The August Library Book Photo

 A nice collection of 8 books that I'd reserved all arrived for me to collect this week. I also picked two more from the shelves.

There are 6½ crime! The ½ is that very small novella on the top by Racheal McLean, which I see was written and sold to benefit the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine Appeal in 2022.....and still the war goes on there.

Three of the crime books are by authors new to me but I know I'll enjoy those by Alan Parks, Robert Peston and Heather Peck. I'll find out about the others later.

Two are non fiction that I've seen mentioned on blogs - they might be read properly - or might just be skimmed through and there are two that aren't crime. The Eve Woods book was on Sues blog - I think - and I know I've read  'The Lost Bookshop' by Eve Woods a while back. The other - ' The Midnight House' by Amanda Geard popped up somewhere. No idea what it is.

The crazy thing is that there are already 5 books in transit to the mobile library depot that will be sitting on the shelves there for four weeks ready for the September visit. Future good reading!

At the end of July I collected these below and read seven.

 The BLCC 'Airing in a Closed Carriage' was given up on quite quickly and as it was a month ago I can't remember why....just that I didn't get on with it. The others are on my Books Read 2026 page as well as two more - one I picked up in Stowmarket library and one from my shelves (Rosie Thomas - Iris and Ruby - a good story, as was the other book of hers I read ages ago ' The Kashmir Shawl')

A Bigger Shop

Thank you to everyone for comments yesterday, as several readers said ....the things in that list are needed in many areas of the US if evacuation from home was necessary - my point was that it said "an evacuation bag" and it was a very long list to fit in a bag!

Anyway.............

Another fill-a-blog-post-with-shopping-photo................

 Some from Asda but most from Aldi- a more than usual spend as a couple of things were over £3 each. I can remember when it was just meat that would have been more then £3 for one item!

Top to bottom - Frozen things - 2 x Sweet potato fries £4; vegetable spring rolls £1.72; Tempura prawns £2.38; 2 Linda McCartney mozzarella burgers £2;  Ditto 2 Pies £2.50; Rapeseed oil; £3.00; 500g pack value bacon bits £1;  Allinsons White Bread flour £3.40; 2 Peanuts £1.18; Yeast 65p; Willow spread £1.07;     6 Eggs £1.49; Extra Mature Cheddar £2.45; This weeks something different treat 6 fruit Yogurts 95p; Heinz tomato ketchup £3.99; Cheese thins biscuits  95p; Pack 7  Cheese minis 99p; 4 Wholemeal baps 75p; 6 mini apples 99p; 1Kg Nectarines £2.35.

Big Spend of £37.81

Running Total for August £37.81 + £24.79 =  £  62.60

I use Allinsons bread flour mixed with the Aldi cheaper bread flour for a better rise in my bread-maker. The frozen Chinese bits have gone up in price a lot. I eat just a few with stir fried veg but will have to use less. They are still cheaper than having a take-away. I've not tried the Linda McCartney pies before so will see what they are like. The bacon bits are divided into 5 portions before freezing. Hopefully these are the last eating apples I'll need to buy for a while as my own should be edible at the end of the month (I tried one the other day - they are definitely Not ready yet!)

After the children had all left home Col and I had a discussion about tomato sauce. I said that because we didn't use much we might as well just have the cheapest of cheap. He said that because we didn't use much we might as well have the best. He won and I've bought Heinz ever since! Still don't use much and a huge bottle lasts me months....maybe even years!

In a Bag?

 I added a US blog to my reading list just to see if it was of any interest. This was one day last week - made me smile as it was titled  "50 items for your evacuation bag".

Bag? You'd need a blinkin' big truck!

Having a grab bag seems like a good idea with wild fires forcing people to evacuate homes at short notice, but I can manage without number 13! 

