Random and Odd Stuff From Last Week

The cheapest nearest diesel was £1.86 a litre last Sunday,. Apparently this is £8.46 a gallon - good grief. (thats's $11.37). I'm so old I can remember when petrol was £1 a gallon - that was in the late 70's. Have to travel, so need fuel -  I'm keeping topped up.

Did anyone else watch the 2nd series of  'Capture' on TV over the last 6 Sundays? It ended last Sunday, I  have no idea what it was all about.😕

Started on the 10 minute journey to Keep Moving Group only to find after half a mile  that the way out of the village was suddenly 'Road Closed' - no warning = 3 point turn = back the way I'd come and  then several miles on small back lanes = all jolly good fun! Arrived 20 minutes later = only just in time.

Did you hear about this .....Supermarket Digital Labels? Instant price changes when demand is higher/lower- with electronic shelf edge labels-  Oh good grief. For instance strawberries and cream would cost more on a hot Summer Saturday and less on a wet Winter Monday. Thankfully no supermarkets here have plans to introduce these -Yet!

On Thursday morning my phone made an unusual bleepity bleep noise, when I looked it was wishing me Happy Birthday! It wasn't a message or a phone call - just Happy Birthday on the screen. How strange.  AI creeping in?

17 days of The World Snooker Championship starts on TV today, it will keep me company while I'm reading and half watching. There are 11 Chinese players in the starting 32 - that must be the most ever.

I see blogger is playing up again - sometimes not updating the "Blogs I Read" when a new blog is posted. 

Have a good weekend .

Following A Tree 2026

 A month on from my first photo of the young Horse Chestnut beside the village hall where we have our Keep Moving Group.

Now it's Mid April

The leaves have begun to appear but not fully open as yet.

They really are brand new  Leaf Green 

Soon the 'candles' will grow and turn pink or white - I can't remember from seeing it last year which this one is. If white it's a common Horse Chestnut, if pink it's a hybrid, Aesculus carnea, often called a Spanish Horse Chestnut.

 Horse Chestnuts were introduced to Britain from the Balkans in the late 16th century but it wasn't until 200 years later when someone thought of the idea of playing conkers.

Anyone can enter the World Conker Championship if you fancy a trip to Northamptonshire in October. 

I just have them on the windowsills through winter and spring and no spiders seen for months.

Many thanks for all the Happy Birthday Wishes yesterday. I had some lovely cards and a very quiet day after another bike ride - now up to nearly 5 miles, which isn't too bad after more than two years of not cycling at all.

Back Tomorrow

Who Knew?

 Who knew there's a poem for all of us who have birthdays this month?

APRIL BIRTHDAY

When your birthday brings the world under your window

And the song-thrush sings wet-throated in the dew

And aconite and primrose are unsticking the wrappers

Of the package that has come today for you

Lambs bounce out and stand astonished

Puss willow pushes among the bare branches

Sooty hawthorns shiver into emerald

And a new air

Nuzzles the sugary

Buds of the chestnut. A groundswell and a stir

Billows the silvered 

Violet silks

Of the south  - a tenderness

Lifting through all the

Gently-breasted

Counties of England

When the swallow snips the string that holds the world in

And the ring-dove claps and nearly loops the loop

You just can't count everything that follows in the tumble

Like a whole circus tumbling through a hoop

Grass in a mesh of all flowers floundering

Sizzling leaves and blossoms bombing

Nestling hissing and groggy-legged insects

And the trees

Stagger, they stronger

Brace their boles and biceps under

The load of gift. And the hills float

Light as a bubble glass

On the smoke blue evening

And rabbits are bobbing everywhere, and a thrush

Rings coolly in a far corner. A shiver of green

Strokes the darkening slope as the land

Begins her labour.

TED HUGHES (1930 - 1998)

Just One Book

 A couple of times recently I've come home from a car-boot sale with nothing, (last weekend it was just a huge cauliflower), but I picked up this book from Needham Market on Easter Saturday for £1.

'Wyken, The Life of a Small Suffolk Estate' by Sir Kenneth Carlisle. Wyken is 7 acres and includes vineyard, restaurant, Country store and Farmers Market.

