This week...

I'm reading...

I tend to have around three books on the go at any time. I will be reading a book book, an ebook and an audiobook, and as long as they are all different there is no confusion in my mind.

My paper book at the moment is Fire Study. I started it last week and I am thoroughly enjoying it but I haven't finished it yet. I expect that I will finish it this week.

I did start a new ebook this week. For the first time in years I am participating in a blog tour and so I need to make sure that I get the book read in enough time to write the review. The book is The Railway Girls by Maisie Thomas and I agreed to read it because as much as I love to read about the action in war, I also enjoy reading the at home stories.

I also went back to The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan. I did start listening to it a few weeks ago but I ended up swapping to The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan last week. That was just the palette cleanser I needed and now I am fully invested in The Good Turn.


I'm watching...

Friday night is turning into our comedy night. I think it is partially because by the time Friday comes around I am mentally exhausted. That was certainly the case last Friday night.

At the moment on Prime Video there are ten one hour long comedy specials featuring Australian comedians. We watched the Tom Gleeson special a week ago which was great but on Friday night we watched three featuring Dilruk Jayasinha, Anne Edmonds and Tommy Little. We had seen Dilruk before at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival so I knew that we would enjoy his show. Anne Edmonds show was fine but I wouldn't necessarily rush out to buy tickets to her show in future. The one that surprised us was Tommy Little. Oh my goodness, so, so funny! I was crying laughing. It was the perfect way to spend Friday night.

I have mentioned before that I have been watching the Grand Ole Opry each week while they have been broadcasting during isolation. This week I had even more reason to watch because one of the featured artists was Keith Urban. I have posted before about seeing Keith at the Grand Ole Opry when we were in Nashville last year which was so awesome and I really enjoyed this new performance as well.


Life....

How is  it that even though we are barely leaving the house, the weekend still feels super busy. I had good intentions of watching the Outlander finale and starting a new jigsaw on Sunday afternoon but there was just no time.

Part of the reason it felt like that is because our restrictions were lifted slightly this week. We can now have up to five people in our homes, subject to social distancing. Saturday was also my husband's birthday (also known as just another dayin his world) and so the new conditions meant that we were able to have his daughter and her partner over for dinner. We made a big lasagne and finished off with lemon meringue pie. So good!

We also had my sister and her family come around on Sunday afternoon. Maybe part of the reason we felt busy is we were cooking and hosting all weekend. It was so good though to be able to spend time with the people who matter to us.

The government has advised that from 1 June we will be able to start going to cafes and restaurants. I am totally looking forward to the simple pleasure of going out for brunch. I do, however, think that we are going to still be working from work for quite some time still.

Last week was a tough week in working from home world. Really tough. One thing that made me laugh was that we were having a safety moment and I asked my team if they had anything to share. One of the girls suggested that we all buy things online because then you get a package to look forward to.

We got a couple of packages last week, both of which were a surprise to me. One was a pair of shoes that I ordered in January that I had completely given up on. I ordered them because I wanted to wear them on our planned trip to Europe. Not only had they not arrived in time to go away, they arrived after we would have already been home for weeks. I had written to the company complaining a couple of times and I was just about to lodge a claim with Paypal.

Our non stick frying pan lost it's stick along time ago and we had started having vague conversations about buying a new one. What I didn't expect was to open a big box and find an entire new set of  Tefal saucepans and frying pans. Robert did say to me something about it being for me but to be fair he does most of the cooking so it is more a gift for us! It was a lovely surprise and certainly made what had been an otherwise very average Friday much better!

Posts from the last week

Welcome to a New Era of Weekend Cooking
About Weekend Cooking
Alphabet 2020: G is for Grateful
The Postmistress by Alison Stuart



I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

Where there's music

One of the things that I have been enjoying over the last couple of weeks is the way that music has played a part in our new way of life.