1. Case of water
2. Cash/credit cards
3. ALL of your prescription medications (if your house burns down, it can be difficult to get replacement refills)
4. Laptop/charging cord
5. Cell phone/charging cord
6. Important documents (passports, birth certificates, marriage/divorce/military/immigration docs, etc)
7. All of your files backed up on a thumb drive
8. Copies of financial/insurance/other important records
9. A paper map of your city/state
10. A video tour of your entire home for insurance purposes
11. Any irreplaceable heirlooms
12. Jewelry
13. Firearms/ammo/holster/pepper spray
14. Pets/carrier/leash/food/meds/water bowl, etc
15. Shoes/couple of changes of clothes for each family member
16. Toiletry kit for each family member/makeup/sunglasses
17. A bag of snacks and easy to prepare food/MREs/etc
18. Can opener/utensils, plate and bowl for each person
19. Insulated cooler
20. Wet Wipes/hand sanitizer
21. Kleenex/paper towels
22. Ziploc bags
23. Notebook and pen/envelope for receipts
24. Camping gear (sleeping bags, tent, cooking gear, mess kits, water purifier, etc)
25. Necessary health aids: dentures/hearing aids and charger/cane/wheel chair/glasses/contacts/etc
26. Stuff for infant/baby/toddler if applicable (diapers, wipes, bottles, food, formula, favorite toys, etc)
27. Stuff for elderly or infirm family members (diapers, CPAP, feminine hygiene products, etc)
28. Throw blankets
29. Weather appropriate clothing (coat, hat, gloves in the winter)
30. Tablets for each family member with pre-loaded books, movies, games, etc
31. Headphones or earbuds for each family member
32. Battery banks to recharge phones
33. Portable battery bank and solar panel kit
34. Battery box jumper for car battery
35. Portable air compressor for tires
36. Other entertainment options: coloring books/crayons, puzzle books, playing cards, etc
37. Small AM/FM radio/extra batteries
38. First aid kit/sunscreen/bug spray/umbrella
39. Vehicle emergency kit
40. Flashlights/extra batteries
41. Portable toilet kit/wag bags
42. PPEs (nitrile gloves, N95 masks, goggles, leather work gloves, etc)
43. Basic tool kit (hammer, pliers, wrench, screwdrivers, etc)
44. Spare tire/jack
45. Fire extinguisher
46. Signal material (flares, whistle, etc)
47. Specialized radios: NOAA weather, HAM radio
48. Compass
49. Knife and/or multi tool
50. Other: paracord, duct tape, tarp, zipties, sewing kit, matches

How many of these things do people really have in a grab/go/bug out bag?

£1 Addition to the 'Art Wall'

 I rarely buy anything at boot sales nowadays that I like rather than need (actually I rarely buy anything that isn't something to use Full Stop!) but spotted this little original water colour of ducks a couple of weeks ago and for £1 it seemed like an inexpensive addition to the other small pictures I have.

The photo has made the picture look a bit faded but it isn't.

I can't read the artists name but a label on the back says it was framed in Glamorgan, so I'm guessing the artist is Welsh.

There's still room for a few more pictures. .............. That is the cane topper in my summer display - it hasn't gone outside yet.

(I wish I'd caught the guy who fitted the Carbon-Monoxide alarm when he did the wood-burner  before he put it there, right where I didn't want it!)

Mum

 My Mum would have been 100 today but she died in 1999 a few months before her 73rd birthday..

 She was the second oldest in a family of 6 children although her youngest brother died very young from leukemia . Her Dad worked in dusty conditions and smoked untipped cigarettes and was often ill. Their was no spare cash. I know Mum said that all three girls passed the 11 Plus to go to Grammar School and uniform was a struggle.

She was so beautiful  - this photo has no date but she looks to be 14 ish?

She left school  and went to work at ICI in Stowmarket.(They made paint and other chemicals) She worked as a chemist testing paints and colours. Met my dad there - he was a engineer machinist.

There's a date on the back of this one - June 12th 1949

1951

We never had one of those close Mum/Daughter relationships. I think she was forever changed by the death of my real Dad in 1954 just before I was born, when they had only been married for 3 years.

1955

She married his older brother in 1958. She said she knew he would look after us - I don't think they were ever incredibly happy. He worked 5½ days a week in his builder business and I think my Mum was bored. She didn't drive and didn't really have an outlet for her intelligence.

In the 1970's she developed Rheumatoid Arthritis in all her joints, back then there wasn't any good treatment and it gradually got worse. I think she gave up wanting to move as it was so painful and that meant her muscles all gave up too. By the time our eldest daughter was born in 1980 she already found it too difficult and painful to have a baby on her lap - a huge regret. 

She also had breast cancer but after a mastectomy she wouldn't have any more treatment and hated any fuss being made. She never even mentioned she'd had cancer and always reckoned there were people worse off than she was.

After  hip replacements and then frequent infections in the wounds, so they never healed, she eventually had both hip joints removed and of course was then stuck in a chair, using a hoist to move- she Hated being reliant on Dad to help her but carers were forever changing - and never knew how  to operate the hoist so she was stuck being reliant.

It was years after she died and Dad was in hospital that they discovered he was a carrier of  MRSA so had possibly been reinfecting Mum for years. So sad.

She would have hated anyone to see this photo - Sorry Mum. The only way the children remember  her was sat in her chair in the living room. That's sad too. This photo from 1995 ish. 

Thank goodness treatment for both Rheumatoid Arthritis and Breast Cancer have improved since then.

Making an Effort

I was moaning last Saturday that the unrelenting heat and the disinclination to do anything was worrying and depression must Not be allowed to creep in just because the weather is too hot to do much. 

