I saw one or two things that I might like as I have. to give Rob and Amy some ideas.

You are going to knock your hundred over the ropes this year John - nailed on. I have not failed to make it to three figures since I was out of nappies although I only just made it a few years ago in what was a bit of an annus horribilis for me.

Have a great weekend, mate.

>186 PaulCranswick:, Cheers mate.

Finished book Eighty-Seven just before teatime, Killing Floor by Lee Child. This is the first in the Jack Reacher series and finds Jack jumping off a bus and walking fourteen miles into Margrave, a no-account town in Georgia. He only got off to find out about a guitar player his brother had talked about.

Just as Jack is arriving in Margrave it has had its first homicide in thirty years and Jack is the only stranger in town. So the murder is pinned on him. Nasty secrets start to leak out and the body count rises and only one thing is for sure, they picked on the wrong guy.

A really good read and what a debut book, a superb thriller and a fantastic character to follow.

Wishing you a lovely weekend, John. xx

Finished book Eighty-Eight late last night, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S.Lewis. This is the fifth in the Narnia series and finds Edmund, Lucy and cousin Eustace dragged into a picture of a gallant ship. The ship belongs to Prince Caspian and is on a journey to find the seven lost friends of King Caspian the Ninth. On this extraordinary voyage they encounter a Dragon, a Sea Serpent, a band of invisible people, a Magician and the great Aslan himself. Will they find the seven friends and get back to Narnia or is this a journey too far? Already started book Six.

After finishing my latest book I broke through the 30,000 page barrier for the year. I have already begun my next two books.

Today has been a really good day. After taking Karen to work I made my way home and picked up my newspaper and then got home and had breakfast. Once I had fed myself I had a pot of tea and then made my way into Wakefield. Once in town I did the banking I needed to do and then headed over to Trinity Walk shopping centre to pick up my art magazine and then got back to the car. Once back at the car I got in and made my way home.

Once home I made a pot of tea and then put the washing on the airers, just as I finished that Amy rang to let me know that she had had a good phone call with Which about getting a mortgage and that she would be picking mum up from work. After this I did my book stats and then started to read my newspaper, I got a message from a friend about collecting her Christmas cake and Mince pies. I told Karen that she could come any time as I would be in all day, I made sure the cakes etc were ready to go and then went into the garage to check Robert's bicycle as he is doing a charity ride tomorrow with the cricket club. I made sure the tyres were pumped up and the chain ran freely and then made myself another pot of tea. A short while later Karen came to pick up her cakes and pies and then just as I had sat down Amy rang to say that she was midway between home and us but had forgotten her memory stick and had I got one, I told her not to worry as I had a memory stick and I would see her shortly. I got the laptop set up and she arrived and downloaded from her phone to the laptop and then to the memory stick and then went to sort her photos out at Asda and then pick mum up. I got back to watching the Women's World Road Race from Doha, the race finished just as Amy arrived back with her mum.

I made us all a drink and Amy and Karen sorted some things out and then we started chatting, before long Robert arrived to pick his bike up. Once we had loaded the bike into his car he came inside and had a pot of coffee, we all chatted and then Rob had to leave. Amy stayed for another hour before it was time for her to go, she would arrive back home just before Andy was due to get home.

Karen put some food in the oven and I had a pot of tea, once the food was ready we ate and then watched a bit of TV before Strictly Come Dancing started.

A very steady day for me mainly due to the horrible weather. We had breakfast together before I took Karen to work, I made my way home and had a pot of tea. The weather at this point was quite bright and sunny but within an hour of getting home it had changed and the rain came down quite heavy. I had a couple of book related things to do and then put the television on to watch the Men's world road race from Doha. After a couple more pots of tea the rain stopped and I turned the TV off and popped quickly into town to pick up the Divergent box set as it is part of a Christmas present and some Broccoli for Karen to make some Broccoli cheese soup. Once back home I made a pot of tea and put the cycling back on.

