Good evening, gosh late posting today.
I got stuck in a new book.
There are various book prizes awarded in the UK every year and I enjoy looking thorugh the shortlists to see if anything interesting has come up.

The Orange Prize is now called The Bailey's Women's Prize for fiction, find out more about it here:
http://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/

One of the books on the shortlist is called The Undertaking, by Audrey Magee.
Here's what the Website tells us about it:

Desperate to escape the Eastern front, Peter Faber, an ordinary German soldier, marries Katharina Spinell, a woman he has never met; it is a marriage of convenience that promises honeymoon leave for him and a pension for her should he die on the front. With ten days’ leave secured, Peter visits his new wife in Berlin; both are surprised by the attraction that develops between them.
When Peter returns to the horror of the front, it is only the dream of his wife that sustains him as he approaches Stalingrad. Back in Berlin, Katharina, goaded on by her desperate and delusional parents, ruthlessly works her way into the Nazi party hierarchy, wedding herself, her young husband and their unborn child to the regime. But when the tide of war turns and Berlin falls, Peter and Katharina, ordinary people stained with their small share of an extraordinary guilt, find their simple dream of family increasingly hard to hold on to.

So of course I had to order it.  And that is why I am late here today.

For some lighter practice, I've also been looking at material for our Crimean War lesson and have found the Horrible Histories series.
Here's one about the King Georges:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPtYmq5qFVA

And my favourite King Charles King of Bling:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2kyNbZc7oc

And here's the Horrible Histories Website:

http://horrible-histories.co.uk/

with games,  a magazine and all sorts of history fun.

Enjoy!

Good morning and Happy Easter.

Back again from the UK where I had a Very Happy Moment.

As a little girl my best favourite TV Programme was The Avengers. It was on Fridays at 8pm and generally I was allowed to stay up to watch it. I thought Emma Peel was the best thing I had ever seen.
Here she is on YouTube, set to The Kinks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve9N9oaXU18

Ever since then I have had a secret wish for a leather Outfit.

So last week my Mum said she had always wanted to go to the Pittards outlet in Yeovil - Yeovil has been a centre for the leather industry for many years - the local Football Team is nicknamed the 'Glovers'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday/dblock/GB-356000-114000/page/12
http://www.ytfc.net/

- and so off we went.

http://www.pittards.com/

There was no-one else in the outlet and outlet or not it was not exactly cheap and  I am a one-handbag Girl so we walked through to their coffee shop. Past a rail of reduced leather dresses!
I thought I would die on the spot. They were. even reduced, more than I would normally pay. But I decided to try one on, just knowing it wouldn't fit or would look dreadful.
I asked the assistant where the Fitting room was - turned out there wasn't one - well the shop was empty anyway so I just put on that Dress... and knew I was Emma Peel.

I carried it home in my hand luggage, never trust KLM.

KerPOW!

Good morning, in a hurry this morning as I leave for the UK shortly. Off (again) to Yeovil:

http://www.yeoviltown.com/

where I will visit my family and catch up on Britishness.

Looking forward to some M&S ready food:


http://www.marksandspencer.com/c/food-and-wine

and will pick up my Engagement ring from Wells:


http://www.studleysjewellers.co.uk/


Wells is a lovely place anyway,
http://www.wellssomerset.com/

 famous for its cathedral:


http://www.wellscathedral.org.uk/

Off I whizz!
Happy Easter.

Good morning Penguinfriends,

What fun we have watching all the birds who come to feed in front of our French Windows.
This morning there were already pheasants, jays, various tits, greenfinches and of course our favourite, the Robin.
So here are some activities for you this morning to practise your bird vocabulary and knowledge.
Let's start with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds:

https://www.rspb.org.uk/

Here's an online animal game introduced by Perry Penguin (Yes!)

http://www.anglomaniacy.pl/penguinA.htm

Here's an online Memory game topractise bird vocabulary:

And a Cartoon of an Aesop's Fable, with subtitles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q_POianzls

Have a great week!




Some Borneo chicks