End of June Financial Round Up

As I hoped for at the end of May,  June was a low-ish spend month, with only one known extra which was the Council garden waste bin at £64 for the year - up £2 from last year. Other garden spending was £4 for squash and sweetcorn plants from car-boot sales after my fails and forgotten sowings.

The regular every month expenses are Council Tax, phone and broadband, charity donation and electric bill, they totalled just over £300 this month.

House expenses included £10 for the window cleaner again - I'm sure he appears more often than every  6 weeks when the weather's good! and dish washer cleaner (Asda's own brand is 98p compared to Finish at £2.98) I like to use this on the very hot wash cycle every six months or so.

 I picked up the washing up bowl in the kitchen by it's rim, which snapped right off giving me a nasty - but thankfully small, cut on my finger. I had no idea a plastic washing-up bowl could be dangerous! It went out to the bin before it attacked me again and a new one for £6 from our local hardware shop was quickly bought.

There was the unexpected £20 for Car Tax renewal as mentioned earlier in the month and I topped up the car up with diesel just once this month = £36

I finally got to the Hospice shop in Stowmarket to leave a donation ( for the mug gift) and while in town bought a bag of sunflower hearts for the birds - only feeding these at the moment as they can go in a starling proof feeder.

Car-boot finds of 3 birthday and 6  Christmas cards totalled £1.40 - buying some cheap means I can do a little to support a couple of artists when I buy other cards at art exhibitions.  The little plate for next spring was 30p plus this pretty tin of notelets for £1.50 which will make a gift or a raffle price at Over 60's group when it's my turn to take one.

Personal spending included exercise group, the  trip to cinema was £10 including car parking, a jigsaw puzzle and one second hand book when an  Angela Thirkell book popped up cheap on Amazon at last. There are still a couple I've not got or read but they are way over ten pounds. 

I stocked up on a couple of bottles of shampoo and also got paracetamol and antiseptic cream for the 'medicine cupboard'  from Superdrug and final spending was for a haircut.

 Mid month I looked online to see if any Josef Siebel slip-ons that I wear indoors all the time were in any sales. There are lots of shoes I can't wear due to wide feet and needing arch supports in flatter shoes but these I can wear with no pain. I found some for £30 less than full price. So ordered them ready for when I need them.

 We now suddenly have a Josef Siebel shoe shop in Stowmarket, which was a surprise, until I discovered Josef Siebel is the new name for Shoephoric, which is what is was before, so I will be looking out for their sales as well as online.

[Also have a large East Anglian Children's Hospice Charity Shop about to open in one of the old banks - very good news and an M&S Food Hall in the Autumn - Stowmarket getting posh at last!]

Whatever I do I can't seem to get food spending down to the frugalist of frugal bloggers/vloggers. Some don't seem to spend much on fruit - I do. This time of year I'm buying nectarines as well as my apple-a-day. Some people are able to go shopping frequently and find yellow sticker bargains, or Lidl cheap boxes or those too-good-to-go pick up bags from supermarkets.  I can't do any of those things because it's too many miles and we just don't get the bargains that are available in bigger town stores.

A few penny pinching notes from June.

•  Few strawberries from my plants each day early in the month. 
• Then  raspberries (until I discovered that the dry weather had made their seeds really hard and they were upsetting my stomach which is Most Annoying)
• As usual dishwasher only used every other day 
• and washing machine mostly only twice a week.
• Another large cauliflower from boot sale for £1 - fed me for several days.
• Very Big bundle of beetroot from boot sale for £2
• Reading library books for free.
• Home made bread from the bread-machine (I worked out a 400g 50/50 white /wholemeal loaf costs  just under 50p) 
• Eggs still £2 a dozen from farm gate stall
• Tumble dryer not used all month
• No flowers, jewellery, make up etc bought
• Free physio appointment and then free exercise and arthritis management 6 week course
• First of the climbing French beans - they were delicious.
• First courgettes
• First cucumbers
• Two Vileda mop heads for £2

Looking ahead to July and again there is only one known extra - the virus protection for the laptop and it's the month when I get two State pension payments(because of it being paid every four weeks). So I should be able to move a good chunk into savings.

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Saturday - Almost the End of June

Mid Suffolk weather report - There's been all sorts of weather here this week including some windy weather Monday and  unexpected rain on Tuesday morning, - although not enough to do any good, predicted rain that didn't happen and then un-forecasted rain over Thursday night that I didn't hear but filled a water butt  plus some sticky humid with sunshine thrown in too and getter hotter - In other words a Very English Summer!

