This week

I'm reading

Last week I declared that I had a pretty standard reading pattern now of finishing around three books and starting a couple of others. Of course, because I made last week's declaration, I didn't get that much read this week.

I did finish The Paris Dancer by Nicola Rayner which I reviewed here.  I also read and reviewed The Woven Lie by Liz Harris.

Now I am reading The House of Shadow  and Light by Lauren Westwood. I  read her book The Little Paris Toy Shop a couple of years ago and I loved it. This book is completely different but it is good! My review will be up later this week.



I'm watching


We haven't watched much this week, although we are currently watching The Hunt for Red October. I have seen lots of bits of this movie but I think this is the first time I have watched it all the way through.



Life

Its been a very busy week in our house!

The most exciting thing last week is that we bought a new car! It is the updated version of the car we already had (a Nissan Qashqai) and we already love it! Meet Dot! Yes, we name our cars.

On Monday night we went to see Post Modern Jukebox in concert. Have you heard of them? They take modern songs and then give them a retro twist. For example, they may take a 2024 song and give it a 1950s treatment or a doo wop sound. It was such a great show. The highlight was a version of Hallelujah which gave me more than goosebumps. It bought me to tears! When the show ended, the cheering was the loudest I had ever heard at that venue. Here's a video from Youtube to give you a feel 

Did you do anything for Valentines Day? Robert was supposed to be busy so we booked lunch at a winery called Scotchman's Hill which is just over an hour away. The lunch was fantastic, the view lovely and of course the company was first class.

We did also go to a farewell to some friends. They are moving to regional New South Wales. We are going to miss them a lot, as they do feel like our friends - by which I mean not just my friend or Roberts friend that we both hang out with.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten 5 Star Reads from Previous Years
Blog Tour: The Secrets of the Rose by Nicola Cornick

Blog Tour: The Woven Lie by Liz Harris

Blog Tour: The Paris Dancer by Nicola Rayner

Weekend Cooking: Two Japanese Foodie Novel Reviews
Sunday Salon: Spell the Month in Books - February


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

This week...

Blogging

Raise a glass! My blog can legally drink in Australia! I started this blog 18 years ago, which is pretty amazing to me. I did have a gap for a while, but I am still here.

You'd think I would be better at it by now, right??

To celebrate, I finally decided what I am going to do about Instagram and now I have an Insta account specifically for bookish goodness. Yes, I am committing to Bookstagram. I am always very late for any trends but better late than never!

You can find me @intrepidreaderandbaker and I would love it if you added it, and I will follow back!

I'm reading

Last week I finished reading Someone Like You, which is the fourth book in the Ever After Agency series by Aussie author Sandy Barker. The review can be found here.

I also then read A Skye Full of Stars by Sue Moorcroft, the second book in the Skye Sisters trilogy, and I reviewed that here.

I then started Crying at the H Mart by Michelle Zauner. I had never heard of the author before, but I am still finding it an interesting read. This is the current Cook the Books selection and will also work for my read on a theme book club as well. I will also need to find something to cook to tie in with this book, and get it all posted by 30 November!

I went to the library last week and noticed something that I had never seen before, or at least paid any attention to. There is a selection of books by the door which they are calling Express Reads. You can't request them, you can't extend them, and they have to be returned within a week. Now, even though I knew I wouldn't get it read, I couldn't resist picking up The Sea Captain's Wife by Jackie French. She is a prolific Australian writer across a number of genres, including historical fiction. I have started the book, but there is no way I am going to get it finished, so maybe I will have to return it and then borrow it again to finish it. We'll see how far I get today or tomorrow.

Speaking of Australian historical fiction authors, I went to see Tea Cooper at an author event and heard her speak about the inspiration for her latest book, The Golden Thread. I have to say the story behind the story was fascinating!!


I'm watching

Before the Tea Cooper event, I went to the see the movie Lee, starring Kate Winslet. This tells the story of the first female war photographer, Lee Miller. She took some iconic pictures during WWII, despite initially being told that she could not go to the front lines because she was a woman. It was a very, very good movie.

Here's the trailer:

I also started my Christmas movie viewing with Hot Frosty. A woman puts a magical scarf around the neck of a carved snowman and he magically came to life! It sounds really naff, but it was actually a lot of fun, with some great nods to other movies like Pretty Woman and Mean Girls.

Life


Yesterday we went to the One Electric Day music festival which is held in the grounds of a historic home not too far from us. The weather threw everything at us, from strong winds, rain, being cold, to quite sunny and warm. Ah Melbourne weather at it's best. I somehow also managed to get sunburnt in a 2cm strip on my wrists, which is a bit odd!

It was a great show featuring the bands Chocolate Starfish, Killing Heidi, Baby Animals, Wolfmother, Birds of Tokyo and finishing with Noiseworks. Birds of Tokyo is one of our favourites so we love seeing them. Chocolate Starfish are always a lot of fun and draw the crowd in, which is a bit tricky seeing as there are so many people just arriving when they are on. It was our first time seeing Wolfmother and Killing Heidi.

Last week was the hardest week so far of the not working thing goes. There were a couple of days where I was struggling for motivation to do some of the things that I know need to be done. I am definitely not missing being stressed all the time, but my brain does have a habit of finding things for me to stress about. For example, I have a blog post due in a couple of weeks and I couldn't sleep the other night because I was thinking about the content. No idea why that was important at that time but apparently it was.

Max


Max is feeling much better than he has been. He wants to play, to be chased, to climb up on us, which he hadn't for a while now. In the picture you can see him being a lap dog again! lol

His fur is starting to grow back again in all the places that he was shaved but it is a slow process! 