I wrote about Wyken Hall way back in July 2023 HERE after I'd re-read the book by his wife. After my visit there then for the Farmers Market I looked on the library website for this book but the only library copy is in The Hold (Archives  & Record Office etc ) in Ipswich and not borrowable. 

So it's taken nearly 3 years - but now I can read it -  perhaps everything turns up eventually.

All Saints, Drinkstone

 All Saints Church Drinkstone has a brick tower, dating from the C17 and is one of the first towers ever built to make space for bell ringing. Of course the main part of the church is older but as usual was restored by the Victorians.

The typical Churchyard Yew Tree is Huge!

 The nave is as wide as it is long with north and south side aisles .

The font seems to have been altered over the years and is very rough

The clerestory windows are quatrefoil shape and quite unusual

The rood screen is still complete and finely carved

On the centre aisle commemorating a husband and wife and 12 children

The East window

The porch windows are stained glass too

I love it when there are infomation boards, telling more about the history of the church

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Cycling Again

I used to love cycling and started with cycling to the school bus stop when I was 11, to the village to hang out with friends all through my young teens. Cycling miles to visit a boyfriend  when I was 16, and to work from one end of Stowmarket to the other in my early twenties. Cycling with one child and then two children on bike seats all through the 1980s. Then after 1992 at the smallholding when we often only had one vehicle I biked the 2½ miles to Saxmundham or Leiston for shopping every week, I had baskets back and front. At Clay Cottage I biked the six mile loop for exercise quite often, especially during covid. 

Cycling was always much easier than walking.

So why did I give up cycling 2 years ago after cycling everywhere for nearly 60 years?  My old bike (bought in 1992 I think) was steel frame, very heavy and very front heavy. It had a puncture in 2022 which BiL repaired for me but not for several months, then we had that heat wave when it was too hot to bike anywhere, then somehow the bike slid down when I was trying to get on it back in 2023 and it landed on top of me and I was put right off. I did try again once but not with any enthusiasm or confidence.  The bike was left in the garage getting rusty and I sold it for £10 last year when my knee was painful and I thought I wouldn't be able to bike again but my knee is 99% better now and cycling is good exercise.

So I'd been trying to decide all winter if I should get a) an electric tricycle or b) a non electric tricycle and neither have good reports from the cycle shop in Diss, in fact they stopped selling both because people kept having problems and they had to keep sending out their van to collect the trikes - you can't fit a trike in the back of a car or on a bike rack! You also can't get out of the way on narrow lanes or push a trike up hill.

 As it wasn't through loss of balance that I stopped cycling,  I didn't really need a trike at all, and an electric bike didn't really appeal - they are heavy and not always reliable and I'd no plans to do huge long bike rides so why not just get a new lightweight cycle - they are aluminium nowadays, with a lower 'step-over' and I could have the seat a bit lower. 

That's what I did.

My first try out was wobbly, I only went a couple of metres, the seat was too low and I had to find an allen key to adjust it up. After getting that sorted I went a mile along the flattest road near home and back again, practising braking and getting off and changing gear. The brakes are certainly very effective! The bike just has 6 gears on a special turning bit on the handlebar, very easy to change gear and the wheels are really big so each push of the pedals goes a long way.

I found the large fluffy sheepskin saddle cover that was on my old bike, it's shedding wool as if a mouse has been at it! I elastic band-ed it to the smaller saddle, but what's really needed is a squishier, larger saddle and a new cover. I really knew I'd been sitting on a solid seat after 2 miles!

Next day I did the same 2 miles again, much less wobbly, this bike is so lightweight, I was flying along- why on earth didn't I do this a few years ago??

Next day I went a bit further and down a little lane and up a no through road to a farm and back again which was just over three miles. The gears are so good I was able to cycle up one of our small Suffolk hills that I used to have to walk up with my old bike.

I don't intend to cycle miles but there are a couple of loops I can ride out of the village and back again, to get back to cycling 6 miles -  It's all very exciting! 