The road race was very good with the main action taking place 90km into the 257km race when out in the desert a crosswind developed and the race fractured big style. The Belgians were waiting for this and took advantage and when the lead chasing group got hit they were ready and took the bull by the horns and stepped up the pace, those lucky enough to be aware joined then but the rest suffered. In this group only Cavendish and Blythe for GB managed to join and the remaining riders split into many groups and with the Belgians controlling the lead chasing group caused major damage and realistically the race was over at that point for all but about thirty riders.

The Belgians set a daunting pace and they soon caught the early breakaway group that at one point had an advantage of Eleven minutes, the riders in this group latched onto the back of the Belgian group and apart from a couple of accidents the group settled at 25 riders and they gobbled the kilometres up and entered the Pearl for the eight circuits of central Doha. The second group on the road tried to bridge the gap to the Belgian group but every time someone tried to go off the front to up the pace one of two remaining Belgian team joined them to neutralize the break. By the time they got to the last three circuits most of the 190 starting field had either abandoned or had been pulled out of the race by the officials as they were that far behind they would have been lapped.

As the race took the bell for the last lap there were 25 riders in the group but some were at the end of time due to the effort from earlier and with 5km to go manoeuvers were being made by the favourites and the two Brits needed to watch carefully. Cavendish had latched onto Peter Sagan's wheel and Blythe was acting as sweeper behind him to help protect his position. The sprint for the line started with 500m to go and when Sagan took off Cavendish followed but he had to make a slight jink to avoid a collision and Sagan crossed the line a bike length in front of Cavendish with Belgian Tom Boonen in third. It was a good race with all the top three having previously being Road Race World Champion, Sagan won it last year in Richmond, USA.

Once the cycling finished I made another pot of tea and did a bit of pottering about until it was time to go and pick Karen up from work. By this time the sun was out and drying things up. Once back home I made us a pot of tea and then Karen went to wash her hair. Once Karen had done her hair we began to warm the casserole up and Robert arrived to drop his bike off and pick up his backboard and child seat. Rob had taken part in the 60 mile cricket club charity bike ride, the wet weather didn't help in the early part of the ride but at least they had nice sunny weather towards the end. Rob looked shattered and said they had headwinds and the rain was driving into them for a large part of the ride but they all finished and hopefully have raised a decent amount of money.

A good reading day for me as the weather was a bit iffy this morning. After taking Karen to work, I got back and had breakfast and then decided to read hoping the weather would pick up. I had occasional breaks to make a fresh pot of tea and just before 1pm I warmed up the bit of casserole Karen had left for me. I watched the news while I ate and then had a pot of tea. Once I had finished my drink and the news had finished I went into the garage to do a bit of tidying. By this time the weather had brightened somewhat so I stopped what I was doing and decided to do a bit of weeding and cutting down plants that needed it. I was doing well when a rain shower started, I put everything away and made a pot of tea and read while it stopped. By the time I had drunk my tea the sun was out again and I managed to get done what I wanted to do today. I did a spot more tidying in the garage and then had a quick drink and read before going to pick Karen up from work.

Finished book Eighty-nine at bedtime, The Silver Chair by C.S.Lewis. This is the sixth in the Narnia series and finds Eustace and Jill wishing themselves in Narnia to escape their school, The Experiment House. They climb an old wall to escape bullies and find themselves in what Eustace thinks is Narnia. They wander around and come to the edge of a cliff and as Jill warns Eustace to be careful he falls, Jill is beside herself and shouts that she never did anything but then looks to see Eustace floating away. She turns around hoping to find some help and sees Aslan who give her a message that is in four parts, she must constantly memorise them as they are part of a task he is setting them both. Aslan blows a breath and Jill floats away following Eustace. When they are rejoined she tells him what Aslan told her and that they must find Prince Rilian who disappeared mysteriously ten years ago.

They begin their adventure and come across Marsh-Wiggle, Puddleglum who guides them but as they journey Jill gets the message mixed up and all seems lost when they are directed to the castle of the Giants. They think they will be fed and made warm but realise they are to be part of the Giants Autumn Feast and not as guests. They escape and end up deep underground and as they find the Prince they become in thrall to the powerful Lady of the Green Kirtle. Will they escape this dangerous lady and restore Rilian to his homeland or will they become a pawn in the lady's game? Read on and find out.