He will go back to the vet again on Wednesday.

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: A New Start
Blog Tour: Someone Like You by Sandy Barker

Blog Tour: A Skye Full of Stars by Sue Moorhouse

Weekend Cooking: Sift by Nicola Lamb

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

Musings on Music: Ed Sheeran

On Friday night we joined around 110000 other fans to see Ed Sheeran perform live at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. This is the largest ticketed crowd at a concert in Australia and Ed Sheeran's biggest crowd ever. And we were there!

This is actually the third time I have seen Ed in concert. Each time the event has been bigger than the time before. I can't even think how he will go bigger than this one! Whatever he does, we will be going for sure!

This was a concert with a round stage in the middle of the oval and he was very good at performing to the whole crowd which can't be easy. Let's put it this way - he definitely did more than 10000 steps on Friday night!

Ed Sheeran's song Perfect is a very special song for us. The version of the song that he did with Andrea Bocelli is our wedding song. We like that version because my husband loves classical music so that mixture of love song and classical music is our jam. Here's a clip from the concert which includes a glimpse of my pretty close to perfect husband!

There were so many great moments during this concert! One standout moment was when he sang a song that he wrote for Justin Bieber called Love Yourself. This is not the only song that these two have worked on together. The crowd (and me) really enjoyed the line "My mama don't like you and she likes everyone"

Whilst there was a band for some of the songs, I think my favourite parts of the show were the parts  which were just Ed, his guitar and the looper. The way he can just create a wall of sound by just adding layer after layer on the loop is just amazing!

There are so many songs  I love but this one was one that the crowd went wild!

I have one more big concert in the next week and then there is a bit of a break for a while, but there are more concerts coming!

This week...

I'm reading

I have made some progress in my reading this week, but not enough to finish anything. I should be able to finish My Father's House this week and maybe even finish listening to Around the World in 80 Days hopefully.

I'm watching

We finished watching Cunk on Earth this week. We loved and thought it was very funny. 

I did also watch Hacksaw Ridge over the weekend. Originally I thought I was on the History Channel and was watching a documentary. I was thinking gee that actor looks like Andrew Garfield. And then I saw Hugo Weaving and realised it was a movie. 

Life

What a weekend we had! We spent lots of time with thousands of people and lots of time in the car not going very far but it was worth every minute.

First off we went to see Ed Sheeran in concert at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday night, along with another 109000 people. You read that correctly. More than 109000 people. It's the biggest ticketed concern in Australian history and Ed Sheeran's biggest concert ever. It took us an our to get out of the stadium and walk to the car park, and then it took us around 45 minutes to just get out of the car park. Was it worth it? Absolutely!

On Sunday we went to the Avalon International Air Show. It took us 2 hours to get there and then an hour to get 10km getting out of car park. Was it worth it? Absolutely! So much fun seeing, feeling and hearing the roar of the big jets, and appreciating the skill of the pilots. It was, however, very warm!

Originally we were supposed to go to the air show on Friday night, but I had double booked us for Ed and the air show on the same night. I have, however, already put the next air show dates in the diary so hopefully I won't make the same mistake again!

On the down side, I realised that I have lost a stone from my wedding ring which is a bit upsetting.

Here's a taster from the Air Show.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Sir Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - March Linky 

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked In My Kitchen in February

Six Degrees: The Passages to Men Are From Venus, Women Are From Mars

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

Musings on music: Del Amitri and Sting

It's been a big week when it comes to music for us. We have been to two live events and we have another one this week which I am very much looking forward to.

Last Thursday night we went to see Scottish band Del Amitri. Back in the very late 1980s and early 90s their album Change Everything was one of my favourite albums. I still love to listen to the big songs off it now. 

Memory is a really funny thing. I associate this album with driving all around Adelaide on multiple occasions with my friend Brigid. I didn't see her for many years and when we reconnected I mentioned this album and she had no recollection of it whatsoever. And yet for me, I always think of her when I hear a Del Amitri song.

The live show was so good. They played all the songs that I love, plus a few I didn't. It was also funny watching the crowd. I don't know if you've observed this, but if you go to a show where the crowd is of a certain age, there is a constant tussle between the people who want to get up and dance and the people who want the crowd to sit down sedately and enjoy the show from their seat.  We've seen this happen at multiple concerts. This played out as there were a couple of very excited fans who wanted to dance to all the songs. The security guard, who was just doing his job, kept on going down and telling them to sit down. After this happened a few times, the security guy was stopped by another crowd member who said something along the lines of leave them alone. Next thing, the crowd is going crazy, and there is a guy shouting out "Everyone stand up. They can't throw us all out!"

Here is one of my favourite songs from them

On Saturday evening, we headed out to a winery about 85kms from us where they regularly hold an event called A Day on the Green. This is an outdoor concert which starts around 5pm and it goes on into the evening. I have seen Elton John there before as well as Cold Chisel and other Aussie bands.

This time we saw Sting live, supported by his son Joe Sumner and Aussie singer James Reyne.  I would have said that whilst I have always liked several of Sting's songs, I wouldn't have called myself a super fan. After seeing him perform I am now definitely more of a fan. I have already said that if he comes to Australia again we are definitely going to see him again.

Sting had most of the crowd up on their feet from the first song and most of them stayed standing for the whole concert! Outstanding, or should that be upstanding! 

There are so many great Sting/Police songs, it's hard to know which song to share, so I am going with this one.

What's your favourite Sting or The Police song?