Post no 1000

1,000 posts! I'm amazed I made it this far. I think I wrote in my 500th post that I was amazed I made it past the first two weeks... This blog started as a reading diary & has expanded into much more than that. It's still a reading diary, & I love being able to look back at some of my favourite reads & be reminded of the books I'd completely forgotten. It's also become a place to show off photos of my cats - Abby, Lucky & Phoebe - & sometimes the garden & my baking. Any post with a cat photo is guaranteed to attract a lot of hits, often more than the book posts...

I thought I'd celebrate by choosing one post from every hundred that I've written over the past 5 1/2 years. Thank you to everyone who visits & comments or just visits & lurks. It's lovely to know there are so many other people in the world who enjoy the books, poetry & cats I love & want to have a conversation about them.

Abby, hot cross buns & reading progress - a post about Abby, who died just over four years ago, but who made her presence felt on the blog in that first year. Also, baking & the books I was reading that Easter.

Judging a book by its cover - Sometimes the posts that generate the most comments aren't reviews but general ramblings about books & reading. This post looked at some of my favourite imprints & the changes over the years to the cover art & the way the books are made - font, paper & binding. I also wrote that I didn't see that I would ever want an e-reader. Oh well, it just proves I'm not ashamed to change my mind as I now have a Sony, Kindle & several apps on my iPad devoted to e-books.

Memoirs of a Highland Lady - Elizabeth Grant - I know that Blogger's statistics can be a little dodgy but I'm always fascinated by the posts that are in my Top 5 in my stats overview & also by the posts that have generated lots of hits. Sometimes I can guess that it's because the book is on a school syllabus but sometimes I have no idea. This post has had over 2000 hits since January 2011 & I have no idea why.

Introducing Lucky & Phoebe - First impressions (without pride or prejudice) of the girls when they came to live with me nearly four years ago. Nothing has changed - Lucky is still timid & Phoebe is still adventurous.

Gaudy Night - Dorothy L Sayers - I love rereading my favourite books & I enjoyed writing this post which is more an appreciation of DLS than a review of the book.

Sunday Poetry - Sir Walter Scott - Sunday Poetry was one of my better ideas. I hadn't read much poetry for years until I thought about posting a poem each week. It's taken me back to old favourites & to anthologies on my shelves. This post about Scott's Lochinvar took me from the anthology I was reading then to a book I've had since I was a child. Scott, Scotland & a little nostalgia.

Plotting for Grown-ups - Sue Hepworth - I've been very lucky to receive review copies from authors & publishers over the years. Sue sent me a copy of her novel, But I Told You Last Year That I Loved You, & I then read & loved her other books. I'm always fascinated by how writers write & authors like Sue & Linda Gillard have discovered that publishing their work themselves gives them a lot more control over the finished book.

New arrivals - Buying books is one of my favourite hobbies & posts about my latest purchases & preorders always create lots of comment. I once mentioned to my online reading group that I counted my preorders (like sheep) when I couldn't get to sleep, which caused much hilarity but also made a lot of sense to several members of the group... I just tell myself that I'm building up a good stock of books for my retirement.

The joy & the curse of the tbr shelves - I do a lot of dithering in my life & sometimes I dither on the blog as well. Usually it's a not-too-serious complaint about being unable to decide what to read next because I have too many choices & want to read everything at once. Since I discovered podcasts the problem has only increased. When I think that once, all I had to worry about was the review pages in the Saturday paper & the books I saw at work. Now, there are so many wonderful blogs that I read, three online reading groups constantly mentioning books I either know, own & haven't read, or (even worse), have never heard of but must own as soon as possible, plus podcasts that I can listen to while I'm driving, ironing or cooking - no wonder I buy a lot of books!

And finally,

Bookish ramblings - which could be the alternate name for this blog.

What I did on Melbourne Cup Day

It's safe to say that, for me, Melbourne Cup Day had no horses in it. It's lovely to have a day off but I spent it gardening, walking, cooking, reading & taking photos. My roses are looking beautiful this year, and as it was going to be a hot, windy day, I was out early to pick some roses for the house. The beautiful deep pink ones at the top are Best Friend, a rose that the RSPCA sells to remember our pets. My friend J bought it for me when Abby died & there are more flowers on it this year than ever before. My other roses are all David Austins. The jug on the bottom left has Eglantine, Pretty Jessica & The Squire. Lucky decided to come in for a lunchtime nap on my reading chair & stayed still long enough for me to get a photo.

