What's Happened This Week...............

...................not a lot.

But I like bullet points!

• I got a quote from a local company to clean out the gutters after a downpour a couple of weeks ago sent water cascading everywhere. They will be round Monday. A chunk of money that will be worth it. 
• The rain has turned the grass green again and needing cutting - haven't needed to do that many times since spring.
• Also got a local bloke to do a quote for sorting out the patio. Getting rid of the old uneven slabs that have weeds between everywhere and replacing with new and then using the old slabs to make a proper path down the side of the bungalow. It will involve a mini digger etc etc. Sounds as if it might be expensive, haven't heard yet - I think he might not want the job!
• Managed a bit more of the usual Autumn garden clearing, now have a heap of stuff waiting to go in the bin but hopefully BiL will be round to cut the horrible Yew hedge at the front soon so I'm keeping the garden waste bin empty until he's been.
• One of my Keep Moving Group friends brought some pears from her tree along and I came home with a few and made a delicious pear crumble, I like this more than an apple crumble.
• After saying, on the blog post about the darning book, that I'd not had to do much mending lately I discovered the seams on a pleat on my shorts/skirt were pulling apart, didn't need the darning mushroom - just a few stitches to make sure they last yet another summer.
• Colin would have loved the recent cricket test matches, he used to listen to Test Match Special on the radio. I've been watching the 1 hour highlights on 5 and England bowlers have been doing really well. I always 'tell' him at the end how much he would have enjoyed the matches.
• Also on 5 - but on their catch up channel I've watched season 6 - the final season from 2022 - of the US drama Bull which has been released to us here a while after the other five series. I'm glad it had a good proper ending rather than just stopping.

There is a new addition to my bookshelves.

EGD made it at Brownie Camp in the summer holidays and gave it to me. Mrs Tiggywinkle with a teasle for her head.

Hope you have a good weekend, I will be back Monday.

 

September 11th

 25 years ago today I was doing the ironing and listening to local Radio Suffolk when the two presenters suddenly stopped talking. 

After that everyone watched their televisions in horror as the events unfolded.

I rang my penfriend in the US even though she lived miles away in Michigan, just needed to check her family were OK and tell her people here in the UK were just as horrified at what had happened. 

The after effects of that day are still rumbling on.

Sending condolences to all blog readers in the States who are remembering those events today

The Country Pie - At Least the 20th Vegetarian Taste Test

 Another frozen veggie concoction to try. From Asda £2.50 for two

I followed Sue in Lancs advice to heat up a baking tray in the oven before putting the pie on it to avoid a soggy bottom!

As usual there is a long list of ingredients, a few weird things. I wonder why they need to use both palm oil and rapeseed oil?

Ingredients : Water, Wheat Flour (calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin) rehydrated textured soya protein (11%). palm oil, maize starch, rapeseed oil, brown sugar, salt, yeast extract, maltodextrin, dried onion, garlic powder, tomato powder, wheat flour, palm stearin, onion powder, malted barley extract, thyme, black pepper, white pepper, red wine extract, emulsifier:mono-and diglycerides of fatty acids.

I served it up with fresh carrots and frozen peas and sweetcorn. It was actually quite tasty and the pastry was good and crisp - top and bottom.

I might buy again - much better than some of the other frozen veggie bakes I've tried, and handy to keep in the freezer for something different.

St Catherine's Church, Pettaugh

 I've driven past this church hundreds of times but someone who lived in the village had told me that it was always locked so I'd never bothered to stop.

But when I did stop recently I found it open.

Just a small church for a small village that unfortunately suffers from having the A1120, a busy cross county road, passing through it which has two horrible corners between the old houses which were originally a pub and a shop.

Walking up the path I hoped the gate across the porch wasn't padlocked...it wasn't. I like the flint and brickwork pattern.