Bits of gardening were done, pastry cases made ready for quiches or maybe a Lemon Meringue pie - that would be good, 12 people at Keep Moving Group and my 3rd week of Arthritis exercise and management course - not sure it's helping as yet. Plus a very quick shopping trip to get cider vinegar for making pickles - more about that next week.

 I've enjoyed watching some of the Wimbledon qualifying on TV and found a series on the free Pluto channel called 'Flashpoint' which dates back to 2008 - 2012  and is a police drama from Canada. Really odd to see one of the main character actors (Enrico Colantoni) was also in 'Person of Interest' - a US thriller series from 2012 - 2016 which I was watching a few weeks ago. He must have gone straight from one series to the other - a busy actor. ( I looked him up and he's never out of work).

Had the first two small courgettes this week and the  first of the French Climbing Beans- so delicious.

Sorry I didn't reply to comments yesterday and apologies for my mop-heads being boring rather than beautiful!

It's supposed to be a hot (for England) weekend here with temperatures in the 30's C  [ I looked it up for US readers! (30°C × 9/5) + 32 = 86°F ] - so not a lot of galivanting will be done!

Have a good weekend, I'll be back Monday with the end of the month frugal/spending round up. 

Mop Heads

 Good bargain find at the car-boot sale last weekend. Pack of two mop heads for £2. Handy. 

And a big bunch of beetroot - nothing else.

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Debenham Church Art Exhibition

Last week I went to have a look at  this art exhibition in Debenham church - it's one I try and get to every year and this year it was huge with over 500 pieces to look at as well as lots of unframed art and greetings cards.

It was very busy too, lots of people looking and the sun shining,  didn't make for good photos so I didn't take many.

Lino Cuts by Judy Holloway -£155 each

Realistic still life oil paintings. Strawberries, satsuma and marbles by Cate Swinfen £395 each!

Lino cuts in muted colours . The middle one is titled Softly Suffolk. By Anne Townshend £185 each

Giclee Print of original mixed media work.  Covehithe Coastline by Alfie Carpenter. ( A local artist and musician who died from cancer age just 33 in 2023)

Display of small art work in various mediums

Mixed media - looks like glass but is a pourable plastic? whose name I can't remember by Mark Wheeley. Really bad reflections makes a poor photo.

HUGE painting of a gull on blue sky. Apologies - I can't find the artist in the catalogue but I'm sure it said it was £900! on a label at the side of the other similar painting. Not something I would choose to own.

Beach huts by Shirley Harvey and Red Sails by Kay Lucas

As usual I just bought a couple of cards. There was one unframed painting I liked  - it was £90 and large and would have cost much more to be framed. There is usually something I like in Art Exhibitions but the house would soon be full and bank balance empty if I bought them all!

Then I headed home again to be in time for tennis watching.

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A Garden Full of Twittering

 One day the garden was full of puffball baby Bluetits, little things shouting for food which the parents were giving them from the sunflower heart feeder. I couldn't get a photo as nothing sat still long enough.

A week or so later it was the twittering of baby Goldfinches and parents, the babies were being fed from the Niger seed feeder. Neither birds had nests in the garden but they seem to have brought the fledglings here for their meals.

Thank you to everyone for comments yesterday  about the nearby growing crops and vegetarian/ omnivore. My diet includes very little meat now - definitely no beef, but it's good to have a choice. I've lived all my life among fields and farms so grown up knowing about all sorts of crops and how things work.

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Field Crops 2025

 I took a walk up the lane with the camera to see what crops were growing this year. No sugar beet this year but field beans on one side, barley on the other and further up the lane some very tall oil seed rape.

 

Field beans are an important part of many livestock feeds, being high in protein. 

Barley for malting and brewing or for animal feed. In some parts of the country it might be used for human consumption  but here we have one of the main maltings companies not far away and Green King Brewery too. Barley straw was the best for goat bedding. Wheat straw was tough and not so good.

Oil seed rape is grown for it's oil-rich seeds which are used for animal feed, bio-fuel or cooking oil.

The oil-seed rape seems extra tall, the flowers have finished and seed pods formed. The stalks after harvest might be baled and used as animal feed.  Other wise it seems a waste if only the seed pods are harvested, or maybe they'll be chopped and ploughed in.

