This and that

MOVIES

Last night I watched a beautiful film - it has been out for a while but I never got around to watching it, I wish I had. It was MISS POTTER and I loved it - it has a G (general) rating, so it contained no bad language, violence,  etc... it was just beautiful.  Even though I don't know all the details of Beatrix Potters life, what was portrayed I think was probably a reasonably accurate account.  The only thing missing that I thought was critical to her life is the letters she wrote to her governess's children which then became her published stories - this part was completed skipped over.  Not sure why. 

What I didn't know was once she moved to the Lake District permanently and bought Hilltop she went and bought 4000 hectares of farming land so it wouldn't be developed and much later she donated the land back to the British people.  She was really quite an environmentalist way before her time. 

It had sad moments that needed a tissue, funny moments that brought on laughter and some cute moments when her paintings come to life.  This could have been over done, but it wasn't, once in a while whilst she was talking to the animals eg Jemima Puddle Duck they would start to move (but not in a Walt Disney way).  I would highly recommend it. 

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BOOKS

I have finished a great book - it is for anyone who ever wondered about the things that they use every day - if you are like me, reading At Home by Bill Bryson - it is fascinating. From Amazon:

Bill Bryson was struck one day by the thought that we devote a lot more time to studying the battles and wars of history than to considering what history really consists of: centuries of people quietly going about their daily business - eating, sleeping and merely endeavouring to get more comfortable. And that most of the key discoveries for humankind can be found in the very fabric of the houses in which we live. This inspired him to start a journey around his own house, an old rectory in Norfolk, wandering from room to room considering how the ordinary things in life came to be. Along the way he did a prodigious amount of research on the history of anything and everything, from architecture to electricity, from food preservation to epidemics, from the spice trade to the Eiffel Tower, from crinolines to toilets; and on the brilliant, creative and often eccentric minds behind them.

This is the sort of book that I do this with “did you know. . . .”

• the history of concrete and how it changed building
• tax on glass and its affect on architecture
• iron, steel and bricks
• the life of the servant
• export of ice from the USA to Great Britain
• how many oak trees were needed to build a ship of the British navy
• the affect of the railway on women gardening 
• toilets and sewage (and death)
• why people in the past did not wash (a real stinker)
• the invention of power
• bedding and bed-lice 
• food (don't read this one whilst eating)
• wall paper
• and the list goes on and on

Bryson does on occasions wander off and it can be difficult to see where he is heading but this doesn’t matter in the end, as he is so full of facts and figures that the reader doesn’t mind the diversion.  What I particular liked about this book is it covers homes in both the UK and the USA and how they influences each other.    He doesn’t only focus on the domestic home, but he talks about some of the most famous homes ever built (including Blenheim Palace, Biltmore Estate,  Monticello and Castle Howard ) not only looking at the design, but the men behind some of the most remarkable building.

I would highly recommend it - soon I will read the one he has written about Britain.

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 I have just come back from voting and I think I have turned into an icicle. To partake of the democratic process I stood outside in a grey damp school yard with icy winds blowing for 30mins.  My feet are still feeling cold and I have turned up the central heating to get a bit warmer and popped on my woolly slippers.

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Do you know happens when you drop a container full of frozen peas in your kitchen - they go everywhere and Ruby (cat) spends the next week looking for them under the fridge!  They are roll for miles!!

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Here are three cards that I have made this week using paper tole (3D pictures) and the car at the back is complete, just needs to be attached to a card and sent to my dad for Fathers Day. These are so much fun to make and in a moment I am making another one for Caius's friends birthday next week.

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In a few hours I am off to sing . . 

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

So shalom until tomorrow.