The view down the nave towards the east window, it's light and bright here

Apologies, the photo of the font is very dark and gloomy

The lovely East window dates from 1936

Christ the Good Shepherd stands at the centre, with two simple tales of redemption flanking him, the raising of Lazarus on the left, and the calling of Zacchaeus on the right. Townshend and Howson were important figures in the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 20th Century, many of whom were women. Like a number of her fellow artists Caroline Townshend was also involved in the suffragette movement, which brought her into friendship with the stained glass artist Mary Lowndes, designer of the suffragette banners and co-founder of the Glass House. In 1913 she met Joan Howson who became her apprentice and later her partner. This is the only Townshend & Howson glass in Suffolk, though they were also responsible for organising and setting the great scheme of early 16th Century glass a few miles off at Gipping.

The other windows are plain except for the blue and yellow edging and dedications at the bottom

Elvis is in the Building!..............

..................... I found him at the Sunday car-boot sale.

For the princely sum of 50p, he has joined the other three looking out of my bedroom window.

That's a cobweb on the outside of the window - not cracked glass!

He is one of the originals from dcuk. A company started in 2004 (which must be when I got my original). My second was a charity shop rescue in 2017 and the third was from a boot sale last year. In between then and now I could have bought one for £5, but that would have made me a serious collector! Whereas at 50p I'm just a duck rescuer. 😀

The company are still in business, still using bamboo but now all the ducks have painted wellie-boots - I'm not keen on those, there are lots of copies around too. The originals have dcuk stamped on the sole of their foot.

Read One and Found Two More

Thank you to whoever mentioned this authors crime fiction books. I thought I wasn't going to get into it, as there was a bit of a slow start and I was rather put off by one of the celebrities recommendations on the front cover.......... 

"I am insanely in love with George Cross" says Stephen Fry. Nearly enough to make me not start it!

This is yet another police person with problems, this time Aspergers, and he tends to have no empathy or realisation of how to interact with people. Yet his very insistence at routine and being precise with everything has made him a brilliant detective so his bosses put up with him - he gets results and makes them look good.

The Dentist is the  first story in a series of eight so far which have been around with the covers below since 2020. Now the paperbacks have been reprinted with the cover above and similar.

From the library website

DS George Cross can be rude, difficult, and awkward with people. But his unfailing logic and dogged pursuit of the truth means his conviction rate is the best on the force. An outsider himself, having been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, he is especially drawn to cases concerning the voiceless and the dispossessed. Who was the unknown man whose weather-beaten body is discovered on Clifton Downs? Did the tragedy that led to a life on the streets also lead to his death? His police colleagues may dismiss it as a squabble among Bristol's homeless community, but Cross is not convinced. As he delves into the dead man's past, he becomes convinced that to catch this killer, he needs to solve a cold case murder from years before. A murder that someone has spent fifteen years thinking they've got away with. And they have no intention of letting one eccentric, socially awkward detective, change that now.

I was going to reserve the second -  'The Cyclist' -  but couldn't as I already have the upper limit of how many we are allowed to reserve but I  found Stowmarket Library had two others on their shelves so popped in to borrow them ......just in case I run out of reading before the mobile is round again. (There are already 13 (!) books ready for me to collect but the mobile visit is still 10 days away)

Hopefully it won't matter if they are not read in order. It's so good to hear about a 'new to me' crime author who has already written a few books.

Heading Into September.

 I wonder if Blogger will let comments publish today. What with this problem and the slow updating of blogs on reading lists I'm starting to wonder if Blogger is trying to fade quietly away.

This painting was on Tuesday's post but I like it, so putting it on here again.

Young September's Cornfield 1954

Oil on board

Alan Reynolds (1926-2014)

Below is ............................         Young September's Cornfield 2026 

                                                                 by me (1955 - ), 

                                                              with my big camera

 Already the field had been harvested, cleared and  disc-harrowed ready for whatever comes next - possibly oil seed rape which is often drilled straight in when a field hasn't been ploughed................or they might go back and plough ......I shall see later.

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I've started on the autumn garden clearing- although haven't tackled the four huge Buddleias yet. BiL cut one right back with his chainsaw last year but it  put on 8 foot of growth regardless. Each bit has to be chopped up to fit in the garden waste bin and takes an age. I raked up all the small fallen apples from under the Minarette trees - I thought to leave them for the birds for winter but seeing as so many had codling moth maggot damage they need getting rid of.

