Wild Swimming

Mama Cow refused to go swimming without a life vest and constant attendance from life-guards

I'm currently browsing through this delightful book which shows you all the best places to carry out wild swimming around the coast of the UK.  This book is more than just your usual guide book, you also get amazing photographs and beautifully romantic descriptions, such as this one for Flamborough Head on p.171:


"An ancient earth wall and ditch still leads down through woody glades to the sheltered, chalk-pebbled beach at Danes Dyke - a relic of King Ida's Viking invasion of the seventh century." 


Who can resist such poetry? The chances of me actually going swimming at this time of year are pretty much nil, but I like to think that there are so many options out there should I so choose. 


I've also been following Sophie's lovely blog about wild swimming, which she crazily does all year, have a look here: Devon Dispatches.


We're nearly mid week you know - keep going! xx

All the pretty books

The Swiss Cows wondered if they needed to change colour to get into the Night Circus

Yesterday I dashed into Waterstones, giving Dr X the impression that I was looking for a birthday present for my nephew. This will only take a few minutes I fibbed. I'll take a seat then he replied. After browsing through all the books and looking at the sale items I found that the Night Circus (half-price offer!!) was stuck to my clammy hand. It's such a stylish looking book! So although knowing practically nothing about the story line and without having read any reviews, I decided to buy it. Yes, that's right, I bought a book based on looks alone. 


I also have a Waterstones loyalty card and need to collect a certain number of stamps before the end of April to win a £10 book voucher (you have to spend money to save money right).  To top up my purchase to £10 I perused the children's section. Dr X caught up with me to check on my purchases - do you think your nephew will like that book? Um, probably not I muttered. Well I expect the stickers are for him then? Sure thing I said, shaking my head 'no' at the same time. Ok - who has some good ideas for a present for a nine year old?


When I got home I did some online searching about the Night Circus - and found this really helpful book review site -  Good Reads 
The bad news is that the book has received mixed reviews, with more on the negative side than I was hoping for.  Still I'm going to keep an open mind and I'm sure there are lots of people I can lend the book to as well which still makes it a worth while purchase.


Good to see that my NY goal of saving money is in full force.


Happy Week-End y'all xxx

Twilight - a beautiful love story?

The Swiss Cows were horrified to learn that Twilight wasn't a beautiful love story about vegetarians after all.  The bookseller had mis-sold the series to Mama Cow and now he would pay...

The Summer Book

"They picked out stones that hadn't been worn completely round and threw then out into the water to make them rounder. The sun moved on across the sky, and the boat came around the point and took up the nets and dropped them right back in again." (Tove Jansson, p.62)


The perfect summer holiday book. The adventures of Sophie and her grandmother on a small island in Finland is beautifully written and funny too. The Swiss Cows are packing their suitcases and looking for last minute cheap flights to Scandinavia.

The Girl with Glass Feet

"In a hammock of moss the size of a cupped palm, dangling between green-barked branches, a moth-winged bull slept. It had folded back its papery wings and drifted to sleep kneeling on the dank threads of it's makeshift bed. Around it the bog stretched to the horizon in every direction., a mottling of glistening peat, ochre grass and trees whose bent trunks formed low archways." (Ali Shaw, p.34)


A beautiful, magical modern fairy tale which requires you to put aside logic when you read it. The cows loved hearing about their winged contemporaries, although they found some parts of the story too sad to keep reading. Wonderful work from an author who was born in the South-West of England. 

Simply follow the owl...

So excited to learn that in October 2011 JK Rowling is launching a new website for Harry Potter fans called Pottermore.

There will be some new content about the wonderful wizarding world of Harry Potter. The Swiss Cows and I can't wait!

Why do the English always talk about the weather?

"...our conversations about the weather are not really about the weather at all: English weather speak is a form of code, evolved to help us overcome our natural reserve and actually talk to each other. Everyone knows, for example, that 'Nice day isn't it?' , 'Ooh isn't it cold?', 'Still raining eh?' and other variations on the theme are not requests for meteorological data: they are ritual greetings, conversation starters or default 'fillers'." (p. 26, Kate Fox)


A brilliantly funny book which delves deep into the mysteries of English culture and helps us understand why the Brits say and do the things they do. The Swiss cows found it enormously entertaining and are composing a letter to Ms Fox to see if she would turn her attentions to the slightly more interesting world of cows.  10 moos of appreciation for Ms Fox. xxx

The Tiger who Came to Tea

I came home from work today to find that the Swiss cows had been reading one of my childhood favourites:

Not familiar with the story? You can have it read to you here


Unfortunately this book should not be read without adult supervision. The Swiss cows began to take liberties...

