I was hoping to wake up to the sight of a bright sunrise as has been the occasion on some days recently, but instead we have had fog (which has now lifted) and rain. The light level is low, but there are several close work activities to get on with after the usual morning household chores.
On Saturday I went to the library to take books back and borrow others. I've been reading non fiction books about nature and walking recently as they're books that are informative and I can dip into them.
Our library book group read The Salt Path last month. I was full of admiration that Raynor Winn and her sick husband managed to walk this well-known coastal path, wild camping along the way after they had found themselves homeless. It touched me on the endurance of the spirit in the face of adversity as well as attitudes to homelessness. There are some wonderful descriptions of the natural world by the coast as well as the stories of coping with the rough weather, the author's husband's ill health and the lack of money to buy basic items we usually take for granted.
The Apple Orchard - Pete Brown
The Running Hare: The Secret Life of Farmland
- John Lewis-Stempel
The Salt Path - Raynor Winn
The book that I reserved and picked up from the library that I'm now reading is The Single Thread written by Tracy Chevalier, an author I enjoy. So far I've read eight chapters and I'm finding it one of those books that's quiet and thought-provoking at the same time.
The dust cover says - 'It is 1832 and the losses of the First World War are still keenly felt. Violet Speedwell, mourning for both her fiancé and her brother and regarded by society as a 'surplus woman' unlikely to marry, resolves to escape her suffocating mother and strike out on her own.
A new life awaits her in Winchester. Yes, it is one of draughty boarding houses and sidelong glances at her naked ring finger from younger colleagues, but it is also a life gleaming with independence and opportunity. Violet falls in with the broderers, a disparate group of women charged with embroidering kneelers for the Cathedral, and is soon entwined in their lives and their secrets. As the almost unthinkable threat of a second Great War appears on the horizon Violet collects a few secrets of her own that could just change everything....'
Other indoor activities I have planned on rainy days such as today are crocheting and sewing. (I will complete the double bedspread soon and will definitely stop as we get into the Christmas prep period). I brought the tapestry back last year from a trip to Italy. It was something I was working on there and I should finish it. I'm making up the pattern but using the instruction book to learn some of the stitches.
The light has improved a little if I sit by the window and I have some mending to do.
