Grace Wynne-Jones

If you like handmade and vintage items then you’ll enjoy browsing through www.etsy.com It may even bring out the inner quilter in you!
(One of my favourite films is ‘How To Make An American Quilt’.) I came across the website in a magazine article.

I interviewed Jane Brocket a while ago. She is the author of ‘The Gentle Art of Domesticity’ and she believes that we should ignore dust in favour of expressing ourselves creatively in our homes. “My quilts make me happy,” she declares. The article was published in The Irish Times.

Was intrigued by something Nate Berkus said on Oprah. He suggested that we should ’shop in our homes’ and I think it’s a clever tip. He’s a wonderful interior designer and he says many people have furniture etc that might benefit from being moved to another part of the house. For example a pretty table might be languishing in the spare room and it has the wow factor and looks ‘new’ when moved to the kitchen. Obviously we have to shop in ordinary shops sometimes! But it’s fun to appreciate what we already have.

Lots of love,

Grace

Mairead, who works in the lovely branch of Waterstones on Dawson Street in Dublin, recommended ‘I Captured The Castle’ by Dodie Smith a while ago. It is delightful and different. J.K. Rowling is a big fan of it.  Of course Waterstones had loads of wonderful contemporary fayre. But sometimes it’s nice to read some classics.  Mairead would be happy to advise on classic summer reads.  Here are some of her suggestions:
 
‘Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland is a great tale of fantasy for all ages. Adapted many times, none compare to Carroll’s original tale. Go through the rabbit hole to find out why.’
 
‘Emma

 An enduring classic, Emma is a romantic meddler. It often backfires getting her in trouble. Austen’s Emma is the perfect accompaniment to long summer evenings. Edward Cullen has nothing on Mr. Knightley.’
 
‘Three Men in a Boat

 Originally meant as a serious travel guide, Jerome found the material so funny that it was published as a comedic novel. This ranges from severe hypochondria to disastrous picnics. An absolutely hilarious summer must.’
 
‘The Yellow Wallpaper and other Stories

 A selection of short stories is a great way to get your teeth into some classics this summer. Charlotte Perkins oilman weaves feminism and great writing seamlessly into these disturbing tales.’

Mairead also recommends the intriguing and eerie 

Grimm’s Fairy Tales

Dark and scary, Grimm’s Fairy Tales are just that. Forget that Disney stuff, the Brothers use allegory and mythology to tell their tales of enchantment. Beautifully crafted.’

Enjoy your classic reads!

Lots of love,

Grace
 

Tara is a very special place and well worth a visit. There is an informative radio documentary about the Hill of Tara on the right hand side of this homepage. I recorded it some years ago.

Lots of love,

Grace

Went for a picturesque bike ride on Sunday. The sea looked like it was the Med. I stared at it for quite a while. It seemed so sinewy and with so many different patterns. I’m glad that I made time to watch it. A little boy was intrigued by the swans in the harbour. And a very friendly dog jumped up in greeting on the pier. A sunny early afternoon made more enjoyable by noticing.

I received this lovely comment on Monday. It was encouraging to read it so MANY THANKS dear Reader!

‘I am a forty eight year old woman who loves books and I have read zillions in my life. My husband has never heard me laugh out loud as much or cried as I read “Ready or not”. It was a fabulous read and I am now an avid fan of yours. So sad when the book ended but ready for the next one. Wonderful and beautifully written.’

The popular Dundrum branch of Hughes & Hughes has reopened its doors and savvy member of staff, Chris Mills, has kindly provided these summer reading recommendations. The store has lots of great books for your delectation.

Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin
 
Gaile Parkin’s first book is set in Rwanda, where Angel Tungaraza is a celebration cake maker. As she deals with her customers and designs cakes for their celebrations she hears their stories and becomes involved in their lives. The lives of the people in her apartment block become part of her own life. Angel listens to problems and makes strong bonds with neighbours, such as Amina, who become her friends. She and her husband Pius have had their own sadness back in their native Tanzania. Now they are left to bring up five grandchildren after the deaths of their two children. This is a story which celebrates love and friendship. It is no merely sentimental tale, but an emotionally complex and satisfying read, with characters that you come to care about.
 
 
Enchantment – The Life of Audrey Hepburn by Donald Spoto
 
Even if you are not a devoted Hepburn fan, this is a great film biography. Her life spanned wartime deprivation in Europe; then fame, award ceremonies, lovers and husbands, and of course those fabulous dresses. This is a well researched and well written biography of an actress whose iconic status remains undiminished. Spoto’s book is as involving as a novel and gets behind the Hollywood scenes for a thoroughly enjoyable read. He also writes of Hepburn’s later career as a Special Ambassador for UNICEF which she took very seriously despite her own failing health. The book is well illustrated with photos from her early life and plenty of film stills.
 
