October, 2019

The weeks race past and the blog is forgotten.  Dr Anne remembers about the blog when she is on holiday and wants to keep in touch with her close friends.

Dr Anne has been particularly busy over the months since she went to Paris at Easter.

She has been involved in three projects which has consumed her time.

The first project was to prepare the Heritage Storyboards and Leaflets for the renovated church hall - the Portsoy Church Centre.  The Church Centre opened the first weekend in September.

The second project was of course the Salmon Bothy.  It was decided early in the year to refresh chamber one, the history of the fishing industry, chamber two, Portsoy and its industry and chamber three to be completely new - the flora, the fauna and the geology of the area.  The volunteers worked with the Dept of Geosciences, Aberdeen University.

The third project was the preparation of a book of dances to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Banffshire Branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.

Paris

Dr Anne went to Paris for the Easter Weekend to celebrate Spring Fling.  She had a brilliant time.

At the Moulin Rouge

Can you see the Eiffel Tower

View from Sacre Coeur

Scots Kirk

Notre Dame

Ice Cream at Trocadéro

The Peace Wall at the Eiffel Tower

My friends on the carousel at the Eiffel Tower

Dr Anne at the Eiffel Tower 

Belfast

Dr Anne went to Belfast in December to see her friend Dr Hannah.  She had a great weekend.

Dr Hannah and Dr Anne

Town Hall, Belfast

The main shopping centre

I'll keep you safe

May, P. (2018). I'll keep you safe.  London: Riverrun

A friend of min was very negative about this book saying all one had to do was read the first and last chapters.

I've enjoyed every one of Peter May's books so didn't believe her but in a way she was correct.  Chapter one gave the event and the second last chapter said who did it.  In between, we had the Niamh and Ruairidh's story of building a textile business and the story of their childhood and adolescence.

No Place like Home

Clark, Higgens, M. (2005). No place like home. London: Simon and Schuster.

Dr Anne decided to take a trip to Belfast to see Dr Hannah.  She stayed in a nice guesthouse on Eglantine Avenue.  This was her weekend read.  Liza Barton killed her mother and shot her stepfather.  She came back to the house when her husband bought it as a present.  There is a web of intrigue.  Vandalism of her house.  Three dead - Georgette the estate agent, Charley, the vandal, Zach who had the secret of Liza's dad's death and of course an extra death - Liza's dad, x years previously.

But... who was the real baddy and why?

A great page turner.  

Boy at the top of the mountain

Boyne, J. (2017).  The Boy at the top of the mountain. London: Corgi Books

Up and down to Edinburgh on Wednesday on the train made Dr Anne open this book.  It is listed as a child's book like the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas but Dr Anne found it enthralling.  One needs the adult understanding and knowledge of WW11 and the lead up to it to give one an insight to that moment in time.

Pierrot, an orphan in France becomes Pieter when he moves to Hitler's mountain home to live with his Aunt Beatrix.  He comes under the arm of Hitler and takes authority to the endth when he betrays his aunt and the chauffeur.  When the war ends he drifts back to Paris and meets up again with his best friend, a Jew, a writer who tells his story.

It is amazing how the context of life affects one' attitudes and actions.