It's hard to go past the videos of the Italians and Spanish singing from their homes whilst they are in lockdown. I've been very emotional watching them
.
The other thing that has been cool is that artists and organisations have given us access that we would never otherwise have had.

The first one I saw was when Keith Urban did a 30 minute performance in his warehouse. He was there with only a couple of other people (including Nicole Kidman doing a great line in mum dancing). I have long been a Keith Urban fan so I have actually watched this a couple of times now. He gave us another one this morning my time from his basement.  I hope that we see more!

A funny story about Keith Urban. Last year we travelled to Nashville on our trip to the USA. I knew that I wanted to go to the Grand Ole Opry and as soon as we started planning I looked at the tickets and thought I really must buy tickets to the Opry. Every few weeks I would think the same again. Just before we left on our trip I thought I really must buy tickets to the Opry but I just didn't get to it.

As we were driving into Nashville my now husband pointed out a billboard asking did I know Keith was going to be at the Opry the next night! Ummmm, no I did not. You can bet that the very next thing I did was book tickets! And it was so fantastic to be in that famous place watching one of my absolute favourites play!

That's a very long introduction  to say that one of the other shows that we watched was the livestream from the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night. It featured Marty Stewart, Vince Gill and Brad Paisley. It was so good to be able to say we've been there and stood in that circle that remains unbroken. And yes, I got a bit emotional then.

I also listened to Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood this morning, and I hear that Robbie Williams has done a live karaoke today. My plan is to watch those tonight!

My husband likes classical music so we also enjoyed watching the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra playing Beethoven's Symphony No.7. We will definitely be watching more of these if they are streamed.

There are so many opportunities to witness performances that just wouldn't normally be available to us in this way.

And I haven't even touched any of the theatre that is being made available from Broadway to London's West End to shows from the Globe Theatre.

Have you watched anything interesting lately?

Sunday Salon: For my listening pleasure...

This week I have been in aural bliss! There's a couple of reasons for this but I will start with two names......

Keith Urban and Richard Armitage

No...not together, but let me just take a moment to appreciate that mental image!

Let's start with Keith shall we? Last Sunday night I had the fantastic pleasure of going to see Keith Urban in concert. He was supported by Benji and Joel Madden who are now performing as The Madden Brothers. Keith's show was totally, totally awesome and I sang and danced from beginning to end! The crowd was totally involved, especially because he came out into different stages in the crowd to perform. In addition to all of his hits, he sang Wonderwall by Oasis with the Madden and Melbourne artist Missy Higgins came out and sang a Crowded House song.

I was a lot more choosy about my companion this time. You may recall that last time I went to see Keith Urban in concert, I took my son and he slept through the entire show! I did say to my friend that I didn't care if she didn't enjoy herself she just had to stay awake! Fortunately, she did enjoy it.  When I was looking for that link I just read the post I wrote last time I went and I could pretty much just say "ditto" because everything I loved last time was great again this time, but just better!

Not only did I listen to his albums before the concert, I have also listened to them pretty much exclusively for the week afterwards (and I might just go and put it on again tonight). Why yes, I can be a little obsessive. In fact, pretty much the only time I was listening to something and it wasn't Keith Urban, I was listening to another obsession, Richard Armitage narrate Venetia by Georgette Heyer.

The book of Venetia was actually the first ever Georgette Heyer novel that I bought. I was in a specialist romance bookstore talking about how much I loved historical romance and the assistant was shocked when I said that I had never read any Georgette Heyer novels and she insisted that I needed to buy Venetia before I left the store. So I did. And then I put it on the bookshelf where it has stayed ever since despite the fact that I have read and loved quite a few of her book since.

The opportunity of listening to Richard Armitage narrate though was too much to pass up so when I got some ITunes vouchers for Christmas it was one of the first things I bought.

I loved the story itself, but I have to say that I could listen to RA talk for hours and hours and hours and hours. His normal voice is so melodious but he also manages to bring such distinct characterisation to all the characters whether they be male or female.

