Amy Artisan

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Recently Read – April 2014

April 18, 2014 / / 1 Comment

Reading seems to come in waves around here recently – but with the return of patio weather, I look forward to many “happy hours” of reading in my chair on the patio to end the day. Over the weekend, we jumped past spring into some summer-like weather – so of course I was on the patio reading. (Never mind the “return to winter” temps that then marked this week – those weekend hours were bliss.)

A favorite reading spot

A favorite reading spot

In the last 2 months, I’ve consumed several books…with varying degrees of enjoyment in the read…
  • Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) – I “finally” finished this one in March. Overall, I enjoyed it – a clever detective story. I think my problem was that I put it down back in October in favor of other reads and then had a tough time getting back into it. When the next one comes out, I’m pretty sure I need to “read it straight through.” As I was in London, it was fun to go past locations and recall a mention in this book.
  • The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson – A fascinating Pulitzer prize-winning fiction set in North Korea. Indeed, the life story of the son of an orphan master who was raised in an orphanage, started his military service on tunnel patrol, was pulled into “secret” missions, becomes a prisoner and reinvents himself out of a prison camp.
  • The Anatomist’s Apprentice by Tessa Harris – (audio) Meh. The first in a series about an American anatomist in England in the 1780s. An attempt at CSI meets the splash of the Pink Carnation series. Not sure if I’ll continue this series.
  • Death by Cashmere by Sally Goldenbaum – The first in a “quick read” knitting mystery series. After the “heavy” reading of Orphan Master, a light read seemed in order. The setting reminded me of a fall weekend near Cape Cod, the fun of Door County and Harbor Country and the yarn shop reminded me of some of my favorite yarn shops of years gone by. It was a breezy read but I’m not sure I’ll seek out the rest of the series.
  • The Expats by Chris Pavone – An espionage tale mixed with a ‘home life/domestic’ story with a bit of whiplash from how the chapters move between present & past & further past & back & forth all at once. I snagged this after reading a review about the author’s newest book & seeing that the library offered this. I’m still not sure my thoughts on the book – the story was a clever “twist” on spy thrillers but the structure seemed distracting.   #whiplash
  • My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (audio) – After enjoying a a delightful evening at the theater seeing Wooster & Jeeves in London, I knew I needed to add this series to my reading (or listening). As I listen to the stories, I must admit that instead of the voice of the audio book narrator I hear Jeeves dialog as portrayed by Matthew MacFayden and I see Wooster’s expressive face as portrayed by Stephen Magnan on stage.
  • Active reads/listens to be included in future reviews: The Apple Orchard; The Romanov Prophecy; Moonwalking with Einstein and more…
  • Hold requests at the library include Laura Ingalls Wilder & Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The kindle is recharging in advance of a couple of (stateside) flights “for fun” this month…so plenty of reading time awaits…

Linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy’s monthly twitterature review. (Which of course leads to many more books being added to my “to read” list…)

What are you reading these days?

