Saturday 11 February 2023

Good Grief, Another Week...........

................has flown by.

I haven't bought flowers for months but decided on a small bunch this week. Just a few tulips from Aldi.

Back to frosty nights again this week but some lovely sunny days. I did a little clearing outside but it was too cold to spend too long. But at least I could stay in the warm unlike the people who have survived the huge earthquakes in Syria and Turkey, running from their homes in the middle of the night.  I think I heard that this was the biggest earthquake there for 200 years - very difficult to prepare for something that happens so rarely. All we can do from here is to donate to something like the Disasters Emergency Committee if we are able.    

We had our WI meeting (the other village) in the morning this week and next month the same, then we go back to evenings again. The subject of the lady who came to speak was "Flight From Iran" and she told us all about her life as a young woman working as a secretary abroad in the 1970s until they were forced to escape from Iran under cover of darkness when the revolution took place in  1979.
I think we all thought our lives in our early 20's had been very tame by comparison.

Jordan, the plumber from the building company came back for the third time to sort out an annoying little leak from the shower taps. Twice he's tightened the nuts, twice it seemed OK and then a while later I notice it slowly seeping again. This time he took it to pieces and shortened the copper pipes and put in new washers - although the originals looked fine. Hopefully this time...........



I have some thoughts this week...............

 Where do people who make junk journals get all their junk from?

When the same ingredients are used every time in the bread-maker why does it rise sometimes more than other days?

If you expect nothing from anybody, you are never disappointed.

Central Heating is a wonderful thing if you've had 23 years without.

Why the heck did I choose Navy Blue towels for my new shower room and when will they stop shedding fluff.


This week I've been grateful for

  • A safe warm home
  • Sunshine
  • Getting some bags of compost so I'm ready for sowing and growing 2023
  • Big pile of library books


Jaycee on the Isle of Man has taken down her blog which is worrying because her last post said she was feeling very tired so I hope she is OK. 

Hope you all have a good weekend

Back Monday
Sue

57 comments:

  1. Morning Sue,
    I have a lot of questions like you do! I cannot imagine having to flee for my life and leave everything I have behind. Am so lucky to have the life I do and it certainly does ring true the saying I try to live by which is there is ALWAYS somebody worse off than you. Have a lovely weekend xx Rachel ( Eternally 28 )

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    1. The devastation out there in Turkey and Syria is just so huge - have no idea how they will get back to any sort of normal - they've lost so much.

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  2. Agree about the bread and we have the same problems with 2 black tea towels. So annoying.

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    1. I thought how good it would be to have Navy as the walls are white - but big mistake. I'm putting them all through the wash for the umpteenth time!

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  3. Ditto the Breadmaker.
    And the navy sheet I bought in the Autumn for the spare room - it leaked dye the first few washes. It was fine by Christmas - but last week it went in the wash with some other bedding, and has left them with a blue tinge.
    If the Flintstones is set in 10,000BC, what do they celebrate Christmas?

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    1. My new shower room keeps getting a layer of blue/grey dust everywhere - and I keep washing the towels!

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  4. Sue, thank you for your concern and I apologise for not explaining before removing my blog. I am getting better but not up to blogging for some time, although I am still reading your blog posts.
    You keep me grounded
    JayCee x

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    Replies
    1. Great to hear from you….get well soon ( we need to know more of those funny strange things that went on in The Isle of Man all those years ago)

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    2. So good to see your comment- get well very soon..

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    3. Thank you Sue for posting about Jaycee.
      Jaycee I am so pleased to hear from you as I’m a follow Manx resident and follow your post with interest.
      Pat (Weaver of Grass) introduced your blog to me a few years ago when we met her.
      Rest and enjoy the increasingly light days that are beginning to be really noticeable.
      Sue

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    4. JayCee .Missed you too. Take care Potty/Lesley

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    5. Oh, JayCee, hope you feel better soon! Miss you!