Sometimes we had a bale of rape straw for our goats for a change but they preferred good hay.

It's no wonder really that some people say it would be better if we were all vegetarian, when so much land is used to produce food for animals that then in turn provide food for us. We could cut out the middle man  animal! The counter arguement is that lots of our land isn't suitable for crops anyway and it would be even more difficult to get anywhere close to national food self sufficiency and security if we were all vegetarian.

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St John's Eve and Midsummer's Day

If the first of June marks the first day of meteorological Summer, and astronomical summer starts on the Solstice on the 21st June how is it that Mid-summer was traditionally celebrated with festivals on the 24th?

It was connected to St John's Day, when to protect future crops and livestock  bonfires were lit to banish evil spirits and bring good weather. Midsummer fairs and midsummer markets were held with celebrations in many places. 

Today, St Johns Eve, it was thought that plants gathered for medicinal purposes had special powers. St John's Wort being very important. Other protective herbs including yarrow, mugwort - which protected against witches and thunder,  and chamomile, were also gathered and hung in the home and cowshed. 

 So tomorrow is St Johns Day with many associated weather sayings

 

Before St John's Day we pray for rain, after that we get it anyway

Cut your thistles before St John,

You will have two instead of one. 

Never rued the man who laid in his fuel before St John.

Here is what Thomas Tusser wrote in his Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry in 1557.

At Midsummer, downe with the brambles and brakes

and after, abrode with they forks and their rakes:

Set mowers a mowing, where meadow is grown,

the longer now standing the worse to be mowne.

(brakes are ferns or bracken)

Another old saying from history 

If Midsummer Day be never so little rainy, the hazel and walnut will be scarce, corn smitten in many places; but apples, pears and plums will not be hurt.

"Never so little rainy"? 

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A Saturday Post Including Tennis, Book News and Comment Questions.

 Well, here in Suffolk it's been a gloriously sunny week. I'm one of those people who loves the heat, although it was very hot for both the Keep Moving Group and my second week at the Arthritis management/exercise class, which was a bit sweaty! Other than that I've cut the grass, been shopping -  early to beat the heat, made bread and quiche, visited an art exhibition and popped out even earlier to the midweek boot-sale (for exercise!!)  and then had very lazy afternoons enjoying the men's tennis from the Queens Club on TV. Cam Norrie and Dan Evans went out before the quarter finals . Jacob Fearnley lost in the quarter finals but has only been on the circuit for a year and  was ranked around 600 in the world this time last year and now he's in the top 60 - what a story! Jack Draper, the British number one is through to the semi-finals today. I'll be watching for sure.

 This is the first grass court tennis that many have played this year, a preparation for Wimbledon which starts on the 30th. Midweek the wild card list for Wimbledon was published and so many young British guys have been given them. The future of British tennis is hopeful.

One thing new for this year is the absence of on court line judges - everything is electronic now. It's stopped those challenges by players on the big screen which spectators enjoyed even if umpires didn't.

I finished reading The Crash by Robert Peston which is his second book about journalist Gil Peck. This didn't seem as good as the first book which was set in 1997 at the time of the General Election. It was a bit confusing at the start until it got going. The Crash is set in  2007 at the very start of a  financial crisis when a bank's collapse set off a chain of events that travelled around the world. Gil Peck has moved from newspaper journalist to broadcasting but when his part-time lover - who happens to be a director of the Bank of England - commits suicide, he doesn't believe it and investigates, which leads to danger.

Then onto the Homecoming by Kate Morton. I said the size might put me off but with the large typeface and double spaced lines this was a much larger book than it needed to be! So it was actually read quite quickly. We don't have many books here that are  set in Australia (that I know of)  so it was odd that I've  read two this month (Nevil Shute was the other)

 

The Homecoming is one of those stories set mainly in two different time lines - 1959 and 2018. 

Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek on the grounds of a grand country house, a local man makes a terrible discovery. Police are called, and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most baffling murder investigations in the history of South Australia.

Many years later and thousands of miles away, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for two decades, she now finds herself unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and is seriously ill in the hospital.

At Nora's house, Jess discovers a true crime book chronicling a long-buried police case: the Turner Family Tragedy of 1959. It is only when Jess skims through its pages that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this notorious event – a mystery that has never been satisfactorily resolved.

