Rushing through the 'R's

Yep - another section of my ipod completed... Definitely on the homeward stretch now!

Rabbit Fur Coat - Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins
Rabbit Songs - Hem
Raising Sand - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Rattle & Hum - U2
Razorlight - Razorlight
Reckoning - R.E.M.
Recurring Dream: The Very Best of Crowded House - Crowded House
Remedy - Basement Jaxx
The Reminder - Feist
Remixes and Radio Cuts - Salmonella Dub
The Remote Part - Idlewild
Republic - New Order
Reservoir Dogs - Original Soundtrack
Return of Fly My Pretties - Fly My Pretties
Reveal - R.E.M
Revelations - Gene
Revival - Katchafire
Revolver - The Beatles
Riceboy Sleeps - Jonsi & Alex
Rip It Up - Razorlight
Robbers & Cowards - Cold War Kids
Rock Art & The X-Ray Style - Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros
The Rockingbirds - The Rockingbirds
Room on Fire - The Strokes
Roots & Echoes - The Coral
Rooty - Basement Jaxx
Route 23 - Chatham County Line
Rubber Soul - The Beatles
Rufus Wainwright - Rufus Wainwright
A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay

Not a bad letter this one! A few old faves there - Gene, Coldplay and a great start with Jenny Lewis and Hem - two I like very much. I found Rice Boys a bit dull (sacrilege possibly??) but really enjoyed Cold War Kids - sounded a bit like Jack White. Good to listen to Razorlight again as well as I don't often think to play them.

Spring walking

Spring has finally sprung here in the UK and we took advantage of it to walk the Godalming Circular walk.

This one took a bit to get out of town, but once we were it was lovely - felt really remote and quiet which is unusual for a walk in Surrey - that tends to often still feel very urban.

And the daffs were out! So lovely :-)

Daffs!

Daffs!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Winkworth Arboretum

Winkworth Arboretum
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Julia turns 40...

Julia hit the big 40 on Friday 18th, so on Saturday 19th she had organised a dinner at River Cottage - home of the Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall food machine. Most people headed down on Friday night but as it was Jackie's birthday on Saturday, Simon and I drove down on Saturday. Well technically he drove...

After a bit of confusion we met up with them all in Seatown (note: Seaton is not the same as Seatown...). But getting there, and then finding them took us through a good few counties - Surrey, Wiltshire, (saw Stonehenge from the car!), Dorset, Somerset, Devon...

The meal was just lovely - we were in the farmhouse, so it was a bit like a private dining room. Gorgeous food, and great company. I think perhaps staying up really late and drinking whisky once we were back in our house was perhaps not the best idea. Def felt the worse for wear on Sunday! I don't think I was much company for Simon on the trip back...

I'm sure most of you will have seen the photos on fb, so won't repost any.

Norman Rockwell

Saturday was a lovely spring day (as opposed to Scotland where it is still snowing!) and Jackie, Nicola and me headed off to Dulwich to visit the Dulwich Picture Gallery to check out the Norman Rockwell exhibition. We lunched first at the Crown & Greyhound - very nice 'fush & chups' with tasty minted peas :-).

The exhibition really very good - great history of America in lots of ways, and interesting to see some of the real paintings next to all of the covers as well. Lots of Dulwich is rather nice, so we had a nice time strolling around the streets admiring some of the beautiful houses. When I win the lottery I might move to Dulwich... :-)

Books what I have read...

How exciting! Another new feature on my blog... I'm sure all my readers will be thrilled...

So books I have read... Decided to keep a list for this year, so have started it off below. Will be interesting (well to me anyhow) to see what and how many I read, and what I think of them at the end of the year. This is partly inspired by a friend from work who does a fantastic blog on her book reading (and anything book related really). This won't reach the standards of hers, but what the heck - this blog is all about me after all!

Good but disturbing...

Just back from seeing 'Never Let Me Go' - very good, but quite disturbing. Without giving away the story (although it isn't really a 'twist' as such), what is still sort of hanging around for me is the complete and utter acceptance of the situation the characters are in. It really is what it is - and that for me was very unsettling.

I haven't read the book, and I know that people who have are disappointed with the film, but if you've not read it, I think it is definitely worth seeing.

Oh - and my Oscar pick was way off :-( . But I did love 'The King's Speech' so its not too disappointing!