All Passion Spent

I have finished reading All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West. I don't want to say too much here as I am keen to join in the discussion over on Cornflower on the 15th of December. The book is wonderful and I would encourage anyone who hasn't read it to scout out a copy. The plot is basic - 90 year old Lady Slane's husband dies and, for the first time in her life she decides to do exactly what she wants to do, and retires to a tiny house in Hampstead. She is surrounded by a cast of wonderful characters: her bossy and disaproving offspring, her French maid (Genoux), her landlord (Bucktrout) and an eccentric millionaire who loved her when she was young (Mr FitzGeorge). Oh, but the writing is beautiful and Sackville-West captures human frailty so well. One passage that appealed to me (probably because I often find myself in precisely this situation at work):

She had always taken an enormous amount of trouble to disguise her ignorance from Henry. In the end she had learnt to succeed quite well, and he would disburdern himself of his political perplexities wiithout the slightest suspicion that his wife had long since lost the basis of his argument. She was secretly and bitterly ashamed of her insufficiency. But what was to be done about it? She could not, no, she simply could not, remember why Mr. Asquith disliked Mr. Lloyd George, or what exactly were the aims of Labour, that new and alarming Party. The most that she could do was to conceal her ignorance, while she scrambled round frenziedly in her brain for some recollected scrap of associated information that would enable her to make some adequate reply.

I also did some cooking during the week. I made MommyCoddle's granola recipe. The second time I have done so. It is just delicious. I like having it with greek yoghurt and fresh berries. It makes a great start to the day.

As I mentioned in my last post, we have decorated the house for Christmas. I thought I would share a picture of our Christmas tree.




















And, because we finally got a picture of our dogs TOGETHER (very difficult) I will share that too. Abby is the one on my lap and Monty is seated in front - looking a little stunned!

Well, I am off to have lunch and then indulge in a lazy afternoon with my latest read Debs at War by Anne De Courcy. I am about half way through and it is brilliant (my kind of history book). But, more on that later.