Weekend April - ing

Hello there, I hope you are well. April has flown past so quickly, please join me for a peep into our last weekend of the month.

Shopping & Watching

The weekend arrived with Hurricane Hanna, so any plans were accompanied with wind and rain. The teens were busy with their own activities and 'after a while' they emerged to get on with their day. Teen 2 arranged a stay over at a friends house and saw 'Avengers Endgame' at the cinema. Meanwhile, M and I went into town shopping as I desperately needed a new watch battery and to collect some library books. Much later, Teen 1 went to a different cinema to see 'Us.'

Enjoying pretty blooms in the garden and realising there's so much weeding to be done.

QT Waiting for food that he may not even eat, such a fussy old boy at the moment.

Knitting a sleeve of my purple jumper.  This knitting has been on the needles far too long and unpicked too many times. I think my knitting tension has changed over time as I do remember re-doing the back. The front has a diamond pattern in the middle and no matter how many attempts at taking the yarn across the back of it, it just wouldn't lay flat. In the end I abandoned the shape and knitted it plain. The pattern has sequins around the diamond and beads along the moss stitch edge (top, bottom and sleeve edges). I chose not to do all these embellishments. The front and back are finished so just one and a bit sleeves and neck shapings to go. I really need to get this jumper finished.



Discussing this at the book club. This was a good book that I was glad to have persevered with. I won't be reading more by this author which is often how it is with book clubs. You get to read many different genres but not necessarily become a fan.

Who is in Coma Suite Number 5?
A matchless lover? A supreme egotist? A selfless martyr? A bad mother? A cherished sister? A selfish wife?
All of these. For this is Silvia Shute who has always done exactly what she wants. Until now, when her life suddenly, shockingly stops.
Her past holds a dark and terrible secret, and now that she is unconscious in a hospital bed, her constant stream of visitors are set to uncover the mystery of her broken life. And she must lie there, victim of the beloveds, the borings, the babblings and the plain bonkers.
Like it or not, the truth is about to pay Silvia a visit. Again, and again and again...

Questions for Oh, Dear Silvia

1, What are your initial thoughts about the book eg – the writing style, words underlined, different characters telling their own story?
2, Silvia's character evolves throughout the book and at the end we gain an understanding of her actions. 
How did this development affect your sympathy towards her behaviour?
3, Discuss the development of each character's feelings towards Silvia and how they evolve throughout the course of the book? 
4, Discuss the morality of Silvia's actions: should she have gone to the police?
5, Was the ending what you had expected and if not, what had you thought / hoped would happen? 
6, Optional extra question – How did you feel the motif of nature was used in the book? What did it signify to you?




Listening to this book on audible. An enjoyable story with sleuthing and laughs thrown side by side with the quirky detective and his insistence for correct dress code in the heat.

‘Deftly entertaining … satisfyingly pushes all the requisite Agatha Christie-style buttons’ Barry Forshaw, The Independent
DEATH IN PARADISE is one of BBC One’s most popular series which averages 9 million viewers.

DI Richard Poole is hot, bothered and fed up. He’s stuck on the tropical island of Saint-Marie, forced to live in a rickety old shack on a beach, and there isn’t a decent cup of tea to be found anywhere.
When a boat explodes in the harbour, Richard and his team soon realise there’s a new murderer on the loose. But who is it? And why did the killer leave behind a ruby at the scene of the crime?
As the police dig deeper, they uncover secrets that go back decades, and a crime from the past that can never be forgiven.
Worse still, they soon realise this is only the beginning. They’ve got to catch the killer before there's another death in paradise…
An original story from the creator and writer of the hit BBC One TV series, Death in Paradise, featuring on-screen favourite detective, DI Richard Poole.



Reading at the top of my reading pile. Together by Julie Cohen (2017).
Having enjoyed listening to a previous book by Julie Cohen - The Day of Second Chances (Audible) - Falling (book), I thought I'd read another one. 

This is not a great love story. 
This is a story about great love.

On a morning that seems just like any other, Robbie wakes in his bed, his wife Emily asleep beside him, as always. He rises and dresses, makes his coffee, feeds his dogs, just as he usually does. But then he leaves Emily a letter and does something that will break her heart. As the years go back all the way to 1962, Robbie's actions become clearer as we discover the story of a couple with a terrible secret - one they will do absolutely anything to protect.

Perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes's Me Before You, David Nicholls's One Day and M L Stedman's The Light Between Oceans.

Eating Fish & Chips at the book club with a divine pudding of chocolate cookie filled with rolo caramel, in a pool of hot chocolate sauce and drenched in cream.

Drinking I could tell you how lovely 'Boe Violet Gin' is and how Aldi's version, though nowhere near as strong, is equally lovely but I'd best not.
Oops, I just did!

Take care of you & yours
Have a good week
Cathy x