Puppy and Spring again

Belated Happy Easter from tropical England. We had a houseful of visitors including Blackberry the cat, who made it clear with tooth and claw that he did not wish to meet a dog, ever.  So Blackberry stayed in the front part of the house and garden, while Otto kept to the back, his usual domain. It's possible that Otto is thinking of a career as a builder's mate as he's keen on bricks, logs and flints which he piles up in a heap on the lawn.  Better than chewing the door frames, I suppose. He was also keen on retrieving pingpong balls unfortunately. Meanwhile, lying in the sun on the front porch, Blackberry kept aloof from all the sports, human and animal.

Smiled a lot while reading The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, a short novel about what happened when the Queen suddenly became a keen reader. Here's an excellent Guardian review. A suitable book for the Kindle as it is subtly amusing rather than complicated. Do read it.

Puppy, daffodils & Danish thriller

Otto looks rather grown-up in the second pic, don't you think? He's much admired - people stop me in the road and ask about him. Behaviour improving slightly, though he's still super-enthusiastic and thrilled to bits to see everyone even if they've only gone out of the room for 15 minutes.

Book news: 

there's to be a new biog of John le Carre according to the Telegraph   He had an interesting life, so should be worth reading.

Television

Deeply missing the Danish thriller, The Killing, on Saturday nights. Look forward to the next series. Have started on Spiral - French policier about a female detective, but as yet it doesn't rock my socks or touch my heart. The Danish series depicted the homelife of the main protagonists which helped with credibility and so, however murky and quirky the plot at times, we did believe, and we wholly sympathised with the ordinary couple, Pernille and Theis, who tried to carry on despite their daughter's murder. And we cared that DCI Sarah Lund's single-mindedness about the crime meant that she might lose her lover and temporarily her son. And many of us fancied politician Troels too, with his high ideals and sculptured cheekbones. (Never thought I'd be interested in the candidates for mayor of Copenhagen.) Of course there was also the intellectual stimulus of guessing who dunnit over 20 episodes. If you missed out on The Killing, do get hold of the DVD.

Twitter fans of the Sat night BBC4 TV subtitles thriller are also bemoaning the lack of Lund woolly jumpers in Paris.  

Puppy & South Riding

Otto has grown enormously, behaviour a bit patchy.



South Riding
Much enjoyed the TV version though had the feeling they changed and added a few things at the end. I recently read the original novel by Winifred Holtby, good but rather long-winded for my liking with too many characters and too many viewpoints. The actors did a brilliant job of bringing them to life. Not sure if Robert Carne's love of horses, his land and his mad wife was fully developed though. (Others in the Cornflower reading group enjoyed the book more than I did.)
Later: On reflection, the problem with the book as far as I was concerned was that none of the characters was particularly appealing.  In the book Miss Burton appeared earnest and priggish (apart from the Moment in Manchester) and the author writes some scenes so dispassionately that the reader judges the events at a distance, rather than being particularly involved.  I believe WH was attempting to emulate Middlemarsh, but I remember caring much more about Dorothea and Lydgate than the characters in South Riding.  That's why for me the TV adaptation was more successful as Sarah was depicted as a real heroine.

King's Speech and shopping with Otto

Quick link to interesting Daily Mail article about the making of the King's Speech and how they tried to get the period detail right in various locations. I agree with Logue's great aunts who said he'd never have called the Duke of York by his Christian name.

Pup and I went to Pets supermarket today. Great success. He was so nervous at first that I put him in a trolley with his rug where he was much admired by all the fellow shoppers. Owing to all this socialising, we took a long time finding, among other things: new toys, anti-chew spray, outdoor plant anti-animal spray, and, most useful, a mega-heavy ceramic water bowl for Otto who liked to take his stainless-steel bowl to bed, spilling his drinking water all over the room. He enjoyed all the attention in the supermarket and was fascinated by the live hamsters.  Short of a real hamster, the most successful toy I bought seems to be a rubber ball that squeaks. No, I'm not spoiling him, honestly. (He's now trying to eat the anti-chew spray bottle)

Puppy and flowers

Otto in chewed bookcase, books having been removed from lowest shelf!

Otto likes to collect shoes, welly boots, his bowl, his ball and his toys so that there's hardly any room in his bed. He's obviously practising retrieval.  We've been to our first puppy socialisation class, quite amusing. The main thing he seems to have learnt is how to bark.

My Christmas-present amaryllises (above) are blooming and (below) I was given these charming and unusual flowers over a week ago.

Just started reading Wolf Hall. I fear it will take me a while as I keep falling asleep, maybe due to my early starts with the puppy or....

Puppy again

Eating leaves

Otto has already eaten the corner off my kitchen bookcase. Hope he can digest wood. He is less shy and demure today than he was at first.  Vet says he is a lovely healthy pup (of course).

Regular-guest Blackberry resting at Christmas. Amazing that a relatively small cat manges to occupy half the sofa, three cushions and the TV guide. I suspect he won't be as enthusiastic about Otto as everyone else is.