It was the small Art Exhibition in a nearby village at the weekend. I called in to look on my way to Son and DiL's house where I'd been invited for a Sunday roast - very good it was too. Hadn't seen the Grandchildren for a couple of weeks so it was good hear that 6 year old MGS had started Beavers after all - a few weeks ago he was adamant that he Wasn't Going! And YGD has started Brownies, she used to go to Rainbows until they ran out of leaders but wouldn't start Brownies when she was 7 for reasons only known to a 7 year old, so it's good to hear that a year later she's now at Brownies.
Anyway..............the art Exhibition was smaller than some years and I only took a few photos.
Some interesting pottery
Local Artist Reg Siger always has paintings in exhibitions and had 10 on show this time
including 'Derelict Cottage' .
And this below is Gipping Church (one of the first I visited in 2018)
Acrylics by Susan Baldry ( I think as I missed the label)
I thought this was interesting - an etching by Hilary Evans
Three Pen, Ink and Watercolour paintings by Linda Seager
Apologies to the artist - but I didn't like these at all - even though I can see they are very good
I took a few other photos but there was a bit too much reflection on them.
Purchased a couple of greetings cards - Southwold Beach by Diana Kearsley and this fun one by Les French, a guy who paints imagined pictures of how things might have been years ago in places round about and puts them on local Facebook pages where he often adds in people and animates them.
Thank you to everyone for comments on Saturday, I hope that will be the one and only time I'll be swearing in a blog post and not a lot more about politics either!
I'm not really worried about what will happen with Suffolk County Council - nothing works as well as it did 20 years ago (or is that just my rose tinted glasses looking back like a silly old woman!) and probably won't be any better or worse whoever is in charge!
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8 Years today - It still hurts like crazy - they're wrong when they say Things get Better and Time Heals. They don't and it doesn't. The years just pass and you just have to cope.
Apologies but I have to swear!.......... Bloody Hell!! Reform are now in control of Suffolk County Council. We all thought that the end of SCC after Local Government Reorganisation in April 2028 was going to cause problems but it's now a Very Good Thing as at least Reform have less than two years to B****r Up Suffolk.
The councillors elected this week will serve a foreshortened mandate. Suffolk's two-tier system is being replaced with three new unitary authorities, including the new Ipswich and South Suffolk council — known to many as Greater Ipswich. Elections for those bodies are due in May 2027, with the new councils running as shadow bodies for a year before formally taking on power in April 2028.
Here are the final seat count results for the Suffolk County Council election:
Reform UK: 41 seats
Green: 13
Conservatives: 9
Labour: 3
Liberal Democrats: 2
Independent: 2
The bottom line: A party that did not exist locally five years ago now controls Suffolk County Council. How it intends to use that majority remains to be seen.
This is what we have to cope with............
The party refused to engage with the media at today's elections, having been instructed to only speak with GB News. They also declined interview requests throughout the campaign, with the chairman of Ipswich Reform instructing all of the party's candidates not to take part in our Meet the Candidate interviews. Only Tony Gould, who stood in Whitton, responded.
The Green party won enough seats here to be the opposition party on SCC and our little bit of Suffolk voted Andrew back in for the Green Party. A County that was Conservative for as long as people can remember is now in the charge of a whole lot of unknowns.
Image source,Louise Parker/BBC
Image caption,
Andrew Stringer (right) is also on Mid Suffolk District Council, which is controlled by the Greens
Andrew Stringer, the group leader for the Greens in Suffolk, has been re-elected for the Upper Gipping division.
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And Now for something Completely Different............
Tomorrow Is Rogation Sunday
" It is celebrated as the fifth Sunday after Easter (or the sixth Sunday of Easter), serving as a day of prayer and blessing for the land, crops, and the community, often marked by the tradition of "beating the bounds" "
Rogation isn't a word used very much. It means " a solemn supplication, prayer or request. Used in Christian contexts to ask for God's blessing during the rogation days, the three days before accension day to bless crops."
