Sunday 28 July 2013

Simple pleasures...

Time in the summer brings little delights.
An early morning, clear sunlight shouting through the window
Pond flowers erupting into yellowness
Birds chit-chattering non-stop
Bees buzzing round the echium pininana...
A yellow moon.

This does not do justice to the enormity of this moon...

...or its brightness
Original gifts...
...and the Fisherman returns...with a bag full of mackerel, pollock and a pretty gurnard.

Saturday 27 July 2013

Barefoot Summer: a book review


Barefoot Summer (A Chapel Springs Romance) 
I downloaded this book as a freebie from Booksneeze in exchange for a review. (This is the review, by the way.) I had in mind saving it for a holiday, but, once I started reading, I couldn't stop. I had forgotten - how could I? - that Booksneeze offers top quality books. I had also forgotten that I had read some of Denise Hunter's books before, but, when I realised, I was not surprised to find myself just as well entertained.

The book begins in an auction house: Madison, our heroine, is anxious to secure an important bid in a time auction: learning to race in a sailing regatta. Pleasingly, just after we meet her, we are introduced to her love interest a few paragraphs later, setting the scene nicely. Madison does not allow herself, however, to be distracted from her goal. This is simple yet problematic. Ten years after her twin brother died in a drowning accident, Madison wants to achieve his dream in his memory: to win the local sailing regatta. The problem? Madison cannot swim, let alone sail.

Our hero, Beckett, reappears - to Madison's dismay. It was definitely not her intention, but he turns out to be her swimming - and sailing - teacher. Yet another problem: she holds Beckett responsible for her brother's death.

Denise Hunter skilfully takes us through a maze of complications. We know there will be a happy ending - how could there not be - the question is, what? Will Madison and Beckett really end up together, because there are many real obstacles in the way? Or is this story mainly about courage, forgiveness, overcoming fears and hurts - is the resolution of the problems besetting our hero and heroine more important than whether they actually end up together?

I really enjoyed this book: yes, it's a (sometimes predictable) romance, but the intricacy of the plot keeps the reader well engaged and the character development is very credible, even relatively minor characters in Madison's family. I finished reading, wishing I could jump into the book and be a real part of Madison's community.

I have left out many of the details - I wouldn't want the whole plot revealed to me in advance, so I'm not going to spoil it for the reader. Read and find out!

Friday 19 July 2013

'Once Upon A Prince' - a book review


I came across Once Upon A Prince as a free book offered for review on Booksneeze. Sounds fun, I thought, completely forgetting that I had already read gobbled up The Wedding Dress by the same author. Once I started reading this fairytale romance, I was similarly captivated.

Susanna Truitt is our heroine, a Georgia girl who is dumped by her long term boyfriend/anticipated husband at the start of the novel. Having dated no one else since high school, she has waited through 12 long years and all his spells of military duty overseas only to discover that he has fallen in love with a colleague.

This is not going according to plan, and plans are what Susanna lives by. Even her career as a landscape architect is going nowhere and so she works in the family eatery business in between trying to work for an old friend and branching out on her own: both enterprises fail.

This is not a story, however, about how an independent woman builds a successful career: anything but. It is almost Cinderella - except that Susanna is surrounded by loving family and friends. She soon meets her prince, who introduces himself as `Nate Kenneth' - the name Prince Nathaniel Henry Kenneth Mark Stratton uses when he is travelling incognito. Susanna has no idea that he is the heir apparent to a small European country. Modest and unassuming, he keeps such a low profile that she discovers his identity only by chance. As mutual attraction develops, so too do the complications. He is a prince of a foreign country; she is American. He has a life planned out for him; she is trying to discover the plan for her life. Both of them find they have to surrender their wills to God's perfect plan, while using the talents and gifts they have been given.

Rachel Hauck skilfully develops the characters of hero and heroine, their friends and families. Without too much introspection, we understand how Susanna and Nate think. Language is frequently quirky; often amusing; on appropriate occasions, it is tenderly romantic.

Of course, the story ends in happily-ever-after. The beauty of it is in discovering how the author works the threads together to achieve this. I have read it twice now: the first time quickly, then again a few weeks after for the purposes of this review. The second time was almost as fresh as the first, as I enjoyed noticing the twists and turns in the plot.

The only jarring note for me, as a British reader, was the name of Prince Nathaniel's country: Brighton, which is actually the name of a well-known town on the south coast of England. This really hindered me from understanding what the country was like, which was a pity. I had to invent a completely different pronunciation of the word as I read, so that it didn't continually grate on my nerves!

Perhaps, were the book to be republished in England, the name 'Brighton' could be changed?!

Friday 12 July 2013

Holidays! Holidays?

Phew - finished school last Friday. That last week of term was packed. First of all we had speech day. I have a love/hate relationship with this concept, particularly beloved of private schools. I hate that we can't recognise the amazing achievements of all the children - not least, that the children in my class have survived my sense of humour all year.  But I love seeing the joy and surprise on children's faces when they hear they have received a prize. Most notable this year was a little boy who arrived in my class with poor handwriting and literacy. By the end of the year he was producing exemplary work. (Note to self: what a good word exemplary is: wish I'd thought of using it in my reports...) And I love seeing how other children are delighted for their friends and classmates: the smiles, the whispered 'well done', the pat on the back...

Then we had farewell parties - 4 members of staff leaving; farewell assemblies; sorting out, clearing out and packing up as I moved classroom, with the willing help of the children; organising our discarded books to go to Tanzania; and then there was Gardening.

I started the two gardens we have at school, with the help of parents and children, a few years ago. There is a quiet garden with a willow tunnel, a reading corner and a fountain. There is a huge vegetable garden - almost allotment sized. There is an area planted with trees and bushes, set aside for wildlife. And now there is a refurbished flower bed, sporting a Tudor rose, the school emblem.

It all  needs looking after. Every year I am  determined to give up this enormous responsibility, and every year something happens to make me change my mind. This coming year, I will have allocated timetable time to manage it all.
Good. I'm looking forward to clawing back the time I spent recently on organising a watering rota for the holidays. Helping 140 children to harvest the potatoes they planted in March. Encouraging more children to help me plant a new silver birch, to replace a conifer which blew over in the March snow storms, rewarding them with an abundance of strawberries. Going into school in the holidays to water the new willow tunnel which, in the hot weather we are having, is beginning to turn yellow.

The week finished with farewells and a shared staff meal. Lovely. I have amazing colleagues and our staffroom is a supportive little community.

So that was school. But I haven't paused for breath. I'm not hugely houseproud, but the house has shouted its need for cleaning. So far, I have a sparkling oven; cleaned out kitchen cupboards; washed and changed all the bedlinen, including the mattress protectors and so on; washed bedroom curtains; refurbished the bathroom...

I've been into school several times, too - not just to water the gardens, but also to reorganize my new classroom, stowing files and books away neatly into the tiny cupboard. (Quart into pint pot sums it up.) I know I won't have time at the end of the holidays and, in any case, would rather get it over and done with. I'll be in again next week, too, if not before...

That's all good.. But what was better was the coffees with friends and colleagues and a particularly celebratory tea for my dear friend Renee, the day before her birthday. Special, special times...