Missing Downton Abbey?

Enjoy a pot of tea and curl up with a good book from the British Isles.  Here are a few examples.

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
The Book of Invasions, Ireland
David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Conan Doyle

What are your favorite British Isle books?  Whether that be books by authors from the British Isles, or books set in the British Isles.

My Favorite Poem. Yes, I have a lot of those.

From Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising Sequence, The Grey King.

On the day of the dead, when the year too dies,
Must the youngest open the oldest hills.
Through the door of the birds where the breeze breaks
There fire shall fly from the raven boy,
And the silver eyes that see the wind,
And the Light shall have the harp of gold.
~
By the pleasant lake the Sleepers lie,
On Cadfan's Way where kestrels call,
Though grimm from the Grey King shadows fall,
Yet singing the golden harp shall guide
To break their sleep and bid them ride.
~
When light from the lost land shall return,
Six Sleepers shall ride, six Signs shall burn,
And where the midsummer tree grows tall
By Pendragon's sword the Dark shall fall.
~
Y maent yr mynyddoedd yn canu,
ac y mae'r arglwyddes yn dod.


~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, supposedly, "Y maent yr mynyddoedd yn canu, ac y mae'r arglwyddes yn dod," means something like "The mountains are singing and the lady comes." But, there's some grammar errors in there that may change the meaning, too.

5 Reasons Migraines are Not Just a Headache

My Current Daydream

Every morning I wake to the sounds of gentle rain dripping off the tile roof of my one bedroom flat in Oxford.  I make some coffee, toast a crumpet, spread it with jam and enjoy my breakfast.  Today is my day to go to the library and study the actual texts of the medieval Irish and Welsh myths and legends and folktales.  I am looking for clues as to who the writers were and why they wrote in the ways they wrote.  I am also looking for the similarities and differences in the texts.  After lunch, I will go to the river for a walk and think over what I've peered at all the morning.  In the afternoon, I return to my flat and write up my notes, just in time to go to the train station and meet my sweetie on her vacation to England.  We go to a nearby pub and have a dinner and some local ale, then we go to a lecture on the historical lumps and depressions in the surrounding country side.  We go home afterwards for some much deserved time to ourselves.  In a few days, we emerge and go on an exploration of the Iron Age remains in the area while taking in the scenery and stopping at pubs for lunch and dinner, or tea as they call it there.  I don't make her climb a tree as our favorite Brit Com leading lady does in their own Iron Age remains episode, so I don't look foolish talking to a tree when a bicyclist goes by and she refuses to answer me from the tree.  Then again, the car didn't have a ladder, so it wasn't really feasible.  :)

Watching Lady Gaga and Oprah Talking About Fame ... Oh My!!

It's Sunday, so of course, it is Super Soul Sunday and Oprah's Next Chapter in my house on the television.  Oprah is interviewing Lady Gaga about her life and has just asked her about fame and how it feels to have the most followers on Twitter.  Lady G doesn't disappoint and turns the conversation to how her team keeps her honest and grounded by telling her the truth.

This reminds me of the time when I was told of a friend's secret affair.  The affair was the truth, and it's story was spreading faster than anything on Twitter, though only through word of mouth.  I asked the one telling me about the affair if we could talk about something else, like her daughter's winning score in the recent basketball game.  Despite the truth of the conversation's details, the friend whose secret it was wasn't there to do the sharing of her secret, so as her friend, as part of her "team," I felt that it was best not to talk about this secret that wasn't really a secret anymore without her being present to share her truth of the events.

Tiny Homes, A Review

This is a great little book about simplifying and living in Tiny Homes.   Some of the homes are 100 square feet in area up to about 500 square feet on average.  The homes range from little places on the lake and tree houses to yurts and hobbit holes.  I would love to call any of the places showcased home.  This has me thinking of reducing my space needs and making life simpler to be able to move into a small, tiny home of my own.

I gave this book a 4/5 stars because I really liked the pictures and the inspiration it provides.  I also received my copy of the book from the publisher, Shelter Publications Incorporated, through the NetGalley Review program.