Goon Squad; spa; marmalade

Met at Helen’s house on Thursday to discuss Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Helen and I had liked it; the two Claires didn’t seem to have managed to read it; Alison, Sarah and Lesley seemed to have found it altogether too confusing, although Lesley had heroically finished it nonetheless. The Wikipedia entry reckons it’s being adapted into a television series, which sounds a bit puzzling. Helen had cooked a chicken curry, which we followed up with the usual array of cakes.

Horsey in situ

Had a day at Nirvana Spa on Friday to finally make use of the generous voucher Ruth had bought me for last year’s birthday present. My Day Spa Experience package was supposed to include an hour’s Floatation treatment in the Dead Sea Celestial Pool, but I scored ‘nul points’ on that as I couldn’t get the hang of the sensation. Should have known better really as I’ve never particularly enjoyed floating on the back – swimming, yes, but one is in control then … Did what anyone would do and went for an early lunch instead, followed by an hour or so’s reclining on the heated ceramic loungers, before having a shoulder and back massage from an earnest young man who rather overdid the crunching my shoulders, before having the cheek to tell me at the end that I was tense in that area and trying to sell me an expensive soothing gel.

Art wall

Marmalade

A quiet weekend but we re-installed Ruth's horse picture on the newly-plastered and painted chimney breast in bedroom 1, and I made a start on my planned wall of artwork in the attic by installing a small canvas I painted a year or so ago, henceforth 'A Study in Yellow'. What with all these magazines reckoning you can paint your own canvases, I thought I'd have a go. Ruth, surprisingly, decided to finally use the can of Ma Made that's been lurking in the understairs cupboard for a year or so and produced half a dozen or so jars of marmalade, one of which I bore proudly back to MK on Monday. Verdict: nice, though could probably get by with less sugar. I think she is undecided whether to go the whole hog and try making it with actual oranges, muslin etc.