Happy Easter Weekend

Hello there, I hope you are all well and enjoy a lovely Easter weekend break.

This week after finishing another crocheted basket, this time in purple, sorry I've no photo, I've crocheted a scrubby for the kitchen at 'Knit & Natter'. The yarn itself is a bit tricky to work with as you can't easily see the stitches. But...it's only a scrubby for washing dishes in bubbly water, so does it really matter if it's not perfect! There is a pattern included with the yarn on the inside of the band label. It has a few rounds finishing with a scalloped round.

I've listened to a few more audiobooks that I've thoroughly enjoyed. Two were by Jacqueline Winspear -
The Mapping of Love and Death 
A Lesson in Secrets.

    

They are both part of the Maisie Dobbs series set in the 1930's. There are no mobile phones or google to hand, her young assistant calls her Miss Dobbs and makes an awful lot of tea. Maisie a private detective working with Scotland yard at times, solving crime the old fashioned way. Thinking, writing, talking and using the public telephone box, she walks, takes the train or drives her 'motor car' (MG). The country is between wars, poorer children lack shoes and living conditions are hard. The class system is evident making it hard to 'rise above your station.' Maisie is fortunate having somehow climbed from a maid, studied at Cambridge and served as a nurse in the great war. I'm not sure why it appeals so much, the story is very slow moving, the character just grows on you. I will be listening to more in the series on audiobook. 

Lastly I've listened to 'The Day of Second Chances' which is also called After the Fall or even Falling by Julie Cohen. It's weird how the book has so many different titles but it's the same book.



Wow, what a book! You'll be taken on a roller coaster of feelings with laughter, shock and tears - yes real heart jerking tears. I suppose it may not appeal to everyone containing some explicit content, gender issues and colourful language, but that's life. The picture on the cover photo shows three generations of women, each with a secret so devastating, they can't even tell the ones they love. Jo's 2 younger children provide many laughs throughout the story keeping it light and amusing. Lydia, Jo's older daughter made me want to shout, with her 'teenager life' in the family. Anyone with teens may know how this feels. Honor is...a formidable character...is that too harsh? The 3 protagonists challenge each other, each character telling their chapter in turn, starting slow and building towards something almost too big to contain them. It is heartbreaking in places but...

I'm not going to tell you the ending and if it turns out ok.  I can only recommend it to you and hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

Bye for now,
Cathy x