Accension Day is 40 days after Easter, a Christian festival celebrating Christ's Accension to heaven. It's a holiday in some European countries - not here - we have fewer Public Holidays than many other countries.
The church in my village says prayers for farmers on the day and for many years the villagers would 'Beat the bounds' on Rogation Sunday. Many villages did this - it was a walk around all the Parish boundaries, stopping for prayers at various points.It was important for churches as I believe the income for the vicar was once based on the size of the parish.
This old photo from 'East Suffolk in Old photos' facebook page is of the villagers here gathering sometime in the 1800's to walk around the village.
Somewhere I've seen a more recent photo from 1975, which has a very young vicar - and 51 years later he is still the vicar today, which is probably why they don't head out from church to beat the bounds now he's over 80!
Beating the Bounds Illustration from the book The English Year by Steve Roud .Illustration by George Cruikshank Comic Almanac 1837.
.............that I didn't have a few years ago but now wouldn't want to be without.
The filter jug that fits in the fridge door . Bought in 2023 it came with 3 filters. The filters each last about 3 months.Filters come in packs of 3 and I bought replacements in 2024 and 2025 and I've just one left in the cupboard so will reorder again soon.
I drink more water than I used to as it tastes so much better than from the tap...........and I never thought I'd say that because the hard water from the below ground aquafers that we have in this part of the country is quite drinkable. Filtered water from the fridge is also nice and cold and seems more refreshing.
The bread machine.
I make loaves of bread and pizza bases. Mostly I use 250g wholemeal Bread flour and 250g white strong bread flour and for the white half I mix the expensive Allinsons strong bread flour (from Asda 3kg is around £3.20) with the cheaper Aldi bread flour 1.5kg for £1.09. Aldi don't always have wholemeal bread flour but when they do it's 99p for 1.5kg .
A loaf made from 500g of flour just needs 1tsp instant yeast, 1tsp sugar, 1tsp salt and a small chunk of butter about ½ ounce + 370ml water. Cost is around 70p.
No extra ingredients.
This is the label from online of what's in a Medium Sliced Wholemeal loaf from Aldi - quite a few 'extras'.
When the bread is made I cut the loaf in half and freeze. It doesn't slice well without freezing as it's so soft. One loaf a week is usually plenty, although I occasionally bake an extra loaf to freeze in case something happens and I miss a week.
One of Suffolk's 38 round tower churches, this has two huge butresses.
A newer vestry and hall for villagers use has been added to the side, built to match in rather well.
A very plain font
Through the nave to the chancel, it is a small church and has a north aisle
There are two newer stained glass windows. This commemorates a farmer who lived in The Grange in the village for 48 years.
The second is the memorial to those from the village who died in WWII.
There is also a First World War memorial
The East window is typical Victorian as is most of the church interior which was rebuilt in the 1850s, before that the church had been in a very poor state.
The reredos shows the last supper
There are a few carved bench ends in the chancel mostly from C18. I thought I'd taken photos of the others but it seems I didn't.
This is church number 137 in Suffolk that I've visited. I started linking the individual church posts to the A-Z Suffolk churches post. It's taking ages, I'm only back to 2024 and getting RSI!!
(And bother to Blogger which still isn't updating posts properly in my reading list in the sidebar - annoying)
I have lots of Herb Robert growing in the stones of the passageway down the side of the bungalow. It spreads easily and I suppose is classed as a weed when it appears in pots or in flower gardens.
It's nice to be able to leave it growing where it is, doing no harm as it's a pretty little plant with red stems and pink flowers.
The Herb Robert page from the Complete book of Flower Fairies by Cecily Mary Barker
Various origins have been suggested for its name - that the plant cured Roberts Plague; that it is named after the Duke of Normandy, Saint Rupert or Robin Hood. Perhaps named after Robin Goodfellow or Puck. In Somerset children were once told "If 'ee pick 'n, someone'll take thee". Some places called it 'Death come quickly'! (Information from my book Discovering the Folklore of Plants by Margaret Baker)
Thank you to everyone for comments yesterday about the books, apologies if you can't get them where you are.