I got out into the gardening first thing to do some weeding & water the veggies. The veggies have had a great start again this year thanks to my friend M who gave me the seedlings she grows from seed. My zucchini already has several flowers as do the tomatoes. I have a red & a pink geranium in pots as red flowers are meant to be attractive to bees. After a walk, I made some biscuits for morning tea at work today. These are from the recipe for peanut butter biscuits I've made a few times but I adapted it a little. I made some chocolate almond butter the other day so replaced the peanut butter in the original recipe with that. The mixture was looser than the original so the biscuits spread quite a bit more.

Just a few more photos of the garden - & a second photo of Lucky in one day! My lemon tree is flowering & I love to smell the scent every time I walk past. I have two strawberry plants in a rectangular pot & they're covered in flowers. I need to rig up some netting as last year I got no strawberries at all - the birds had a feast instead. Lucky followed me outside & rolled around on the ground while I tried to get her to stay still long enough for a good photo. This was the best I could do.

Cat collages

We were talking about taking photos with the iPad at work the other day. All of our branches have an iPad & the staff can use them to take photos of events. One of our very clever Virtual Media Team sent out some tips about how to take good photos with the iPad. So, of course, I immediately started playing around with filters, autofocus & zoom. Then, M showed me a few free apps that can create collages. Well, I could see the advantage of this as I have a lot of photos of the girls on my iPad & now I could spend hours rearranging them with different frames, filters & all sorts of effects. So, here are my first results. Some of my favourite photos of Lucky,

Phoebe

& Abby.

I also had some photos of the garden so here's a floral collage.

I can see myself spending hours collaging away (is collaging a verb?). I downloaded the InstaFrame app but there are lots of free apps to have a look at.

Phoebe & Lucky's weekend

I can always tell when autumn has arrived & winter's on the way because both Lucky & Phoebe spend a lot more time inside looking for cosy places to sleep. Lucky's favourite places will always be under a blanket or rug. This is her new favourite place. It always amazes me how she manages to roll herself up so snugly.

She hasn't given up on my old dressing gown which she's loved since she first arrived.

It was Abby's favourite place too, although she always snuggled down on top of it rather than underneath.

As soon as I sit down in the evening, Lucky's right there, impatiently sitting on the arm of the chair until I'm ready to provide her living electric blanket service.

Sometimes, Phoebe beats her to it though.

Phoebe also follows me around & whenever I sit down - at the computer, at breakfast - she's right there, holding her chin up for a tickle. As soon as she sees that I've brought out my Shetland wool blanket for the bed, she assumes I've done it for her benefit & sleeps there every night.

They don't sleep all the time, though. I bought a new toaster a few weeks ago & Phoebe was more interested in the box,

especially when she spied Lucky on the other side of the room & thought she was invisible because she was in the box. Lucky ignored her, as usual.

Sunday Poetry - John Keats & Abby

It's two years today since my much loved cat Abby died. So, here's a sonnet by Keats about Mrs Reynolds' Cat. Abby wasn't really very much like this cat who seems to have spent his life killing mice & getting into fights but it's an affectionate tribute & that's what's important. Abby was a timid cat, more likely to spend her days sleeping in her favourite spots in the garden, waiting for me to sit down so she could jump on my lap & being fed the finest tidbits of chicken & fish on offer.

Next week, some more Keats with a Barbara Pym connection as Barbara Pym Reading Week gets underway.

Cat! who hast passed thy grand climacteric,
   How many mice and rats hast in thy days
   Destroyed? How many tit-bits stolen? Gaze
With those bright languid segments green, and prick
Those velvet ears - but prithee do not stick
   Thy latent talons in me, and up-raise
   Thy gentle mew, and tell me all thy frays
Of fish and mice, and rats and tender chick.
Nay, look not down, nor lick thy dainty wrists -
   For all thy wheezy asthma, and for all
Thy tail's tip is nicked off, and though the fists
   Of many a maid have given thee many a maul,
Still is that fur as soft as when the lists
   In youth thou enteredst on glass-bottled wall.  

