The Librarian

When my friend recommended a children's classic that I hadn't read,  Satchkin Patchkin by Helen Morgan, I  had to go hunting for it.  The trusty bookshop had nothing, and there was nothing online either, but I followed the trail to Abe's Books, and, hurrah, there was one copy available, for only $18.00. 10 days later a thin parcel arrived for me from a small town in the Netherlands.  The world is getting smaller in so many ways, some of them quite beautiful.

Last summer's weather lacks many redeeming features. I don't think I was the only one who decided last April that a summer without sun just isn't . And I swear it has made this summer all the better. I keep on noticing all the simple summer things. Picking a basket of apricots, riding down a (small) rapid in an inner tube, having my cup of tea and christmas cake in a shady spot of the garden. My beach bag is brimming over with bookish goodness. Here's what you'd find if you tipped it out on the picnic blanket:       The latest Frankie and Extracurricular mags       A borrowed copy of series 3 of The Good Word       New albums Sad but True , Carry Me Back , and Wreck and Ruin and an amazing, 'unputdownable' book called Room . Wishing you a year of sunshine, good reading, and plenty of take-a-skip moments (and an outdoor bath too - I cannot recommend them highly enough).

A friend of mine once declared my beloved Gillian Welch album to be 'hipster librarian music'. He was insulting it. I don't know if he would have liked the gig I went to on a Sunday night last month....but me, I was in heaven. The Lyttelton Rough House Revival came to town, and despite feeling quite muddled up routine-wise, I slipped into my dancing shoes (yes, Mary Janes like any other hipster librarian), downed a glass of champagne, and braved Napier's nightlife (this story is better if you remember it was Sunday). Clearly not many other people were as brave as we were, because the Cabana was quiet, very quiet - until the gig started and then it got quite noisy, and well, very.....hot! Hands down one of the best gigs I have been to in a real long time. If you fancy a bit of hipster librarian music - and I personally can't recommend it highly enough :) - then check out these guys https://www.facebook.com/theunfaithfulways?fref=ts or these guys htt...

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett I found my 12 year old engrossed in this picture book the other day. When she finished it she sighed a happy sigh. Because she knows just how much happiness a bit of extra yarn can bring.

I went to out-of-the-way petrol stations, bought my groceries at expensive supermarkets, and always, always kept my blue and white card at the front of my wallet. I was a girl on a mission, lured by the idea of free stuff . Feeling the constraints of parenting on a single income, I was determined to get - no, I was single-mindedly focused on getting - enough Fly Buy points to order a treat. And, when Fly Buys finally wrote to say I could go shopping on their website, it didn't take me long to decide what I wanted to spend my hard-earned points on. Lynda Hallinan had just taken the helm at NZ Gardener magazine, and she'd given it quite a makeover. With its new layout, fresh, stylish photography, and inspiring articles, NZ Gardener was the mag of the moment. So, I spent my points, and that year I took my first real foray into gardening. Quite a few years later, with a few years of gardening under my belt, I still enjoy Lynda Hallinan's writing, and her infectious e...

Four years ago we went to France. We travelled with my husband's mum, who, delighted to be returning to her homeland with her little entourage of wide-eyed Kiwi family, took us on a whirlwind trip to all her favourite places. One of those places was Giverny, the little town in Normandy that was once home to Monet. In preparation for our trip, I purchased two children's books for the girls, about a little American girl Charlotte who goes to live in Giverny with her parents at the time when Monet and his many disciples are painting 'en pleine aire'. The first book, Charlotte in Giverny , brings Giverny to life, and gives context to many of the famous paintings of that era. My girls loved Charlotte, and spent many hours poring over the books, with their delightful illustrations and collaged pages. The trip to Giverny was made all the richer by having a story, and a character, to link it to. In the second book, Charlotte in Paris , Charlotte's visit to Pa...

Sometimes it really hits me just how many and varied are the responsibilities of parenting. There's stuff like the values we model, and then there's other stuff like making sure they get to all their teeth when they brush. It's a big gig. It's a gig that gives me infinite joy, ( oh, and sleepless nights occasionally too ) but I don't take the responsibility lightly. I'm conscientious, that's just how I'm wired. And I'm also a librarian.  So, imagine this: I go to my daughter's parent/teacher interview, and am told that my child is doing just fine (good), but....there's one thing....(uh oh) she could do with extending her reading . As I walk past the empty playground after the meeting I erupt; "bwah hahahaha". Because the irony certainly isn't lost on me.  But, I'm so glad for that parent/teacher meeting.  It got me to thinking. Both my older children have been hooked on reading book series - ch...

