I'm Sick Now What? by Dr. Andrew Butterworth

I know, I know. Why this book? Let me explain.

I went to the Kingsmead Book Fair recently, and hadn't booked a first session, and landed up in the chapel listening to Dr, Butterworth talk about healing. Quite timely, given my last twelve months. He was down-to-earth, interesting and practical; patient, intelligent and steadfast in his faith.

He said there was one fact that he thought worth sharing: 

"It can be proven scientifically that there is a link between our thought life and how well our immune system works."

I knew this had been said before. But I hadn't heard it expressed with such conviction from the perspective of both faith/religion and medical science. So I bought the book (which had to be hunted down - challenge accepted).

The book is like Andrew (who I've subsequently had the pleasure of meeting). Fascinating, insightful, and full of practical ways to work out the questions he poses: 

"Why am I sick? Is healing possible? IS IT POSSIBLE FOR ME?"

The first four chapters explore sickness, and the promise of healing from a Biblical perspective. Andrew brings in his medical experience to explain the link between our thoughts and the immune system, the toxicity of stress and spiritual healing. The middle chapters work through typical blocks with practical questions for considering at the end of each chapter. The last few talk about the journey towards health - how? 

This book is packed with goodness, challenges and honest confrontation of difficult questions. It will motivate you and inspire you to live better, stronger and well. It's worth reading.

5 stars

ISBN: 9781629115610

More soup for me

I know. This is the fifth sixth seventh soup recipe I've posted recently. I'm boring myself. My eyes are rolled so far back, I can see Australia.

But this one's really easy, and healthy and tasty. All my favourite things. And you can even serve it hot, too.

Cucumber soup

You will need -  4 Cucumbers, 1 cup vegetable broth, knob of butter, 250ml fresh cream, 15 ml mixed herbs.

Peel two cucumbers, and leave the skins on the other two for colour (and because skin is good for you), and slice all four. Fry gently in a knob of butter. Add the stock and herbs and bring to the boil.  Simmer for about 25 minutes. Blend using a stick blender, and add cream. Try it hot - yum, or chill for a few hours. Also delicious. Garnish with cucumber slices.

Too bland for you? Add some crushed garlic when you fry the cucumbers. Or use dill and mint instead of mixed herbs. 

And since that's so easy, if you're up for baking, why not make your own bread or rolls to go with that? No? Then pop out to your local and buy a fresh French Loaf.

Enjoy.

After the Party by Lisa Jewell

Lisa Jewell is like her name - you dig out an old one, and it is beautiful, shiny and goes with your favourite outfit. 

I am dying to read her latest - I Found You. But while I wait for it to become a little cheaper (US Kindle edition is over $20 at time of writing), I thought I'd dip into an old one I'd been wanting to read for ages. After the Party is the story of Jem and Ralph, who found their happy ending eleven years ago. Only now, two kids and some stress and chaos later, it doesn't have the same fairytale ring as it did before. Jobs and careers are difficult, they're drifting apart, and the predators of the opposite gender are circling around both of them.

In this delightful read, the author asks when it is right to leave and move on, if the magic can ever be recaptured and whether we are capable of coherent decisions in times of crisis. 

I listened to the Audible version, and found Patience Tomlinson's narration excellent. Weaving seamlessly through time and the net of tangled relationships, the characters were wonderful. Jem is petite, capable and unwittingly gorgeous, and Ralph's charm is in his bafflement at the way his life is falling out of control, and his desperation to recreate it. I only discovered upon its completion that it is a sequel, and I am glad - I think it actually stands alone well, and I wouldn't have enjoyed imagining how the first book went.

The delight and added star came in the surprising and uplifting ending. It worked for me, and although it was a tad long-winded, I enjoyed the journey too.

A heartwarming 4 stars

ISBN: 9781451609103

Other Lisa Jewell books I've read: The Girls, Before I Met You, The House We Grew Up In, The Third Wife

You may also enjoy Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.

Running, Loving, Living

Good morning all you early birds.

So glad you are joining me this morning. We're going for a walk, that may involve a bit of running. We're getting there. Slowly. But we're getting there.

I need a lottle motivation to do this every day. And I do have to. My medical aid has given me incentives to get a free reward on a weekly basis (a free hot drink or smoothie). To do this, I need to achieve a fitness target. Great. Except the target keeps increasing. And I'm figuring that one day soon, I may need to learn to sleepwalk again so that I can achieve all they want me to. 

But that's not really why I do it. No really, it's not. I do it because I love to get fit, and I love doing it outside, in our beautiful part of the world, and I love to connect with nature and people as I go. It's a great start to the day.

So part of my motivation is to sing songs in my head as I go. This morning I'm humming this one.

Yes, it's Adele. Again. I really enjoy this song - it shows how much she's moved on, let go, and besides, it has the lines: "Baby I'm still rising - I was running, you were walking - You couldn't keep up, you were falling down (down)"

That's going to inspire me to run a bit more than I walk today.

Have a good one.

Here's last week's motivation.

Ten of the Best #54

What a week it's been. Eventful? Somewhat, I'd say.

And our social media feeds tell the tale - so much to share today. Almost too much. It makes writing this post so much quicker and easier. Thanks to all my friends who share the funniest, craziest, most interesting stuff online. You know who you are.

So here we go then, ten of the best of what I saw this week. Snuggle up, grab your tea, and let's begin.

This was the week that Pokemon Go got very famous. Launched in the US on 1 July, so still not officially here (neither was Netflix, for all those years, but COME ON), but of course it is. What do you mean you didn't know? Kate Sidley illuminates the concept for all of us. Click the pic for the news story.

