Friday 17 July 2015

8 Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts (8) + Poll


Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts is a weekly blogging event hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. It allows book bloggers (and non-book bloggers) to write about pretty much anything, bookish or otherwise (i.e. sharing exciting plans for the weekend, rants on things they've encountered during the week etc.) 

1. High summer has started and it's quiet in a lot of places. Many housemates of mine have left for their holidays and at work many colleagues are also away. Only my workroom is still full, with 5 of us toiling away on our articles. Let me tell you, editing is not fun. It's staring at my screen for half an hour thinking: there is a better way to formulate this sentence, but how?? Luckily, next week I also have a week off (Hello, Belgium!) and another week in September to look forward to (Hello, England!)


2. A few weeks ago, I read an article about making elderflower drinks. Suddenly, I started seeing the elder trees everywhere on my daily commute, so I decided to give making elderflower lemonade a try myself. I made three batches and I think each one was a little better than the previous. Especially the right amount of sugar and lemon is important for the taste. Do any of you have experience with making elderflower lemonade or maybe lemonade from other natural ingredients?

3. I had been searching for new summer skirts for a while, but I could never find any in the shops. Many skirts are just to short for my liking, I'm rather long (1.84 m) and skirts that would fall slightly above most people's knees fall halfway my thighs and I don't feel pleasant wearing them. So, I resorted to online shopping, which I hardly ever do for clothes. But, it was a succes this time! I found two really nice skirts, they fitted me perfectly when they arrived and I've been wearing them with pleasure!

4. Here's another picture of me in my Medieval costume with my some of my sword-fighting groups. Some weeks ago we visited a so-called 'Medieval Spectacle'. Despite the rain for most of the day, we had a lot of fun. We all bought some new accessories for our costume (I bought a nice mantle, very handy for these rainy festival days! And a forged working knife, which you can see on my belt) and there was jousting at the festival (so cool!) 

5. I bought this lovely version of Little Dorrit with original illustrations at our yearly church's market. Isn't it pretty?

 

6. I'm not very big on watching documentaries, but last week my mother pointed out a very good one to me. How to go to heaven with the Hutterites is a 2013 BBC documentary about an ethno-religious group called the Hutterites who live communaly in colonies. I like learning about religious groups who live sheltered from the world and I especially like it when documentaries are made respectfully and this BBC documentary is that. You can watch the documentary here on YouTube if you're interested.

7. I started watching Outlander. I'm quite late to the party I know, but oh dear, it's so good! And so addictive, I want to watch ALL THE EPISODES NOW!


8. In September I would like to host another Watch-Along, like I did last year with Middlemarch. I'll let you help me choose what we're going to watch. I've got three ideas myself, but don't hestitate to add some other period miniseries you think will be nice to watch! 
Please vote in the poll on the sidebar or let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Not a lot of bookish thoughts in this one I'm afraid... I am reading though and some book reviews are coming. I hope you're all enjoying your summer and holidays!

15 comments:

  1. I voted for "Far from the Maddening Crowd" cuz I haven't seen it AND the library has that version.

    I've had an elderflower drink from the IKEA store here. My kids like it a lot, and I think it's okay.

    I made lavender lemonade this year for the first time (I used this recipe) and Cowboy and I liked it, but the kids begged for lemonade that didn't smell like flowers. Silly kids.

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    1. Far from the Madding Crowd is leading so far, so who knows?

      Hmm, the lavender lemonade sounds adventurous. I think I need to try some first before I decide to make some! (Who knows I might feel like your kids!)

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  2. Yay for some bookish (and not-so-bookish) thoughts. Always fun. Looks like you've had some great summer fun, Birdie - and I'm glad you found some skirts you like. Finding nicer, "formal" dresses is tough. I just went on a search for a family wedding and did find one I liked, but heavens, it wasn't easy. :)

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    1. Shopping will never be my hobby, I think, but finding something you really like is such a good feeling!

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  3. oooooh your copy of Little Dorrit is adorable!! =D

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  4. Love your copy of Little Dorrit! I do love older copies of books. There's so much life in them, if you know what I mean.

    Both those skirts are lovely.

    Just curious, but are you a member of the SCA? My sister is and her group is always performing swordplay. Her character is a historically accurate Viking woman.

    I voted for Jane Eyre, just because I love having a chance to discuss it.

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    1. Yes, you wonder who all had the book before!

      No, I'm not a SCA member. The SCA is not very big outside of the USA, there are many local re-enactment groups here in The Netherlands, but not one big 'body'. That's so great interesting though, I would love to see your sister's costume!

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    2. I wondered if the SCA was global or just a US thing so that helps satisfy my curiosity. The next time she's in full costume I'll take a photo of her and post it on my blog. It's quite a convincing outfit.

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    3. That would be great, thanks so much!

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  5. Lovely copy of Little Dorrit!

    I tried to vote for Our Mutual Friend, because I have a copy of it, and I've been wanting to watch it! But I'm not sure it registered my vote, and I'd also be interested to watch Far From the Madding Crowd, having read the book and watched the recent release, it would be fun to compare!

    (Also, hi! I haven't been commenting much lately, but I enjoy your blog!)

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    1. Nice to see you Lizzie!

      Yes, I think it registered, because there's now one more vote for OMF than yesterday evening when I checked the votes ;-)

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  6. I haven't tried making natural lemonades, but it sounds lovely. I like the first skirt you got especially! I know what you mean about it being hard to find skirts that aren't too short. I'm not a tall person, but I'm also not a stick, and I don't want to wear a skirt that only comes down to the height of my child. Just sayin. I love your copy of Little Dorrit! I know Outlander has been popular lately, but I read a couple of reviews of the first book that say there's a lot of rape in the series. I've avoided it because of that. Is that reflected in the TV series?

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    1. Yes, you're right, rape is a recurring feature in Outlander. It is ofcourse somewhat important to show the 'barbaric' times the main character Claire has 'fallen' into, but I think they overdo it. I'm a little bit shocked by the content anyway, I heard about it, but still it surprised me just how much nudity there is... I'll finish this series as I'm right in the middle of it, but I'm not sure I'm going to watch more of it.

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    2. Right. I would expect a realistic reflection of the time period, but I heard it was more than that. Thank you for clarifying. I probably won't read or watch it; not so much because of the nudity, but the unnecessary violence of the situation.

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