The Boat Race

The very first University Boat Race took place in 1829. It was started by two friends who had both been at the prestigious Harrow school but then one went to Oxford and one to Cambridge. They met up one day rowing at Cambridge and decided on the race.

On the 10th of February 1829, a letter was sent from Cambridge stating ​​that “the University of Cambridge hereby challenge the University of Oxford to row a match at or near London, each in an eight-oared boat during the ensuing Easter vacation.”

And ever since, except for the war years, and in 2020 due to Covid, they have raced sometime around Easter, depending on the tides. . It's 4.25 miles of very hard rowing.

In 1877 the race ended in a dead heat and the closest finish was in 2003 when Oxford won by 1 foot. The number of wins stands at Cambridge 88 and Oxford 81. There have been several sinkings and protesters disrupted the race in 2012.

The first women's race was in 1927 and annually since 1964 and was originally on a different day to the men's race but has been on the same day since 2015.

The race  was first broadcast on BBC radio in 1927 and was televised for the first time in 1938. After almost 100 years the BBC lost it's right to show it. So today  it's on Channel 4. I just hope they don't stop for adverts in the middle of the race!

With Suffolk being next door to Cambridgeshire that's who I've been supporting for the last umpteen years, it was always something we watched as I was growing up and will watch this year too.

Coverage on C4 begins with the build up at 1.30 and race start timings are............. 

• 2:21pm – Women's Boat Race.
• 2:36pm – Women's Reserve Boat Race.
• 2:51pm – Men's Reserve Boat Race.
• 3:21pm – Men's Boat Race.

Have a good weekend, mine will be  very quiet one on my own. I don't have Easter eggs but made scones and bought clotted cream for my Easter treat- with the 'compost jelly' made last month - all very yummy!

         

                                                       Who needs to spend £s on Easter eggs!

The 1st April Library Book Photo

Brought home these library books yesterday from the Mobile Library, and they will be round again in four weeks and it will still be April - so that's why it's the 1st April Library Book Photo. Almost all the books were reserved online and as usual there are some authors I know and others I wonder where the information came from to give me the idea for reserving.

The two crime by Jim Kelly I know will be good and 'The Double Turn ' by Carol Carnac, who is one of British Library Crime Classics best authors. The other BLCC, 'Sky High' is by Michael Gilbert. 'Murder at the Castle' is by an author I don't know and the same with Claire Anders. I did say I wouldn't read any more Devon crimes by Stephanie Austin as they are a bit light , but I seem to have reserved another. I know I saw 'The Eights' by Joanna Miller on a book blog. The one with a T on the spine is teenage fiction by Laura Wood that I read about somewhere and the Persephone is one of their recent re-prints "Crooked Cross" by Sally Carson. On the right are two non-fiction 'The English Path' a reprint by Little Toller books that I've had before but didn't read and 'On Gallow's Down' by Nicola Chester is a memoir of countryside life , she wrote 'Ghosts of the Farm' which I read and enjoyed  earlier this year.

Below - In March there were eight brought home. I was just a few pages into The Potting Shed Murder before deciding it was rubbish!. I enjoyed Moonfleet, The Place of Tides, London Can Take it, and especially Appointment in Paris by Jane Thynne. I didn't like the book by Mick Herron and the very old crime story "The Abominable Snowman "was very dated. The small book in the centre was "The Serviceberry" a book about plants and indigenous Americans, I think. I flicked through but didn't finish it.

Details of books read are on the separate Books Read 2026 Page and I'll let you know how I get on with my early April  assortment.

Back Tomorrow

Up the Lane

 I walked up the lane close to home last Saturday morning, the wind was freezing, blowing across the open fields from the West.

I saw three people walking, one dog, three people cycling - two normal and one in lycra!  and ......... 

Dandelions

Jack -by -the -hedge

                                                                    White dead nettle

                                                                       Red Dead Nettle

An animal track across the field - maybe fox but probably deer

Pink blossom in the distance

Hawthorn just coming into leaf

Blackthorn blossom finishing

 

That dot is a Buzzard circling- need a better camera for something so high. There were skylarks too - no chance of taking their photographs at all

And all the time the sprayer was going up and down the field - probably with weedkiller- luckily the wind was taking the spray away from where I was walking or I would have needed  a mask. The fields  have wheat or possibly barley growing well, no sugar beet or oil seed rape this year.

