Thursday 14 January 2016

Turn to page 394

I woke up this morning alone as Mr Ripe was away and as usual reached for my phone to have a look at the news of the day and that's when I read about Alan Rickman.

Almost at the same time, eldest Ripe messaged, in shock. He was a big part of her childhood as Severus Snape.

My memories of summer holidays when she and her brother were approaching their teens were of the excitement of another Potter book being released and whose turn it was to read it first.

The first reader was forbidden to share any of the story until the other had read it so much of the summer was spent with one bursting to know and one bursting to tell until that sweet moment when they knew (I'd read it when they were asleep or doing other things) and we could all talk about it in great depth.

Sometimes there'd be gasps out loud from the first reader and one of those was the scene where Severus kills Dumbledore.

In bringing this beloved character to life, Alan met every expectation of my two young readers about what Severus was like in the flesh.


I loved him as the villain in the first Die Hard,



as Colonel Brandon to Kate Winslet's Marianne in Sense and Sensibility




and of course as foolish, regretful Harry in Love Actually. Can anyone watch that scene after Emma Thompson finds the necklace without wanting to give Harry a swift kick in the balls?


I think he would have been great fun at a dinner party. That languid, seductive voice that could also cut like a knife. I think he would have had great gossipy stories to tell and been a cheeky flirt.

It's been a terrible week for farewells.

I also love that he said this and I'm sad it's not going to happen

Wednesday 13 January 2016

Miscellenous

The Christmas/New Year eating continues unabated despite good intentions.
I blame the workplace - look at the evidence




It's beyond ridiculous.
Two of my favourites Furry Friends and warm squishy scones! Why would I resist?
Once upon a time I would have because I'm heading to Noosa in three weeks and going to be on the beach and flashing some skin.
But I'm past that type of criticism of myself. Past denying myself small moments of joy because of a few extra kilos.
I will eat my scone and I will enjoy it!

Despite the Christmas/New Year indulgence I feel better than I have in a while.
I'm out there walking, sniffing the sea air and I know I'm fitter than I have been by the way I pound up the hills and up the stairs at work.
That's more important than what's on the scales.

Today I saw this on the news sites and thought it beautiful, a loving mate cradling his dying partner

Unfortunately some smartypants has ruined the moment, advising that instead of a loving gesture it was a randy gesture from an aroused kanga trying to get lucky. Ruined it...

I'm in the middle of watching Making a Murderer on Netflix. It's fascinating. He seems to be innocent but I can't be sure.

Thursday 7 January 2016

Here and Now

It's hard to know where to begin since I was last here so I'm going to focus on the here and now.


Our plans to leave our large family home in the hills and move to the beach became a reality late last year. Not without lots of effort in readying our old girl for sale and lumps in throat as saying goodbye became a reality. We had built our hills house and our youngest had memories of no other, so it was a bit of a wrench.

The great news is that we love our new life by the sea.

It's even better than we hoped.

Early mornings we get up at the crack of dawn, mosey down to the shops with the pooch, check out the sea, sniff the air and go to one of our local coffee haunts.

A short walk back to our little house with the smell of the sea in our skin and ready for the day.

A smaller house and garden means more time for doing other things - going out, meeting friends, reading, binge tv watching True Detective Series 1 (I know, late to the party) and just hanging about - something I haven't done in a long time.

I'm learning how to do it again - it's awesome but I keep having to have stern talks with myself about not feeling guilty about it!

I've grown strawberries - look! They tasted delicious, so sweet and satisfying.



I'm not a big fan of ice-cream but there is a great gelato shop nearby and I'll happily have a taste of this - tubs of fluffy gelato sings of summer to me.


I feel very lucky to be right where I am.