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Monday 29 November 2010

BBC big read - a Facebook meme

Years ago (April 2003) 'Auntie Beeb' made a collection of book titles and authors. People voted for their favourites...and the result is below...
(ones I have read)
1. The Lord of the Rings, J R R Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J K Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, J  RR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, L M Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh (trilogy)
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian (but I have seen the film)
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher

51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

A brief look thro' synopses leads me to think I shan't bother with the few I've not read...


What say you???

Saturday 27 November 2010

Lancashire Day!

TO: THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY AND COUNTY PALATINE OF LANCASTER

GREETINGS!

Know ye that this day, November 27th in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Ten, the 59th year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Duke of Lancaster, is Lancashire Day.

Know ye also, and rejoice, that by virtue of Her Majesty's County Palatine of Lancaster, the citizens of the Hundreds of Lonsdale, North and South of the Sands, Amounderness, Leyland, Blackburn, Salford and West Derby are forever entitled to style themselves Lancastrians.

Throughout the County Palatine, from the Furness Fells to the River Mersey, from the Irish Sea to the Pennines, this day shall ever mark the peoples' pleasure in that excellent distinction - true Lancastrians, proud of the Red Rose and loyal to our Sovereign Duke.
GOD BLESS LANCASHIRE

AND

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN, DUKE OF LANCASTER!

Tuesday 23 November 2010

November 29 -

When do you start your Christmas shopping? 
Whenever I come across something and think it’d suit a person I know. 

Long gone are the days of mammoth expeditions round the shops. I learnt long ago, that if I'm to be a successful shopper…I have to be on my own.
Thinking back to school days, Christmas shopping with my friend we spent the whole day going round the shops. Her list was long she had lots of folk to buy for. Mine was (as usual very short). She came home with a completed list, me? Still most left undone.

For a while, I worked in a chemist’s shop and it was great. Oh the fun of helping people with their Xmas shopping! Getting to try on perfumes – Dior, Lancôme, Revlon, and Faberge to name but a few... Then doing the special ‘chemist’s wrap’ in the gift paper…
Now, that was a lovely place to buy presents, my hard-earned money going back into the till.
And, a week later, sometimes serving the ‘other half’... One woman was a regular; her mother had told the husband ‘Always buy Chanel No. 5.’ She’d return the unopened perfume and exchange it for Dior.  
Throughout my career (teaching) there was never any time for the luxury of shopping for Xmas. All had to be crammed into the shortest time. So, I began using mail order from charity catalogues. Lessened the need to venture near the shops. These days I'm likely to shop on-line, but as my Xmas list gets shorter each year…it’s easier to complete.


Do you already have it done? 
This year? Already done, things allocated to names on my list. At the end of November, beginning of December I’ll write and post Xmas cards. 
One card and present has to get to the recipient Before December 6th as being Dutch they celebrate St. Nicholas.
Who is the hardest person to buy for? 
That has to be my other half, my soul-mate, he’s always been difficult to buy for, but then so am I.
AND...when do you do your wrapping? 
Since I already have wrapping paper in stock, I’ll have a go when the mood takes me or as and when I need to deliver the present or go to the Post Office. 
If I'm to avoid the Xmas queues it’s best done no later than the 1st week in December.
Two presents are delivered by hand, one to a friend in Delamere and the other to my theatre companion. 

Or does Santa do your shopping?
I've heard of the idea of 'secret Santa' but I don't 'reckon it' i.e. would not be something I'd do,

Sunday 14 November 2010

Fun Monday Nov. 22nd

Julie of
is hostess for November and she
Asks - What is your favorite beauty product?

This is when I have to admit to loving the beauty products made by Lush.

They do a shower gel called Flying Fox 
it's truly relaxation in a bottle...

Then there are their solid shampoo bars. A real 'must' for holidays and travelling as there's no liquid to spill. With 9 to choose from...you can 'ring the changes'- my favourite is Karma comba. Not only does my hair smell lovely, it almost behaves itself and has fewer tangles.



Is a 'must' in winter, keeps feet toasty warm thanks to cinnamon, clove and ginger. Another 'must have' concoction.

So, Julie there's not one single fave but 3
one for hair
one shower gel
and
one for feet 

Wednesday 10 November 2010

Anticipating Christmas - Fun Monday


Julie writes - November 15 - Let's talk Christmas!
Traditional Carols
"Deck the Halls with boughs of holly"

Benjamin Britten's "Ceremony of Carols"

Wolcum Yole!
"I sing of a Maiden that is makeless"
"Adam lay y bounden"

To me, Christmas is more about music than decorations...

When do you start decorating for Christmas? not until December...

Do you go out?
Of all days, Christmas Day is the day to spend at home.

Put up a tree?

Yes, once it would've been a fir, complete with roots and then it could be planted out.
Now, fibre optic trees have become popular and can look pretty.

Decorate with a theme?.
I usually visit a garden centre that puts on a special display of Christmas decorations.... and plan in my mind, but that's as far as it gets..

Christmas dinner isn't until early evening...the morning is spent organizing the turkey and trimmings...
Hopefully there'll be fresh Brussels sprouts and sage from neighbour's garden.
Dessert will be a Dutch recipe - vanilla ice cream topped with cream and Advocaat.

superstitions n celebrations

With the approach of Hallowe'en or All Hallows also known as Samhain, it seems appropriate to write about superstitions.
One friend dislikes the colour green because to her it's an 'inauspicious' bad-luck colour. So, today, not wanting to cause any unhappiness, I changed out of my green jumper and put on a cerise coloured one before visiting.
Another of her superstitions concerns doorways and entrances to her home. Whichever doorway you enter by, you must leave the same way, or else be followed by bad luck.

 "For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
"

November 1st is the Feast of All Saints.
A time to remember the lives and sacrifices of saints and martyrs.




Wiccan Rede
'An harm none, do what ye will'.

Wednesday 3 November 2010

on two sides of the pond

November 8 - Tell us about your Thanksgiving Day meal.  Do you have your menu planned?  Do you have the traditional turkey dinner, or go a bit more non-traditional?  What is your favorite go-to dish for Thanksgiving?  Any recipes you'd like to share?

Wishing my US click on the mouse friends a 
'Very Happy Thanksgiving'. 
Hope you all have a lovely time!


"He (the turkey) is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on."
--Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to his daughter


First Thanksgiving 
Looking into the FM topic, I surfed the Web and found the 'Pilgrim Hall Museum'
Thank you, Julie for setting the topic.
I had a vague idea that Thanksgiving is a time for celebration, for gathering family together...
Now, I'm better informed and know a little of the rich history associated with the fourth Thursday in November. 


English memorable dates in November

5th Guy Fawkes

27th Nov Lancashire Day


Red Rose of Lancashire


The red rose symbol dates from the
Wars of the Roses
Series of battles fought between Yorkshire (white rose) and Lancashire (red rose) for the throne of England 1445 - 1487


As for turkey dinner?
Nowadays, over here, it's eaten on Christmas Day, and other family occasions.


How could I omit November 11th 

11th hour

of the

11th Day

of the

11th month...

Remembrance Day...and two minutes silence


The soldier in WW1 uniform, head bowed and rifle reversed stands watchful over the town.


"At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them"


So, earlier today (11th Nov.) the country came to a standstill to observe the Silence.
In London, at the Cenotaph they observed the Silence for the 90th year.