January Jigsaw and A Cold Country on Radio 4

 The snow on Monday meant the Grandchildren weren't here after all so instead I got the January Jigsaw out of the cupboard. It's another nostalgia puzzle by House of Puzzles. It has a bit more sky than any I've done recently - if the colours are too much the same and  too muted I might give up before hardly starting - just like trying a not-so-good book, no point in persevering with something that doesn't give enjoyment.

 I've also sorted out threads to do a small X stitch book-mark/card. So two things are ready to start - but instead I began reading another book - so many left to read, I started on How to Solve Your Own Murder, but it seemed a bit strange so I soon gave up. Then began  on The Red Shore by William Shaw which seems very good so far.  I'd already abandoned Cacophony of Bones, for the second time - and many others have given up on it too I think as the pages were still very tight in the second half of the book - seems very few had got to the end. I'll be collecting  several more books from the mobile library soon......weather permitting of course. 

Not as much snow here on Monday as there is in  a place that I heard about on a programme on Radio 4. Longyearbyen is the world's most Northerly settlement, way up north on the group of islands - Svalbard - belonging to Norway. The settlement is there for the coal mining but that is coming to an end which will probably mean the town won't continue to exist, with so many weeks of complete darkness in winter not many live there by choice (The programme is in their Illuminated series titled 'The Frozen Light' - on BBC sounds.)

Love the houses with all their different colours. 

I suppose there is no oil or minerals here so not somewhere you-know-who wants to acquire!

January 6th - Epiphany, Wassailing and Weather

The Christian festival of Epiphany, commemorating the arrival of the wise men who travelled far to visit the new baby. In some countries it is more important than Christmas Day.

The photo above is from my book 'A Calendar of Saints' and is described as mosaic,S.Apollinaire Nouvo, Ravenna.

When all twelve days of Christmas were holidays people would celebrate the last day before returning to work on the land by lighting bonfires and baking cakes. Now it is the last day to take down the Christmas decorations to avoid bad luck.

Wassailing the Apple trees on Twelfth Night (or old Twelfth Night on the 17th) is a tradition that's been revived in some cider making regions of this country. Cider is poured on the apple roots and toast soaked in cider hung on the branches of the trees then shots fired through the branches to frighten off evil spirits and songs song to encourage the trees to fruit. Most years I venture out into the cold to pour some cider on the tree roots of my trees but no shooting!

There's a gathering in an Ipswich park on Saturday - bit too far for me to bother going. Village events seem to happen mainly in Somerset, Herefordshire and Sussex. Suffolk isn't known for it's apple orchards although there are a few.

 This below is  different to the well known wassailing rhyme, I'd not come across it before.

Wassail the trees, that they may bear
You many a plum and many a pear;
For more or less fruits they will bring
As you do give them wassailing.

Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

This is the more well known rhyme 

Old apple tree, we wassail thee, and hope thou wilt bear

For the lord doth know where we shall be, till apples come another year

To bear well and bloom well so merry let us be 

Let every man take off his hat and shout to the old apple tree..........

SHOUT ......

Old Apple tree we wassail thee, and hope that thou will bear

Hats full, caps full, three bushel bags full,

And a little heap under the stair.

 Wassail means "be healthy" and as farm workers were often paid in cider during the harvest it was important the trees were healthy and produced plenty of fruit......... at one time there were 400 varieties of cider apples and an orchard on every farm in every village.

There was a surprise when I opened the curtains yesterday morning - Snow - not a lot but enough so that the two grandchildren didn't spend the day here after all and my Monday walk in sunshine was even shorter and quicker than Sunday.

Weekend, Winter Words and War

Very cold but without snow - that was the weekend weather here in Suffolk. Icy cold wind so my quick walk up and down the lane on Sunday was a hundred yards shorter than usual.

But I also know winter is definitely here as Ski Sunday was back on TV yesterday and there are several new crime series starting. On TV tonight  is one the BBC have done, a remake of the a TV series that they gave up on 20 years ago. It's Lynley made from the Elizabeth George books. Once again the posh  D.I. Lynley [an earl] is paired up with a working class D.S  Barbara Havers. Why are book/TV cops always complicated?

Anyway, paperwork sorting is finished, the shredder back in the cupboard, the folder empty ready for this year. Ironing done and  I made a quiche to use up eggs from before Christmas and then realised I needed eggs for the cheese straws requested by the grandchildren for today and decided I'd better make chocolate brownies too because I was cake-less and it's always good to have something in the freezer. 

I thought I might as well fill up the car with diesel while out and when waiting to get back out onto the road from the garage a car went by with the front and roof covered in snow, so somewhere up the A140 into Norfolk they had that white stuff and might have been able to use the word from the book below.

Back in the summer I came across details of this 2024 book [and later Mary at Trundling Through Life had the book too] and found a copy for under a fiver on abebooks....it's more than £10 now we're actually in Winter. 

For some  January posts  I thought I'd share a Winter Word.

Here's one we rarely get to use - if we even knew it -  in many parts of this country nowadays.

gramshoch - the kind of tumultuous appearance of the sky or clouds that suggests a snow storm is on it's way. (from Scots - where it probably gets more use!)

I had a shock when I did my end of year accounts - found out I'd spent almost as much on books, like that one above, as I did on clothes and shoes! Far Too Much even if they are never at full price and usually second-hand. I need to cut back, as most of the books I read are from the library anyway.

Bombing another country, seizing the leader - doesn't seem like a good idea for winning the Nobel Peace Prize- sounds more like starting a war, instead of the eight he say's he's ended. What next?

 

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