It's about secrets and lies and is well written. I'd never read this well known author before but will probably go on to read more of her work.

My post about remembering the complications of moving house during covid morphed into something entirely different. Was there anywhere in my post where I said covid was funny? It was only the strange headlines in newspapers at the time seeming so odd that they made me smile. Did I have lack of respect for people still suffering? I don't think so, my post was really about my sister querying when covid regulations made moving difficult.

Did I actually read all of the book I mentioned? Good grief it was 4 years ago! I've no idea if I read every single word or not but I did copy those strange headlines onto a blog post just because they seemed too strange to be believable.

I could have deleted some of those comments but left them for discussion, which allowed people to jump on what others said and turned what I thought to be a fairly innocuous post into something I didn't plan or want. 

Now anon (you know who you are) will say that I welcome comments one week and complain about them the next!

All Jolly Good Fun!

Have a good weekend, I'll be back Monday - with a dozen less readers no doubt!

Solstice 20th/21st

 From the Latin Sol meaning sun and sistere "cause to stand still"

The summer solstice, when the sun is directly overhead at the Tropic of Cancer and daylight hours are the longest for us here. 

We say a day, but really the Solstice is just one moment in time - UK time 3.42am tomorrow morning.

Some people will be joining the Druids at Stonehenge for an all night vigil and to watch the sunrise or heading to a Neolithic passage tomb on Anglesey where the inner burial chamber is lit up by a shaft of light as the sun rises.

In the past bonfires would have been lit and the solstice was once said to be the perfect time to gather herbs, especially Vervain, which was cultivated as a medicinal herb in Medieval times for use as a relaxant or nerve tonic.

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Focaccia Bread

 I discovered the recipe I use for Focaccia Bread had never been added to the separate recipe page  when someone mentioned needing a recipe several weeks ago. Then I forgot to do anything about it.

But I'd almost run out and made it again last week, so now it's been added the recipe page for future reference.

This is the recipe I used which turns out well. I do the mixing in the Kenwood with a dough hook.. 

500g Strong Bread Flour

30mls Rapeseed Oil

10g Salt

10g Yeast

Approx 325ml Tepid Water

Sea salt, olive oil and rosemary to finish

Mix salt, yeast and flour

Mix oil and water and add to flour and mix really well

When smooth knead for 10 mins.

Don't use flour when kneading but a little oil on hands instead.

Place on a well oiled  11 inch by 7 inch brownie tin, flatten to a rectangle, cover with cling film and rest for 30 minutes.

Uncover, fold into thirds. Turn and fold into thirds again. Turn over and flatten to rectangle again.

Cover and rest for another 30 mins.

Push dough to  11 x 7 inches.

Rest for 30 mins, then dimple top with thumb, sprinkle with salt, olive oil and chopped rosemary.

180℃ for fan oven or 200℃ for 20 - 25 mins.

I cut it into chunks before freezing and  eat it with anything tomato-y  that has juices that need mopping up.

It's soft, bouncy and very delicious.

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Roses

 It's a good year for the roses - I'm sure that's a line of a song?  There are 6 different ones here and I've no idea what they are. I only know that there's white, red  and  shades of pink and orange. There's another that I have to keep cutting down as it's really in a wrong place. Three are climbers. My sister gave me  a yellow rose in a pot for my birthday. I don't think its a miniature - the flowers are bigger - those miniature roses never last long for me.

I think it's wonderful that many people know exactly what varieties they have growing but I'm not a massive fan, and have never gone out to actually buy any anywhere I've lived and I never know how much I should be cutting back each year. But it is nice, at this time of year, to be able to bring in a few  now and again.

Cecily Mary Baker has Flower Fairies for garden flowers too. I expect all roses were scented back in the 1920s. Sadly none of those here have any fragrance.

 And yes, it is a line from a song

Sung here by Elvis Costello

This is the biggest and most showy of all the roses, it's in the front border so gets the most sun.

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Out Early

 When I wake up I often feel old! Specially if it's been a disturbed night - traffic, heat, aching knees etc. But if the sun's shining I don't have a problem getting up and Sunday morning I was at the car boot sale at 7am - It was the most glorious morning for being out early. The rain on Friday night and the breeze on Saturday had cleared the air, so all was fresh and lovely.

The car boot bargains were  minimal - nothing unusual nowadays - I'm definitely counting car boot sales as an early morning walk rather than a treasure hunt. 