So I've been trying to be positive all week and it's been a tad cooler - except for Thursday and yesterday, which helped.

But annoying things kept happening............

• The greenhouse door was very stiff to slide open and when I felt along the metal track at the top I found what I thought was a stone, but it turned out to be a small washer and nut and the next thing I knew the door was right off it's top track, I lost the nut in the grass and  had to lift the door off the bottom track and lean it against the fence. I managed to find a tiny nut and washer and the runner wheel was just on the ground but it needs more than two hands to get another bit off so the door can slide back on again - help needed from BiL sometime. Hope we don't get strong winds to get into my door-less greenhouse and break the glass!
•  One of my plastic watering cans has sprung a leak - seeping out of the joints on the base if it's left standing with water in it. I've got another and a heavier metal one so it won't be replaced.
•  The  indoor slip on shoes/sandals that I wear all the time fell apart and luckily I'd bought a new pair online in the sales last year right ready. They are one of the only  things I can wear  without arch supports.

However...............trying to be positive................

1. The garden is full of baby Blue Tits and Goldfinches chitter chattering again - this must be their second hatchlings of the year. I'm glad I carried on feeding the sunflower hearts as there's probably  a shortage of food for them with everywhere being so dry.

2. I got the two scrapbooks out and went through my loose stamps and pictures to fill up some more pages. Each page has a theme rather than just random and it's sort of old fashioned scrapbooking rather than the newer idea.

Old bikes and motor cycles

Books and reading

Wartime

Night and sunset

People and chairs

Post

It's nearly five years since I started playing with scissors and glue and I like how the pages look, there are still spaces in some places to fill but only 4 more completely blank pages. I'll need to look out for another cheap watercolour book or scrapbook sometime.

3. I'm thinking about hobbies that I used to do and maybe get going on them again - it's been ages since I spotted a half-finished tapestry kit at a boot sale or charity shop - they used to turn up quite regularly. So maybe I'll have a look on ebay to see what's there.

4. I contacted friends in Essex who I'd not heard from for months to see if they were OK and arranged for them to visit later this month.

5. Had the whole week  hardly going out and without even going out for shopping (although I will today) and didn't feel depressed at all!

Being Grateful

• For the gift of windfall cooking apples from a friend at exercise group, although they were a bit wormy and only made two small bags for the freezer - (mustn't look a gift horse  apple in the mouth!)
• Very glad I didn't go out to the shops early Wednesday morning or to the midweek boot-sale as there was an accident on the A140 which closed the road for several hours, even getting a mention on the Radio 2 travel news and sending all the traffic passed my bungalow to jam up through the village - where there is also a road  closed out of the village for water main work. Goodness knows how the huge lorries managed the other small road out of the village.
• Managing to keep cool inside in that extra hot heat of Thursday and Friday.
• Thankful that there have been no field fires nearby - Feel so sorry for the people in the West Midlands who have lost their homes. 

Have a good weekend - it will be another quiet one here, more European Athletics Championships on TV to watch later  after I've been out for shopping.

St Mary's Church, Nettlestead

 Nettlestead is one of those villages that is very small, just scattered houses and farms along small lanes with a population of around 100 and tucked away a few miles south-west of Needham Market. I'd certainly never been there before.

There is a plaque in the church marking the night of 12th August 1940 when the church was seriously damaged as German bombers, returning from bombing raids on the industrial Midlands, unloaded their remaining bombs over the Suffolk countryside

The font is the only thing inside that has survived from the medieval period and has some unusual carvings and many cracks. ( I have no idea what those things are, poking out from behind the font . I didn't notice them when I took the photo)

Very strange animals and creatures on each face of the font

There is no stained glass - it was destroyed by William Dowsing in 1644 on his journeys around the east, ridding churches of anything the Puritans considered too decorative. He wrote a journal of all his journeys around Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. 

When you read of his instructions it's a wonder anything survived in any churches. Often items were plastered over or removed  and hidden before he got to the churches.

In December 1643 the Earl, as their captain-general, appointed him "Commissioner for the destruction of monuments of idolatry and superstition".^[2][6] He was to carry out a Parliamentary Ordinance of 28 August 1643^[7] which stated that "all Monuments of Superstition and Idolatry should be removed and abolished". These were specified as "fixed altars, altar rails, chancel steps, crucifixes, crosses, images and pictures of any one of the persons of the Trinity and of the Virgin Mary, and pictures of saints or superstitious inscriptions." In May 1644 the scope of the ordinance was widened to include representations of angels (a particular obsession of Dowsing's), rood lofts, holy water stoups, and images in stone, wood and glass and on plate.

