Life is too short to drink bad wine.

So it seems that I'm much more likely to post here when I'm in my routine during the week. This will surprises absolutely no one who knows how much of a creature of habit I am. In retrospect, I've missed reading here so I should figure out how to make new habits for my weekends.

What book are you reading now? I’ve been working my way through a book called the Temple of Hekate which is about Hellenic Reconstructionism. It’s very well written but the writer is very definitely a scholar who probably doesn’t get out much.I dipped into House of Shattered Wings but I’m not sure I’ll finish it, it’s a bit too tragic for my taste. I’m also skimming some trashy romances but won’t go into those so as not to incriminate myself.


What is your favourite book? There is really no such thing. There are books I love but no one favourite. I love Ann McCaffrey’s Pern series the early ones especially The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay invariably makes me cry, and The Belgariad by David Eddings is still an old favourite. The Regency Romances by Georgette Heyer were a staple of my teenage years and I think helped engender a love of history.


What languages do you read? English and German, but I haven’t read a German book in years.

What books have changed the way you look at the world: I don't know but I guess the whole fantasy genre primed me for being open to an alternative spirituality.

About how many books do you own? ? According to LibraryThing 1055 but I have more in boxes in America though they might have mouldered to nothing by now.



How many books per month do you usually borrow from the library? When I lived in America I used the library constantly as they had new releases and a great Fantasy/Sci-Fi selection of paperbacks. Here in Ireland rural libraries tend to be extremely limited and I pretty much haven’t set foot in one in years. I think the advent of Kindle also means that I’m much more likely to buy fiction rather than borrow it even if I could get my hands on it at the Library.

How much would you say you've paid in library fines in your life? I don’t think I’ve ever paid a library fine if I did it was very little.

Do you read in bed? All the damn time.

Do you ever read while walking? No, but that’s more a comment on how little I walk.

Do you listen to audiobooks? Yes, especially on public transport.

What book was the most difficult to read? I remember when I read the Silmarillion the first time many years ago, I put it down for months but it was fascinating enough that I persevered.

Do you read every word of a book, or skip parts that don't hold your interest? That depends on the book, I do tend to speed read which does mean I skip words, I don’t skip parts where my interest is low. If my interest reaches negative numbers I just put the book aside.

Do you buy new or used books, paperbacks or hardbacks, leather or collector's items? I buy non-fiction in hardback when I can get it. Fiction I tend to get electronically if I know that I will re-read it I then purchase it as a paperback as well. I have some books in paperback, kindle and audiobook format.

Do you lend your books? Yes

What were your favorite books when you were a child? I loved Grimm’s Fairytales when I was little, after that I moved fairly quickly into adult fare via Noddy, and Nancy Drew as I was learning English.

What children's books do you most enjoy as an adult? I still adore Harry Potter by Rowling and Duane’s Wizard series, Riordan’s Percy Jackson novels are also good.

Have you ever read a book more than once? Yes, well-loved series, though with the advent of fan fiction there’s so much new content to peruse I don’t do it as much as I used to.

We shall at least see if this journaling gig starts picking up again. I'll try to check my feed regularly for a bit to see if I can get back in the swing.

testing my new Kindle app

Last Friday I got 4 litres of raw unpasteurised milk, having heroically stopped myself from just drinking the stuff straight (if you have never tried raw milk I recommend it, the store bought stuff tastes like water afterwards though) we made 1ltr of yoghurt and used 2 more litres to make paneer which is an Indian soft cheese used in the cooking from that region. I was reminded on Sunday how little cheese you get out of a lot of milk, financially making your own cheese is really only feasible if you have your own cow or goat or if you are living next to/related to a dairy farmer. It was however enough for the Sag Paneer I made and tasted amazing especially since we have some absolutely gorgeous spinach in the garden right now. I also made some Aloo Gobi as well as fresh Naan bread and we had a lovely diner. The Naan turned out quite well except that next time I will give it less time in the oven as it was a little crisper than I like it. Naan is generally made with Nigella Seeds also known as Black Onion Seeds which gives it a lovely savoury flavour perfect for dipping into the rich veggie dishes I was serving. The next thing on the Indian food list I'm going to try is a spicy Eggplant dish that can be served cold.

The yoghurt by the way turned out very well, I would consider buying the expensive raw milk and hauling it home from Dublin every week just for our yoghurt production, we can go through 1-2 ltrs of the stuff each week. It was incredibly smooth, creamy, rich and tangy without being sharply sour. I wouldn't generally eat our unflavoured home made yoghurt but this one I could definitely go for.

