Five on Friday - Check up time.

I'm joining Five on Friday and am feeling like I need to see some beautiful flowers, not because I need cheering up but just because they remind me to focus on whatever is good, pure and lovely. These pretty flowers are from my Mother - in - law's garden. 

This past few weeks have featured a medical nature for us all. Last Thursday teen 2 needed his school jabs at the surgery after they were missed from school. He tells me he never had a consent form, but then he also didn't want the jabs! He was hard work, anyway 'we' got through it. Positive conversation - mind over matter, talking him through it. 

Then M and both teens had colds, Wednesday evening we all set off to the dentist, sorry no picture. It was just for a 6 monthly check-up and thankfully we were all ok. As it was the end of the day and a 40 minute journey each way, plus the obligatory visit to Tesco, we decided to stop at KFC before shopping, very nice. There are nice views of the sea from the dentist chair, or there would've been had it not been raining so hard. 

Even QT, seen here laughing at our British summer didn't escape medical check-ups, he needed his yearly booster today. He will have to make a return visit too in a month time to be weighed. It seems he's lost 100g each month since his last visit and they are very concerned. If he's still losing weight at the weigh in he'll have a blood test to check his thyroid. The vet felt it was larger than it should be, I'm hoping that's just because he's a Maine Coon and therefore larger than your average sized cat. In the meantime I've given him a worming tablet - from the vets - and we'll see if that may have been the cause of hunger and weight loss.

Teen 2 washcloth is progressing ok, I even took it with me for the car journey to the dentist and on Monday when we bought our new (to us) caravan home. It will have a crocheted border around the edge. 

It's good to be back to work this week, though I'm certainly not ready to go on long walks, Some reading whilst I was off. Planning recipes for The Cookery Calendar Challenge and holiday recipes for when we are away on holiday! Magazines from the pile to wade through.

Book club came a week early this month as this suited the majority. Above is a short clip which helps to set the scene of this book. The book is Mercy by Jodi Picoult shown in the books & magazines photo. An excerpt from the book see here. The questions we used for discussion purposes are below. Normally we'd only have about 6 or 8 questions but having been informed the usual pub quiz that follows our discussion time was cancelled, I threw in all the questions. As it happened a replacement quiz master was found but it all worked out ok and we had enough time for a lengthy discussion.

1. To what degree is the title a metaphor for this novel?
2. Are Jamie's actions justified? What about Cam's? Allie's?
3. Who is the author of the "notes"between the chapters? Who are these snippets addressing? Did you believe this throughout the book?
4. Jamie says, "You know it's never fifty-fifty in a marriage. It's always seventy-thirty, or sixty-forty. Someone falls in love first. Someone puts someone else up on a pedestal. Someone works very hard to keep things rolling smoothly; someone else sails along for the ride."Do you agree?
5. In what ways does Mia's memory of her parents' love influence her relationship with Cam?
6. Who is the most selfish character? The most selfless?
7. In what ways are Cam and Jamie similar?
8. How is Cameron MacDonald like his namesake ancestor? How is he different? To what extent does the Scottish history of this clan affect his decisions?
9. What is the significance of the moments in MERCY that are magical or somewhat unreal?
10. There is a catch-22 in Mia and Cam's relationship… they have each fallen in love with a person who would no longer exist if they were to run off together. Do you agree or disagree with this statement, and why?
11. Is there a hero in this book?
12. What attracts Allie to Jamie? To Cam? What attracts Mia to Cam, and Cam to Mia? Do you believe that we try to find parts of our personalities that are lacking in the people we love?
13. At the end of chapter 17, Cam "wondered how he had so quickly gone from holding everything he wanted in the palm of his hand to having absolutely nothing at all. He wondered how he could have been so blinded by something shiny and new and elusive that he couldn't at least give equal credit for the strength of something stable, and strong, and his."Do you think his feelings are heartfelt? Do you agree?
14. Why did Picoult choose to make Jamie a pioneer in virtual reality?
15. How has Jamie changed by the end of the book?
16. What will happen to Cam and Allie? To Mia? To Jamie?
17. Is this novel about love, or loyalty? Are they the same thing?

If you've read this book and would care to give me your thoughts on question 3 & 14 that would be great. We found these questions harder to fathom, also if you care to share your thoughts on Jamie - eg some thought he was controlling others felt sad for him as he'd lost everything.

Thank you for reading, if you've enjoyed reading please follow. Please leave a comment below. Do checkout my face book page here and leave a photo of your craft projects you've finished or working on. Cx

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