A Christmas present book that I read while waiting for the library van day last week. I've read a couple of his other books and 'Deep Country' about his 5 years in a remote Welsh cottage is a favourite. I've reserved it to re-read.
Neil has been gradually losing his hearing for many years and this book is about his attempt to listen to all the birds in this country that he's never heard, before his hearing goes completely. It's fascinating how he has to plan to be in the right place at the right time and his travels to many remote places.
This is a podcast where Neil talks about the book.
It was sad to hear that he had Lyme Disease which triggered Rheumatoid Arthritus and was unwell when this recording was made.
Completely different was this little book by Rumer Godden published in 1969.
It's difficult to explain the story but the definition of Fugue is about music 'in different voices' and the book is written in many different voices through the time that the family lived in a London house.
Grizel Dane, a servicewoman in the US army arrives during the war to stay with her elderly Great Uncle, Sir Rollo Dane, but that doesn't happen until the last part of the book. Through Rollo's memories and voices of the others who lived there we hear the history of the Dane family and Lark Ingoldsby. Lark was adopted after being orphaned in a train crash and finds herself in the middle of sibling rivalry, loved by Rollo and his older brother Pelham but hated by sister Selina.
It only a small book and was read in an evening, once I'd got used to the way it is written in different voices and times, often overlapping and going backwards and forwards.
Maybe the earliest written book I've read for a while is this - originally published in 1898. Another very small book quickly read.
A fictionalised account of her garden and family and how making the garden is her sanctuary from the Man of Wrath (husband), children, servants and unwanted house guests. She is a witty writer and the book doesn't seem dated at all.
The cars that had loudspeakers and drove around the streets before General Elections reminding people to vote?
How libraries worked before computers?
Nightdress cases, you put your nightie or PJs in it in the morning and took them out at again at bedtime? My sister had one shaped like a poodle. Youngest daughter said she had one that was a clown with bits attached like a zip and buttons and laces for learning - I'd forgotten - she said it was a happy clown and she wasn't traumatized!
Two years ago Ipswich Town Football Club went from Championship to Premiership - the top tier of British football. They had one season playing all the big names like Man U, Man City, Arsenal etc etc but at the end of the season they went straight back down to second tier again. On Saturday the were automatically promoted again - Whoop Whoop! I have no idea how they'll get on with the 'Big Boys' next season but for now it's made a lot of people very happy!
Have a good Bank Holiday Monday for everyone in the UK.
Two library book photos in April this year as the van comes round every four weeks. A nice mixture of authors I know and others I have no idea why I've reserved them!
From Left to Right . The new book by Anthony Horowitz - that one I know will be brilliant. Chris Nickson's new book will be another very readable. Broken House by Louise Scarr isn't the series that I've read two of already, but hopefully it will be OK.
The book by Ann Cleeves is one of her very old books before Vera and Shetland, they are not so well written but I've not read this one so will give it a try. 'On This Holy Island' is a book about a pilgrimages through history across the country.
'Playing Dead' are short crime stories by members of the Detection Club. 'Broken Ground' by Val McDermid is an early one from the Karen Pirie series.
There's a non fiction book about growing up on a Scottish Island that I must have heard about somewhere. Next is the latest by Jim Kelly in his wartime Cambridge series - that will be a good read for sure.
Far right is something that I really have no idea about ordering, - It's a non fiction book about the beginnings of the English Civil War. I made Rachel, the library van driver smile as I looked at it and said it's got too many words!!
On the top are two small books, one by Rumer Godden that I've never read ' A Fugue in Time' and the other is the book that I mentioned in that list of spring garden reading from the Country Commonplace book - Elizabeth and her German Garden by Elizabeth Von Arnim.
Below is what I collected from 4 weeks ago. 'The Eights' was the best and I've already mentioned a couple of others but several went back unread.
Those I did finish are on the separate Book Read 2026 page.
Today.....................I'm making scones (Bank Holiday/Clotted cream treat again!) planting out leeks and courgettes and getting stuck into one of my new library books.