Back Tomorrow

The End of the Week

 Eldest Daughter and the two Grandsons in Surrey were due on Tuesday for a three night stay. We were planning to get all the cousins together for a couple of trips out, to the seaside and RSPB Minsmere maybe.

She rang me Easter Sunday to say both boys had picked up tummy bugs. Oh Dear. The nearly 10 year old recovered in a day but the 4 year old wasn't so lucky. No chance of them travelling up on Tuesday after all.

Luckily YGS recovered and so they were able to come on Wednesday. We soon got the two Surrey boys  meeting up with their three Suffolk cousins in my bungalow = chaos.

 

Just one trip out, meeting up at Aldeburgh for a picnic, sailing boats on the boating pond, loading the beach stones into toy dumper trucks for the two youngest while the three eldest zoomed up and down a slope on two - much too small balance bikes - belonging to the two youngest - weird, but it kept them amused for ages.

Ice creams for all!  By chance they are sitting here in age order, Eldest Granddaughter is still taller than Eldest Grandson, but he's catching up.

After much too short a time they were off back to Surrey.

Now it will be a quiet weekend, car boot sales of course - weather permitting. Plus I must get the electric propagator onto the windowsill in the spare room and get some seeds started. 

And reading..............

Several people said they'd enjoyed reading 'The Eights' by Joanna Miller when it was in my library book photo and I did too. I'd  found details of it on a blog and a vlog and it had good reports.

It is the first book by this author and on a blog someone commented they hoped there was a sequel and it certainly sets itself up for more of the story.

Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1,000 year history, the world's most famous university has admitted female students.

This is the story of four women, all very different, who find themselves in adjoining rooms in their first weeks at university. It follows them through their first year, their secrets, fears and hopes for the future - just two years after the war which still casts a long shadow. 

 

Have a good weekend folks, I'll be back Monday 

 

Cleaning.

In the list of things I don't buy on yesterdays post I mentioned that I don't buy many branded cleaning products. 

My cleaning things are these below.

 For the few bits of washing up that I do in the sink I still have some Ecover Washing up liquid - in the 5 litre container  that's very well travelled as it's lasted years. I decant into a small bottle for the kitchen windowsill. The spray bottle is window cleaner which is white vinegar, washing up liquid and filtered water. 

Beside the spray bottle is Ecover general purpose cleaner which I use on the floors. Only a little is needed so it lasts ages.

The big tub back right is soda washing crystals that I use in the washing machine along with a Smol capsule. The soda gets rid of any smells and keeps the machine clean too. I've now cancelled my Smol subscription as they've started charging for packaging and delivery. I'll be trying another eco-friendly manufacturer next time I need some.

In front of the tub of soda crystals is my kitchen salt, used to scrub my wooden chopping board and to put down the kitchen  sink plughole sometimes -  with boiling water. 

The dishwasher tabs are in the box in the centre, again I've just cancelled my subscription and will be trying Ocean Saver company or going back to Ecover.

In the pottery tub standing on the Smol laundry tab box is bicarb (bought in bulk) which I use as a mild abrasive for cleaning sink and wash basins.

The other things that I use are dishwasher salt as it's such a hard water area, Harpic loo cleaner ditto the hard water - nothing else I've tried works. Sometimes I use Oust limescale remover stuff recommended  for cleaning the coffee machine.  (You know you live in a hard-water area when water left in a glass leaves a ring of scale after just a couple of days!)

Now and again I have to buy some vicious drain un-clogger for the en-suite basin as the builders used a right angle drain to take the waste out through the wall and I don't think it slopes enough. Too complicated and too late to do anything about it now - the company are no longer in business!

I'm sure some will think this is still too many bought products, but it suits me. 

Thanks everyone for comments - family here - so apologies for not replying to comments....bit busy.

Things I don't Buy At All or Not Very Often

Pinched this idea from a vlogger........

Things I don't buy at all or not very often. 

Not buying some things leaves money for buying others - like books!

