Today has been great for me! It’s a good start to the lunar month I must say.
I have received another gorgeous, hand picked from the garden, bunch of tulips. They are multi-coloured and absolutely lovely. This time the student was brave enough to bring them to the office for me himself and coped very well with all the extra attention he got for being so thoughtful.
Two tulips have bloomed in my own little Andy planted patch.
My best friend Rhonda has brought in piles of chocolates every day because her son sent her a large box. He’s working in a chocolate factory.
Tonight I had my monthly massage and I was intending making it every 6 weeks to save money. It was so divine, I spontaneously booked another for 4 weeks from today! Surely there is something else I could go without 🙂
The Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris
Chocolat
The sequel to ‘Chocolat’, a long time favourite of mine, ‘The Lollipop Shoes’, is every bit as delicious as the original. I felt I could smell the chocolate and taste the sumptuousness of the feast described. It is just a pleasure to read.
Fairy Tales
Woven into this story are fairy tales told to Vianne by her mother and the theme as I have previously mentioned of the ‘Red Shoes’ and the allure of glamour and brightness when life is glum. There are other fairy tales throughout this novel in various forms. I love the imagery and the retelling.
Celebrating Life and Love
This is a story about the value of love and the awakening of living to the fullness. It has all the magic of the first novel, culminating in the mouth watering feast that decides the fates of the central characters. The administering of sweetness to the random and forlorn characters that frequent the shop, highlights how lonely and loveless strangers can create a warm circle of friends.
Shadows
The villain in this novel is not the church but a dark magician who appears so like Vianne, yet intends evil. The bad witch who sees this loveless reality
“….by then we’ll all be sand, except for the One who has always been; the one that builds pyramids;raises temples; makes martyrs; composes sublime music; denies logic; praises the meek; receives souls into Paradise; dictates what to wear; smites the infidel; paints the Sistine Chapel; urges young men to die for the cause; blows up bandsmen by remote control;
promises much; delivers little; fears no one and never dies,
because fear of Death is so much greater than honour, or goodness, or faith, or love….”(p448)
frightens me more than the previous villain in Chocolat. The manipulative woman who entices and lures the teen to turn her power to satisfy lust and manipulate others is scary.
I wish I still had it to read and I’m going to check ebay for another Joanne Harris book as she is a writer that never fails to lure me into her story in an enticing way.
Dieting and Chocolate
I have being doing great with my exercising and have improved my fitness. I am using an exercise machine and started off being able to do 6 kms in 20 minutes and now can do over 8. It is taking a lot more to get my heart rate up and I feel generally better.
My diet however has not been sustained, so I am not losing any weight. I find low carb diets work well for me, but the chocolate always continues to beckon me. Low Carb chocolate is expensive and doesn’t scratch the itch. I am going to have to just bite the bullet though and deprive myself of this pleasure to get the weight off.
I will have to satisfy myself with reading about it, perhaps at Chocolate Dreams.