What I have been doing in August

 

It has been a while since I have posted one of these types of posts. Even though I have been keeping lists I never got round to writing them up. But I guess now things are hopefully slowing down then I will be able to find the time to do more of these. 

Reading 

The book club choice was ‘The Girls’ by Lisa Jewell.

The Blurb

You live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in urban London where your children run free, in and out of other people’s houses.
You’ve known your neighbours for years and you trust them. Implicitly.
You think your children are safe.
But are they really?
Midsummer night: a thirteen-year-old girl is found unconscious in a dark corner of the garden square. What really happened to her? And who is responsible?

 The last few books we have read at the Book Club have involved death and mysterious disappearances and I have been rather fed up with the gloomy themes. Although this book  I thought was going to be along the same lines it had lots of twists and turns and subplots that kept you guessing right up to the end as to what really happened. It had a happier outcome as well which stopped me from disliking it. I liked the fact that the story was told from 3 different perspectives. I can understand the reasoning behind what happened to the characters in the end but I wasn’t entirely happy as if it was my daughter that had been found unconscious would I have agreed with what happened to the culprit.

 Agatha Raisin and the Witches Tree by M C Beaton.

The Blurb

Toil and trouble in store for Agatha!

Cotswolds inhabitants are used to bad weather, but the night sky is especially foggy as Rory and Molly Harris, the new vicar and his wife, drive slowly home from a dinner party in their village of Sumpton Harcourt. They struggle to see the road ahead - but then screech to a halt. Right in front of them, aglow in the headlights of their car, a body hangs from a lightning-blasted tree at the edge of town. But it's not suicide; Margaret Darby, an elderly spinster of the parish, has been murdered - and the villagers are bewildered as to who would commit such a crime, and why.

Agatha Raisin rises to the occasion, delighted to have some excitement back in her life as if truth be told, she was getting bored of the long run of lost cats and divorces on the books. But Sumpton Harcourt is an isolated and unfriendly village, she finds a place that poses more questions than answers. And when two more murders follow the first, Agatha begins to fear for her reputation - and her life. That the village has its own coven of witches certainly doesn't make her feel any better...

 Not my favourite Agatha Raisin story as I felt it concentrated too much on what was going on in Agatha’s personal life rather than the murders. Light reading though for when you just want to lose yourself in a book without having to think

 Watching

Only Murders in the Building  Disney+

 This series caught my eye whilst we were on holiday and the second season was about to be released. I ending up binge watching both series over a couple of weeks. There are 10 episodes in each season. The first season covers the murder of a young man in the building who turns out to be connected to Mabel (Selena Gomez) who is one of the group investigating the murder for a podcast. rThe second series they have to prove that they did not murder the building manager by finding the real killer. The generational gap between Mabel and Charles (Steve Martin) and Oliver (Martin Short) somehow works probably better than it would in real life. In both seasons there are various twists, turns and surprises which keep you wanting to watch. In some of the scenes you have to suspend your belief as they simply would not happen (Everyone singing Sound of Silence in series 2 as an example) but it is billed as a comedy drama so I guess that covers that aspect.

I am Groot – Disney+

 Who can resist Baby Groot? This is a series of 'shorts' where Groot goes on different adventures. Each episode is less than 5 minutes but they cram in so much. We watched these as a family in one evening as we were going to watch 'She Hulk' but had got the release date wrong so ended up watching Groot.

Making

Time just seems to have flown by this month and I feel that I have been really busy yet also feel like I haven’t achieved a great deal in any area, crafting being the one I feel has suffered the most.

 Macrame Infinity bracelet

This was with the W.I craft club. It was quite simple to make once I got the hang of which way the cord needed to go. Everyone had issues about whether they had gone left or right for the knots which caused a great deal of amusement amongst the ladies but for us all it is more about the social aspect than producing a perfect finished item.

 

 Knitted Gryfinddor Hat

Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of this completed as Craig gave it to our nephew before I had chance to take a photo. It was from a kit that I had bought in the reduced section from ‘The Range’. I did realise that maybe I do need to do a gauge swatch for items going forward that need to be a specific size as the hat was meant for an adult but ended up being a little too snug. At least the scarf I am working on next won’t need one.

 

What Else

 Six The Musical

After it being cancelled 4 times previously Emma and I finally got to see ‘Six, The Musical’. The musical is a modern retelling of the stories of the 6 wives of Henry VIII who are in a battle to become the lead singer of the pop group. The winner would be the Queen who suffered most at Henry’s hands. It is in the form of a pop concert and it did have that feeling even though it was a play. You could even film the ‘concert’ at the end.  It was worth waiting for and the soundtrack is now a regular play on my Amazon music playlists.

 Highclere Castle

It has been 5 years since I expressed an interest in visiting Highclere Castle after being a fan of Downton Abbey since the first episode. I finally got to visit this month as an early birthday present. I will write a separate post on this visit otherwise it will just be too long.