Hang on, did I miss something? I did hear that David Cameron was going, but I thought Boris Johnson was next. Even if he only lasted a few days like our esteemed Finance Minister Van Rooyen. But how did Theresa May get there so fast? Or not so fast, as this humorous article explains.

Friday Books - Anxiety for Beginners

On Fridays I participate in BookBeginnings, hosted by Rose City Reader, and The Friday 56 - hosted by Freda’s Voice. Both involve sharing excerpts from a current book - the beginning and - you guessed it - page 56.

This week's book-

Click the cover for the Goodreads blurb.

When I was seventeen, I lost part of myself to a toilet cubicle. A part I don't know if i'll ever get back.





Here's my P56

Stage fright isn't a commonly spoken about anxiety among performers, maybe because they think it's bad luck to do so...As Adele told Vogue in an interview "I puke quite a lot before going on stage, though never actually on the stage." She appears, blazing, smiling. "I shit myself before everything," she continued. "But the bigger the freak out, the more I enjoy the show."

I'm taking a break from my usual fare - crime thrillers and historical fiction, and going to read this personal account of anxiety disorder, from someone who was diagnosed at quite a young age with an anxiety disorder. I'm really looking forward to it. 

It looks well written, for a start, and I'm fascinated by the topic. A teacher friend was telling me that children in her class as young as 8 or 9 years of age are being treated for anxiety. It seems that our society cannot help making everyone anxious, and when it's young people and children, maybe it's time for change?

Tell me what you're reading, and I'll pay you a visit. 

Happy reading everyone.

Book Club Books

Is it your turn? Have you got a list?


What will you decide to buy for Book Club?

Our Book Club doesn't work like that - we bring books every month, as we've read them. But if you need to choose books, sometimes a list of options is helpful.

Here are my favourite picks from the last few months. I've included a brief synopsis here, but if you click the covers, you'll get my full reviews.

Different Class by Joanne Harris is one of the best books I have read this year so far.


Set in a creepy going-down-the-drain boys' school, an old pupil is appointed as headmaster to sweep clean, and this may mean that our hero - Roy Straitely, the Latin master, and protector of heritage, history and tradition, may be brushed out. It is intense, and has a marvellous psychological aspect to it.


Flashbacks from a schoolboy's journal reveal that all was not healthy there a decade or so ago, and now perhaps the demons are re-appearing. A great read.

Chicken Broccoli Bake

I cannot believe that I've been posting recipes nearly every week for a year now, and I haven't done this yet. Just astonishing, as it's such a family staple. 

Well here it is - I've trawled the internet for the one closest to ours, because I don't think I've ever bothered to write it down. Shame on me.

Chicken Broccoli

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 punnet mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cups boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
• 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1½ cups fat-free-milk
• 1 (16-oz) package steam-in-bag broccoli florets
• 250ml fat-free plain Greek yogurt
• ¼ cup light mayonnaise
• Black pepper
• Cheddar cheese, a sprinkle for the top

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Cook broccoli in a little boiling water. Drain.
2. Heat olive oil , add onion and mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are starting to get tender. Add cubed chicken. Cook until chicken is cooked through. 
3. Sprinkle flour over chicken & mushroom mixture and stir constantly, cooking for one minute. Stir in milk. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes, or until thick and bubbly.
4. Stir in cooked broccoli, and heat through about 1 minute. Add yogurt, mayo and pepper, stirring lightly to combine.
5. Pour into casserole dish - coated with oil spray. Sprinkle top with cheese and bake for 20 minutes, or until cheese melts and it's bubbly around the edges. Enjoy with rice, or cauli-rice.

More recipes.

Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan

Dear Amy starts with an exciting prologue, the abduction of Katie Browne. Katie is at the same school as teacher Margot Lewis, who freelances for a local paper - writing the agony aunt column as “Amy”. The suspense starts building as letters appear - addressed “Dear Amy” in the pigeon hole, signed Bethan Avery, a girl abducted years ago, begging for help.

Our protagonist, Margot/Amy, is quirky and odd. I liked her. Told in the first person, the solving of the mystery of the letters, in the hopes that Katie has a chance of survival, is medium paced, and well-drawn. 

The other characters are also great, and provide context and extended my interest. The plot is full of fairly predictable twists and turns, and some interesting developments.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style, the pace and the premise, this book felt “done before”. The genre has become full of missing girls, breathtaking villains with horrific pasts and heartstopping plot twists, plunging the victims into unspeakable danger. You have to really push the boundaries to make a book different, and this didn't really. 

A diverting read, well-written, albeit missing a little originality and noteworthiness. Read it anyway, you know you want to. I'm still glad I did.

3 stars

You may also enjoy All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda,  or The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. 

More reviews.

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It's Monday - let's do this

It's Monday. Time to get up. Time to hit the road. Preferably running.

It feels like everyone has been on holiday, which means we've all overindulged and under exercised. Good - sometimes we need to go easy on ourselves and let our hair down a little. But we also need to get back to it. And I've got the perfect soundtrack to play while you pound this morning.

It's aptly titled "Run" and it's by Matthew Mole. Haven't you heard it?  Well you're in for a treat, it's a goodie.

"I'm gonna find that this way
I'm never gonna break my,
never gonna break my bones
and if you find that this way
you're never gonna be a-,
never gonna be alone"

Not out of bed yet? Come on, it's not that cold, and you need to get moving. 

"you gotta come and lay it all down, because you can face whatever the weather"

I'm going to. Let's do this. 

Last week's JAMM