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The BBC have decided to end Ski Sunday after nearly 50 years of Sunday evening winter viewing for ordinary people who are never likely to go skiing- very sad. I liked to watch for the snowy views. Bad BBC!

On the other hand they had a brilliant programme from The Royal Albert Hall Proms - Bond Themes played by the huge BBC Concert Orchestra. It was really good. Most of the annual Proms festival is too highbrow for me but can you imagine the outcry from the rich and famous if the beeb were to stop broadcasting the Proms!

This week I've been watching some of the British Open Snooker and  something called Tout le Monde Ment. - It's French! - translates as Everyone Lies, crime of course. A short series of eight, originally shown between 2022 and 2025. It's on Walter Presents on 4. No details anywhere if  French TV are likely to make more. 

Have you seen the trailer for a new programme starting soon on Channel 4 called Apocalypse?

In this bold and ambitious social experiment, Channel 4 is sending a group of ordinary people to a jaw dropping, real world location - an abandoned town that bears all the hallmarks of being ravaged by an apocalyptic event. 

It sounds very odd - but apt for all the dire warnings of cyber attacks, weather abnormalities and wars!

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Compared to the week before, this week has been much quieter. I've only spoken to ladies at Keep Moving group, son on the phone and Kirsty who cuts my hair. There was some wild, windy and wet weather  for a while on Friday morning showing me the gutters need cleaning out. Not sure me and a ladder are a good idea any more - may need to get a man in - no one in the family would jump at the chance to clean out gutters either!

Another view of the disc-harrowed fields up the lane not far from home.

I can't decide which to visit today - car boot sale in one direction or a village garage/yard sale event in the other direction.

 Have a good weekend, I'll be back Monday

Flowers and Books Or Books and Flowers

 As mentioned the other day I went to the Flower Festival with stalls at Crowfield Church mainly for their second hand book stall. I also got some cheap plums from their produce stall, ate a few but added the rest to the freezer for the next batch of compost/mixed fruit jelly. It's mainly apple peels and cores but adding some whole cheap fruit means it makes a bit more jelly with a better colour.

Just found two books this time (I'm beginning to think that they save the books from year to year!) and it was threatening rain and so dark and gloomy in the church and very busy that I didn't take any good photos of the Flower Festival which had a theme of 'Desert Island Discs'

I've just finished the Evie Woods book - The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris-  borrowed from the library. I enjoyed it and had read another two of her books a few years back. They all have a bit of mystery and magic about them. This one sounds similar. All books were for sale for 50p each.

With the flower festival theme of Desert Island Discs, some people went for Islands, others for people who had featured on the radio programme and others choose their own music or a luxury item that they would take to an island themselves.

There was a leaflet with details of the villagers who created the lovely arrangements but I handed that back on my way out and the notes on each display with a number and  details were very small and I didn't get them in the photos. So apologies to the brilliant florists!

Just editing in to say that it seems Bloggers latest blip is not being able to publish comments anywhere! Hopefully short term.  I've tried to comment on several blogs this morning but no luck.

Nutting Day - Revisiting A Post from 2018

 Did you know September 3rd was traditionally known as Nutting Day? No, I didn't either, until 2018 when I came across all this information and wrote this post.

According to the book 'Cattern Cakes and Lace' (Julia Jones and Barbara Deer, 1987).......this is the day on which children would traditionally go to the local wood to gather hazelnuts. All villages would have had local hazel coppices as the wood was so important for hurdles - no wire netting or electric fencing back then.

So what can I find out about hazelnuts (Corylus avellana).

From a little book called 'Nature in Your Basket' by Richard Mabey..............
Pollen deposits suggest that between the retreat of the glaciers and the arrival of mature forest some 9,000 years ago, hazel was the commonest tree across much of Britain, and it must have been one of the most important sources of vegetable food for Stone Age hunter gatherers.