I am really enjoying this series and will start the final book tonight.

Looking at my reading this year I have managed to move forward with some series and a couple have been completed. My target now is to average 9 books a month so need to get to 108 by year end, I must say that I have missed reading a few chunksters and so next year I may read a few especially if I want to start a couple of new series and read one or two classics.

Today has been a weather mix, this morning it was mainly rain with the sun coming out during the afternoon although late on it did spoil itself with a couple of squally showers. After taking Karen to work I got back and had breakfast and then read for a short while. As I finished a book last night I had four books to write up in my book of stats so I did this and then decided to get the water globes from the plant pots outside and give them a good clean. I put the globes in the washing up bowl and put a dash of bleach in and filled the bowl with hot water and left them to steep. I got back to my reading and spent the remainder of the morning reading and drinking tea.

Just after 1pm I finished cleaning the water globes and then took the vacuum cleaner and duster upstairs to do the upstairs housework. Once I had finished this I brought the vacuum and duster back downstairs and put them away and then made myself something to eat. After feeding myself I made a pot of tea and read before going to the newsagents to pick up Amy's wedding dress which had come back from the dry cleaners and then went to pick Karen up from work.

Once home I made us a pot of tea and poor Karen was feeling really unwell and it looks like she has got a cold. After having her drink Amy phoned and chatted with her and then she made herself some porridge and then took herself to bed. I put a pizza in the oven and had that and then came on here. I made Karen a nice strong pot of tea and one for myself and then watched good programme on TV. I made Karen another pot of tea and then put the waste bins out for collection tomorrow and then realised that I needed to put a book order in to the Book People to maintain our VIP status, I have just completed this. I will sign off for today and see you all tomorrow.

Oh, I'm sorry that Karen isn't feeling well - please give her a gentle hug from me.

>199 johnsimpson:, Gentle hug given Amber.

Usual Wednesday for me but I have got a goodly amount of reading done. After taking Karen to work I popped into store to do the weekly shopping. Once the shopping was done I got home and unpacked and put the shopping away. Once this was done I had some breakfast and then started to read, first the TV magazine and then onto my book, this was interspersed with pots of tea.

Just after 1pm I got on with the downstairs housework and then when finished I made myself some lunch and read for a short while until it was time to go and pick Karen up from work.

Poor Karen, it sounds like she's been battling that cold for a while now. I hope she can soon get rid of it. Your weather is so much like ours - rainy mainly, overcast , and here and there, a bit of sun.

>201 vancouverdeb:, Hi Deb, she has been battling bless her and it still hasn't come out as a full blown cold and this morning I thought I was starting as my throat felt a little bit tingly.

Finished book Ninety late last night, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I have had this for quite a while and ignored all the hype surrounding it and decided to read it a few days ago. At first I was struggling to get into it but thought I would persevere and in one way I am glad. I forget what page I got to before it started to get me and I then started to romp through it. I did enjoy it in some ways but not in others and to be perfectly honest I don't know what all the fuss was about. The only use it is to me is that when I see a how many of these books have you read booklists on Facebook I will be able to tick it off as it will be on these lists.

So now I am into the not so nervous nineties and it is onwards and upwards to my century.

We have had a pretty good day, after breakfast we went to Blacker Hall Farm Shop to get some nice bread and pick up some Venison, we had to order the Venison as it hadn't come in and would be available after 3pm. From here we stopped off at the nearby Aldi as Karen wanted a couple of bits and then we went to Victoria Garden Centre. We had a good look around the Garden centre but came away empty handed.

We made our way home from the Garden centre and as soon as we were home I made us a pot of tea. It was at this point that I noticed that my throat felt a bit sore and with Karen having all the symptoms of a cold it looks as if she has passed it on. We sat and chatted while having our pot of tea and then Karen made us something to eat and after this we watched Escape to the Country. Once this was finished I went to pick up the Venison from the Farm shop and Karen decided to make some Mince pies and some Parkin. I got back from my trip to the gorgeous smells emanating in the kitchen. Once they were cool I had a mince pie and a piece of Parkin for quality assurance and they were gorgeous.