Business Trip Tourist: London

April 14, 2014 / / 4 Comments
The last week of March, I had a couple of days of business meetings in London. In addition to productive meetings, I managed to insert a few touristy activities to make the most of my first trip to London.
I arrived to Heathrow on Monday morning. After collecting my luggage and passing through Border Patrol, as I walked through the doorway of the passenger arrivals area to a sea of people waiting for friends & family it was a given that “God Only Knows” would be the ear worm that filled my head.
London Scenes
Since my meetings didn’t start until Tuesday, I had Monday for exploring. Before arriving, I had grand plans to explore a couple of museums; however, those plans were sidelined by a blister (all that DC walking) & the reality that I would be doing a fair bit of walking to/from the meetings each day. After a quick rest at the hotel, I mapped out a new plan with the help of the concierge – I had a ticket for one of the on & off tour buses and away I went.
London Scenes
It was a sunny & crisp afternoon – sitting in the open air of the upper level of the bus was perfect for keeping me awake when my body was saying “just let me sleep.” The tour guide was a delightful fount of information – I could have easily stayed on the bus for the entire route. But, at the Houses of Parliament & Westminster Abbey I hopped off the bus so that I could achieve my one goal for the afternoon: enjoy a proper afternoon tea.
London Scenes
While web-planning things I wanted to do in London, I had stumbled across the website for a cafe on the grounds of the abbey that seemed like a perfect option for tea. Indeed, the afternoon tea at The Cellarium was a lovely recharge for my very tired self.
Tea Time
After tea, I hopped back on the bus for a bit more sight seeing before heading back to the hotel.
London Scenes
Once our meetings concluded on Wednesday afternoon, I had the evening free since I wasn’t flying home till Thursday morning. I caught a cab to Leicster Square and went to the TKTS booth to see what shows had “special” tickets for the evening. I had decided that I didn’t want to see a big musical or something that was “easy access” back home. I picked up a 2nd row ticket to the new play “Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense” based on the works of P.G. Wodehouse. I’ve been a fan of the actor Matthew MacFadyen since I discovered the MI-5/Spooks television series on Netflix several years ago – it was a treat to see him originate the role of Jeeves and be very comedic after mostly seeing his dramatic roles. To complete the tourist experience for the evening, my dinner before the show was fish ‘n chips & a pint at a pub around the corner from the theatre.
Taking in a show in the West End
While the trip was quick…the work meetings were worthwhile & the moments of touring were a lovely first introduction to London. Needless to say, I will not be disappointed if I have another meeting there in the future.
One the flight home, I looked out the window & saw Iceland

One the flight home, I looked out the window & saw Iceland

In 17+ years of business travel, I’ve managed to find all sorts fun moments in the midst of work. This trip was no exception!

One Community: April 2014

April 12, 2014 / / 4 Comments

The words chosen for One Community to celebrate the start of April are perfect for this time of year – they celebrate the arrival of spring and the promise that the new season holds: SPRING – FLOWERS – PURPLE – RISE

Now that all the snow is finally (!) gone from around here, signs of spring are starting to appear. Among all of the downed trees and limbs from the winter, there are glimpses of green and buds pushing through the dirt an onto limbs. The most evidence so far is the light coating of pollen on my dark colored car. In the absence of grabbing local pictures, I’ll pull some pictures from my March travels to Washington DC & London.


Spring | While enjoying some sight seeing via double decker bus on a Monday afternoon, I saw numerous green parks in London that just seemed to “scream” spring is here – the lush green lawns, the bright yellow of daffodils in bloom, people out & about in the parks.


Flowers | My quick trip to Washington DC last month was just ahead of when the famous cherry blossoms are in fully bloom explosion. While walking past the Native American museum, we saw this bit of bloom starting to emerge.


Purple | The only purple in this travel collection is a blurry shot of huge orchids in the Conservatory at the National Botanic Garden.


Rise | Amelia Earhart’s plane at the National Air & Space Museum. Pretty much every where you looked in the museum, “rise” was an appropriate word.

Connecting with One Community – to learn more about this monthly photo blog link-up, Sarah’s host entry has all the details.

DC Days

April 6, 2014 / / 1 Comment

This year’s spring trip to see my Texas girlies was a bit different – in March I met up with the family in Washington DC. They were in town for their spring break ahead of a conference their Dad was attending. So, a quick overnight trip was in order. While I was only with them for about 30 hours, we managed to pack a lot of fun into a little bit of time. The Metro, buses, taxis & feet were our modes of transportation.

Air & Space

Friday started at the Air & Space Museum – a favorite of mine from the first time I visited there (when I was Miss M’s age). The Amelia Earhart exhibit was a favorite of all the girls. It was fun to share my love of space with them. And of course, we all had to touch the moon rock on our way out.

On the Mall

As we crossed the mall onto our next adventures, we spotted the Racing Presidents. The girls giggled at the oversized heads. Of course, a picture with Teddy Roosevelt was in order.