The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin
 
A detective with a difference – Erast Fandorin is a new recruit to the Criminal Investigation Bureau in Moscow. The Guardian said of this one, ‘Think Tolstoy writing James Bond with the logical rigor of Sherlock Holmes. A hoot’. That just about says it all I think. Well all that is, except for the fact that Fandorin has a penchant for disguises and various deadly arts. He also has a devoted assistant in his perilous adventures. This proves to just as well as he becomes involved in all sorts of hair raising exploits in the service of Mother Russia. Naturally there is also love, passion and a mysterious, beautiful, dangerous woman in amongst all the skulduggery. But fear not, Erast Fandorin will save the day and even return for further investigations.
 
 
Other People’s Husbands by Judy Astley
 
If you feel like reading a witty, romantic bit of escapism then give this latest one from Judy Astley a try. Sara married Conrad, a sexy famous painter twenty five older than her, while she was still a student. Her mother (naturally) told her not to. Several years later, Sara is being charmed by Ben one of her students from the Adult Education Centre. Meanwhile Conrad has begun to plan to die before her gets old and decrepit, as retiring to play golf is really not an option. Was Sara’s mother right after all? This is humour with a touch of black, along with romance and artistic mid life crisis. But don’t worry, all’s well that ends well.

Dance with Wings by Amelia Carr
 
This is a story of two lives and two generations – Sarah’s and her grandmother Nancy’s. It is a compelling family drama moving from World War II to the twenty first century. Nancy was one of the courageous band of women pilots in the Air Transport Auxiliary doing their ‘bit’ for the Allied forces. The author has done much background research and she has woven into her engrossing story real life events. Family secrets and war time love and romance make for a satisfying story. Sarah gradually comes to learn more of her grandmother’s hidden past and as she does so she changes the course of her own life. But I won’t spoil the ending. One to wallow in on holiday – well worth a read. The feel of the war period is convincing and it’s nice to see women’s war time exploits being given centre stage.

‘…this is one of the best Irish novels this year…The trip to Greece is steeped in olives and jasmine, cicadas and sunshine…readers will love the local gigolo, Dimitri. Grace writes with great humour…On a more serious note, her portrayal of friendship, commitment and the complexity of relationships is very real and most enjoyable.’ Ready Or Not? EVENING HERALD

Sharing resources and swapping are growing trends.

For example if you log onto www.swapaskill.com you’ll find lots of folk who want to swap “favours” with each other in “the spirit of community giving and sharing”.

Here is a sample of some of some other sites to surf:

www.freecycle.org describes itself as “an entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns and thus keeping good stuff out of landfills”.

www.liftshare.com Need a lift somewhere or want to offer one? Then log onto this free website.

www.bookcrossing.com ‘Release’ tagged books in public places for others to pick up and then chart their progress and the lives they touch. BookCrossing wants to turn the world “into a library”.

www.dublinwaste.ie Pass on or pick up unwanted items for free.

www.swapz.co.uk A website where you can swap anything with anyone.

www.readitswapit.co.uk Surf and swap books.

www.bikebudi.com Helps you to find cycling buddies.

www.letslink.org Find out about Local Exchange Trading Systems or Schemes (L.E.T.S.) which are ‘local community-based mutual aid networks in which people exchange all kinds of goods and services with one another, without the need for money’.

“She saw herself riding in the passenger seat, Sam behind the wheel. Like two of those little peg people in a toy car. Husband peg, wife peg, side by side. Facing the road and not looking at each other; for why would they need to, really, having gone beyond the visible surface long ago. No hope of admiring gazes anymore, no chance of unremitting adoration. Nothing left to show but their plain, true, homely, interior selves, which were actually much richer anyhow.”
— Anne Tyler (Ladder of Years)

When I was a girl the aroma of freshly baked cake softened any childhood worry. The fragrance drifted out from the big Aga in the rectory kitchen and seemed to fill the house with tiny kisses.

I liked that making a cake took time. It was a choice. A treat that had to be assembled. Preparations for it were deeply satisfying. My mother swirled a wooden spoon through the mixture. I loved the way the texture grew creamy and confident. How it slurped deliciously into a baking tin before it was placed carefully in the oven.

