Being Mrs C

An insight into the things in life that make me smile

The Pilot’s Wife – Anita Shreve

I've previously read quite a few of Anita Shreve's books and I have to say that I've enjoyed most of them. Nowadays I keep an eye out for any I haven't read whenever I go to a charity shop or book sale.The Pilot's Wife contains some beautiful writing that really makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up in places. Kathryn Lyons is woken in the early hours of one morning by a man knocking at her door. He is a representative from the pilots' union. The simple words of "Mrs Lyons?" when she answers the door tell her that her worst fears ... read more

Things to make us smile

Mr C drew my attention to this list on the BBC News website over dinner this evening. With all the news of doom and gloom that seems to be filling the pages in every newspaper I think it's true that many of us are becoming more anxious and stressed than we used to, or than is good for us. This list contains ten things that all of us should try to do to reduce our anxiety levels. When I set up this blog my plan (which I think I carry out) is to write about the things that make me smile. One thing that made me smile about this particular article (as well as the ... read more

Kirstie’s Handmade Home

I'd been sort of looking forward to the start of Kirstie's Handmade Home on Channel 4, but after reading a few pre-reviews which had a bit of a go at Kirstie Allsopp I have to admit that I wasn't really sure what to expect.   Some of the trailers described it as Kirstie showing us how to survive the credit crunch by showing how it was possible to do up a house by using old fashioned crafts and buying second-hand. Now, bearing in mind that Kirstie and her partner have bought a second home in Devon which required complete renovation, no doubt at great expense, I couldn't help buy ... read more

Birds, birds, birds…

We've had quite a quiet Easter weekend, but it seems that we've actually been quite busy looking at birds and making the most of our RSPB membership.On Saturday we headed into the centre of St Albans to Verulam Park where there are currently a large number of herons nesting on the island in the centre of the lake there. We read in the local paper about how the RSPB had set up a viewing facility there for the public to get a better view of the nests and chicks. Unfortunately the day that we went along this didn't seem to be operating. Still, with the binoculars ... read more

A sock update

After setting myself a bit of a challenge I thought I'd better give you a progress update. This is the status of sock number two, just one month after starting the pair, after a mad knitting weekend. I'm totally thrilled at how far I've managed to get!The one thing that I'm not at all thrilled about is the blister that I now have on one finger as a result of my extreme knitting. I've never had a knitting related injury before and my finger hurts so much that I'm having to have a couple of days off knitting to recover.Quiet sad. ... read more

Toast – Nigel Slater

  It's a bit strange, but Nigel Slater is one of those famous chefs that I don't actually know much about. We have one of his cookbooks that Mr C's mum bought him once as a birthday present, but we've not yet made anything from it. I'm not sure why though.My mother in Law recently lent me a copy of Slater's autobiography, Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger as she initially thought my mum would like it. It turned out that my mum had already read it, so I thought I ought to give it a go.Toast isn't really an autobiography in the traditional ... read more

St Albans’ Abbey

Last Sunday a friend of ours came up to St Albans to join us for Sunday lunch. After being well fed on a fantastic pub roast dinner we took a walk around the city centre to show him some of the sights. One must do venue was the Abbey. It's one of my favourite parts of St Albans and the building itself is quite spectacular.I'd like to share two of my favourite features with you. Firstly, the ceiling of the tower which dates from the sixteenth century. The middle four panels show the arms of St Alban, England, St George and Edward the Confessor. Surrounding these four panels are ... read more

Anniversary sock

Before Mr C and I went away to celebrate our first wedding anniversary I bought myself a little anniversary present. I figured that with us going away in the UK in March the weather was likely to be lousy and that we'd end up spending quite a bit of time in our little cottage. I therefore bought myself a couple of balls of sock yarn, Regia colour 4-ply to be exact, in colour 5025.As you'll have seen from my posts we actually had the most fantastic weather whilst we were away - and although I got to start my socks I certainly didn't get as much done as I expected to. ... read more

Nineteen Minutes – Jodi Picoult

  After being a tad disappointed with the last Jodi Picoult I read I wasn't really too sure what to expect with Nineteen Minutes when my mother in law leant me her copy. It has certainly changed my mind about Jodi Picoult though.One think I particularly liked about Picoult when I read my first book by her, Plain Truth, was how much she researches a story. That is very obviously the case in Nineteen Minutes, in a way which almost becomes painful at times.One day seventeen year old Peter Houghton goes to school and shoots dead ten people - nine pupils and ... read more

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