Brian has been making various different country wines and though they are not ready for drinking yet and won't be for a while the colour of the beetroot/parsnip is a rich ruby red, quite attractive just to look at. I wish we had the wherewithal to distil our own hard liquor because I love making fruit liquors, currently I have a jar of rhubarb brandy on the go, inspired by krkhst. I think I'll give it another month and see how it is then.

I figured it was time to post some updates, the girl is doing splendidly, growing like a weed, my Mother insists she is starting to see hips but I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet :-)

She loves school even though she has a bit of a git for a teacher. This lady has called us in (sort of like being summoned to the Principals Office) on two separate occasions now. This entails one of us taking at least half a day off work. One would think neither phones nor emails were invented yet. The crux of these meetings is generally that her spelling continues to be creative at times and that she has too much of an imagination for this lady. The last time we were summoned, B went because I just didn't have he patience for it, she very seriously told him how Kate had made up an elaborate story about finding a fairy in a drain and having to take her to hospital. She then asked whether she did "this kind of thing" at home to which my awesome husband replied, Why, yes :-) I'll be glad when she leaves her class in a few months.

We just switched to a new riding stables and had our first lesson there last weekend. It was amazing, this place is a lot more professional and Kate was grinning ear to ear the whole time. krkhst you would love it.

On the reading front paradigmslost and Kate are working their way through the Wizard of Oz again, she's been promised the Hobbit after this. I'm reading a lot of Winnie the Witch stories with her, these are small books with 4 stories in each of them and they are hilarious, I would recommend them to any kid around Kate's age. There are also some picture books for younger kids with Winnie and her cat Wilbour in them.

I need a new Kate icon :-)

Not sure if you've seen this yet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-16066680

Lots of things have been happening lately, Brian's Birthday was on Monday and I think he had a good day. I cheated and picked up some food at Marks & Spencer since I couldn't get time off. I have to say the ready made Bearnaise sauce was lovely as were the steaks and oven chips. Desert was cherry pie with vanilla ice cream.

The garden is starting to wind down for Winter but we are still getting significant produce out of it. We still have Savoy Cabbage, Cucumbers, Salads, French Beans, Parsnips, Leeks, Japanese Radishes (HUGE) in the ground and producing. We have early Onions, Purple Sprouting Broccoli, more Salads and Winter cabbage doing their best to continue feeding us in the future. Soon we will be clearing out the old plants from the poly tunnel, cleaning it up and planting the winter salads and green onions that will be in there over the cold months. We also need to finish clearing out the bed for the garlic and get that in the ground, hopefully the weather will cooperate this weekend cause that's a big earth moving job. In a couple of weeks we should have enough money saved up to get the tree surgeon in which will mean less Leylandii and a big pile of chips which will make our garden paths safe for winter. The herb garden is still going strong but our roses are almost done for the year, they were a real joy.

We are hoping to take possession of a new cat soon, we were supposed to hear from our neighbor yesterday but she didn't call. I'm not sure what kind of cat but I will post pictures once we pick it up. We are also soon going to have a new working drier, the old one gave up the ghost last spring and we are moving out of the season when we can dry our clothes outside. It should be delivered on Friday. It's a big improvement on the old one as we can set it to run at night which will take advantage of the cheaper tariff. If we had the extra €500 lying around I would replace the washing machine too but as it is it still runs so we will hold on to it for a while longer.

Kate has been her usual cheerful self, except for momentary lapses of loss of temper :-) She slammed a door last night and broke one of our toothbrush glasses in the bathroom. She is starting to learn the tin whistle in school and is having a lot of fun with that, she's also going to swimming lessons in Naas and we practically have to use a crowbar to get her out of the pool. She continues to be well ahead on her reading and doing excellently with math, the only thing giving her some problems is her writing but that will come too. In the meantime I'm enjoying her creative spelling though I'm sure her teacher has other opinions (she's a young woman who apparently has a stick up her butt).

Mom and I continue to work off and on restocking my SCA wardrobe, we need to make some frames to mount fabric on for embroidery as we are going to start some more ambitious projects soon and they really need to be stretched on a frame. Currently I have three full outfits to wear so I'm doing quite well. The dress we are working on now probably won't be finished till Yule as we are working on it off and on. I'm looking forward to going up to Belfast in a couple of weeks for the Principality University event of the year.

Last weekend the whole family went to Dublin on Saturday, Kate and Brian went to the Irish Film Institute to see a Buster Keaton Film and Mom and I went to an actual Pagan event held in a Hotel in Dublin every year called Feile Draoichte. We had a lot of fun and I acquired a couple of pieces of jewelry some books and the new Wildwood Tarot.

That's all I can think of right now :-)