My "what to look for list" in March included a plate for Spring to make a change for the seasonal display. I was thinking of something a bit bigger than this little Spring Brambly Hedge plate but as it was only 30p it seemed a good idea.

The very pretty birthday card on the left was 10p from the same seller and the cards above are a pack of 6 Christmas cards. I paid just 20p for these. The design is by Carry Ackroyd whose illustrations from her book "A Sparrows Life as Sweet as Ours" I often put on the blog because they are so good.

Now I've got to look out for a very small plate stand for this very small plate as it's too small for the one I have -  it wasn't the plan to Add to the 'looking-for' list!

Later in the morning I went over to son's village to look round the garage/yard sales there and to see how they were getting on with selling their unwanted stuff. Unfortunately there were only 18 houses selling and they were spread out all around what is now a large village. The family were hoping for buyers but the morning got more overcast, hot and humid as I was walking round, there was  nothing I needed or wanted anywhere, so back to son's house to get the car and then home.

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How Long Did Covid Last?

 I was talking to my sister about moving here during covid and the time in holiday lets that could only be used if you were moving and needed somewhere to live and people  were banned from actually using them for a holiday. She said  " in April 2021? I thought it was over by then."

That made me look back at some of the "Strange Times" posts I did at the time. The last post with that label was in February 2022 - almost two years after the start.

It made me smile to re-read these headlines of the time from another Strange Times post...............

Here are some of my 'favourites'

From The Independent. 19th April 2020 "UK must prepare for volatile and agitated society after lockdown lifted says a senior police officer

From  The Daily Telegraph. 28th July 2020 "People over 6ft have double the risk of Coronavirus"

From The Daily Star.23rd July 2020 "Baldies are 40% more at risk of coronavirus says a US study

From The Daily Mirror 12th November 2020. "Covid survivors could have life threatening allergic reaction to hair dye"

From The Sun 13th November 2020  Doctors say "Masturbate during Coronavirus to boost your immune system and fight off infection"

From  The Daily Mail 16th November 2020 "Dog owners face 78% higher risk of catching Covid 19 and home grocery deliveries DOUBLE the risk." 

 

People who read and took that last one as gospel presumably then starved - being too afraid to enter a shop and then finding their home delivery was too risky to receive.

Those quotes came from a book I borrowed called  "A State of Fear". They all seem even odder now than they did 5 years ago. I looked on the library website to see if they still had the book. And yes, there were 4 copies in the County , but only one copy out on loan. I've no intention of borrowing it again!

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It's Half Past June Tomorrow, Things I didn't Know and Thank You

Thanks to everyone for comments all week. I often don't look at the laptop at all in the evenings so don't always catch comments from places behind us timewise until next day, by which time it seems a bit late to reply. But I do read and appreciate every comment - I'd be talking to myself without comments, and I do plenty of that anyway!

Thank you also to people who have clicked the follower button to get past the 850 which it was stuck on for months, except when it went down to 848 one day. Not sure it's accurate with ups and downs so frequently.

Racing through the month as usual, I've watched some of the Queens Club tennis women's matches but I'm looking forward more to the men's matches next week. The weather has been lovely, we've had the best of it in the East.

 BiL popped over with the huge plastic tub that I'd asked him to drill drainage holes in and helped me lift the bay tree from it's old pot into the new bigger one. I need to give it a feed of something then it should be OK for a few more years. 

In the greenhouse the cucumbers are looking the best, tomatoes are a bit lanky without many trusses as yet but I spotted the first tomato has set. Peppers showing signs of greenfly, I'm keeping a close eye on the leaves. I've netted the long raspberry bed, they are going to be early this year which is good as there'll be no strawberries from BiL, his strawberry patch is poor this year after many good years.

And the things I didn't know?

 I didn't know #1.............. that 'they' had altered the goalposts and from April the amount payable for car road tax had changed.  We bought our Fiesta, not new but nearly, in 2017 when we needed something more reliable than our very old Fiesta for getting to Addenbrooks hospital every week. It had a big advantage as it just fell into a category when cars with less than a certain amount of CO2 emissions didn't have to pay any road tax. A government thing to get people to buy smaller cars.  It's not needed any payment for re-taxing since, until this year when the reminder came and I found I had to pay £20. I don't mind paying £20 as it's much less than many cars owners have to pay but no one told me it had changed. 