I know, I may as well set up camp in their promotions department, but I just love them so.   Cross-stitch and Embroidery for Babies, Toddlers and Children  by Isabelle LeLoup has some really sweet little projects....and even though I haven't made anything from it, I am happy to just gaze at the beautiful styling, and feel inspired (to tidy my house and make it pretty like in the book) . x Library Girl

The Language of Flowers   by Vanessa Diffenbaugh was recommended to me by several friends, and after another phase of reading non fiction, it was an extra special treat to have a compelling bit of fiction to look forward to at the end of each day....  to be honest, I didn't always limit myself to bedtime reading - a few chores were ignored in the reading of this book!  Victoria Jones overcomes the emotional scars of a tumultuous and bleak childhood in foster care through a love of flowers, and the messages that they convey. The tale, told in a dual narrative between her child and adult self, weaves a story where struggle is intertwined with little glimpses of hope, and carried along by an underlying tension - she has done something that she fears she will never be forgiven for.   Victoria's tentative move towards happiness and love unfolds rather like a delicate flower - it's subtle and affecting.

I'm unashamedly soft when it comes to 'music moments'. Nothing gets me in the same way as the right song, in the right place, at the right moment. Nothing. I've got a stockpile of memories, magical spots of time, when music has got me. Those moments can't be manufactured - it's the show of human qualities that make the magic. I like that - a lot. So, I take my hat off to people who commit themselves to making music. Who work at their craft even when it's going badly, who commit themselves to daily practice, who turn up for the weekly band practice. I've never been one of those people - a proper musician - so I can only imagine that it's not always a picnic, but that perhaps the lure of being part of (or the cause of) one of those special moments can go a long way. Here's my pick for this month's top three hard working New Zealand bands, bringing the magic. (Click on their names to check out their video)        1. Nightchoir - who are a...

My dear friend Gin (of bake club fame) has supplied me with just about every beautiful recipe book I own. I consider myself spoilt - I've been a grateful recipient of some real classics.  Last Christmas Gin bought me the Ripe deli book  Ripe Recipes  by Angela Redfern.  I've looked through plenty of recipe books in my time. While most inspire me to dream,  it takes a special cookbook to inspire me to action. This one did. I have used it numerous times in the last six months, and absolutely love it. I made brioche for the first time, a little tentatively (my husband is half-french and he's got a frenchman's taste for brioche!), but I needn't have worried, they were such a hit. The recipe was really straight forward, and the filling (rhubarb and custard) was divine! I'll be making them again. To continue the rhubarb theme, I also made the rhubarb butterscotch layer cake. It wasn't quite as straightforward (it took me three tries to get t...

I have been reveling in holiday calm the last few days. Released for a moment from my full-time role as family taxi driver, I am amazed with how much free time and domestic energy it has left me with. I have cleaned, run along the beach, baked bread, taken long baths, and even managed an afternoon nap tucked up with a Joan Trollope book, ( Other People's Children) , and a cup of rooibus. Inspired by my current fave home and interior magazine (library issues only, often out-of-date, not complaining, at all. I love it), Homes and Antiques , I thought I'd share with you some nursery pictures I shot during my day of domesticity. Hope you are having a nice week too. x Library Girl

I've made excited exclamations about the Made in France series before. I love the way they put these craft books together, the styling is beautiful, the craft ideas are gorgeous, and I'm always inspired. Cross-stitch samplers by Marjorie Massey is as stylish as all the others, and with a focus on linen, and white, blue and red, it has a distinctly french feel. I've never managed to complete a cross-stitch project (I still have the unfinished rooster I was cross stitching for my older brother's 10th birthday, and he just turned 40. I did contemplate finishing it for his birthday this year, but I decided the time had well passed since it was appropriate to give my brother a cross-stitched rooster ), but if  I ever get inspired to start a new cross-stitch project, I think I'll begin right here with one of the loose leaf patterns in this book.                    x Library Girl

I finished The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain, over a week ago, but every time I think of it my throat constricts, my eyes get smudgy, and I realise I'm still a little bit heartbroken. The story, written as fiction, and told in the voice of Hadley Richardson, Ernest Hemingway's first wife, is based on known facts about their relationship. It's a love story, but as far as love stories go, it's pretty devastating. Hadley and Ernest meet at a party in Chicago, when he is only 21, and she six years older. Each carrying sadnesses and baggage, they fall in love. They marry and move to Paris, where, spurred on by new friends such as Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein, Hemingway begins to make tentative steps towards fiction writing. They become parents, he becomes famous, and they come apart. I cried. x Library Girl PS I feel abit guilty. I got a recommendation for this book from a friend, and rushed out to get it from the library. Somehow, in doing so, I actually p...