 From the book 'Discovering the Folklore of Plants 'by Margaret Baker..............
The Celtic world treated hazel as a holy tree. Its nuts were connected with poetry, knowledge, love, fertility and childbirth. In the Scottish Highlands hazel was one of the nine sacred woods used in kindling needfire at Beltane. (Need-fire, or Wild-fire, a fire caused by friction is a term used in folklore to denote a superstition which survived in the Scottish Highlands until a recent date.) 
Hazel is the wood often used for divining rods and  if you stir jam with a hazel stick the fairies will not steal it!
The nuts were given the names of potential husbands and thrown into the fire by young girls. The loudest bang as the nut exploded or brightest flame showed which man she would marry.

Apart from the well known use of coppiced hazel for hurdle making, it was also used for baskets and the bast or stringy inner bark could be used as a tying material. The wood was used for carved walking sticks and broom handles and the oil from the nuts could be used as a polish. The nuts can be ground and added to flour for a flavoured pastry and like almonds can be used to make milk.

I'd try these ideas for cooking with hazelnuts.......if only the squirrels didn't take them before I get a look in.

That was 2018 before moving  here.

 I planted a Red Hazel in the border here in 2022, it's 6 foot tall now but every summer it soon reverts to green and only goes back to red leaves with the new spring growth. Whereas the huge Red Hazel in BiL's garden (from a seedling which popped up at the smallholding years ago) stays red-leaved most of the year. I think there's a draught along the side of my bungalow that hits the Hazel and causes it stress. It has about 4 pink tinged nuts on it this year - the first I've seen. I went along the footpath not far from home to see how many nuts on an ordinary Hazel tree that grows there - None!

Other Boot Sale Finds From July and August

Car boot finds this summer weren't very exciting. So many people just bring the same old stuff every week and it's often just the House Clearance people who have different things each time.

I've already mentioned the most interesting but these were the other small finds.

Two books - one for Grandchildren (because I'm sure one of our children enjoyed one of these Usborne Puzzle books  when they were 8 or 9 and yes, that is possible because this is dated 1990) and a book for me that I used for pictures for my scrapbooks as it had lots of pages stuck together but enough interesting pictures to cut out. Paid 50p for both -  from house clearance boxes as usual.

A bundle of postcards with pictures of commemorative stamps . Some of these were also for the scrapbooks. 50p for the bundle.

Another 50p on this suet block for the birds - I'm only feeding sunflower hearts and Nyjer seed at the moment but this will go out for them in Autumn. This also came out of a box of house clearance stuff.

50p again for this new jug, a replacement for a very old one that no matter how often I gave it a scrub, it still looked nasty.

The book below I bought because it was only 20p. It's all about the old businesses in Stowmarket. I could have borrowed it from the library there but now there's no hurry to look at it. At another boot-sale I saw volume 2 but the girl wanted £3 - I said " No Thanks"

Christmas Wrapping Paper 50p

Pack of notecards 50p, a couple will be used in the scrapbook and the rest for birthday cards.

An old crime fiction book  and a small watercolour pad 50p each again

And finally this little pack of three turned wood garden cane toppers were £1 which I will add to the hanging plant pots for my sister and her husband for a Christmas gift.

Which makes a total spend of £5.20 for all sorts of useful bits and bobs

Looking at September

    from  THE GARDEN IN SEPTEMBER

Now thin mists temper the slow ripening beams

Of the September sun: his golden gleams

On gaudy flowers shine,that prank the rows

Of high-grown hollyhocks, and all tall shows

That Autumn flaunteth in his bushy bowers;

Where tomtits, hanging from the drooping heads

Of giant sunflowers, peck the nutty seeds;

And in the feathery aster bees on wing

Seize and set free the honied flowers,

Till thousand stars leap with their visiting:

While ever across the path mazily flit,

Unpiloted in the sun,

The dreamy butterflies

With dazzling colours powdered and soft glooms,

White black and crimson stripes, and peacock eyes,

Or on chance flowers sit,

With idle effort plundering one by one

The nectaries of deepest-throated blooms

                                                   Robert Bridges (1844 - 1930)

The 1st of the month marks the start of meteorological autumn, astronomically Autumn doesn't begin until Mabon or the  Autumn Equinox which is on the 23rd this year.