I didn't know #2.......... that the new umbrella that I won in a raffle last year and hadn't seen for months was under the front passenger seat of the  car - I found it wedged into a small space against the seat runner fixings thingy. I assumed I'd left it somewhere and it was lost forever.

I didn't know #3................that my annoying knee problem is probably the start of osteoarthritis until I saw a physio during the week. Here in Suffolk we can refer ourselves to a physio without seeing a doctor. Fill in a form online and then they email helpful exercises - which I'd been doing like a 'good girl'! Then after a while they contact to see how you are and to book an actual appointment. 

 Osteoarthritis  used to be called "wear and tear" and is due to loss of cartilage around the knee joint.  He suggested joining a physio led exercise/arthritis management group. I started two days later, it's six weeks initially,  all free. Some exercises are similar to what we do at our Keep Moving Group but done for 2 minutes and then move onto the next - Oh, so That's what circuits are! 

I also don't know what the weather is going to be like this weekend but hope Sunday is fine as there are yard/garage sales in Son's village and they want to get rid of some unwanted bits.

Hope everyone has a good weekend, I'll be back next week.

Getting Annoyed With One Book And Giving Up on Another

 OK - Fiction is fiction, it's made up but when a story is set in the 1940's during the war, and facts are easy to verify it's just really annoying when an author says something that just sounds so wrong.

Here they are, a lot of London policemen, in wartime London discussing what's going on at Bletchley Park - this was so secret that hardly anyone knew what happened there until it was revealed much later. Yet in the story they know it all - the machines, the clever code breakers and even the name Enigma and what it was going to be used for.

And then one of the policemen pops home to have a shower. Bath -yes - but showers were rare in private homes until later - even if he was a top cop with royal connections!

Does it matter - I suppose not really, just makes me cross.

This was the book, it's the 8th in a series set in wartime London and featuring DCI Coburg, Sergeant Lampson and Coburg's wife- a well known pianist and singer. As well as murder in the cathedral there is also a murder at the Ealing Film studios. This author is very prolific and seems to write two or three books each year. I did finish it and the story and details about the people working in the Cathedral during the war are good.

The book I gave up on after just  2 pages was "The Case of the Christie Conspiracy" by Kelly Oliver. It's set in London in 1926.  The first character was "Hustling Chess" ? What on earth? and then a few sentences later she was talking about their flat in a "Brownstone Row-House"  There might have been houses in terraces in London made of Brown Stone but were they called that? It's a common word on any TV programme featuring New York.

I looked at the Author details - she lives in Tennessee and writes "Historical Cozies!" 

I gave up.

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Third Jigsaw Puzzle for Autumn/Winter

 I'm nearly sorted for autumn and winter with the finding of jigsaw puzzle number 3, from a charity shop this time. Another House of Puzzles jigsaw that I'd seen online and thought it would be a good one to do. Hope the rough seas aren't too difficult.

I just need to find one more  then I'll have one each for October, November, January and February. That's enough or I'll never have time for reading!

It's handy that they are easy to spot in Charity shops because of  the box size and the small illustration on each side of the boxes. I'm looking out for a couple that I've only seen on line -( there are hundreds on ebay to look through but I'll try to find locally to save postage)- one is the signalman and the inside of an old fashioned railway signal box, with steam trains passing by and another of farm buildings with someone repairing a tractor.

 There are several from House of Puzzles  that I wouldn't want to attempt - one called Frosty Morning is all snow, sky, trees and sheep - all much the same colours and there's another of an old fashioned shop with dozens of small packets on the shelves - that looks difficult to sort the pieces and a Christmas one just has lots of similar looking and similar colour Christmas cards.  Those need more patience than I have!

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Free Cake at the Castle

 English Heritage kept sending emails to remind me that as a 'Senior Member' I could get a free cake (but only from a choice of three - they aren't That generous!) with any drink on Wednesdays, anytime this summer.

So last week I thought a visit to Framlingham castle - without Grandchildren - would be a plan. The last two times I've been I've had small people's company who aren't interested in the museum bit .

