canadian lit

I've been holed up in Canada for a couple of weeks, eating home cooking, taking no pictures, writing (yay!), reading (yay!) and working from home (blech). Also, recovering from a nightmarish scenario in which the first leg of my flight home (the flight was from Lisbon, I had to get a flight from Barcelona to Lisbon first) was overbooked, resulting in my losing my flight, having to buy a new one, and involving myself in a long battle with Vueling for the dismally small compensation they finally gave me (which I expect I only got because it's enshrined in EU law). Thanks for nothing again, Vueling Airlines.



But! The Canadian Literature in English is about to be changed for Canadian Literature in French... I'm off to Montreal for the first time ever and I can't wait to explore this city which has been on my must-visit list for a decade. Endless photos to follow!

(top by Family Affairs, skirt by Q's Daydream, shoes by Naguisa)

return to cadaqués

Back in 2008, I took a trip to Cadaqués, an idyllic Mediterranean town on the Costa Brava. I posted about it in retrospect some years later, here. Last week, my sisters were (both!) visiting Barcelona for the first time ever, and we went back, so wander the gravelly beach, feel the sun reflected back upon us from the whitewashed buildings, and visit Dalí's crazy/delightful house in neighboring Portlligat. Having been reading Josep Pla's lyrical history of Cadaqués, I looked upon it with different eyes, knowing about the centuries of struggle behind the idyllic exterior, the winds that drive people mad, the fishing treaties, the origin of the funny accents, the piracy!

reading in bed

I've been going through a phase of voracious reading recently (actually, voracious everything, I seem to be grabbing life by the horns this year) and the fact that it's winter just makes reading seem even more the logical choice. These were taken in a big, bright, warm room in Bristol, with a view over clustered roof tops and a back garden in which I've seen foxes at dusk, wearing a plaid flannel dress (the ultimate reading outfit no)? Erm, that would be me wearing flannel, not the foxes, clearly. :D

I'm multi-tasking bookwise. I always like having 5 or 6 books on the go to suit all moods and handbag sizes. I'm reading Anna Kerenina (yes yes, but movie versions are a great excuse to finally read that classic you've been meaning to for years), Christopher Isherwood's masterpiece Goodbye to Berlin, a Catalan classic Cadaqués, (here's when I went to beautiful Cadaqués a few years back) a book of short tales about interesting women who lived in Barcelona through the ages, which is fascinating as a social history, and rereading the biography of Louise Brooks by Barry Paris that so enthralled me last winter. I'm really enjoying all of them... does anybody have any recommendations for when I'm done?

Incidentally, my Kindle (which I've had for about 2 years) is a life saver. I love the texture and smell of real books as much as the next bookworm, but I don't love the overweight baggage fees or trying to track down English language books in foreign countries... for transient lifestyles it's a must, although it's not that photogenic.





Reading in bed comes with a built-in siesta!


Photos by Albert

P.S.
One of my favourite posts from last year was also in favour of plaid flannel dresses...

a red herring without mustard

So this makes my second post title named after a Flavia de Luce book (the other one was "I am half-sick of shadows," and yes, I know that's also a line from Tennyson). I'm completely in love with these mystery books, featuring an eleven year old girl sleuth in the year 1950. Flavia reminds me a bit of myself as a child, except that I wasn't a precocious amateur poisoner. And I didn't live on a country estate--I just pretended I did. Anyway, this post had to get the title of the third book, which has a plot point turning on a statue of Neptune (and just look who's chilling behind me). And another plot point rests on fish, and just look what I randomly found by the artificial lake in the park at 8 am on Saturday morning when I went to take these pictures... eww and wtf?



In other news, I'm trying to think of other, more interesting ways to wear this blouse, but so far I'm not having much luck. Maybe due to the complete lack of skirts in my wardrobe... any ideas?


shorts: H&M Wateraid Collection, blouse: Desigual (gift from Albert), beret: very old, shoes: ebay, jacket: H&M, bicycle pin: gift from my mom, pile of dead fish: eeewwww.