Our final Book People order came while we were out and so four books are added to my pile.

Just watching a bit of TV after catching up on some programmes we had recorded, there was nothing on the main channels so turned to BBC Four and there is a documentary about the Aberfan disaster. Tomorrow is the fiftieth anniversary of the Pantglas school being overwhelmed by 150,000 tons of coal slurry, 116 children and 28 teachers were killed. Some children and teachers escaped but 29 children were buried alive and luckily were dug out but have suffered nightmares over the last fifty years. I must say that a few tears are trickling down my cheeks listening to how a school dinnerlady shielded five young girls, she took the full impact and perished but her body created an air pocket and the girls were dug out.

Tomorrow morning there is going to be a minute's silence at 9.15am, the time the disaster struck, please think about these people in a small Welsh coal mining village that was devastated 50 years ago.

>205 johnsimpson: A tragedy indeed that deserves a moment to consider the lives lost and saved.

Hoping both you and Karen feel better soon!

>206 witchyrichy:, Thanks Karen. I am ok the potential sore throat has disappeared and Karen is not as bad as she was a few days ago. Hope you are having a good day my dear.

A steady day for us today, once we were up I popped to the newsagents to pick up my Friday paper while Karen made the porridge. Once back I had breakfast but Karen just wanted a drink before Debbie came to do her nails, while I was having breakfast we observed a minutes silence to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Aberfan disaster. Shortly after Debbie arrived and I made us all a pot of tea, while Karen had her nails done I read my paper and then got stuck into my book and I put the radio on to listen to the second days play in the Bangladesh V England Test match.

Once Debbie had finished and gone I emptied the plant pots that have had the Cosmos plants in and then cut down the straggly stems of the Chocolate Cosmos as that is a perennial and will store over winter ready to burst into life next year. The Dahlias have to taste the first frost before I can lift the tubers and clean them up and put them into store over the winter. By this time it was nearly lunchtime but we just had a drink of tea as neither of us was ready to eat. A short time later Karen made me some sandwiches and she had her porridge and we watched the lunchtime news programme.

After eating and watching the news I went into the front garden to do a bit of weeding, while I did this Karen looked for some bulb plant trays so that we can plant some spring bulbs and then safely lift them after they have flowered as we want to re-plant and change the front garden. Karen found some and has ordered them and we will look at some nice Dahlia plants that we would like for the front garden as part of the re-design. Karen made us both a pot of tea and by the time I had finished mine it was time to go and collect Hannah from school.

While I went to get Hannah, Karen decided to make some biscuits and was supposed to do the ironing that has built up but when we got back the biscuits had been made but no ironing done. Hannah is sleeping over so she deposited her school bag and she had some cheese and played with the small Playmobil set that we had bought for her. Soon Hannah said she wanted something to eat so Karen made her beans and sausage and when she had finished she went back to playing with her toys. Before long it was time for something to eat and I had a warmed up Pork pie and Mushy peas and while I was eating Karen took Hannah up to the bath. When Hannah was bathed and in her pyjamas she came downstairs to play while Karen went into the shower. Once Karen was dried and dressed she came down and had something to eat and then listened to Hannah reading her school book. Hannah had some biscuits and some milk before it was time for bed.

Looking at my book stats I hope to get to my 1,000th book read by the 22nd anniversary of me keeping a record of my reading on July 1st 2017. I also hope to be at about 470,000 pages read by then, I must say that my reading numbers have vastly improved since joining LT but I have also vastly increased my TBR pile as I just cannot resist going into bookshops, charity shops and Antiquarian and secondhand bookshops. I am desperate to keep my pages to be read below the million page mark but I may be losing this battle.

The weather her has finally decided to turn fallish. Today actually seemed like fall. Tomorrow there is a big football game in town and ESPN Gameday is here. They are right outside my window. Boy that who set-up is UGLY! So many huge trucks are parked around the tent that you can't see the tent, so whatever the people see on TV is just fake and looks nothing like a real picture of the campus would look. I am going out of town tomorrow and will probably try to get to Atlanta to see the Chihuly exhibit at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. The exhibit ends October 31 so I need to get there now - if I am going to do it. I do know that I will be heading to Birmingham to look at cars, so maybe I will just wait and see what tomorrow brings.

