Monday Music #4

"Life turns on a dime" is the mantra of the book I'm currently reading. The smallest thing, the tiniest change to the way we do things can make a difference to the outcome. The smallest person, with very little power, can change destiny for another soul around them.

It's not always that easy. When we look at the big mess we are in, it's too daunting. There's too much to change, and if we tackle things, we can too easily fail.

The song I've chosen today encourages us to get up, fight for the things we want, and live life to the full. It reminds us that small things have the power to move big ones, and that it doesn't matter what others say, or how bad things are, we have a lot of fight left in us. 

Today is February 29. The additional day we only get every four years. Go and make life different today.

It's Rachel Platten - Fight Song. Enjoy

Last Monday's Motivation

Ten of the Best #34

Welcome to the weekend. It's been waiting, while you've been working. And here it is, along with the end of February - yes really, already - with some downtime, hopefully, to read, watch and enjoy the things you didn't get to during the week.

Here's the best of what was on my social media feeds this week. Hope you enjoy them all.

1. Thuto Gaasenwe says it best. Sums up the mood in our country at the moment. Not as positive as Lovelyn's address, which is here, if you missed it three weeks ago - the first point. Thuto composed a poem entitled "Dear Mr President"... it's a student speaking, and she makes sense.

2. Really, it could be worse - we could live in Uganda. The Daily Show does a walkabout on a Ugandan street and asks locals whether they would vote for Trump or Museveni. “For a Muslim,” said one, “that would be like having to choose between ham and bacon.”
“I’d rather hang myself,” answered another. Here's Trevor.  

Friday Book Bling

BookBeginnings is a weekly meme, hosted by Rose City Reader. To participate, share the opening lines and your thoughts about a book you're reading, or about to.


Beginning: 

At first they watched the rain from inside the tent and then they watched it come inside the tent. A stone path extended from the house to the shore.When the shuttle buses arrived, the stones were opaque. Now they were translucent, the kind of wet that made it difficult to imagine them ever being dry again. Lightning struck the surface of the ocean and a curtain of hot wind swayed inward at their feet, pushing detached bouquet petals in a row. Victor took a step back. These were his only nice shoes.

My thoughts:

Four friends reunited for the snazzy wedding of a college friend. Victor loves Kezia, Kezia loves Nathaniel, Nathaniel loves Nathaniel. There is an older lady's obsession over a necklace, that they get sucked into, and they struggle their way through each other's lives not going according to plan.

The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley

Verity Grey is an archaeologist, who is invited to work with the eccentric Peter Quinnell, to work on his dig on the Scottish borderlands. Her ex-boyfriend is there, and as she “meets the neighbours”, she discovers that all is not as it seems. Everyone is intent on keeping Peter Quinnell’s theory – that he has found the final resting place of the Ninth Legion – intact. The evidence seems flimsy at best.

I listened to this on Audible, and the narration was beautiful. I love Scottish accents and this emphasized the dialogues, which were real and well written.

This book was written in 1999, and although I have enjoyed others by this author, this wasn’t her best. The paranormal element didn’t worry me, but the plot could have been more gripping and the resolution less contrived. The characters were the main weakness – most of them more than a little annoying.

I didn’t know before that there was so much mystery surrounding the disappearance of the Ninth Legion, nor that so many cared about finding out what happened to them. I do now, and it was diverting.

An ok 3 star read for me.

ISBN: 9780515124644

You may also enjoy Kit by Marina Fiorato, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, or Playing with Fire by Tess Gerritsen.

All my reviews.

Good old favourites #12

How's your food week been, so far? I've had a wonderful week - not really giving a damn about what I eat, which is sometimes ok, but only for a while.

One of the things I've really been enjoying is tomatoes. It could be because they are growing like weeds in my garden, and producing a huge quantity of fruit, that seems enough to share with the birds, the whole family and the neighbourhood. They are just so juicy and tart, and they seem to work with so many things.

Watch this space for tomato jam, tomato chutney and anything else to do with too many tomatoes...

Here's the recipe for the week. Yes, it's healthy. Of course, it has tomatoes.

Vegetarian Aubergine Lasagne (originally from the LoSalt website)

You need:

1 and three quarter cups of chopped onion

2 cloves of garlic minced

500g tomatoes (can use two tins)

quarter cup tomato paste

2 tsp mixed herbs

1 tsp oregano

half tsp dried basil (I use fresh)

Black pepper

At least one large eggplant/aubergine, sliced

1 cup shredded mozarella cheese

Parmesan to sprinkle

What to do:

Spray pan with nonstick oil and fry onion and garlic over low heat until translucent.

Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, everything except eggplant.

Steam the slices of eggplant in a pot - about 5 minutes.

Layer the eggplant and the tomato and onion mix in a serving dish (coated with nonstick oil). Top with mozarella and parmesan and bake for half an hour on 190 degrees.

All my recipes.

Die Trying by Lee Child

Lee Child has created the ultimate hero in Jack Reacher. Although these books are not new, the length of the series, combined with "I know what the read is going to be like" is very attractive, particularly when you've just read something long and heavy. This is the second -Die Trying- where Jack inadvertently gets involved with the kidnapping of an FBI agent - Holly Johnson.

We follow them along an unknown path in the back of a truck, and then, when the action starts, it’s pretty non-stop.

If you know and love Jack, you’ll love this book. He’s awesome. So is Holly. And there were some twists I didn’t see coming. Clever writing, good plotting, with a dash of the unbelievable-in-any-world-except-Jack-Reacher-or-James-Bond.

Plenty of action, good characters, annoying villains and all the good guys win.

A strong 3 star read for me.

ISBN: 9780553505412

You may also enjoy Killing Floor – number one in the series by the same author.

All my reviews.

Monday Music #3

Good morning everyone. Welcome to the week. It's going to be a good one.

How do I know? Well, this is your Adventure of a Lifetime. It's got to be good. It's the only one you've got. Not inspired yet? Hang in there, maybe soon.

Coldplay fans may have already worked out this week's music clip to get us all going today. 

It's...

ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME - COLDPLAY

Why I chose it? 

Well, we all need to turn our magic on today. And everything we want is a dream away. Great stuff, right?

But my favourite bit is 

"Under this pressure, under this weight, we are diamonds taking shape."  

Inspired by our Sunday sermons on James - where we've been thinking about how the tough stuff in life can bring out the best in us. No matter what your beliefs are, this is a truth - when you've gone through some rough times, you are better for it. Quite amazing when you think about it - throw some brown at the human race, and it makes them more awesome. 

And the last subtitle - "Dedicated to the people of Paris, where this film was brought to life."

I don't know if it's worth bothering with watching the video - just take a listen.  It's quite cute when they dance, but that's it!

We are legends, everyday. Woohoo.

Last week's Music - Taylor Swift.

And the week before - Awake my soul - Mumford and Sons

Suffragette

"Well, that does it. I officially hate men. All of them."
"Me too. In fact, I am not speaking to another one for at least a week."

This was the conversation my husband and I couldn't help but overhear as we left the screening of Suffragette. I glanced at him, and his look said, "Keep walking." I wanted to turn around and say "Not all of them," but perhaps it was better that I didn't. The movie had marked me under my skin. So much so that I returned to see it the very next night with my teenage daughter.

What was it about the movie that really got to me? A number of things.

Meryl Streep as Emmeline Pankhurst

Ten of the Best #33

Busy is not the word... Hectic? Frenetic? Frenzied? Stressful? Yup, any one of those is a good description for my week. Yours too? Sorry. 

Look at us though, we made it to another weekend. And no matter what is still to be done, it is now officially the end of the week. You (and I) deserve some time to sit down, chill, smell the roses, sip the tea, and catch our breath.

While you're doing that, why not catch up on what you didn't have time for on social media this week? That was frenetic too. In SA we had more Zuma, more students, some Valentine's Day rants and it sounds like the rest of the world was just as busy. Here's the most thought-provoking, interesting and funny things I found this week. Hope there's something for you to enjoy.

1. Where to begin? Well way back on Sunday it was Valentine's Day. And there was all sorts of anti-romantic sentiment that I found. I blame my friends. Cynical bunch that they are. Click the pic for an article on why single is really better for a woman.

2. Antjie Krog wrote an interesting piece on Eugene.

Friday Book Hero

BookBeginnings is a weekly meme, hosted by Rose City Reader. To participate, share the opening lines and your thoughts about a book you're reading, or about to.


Beginning: 

Nathan Rubin died because he got brave. Not the sustained kind of thing that wins you a medal in a war, but the split-second kind of blurting outrage that gets you killed on the street.

My thoughts:

Lee Child has created the ultimate hero in Jack Reacher. Although these books are not new, the length of the series, combined with that "I know what the read is going to be like" is very attractive, when you've just read something long and heavy. This is from the second - Die Trying - where Jack inadvertently gets involved with the kidnapping of an FBI agent - Holly Johnson. A great read.