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    6. Thank goodness you are still out there JayCee. We were worried when you blog completely disappeared. Good to know you are OK

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    7. Get well soon JayCee. I too have been worrying and wondering about you. Hugs.

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    8. So glad to hear news of you Jaycee, I too have been worried when I found your blog had disappeared, I enjoy reading it.
      Wishing you a speedy recovery.

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  5. I keep to white towels. Pleasing and simple. I guess Jaycee has gone to see her sister and switched off or having a blog break or both. I don't know what a junk journal is but I make travel sketchbooks and keep things I peel from wall art like advertising posters etc. receipts, tickets etc.

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    1. I had a husband and three children who washed their hands on the towels! - at least that's what they always looked like - so we never had white. But I've never had anything as dark as navy either

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    2. Rachel, I don't think Sue will mind me butting in, but I can't comment on your blog. I'm in sympathy with you going through with this virus, but I find for a sore throat having a rocket ice lolly or maybe an ice cube will ease your throat for a bit. Just a suggestion (from experience). Take care.

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    3. Thanks Joan. I do find an ice cube helps and I take ice up to bed with me in a cup. Overall the soreness hasn't eased at all in 10 days. Other symptoms have eased though.

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    4. I have hard water so it discolours white towels so no white here. I tend to pick light mannish colours after raising three sons. I tried black sheets for one son who painted his room dark grey and hated them.

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  6. This year is spinning by. November and December went in a flash despite recovering from surgery and January and February are going the same way. I blame working in the bookshop 13.5 hours a week for most of this year covering for colleagues’ illnesses. I learnt my lesson with charcoal-coloured towels (chosen by then teenage son) but when you have a family you have to have coloured towels. Sending my earnings this week to DEC. We cannot imagine the suffering. Sarah in Sussex

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    1. I just don't understand how the days fly by.
      It's such a huge disaster out in Turkey and Syria - it will take years to recover

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  7. Oh those disappointing expectations are a real thing aren’t they. You’d think we’d learn wouldn’t you.
    Sorry about the comment hijack Sue…was pleased to see JayCee

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    1. It was so good to see a comment from Jaycee - I was concerned.

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  8. I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to have to escape from my home without time to get anything essential. We are so lucky to be living here where there isn't any natural disasters waiting to happen.

    Apart from my diary I have a few other journals on the go, but what is a junk journal?

    I always think it depends on your mood and how thoroughly you mix the ingredients as to how it turns out.

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    1. You're right about us being lucky to live in a Country without earthquakes and volcanoes.
      I can't really explain a Junk Journal but lots of people make them using all sorts of bits and pieces.
      In the bread machine everything goes in in a certain order always the same and then switch on but it rises sometimes more than others.

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  9. Junk journals are made from actual junk, mail, receipts, whatever you want, no rules. Some people buy fancy papers and odds and ends on ebay or etsy.
    With the bread, i’m of the opinion that the rising has to do with the humidity level and room temperature.
    And, i had towels that took forever to stop shedding. It takes a lot longer if you hang them to dry. The dryer pulls the fuzz off much sooner. It’s still a huge pain, though.
    Turkey and Syria are in a world of hurt. Such a tragedy!
    Debbie

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    1. I've washed the towels several times now and tumble dried to get the fluff off so hopefully they will be OK soon

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  10. Never mind the weeks, I'm finding that the years are passing way too quickly! So good to hear from you JayCee - you've been missed.

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    1. Yes the years go by quickly too. The grandchildren grow up so fast

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  11. Made me laugh about the junk journaling - a friend of mine does this occasionally, amongst other things she uses old envelopes and stuff cut out of magazines - not really my cup of tea!
    So agree about the bread machine, I know that humidity affects hand bread making but that shouldn't be the case for a machine surely?
    Those poor folk in Turkey and Syria - it's hard to get my head around the sheer scale of the loss.
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. I don't seem to get any junk worth keeping in any form!