>209 johnsimpson: I guess some of us don't set the very best of examples, John, do we?

I am failing to reduce my TBR pages and books despite some effort to stay out of the bookstores and limit slightly my acquisitions. C'est la vie, I suppose.

Have a great weekend. Love to Karen.

>209 johnsimpson: I'm impressed about your keeping track with your stats.

Happy Sunday, John. Tomorrow I'm back to work.

>210 benitastrnad:, Hi Benita, it is definitely feeling like Autumn here as well my dear. I hope you get to see your exhibition and get to look at cars.

>211 PaulCranswick:, Hi Paul, as long as there are books and pages to be read I am happy even though the numbers are getting bigger by the week.

>212 Ameise1:, Hi Barbara, hope you have had a good weekend my dear. Have a good day back at work tomorrow my dear.

Finished book Ninety-One at bedtime on Friday, The Last Battle by C.S.Lewis. This the seventh and final part of The Chronicles of Narnia and finds King Tirian facing the fiercest of challenges that any Narnian king has had to face. A false Aslan is roaming the land and is persuading through falsehoods the Narnians to work for the Calormenes. Narnia's only hope is that Eustace and Jill will be able to return to Narnia and find the real Aslan.

The last battle is going to be the greatest of all and will determine whether Narnia survives. An excellent series and I am so glad that I have finally read them all.

We have had a pretty good weekend, yesterday we were busy preparing the food for the evenings meal with our good friends Geoff and Linda. Once the Venison casserole was on the go and the soup was defrosting and the Almond cake was made we had some lunch and then Karen did the ironing, I vacuumed the dining room and living room and made sure everything was nice and tidy. During the afternoon we both had a shower and then Karen did her hair and after a number of pots of tea we both got ready and then I went to pick our guests up.

The meal was wonderful and we had a good chat over good food and drinks, the taxi came to pick Geoff and Linda up at about 11.30pm and then we tidied up and filled the dishwasher and then hand washed the delicate crockery and disposed of the empties before going up to bed.

This morning we unloaded the dishwasher and put crockery and glasses away before having some breakfast. After breakfast we pottered about before Karen decided to wrap up the Christmas presents already bought before we had something to eat. After eating Karen finished off wrapping before she got ready to go out for a meal with photo colleagues, this is their leaving do as two of them are leaving the photo department when it moves into Photo-Me's hands on Nov 1st. I am left to my own devices and have read for a while before coming on here to update my thread and peruse other threads.

>203 johnsimpson: I also didn't know "what all the fuss was about" when reading Gone Girl. When I finished it, I realized I just didn't like it at all.

>216 Whisper1:, Fully agree Linda.

I confess I never read Gone Girl. Somewhere I read a significant spoiler and so it did not interest me. Glad that I did not waste my time. Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend, John. My goodness you and Karen are so far ahead with Christmas presents and baking! I've only purchased a package of Christmas card!

I love venison casserole. We have them often in autumn. I wish you a good start into the new week. I'm soon on the way back to work.

>218 vancouverdeb:, Hi Deb, Karen got Christmas cards and wrapping paper in the January sales and we have picked bits up over the last couple of months. With Karen changing departments and therefore her shifts will change from next Tuesday she wanted to get some wrapped and then she can gauge what she has got for everyone and what she needs to get. Karen is a very canny shopper and whenever we go to antique fairs I peruse and let her know if it is something I would like and then I walk away and she does the deal and if she can't get it at the price she wants to pay she walks away, it has only failed once.

>219 Ameise1:, Hi Barbara, the Venison casserole was superb and we had some of the leftovers this evening and there is still enough left for another meal for me.

