ghoti_mhic_uait

Today we went shopping, ostensibly for clothes for me but we spent most of our energy in the book department of Smiths. I wanted two or three not-black dresses with high necklines, defined waists, circle skirt and at least 3/4 length sleeves, something like this would be ideal except I'm not sure about red, a cardigan and a pair of shoes. What I got was a sleeveless navy shift dress, a cardigan, four books (for the children) and two pairs of shoes. And some fruit, but we ate that already.
ETA: It occurs to me that rmc28 already told me where to get the ideal dress as described above, and it's eShakhti, but if any of y'all know where to get them in the UK, I'm interested to hear where.

I've not been in the White Stuff shop before, it was as pleasant as a shop can be. They have a waiting room with a TV showing children's stuff and colouring and things, and I think I spotted a coffee pot. And helpful staff, an clothes that don't make me look like a sack of potatoes, for similar price to M&S, whose design principles seem to be 'everyone loves chips, right? So that's what we want people to think of when they see someone wearing our clothes'.

Judith recently agreed that, rather than pack a ton of books, I could load some onto an ebook reader on her tablet. When we went to Hungary, she packed 47 books. While we were out she remembered that the McDonalds free ebooks are Kobo brand, so she'd like Kobo, and I have installed that and am filling it with books. She's got a bunch of Ever After High short stories, a couple of Tinkerbell books, some free things I figured might be worthwhile but haven't read, Pollyanna, Black Beauty, Heidi, the first Harry Potter, the first two Narnia and Minnow on the Say by Philippa Pearce. Because I can never resist a book recommendation, and because it's fun to think about, what would you give to an 8 year old who is just becoming enthusiastic about books, and who likes the sort of thing I mentioned (plus Worst Witch, American Girl books, Lord of the Rings). Also, do any of y'all have experience of using the Kobo app for Project Gutenburg books? Is it easy, or should we find a different app for that?


This weekend marked two years since the flapjack muse and I started dating. It feels quicker than that, largely because I'd had a crush on him for years, but also because neither of us quite felt confident so it felt like a very casual series of one off dates for months before we realised it was probably a relationship. But also, because of said feelings, and because he has long been a good friend it feels like longer too. We celebrated by a day in London; a visit to the House of Illustration, which had a Jo Brocklehurst exhibition. Brocklehurst did a lot of drawing in clubs, lots of gay bars and punks and generally an artist of the alternative scene. She also spent a lot of time doing Alice in Wonderland themed drawings, which were simply delightful. Because of working in such dark spaces, she used a lot of neon and UV reactive colours, which make her work really distinctive. Or maybe she used those materials already and that's why the darkness of the clubs didn't bother her.

Then we walked to the Thames, because both of us love walking through London, and we ate ice cream on the beach until it was time for dinner. Dinner we ate at Ethiopian restaurantLalibela, lots of lamb and pumpkins and aubergine and plenty of injera, and delightful coffee ceremony coffee afterwards.


Reading: Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone, as I enjoyed Three Parts Dead which I just finished
Watching: finishing up Orange is the New Black, and there's more coming
Eating: I will definitely cook something any minute now
Playing: Jack and I played Small World which is a fun rise/decline of civilisation game, and he beat me 94 - 91. Andreas and I played mancala. The rest of us have been playing Lego Harry Potter, which has lots of sliding staircases.
Making: I bought a new bobbin plate for my sewing machine, so I totally intend to start sewing again soon.