A 17th century memorial was destroyed by the bombs and just the top half remains and was put on a shelf in the Sanctuary. It remembers Samuel and Thomasina  Sayer 

Brass memorials on the floor have often been removed but there is one remaining here

Horse Chestnut Photos for Mid August

 Still following the Horse Chestnut  (Aesculus hippocastanum) that's at the village hall where we have the Keep Moving Group.

Last month we were "one step below drought" now we are in "official drought conditions" and the 5th recorded heatwave so it's  surprising to see it still green and not too many falling leaves either. The roots must be good even though it's still a youngish tree.

Often by August these patches of the disease are much bigger, turning the leaves very brown. The dry weather must stop the usually quick spread.

Guignardia Leaf Blotch (Guignardia aesculi): A fungus-driven disease.

• Symptoms: Irregular dull brown or reddish blotches, often surrounded by a conspicuous yellow band, typically concentrated at the leaf tips and edges.

The conkers are growing well - again despite the drought and heat. I guess when stressed all plants strive to produce seed to make sure they survive. 

When these trees were first planted in this country they were often used to line the driveways of large country houses.

In 1699 Sir Christopher Wren was responsible for the mile long Chestnut Avenue at Bushey Park ( now a Royal Park) north of Hampton court which was originally intended as a carriage drive for William III. 

Now a special Chestnut Sunday  is held there in May in alternate years.

Oh! There the chestnuts, summer through,

Beside the river make for you

A tunnel of green gloom,

And sleep deeply above

Rupert Brooke (1716 - 83)

All the photos from each month going back to March  ARE HERE if you want to compare.

The Sun, The Running and The Courgettes

Yes, lots of people guessed right yesterday. It's a cane topper.  I would have loved to have bought a dozen but that would have been rather extravagant............... so just one for a memento and I'll carry on using flower pots on the top of all the other canes.

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There's a partial eclipse of the sun this evening - I no longer have Col's welding mask that we would have used in the almost total eclipse of 1999 except that the cloud over the coast meant we didn't see it properly. It was in the summer holidays so YD was at home and we went outside as the day went grey and felt very weird. I think there have been other partial eclipses since then - can't remember them though. I know I won't be around to see the next total eclipse as it's in 2090!

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What about the guys in the European Championships 100 metres last night -  Gold and Silver medals - how good is that. I've been enjoying watching morning and evening sessions on the BBC (unlike the Commonwealth Games a couple of weeks ago which were only on paid-for TV channels except for an hour each evening)

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As usual at this time of year I've been eating courgettes, as many as I can, every other day - there are so many it's like free food.

No apologies for repeating three of the recipes I use. I think I include them every year.

COURGETTE FRITTERS

For one person I use 1 courgette, grated. Mixed with  a tablespoon of flour, a small egg, small pinch salt and good amount of black pepper and half a teaspoon of curry powder (or not)

Drop spoons full into hot oil in frying pan and press down, turn over when browned and press down again. Drain on kitchen paper. For a different version of most fritter type recipes some grated cheese can be added but I don't and serve up mine with a couple of rashers of bacon and some tomato ketchup.

CRUMBLE TOPPED COURGETTES

COURGETTE and PESTO PASTA SAUCE

Start cooking pasta then heat a little oil in a pan on low heat then add grated courgette, cook until soft. Stir in a spoonful of pesto and then the cooked drained pasta and serve up with grated cheddar and parmesan. (I just use cheddar)

And Finally..................

A while ago Steve at Shadows and Light Blog was mentioning itchy arms after working in the garden. Courgettes leaves are one of those things that really irritate my skin along with the leaves of  beans, cucumber, goosegrass and many other things. I have to hurry in and wash arms quickly.

 

A Celebration of Ceramics

 It was a hot morning last Friday at Pot-Fest - a celebration of  clay - held at Haughley Park near Wetherden - not many miles from home. (Also held in a few other places in the country during the year)

I didn't stay long as the dusty grass made me cough. Just long enough to admire the 100+ potters showing and selling their creations.

Raku firing - we know what it is thanks to The Great Pottery Throw Down which will be back for  series 10 early in 2027. 

The potters come from all around the country with all sorts of different things. There were lots of people looking at everything.. and being in the way of good photos .....  so just a few of some of the things on show.

It would be very easy to spend several £1,000 - no trouble at all! 

Last year I got the bird seed feeder on a stake for the garden and this year I spent even less and bought this below. 

It has a use - can you guess what? It's less than 2 inches tall and wide and I really could use a dozen. But being sensible and still trying to spend less............ saving for a possible home move sometime, just one came home with me.

Answer tomorrow!

And just for comparison this is how green the grass was at the same time  last year at Haughley Park