Van Gogh Alive
Went to see the Van Gogh Alive exhibition for Eva's birthday.
Bill, Mum, Eva and Katie
Just started reading: Alaric the Goth by Douglas Boin π
Currently reading: Laughing Shall I Die by Tom Shippey 📚
Currently reading: The making of the ancient Greek economy by Alain Bresson 📚
Paul Melser dinner set
Delighted at our new dinner set made for us by Paul Melser. Really works fantastically with the new kitchen design.
Paul's wonderful pottery is located on Norfolk Road towards Mount Holdsworth in the Tararua Range, Wairarapa, Aotearoa New Zealand.
Family photos in the Eketahuna cottage garden
Dad, me and Mum
Jenni, me and Mum
Mum and Jenni
Jenni and me
What a beautiful day!
He rangi ātaahua tēnei!
#eke #eketahuna #ekecountrycottage #morena #tewikiotereomāori #aotearoa #family #garden
The Children of Ash and Elm (Neil Price 2020)
Every now and then a history book comes along that helps you think about the past in entirely new ways.
This new history of the Vikings by Uppsala University archaeologist Neil Price does just that. 📚
See: Kirkus Reviews
Regency style in a warehouse loft setting
An eclectic but aligned mixture of styles sometimes just works...
Review of Piranesi - a novel by Susanna Clarke
This new novel by Susanna Clarke (author of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell), references (in multiple ways) the work of the Italian artist and architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi known for his etchings of “fictitious and atmospheric prisons” (Le Carceri d’Invenzione). It is a ‘realist fantasy’ that conjures up both internal and external ‘otherworldliness’ in a lyrical and ultimately tender tale of loss, forgetting, and remembering.
Themes of finding truth through madness, caring for the dead and the lost, and devotion to place and the world (or worlds), are balanced with examinations of narcissism, ‘transgression’ and deep and enduring malicious manipulation.
It is all the more remarkable that this is told through a tale with initially only one character, and ultimately only a very small number of additional participants. It is a short read, for as the puzzle unfolds, the story draws you rapidly along until its ultimate and satisfying conclusion.
Highly recommended. 📚
Reviews and Links
Home Sweet Labyrinth: Susanna Clarke’s Mysterious ‘Piranesi’ Will Lock You In
The long-awaited followup to ’Jonathan Strange" is even more magically immersive
Thrilling to the magic inside the houses in ‘Piranesi’
Susanna Clarke’s infinitely clever ‘Piranesi’ is enough to make you appreciate life in quarantine
Piranesi Review: Susanna Clarke Turns to Modernist Magical Realism
Susanna Clarke's new novel - "Piranesi"
Fascinating new book 📚
Only just started reading it and it’s intriguing and delightful.
Wreck of the Hydrabad
Exposed elements of the wreck of the Hydrabad Waitarere Beach
Maritime Archeaology Association of NZ investigation
Bill visits the wreck of the Hydrabad
We went for a walk up the Hokio / Waitarere beach in search of the whale burial site, and couldn’t see anything, but visited the site of the Hydrabad wreck instead:
Sunny Wellington - Cuba Mall
Sunny Wellington, Cuba Mall. After several days of wind and rain, it’s delightfully sunny.
βThe Making of the Middle Seaβ
New book π- βThe Making of the Middle Seaβ A history of the Mediterranean from the beginning to the emergence of the Classical World. (Cyprian Broodbank, Oxford, 2013)
