Monday's recommendation

Hominids
by Robert J. Sawyer

This is probably one of the best Science-Fiction books on my shelf that isn't by one of the more obvious SF celebrities. Not only is the story enthralling but the way he writes is just fantastic. You are immediately gripped by every detail and how real the characters emotions feel as he describes them.
A warning ahead of time, at the beginning of this book there is a fairly brutal scene which is then followed by fairly brutal repercussions. If you are an SF fan though, you will not be averse to reading this story (there are many a worse scene in the more horrific Sci-Fi stories).
The story follows two parallel dimensions, with two parallel characters, who are both working with similar machines. In our world we follow Mary Vaughan who is a geneticist who goes through a horrible experience. In the parallel universe we find ourselves in an Earth where Neanderthals would have been the dominating primates. Ponter Bonditt is a quantum physicist who lives in the complex and peaceful world of the neanderthals.
The story starts when out of nowhere, a being finds itself in the tank that is part of the experimental machine. When the humans drag out the poor man, he is none other than Ponter Bonditt, a living breathing Neanderthal. The humans quickly become confused as to where this man has come from when, not only does he seem to be a Neanderthal, but the bio-implant in his arm is of a sophistication even they don't master yet.
Meanwhile back in the other dimension, Adikor Huld (Ponter's science partner and friend) finds himself charged for the murder of Ponter Bonditt when it becomes clear he has disappeared in their lab. And in their world the charges are something much worse than prison.
This is really a great read, and even though it receives mixed reviews, I really recommend this book to any Sci-Fi lover out there.

Misplaced yet adorable

I was in a car park with my darling mummsy and we were making our way out when we noticed the most adorably little scene on a car near ours.

This little darling was a bit bothered when I came over to take pictures but went on sleeping after I gave it a little pet.
When we came back to the car it had switched to a white car, which had arrived not long ago according to the heat it was giving off. I guess the moral is cats are smart when it comes to staying warm in the winter.
They're brilliantly cute as well!

Art is a beautiful shop

I love bizarre artsy, craftsy, you don't really need me, shops. They so full of great decorations and jewelery and all that jazz. I love that the ripped up, vintage, antique look is in as well it makes it all so much better!
Today I dragged Jess along with me to explore a shop I had read about online. In blogland of course.
This shop is a veritable gem!!!

Merci is a great shop/cafe/restaurant (downstairs). They sell clothes, electrics, furniture, perfume, paper and notebooks, tablecloths, kitchenware and just random amazing trinkets including a cute little jewelery section. Plus! It's a concept store that gives all of its proceeds to charity!

The little cafe has a delicious (and rather large) selection of cakes and some warm dishes. The coffee was well rated by Jess and my lemonade was delish too. The café is a small area, adjoining to the shop, where all the walls are covered in second-hand books for you to read as you sip away.
The waiter was such a sweetheart as well.
All in all a great time and a good decoration day for Jess.

Mother's Birthday Dinner

Memories are hazy when you happened to have a fever during a whole evening. Especially since it's a nasty disease I had until... Well I'm still coughing. So I need to document this event before I forget to.

Floris is so adorable!

Every single dish that Kahina got was served in some kind of cylinder form and she had the damnest time trying to eat anything at all. I would always be have bite and then hear a nervous giggled as something catapulted out of the impossible objects. Mind you I was eating with absolutely no taste (severe cold as I said before) so I was doing some giggling of my own as I sample the texture of the food rather than anything else.

Dad and Floris got some brilliant tiny golden knives to stick their meat on. The battle was harsh. This part however was posed, and since my phone was being a jerk Floris had already turned away to listen to my brother. Sigh. Can't us being in a more future-like time equate to having some kind of camera in our eyes? That would be awesome!!!

My brother can be a bit of a goof from time to time.

The desert tray is an enormous  contraption that they wheel out to you and it opens up to reveal all the goodies inside.

This little treat is actually completely comestible, the silver spring thing is sugar!

The macaroons were better than all the other deserts.
Yum!

Marrakesh - Finale

This is what we drank to survive! It's crazy how bothersome it is to not be able to drink tap water.

 I realize this picture kind of looks like the plane is slowly spiraling down to its impeding doom. Let me reassure you. It isn't.

It was such a beautiful view as we left Marrakesh. There was turbulence because of a cloud so we didn't go up quite as fast. I guess there is a time where turbulence isn't sooo bad.
(It's still bad though)

In any case I really enjoyed Morocco. More so now since I've watched the news and we narrowly missed a small revolution that has been spreading through all of the Mediterranean countries.
If you ever want to visit, I really commend this place. But maybe wait a little bit.

Monday's recommendation

This is not a recommendation. This is more of a, re-recommendation and a plea.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
by J. R. R. Tolkien

I'm pretty sure that everyone know what these books are about and why they are so great. Let me just remind for those who have been living in the dark, or who have evil parents.
The Lord of the Rings follows the life of a hobbit, a small being that looks human-like with big rough feet and longer lifespans, called Frodo. He lives in another world called Middle-Earth where elves and humans are slowly loosing the power of control over the land. Hobbits however live far from any of the troubles of their world in a small quiet corner called, the Shire.
Frodo is thrust into a life of adventure and peril when he discovers that the ring his uncle stole long ago can do much more than simply turn people invisible.  Guided by his good friend, the magician Gandalf and aided by his best friends Sam and the two trouble makers Pip and Merry, he must find a way to destroy the ring. Along the way he is joined by an elf, a dwarf, a ranger and a soldier.
This story, to me, is one of the greatest ones I've ever read. The thing is, most people haven't read it. So here I am, recommending it to you. This story has one of the best adaptations into film in a while and I do recommend the movies but I believe that the books are still a lot better. Don't be afraid of all of the pages and discover a world entirely created to the finest detail by Tolkien. The books will give you so much more on the characters and, most importantly, I believe that Frodo is a better person in the books.
Also discover a myriad of characters that never appeared in the movies.

Marrakesh - Part 4

Our last complete day in Marrakesh was spent:
-Walking a very long way for no particular reason
-Being assaulted by ferociously bad smells
-Spending a great relaxing moment with books and a cat
and
-Discovering that there was actually internet at our Riad...

The Tanneries where they make leather.

Upon bringing us into the Tanneries the guide handed us each a piece of a mint tea plant to snap and stuff up against our noses for the horrifying smell of the place. Thankfully being sick and all I had trouble even smelling the mint.

I don't know if you can see the two storks in the nest up on top of the gate.

We took this 'photograph someone to get the person behind' picture so that we could forever chronicle the sand man from Star Wars behind Jess.

They are playing Doodle jump...

We met Ginger's boyfriend who was really in great need of love and attention. The second you made a move like you were going to pet him he went crazy and then wouldn't leave you alone.