What would it taste of? Lemon zest perhaps or vanilla..caraway seeds or chocolate. It was hard to resist having a little peek at it as it swelled importantly in the heat..gathering sponginess and firmness and a golden exterior. There were some expert proddings to test that it was fully cooked before it was decanted onto a wire rack to cool.

This was the time to gaze at it in familiar wonderment. There was, it seemed, an almost alchemical quality to the process. A rather untidy array of ingredients on an old wooden table had cohered into a delightful symbol of cosiness…a simple and deeply comforting pleasure that would require icing. And perhaps an array of edible decorations…silver coloured balls to give it some extra vavavoom. When displayed on a large porcelain plate it acquired a sort of cakely stage presence. It was watched and admired, and then eaten swiftly. Any memories of the mild messiness it had caused in the kitchen were forgotten. The dustings of flour that frequently drifted onto clothes. The escapee granules of sugar. The discarded oily paper that had once contained margarine.

My own attempts at baking are more amateur. Whimsical and experimental. Every so often the urge to bake comes upon me. I reach for a porcelain bowl and weighing scales and baking powder as though embarking on an age old ritual. I select the cake that calls to me from a small array of recipes. I grease the baking tin. Should I use cinnamon? Who knows what my cake may become. I do not bake very often. I am not a master of the craft. But the long ago aroma of my culinary efforts is almost a reward in itself. Hopeful and sweet. Warm and musky. An old joy to share in slices. Accompanied, of course, by steaming mugs of tea.

Savouring simple pleasures adds a sparkle to ho hum days when one longs to be under an olive tree eating figs. Of course it would be great if life felt glorious every day and one bolted out of bed deluged with enthusiasm. But the human condition is a somewhat mixed experience. One rarely, for example, finds oneself eating figs under an olive tree on a routine basis.

I must admit that I have sometimes felt a deep disappointment about this. There are many mornings when sashaying around my garden in the south of France seems far preferable to less sultry endeavors. But I don’t own a garden in the South of France…not yet anyway. And if I did one of its pleasures would surely be sitting in the sunshine and enjoying a large cup of Earl Grey Tea surrounded by the uplifting aroma of lavender.

The great thing about simple pleasures is that I can at least partially replicate this sensual scenario in wintry Co. Wicklow. I have the Earl Grey Tea and I have the lavender aromatherapy oil. And on a sunny morning golden sunbeams pour through my large kitchen window. Why wait for Provence? Life is here and now. As the Buddhists say ‘wherever you go you are there’.

In thriftier times simple pleasures become even more important. However it’s best not to get too happy clappy about this. Soaking in a seductive bubble bath will not, for example, fool you into thinking you are at a Caribbean health spa even if you surround yourself with scented candles. But a little pampering can go a long way and at least you don’t have to worry about mosquitoes. And curling up in front of an open fire with a good cat can be as delicious as coiffing cocktails in Park Avenue. That deep fortissimo purring is a concerto in itself.

Sometimes simple pleasures can be very small indeed, but no less important. One of my brothers loves Kimberley biscuits, but not the chocolate coated variety. For him to put chocolate on a Kimberley is to dilute the purity of the Kimberley experience. Vienetta has added vavavoom to many a family meal time. …And eating succulent toast smothered in butter and jam in bed has a voluptuous late night night feel about it…especially when it’s accompanied by cocoa.

Love,

Grace

‘This may sound like Bridget Jones territory but Alice is less spikey,
certainly drinks less and makes more effort to make a life for
herself…The writing is full of quirky wit and energy.’ ‘Book of the
Week’ THE EXPRESS (‘Wise Follies’)

‘…..Grace Wynne-Jones has written an entertaining, intelligent and genuinely funny story….this is a great read, especially for commuters…guaranteed to shorten any journey.’ THE IRISH TIMES
(‘The Truth Club’)

“It would have helped her to know that lots of people feel like this, but like lots of people she believed her feelings were so odd they must surely be unique. There was a terrible and unnecessary loneliness to this belief, since it was so often completely inaccurate. For who does not feel incomplete and not quite prepared for life’s mysteries? And who is not wary of love, once they have known its wounds?”
Ready or Not?, Grace Wynne-Jones

Found this quote (partial) from book posted on tumblr.com. in a blog. Thanks kind reader for posting it!

‘…this is one of the best Irish novels this year…The trip to Greece is steeped in olives and jasmine, cicadas and sunshine…readers will love the local gigolo, Dimitri. Grace writes with great humour…On a more serious note, her portrayal of friendship, commitment and the complexity of relationships is very real and most enjoyable.’ EVENING HERALD re. ‘Ready Or Not?’