I took Karen to work this morning and then got back and had some breakfast and a pot of tea before doing my latest book stats and notes. Once this was done I made another pot of tea and started to read for a while, after a period of time the washer had stopped and I put the washing on the airers and then got back to my reading. After another couple of pots of tea and some more reading I got on with a couple of jobs. First job was to repair a necklace for Karen, it just needed a spot of super glue and that was done, next job was to split and re-pot the Peace Lily. I got it out of the pot and it was just starting to get pot bound and as I split it I got four plants out of one.

Once the peace Lily had been split and re-potted I did a bit of tidying in the garage and then decided to make myself something to eat. I made a couple of sandwiches and selected some of Karen's baking, a piece of Parkin, a Mince pie and a chocolate biscuit plus three chocolate digestive biscuits out of the biscuit tin. Once I had re-fueled myself with food and a pot of tea I went out to the front garden to do some weeding. After filling two buckets I called it a draw for today as I felt a twinge in my back. I cleaned myself up and then had another pot of tea and read for thirty minutes before it was time to pick Karen up from work and take her to the doctors for her B12 injection.

Finished book Ninety-Two a short while ago, The Last 10 Seconds by Simon Kernick. This is another in the Tina Boyd series and finds Tina working for Camden Murder Investigation Team (CMIT). A brutal serial Killer is on the loose and DI Tina Boyd has a lead and an arrest is likely, the CMIT squad are waiting near a block of flats to arrest Andrew Kent known as the Night Creeper for the deaths of five women.

Elsewhere undercover cop Sean Egan has infiltrated a notorious criminal gang, he has to prove himself and to do this he has to pick up some guns for a planned kidnap.

The two do not know each other but what they are doing is soon going to be linked when Andrew Kent is sprung by the gang Egan has infiltrated, soon both Boyd and Egan are going to be fighting for their lives to secure convictions. A fast paced crime thriller from a very good writer, it has more twists and turns than a motor racing circuit. Will Boyd and Egan survive and if so can they bring the respective criminals to justice.

We had an early start this morning as Karen had to be in work for 7am, after dropping her off I made my way home and had a pot of tea. After watching the breakfast news for a while I decided to have some breakfast and a pot of tea before getting on with my book. The rest of the morning consisted of pots of tea, some reading and a bit of writing. I finished my book just before noon and then updated my stats book and then came on here to update my thread. Once I had done on here I went to the Madeira webcam and found that the Ritz Madeira Café had now installed a new webcam and so it is like the Funchal Marina webcam and in real time, the old Ritz Madeira webcam is still running but they are just real time stills with no movement, I can now get my Madeira fix fully.

Once I had shut down the laptop I got on with the upstairs housework and once finished I made myself something to eat. After satisfying my hunger and thirst I went and did a bit more weeding in the front garden until my back started to twinge again. Once I had cleaned myself up I made a pot of tea and read until it was time to go and pick Karen up from work. Karen was quite tired when she got in the car and I think an early night will be in order.

Hi John!

Back from California, and I'm glad to be back home.

I'm just going to draw a line in the sand and continue on from here - I hope you're doing well and I'm looking forward to checking in more regularly. Sending love and hugs to you and Karen!

Another standard day here, after taking Karen to work I popped into store to do the weekly shopping. Once the shopping was done I made my way home and unpacked and put the shopping away. When the shopping was put away I had breakfast and a pot of tea before having a quick look through the Radio Times listings magazine. After reading the magazine I read for a short while before getting on with the downstairs housework. Once the housework was done I had a pot of tea before going to collect Hannah and then going to pick Karen up from work. Once we were home I made us all a drink and then Hannah got me to help her colour in her Frozen colouring book.
After a while we all had something to eat before more play for Hannah and then it was time to take her home and for me to get back to watch the final of The Great British Bake Off. The final was really good with a well deserved winner.

>224 karenmarie:, Hi Karen, so nice to see you visit my dear. You have been busy with sorting your mum out and the banking problems so just pop along when you can, real life always has to take precedence. It is always nice to see dear friends leaving a post.

The drought continues here in Alabama. It is so bad that fire is now a real problem. Alabama is heavily forested naturally, and at this time of year the trees are dropping their leaves, providing plenty of fuel for fires. Yesterday there were 284 fires for which the fire departments had been called to assist. The largest one burned about 80 acres of land before it was contained.