They cracked open my ginger pop

They gobbled up my jelly beans

They fought over the leftover Christmas Quality Street (I was ok with that)

And they started getting ideas about my flowers

I think I need to get cow cam installed to keep an eye on them in future. Do you have problems like this in your home? xx

Coastal Style

Every couple of weeks I love to visit my local library. On my last visit I borrowed the above little gem. It's pages are filled with lovely eye-candy for people who want their homes to reflect a lifestyle spent near the sea. I have to give the book back soon but don't feel ready to yet. I want to dive inside the pages a bit more. The Swiss Cows are getting out the white paint and drawing up their deck-chairs... xxx

Daughters in law

I love Joanna Trollope books. She's the only author for me whose stories are as comforting as a cup of tea and slice of cake whilst simultaneously being as subtly sharp as a knife in dissecting emotions and human frailties. Joanna is brilliant in all her books at providing a looking glass into family life and relationships and underlying the sense of obligation that are borne out of these. She's amazing! I loved her latest book Daughters-in-Law and can't wait for her next one. The Swiss cows have put the kettle on in anticipation. xx

Running out of Water

"Water is our lifeblood...unfortunately we have a habit of using water as if there is an unlimited supply. We waste it even though the supply of fresh water is both finite and threatened...People genuinely concerned with saving the world could well start with saving its water supply. The need is great, the urgency is here, and the time is upon us to save our supply." (p.p. vii - x)


Reading the above book has made me change from using bottled water ( I used to have a bottle a day in my office at work, eek I know) to getting this:

and putting my daily water supply in this (ok it helped that it's such a sumptuous grassy green colour):

The Swiss Cows are nodding their heads wisely. xx

My Cool Campervan, the book - has arrived!

Finally I persuaded Dr X that we needed this book in our lives. And I was right! I haven't started reading the text yet but Dr X and I sat together and looked through all the wonderful images of very cool retro campervans.  The Swiss Cows give the book a four hooves salute and a ring of their bells!

Dear Charity Shop

Thank you very much for selling such a good variety of books at vey reasonable prices. I bought seven contemporary novels today for just £3.50!! My glasses are steaming up just at the thought of reading them all.  What a happy way to start the week-end!

Yours,

Avid reader xxx

Two for the price of one!

A few months ago I had the pleasure of attending Oxford Brookes for a creative writing lecture by Marilynne Robinson (author of Housekeeping, Gilead, Home, plus some non-fiction books which I hadn't read).  Marilynne doesn't need me to say that she's a legend in the literary world, her work speaks for her. Also she seems not to be fond of fans and their small talk. I found this out after I queued up to get her to sign my newly purchased copy of Gilead and didn't get any response from her to my inane babbling. In truth I was a bit star-struck and don't actually remember what I said to her, but it probably wasn't pretty. I wasn't offended by her lack of response though.  I didn't think her attitude was out of any preciousness or arrogance, it's just not her style and I can't blame her for not liking a fuss being made.

During her talk Marilynne spoke about where she grew up, how this influenced her work and some of the key inspirational creative sparks she'd had which made it in to her books. Marilynne emphasized the importance of the comprehensive research she carried out to ensure that her historical and geographical contexts would ring true. She alternated her talk by reading some passages from her work, which was wonderful to listen to.

Another literary whiz who attended the lecture was Phillip Pullman (author of His Dark Materials and many others). Mr Pullman was there in guest capacity and I was double star-struck by his presence. After the lecture there were complimentary drinks and nibbles in the foyer and I'm ashamed to say that I turned into embarrassing stalker woman and kept leering at him whenever I had the chance. At one point there was such a look of horror on his face when he passed me that my friends had to threaten to remove me from the premises. I just want to give him a hug I muttered feverishly as I watched him escape into the gents.

Two weeks later and I'm still a bit star-struck. I'm considering moving to either Oxford or Idaho, but please don't anyone tell Mr Pullman or Ms Robinson as they seem to scare easy...