RedRococoGarden

 Here we are in the third week of May and I am thinking that we had better weather back in March. We have had rain for most of the last week apart from a small window during Wednesday afternoon and evening when it was possible to sit in the garden, enjoy a cup of tea and enjoy the wildlife in the garden. I am hoping that my new wildlife garden will attract more insects, including bees (whose national day it has just been), as well as birds. We now have several resident pheasants, both male and female, as well as a couple of squirrels and the large birds: rooks and jackdaws and pigeons. I think that the poor weather has had an adverse effect on the smaller birds in our garden as there are noticeably less coming to the protected bird feeders than this time last year when we sat in the garden each day and the garden was full of life.   We were able to meet up with our daughter, who we hadn't seen for over a year, at an arboretum mid way between our two homes. Of course, she came with

 At last, a new blog from RedRococoGraden! I have recently re-opened the Esty shop as the covid infection rate is going down and my husband and I have both had our first jabs. I have also kept up with my reading over the winter hibernation (I think that I must have been a dormouse in a previous lifetime!) For book club reading the choice was 'Where the Crawdads Sing' by Delia Owens - a wonderful book, so read it if you can. Our previous book club choice was 'The Silence of the Girls' by Pat Barker which is set back in the times of the Trojan Wars from the viewpoint of a slave girl but is mostly about Achilles. I am a fan of her direct writing style and enjoyed it even though it is not a time period that I read about often.The top of my fiction reading pile is 'The Thursday Murder Club' by Richard Osman, whilst for Mother's Day I received 'Feral ...' by George Monbiot from my son, and his girl friend lent me 'Overstory' by Richard Power whcih

 Here we are, half way through autumn already and it is set to be a different one with no Halloween trick or treating and no bonfire parties next month. I have to be honest and say that I have reconsidered November 5th activities and decided that potential harm to pets and wildlife makes it not worth it. Today is quite warm and sunny, unlike yesterday which was mostly rain all day. On a couple of evenings recently when we looked out late at night we have seen a hedgehog, quite near to the house so we consider ourselves lucky as their numbers are decreasing rapidly due a number of factors: strimming injuries, road injuries. poisoning by slug pellets and people wanting too-tidy gardens. The hog hotel may not be occupied yet, but I am hopeful that it may be when winter comes as we have provided fressh hay and leaves in an attempt to make it cosy, and I put hedgehog food out nearby each night (which does get eaten). Among the last remaining stash of books I have been adding to the shop are

  The winner of this year's Women's Prize has just been announced as Maggie O'Farrell's 'Hamnet', the historical novel about Hamlet's young son who died aged 10 and brother to the remaining twin, Judith.  It is a good year for the historical novel! The shortlist for the Man Booker Prize will be released next week so it will be interesting to see who makes the cut - a few historical novels were on the long list so it will be interesting to see who makes it through. The historical novels are: 'The Mirror and the Light' by Hilary Mantel; 'The Shadow King' by Maaza Mengiste; 'Shuggie Bain' by Douglas Stewart and 'How Much of These Hills is Gold' by C Pam Zang. As I may have mentioned before I am a member of, and review books for, the Historical Novels Society but I am not reading for them at the moment  as I am half way through 'The Parisian' by Isabella Hammad which was on the Walter Scott shortlist. This book

 I am sorry that it has been a while since my last blog but after I reopened the shop on Etsy in June it was quite busy, then I decided to take a break to enjoy my birthday and (possibly) the last sunny weather we may get. After catching up with my admin and now having listed all the Folio Society books I currently have available, I have reopened the shop and am trying to find time to write up this blog. It was easier during lockdown when my Etsy Shops were closed and we weren't doing much! I still have some non-Folio Society books to add (but not many) and also some postcards and bookmarks. Although we were promised storms and rain this week we have actually had a couple of days when it has been quite warm with a short shower and a few rumbles of thunder. I must now restrict myself to weekends in the garden and a break at the end of the day, if I want to get everything listed and available for sale. Despite covid-19 outbreaks in nearby Swindon, the South west remains a relatively