View over the village. There will soon be 70 more homes in the area that's cleared, in front of the other houses. Who will buy them is the question. 50% of the houses built two years ago at the other end of the village are still empty. You just need £500,000+ to buy one!

Back Soon

What's Happening in April?

                                                         The first of April, some might say,

                                                              Is set apart for All Fool's Day,

But why people call it so

Nor I nor they themselves do know

                                                      From Poor Richard's Almanack (1760)

April flowers from the 'Illustrated Country Year" by Celia Lewis. From left to right they are Bluebell, Yellow Archangel, Bugle, Forget-me-not, Petty Spurge, Wood Spurge, Ramsons, Cuckoo Flower or Ladys Smock and White Dead Nettle.

April was Aprilis in Roman times derived from aperio to open. Giblean in Scots Gaelic. Apryle in Scots, Aibrean in Irish Gaelic, Averil in Manx and Ebrill in Welsh.

April weather, rain and sunshine both together

April wet, good wheat

April has 30 days, and if it rained on 31 no harm would be done

A dry April is not the farmer's will

April wet is what we should get

Till April's dead, change not a thread.

April full moon tomorrow in the UK - it has many names in the past, the Pink Moon,  Budding Moon, Seed Moon, New Shoots Moon.

The mobile library will be bringing me a nice lot of books - fingers crossed,  then Easter weekend coming up, a very quiet one for me. Easter Events are almost all for families, no fun if alone. The nearest car boot starts as long as we don't get inches of rain, then ED and the two grandsons are coming up from Surrey for a few days as long as they can get fuel for their car OK. One garage here had no diesel at the weekend.

Once they've gone I'll be able to get the windowsill electric propagator out and get seeds started.

Mid month I'll be another year older - all downhill towards 80 then!

On the financial side of things it's always an expensive month with TV Licence, House insurance, birthdays and this year a bill for the boiler repair too.

And before we know it May will be on the horizon.

Back Tomorrow

March Accounts = Spending and More Spending

 Thank you for all the comments on the shopping post. I promise not to do it again - unless I have a shortage of ideas for posts sometime.

This is how March went on the financial front..................Please don't read it if it's too long and boring. 

The bill for the February toilet repair (£222) and the February annual boiler service (£144) appeared in the first week of March. ( The boiler repair bill for the water pressure tap thingy will arrive next month)

 I booked the car in for it's annual service and MOT mid month and to get the clutch checked -something wasn't right with it. The car also needed new brake pads and discs and the guys changed the clutch master cylinder - what ever that is - they said they'd had another car with the same problems a while back but could never get the clutch to play up when they tried it but that car hadn't been back in after doing the cylinder  so with any luck they will have cured it. The total bill was big..... £645!.....heck! Tom told me the cam-belt will need doing next year when the car is 10 years old - oh goody!

No Council Tax again in March, but the letter came about what it will be from April and it's gone up by a whopping £8 a month. It will be £171.86 in April and  £174 for the other 9 months. I get a 25% discount for being alone.

Other direct debits and regular expenses were the usual phones and broadband, charity donations, diesel for the car, monthly electric bill and came to £208.

I had to buy a new wheelbarrow this month, the old one came here from the smallholding via Ipswich very small bungalow and Clay Cottage. BiL had replaced the wheel and repaired the fixings before but it had really come to the end of it's life. I thought a new one would see me out. It's lighter than the old one too and has a puncture proof tyre. I need a wheelbarrow to get compost bags and growbags from the car to the back garden. Apart from that only  garden spending was on the primulas from a boot sale mentioned earlier in the month.