Museum Fun

Quite a bit of our afternoon was spent in the Natural History museum. The Hope Diamond, the vast array of geodes & quartz, mummies (which Miss K had studied in school), sea turtles, insects and more captured our attention. Sidenote: The Mercer vs. Duke game was underway while we were in the museum – I was getting game updates via family texts & sports apps. When I saw the score in the final 2 minutes, I pulled up the game on the “Watch Live” app & stood in a corner of the insect exhibit watching an amazing game and win.

Carousel & Conservatory

Late in the afternoon we met up with some friends and enjoyed the carousel on the mall and the National Botanic Garden Conservatory. After dinner, our weary band of tourists caught a cab back to the hotel and called it an early evening.

Saturday

On Saturday morning, all 3 girlies came running down the hotel hall to hang out with me as we got the morning going. After breakfast, we went to the Jefferson Memorial before heading towards the zoo. Friends from our time in Chicago (hi Alicia!) hosted us for a simple and delicious spring lunch before we joined with seemingly half of DC on a beautiful spring Saturday afternoon at the zoo. As we walked through most of the animal habitats, we didn’t see too many animals – it seemed like they maybe hadn’t yet transitioned to being outside again. After about a 30 minute wait, we were ‘finally’ in the Panda house (my favorite animal since I was a little girl). We all were enthralled by the pandas – while we had hoped to see the new baby, we had to settle for seeing her napping on the monitor. But we did enjoy seeing Mom & Dad munching on bamboo.

Late Saturday afternoon, I said farewell and drove back home to PA. My time in DC with the girls was short because I needed to get home & finish packing for a business trip…less than 24 hours later I was on the flight to London…

Currently…March

April 2, 2014 / / 2 Comments

How can 2014 now be 25% complete? March was a month of good intentions on the blog and very few posts – I’m queuing up several of these for the first part of April now. After a gray and rainy weekend and a fair amount of chilly days, it is nice to see the sun this week and an upward temperature trend – maybe we have survived winter and are indeed emerging into spring? As the calendar moves onto April, here’s a bit of “What I’m Into” in March as I link up with Leigh Kramer. 

March Highlights

Reading…was pretty low…I did finally finish “Cuckoo’s Calling” and think I will continue with the series when the next book is released. I’m currently reading “The Orphan Masters Son” – hopefully I’ll have an April twitterature roundup with a couple of completed reads.

Watching…An overseas trip brought the chance to see several “recent” movies on the long flights…I enjoyed each of my selections: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, About Time, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Crafting…knitting away on the Baby Sleep Sack for a co-worker; a spring shawlette has been blocked & is ready for use; the shawl I started on Super Bowl Sunday is off the needles & awaiting a good soak and blocking; a baseball themed knit is getting started

Cooking…I cooked quite a bit early in the month and less later in the month because of travel. Among the cooking highlights, a couple of “pin wins” where I tried something that I had pinned on my “Someday Recipes” board: Citrus Roasted Chicken with Sweet Potatoes & Pears; Sriracha Coleslaw to accompany pulled pork (made even better by using my homemade mayo).

Cheering…Mercer March Madness – for the 1st time in almost 30 years, my alma mater was in the big dance. While disappointed that they didn’t go farther, the win over Duke is quite a thrill. It has been fun to see friends & colleagues talk about Mercer – social media was filled with all sorts of fun – lots of articles to enjoy. I am Mercer Proud!

Appreciating…the return of Daylight Savings Time – it is so nice to have daylight left when I leave the office.

Brightening…up my wardrobe as the season changes. Pulling out the spring clothes from storage. The return of my pale aqua coat instead of the brown quilted one that was my winter workhorse. Picking up a few new pieces to incorporate into work & play wardrobes.

Traveling…a quick trip to Washington DC to see my TX girlies…a business trip to London that included a few fun & touristy moments in addition to productive work meetings…(highlights of both trips are already queued to publish)

Looking Ahead…April brings a couple of weekends of family travel…Easter in the ‘Ville…a first communion…with longer days and warmer weather, it’s time to dust off the patio chair & enjoy outdoor reading time…

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