For the past few weeks I have been visiting an Osteopath (recommended by a friend) in the hope that she will be able to rid me of the constant soreness in my knee and elbow tendons (old horseriding injuries that have been aggravated). She is a lovely person and obviously wants to help people but I have been rather perplexed as to why she apparently enjoys my cries of discomfort when she is manipulating my joints, saying such things as "If it doesn't hurt you are not getting your moneys worth!" whilst smiling cheerfully.
All became clear on my last visit when she revealed on my latest visit that she has just signed a deal with Penguin to publish 2 more of her books! "Books on Osteopathy?" I innocently asked. Oh no, nothing like that - it turns out that she writes crime thrillers in the same vein as Ian Rankin ! Grisly murder and psychopaths! Time to find a new Osteopath maybe!? She didn't tell me what her pen name was but did say that she had been nominated for a New Blood Dagger Award last year so, after a little detective work of my own (get it?), I discovered that my osteopath is also known as Caro Ramsay and this is her first book!!
On the subject of books I have recently immersed myself in 3 - yes 3 - of the latest books by Alexander McCall Smith. Two from the Isabel Dalhousie series ....
and the latest book in the 44 Scotland Street series.....
I love these series - I find them very comforting to read, like dropping in on old friends. Their descriptions of Edinburgh life and characters are so well drawn you feel that you might well bump into these people whilst wandering around the city. Of course it helps knowing the city fairly well as he mentions specific locations and local characters but it is not absolutely necessary to in order to enjoy the books. If you are interested the first book in the 44 Scotland Street series is called , rather aptly, 44 Scotland Street and the first in the Isabel Dalhousie series is called The Sunday Philosophy Club.
As promised I have done a draw for Issue 1 of Sew Hip and the first out of the hat was Ambika. Second out was Caireen who will receive Janes' copy. Please email me your contact details and we will send the mags. Remember I have 2 copies of Issue 2 to giveaway at the end of Feb. I have just received Issue 4 and I have to say that I think that the magazine is getting better each month.
PS I am trying to sove a 'mystery' of my own - I seem to have lost my category cloud even though I have been to the content section and selected it etc etc and also cannot get my lists for albums to link to pictures on amazon automatically like it used to - any ideas????
ooh suzanne... definately a new osteopath!! (just followed your link).
I flicked through Al's copy of sew hip issue 4 and it does have a couple of good articles in it i'd like to read. I think it is the best one so far... It now seems to have a better balance of projects to inspire beginners, stuff for kids and also a bit of textile history and artists profiles (which are where my main interests lie). Did issue 4 inspire you to want to make any of the projects?
Posted by: ginny | February 01, 2009 at 02:11 PM