The story itself is firmly in quintessential Heyer territory. Venetia is a young woman who has been left with the responsibility of looking after the family property and her younger brother whilst her older brother is off fighting a war. She has two suitors but she isn't really interested in either of them. One is young and very ardent and the other is very condescending and believes it is his right to act as though he already owns Venetia.

Whilst out strolling one day, she meets Lord Damerel, scandalously infamous rake who is barely tolerated in polite society. So begins a delicate friendship that blossoms more and more into something that is beginning to look like love. He is, however, very much aware of how much damage it would do her reputation were he to pursue her and that is confirmed when her relatives learn of her interest and whisk her off to London out of harm's way...or so they thing.

I loved the humour in this book, and think it may well be up there with my favourite Heyer books!

I was a little bit surprised to find out that this was an abridged recording. My worst ever audiobook experience was an abridgement (it also had a really bad narrator) and so I am always reluctant to listen to abridged books. In that book, there was a scene where it reference two of the characters kissing which was never mentioned previously so it was a bit jarring. It is a testament to the people who did the abridgement that I don't feel like I missed out on much. Of course, I may find I am completely wrong should I actually decide to read the whole book at some point in the future.

There are two other Heyer books that have been recorded featuring Richard Armitage; Sylvester which I have read before and The Convenient Marriage which I haven't read yet. I am a little reluctant to hand over $27 for an audiobook but if I get more giftcards any time soon it will be my first purchase!

To give you just a taste of the pure bliss that is listening to this man's voice, here is a brief recording of him reading a scene from Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South.



And just because I can, here is a video I have included before, but I still love watching it!




Currently Reading

The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing by Tarquin Hall

Up Next

The Little Russian by Susan Sherman, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Three things that make me happy

Aussie author Belinda Alexandra has a new book out and I was really pleased when I saw it in the shops! I really loved Silver Wattle and liked Wild Lavender a lot. I also have a couple of her other books on my shelf (White Gardenia and Tuscan Rose).

She also finally has a web presence with a Twitter account, a Tumblr page and a Facebook page.

You can get a taste of the first 30 pages of Golden Earrings by going to her Facebook page and sharing it! I was certainly ready to read more when I did so!

Kudos to Tammy from Under a Blood Red Sky who posted this! I do love some Keith Urban!







I have been listening to this song over and over and over and I can't see that changing any time soon!

Keith Urban in concert

Last night I had the great pleasure of going to see Lady Antebellum in concert, ably supporting Keith Urban!

Keith Urban is my one auto buy artist when it comes to music. I will buy others if there are a few songs that I like, but Keith's albums are the only ones that are like my favourite authors for me in that I know exactly when an album is about to come out, and I know that I am going to buy it without even having heard any of the music off of it!

Lady Antebellum were an awesome opening act, with most of their songs coming off of their very successful second album, so I knew most of them. I really must make an effort to get their first album, which they sang two songs from, and also they sang a song off of their next album. They also did an cover version of Start Me Up, originally by the Rolling Stones. Of course, they didn't leave to leave the stage without singing this song:





A short break and it was time for the main event! And what a main event. I was so busy enjoying the time that I could't begin to tell you what songs he sang in what order, although he did start with Put You in a Song, and along the way sang Flame Trees (originally by Cold Chisel) and played all his hits! My throat is a bit sore this morning from singing along to every single song!

The set was a really good mix of his slow songs as well as the more boppy one, and the crowd was totally left wanting more.







Before I get tempted to embed every single song from Youtube, I wanted to say a couple of things in particular - I loved how much audience participation there was in the show. Right from the first couple of songs there were parts where the crowd was singing to Keith, and he also wasn't afraid to move around in the crowd to a stage at the back of the arena, and then actually in the crowd at one point!

The other thing I loved was the way he introduced his band. Normally an act will say their name and what they play, they get a bit of a solo, and then onto the next one. Keith Urban introduced each of them individually and they all got to sing a short song, and I have to say all three of them could sing really, really well! It just seemed so genuine!

