love those cupcakes

The week's this and that

Watched the wonderfully brilliant Boyhood, one of those films which stay with you afterwards and my choice for the Best Picture Oscar (ballot paper from here if you fancy casting your votes).*

Read one of the books purchased in an excellent bookshop in Reykjavik (yes, I know I'm supposed to be reading from the substantial pile here but this one has such a great cover and books bought abroad don't count, along with charity shop buys, books courtesy of Christmas or birthday money and those pesky 'how did that get in there?' copies that unaccountably appear in the shopping basket).  Translated (into English, not Icelandic, I'm no linguist) from the original Finnish/Swedish, it's about family (specifically Max, a soon to be sixty Sociology professor, his Helsinki health service professional wife, Katriina, and their two daughters, Helen, a teacher and married with two children, and Eva, an art student in London), marriage, imperfect lives being lived, decisions being made. Recommended.

 Finished another roundandround blanket and wished I knew how to crochet a different pattern. Any pattern.

 Spent a grand total of 99p, actually a quid as I didn't pick up the change, on three more books in the charity shop.  The Jane Shaw book is from the 'Susan' series, my favourite reads when I was growing up, and, whilst  I already have a copy of Little Women,  I can't find it.

Cast on a hat.  Double moss stitch.  Get me. Though I'll be very surprised if it ends up on my bonce and not shoved at the back of the hall cupboard with all the others I've knit.

 Popped into the churchyard before my dental check-up in the market town up the road to admire the display of snowdrops whilst giving those psycho gravestones a wide berth.

Worked on a green project from a Christmas present kit.  The 'ta-dah' reveal was greeted with much hilarity from the other two here as I remembered Kermit's wise words: 'Just because you haven't found your talent yet, doesn't mean you don't have one'.  

Dougie seems very happy with his new best friend, Trevor.  

And in case you're wondering, Trevor is a frog.  

Yes, really.

With a wonky mouth and an alien's eyes.

Someone else felt a tad left out.

We may need a bigger piano stool.

 

Edited to add:  What?  Boyhood was robbed!

 

Home again

So, Iceland.

The country, that is, not the supermarket.

Home of fire and ice, volcanoes, glaciers, geysers, elves, Bjork and menus featuring fermented shark and sheep's head.  

We were based in the capital and the country's only city, Reykjavik, hiked across snow and ice, experienced daytime temperatures which didn't rise above freezing point and dropped to as low as -15C, searched in vain until 2 a.m. for a sighting of the Northern Lights,  marvelled at frozen waterfalls, oohed and aahed and dodged as columns of steam and water erupted from the ground.

Random stuff

• The population of Iceland is about 340,000
• Reykjavík is the world's northernmost capital 
• 60% of the population live in Reykjavik
• Icelanders watch more films at the cinema than any other nation
• Beer was banned nationwide until 1989.  Beer Day is now celebrated every year on March 1st
• Icelanders consume more Coca Cola per head than any other country
• The last names of Icelanders are derived from their fathers' first names plus the word ‘son’ for men and ‘daughter’ for women
• Iceland has one of the highest per capita rates of car ownership in the world
• Icelandic telephone directories list Icelanders by first name, alphabetically. To reduce confusion, directories also list people’s professions
• The rate of literacy among Icelanders is the highest in the world
• Contrary to popular belief, which may be fuelled by shops' displays of fluffy toy versions, there are no polar bears in Iceland
• The Arctic fox is the only native animal
• Geothermal water heats about 90% of homes 
• Cold water from household taps is pure spring water whilst hot water is provided by geothermal power plants and has a characteristic smell of rotten eggs
• Instead of just walk, trot and canter, Icelandic horses uniquely have five gaits
• Although Iceland is geographically and culturally part of Europe, half of it lies on the American tectonic plate and is moving westwards at an estimated 1-2 cm a year
• Iceland is home of one of the world’s oldest democracies. The Althing, the Icelandic parliament, was established in 930
• This was the first country in the world to have a democratically elected female head of state
• The majority of Icelanders admit to believing in the existence of elves and trolls
• At Christmas, Icelanders are visited by not one Santa Claus but 13.  The so called  'Yule Lads', with names like 'Spoon Licker', 'Sausage Stealer' and 'Window Peeper,  live with their troll parents and a big black cat in the mountains and take turns to visit the towns at night during the 13 days of Christmas. Every child leaves a shoe in the window, hopeful of being left a sweet or small toy and not a rotten spud  

(Parliament building)

 I love Iceland, me.

 

Week in verbs

Watching Wolf Hall (well, trying to more like, given the squint inducing candlelit scenes which make it almost impossible to see what's happening and also not being a fan of Damian Lewis) and Fortitude (having difficulty remembering who everyone is but at least there's lots of lovely snow and ice and the occasional polar bear, though we've had some of our own here this week, snow and ice, that is, not polar bears) 

Reading The Other Typist (link in the sidebar). New York.  1924.  Prohibition, speakeasies, rising hemlines, bobbed hair. Our unreliable narrator, Rose Baker, was abandoned by her mother, brought up by nuns in an orphanage and is working for the police as a typist.  Crime busting business is booming and another typist is taken on, the glamorously captivating Odalie Lazar. And so Rose's life changing obsession begins.  Highly recommended 

Celebrating the mister's birthday with pizza and Pinot Grigio

Baking a chocolate cake.  I didn't want to have the bother of making a buttercream for the layers and a ganache for the top and sides so came up with something which combined the two. 'How is it?' I asked. 'Chocolatey', replied the birthday boy.

Buying a new coat, a treat courtesy of some Christmas money and one of the last bargains of the sales

Failing to stop another book jumping into the basket in the shop when I'm supposed to be committed to reading from the book pile or the charity shop but as I paid for it with the remaining Christmas money it doesn't count, does it?

Realising I've been following a vegan diet for a year.  I'm not missing milk or cheese or eggs or butter, have gotten used to checking every label and asking questions, so am more than happy to continue, though have to admit it's not easy when eating out or on holiday

Sitting on my specs.  Fortunately, they were the spare pair

Enjoying the first bunches of daffs from the supermarket

Opening a box of posh soaps

Putting off packing for a little trip till the very last minute.  Back soon

 

Remember what the dormouse said*

In the middle of last week, I came over all Dougie-ish.

 And by that I don't mean I had an urge to drape myself across the top of the piano.

No, it was more a case of lacking vim and vigour due to a streaming cold.

Housebound for a few days, and not daring to move far from the box of tissues, I turned to this brilliant book which was a present the Christmas before last.

Much more enjoyably comprehensive than a traditional medical tome, this book covers just about every ailment you can think of and offered a suggested reading list for my cold (with some old favourites in there).

 Of course, I suffer from a bit of this, too.

With maybe more than a touch of this.

And I may or may not suffer an occasional bout of this (both the bean spilling and that ageing thing).

The latest book at bedtime was also finished. It was an easy read and one part did make me cry. Though, to be honest, it doesn't take much to set me off these days and it could just have been cold related leakage or maybe disappointment given all the hype and with so many unanswered questions and loose threads left hanging at the end.  

This little book arrived in the post whilst I was languishing on the sofa and it is delightful.  I loved the postage stamps which Royal Mail issued recently to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and this is an accompanying pop-up based on the stamp illustrations and with extracts from the story.

* If, like me, you're a fan of Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane, you'll recognise this line from the wonderful White Rabbit .  

And the dormouse?  He said 'Feed your head'.