Post Midnight Cool Music

Some post midnight music now -



Gal Costa e Roupa Nova - Baby

This is a new version from 1983

( More music here )

Enjoy.

A Quiet Day Relaxing

After a couple of days of working today has been one of relaxing and watching DVD's or listening to music and the radio.

Watched some episodes of Charmed and House Season 3.Finished off a few more books that i have been reading for quite awhile now.

Tomorrow i will be heading Tonbridge and Sevenoaks way.

Just Wondering

What was one mistake that you’ve made that ended up being a blessing in disguise?

What was the most embarrassing day of your life?

What was the most embarrassing day of your life?

Book 57 - Karen Blixen "Out Of Africa"

Karen Blixen "Out Of Africa" (Penguin Modern Classics)



I have mixed feelings about this author's memoir of her time on a coffee farm in the Ngong hills, Kenya in the early 1900's. A non-chronological telling of many tales from her time in Africa and finally about her bittersweet departure. Mostly beautifully wriiten, the prose is very evocative of the land, although at times trending toward mawkish and overly mystical.

It is written during the time of colonialism and Ms. Blixen is quite paternalistic toward 'the coloured races". While I have no doubt she loved and respected the Kenyan people - frankly, many of her comments were clearly racist by today's standards. I am also troubled by her attitude toward the animals. In one breath she lauds the majesty of the elephant, the giraffe, the lion. The next, seemingly without remorse, she shoots said lion, describes how it falls, skins it and then proceeds to toss back some wine and dates - supremely happy with life. Oh and by the way, this lovely skin will make a great cape for Lord Hoity-Toity. There are many such scenes that were almost unbearable for me to read.

Overall, this was a worthy read. I am left with some conflicting emotions about the author for sure. And I can't say I always found this an enjoyable or engaging read - but in the end quite powerful and sad.

Book 58 - Helen Macdonald "H is For Hawk"

Helen Macdonald "H is For Hawk" (Penguin Books)





Helen Macdonald, a skilled falconer, is devastated by the sudden death of her father. To drown her grief, she decides to take on the challenging task of training a goshawk, a particularly difficult hawk to train. In doing so, she comes across her old copy of the book [The Goshawk] by T. H. White (who also wrote [The Sword in the Stone] and [The Once and Future King]) and while reading it discovers the flawed man who couldn't possibly be expected to train the goshawk he acquired because of the emotional scars that he's suffered since childhood. The book moves forward through these two threads: Helen's training of Mabel, her goshawk and T. H. White's story.

To say that Macdonald's writing is exquisite just doesn't do it justice. It's incredibly beautiful and goes a long way in expressing her difficulty in getting through the very dark days when nothing seems to be going right.

"There is a time in life when you expect the world to be always full of new things. And then comes a day when you realise that is not how it will be at all. You see that life will become a thing made of holes. Absences. Losses. Things that were there and are no longer. And you realise, too, that you have to grow around and between the gaps, though you can put your hand out to where things were and feel that tense, shining dullness of the space where the memories are." (Page 171)

Memoir, natural history, meditation on life and death and absolutely wonderful. Very highly recommended.