Fair on the first of September, fair for the whole month

The Anglo-Saxons called September Gertsmonarth, meaning the Barley Month

There are generally three consecutive windy days around the middle of the month, millers called these the windy days of barley harvest.

In this year of excess heat the wheat and barley harvest is long finished. There isn't any sugar beet growing close by this year but farmers who have grown it will be looking at a very small crop later. Maybe sugar will be yet another thing that will see a price rise in winter as well as flour and dairy products - all due to the heat and lack of rain.

Young September's Cornfield 1954

Oil on board

Alan Reynolds (1926-2014)

August Financials - In and Out and Frugal Notes

 Income was the usual State Pension, County Council spouses pension and interest on savings + £21 for books sold online - Son and DiL took them away and added them to some they had to sell.

image from google freepik

In August there was only one known extra expense............ the half-year bill for water/sewer costs, which was a big ol' lump of money - as expected. Despite using less than the last half year, the unit cost and standing charges have gone up, so the bill wasn't much less than in February. Looking back a few years and this is one of the things that has gone up by a large %. I don't mind paying for water - but object to this....

"Essex and Suffolk Water operates as a water-only brand of Northumbrian Water Limited, itself a subsidiary of Northumbrian Water Group. Rather than standard performance bonuses, the parent group's remuneration committee awarded Chief Executive Heidi Mottram a massive £1.5 million retention package structured over five years (£300,000 annually until March 2030), designed to sit outside regulatory performance-related bonus restriction."

I was quite peeved to get an email from E&S Water saying they will repair loos that are using too much water for free....It cost me £200 to get mine fixed in February.....why didn't they tell me before!

Outgoings...........

Direct debits for Council tax, phones and broadband, charity and the variable monthly electric bill plus that Big sewer/ water bill and just one fill up of diesel for the car came to £548.

Other expenses were for odds and ends including the window cleaner, more sunflower hearts and Nyjer seed for the birds, dishwasher tabs, postage, a new loo brush, toothpaste, antiseptic cream and when I spotted small saucepans in the middle aisles of Aldi for just  £3.99 it seemed like a good idea to get one. When I moved here I only had one saucepan suitable for the induction hob so I bought two others and they were a Lot more expensive than £3.99!

Personal spending was more than recent months included the outing to the ceramics festival with the garden cane topper, a new pair of slip-on indoor sandals in the sales ready for two years time when the ones I'm now wearing wear out,  a new puzzler book, a couple of second-hand books from abebooks and the car-boot and book sale books.

Food spending wasn't too bad - just under £100 for food at home, plus coffee out twice, both instead of breakfast and taking YD and EGD for a Sunday lunch out.

A few penny pinchers as usual.

• Courgettes from the garden
• Cooking apples from garden into freezer
• Tomatoes, cucumber and peppers from greenhouse
• Aubergines from greenhouse made into a pasta sauce.
• Gifts of runner beans, pears and windfall cooking apples from Keep Moving Group friends
• Bread from bread machine as usual
• Reading library books for free
• Finding a few books from boot sales
• Peeled, sliced and blanched a few carrots and popped in freezer when I found 'yellow sticker' pack for few pence but already had some in use.
• Saving bits of bread crust into the freezer ready for making dried breadcrumbs
• 15% discount on dishwasher tabs for regular order.
• Started saving peels, cores and other odd bits of fruit in the freezer ready for the next batch of compost jelly.

Looking ahead to September and there are just two known extras - one is DiL's birthday and also Amazon prime which covers postage. 

Last Saturday of the Month

Awful, awful scenes of devastation in Nepal and Tibet. The speed at which that water and mud tore through the valley and so many people missing in one of the remotest places in the world. A tragedy on a huge scale.