It is cooler at night but the days are still hot. In the 80's. It just needs to rain.

Hi John! :) Hope you are having a lovely day!

>223 johnsimpson: I had to check out the Ritz Madeira webcam! I'm going to add it to my bookmarks list. I'm also planning to spend a bit of time this weekend checking out webcams of places I love!

A lovely weekend to you and Karen and your family, John! Love and hugs from across the pond!

Hello John!

Christmas presents and cards. Whew. I'm impressed. Okay, today I'll start my Christmas gift list. I have an excel spreadsheet for cards, and I've already created the 2016 one but haven't edited it yet. You guys are amazing.

Sending love and hugs to you both!

How did we contrive to lose to Bangladesh. Losing ten wickets for just 68 is shocking. Why on earth is Ballance in the team - averaging 6 over four innings and young Hameed doesn't get a go. Our spinners were also not good enough. Rayner and Leach ought to have toured. Leach showed that he can bowl teams to victory on turning wickets. I'm sorry but Rashid, Batty, Ansari and Ali have never really done so.

To add insult to injury they all get to tour India. Heaven help us.

Have a great Sunday, mate.

>227 benitastrnad:, Hi Benita, hope the weather has cooled down a bit and that you get some rain to avoid anymore fires, it is so sad when woodland is devastated due to weird weather conditions and then there is also the possibility that property and people apart from the brave firefighters could also be at risk. Sending love and hugs.

>228 ChelleBearss:, Hi Chelle we are both fine my dear hope all is well with you guys and the gorgeous Chloe, I keep up with how she is growing on Facebook. Sending love and hugs.

>229 witchyrichy:, Hi Karen, I just love the Ritz Madeira and now even more with the better webcam and the Madeira webcam is also a favourite as it shows lots of places we went to and saw. Sending love and hugs.

>230 vancouverdeb:, Hi Deb, thank you my dear and send love and hugs.

>231 karenmarie:, Hi Karen, when I first met my good lady I picked up an album by the Go-Go's and one of the tracks was girl of a hundred lists and that so suits Karen. Karen has lists for everything and Christmas is no exception so we are always on the ball with things. Sending love and hugs to you my dear from the both of us.

>232 PaulCranswick:, Hi Paul, I was pleasantly surprised when I turned the cricket on and found we were 87 for none chasing 273 but when Duckett went first ball after tea I was a little worried but did not expect the side to implode like it did. The selectors should not have named the squad for India until after the end of this match, Balance needs time away from the game and then to start winter nets and get himself ready for the start of the new season with Yorkshire and get a glut of runs to get confidence back. We did not select the best spinners and now we should put Hameed in to open with Duckett at three or four.

The Indian bowlers Ashwin and Jadeja must be rubbing their hands with glee if they have watched this series and to be honest when we are in the field we could be chasing leather for two full days and looking at scores of 550+. If Cook thinks this defeat may have left some scars on some players god help what a thrashing by India will do to players, hopefully I am looking at a worst case scenario but at least I am preparing myself for the worst and anything else will be a bonus.

Hope you and the family are all well mate, sending love and hugs.

Finished book Ninety-Three this morning, Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell. Dr Kay Scarpetta is waiting at the morgue in Richmond, Virginia waiting to perform a post mortem on Ronnie Joe Waddell who is due to be executed in the electric chair. At the same time as the execution takes place a body of a young boy is found propped up against a rubbish skip, the deaths seem unrelated until Scarpetta remembers that the victim of Waddell and the young boy are arranged in a strikingly similar position.

A third murder is discovered, the most puzzling of them all. The crime scene reveals few clues apart from a fingerprint that points to a suspect who couldn't possibly have committed the crime. Things begin to develop and it starts to become a problem for Scarpetta as she is being touted as a scapegoat and someone with help is trying to make sure Scarpetta and anyone else who helps her does not get to the truth.

I really emjoyed this chilling thriller and cannot wait to begin the next one.