Other spending was for the window cleaner,  a new indoor doormat from Aldi as well as the small bits from boot -sales. Smol laundry and dishwasher tabs (they're now charging for delivery so I may have to abandon them and change to another eco-friendly company.) Bought a booklet of second class stamps - as they are going up again next month. Birthday gifts for sister and son in law and mini easter eggs ready for the Grandchildren's egg hunt. £4 was spent on sunflower hearts for the birds and finally I sent for a new basic TV remote to replace the one that packed up, but can't get it to work, it should work automatically. Luckily I still have the smart remote to use. I'm going to take both remotes to the TV shop in Diss soon as they have a thing that can check if it's the remote or the TV sensor playing up.

Personal  spending was some flowers early in the month, Keep Moving Group, a new Puzzler book, a much needed haircut and 50p on one second hand book and finally I bought myself some new croc type slip on outdoor shoes - but ones without holes all around them - so I can work outside without getting wet feet. I've been meaning to get a pair to replace the ancient crocs  all winter and finally saw some at a sensible price.

Phew - what a month - Outgoings were definitely more than incomings this month! and April will be  nearly as bad.

Any penny savings? Mostly just the usual

• Used apple and pear peel and raspberries that were in the freezer to make compost jelly.
• Handy kitchen bits from boot sale at 50p each
•  Reading library books for free.
• Bread machine used for 50/50 wholemeal white bread and pizza bases and fruit loaf
• Batch making pizza topping 86p + 70p+ 10p = £1.66 ÷ 5 = 33p each
• Bought 2nd class postage stamps before they go up in price again - never use 1st class.
• Dish washer only used every other day
• Checked cheapest local place for diesel for car - keeping it topped up Just In Case.
• Avoided using tumble dryer all month
• No magazines, newspapers etc

Back Tomorrow

When and Where I Food Shopped in March

Whoop Whoop (that was an ironic whoop whoop!)  lots of shopping photos but  apologies - this is a long post full of lists! I gathered all the shopping photos together and realised it was a looooong post but thought it might be interesting to see what was bought and how much it costs, before prices shoot up again.

First was just a very small quick shop and was actually on the last day of February but I'd already done the February shop post and done the accounts in my book so put it down as March. I went to Diss because my planned change away from the  weird ingredients  in Pringles, when something with crunch is needed,  is a change to nuts. I wanted to compare Aldi to The Grape Tree (No Grape Tree in Stowmarket). Not comparing price as I knew the latter is way more expensive than Aldi  but it was more the quality that I wanted to check. 

Prunes, carrots and value range cashews from Aldi £4.42 , eggs from the roadside stall have gone up to £1.25 for six and the bigger bag of cashews from The Grape Tree were £4.99.

Total spend £10.66 - (I decided it wasn't worth the extra to buy from The Grape Tree and anyway peanuts are cheaper so I shall be alternating) 

My proper first shop, a week later was a lot more, everything from Aldi except the tea-bags.

Not pictured as they went straight into the freezer are two Linda McCartney mozzarella veggie burgers, Thankfully British apples and pears are still  around. Aldi yeast has gone from 8 sachets in a cardboard box to 6 sachets in a pack wrapped in film for the same price I think. A big cauliflower and leeks - again British. Self Raising Flour, Penne pasta, noodles, a bar of cooking chocolate and choc drops(for the next batch of brownies) and dried prunes. For the fridge... 1 dozen eggs,  Cheddar and Stratford Blue cheese, mozzarella ball (which I cut in half and freeze for topping pizzas), 4 pints milk and 250g butter. Salted peanuts (Cheaper than cashews, bought to use as a snack instead of Pringles) and from Asda (have to spend over £5 to get back the £1 car park fee) a huge box of tea-bags - they'll last me most of a year! Junk food from QD was a couple of packs of the Dunkables broken/misshapen chocolate biscuits - the ones I had back in February had a good mix of all sorts of chocolate biscuits.