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  12. About the differing results from the bread machine - sometimes the weather can have an impact. Ingredients might be different temperatures at the beginning which can have an impact, and humidity can also impact. Not sure if you use eggs, but even eggs that look pretty much the same can actually contain different amounts of yolk and white and different total amounts.

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    1. The bread machine has several minutes at the beginning just resting and warming everything to the right temperature and no eggs in the bread so it's a mystery

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  13. I guess my diary is a bit of a junk journal as I'm sticking all sorts of random things in there along with my receipts this year.

    I feel your pain with the towels, we got some deep turquoise ones back in Wales and although they looked gorgeous they shedded for months and months of washing and always had to be washed on their own en masse. Maybe this is one reason that I hold on to old towels for so long, I just despair of having to go through that again.

    I wonder if very cheap ... or very expensive ... towels are the answer, or is it just pot luck?

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    1. The towels come from 3 different places and they are all as bad as each other!

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  14. All my towels come from charity shops so maybe they've done their shedding with the previous owner?

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    1. Mine were so old they were only fit for the RSPCA shop for dog towels!

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  15. Ah, I only know the answer to one of your questions. I use a bread machine to start the kneading process and finihs by hand. I notice the bread rises differently depending on humidity and boy of boy, we have humidity where I live.

    Had to look up Junk Journal, I didn;t know what that was.

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    1. It is also my observation that the dough rises differently depending on the humidity. Of course, one must also have yeast that is not out of date.

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    2. The yeast might have come from the same sachet as the breadmaker only uses three quarters of a teaspoon. It's all a mystery

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  16. I think the flour probably holds different levels of moisture depending on the ambient humidity and temperature, too. So the gluten may react differently at different times.

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  17. Eileen from Bedfordshire11 February 2023 at 16:53

    Lovely pink tulips..a bit of colour. I got some yellow ones this morning..they are like sunshine in a vase

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    1. I almost couldn't decide what colour to have as they all looked lovely

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  18. I hate to be a killjoy Sue, but it may be that those blessed towels will drop fluff FOREVER!! I bought gorgeous (very expensive) bright red towels, and in the end chucked them out. Not only was the white-tiled bathroom covered in red fluff, but when I had my shower, the shower floor had fluff - off ME - from yesterday's shower!! They had to go! But it's not just cheap v expensive, as years ago I bought lovely black and grey squared towels for the teenage son's new bathroom, and they never shed black at all. Why? Who knows!

    I sympathise!

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    1. Oh no! hope you are not right about the shedding forever!

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  19. I hope your plumber has sorted the problem now. And what a pain with those towels - I don't think I would have the patience with that, and would wash and dry them and donate them to some (unlucky) charity shop!

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    1. The towels were all lovely Christmas presents - it would be awful if I couldn't keep them

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  20. Sorry we hijacked you comments to send a message to JayCee. Yes those blue towels....it could be a very long time if experience is anything to go by. Good luck getting the shower taps sorted. Our plumber lives in.... Mr B has been under the sink several times in the last 3 months fixing leaks and rerouting plumbing and replacing taps.

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  21. Your tulips are beautiful. Today was bonfire day so I am late to blog reading. It was 40 degrees F but being close to the fire kept everybody warm. I've not heard about shedding towels. This must make the towels wear and thin quickly. That is not a good sign. Natural disasters are devastating. Turkey and Syria need all the help we can provide.

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    1. I've not noticed towels behaving like this ever before - It's a nuisance.
      So many thousands have died and so many left with nothing - it's awful.

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    2. I have never had towels that shed either. I would donate them to charity.

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  22. Jaycee said that she's had a 'blip' whatever that might mean and that it will be a while before she returns to blogging, but that she's still blog reading even if she's not blog writing.

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  23. As far as the rise on bread in the machine, I think it could be due to the age of the yeast and/or the warmth of the yeast when you add it to the rest of the ingredients.

    God bless.

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