There was much confusion actually getting into the castle at 10am, with the lady at the gate saying a wristband (and paying for non members) had to be done at the ticket office in the car park while a sign at the ticket office said to pay in the castle at the shop! There was definitely no-one in the ticket office even though the lady at the gate said she had seen the ticket office person going in. Eventually gate lady came and shouted through the keyhole of ticket office! - By this time there were about 20 people waiting, all very amused at the confusion...someone did suggest we "storm the castle walls!". Then finally she rang up someone else and found that the sign at the ticket office was correct and everyone needed to show membership at gate and get wrist band at the shop. By then it was well after 10am and I decided to have my coffee before looking round! 

From a distance it's the remaining towers and their chimneys that are noticeable. The first  photo is over the gates on the way in.

The wall walk was only open for a short way as major repair work was going on part way round.

From up the top of the wall this is the view down to the buildings, one of which was the Framlingham workhouse

I took a few photos in the museum but the light wasn't good. 

It's been a very long time since a visit by train to Framlingham by train was possible

Below is a then and now photo of the Methodist/ United Free Church. It was the place where the Country Markets organisation sold produce every week. I used to take some cakes and cards. The market stopped several years ago when there weren't enough bakers or buyers.

I had no idea the building started as a steam built mill in 1853.

There are several paintings, drawings and etchings of the castle from history. Not good for photos though.

HERE are photos from my 2021 visit, I didn't take any photos last year when I went with EGD and joined English Heritage  for the year.

And HERE is the English Heritage page if you want to see more.

Thank you to everyone comments yesterday. The new header is the Black Elder that grows at the corner of the bungalow just outside the patio doors. The flowers have a lovely pink tinge but never set many berries. It was here when I came and is much bigger than any I tried to grow at the smallholding. Probably it was just too dry there for them to last long.

Here, I have to cut it back to stop it getting tangled with the washing on the whirly washing line and on the other side to stop it knocking on the living room window in windy weather!

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Speedwell

 When we were young we called it 'Bird's Eyes', one of it's common names, along with Angel's eyes. It grew in many places and was very common.

It's real name is Germander Speedwell and it's part of the large Veronica family (Veronica chamaedrys). There are garden varieties but the photo is of a tiny patch growing in the grass on the edge of the 'lawn'. It spreads by creeping and does no harm, yet according to the RHS website some people need to know how to remove it from their pristine lawns.

When I left a patch of grass unmown for No Mow May last year all I got was grass so it was nice to spot these in a corner by the sink-pond.

It was traditionally supposed to be effective against spells, and the flowers were said to be like St Veronica's 'kerchief, which was impressed with the face of Christ after she wiped Christ's eyes (but with her veil not a handkerchief, so that's confusing!)

And of course whenever a wild flower gets a mention, the fairy from the Complete Book of Flower Fairies by Cecily Mary Barker, first published in the 1920's, has to be included.

And his song/poem

Clear blue are the skies;

My petals are blue;

As beautiful too,

And bluest of eyes.

The heavens are high:

By the field-path I grow

Where wayfarers go

And "God Speed," say I;

"See here is a prize

Of wonderful worth:

A weed of the earth,

As blue as the skies".

I won't be digging it out as per the RHS website but will leave it to spread as far as it likes.

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Sue

Tennis + Two Old Books + One New Book

What a fantastic final at Roland Garros in France yesterday. Amazing tennis, two finalists, Spain versus Italy, both born this century - frightening thought - and as the commentators said we could be watching them in finals for another 10 years or even more. Both fluent in English as all young people in Europe seem to be now and they both seem nicer than moany Djokovic. I was pleased to see Andre Agassi there presenting the cup - a favourite of mine from the 90's and early 2,000s.

( The Tour of France Cycling is only on Channel 4 for this year and then that's also lost to Discovery+ & TNT)

Last week  I read two books from my shelves while waiting for my library books to travel to Stowmarket.

'The Habit of Widowhood' by Robert Barnard is a book of short crime stories published in 1996  by this prolific writer (1936 - 2013). I've read many of his crime novels written all through the 70's, 80's and 90s.

These 17 short stories are all murders or crimes involving husbands, wives or lovers, who find a way to murder and all really well written.

'The Far Country' by Nevil Shute (1899- 1961) was written in 1952. This was really a re-read, if it's counted as that, considering I read it 50+ years ago!

He wrote many books between the 1920's and 1960's and they were well known and popular at that time and for many years and are still reprinted occasionally .  Nevil Shute settled in Australia after the war and many of his books are set, or partially set there. 