Total spend £40.31

Another week later 

Everything from Aldi again. Vegetables were Salad leaves, purple sprouting broccoli, celery, mini potatoes, baby plum tomatoes. Fruit in season British Apples and pears . Into the fridge Extra mature cheddar, Shropshire blue and 'salad' cheese (aka feta). For the freezer 2 packs of sweet potato fries, petit pois peas and fish in batter. For the store cupboard - wholemeal bread flour, cashews, multi grain crackers, ground coffee, jar of olives and stock cubes. 4 pints of milk also into the freezer. Total spend £30.89

The next week I went to Diss to do a tour of the charity shops and to look at the new B&M. There is one in Stowmarket but it's on the edge of the town centre and I usually can't be bothered to walk right through town and their car park has to be paid for with no way to get the money back, unlike the car park at Asda.

There were a couple of things I needed so did a small shop while in Diss at Aldi and Morrisons.

The only things I got in B&M was the Fray-Bentos steak and gravy pie for £2 to put in the cupboard for when I next wanted a meat meal - been a long time since I had one of these (they are £3 in Morrisons) and some mini easter eggs ready for egg hunts with grandchildren when ED and the two boys are up from Surrey just after Easter. They're not counted in food spending so not in the photo.

From Aldi - veg was a savoy cabbage (cut off the photo by mistake), 2 little gem lettuce and a red pepper. I got 6 more apples as they were one of their specials '6 reduced price' this week.. For the fridge just cheese and a pack of crumpets to go in the freezer. For the store cupboard  I bought more ground coffee, didn't need it but apparently it's one of those things that are going to shoot up in price. I would have got de-caf too but they didn't have any. Also peanuts.

Into Morrisons where they have rape seed oil,  (which I always hope might be locally grown). Cooking oil is another thing supposedly liable to shoot up in price due to the current ongoing war- Aldi only have sunflower and 'vegetable'(which could be anything). Rapeseed oil is canola in the US and Canada. Carrots that I forgot to get in Aldi, and two lots of plums which were on some sort of extra  special offer at 52p punnet. A bargain treat all the way from South Africa.......the opposite of local!

Total spend £18.37

 

After the car boot sale a couple of weeks ago I went into town for Superdrug and to take some books back to the library and needed to spend £5+ in Asda to get my car park £1 money back again. 3Kg Allinsons bread flour  £3.40 and value range drinking chocolate £1.77 to mix with a tub of expensive Divine Drinking Choc that I 'found' in the cupboard - way past it's BBE date and it was discontinued it in 2024 but sealed and still good.

Total  £5.17

The only things bought from the  boot sale last weekend were these two small boxes of shortbread fingers for 50p each which is way less than shop  half price- still well in date too.

£10.66 + £40.31 + £30.89 + £18.37+ £5.17 + £1  =    £106 .40

Add £1 for Rhubarb from a house in the village and eggs from roadside stall £1.25 = £108.65

Finally, I called in at Aldi as I wanted something that was advertised as being in the middle aisle for my Sister's birthday. No luck with what I wanted - they were not in until Sunday (and turned out to be unavailable anyway) but they did have just two packs of decaf ground coffee, which I couldn't get from Diss - so I bought both - £2.99 each = £5.98

So March food shop was £108.65 + £5.98 =  £114.63, slightly below average  (February was even lower at £88) 

 No doubt that two lower months just means April shopping will be more, and ED and two boys are here for a couple of days so I'll need some extra different things and hopefully will have enough of interest to blog about other than Shopping!

Towards the End of March

Weird weather week here in Mid Suffolk and Wednesday had a really cold wind. Thursday morning a very thin layer of snow on the car roof. March Many Weathers for sure. 

It's good to have all the new ladies at Keep Moving Group but they all know each other so tend to only talk amongst themselves - difficult to get them to help with things too and to get them to stop talking!! Oh well, it's my fault for putting the group details on the local villages facebook pages! but previously it's just been one or two new people at a time. 11 is a bit overwhelming. The lady who has been leading our exercises for  a year now has been poorly so me and another lady have been sharing the leading. We have all the exercises written down and have been doing them for 3 years now so it's just a case of standing at the front and  working through them.

Being short of blog ideas I've already posted about virtually everything done in the kitchen this week except for making a big pan of pizza topping. It was two tins of plum tomatoes without the juice, onion chopped small and almost all of a red pepper, I saved a piece for my salad. Seasoned the mix with  oregano and divided into 5 portions.

