Here is a little update on my Drawn Thread sampler Toccata One. I hope to have it finished by the end of the year. I haven't been spending much time on my needlework projects lately, but this weekend I have had this overwhelming desire to do nothing but stitch. So far that hasn't happened, but maybe later. Not surprisingly I am as bad with stitching projects as with books. I have multiple things started and I am worse at finishing them than I am books. To make matters worse, I think I am going to pull my bins out later and choose a new design to work on. Nothing too big, but not something tiny either.
I finished Patrick Suskind's Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. What a completely sinister tale. I liked it in a sort of weird, twisted way. I am sure I will post about it more later. I need to let it soak in. Or maybe not--it's a bit of an overload to the senses at the moment. I'll have to think about it a little. I've already got the movie at the top of my Netflix queue.
I bought my first Christmas present last weekend. I made a list out this week. I have money budgeted and am determined to stay within those confines, which I usually don't do, and it only gets me into trouble later. Besides it is all so commercial these days, and I hate to think it is only about buying stuff. I'd rather get the buying part out of the way early on and then stay far away from the stores later.
A coworker went to Oregon on vacation a while back. She discovered a store called Cranberry Sweets. She liked the candies so well she ordered some after she returned home and then brought some in to work. I tried something called Vineyard Sweets. Yum. White Merlot. Divine! If I wasn't trying not to spend money and use my credit card I would order boxes of the stuff. Has anyone had these?
I am hoping to finish reading David Copperfield over the Thanksgiving break. I am taking an extra day off to extend my vacation a bit. I'm not sure what else I'll work on. I think it is time to get through the rest of Katherine Mansfield's Journal, too. It's not a conventional journal. Just bits and pieces of her life and writing. Sometimes there will be variations of excerpts of her writing (which is interesting), and sometimes diary entries--references to people she knew. It was probably not the best place to start with her work, but interesting nonetheless. I am in the mood now to read something British again (okay David Copperfield is, but I was thinking something 20th century). I actually pulled out the book Consider the Lily by Elizabeth Buchan, but then thought I must be crazy to even think about starting a new book. Instead I will be starting Alan Garner's Owl Service soon. It's not only a library book (therefore needs to be read and returned), but it is also the next book The Slaves will be reading. Much more practical and guilt free reading! Besides I am also reading Elizabeth Taylor's short story Miss A. and Miss M.--British and set in the 1920s. See how nicely short stories can fit in with regular reading--just the thing I need to fulfill that little need without starting a new novel!