On Thursday we had a date day and went into Leeds, we visited the new shopping centre, Victoria Gate and its flagship store, John Lewis. The shops are for the well heeled nd although I like John Lewis stores I was very disappointed with this one and prefer the ones in Sheffield, Nottingham and the Trafford Centre in Manchester. We had a good mooch around and Karen picked up a couple of things but I had nothing but came away with a few ideas.

In the evening I took Karen through to her friend Tina's and left them to have a good natter and some wine.

On Friday we had breakfast before popping into Wakefield to pick up a few bits and pieces, by the time we got home Karen was feeling quite achy and a bit under the weather. We had a relaxing afternoon and Karen picked up a bit and was able to go to Linda's for a natter and some wine although she didn't stay as long as she normally does as it was her weekend in at work.

Saturday came along and I took Karen to work, it was her last weekend in the photo department and she took some baking with her. The weather was a bit dull and cool so I read for most of the time until I had to go and pick Karen up from work. Once we got home I made us a pot of tea and we had a chat before Karen went to lay on the bed for an hour or so.

Today after the clocks had gone back we were up for 7.30am and Karen put on her witch outfit and make-up and I took her into work. I got back and had breakfast and then read until it was time to have some lunch. After my lunch I went into the front garden to finish off the weeding. Once this was done I washed myself and had a pot of tea before going to pick Karen up from work.

Tomorrow is Karen's last shift in photo and she starts in the George clothing and footwear department at noon on Tuesday.

>235 johnsimpson: Glad to see you are enjoying the Scarpetta series! I loved those since I discovered them in high school! I've kept up on the series and am expecting the newest one (Chaos) in the mail in a couple weeks :)

Hi John!

I read the Kay Scarpetta series when it first came out. I probably read 4 or 5 of them, then it got very gruesome, so I stopped. I realize that now I would probably not blink an eye at the detailed forensics and sick nature of some of the people in the books. I might, just might, start the series over one of these days.

Sending love and hugs to both of you and hope Karen's recovering from her achiness and being under the weather.

>240 ChelleBearss:, Hi Chelle, I first read Trace and thought this is good and I do like to read a series in order so I started picking them up and so I have now read five Scarpetta's but the next is number five in the series. I have that many series on the go and quite a number to start although I have finished quite a few. I have done well with books from series this year and will continue next year.

>241 karenmarie:, Hi Karen, I am loving the Scarpetta books and I need to read some more Tempe Brennan. I have read a number of books from series this year and have enjoyed them but I can't resist picking up new series, oh well I will get round to them at some point. Karen is not too bad but now I seem to have a sore throat and am not feeling too clever.

Yesterday was Amy and Andy's first wedding anniversary and I did feel a little bit emotional, I can't believe how quickly the year has gone since I gave my little girl away. Since the wedding I have become more emotional and I struggle with listening to the song they had for their first dance, (Thinking out Loud) by Ed Sheeran as Paul Cranswick will attest to. Karen put a comment on Facebook after the Great British Bake Off and Amy replied saying she was sorry that she had broke Dad, lol.

Finished book Ninety-Four this morning, When The Bough Breaks by Jonathan Kellerman. This is the first in the Alex Delaware series and I must say that I really enjoyed it and is a brilliant debut novel. I look forward to reading more in the series over the next few years.

It has been a steady for me today, after getting up and dressed and fortified with a pot of tea I took Karen to work for her last shift in the photo/Music and Video department. For the third day running she went to work dressed as a witch for Halloween. I got back and had breakfast and a pot of tea and then read for just over an hour before I popped out to get some bulb fibre for the spring bulbs that need planting. Once back I made a pot of tea and started to read again and finished my 94th book of the year. I did my book stats and then made myself some lunch before setting the DVD recorder up to record a programme for Karen and then rang the bank up about our mortgage to find out where they are up to. I got a good reply from them and when finished I made a pot of tea and read until it was time to go and pick Karen up from work. I made us a pot of tea when we got home and then we chatted for a while before the trick or treaters started to knock on the door, Karen had remained in her witch outfit and she continually answered the door and surprised a few children, quite a number were impressed with her outfit. We made ourselves something to eat and the final visitors came around 8pm.

Time for a new thread, pleas pop over and join me in a short while.