• Lottery Tickets 
• Hair stuff or any products other than shampoo.
• Make up and beauty products
• Ready Meals that just need heating in the microwave
• Multi-buys - they tend to be branded products and Aldi don't do BOGOFs anyway
• Pre-cut fruit and veg.
• Bottled water
• Fruit juices
• Fizzy Drinks
• Alcohol
• Fabric softener and scent boosters
• Scented candles
• New ornament type things
• A huge variety of branded cleaning products
• Meal deliveries - like Just Eat and Deliveroo - not even sure if they would deliver here anyway
• Magazines and Newspapers
• Manicures
• New gadgets that do different things in the kitchen - I have all the things I need.
• Jewellery
• Air Fresheners or plug in scented things

There are some of that list that might be useful with age - I can see how ordering meals from a company like Wiltshire Farm Foods could be handy and better than supermarkets. And preprepared fruit and veg for anyone with arthritis etc.

Back Tomorrow

Finding Out.

  Walking through the church yard across the road from home I noticed so much of this tiny plant, it wasn't familiar to me, yet it was everywhere and I don't like not knowing what something is.

Eventually found it in this book

There it is...........Field Woodrush. Latin name Luzula campestris.

I discovered it has a common name of "Good Friday Grass". I found it on Easter Saturday! .

 "A short tuft forming rush, the leaves are fringed with white hairs. It's brown flowers, appearing from April to May,  form clusters on top of greenish stems. Common and widespread."

The yellow on my sprig is pollen and a lot was left after picking it up from where it was laying on  my laptop for the photo. Hope it's a pollen of use to bees etc as there was plenty of it in the churchyard.

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All Saints, Wetheringsett.

This church never used to be open much when I lived nearby and drove and cycled by regularly but now it sometimes is, so at last I was able to go in for photos although I'd stopped on the off-chance so only had my phone camera. 

 Just inside the gate into the churchyard is this lovely big patch of mixed wild flowers, bluebells and white bells, primroses, cowslips.

All Saints is a large church, sadly now only used for services once a month and a weekly coffee morning.

Despite my poor photo the tower isn't leaning! It dates from the C14 and the rest of the church was rebuilt in the 15th Century with the usual Victorian updates.

The sign says "Mind Your Head- Low Door" and it really is a small door inset into the old one

It's a wide church with side aisles and large clerestory windows. It's very puzzling how the chancel looks so green from a distance - it must be from the trees outside and the tint of the windows because, as you can see from the closer photo of the altar it isn't painted green at all

The large East window depicts the Sermon on the Mount from the end of the C19

Three sedilia in the sanctuary, all different heights

The font dates from the C16 and the cover is a more recent memorial for a villager.

The roof beams are quite impressive 

There are two new stained glass windows by Helen Whittaker installed in 2023.

In 2016 the village put up a memorial to Richard Hakluytwho was Rector 400 years earlier. He was considered to be the very first travel writer. He found accounts of some of the first people to explore North America and encouraged more exploration and settlements.

Signs were put all around the village back roads making a six mile cycle route right around the village, which I biked many times, especially during lockdown.

In some churches  the stairway to the long gone rood loft is way out of reach but here it's easier to see.

Suffolk Church number 132 visited since 2018!

Back Tomorrow

The First Art Show of the Year

I always go and look at the Annual Easter Art Exhibition at Needham Market Community Centre.

 

I'm afraid I didn't buy a catalogue so can't name the artists or the prices, which I'll probably get told-off about! Apologies.

Just a few photos of some of the paintings I liked.

Runner Ducks

Three tree paintings by two different artists

Bird lino cuts by Norfolk artist Deborah Key, she exhibits at all the local Art Exhibitions. I have two of her pictures on my 'art wall' 

I'm not usually a fan of plant paintings but this one below of Chinese Lanterns is very colourful

General views

These below are quite unusual and fun, all things that can be seen in Suffolk

As usual Helen Maxfield was showing her lino cut prints, she tends to use a different main colour each year. 5 out of the 6 below are hers, the fox is by someone else

Aldeburgh Beach - a very popular subject for Suffolk painters

And Southwold beach too

There were also lots of unframed pictures and greetings cards but nothing appealed this year.

Back Tomorrow