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One of the disturbing things I've heard this week was about the number of people going to hospital  A&E this summer for help with  simple insect bites and stings. Apparently this is common (and it's not counting the people who are stung in mouth or eyes or allergic and go into some sort of  shock - obviously they have to go). Of course everyone who shows up at A&E has to be treated, taking up hours of time. Seems many don't know that antihistamine cream or  tablets are available at the pharmacy and usually all that's needed. 

Reminds me of the one time we were in A&E and there was someone there who had fallen and grazed a knee. She came in with 3 drunk friends! The drunk friends were made to wait outside but the grazed knee waited for ages - frequently going in and out to smoke and chat with the friends outside-  before giving up and going. They would have seen her but she was way down the waiting list as  they never turn people away.

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The fruit-bowl has the first of the windfall Falstaff Apples and 4 pears from a friend

It's been a good week in Mid Suffolk, I've seen many more people than usual. 15 at the Keep Moving group which is a good turnout. My sister popped in on her way back from getting her eyebrows done (we are so different! my eyebrows haven't been plucked since I was a teenager and it's not something I even think about). 

Friends from Essex visited one afternoon, they always bring me a jar of proper home made marmalade, which is delicious.  They make lots each January from Seville oranges (A. has more patience than me! I cheat with the ready prepared tin of oranges or lemons.) Although apparently there might be a shortage next January  as Spanish Seville orange trees have also been affected by the excess of summer heat.

Then BiL came round to help me get the sliding door back on the greenhouse. Managed fairly easily with two pairs of hands and him getting down to see what was happening with the bottom runner.

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 Rain and thunderstorms forecast for Wednesday didn't materialise at all and Thursday's forecast wasn't right either - just a shower in the morning and another couple in the afternoon and warm in between which dried it up very quickly and then yesterday was really hot and sunny again until another shower in the evening. Maybe there'll some rain today and tomorrow - but not a high % chance. Everywhere is still brown and frazzled.

And now we are around to the Late Summer Bank Holiday weekend.... seems like about 10 minutes after last year!, but it means it's the annual Flower Festival and mini fete at Crowfield church, which I go and visit due to them always having lots of secondhand books for sale.

Have a good weekend, I'll be back Monday with the end of the month financials.

More Food (Not a Haul!) Shopping

 It seems this has become a regular thing...............unpack..............take photo........put away.

There was one purchase between the last shop and this one as I went to the nearest Co-op for the local 'Lane Farm' sausages .......but although they had their bacon they didn't have any sausages, so I got the other local pack 'Taste of Suffolk'...........which I could have got in the village shop although they would have cost me more. I divided into 4 x 2, wrapped and put in freezer without thinking about a photo. They were £3.29 for 400g.

 I'm odd because I buy the cheapest of cheap bacon (£1 bacon bits from Asda) but wouldn't dream of buying anything other than good local sausages.

Aldi had so many gaps and absences on their shelves that I had to go to Asda anyway even if  I'd not been going into town and needing to get my £1 parking fee back. 

Most noticeably missing at Aldi for the last two visits has been their decaf ground coffee and wholemeal bread flour.

From top to bottom. 4 Pints milk £1.65; rice £1.25; 400g extra mature cheddar £2.45; Asda Wholemeal flour £1.45; 2 x Asda decaf ground coffee @ £3.50 = £7; 6 white rolls 45p; 2 peanuts £1.18; Ham trimmings 400g £2.49; Carrots 37p; 1Kg nectarines £2.35; Head of calabrese 86p;

Total £21.50. 

Running total for month. £24.79 +£37.81 + £3.29 + £21.50 = £87.39

I very rarely buy meat but I do like ham but these packs of bargain ham trim don't often have a long date, but they did this time  so made me 4 main meals and, with the bread rolls, 4 other ham roll meals. (The bread from the bread-maker makes lovely toast but not so good for sandwiches)

That Asda coffee is £1.01p more than Aldi's when they last had some, I think it's something that has gone up in price a lot which is maybe why Aldi didn't have any. Last time Aldi had wholemeal flour it was 89p so the Asda is 56p more.