I walked up the road to post a letter and saw this bundle of rhubarb for sale out the front of a house, luckily I had £1 in my pocket. I wiped them all and chopped and popped in the freezer. I shall add to some apple I have in the freezer and make a big crumble for when family are here after Easter.

This book below was a good read, a small girl growing up during the war years on the edge of London. 

In 1939, Valerie Braunston and her family hoped the war would pass them by in the quiet neighbourhood of Bush Hill Park, Enfield. But as the Blitz began, her carefree childhood became a daily fight for survival. Valerie endured air raids, rationing and a fractured education while London was battered for eight relentless months. By 1944, V-1 and V-2 rockets forced her evacuation to a pig farm in Lincolnshire, but she quickly plotted her return to London to pursue her dream of becoming an actress.

Years later, after Valerie moved into care at 88, her son found a manuscript while clearing out her house. Discovered beside a jammed-up typewriter, it captured her memories of that time, infused with her humour and resilience.

I've also finished the book by James Rebanks - The Place of Tides.

One afternoon many years ago, James Rebanks met an old woman on a remote Norwegian island. She lived and worked alone on a tiny rocky outcrop, caring for wild Eider ducks and gathering their down. Hers was a centuries-old trade that had once made men and women rich, but had long been in decline. Still, somehow, she seemed to be hanging on.

Back at home, Rebanks couldn’t stop thinking about the woman on the rocks. She was fierce and otherworldly – and yet strangely familiar. Years passed. Then, one day, he wrote her a letter, asking if he could return. Bring work clothes, she replied, and good boots, and come quickly: her health was failing. And so he travelled to the edge of the Arctic to witness her last season on the island.

This is the story of that season. It is the story of a unique and ancient landscape, and of the woman who brought it back to life. It traces the pattern of her work from the rough, isolated toil of bitter winter, to the elation of the endless summer light, when the birds leave behind their precious down for gathering, like feathered gold.

Another excellent book and the last of my library books until next week- reading from my shelves for the next few days then.

 Clocks Forward this weekend, have to remember how to do the car clock again - it's easy - once I remember. Have a good weekend - I'll be back Monday.

Eventually Using The Parsley Honey

  Writing that post about parsley  for yesterday  reminded me that I'd  written about making parsley 'honey' back in 2023 HERE and still have some in the cupboard. It was too runny to use on toast and I've thought about tipping it away a few times but then hung onto two small jars, 'just in case'. It's still perfectly OK and that old post told me that I was going to bake some loaf cakes and use the very runny honey like you would lemon drizzle mix to pour over the top after it comes out of the oven. I'd completely forgotten that plan.

So that's what I did. I usually do two at a time when making lemon drizzle loaves but thought I'd better just do one honey drizzle cake 'just in case'.....again.

I skewered a  few holes in the cake when I took it out of the oven and spooned over some of the very runny 'honey'. It worked  well. 

Very delicious.

Back Tomorrow

Parsley

Years ago I always grew parsley from seed every year - that was when I was growing herbs for sale. More recently I've just been buying a pot from the supermarket each spring.

 Usually Parsley grown in one year dies back with the frosts over winter and then comes back a little in Spring before running to seed.

It's been so mild this winter that my parsley is still looking green and healthy and very usable.

It was way back in May last year when I bought this sad looking pot of parsley from Aldi at half price of 39p. Supermarket parsley in a pot is always dozens of seedlings rather than just one plant. I stood the pot in water for a while, divided into three and potted up two thirds putting the other third in the garden with that frame over to protect from neighbours cat digging it up. Poor cat was killed on the road not long after this but I didn't bother to move the framework.

39p pot of sad parsley!

I was able to cut plenty to use for potato salad last week - very useful.

According to the book "The Garden Apothecary" there are other uses for parsley apart from the well known. The Romans used it as a breath freshener after a meal rather than in the meal and it was grown as a fodder for horses and only became a culinary herb in the Middle Ages.

