Photo An Hour 23rd May

23rd May was this month's Photo An Hour hosted by Jane (Is That You Darling) and Louisa (Duck in a Dress). It was a very boring day for me - Lee's band was playing at a festival in Manchester and staying over, so he left early and I was alone to do work. So some of these photos are a bit creative but here we are anyway!

9am and this is my "why am I awake at this time" face

10am, Lee left and I laid in bed reading this.

11am, still reading. 

Noon and I suppose I had better get in the shower.

1pm and I was still getting dry/ready

2pm and I was doing work.

3pm while listening to my digital radio. I've had this years, Lee bought it for me.

4pm and this is my new cup, I love it. Just filled with water.

5pm. This photo sits next to my desk and it's several of my good friends from my wedding

I forgot 6pm as I was still working. This is 7pm, watching Peter Kay's Car Share on iPlayer. I liked it a lot

8pm and I ordered food - so good.

9pm and I'm watching Grace and Frankie which I also really enjoyed.

10pm and I'm watching Mary Berry - I LOVE her.

11pm found me back in bed reading this!

Books books books

So as you may remember, I'm currently studying for my MA in Creative Writing at Sheffield Hallam. My particular interest is Young Adult literature and as part of the work that I've just handed in, I was suppoosed to reflect upon literature like my own. I know lots of YA books set in the US but fewer set in the UK, and I felt like I needed to know my contemporaries. But who ARE they? So I did what any sensible person would do and asked some librarians. I have three that I will turn to, and they all came up trumps.

£100 later and here we are:

Some of these are US based and are about music, like my novel, so I got them anyway. I've started Ostrich Boys, but I got distracted by Anne of Green Gables. 

Have you read any of these? What should I read next? 

Visit from Florida

My grandad had a loooot of siblings, and he was born in India and lived there until after WWII when he came to England. His siblings ended up all over the world and so my family is incredibly spread out. So in May my cousin Daphne and her husband Charlie came to visit from Florida. Daphne is my mum's first cousin, and there's about 25 years in age between them. They've lived all over but they now live in Florida. They last visited us in 2010 and I think it's fab that they keep coming!

We had lunch at a farm shop near where my mum lives; it has an excellent cafe and if you're in Wakefield do visit it: Blacker Hall Farm Shop.

Charlie and Daphne

Daphne and my grandma

Picnic in the park in York

In mid-May I went to visit my friend Jacqui in York and Sam came too. We had a good evening on the Friday drinking and watching films (see previous posts!) and then on the Saturday we went and had a picnic in the park near Jacqui's house. It wasn't boiling hot, but it was warm enough to sit for a long while. We were near this tree that they both climbed, and we'd been to the supermarket to buy delicious picnic food, and we had wine. It was just what I needed.

Our delicious picnic. With pink wine! 

Selfie

Jacqui in a tree

Sam in a tree

This is like their album cover or something

I love making daisy chains, such a hippy

Sam modelling the daisy chain

And Jacqui, reluctantly! 

Silly evening with my friends

I kind of just want to document this evening so that I can remind myself that I have some amazing friends who I love to spend time with. While Von was here, Sam came over and we had a barbecue, well we tried to but it rained, and we drank a LOT and then had scones with clotted cream and jam, and I was so drunk and happy and filled with delicious food.

I've never had these spirits and mixers in a can before, but  I liked them! Cheap and yummy!

This was some kind of frozen mojito I think

Von and her Caribbean Twist. We're in the middle of doing the kitchen so the walls looks awful.

A frozen strawberry daiquiri I think

And the aforementioned scones! Too lovely. 

Trip to Mugen Tea House

When Von came to stay I picked her up in Sheffield as I had to hand in some MA work too, and she wanted to go to Mugen Tea House as it's owned by a friend of hers, Sarah. It's really easy to find, not far from Sheffield University, and has plenty of street parking nearby. (It is, like everything else in Sheffield, on a hill).

Sarah greeted us warmly and then proudly showed us all her tea choices. I'm not mad keen on tea but I do like raspberry tea, so Sarah recommended this mixed fruit one. I think Von had peppermint? They were served in these glass steeping pots with vintage china to drink from.

It was delicious tea!

Von and I both chose the Ploughman's lunch - Sarah has a choice of fresh sandwiches etc. This was yummy, really simple but excellent.

I then had this delicious cup of hot chocolate - very bitter so it needed sugar, but excellent

Mugen is a fairly big space and Sarah is keen for community groups to use it - get in touch with her if you're interested!

Films of the Month May 2015

As I said previously, May has been a bit loopy with all the things I've had to do, so film watching took a back seat too. At the beginning of the month my friend Von came to stay and we watched four films while she was with me. In the middle of the month I went to stay with my friend Jacqui and my friend Sam came too, and we watched two films. And that's it! But here we are anyway



1) The King's Speech - Von had never seen this so we watched it. I like it, I like Colin Firth though a lot
2) I Do - This is terrible film about a gay man who needs to stay in the US near his niece and so he marries a woman for a visa and then he falls in love. It is terrible but it made us laugh a LOT



3) Role/Play - This was also a terrible film which also provided many laughs so you know, it was worth it. I'm not even sure what it was ab out
4) The Empire Strikes Back - Von and I are big Star Wars fans and it was Jedi Day (May 4th) so we watched this. It's my favourite of the original trilogy.



5) Burton & Taylor - I think this was made for BBC and it's got Dominic West (who I love) and Helena Bonham Carter (who I like) in it, and not many other people, to be honest, It's good, but not great.

6) Kill Your Darlings - neither Jac nor Sam had seen this, although I have, but I loved it so recommended it to them. I think it's stunning, I really do.