First I have to dash up the post-box to get ED's birthday card into the post. There it was laying on the side when I went to the library van, which stops just by the post-box and there it was still laying there when I came home again!
And I must make a hair cut appointment - it really needs doing.
Full Moon tonight - The Anglo Saxons called it the Milk Moon and it's other name is The Flower Moon.
The usual income of State Pension, interest on savings and Suffolk County Council Spouses pension - I'm worried about what happens to this when Local Government Reorganisation makes SCC vanish. I've read that pensions are protected by law so it should be OK, but you never know. Interest on savings seem to have dropped - need to check that out.
As predicted April was an expensive month, and then I bought my new bike. The TV Licence[up by £5.50] and house insurance[down by £3] were the planned large expenses and the bill came for the March boiler repair. Council tax of course [up by £8] and charity plus broad band and phones are all direct debit. I put £71 worth of diesel in the car. Finally I read the electric meter and paid for the month.
I was going to say I'd not needed the tumble dryer all month but when ED and the boys were up after Easter she brought 3 loads of washing with her! - her washing machine was playing up and of course boys get very dirty very quickly. Everything needed getting dry as soon as possible so I tumbled it.
Garden spending was growbags and compost, then the vegetable plants from car boot sales and a tray of leek plants from the garden shop.
There was other spending on two birthday gifts, odd bits for the house, window cleaner, bathroom and kitchen and some sunflower hearts for the birds.
Back in March Aldi were supposed to have some metal plant pot holders that hook over a fence. I was going to get a couple for my sisters birthday but they didn't appear in Stowmarket Aldi until late April. So when I saw them I got two each for both my sister and sister in law - they are ready for Christmas.
When the weather warmed up last week I sorted through the clothes in wardrobe and drawers to see what state summer clothes were in and decided I needed new summer shoes, a second summer skirt and shorts and I really need tee shirts too but will scour charity shops first.
image from google freepik
The only penny savers I can think of...........
Gift of rhubarb from my sister
Dishwasher only used every other day
Filled car up with diesel when visiting YD - saving 6p a litre on garages near me
Made up a tin of Lemon Home Cook Marmalade, works out at just over £1 a jar
No alcohol bought as usual, and no lotions, potions etc
No newspapers and magazines - except for the Puzzler
Bread made in the bread-machine. 50/50 wholemeal/white flour
Lights only needed for reading after 8pm now
Reading library books and from my shelves for free
Saving apple peels etc into the freezer for making the next batch of 'compost jelly' sometime
A gift of flowers from my sister for my birthday lasted two weeks
May should be less spendy, as far as I know there is just the car breakdown insurance and EGS birthday. No more bikes or big expenses! [Touching wood]
This church was locked when I've visited a couple of years ago so I was pleased to see the 'Church Open' sign.
When Simon Knott [Suffolk Churches website] visited here in 2018 he was told by the lady who let him in that the church was heading for redundancy, to be taken over by the Historic Churches Trust as it wasn't being used for services . But it seems this didn't happen and the church is now open at weekends and has a once a month service.
Opposite the door into the church is the WWI War memorial
Above it is the huge remains of a Medieval wall painting of St Christopher carrying the Christ Child over the water.
Octagonal font with seven saints and Christ carved in the panels
Every window has some stained glass, mostly Victorian
A very bad photo of a drawing showing who's who in the East window glass
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People come here specially to see the Flemish wood panels of the reredos. They were given to the church by an owner of Stowlangtoft Hall and date from the 1480s. But in 1977 they were stolen and disappeared for five years until the were found in an Amsterdam gallery. Legal proceedings to get them back failed but luckily they were bought and all costs paid by a Dutch businessman and returned to the church. Now the Sanctuary and the panels are alarmed so hopefully they won't be stolen again.
Like the last church I visited at Framsden, Stowlangtoft also has misericord seats with carvings that survived better than Framsden.
There are lots of excellent carvings on the pew ends too
There's an online church brochure HERE for more information.