In Australia the Dorman family have just received their best ever cheque for the years wool production. Jane Dorman had moved away from England several years previously when she met her Australian husband during the war. Jane writes regularly to her Aunt in England, the only person who had supported her marriage and emigration. When she realises her Aunt seems to be very poor she sends money. The money arrives too late for Aunt Ethel- who has been too proud to ask for help but she manages to pass the money onto her Granddaughter Jennifer so that she can visit Australia. The differences between dull, drab post war London and new bright Australia are well described and a good look at that period of history.

The new book was one of the library books. Susie Dent ' Guilty by Definition' . This is such a clever and well written story set in the offices of the Clarendon English Dictionary offices in Oxford, ( No doubt based on her work at the Oxford English Dictionary).

(For anyone  who doesn't know, Susie Dent is well known as a Lexicographer in this country she has been on the daily words and number  quiz programme Countdown for 30 years. She has written many non fiction books about language.)

In this book, her first novel, a cryptic anonymous coded letter arrives at the offices and seems to have a connection to Dictionary compiler Martha's sister Charlie who disappeared from Oxford 10 years earlier. More letters and postcards arrive sent to anyone who knew Charlie and even some who didn't. The team use their knowledge of the history of words to decipher the letters.

The book mentions all sorts of unusual and unknown words and their origins and makes for a really good story.

Her second novel in the 'Linguistic Mystery' series will be published in 2026.

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Saturday 7th. Random Notes.

Thanks to everyone for comments yesterday, seems we are in agreement - Lists are vital but remembering to actually look at them/take them with you is even more important!!

 After my cinema visit on Monday I looked to see what films were being released in June, July and August to see if there would be anything else to go and see. But goodness me  there are some weird things that don't appeal at all. Maybe the Thursday Murder Club might be OK but turns out it's probably only on Netflix.  The Regal on Monday trailed 'The Roses' - full of famous actors but not something I would bother with and the Final Downton Abbey - costume drama never appeals to me at all. I started looking at the 9000+ on the imdb website that are due out this year but gave up after a few 100!

So it might be a while before another Film Review appears on here as I can't be bothered to go just for the sake of going out -  with 'Happy at Home' being the subtitle of the blog!

I got home in time after the cinema to see both Cam Norrie and Jack Draper getting knocked out of the French Open - the end of Brits in singles. Ho Hum - t'was good while it lasted and there remained the British guys in the Doubles and Alfie Hewitt and Gordon Reid in the wheelchair matches - they've already won so many titles over the last few years but hardly get a mention.

I got my 12 sweetcorn plants out into a vegetable bed this week along with 10 more plants I got for £2 at the car boot sale, that were way ahead of mine. I'm still fencing round plants that I'm putting in  to keep the pigeons from walking into them but the difference to everything without a cat constantly digging stuff up is incredible. My rhubarb is actually growing and I no longer need to cover and peg everything down. I'm sad that the children lost their pet but it's wonderful for gardening - sorry to write that buts it's true.

 The day after planting there was some good steady rain which is useful although it turned really chilly.

There's plenty of black and greenfly around this year and 3 out of 4 Buddleias are really suffering. I cut the two down the side right back but new growth is completely covered in black sticky mess again. Not a good outlook for flowers for the butterflies this summer.

This is my old school scarf, it's been kept for the 54 years since I left school which is probably ridiculous. I had a clear out of a few things from the built in wardrobe/shelving. It's going at last, along with a bagful of other bits. I can't think of any reason to keep it, especially as I've got some much nicer and softer scarves for winter.

Anyone else noticed tins of  sardines are missing everywhere? I was eating a tin every week either in a warm pasta salad or on toast they were only around 50p a tin. Apparently most come from Morocco and they have problems. What's the betting that when they re-appear they will be much more expensive.

I did have one other trip out during the week for free cake with photos but I'll make that a post for next week.

Have a good weekend, weather forecast here is a bit iffy - shame, as it's the village summer fair.

Back Monday

Just Two Cards but I Need Another List

 Last Saturday the car boot sale was GIAGANTIC. Even at 5 past 7 the car park was filling fast and there were no more spaces for people selling. 

I scanned the tables and boxes for interesting things but just came home with these two cards and some butternut squash and sweetcorn plants.

In my box of birthday cards there are several with various ages waiting for the 5 grandchildren, two great nephews and one great niece's birthdays but of course when I'm at a boot sale I've no clue what's in that box at home.

Need a list. Always a list!

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