My 500th post

I can't quite believe that this is my 500th post. I started the blog 2 1/2 years ago & I never expected to keep going past that first fortnight of my summer holidays. Amazingly, I have kept posting & all of you, the kind visitors who keep commenting & starting conversations, have kept coming back.

I thought I'd celebrate by adapting Simon's idea of Five from the Archive & post links to five posts that sum up my enthusiasms. They're the posts that have generated interesting discussions rather then the posts with the most hits. Looking through the list, most of the posts with very high numbers of hits have very few comments. Probably because they've been discovered by students looking for information about Sir Walter Raleigh & Emily Brontё or people googling terms like Royal Wedding & English Ghost!

Persephone is my favourite publisher & I love my collection of Persephones, both dove grey & Classic covers. This post, for Persephone Reading Weekend, generated a lot of enthusiastic responses - & some jealousy as well!

Book design always creates a fuss, whether we love the design (Persephones, original Virago Modern Classics) or hate it (pastel chick lit covers, headless women on historical novels). This post was my response to the changing fashions in cover art.

Then there are the books that we all love - well, all of us who love books about books or a particular type of comforting, funny novel that we can read over & over again. Excellent Women by Barbara Pym is one of those novels.

History is another of my enthusiasms & Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time is one of the books that got me started on my obsession with Richard III & English history in general.

I couldn't finish a post about this blog without mentioning Abby. I was very touched by all the sympathetic comments from Abby's fans when she died in May last year.

Of course, I now have Lucky & Phoebe to keep me company. They're enjoying a beautiful sunny winter's day by sleeping on the back porch after a busy morning of climbing (Phoebe) & exploring (Lucky). I've almost finished reading all the books I was part way through in this post so it's on with the next 500 posts!

Sunday Poetry - Abby

I've abandoned my usual anthology of love poetry for today because I wanted to share a couple of poems about cats in memory of Abby who died one year ago yesterday. I still think of her a lot & often find myself calling Phoebe Abby as I think they look alike.

The first poem is by William Cowper.

A poet's cat, sedate and grave,
as poet would wish to have,
was much addicted to enquire,
for nooks to which she might retire,
and where, secure as mouse in chink,
she might repose, or sit and think.
I know not where she caught her trick,
nature perhaps herself had cast her,
in such a mold philosophique,
or else she learn'd it of her master.
Sometimes ascending, debonair,
an apple tree or lofty pear,
lodg'd with convenience in the fork,
she watched the gard'ner at his work;
sometimes her ease and solace sought,
in an old empty wat'ring pot,
there wanting nothing, save a fan,
to seem some nymph in her sedan,
apparell'd in exactest sort,
and ready to be borne in court.

This is Puss by Walter de la Mare. Just change the pronouns from he to her & June to January & it describes many winter afternoons Abby & I spent together.

Puss loves man's winter fire
Now that the sun so soon
Leaves the hours cold it warmed
In burning June.
She purrs full length before
The heaped-up hissing blaze,
Drowsy in slumber down
Her head she lays.
While he with whom she dwells
Sits snug in his inglenook,
Stretches his legs to the flame
And reads his book.

Phoebe takes over

I was so pleased when Phoebe started sleeping on Abby's old outside bed. I'd bought it for Abby because she liked to sleep under the back stairs in warm weather & I didn't want her lying on the concrete floor. She loved it & would sleep there almost all year round except on the very coldest winter days. There's Abby above,

and here's Phoebe on the back porch.
Then, I thought Lucky looked a little left out dozing on the bare boards so I bought another bed. I couldn't get one like Abby's so went for a very fetching purple, velvety bed. Lucky wasn't the least bit interested but guess who has decided that variety is the spice of life?

I realise now that I should have rubbed Lucky's blanket over the bed to give it some of her scent but it's too late now! Back to the pet shop, I suppose...

Then again, where would Lucky rather be sleeping? That's right, on my lap.

Merry Christmas

Lucky, Phoebe & I would like to wish everyone who visits I Prefer Reading a very Merry Christmas & a peaceful & Happy New Year. As the weather warms up, the girls are finding new, cooler places to relax & sleep. Lucky is fond of the rug in the study. She like to stretch out there while I type (she's there now).

