Where did you get that hat?

 I took this photo with my phone before I realised that I wasn't supposed to.

We went to an auction last Friday.  The viewing was very short so we spent the remainder of the morning at the shop museum.  It was very interesting.  The museum was started from a private collection  that became too large. If ever you're in Charente Maritime it is well worth a visit.

We bought a very interesting album at the auction as well as some other cards.  No doubt I'll be putting some of them up on my postcard blog, Time and Oft. 

Two more auctions to come before the end of the year.

A touch of the cosmos or the way to a man's heart?

For a while I've wanted a piece of furniture so that I could hang up coats and store gloves, scarves and hats as they seem to pile up over the winter months.  I found exactly what I wanted online.

 Unfortunately it was much too expensive. Then the sales came - still too expensive. I kept coming back to it; wishing.  A few days ago, I was looking wistfully at it yet again and decided to think outside my little box.  Christmas is coming, say I presented the idea to the family accountant, Rob, as a joint Christmas present?  So I went online again and saw that as well as the sale price, there was a reduction of a further 10% plus free postage (even on bulky items) if I used the special offer code!

So I prepared my case and my personal accountant agreed.  I was very careful to point out that the reduction totalled to more than 100€. It solved the Christmas shopping problem too - the way to a man's heart!

Now I just have to assemble it ...

Another weeks floats its way across the skies of life

Dom and JM came to stay for a few days last weekend as it was a holiday on the Friday too.  It was good to spend time with them and catch up with their news.  We even managed a walk in the sunshine and J-M mended a heater for us and cut most of the hedge.  Dom made her famous carrot cake.  J-M had never tasted it before, I don't understand how they managed that. While they were here, Dom received an email about a scientific paper she has submitted for publication.  It hasn't been accepted yet, but needs polishing up.  Can you imagine how pleased she was?  Can you imagine how proud I am?   Next stop Christmas!

It's still pretty mild here, we don't really need the heating on yet - despite J-M's repairs.  We've had sunshine almost all week.

This week I sent out a newsletter to ExposeYourBlog! members -  my first! I hope that if you're a member and you're reading this that you did read it.  Don has handled the newsletters up to now.  I didn't realise how difficult it is to find things to say....

Learnt a bit about how to be happy too.  Not a bad week all in all.

Truman Capote revisited

The quote today on my Google was from Truman Capote, it made me laugh out loud.  I'm sorry, but a slightly off sense of humour runs in my family:

"Finishing a book is just like you took a child out in the back yard and shot it"

Here are my other strange posts about him