I am unsettled.  I have a handful of authors who, in my opinion, can do no wrong. It's their names I rattle off when people ask who my favourites are. They are my top people. And being a bookish librarian, that says a lot. Anne Tyler has topped my list of favourite authors ever since I read Patchwork Planet a decade ago.  As John Updike describes, she "gives the mundane its beautiful due". Her work has been described as 'domestic realism' - she writes about people grappling the stuff of ordinary life, and she captures the nuances and quirks of that everyday life in such a way that we see it afresh. Her work always carries an edge of melancholy; yet her amused tone makes us smile as we read, detached and charmed, taking nothing to heart. So, when I finally had her new book, The Beginner's Goodbye , in my clutches last month, I quickly made up an excuse to spend the afternoon curled up reading. It's a slow-moving tale of a man grappling wi...

 I have found the perfect company for my knitting projects this week: Lark Rise to Candleford   by Flora Thompson and Cranford   by Elizabeth Gaskell are two of my all-time favourite classic books, so it is pure happiness to snuggle and knit in front of the fire, brew of tea at my side, and watch them brought to screen in these BBC productions.  And thanks for all your enthusiasm about my helmet project...it's all finished and packaged off to it's unsuspecting recipient, and now, fired up with the excitement of accomplishment, I am starting in on another fair isle project, a pair of warm, winter socks.  I heart winter knitting. x Library Girl

I got this idea in my head about a baby's hat I wanted to make. A helmet style with an extra front flap to be fastened up with a button....and a bit of fair isle thrown in too. My freestyle knitting confidence is not peaking right now, but I knew I had to push myself to bring the idea to fruition, else I may regret it for ever . So I gathered several books from the library, and between them, and with a bit of extra experimentation thrown in, I am getting closer to the finished object. I've never done fair isle knitting before, but by following the little grids in the book Icelandic Knitting by Helene Magnusson (I guess it's not technically fair isle then? but I love it no matter!) I nutted things out, and was delighted when I saw real deal knitted snowflakes starting to form! I think I'll have to make the most of the long weekend and head down the garden with my knitting and thermos to enjoy the last of the autumnal sunshine, and finish this thing I've starte...

Memoirs involving New York, good food, and colourful women definitely go to the top of my book pile, and I haven't been disappointed so far. I have just finished Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton and really loved it.  Hamilton's chapters are almost like stand-alone essays on different aspects of her life, from her idyllic childhood, through her tumultuous teenage, to her unexpected and unconventional marriage to an Italian doctor, and the equally unexpected adventure of opening her now well-acclaimed restaurant Prune (at the same time as juggling the demands of becoming a parent).  It's gritty and real, the writing is quirky, and the storytelling very honest. It's full of life . (Postscript: this book was recommended to me by the lovely author of the food blog pass the salt . If you haven't already discovered her, take a peek, she's a clever one!) My other favourite New York based memoir is Madeleines in Manhattan written ...

Some days I just can't wait for bed time, especially with a pile of books like this waiting for me. I was recommended The Paris Wife by a friend, it is about Hemingway's wife. I have followed Rachel Allen's cooking career a bit since I have been helping out a friend opening a cook school here in Hawke's Bay, so it was a treat to find this book Home Cooking at the library. Fairytale Food by Lucie Cash, looks cute but not very practical. And, finally, ah sweetness, the latest Country Living magazine.

In this week's library haul, I came across a delicious little book, Homemade - Gorgeous things to make with love by Ros Badger and Elspeth Thompson . I could tell straight away that it wasn't a brand new publication (you probably can too! It's not your screen that's dirty - this book has been well-used!). Yes, it's a couple of years old, and craft ideas become old hat pretty quickly these days, but this one is worth seeking out. It is divided into seasons with activities to match, with stunning seasonal pictures alongside. With winter kicking in sharp and strong here in Hawke's Bay, I am going to start in on the stripey glove knitting pattern first off, and add some cheer to our evening meals with the paper-lined night-light holders.