This shop was done last Saturday and I've done no food shop since but I may well make some scones today and buy myself  some clotted cream for a Bank Holiday weekend treat again......it's become a 'thing'!

Darning and Patching

 One of my library books that arrived last week  I saw mentioned on a blog and actually know whose blog it was, which makes a change.

Angela at Tracing Rainbows said it was interesting even if you weren't planning to do any darning.

The Art of Repair by Molly Martin was published in 2021 and is about the history of darning including in other countries like Japan which has many different names for different types of mending.

This is the description from online

'Part how-to guide, part manifesto - a gentle exhortation that encourages us to reconnect with our damaged belongings and ourselves.' TOAST magazine

For Molly Martin, it all started with a pair of socks. Her favourite pair. When the heels became threadbare, her mother got out her darning mushroom and showed her how to reinforce the thinning stitches and bring them back to life. She has been stitching and darning ever since.

In The Art of Repair, Molly explores the humble origins of repair and how the act of mending a cherished item carefully by hand offers not just a practical solution but nourishment for the soul. Using her own beautiful illustrations, she guides us through the basics of the craft - from piecing and patching to the ancient Japanese art of Sashiko.

This book will stay with you long after you put down your needle and thread. It offers an antidote to our increasingly disposable lifestyle, encouraging us to reconnect not just with the everyday objects in our environment but also with ourselves.

I used to do lots of  mending and darning - especially Col's  welly-boot socks, jeans and the cuffs of shirts. Now my darning mushrooms sit unused............not sure how I have two............. because very few things need repair  - I don't even remember the last time I sewed on a button.

Angela was right - it was an interesting little book.

It Was £24.99 ...............

At a recent Sunday car boot sale I picked up this book just to see what it was. Good Housekeeping was a magazine I sometimes bought back in the 1970s BC (Before Colin and Before Children)- in the days of newly-married and still earning. Looking inside I saw some lovely photos and several recipes.

 Turned it over to read the blurb on the back and saw it was £24.99 when bought new and when the guy selling said £1, I thought it was worth buying for a better look.

Not sure I agree with that final sentence "Because everything is housekeeping - and housekeeping is everything"! Really?

I'll let you know if there's anything useful inside and if it was ever worth £24.99, but somehow I doubt it because there are dozens of secondhand copies for sale on Abebooks and Amazon. So maybe everyone who was given a copy for Christmas soon gave them away! 

St Peter's Church, Baylham

 

Not many small village churches have a transept or cross aisle and the south side at Baylham is quite big.

The transepts were added when the church was completely restored in 1870 although the tower dates back to the C14 and the font from the C15.

The East window is also from 1870

It's always interesting to find paintings of the church in a church, I couldn't see if there was a date on this one although it doesn't look as old as some.

The memorial on the north side of the sanctuary is for the Actons. This is what Simon Knott says on the Suffolk Churches Index

On the north side of the sanctuary is the late 17th Century Acton memorial. John and Elizabeth Acton face each other across a prayer desk, while behind them a skeleton bursts in waving a dart of death. There's something similar at St Nicholas, Kings Lynn. Beneath them are their children kneeling to mourn, three boys and two girls. The inscriptions for the main figures are odd. Elizabeth's records that she died at the age of 36 on the 27th of March, but omits to tell us which year. John's inscription has been left completely blank, but we know he died in 1695. The monument must have been erected before his death. In the great storm of October 1987 the chancel wall was destabilised, and this memorial needed to be reset. The local builder who carried out the work found that it came apart like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle, and each piece had been pegged separately into the wall with wooden dowelling. It was put back in place using the same late 17th Century techniques.

The south transept has pews but the north has the organ and behind that a handy toilet has been added.

All the tiling dates from 1870 too. Once the church would have been heated by a boiler with water pipes providing a bit warmth coming up through the metal grill down the central aisle.

Just down the road from the church is the village school, it would have been part of the churches estate when built at much the same time as the church was restored but now long closed and turned into a house. 

I found this old photo of the school on line. It dates from 1910 and is taken just down the hill from my photo