Culpepper the C17 herbalist said

The leaves of parsley laid to the eyes that are inflamed with heat, or swollen, doth much help them, if it be used with bread or meal and being fried with butter, and applied to woman's breasts that are hard through the curdling of their milk, it abates the hardness quickly, and also takes away black and blue marks coming of bruises or falls.

I seem to remember that years ago it was just used as a garnish on a plate - never eaten. Seems odd to say that  now.

Back Tomorrow

Compost Jelly

 I'd been saving apple and pear peel for about 6 weeks and popping in the freezer, until I had a big bag full. I  added the bag of raspberries that were put in there last summer before I found the dry weather had made the raspberry seeds very hard. My jam pan was full . 

When everything defrosted and settled down in the pan I added about a pint of extra liquid and cooked until it became a pulpy mixture.

Then strained through a jelly bag all day. The basin of juice was put in the fridge overnight and next day warmed  up, sugar added and boiled until setting point. It didn't make a huge amount but as I have no jam it will be handy.

 I'll use some of the jelly when I make scones soon - for Easter perhaps- and get some clotted cream to go with them for a treat.........sounds like a plan!

I made this a couple of years ago using blackberries and peel, I  think the original idea for this came from Sue in Lancs - Thank you - it's a fun make.

Back Tomorrow

Food of Many Colours

 I like colourful food.

I thought that I'd done a post about colourful food not long ago but when I searched it turned out to be back in May 2024, so nearly two years and I'm still eating colourful, mostly made from scratch, food..

I thought this meal looked very colourful. It was a home made Scotch Egg, using own dried breadcrumbs and baked in the oven rather than fried. A handful of orange sweet potato fries cooked at the same time as the scotch egg. Then lots of green salad leaves, celery and mini plum tomatoes with a small splodge of mayo.

Not so pretty but very tasty........Leek and bacon pilaff with a chunk of home made focaccia bread, which I'd pulled a piece off to eat while I was waiting for the rice to cook !

I buy the very cheap bacon pieces from Asda (£1 for a 500g pack) and divide up into 5 portions before freezing. So bacon 20p, leek 58p, rice and a stock cube =pence. (At the opposite end of the spectrum - I only ever buy the locally produced sausages from Lane Farm. Two chipolatas of theirs, in the freezer since Christmas, were skinned and flattened and used to wrap the egg for the scotch egg)

Warm pasta salad includes peas, baby plum tomatoes, olives and feta cheese and a spoonful of mayo.

A quiche made using one portion of that cheap bacon mentioned earlier, onions and cheese and 3 eggs feeds me for 4 days, twice with carrots and broccoli

and twice with home made potato salad and mixed salad leaves, celery and olives.

Lots of colour in a chicken stir-fry below. The veg were carrots, onion and chopped cabbage leaves. I buy the pack of  British chicken mini breast fillets for £3.99 for 600g from Aldi - these were bought in February- and were divided up into 5 portions before freezing.

Carrots and cabbage again this time with my penultimate piece of nut roast made several weeks ago - probably just before Christmas and some quick gravy.

 
Back Tomorrow

Local Council Newsletter and ITFC on TV

 Our local District and County Councillor really looks like a member of the Green Party! It's the beard that does it.

He's a good bloke and does what he can for the villages he represents. He has lived in the same local village all his life so knows the area well.

The government wanted to abandon local council elections until they'd decided how Local Government in Suffolk was going to be reorganised. They've been persuaded to let the vote go ahead. Labour and Conservatives are frightened they're going to lose many Council seats to Reform - that won't be a happy outcome. I'm not sure it will happen here - we shall see.

It's quite funny, or it would be if it wasn't costing ratepayers money, but this will be the second local government reorganisation in my lifetime. We might even go back to what it was before it was all changed in 1974.

Anyway Andrew has come up with one idea that I heartily agree with. 

A few weeks ago, when I went across to the coast there were Road Closed signs every mile for 4 miles before the place that was actually closed - no diversion - most people in cars carried on regardless and then did a detour down a tiny lane around the obstruction. I have no idea what large trucks did. 