Phoebe likes to be up off the ground. The chair in my study is good,

but a pile of shopping bags on the kitchen bench (I know, she's not meant to be up there!) is even better.

This time last year it was my dear Abby wishing you all a Merry Christmas. She's still much missed but I'm very lucky (no pun intended) to have found these two sweeties to love & keep me company.

Coming up tomorrow will be another favourite Christmas carol & next week, along with a couple of reviews of books just read, will be my Top 10 lists of the year. I have a Top 10 of fiction & non-fiction but it's not set in stone yet. There's still a week to go & lots of reading time as I don't go back to work until the New Year. I'm just about to start Penelope Lively's new book, How It All Began. She's one of my favourite authors so it might push its way into the Top 10 if it lives up to expectations. Then, just for something completely different, there will also be a list of books that I'm sure would have made my Top 10 this year if I'd gotten around to reading them. Maybe I should make a New Year's resolution to read them sooner rather than later? Merry Christmas everyone!

Rose garden update

The roses in Abby's rose garden are coming along beautifully so I thought it was time for an update. The weather has been perfect lately. We've had a mixture of warm & cold days & last week we had over 60mm of rain which was just what the garden needed after a dry August.

This is the special Best Friend rose that a good friend gave me after Abby died. It's looking gorgeous & I can't wait to see the first rose bloom.

The football Grand Final was played last weekend so it's the traditional time to feed roses. It was too cold & wet to think about it then so that's a job for next weekend.

Here is the first bud, on one of the Noble Antony roses. Very exciting! If you'd like a reminder of the roses I chose, all the links are here & the beginning of the garden, just three months ago, is here.

Even more settled

The girls are very much at home now. We're all more relaxed. I've stopped worrying that Phoebe will wander or climb so high she can't get down (she may still do these things but I've almost stopped worrying about it before it happens). I was home yesterday so I left the back door open so Lucky & Phoebe could come & go as they pleased. It was a lovely early Spring day & they both immediately lay down on the drain where Abby always rolled around & did exactly the same thing. I decided this was a good omen. It's either something that cats just enjoy doing or Abby's spirit was guiding them to her favourite spots.

Another favourite spot of Abby's was lying on the back porch in the sunshine. Here's Phoebe doing exactly that. I think she has quite a resemblance to Abby which I must admit was why I fell in love with her rather than the older cat I was supposed to be looking for. Please excuse the mess in the background. My friend P is halfway through painting the laundry.

And for comparison, here's a photo of Abby in the same place.

Far from daredevil Phoebe wandering far & wide, it was Lucky who went "missing" for half an hour this morning. Well, I couldn't find her anyway. Then, she came nonchalantly wandering in with cobwebs or dirt of some kind on her whiskers, so I have no idea where she'd been exploring.

We've also had one cat flap lesson with more to come. It was very successful, both cats went through the flap a couple of times while I let it down over their backs so they could feel it. On Monday when I go to work, I'll leave the cat flap unlocked & hopefully they'll get the idea.

Another advantage of the outdoor exercise is that it leaves Phoebe too tired to do any acrobatics in the evening. Last night she curled up on a chair at 8.30 & never moved. I didn't see her climb anything all day.

Abby's rose garden - the beginning

Here are the first pictures of Abby's rose garden which I wrote about here. My friend P & I finished planting the roses yesterday. P did most of the hard work of digging up the old plants, I did lots of pointing & deciding which colours would look right where. Perfect division of labour, I thought!

There's not much to see at the moment except lots of twiggy plants but I'll keep you all updated on the garden's progress. The details of the roses I chose are in my previous post on the garden at the link above. I left the spring bulbs in place & I think they'll look lovely in a couple of months. They're white & cream jonquils & daffodils so they'll contrast beautifully with the green foliage & then, in summer, the red & pink roses will bloom.

My friend J at work bought me a lovely gift when Abby died. It's a Best Friend rose, sold by the RSPCA especially for people who have lost a pet so I've planted it in a very special place in the front corner of the garden.
I picked up Abby's ashes from the vet yesterday as well & I'll be scattering them among her roses in the spring when the plants are looking a little more like roses & a little less like twigs.