Tom Hiddleston Archives

Hello there! How’s things? Hope you’re all well. I’ve not got much to report this week. Unfortunately, hubby has been in hospital again this week. I think this is the way it’s going to be from now on.

Anyway, I set this blog up to be anti-depressing. This is my happy place and I’m going to chat about things I love the most (apart from hubby and the kids that is!! They are the things I love the very most in the whole wide world!) and not sad things except this one…

… my beloved Darcy is getting elderly and has lost a fair bit of weight. I took him to the vet’s yesterday and she says he doesn’t have any obvious ailments and it’s probably old age. She gave me some build up food for him and he’s been taking it. He still seems quite chipper, so am hoping he goes on for a bit longer. We’ve had him since Christmas 2011 and he was nearly fully grown then so I reckon he’s about four-and-a-half to five-years-old which makes him an old man. Just hope he regains weight and lives for a bit longer. I’m very fond of him, he’s a lovely animal.

Talking of animals, the dog has been keeping us all going. We reckon she’s started to go through puberty as she’s been quite naughty this week. She’s been in the bad books quite a lot especially when she decided to leave a smelly present in my daughter’s room…again. There was a lot of screaming and shouts of ‘Millie!!! You’re a naughty dog!!!”. I couldn’t help but laugh (am such a bad mother!!).

Just started a new book F Scott Fitzgerald: A Biography by Jeffrey Meyers. Still have a fascination with the folks of the latter years of the Belle Epoch, so this is part of that. Only just started so can’t really tell you how it’s going yet, but so far so good. Here’s a pic of la Fitzgerald:

And a gratuitous shot of the lovely Tom Hiddleston as Fitzgerald in Midnight in Paris…

…cos as you know I love Tom Hiddleston. It’s a middle-aged wummin crush and very sad, I know!

Am also still reading Literature of the 1920s and a couple of gardening books. In case you’re wondering, this is normal for me…to read more than one book at a time. Can’t help it. Am a book addict.

What else has been happening this week? I’ve been enjoying the good weather and got my tomatoes started in the potting shed. Am looking forward to eating the tomatoes at some point in the near future! Have also got my seed potatoes out there and am growing some chilli peppers. This weekend, I will weed the garden and get the herb seeds in their pots. Just need to sow some carrots and onions and that’s a good start for this year. I may not have the allotment any more – had to give it up as I realised pretty quickly on hubby’s diagnosis of the cancer’s return that it would be too much work for me – but I can still grow things in the garden.

Talking of hubby, I’ve been on a bit of an 80s film vibe lately and insisted we watch Ruthless People the other night. I had forgotten how funny this film is.

It was excellent…recommend it!

Danny de Vito and Bette Midler are just fantastic! Not one for the kids though as there are a few fruity bits and bad language in the film! Am thinking Mannequin might be next for the 80s film night! It’s another favourite of mine!

Ah the memories! Anyhoo, enough of my reminiscing about my teen years. I’m going to finish up here, go grab a cup of tea and take it to bed with a good book (I know, I’m such a party animal! Friday night and I’m reading in bed! The thing is: it’s one of my favourite things to do). Til next time!

Dawn xxx

It’s amazing how we all rely so heavily on the internet. Our router went kaput earlier this week and it’s been uncomfortable not having easy access to the worldwide web. The kids are complaining and I’ve discovered just how often I go on to look up something because I keep finding myself thinking ‘Oh I must Google that’ then doing a mental slap when I remember I can’t. Sigh. The new router came today. It’s such a relief. I love the internet, it’s so full of interesting information.

Anyway, how are you? Hope you are hale and hearty. This week has been great because the weather has been amazing: sunshine and warmth all week. It’s gotten colder today and we’re expecting bad weather over the weekend, but that’s okay…we had a few days of fabulousness and it was great.

Been busy making things recently. Firstly, I completed my thermal cooker/cooking bag. Basically, it acts a bit like a flask and a slow cooker in that you put already heated food in, it keeps it hot and the food continues to cook for hours. I’ve made a chilli and some soup in it and it’s great. I only need to heat the food for ten minutes (as opposed to half an hour or, in the case of the chilli, 45 minutes) and I can leave it all day safe in the knowledge there is absolutely no way it can cause a fire or burn the food. If you’re keen to make one for yourself, you can get it from this lady – Elaine Collier of Mortgage Free in Three. I reckon I made mine for about a tenner, you can buy something similar for about £45.

Talking of food, my poor old bread maker breathed its last yesterday. I was making bread, the dough was a bit too enthusiastic and rose and spilled over the edge of the metal dough basket. It went all over the element and then started burning. I tried to clean it out, but there was too much burnt dough and blackening inside, and I didn’t feel safe using it, so into the bin it went. I like home-made bread, so will possibly be looking into getting another one.

Secondly, I knitted up a wee hedgehog for my friend’s daughter. It’s an Alan Dart pattern. She’s a hedgehog lover and she had a birthday recently, so I thought it would be the perfect gift. I bought her other things too, including this lovely hedgehog mug. She was really happy with it.

Still reading Gormenghast (well the first book Titus Groan) and I must say it has really grown (or ‘groan’ – sorry, terrible pun) on me. I love Mervyn Peake’s way of writing, it’s lovely and he describes scenes and paints characters beautifully. I think I could learn a lot writing-wise from these books.

Watched a really interesting and enjoyable film recently. Only Loves Left Alive stars Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston as two vampires living in the modern age. It’s quite a slow film, but there’s something really beautiful and engaging about the storyline, about the characters. I loved it and the soundtrack was excellent. There’s a fair bit of humour in it too and it’s…well…really calming. It makes a change to watch a movie that’s not all action, CGI and rock soundtracks. Thumbs up from me.

Can’t go on any further without mentioning Game of Thrones. I am so happy it’s back. I just love it and this series is proving to be good already despite the first two episodes setting it up. But that’s what always happens with GoT…the storylines don’t really hot up until at least chapter three. However, I’m already stressing about which characters will die in this series. Please don’t make it Tyrion! Still haven’t read the books…my reason is this: I am worried that if I get into them I will have to keep reading them til the end and then I’ll know what happens and that will spoil the tv series for me. Sad, but true.

Right, am away to do something else…okay, I’m off to explore the internet. Til next time!

Dawn xxx