*****************************

I put the TV on  Saturday midday to see what was on in the evening (nothing much except athletics)  and discovered Ipswich Town  were about to kick off -  playing Millwall live and televised - Surprise! and a rare occurrence. I find it hard watching as it means holding my breath half the time! The result was a 1- 1 draw.

Ipswich is on the shortlist for City of Culture 2029 which is odd because Ipswich isn't a City. Last time I went into the town centre there were dozens of empty shops and everywhere looked very sad. I'm not sure what a chunk of money for 'Culture' would do to help.

Back Tomorrow

Another Week Rushes By

January has 31 days and March has 31 days but somehow the March days whizz by at a faster rate than the January days!

Last Sunday I had a lovely Mother's day meal out with the Suffolk bits of the family and lovely gifts too. Cards and flowers, a book and a cool feel  pillow .

On Monday, instead of bread, my machine made a couple of pizza bases. Not round and neat but at less than 20p each that doesn't really matter.

 

After the machine mixes the dough they are shaped, left to rise and baked for 5 minutes to dry them and then into the freezer.

I'm right out of homemade pizza topping so that's a batch make for next week.

Ian, the heating engineer came and got the boiler permanently repaired so now if the pressure drops I can fix it myself, (the bill will arrive next month) on the same day my car went in for it's annual service and MOT and to have the clutch sorted too. Tom, Nathan and Ashley got all that done, the bill arrives on the same day......it was large!

This week I've been grateful for

• My lovely family
• The bread machine
• Sunshine
• Being able to afford to have things repaired!

Hope you have a good weekend - the forecast here in Mid Suffolk is fine and daytime temps between 11 and 15 ℃ right through to next Wednesday, which is not too bad at all.

Spring Has Sprung

 

The Vernal/Spring Equinox is today, the moment with equal hours of daylight and darkness, so whether you think Spring starts on the 1st of March or at the Equinox, either way..............it's definitely here.

Spring has sprung

The grass has riz

I wonder where the birdie is? 

The birdie is upon the wing,

No, that's absurd

The wing is on the little bird

This is the segment from the wheel of the year for Spring from my book 'Ceremonies of the Seasons'.

 The day was once known as Ostara, the Pagan festival celebrating Eostre, Saxon or Germanic Goddess of Spring. There is a story that Eostre found a wounded bird and to save it's life she turned it into a hare, but even though the bird looked like a hare it was still able to lay eggs. As a thank you to the goddess the hare decorated the eggs and gave them to her as gifts. Eostre was often depicted as having a hare's head on a human body. 

The word Vernal comes from the Latin vernare meaning To Bloom

(Resorting to repeating blog posts from past years!)

Horse Chestnut

 After cutting out this page below from last years Folklore Diary for my scrapbook I decided to do some 'Following a tree' posts through 2026.

Horse Chestnut trees (Aesculus hippocastanum). Were introduced to Britain in the late C16 and native to the Balkan States, they can grow to over 120 feet tall. They were often used for ornamental avenues of trees in parkland.

It says

 "in folklore the horse chestnut is associated with bringing wealth and carrying conkers in your pocket would ensure you will always have money. The beautiful large flowers on a may time horse chestnut tree were known as 'Mary's candles' due to the Catholic association of the Month of May and Mary, Jesus' mother. The tree's name may derive from the base of a plucked leaf looking like a hoof or horseshoe shape."

The only Horse Chestnut I know of locally is in the car park of our village health centre where doctors and pharmacy serving this and several other villages  are based. I still have lots of conkers from this tree on my window sills - and no spiders all winter.

The older Horse Chestnut in February

And there's a ditch between the edge of the car park and the tree so I couldn't get close enough for photos of the trunk.

Then I remembered there's a young Horse Chestnut on the playing field of the village hall where we do the Keep Moving Group, much easier to get to. 

Below is the young Horse Chestnut tree in March 

The trunk of the young Horse Chestnut, the bark is grey brown and scaly.

A not very good close up of one of the 'sticky' buds - I need to take my proper camera

I'll follow this tree through 2026, taking pictures around the middle of each month.....remind me!

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