Oh, and for all that this show was completely awesome, it was completely kid friendly

If there had been another Melbourne concert tonight, and there were tickets available, oh, and I didn't already have something else on, I totally would go again. I might however choose to go with a different companion. I am not sure why but at every concert I go to I seem to come home with a story. Generally that story will be about someone else, but this time, it will be my son that people will go home telling a story about!

Last time Keith Urban came to Australia, I was all set to go and see him with a couple of friends, but his Melbourne concert happened to coincide with my grandfather's 100th birthday, so I figured that I should go to that instead. There was no way known I wasn't going this time but everyone who might have been willing either had something else on or couldn't go this time. I didn't want to go by myself so I took my 12 year old son. He was keen and eager, but I am thinking he didn't quite enjoy himself as much as I did.

Unfortunately  his pillow (i.e. me) wouldn't sit still, so he had to find a more comfortable position to sleep in.

I am not exactly sure how you sleep for more than an hour at a rock concert, let alone sleep in that position but he managed it!

Weekly Geeks #5

Guten Tag, Weekly Geeks! This week’s theme was suggested by Renay. She says, “I thought it would be cool to ask people to talk about other forms of story-telling.”

Click here to read more details and to find other Weekly Geeks posts.

Well, it has taken me a while, but I have finally come up with an answer to this weeks question! I wanted to be sure to participate this week because last week's post is still sitting in draft, and is not likely to see the light of day any time soon! That's one good thing about the format of Weekly Geeks - you don't have to participate every week!

I really wanted to talk about song as a form of storytelling. A lot of songs tell a story - some more clearly than others. Actually I guess that all songs are telling a story of some description but I do love a song where there is a whole train of thought that progresses logically through to tell us about an event or a relationship or whatever.

If you want to go old school there is Kenny Rogers, who has a number of story songs like Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town, The Gambler and The Coward of the County. Or how about Lucille?

You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille
With four hungry children and a crop in the field
I've had some bad times lived through some sad times
But this time your hurting won't heal
You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille.

I guess it doesn't hurt to love a bit of country if you like these types of songs, and Keith Urban is one of those artists that I could just listen to over and over and over again (and I do!)



Or how about something from the 80's? One of my favourite songs of all time is And We Danced by The Hooters. If I hear it on the radio I just have to turn it up a bit louder and I have been known to dance around the lounge room in the very early hours of the morning to this song!

She was a be-bop baby on a hard day's night
She was hangin' on Johnny, he was holdin' on tight
I could feel her coming from a mile away
There was no use talking, there was nothing to say
When the band began to play and play

And we danced like a wave on the ocean, romanced
We were liars in love and we danced
Swept away for a moment by chance
And we danced and danced danced

I met my be-bop baby at the Union Hall
She could dance all night and shake the paint off the walls
But when I saw her smile across a crowded room
Well I knew we'd have to leave the party soon
As the band began to play out of tune

And we danced like a wave on the ocean, romanced
We were liars in love and we danced
Swept away for a moment by chance
And we danced and danced danced

The endless beat, she's walkin' my way
Hear the music fade when she says
Are we getting too close, do we care to get closer
The room is spinning as she whispers my name

If you want to talk about story songs, it is hard to go past Bryan Adam's Summer of '69, where he talks one particularly memorable summer!



And just because this song contains one of my favourite song lines EVER, I give you Bon Jovi's Bed of Roses. I just love the line where he says 'With an iron clad fist, I wake up and french kiss the morning'.

Keith Urban and John Butler Trio at the 2007 Arias

Can you tell that I am home on a Saturday night! I do have other things I COULD be doing, but instead I am going on a YouTube adventure, seeing where I end up!


I love Keith Urban's music, and quite like John Butler Trios as well, but when the two were put together at the Australian Record Industry Awards (ARIAs) nt too long ago....it was amazing!





And that should be my last post of the day!