Jan. 12: Solo Saturday!

Andy is off with his family, a familiar drive to Brunswick that he hasn't made lately, and Nate is off with a friend, so I've had a quiet but pleasant gray Saturday: nice visit with A. before he left, some basic emptying compost/filling bird feeder/banking/laundry type of stuff, then tackled an item from my to-do list: fixing Lyle's beloved but flimsy cords whose rivet button had come out. I chose some fun material and a funky button and I THINK they'll be okay at least until the corduroy fabric itself lets go, so I can pack them into the package with his finished Christmas present mitts:

and some forgotten laundry and call it good (sorry for the lazy photobooth pic). I finished them while we watched Downton Abbey #1 and #2 as our Friday night movie last night.

I also dug out Moth's neglected sweater and figured out what I'll be doing for the sleeve, for better or for worse!, and restarted that. My goal is to finish it by February vacation and then be able to buy the yarn for a mock JCrew aran sweater in Portland. We'll see! In any case, the sweater is out and I've figured out what my various notes meant, and I've knitted 1/2 sleeve decrease row, so I think I'm stuck in again.

AND then I hope to go see "Downeast," a documentary about the Stinson Cannery saga, this afternoon after a run, and then tomorrow my Honors Sophomore English class and I gather at the MDI library to watch the (interesting and very good but very adapted) film version of Great Expectations as a warm up for the class, which starts on the 28th. . . so I should do some school work today, maybe. . . It's a nice time to be just putzing around the house by myself. I do need to take Z for a w and then get my heinie outside for a run--then I can loll about, knitting and maybe even reading Peaches for Father Francis, the sequel to Chocolat, which I really enjoying!

Aaaaand then I finished it!

Peaches for Father Francis by Joanne Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved Chocolat, but I'd almost given up on Harris because of the brooding, doom-laden tone of so many of her other books. For some reason I picked up Peaches, the last of a three book series that started with Chocolat, and I loved it! Harris's narrative is hopeful, richly described, suspenseful, and illuminating: her parallel descriptions of Islamic and small-town French traditions are wonderful. It's a long book, but I gobbled it down. The food descriptions, as expected, are mouth-watering. Highly recommended!


View all my reviews