Charity Shop Shopping?

 On one of the rainy days last month I was watching a few youtubers - I'd been looking at Railway Cottage Rebecca - she's so enthusiastic! Anyway I popped into a vlog of someone who setting out for a charity shop 'haul'. She said "I don't want to spend much............not more than £50!" Blimey! I love a good tour round the charity shops but I've never set out to spend money, definitely Not that much!

Perhaps she was buying to resell - I suppose it's still a thing, but with postage prices and so many others doing the same thing it must be difficult to earn much. I didn't stay to the end to see what she found - it was extremely boring to watch and  listen to.......as are many youtubers!

My tour round the 6 charity shops of Diss recently (there are 7 but I forgot about the Big C on my way out of town) wasn't a haul - just one thing - something that will be a Christmas present.

It's a very pretty tin holding  hand-creams for gardeners and was £4. I'd keep it myself just for the tin if I had a use for it but don't need it and the hand-creams are probably too scented for me so I will be good and put it in the cupboard for December.

 

Shopping Early For Christmas............. 2026!

I had a post earlier in the month about buying things from charity shops that would make good presents. So through December I looked to see what was in the charity shops and in the Home Start shop in Eye that I popped into on my way back from Diss, I found two things for next year.

First was this box that is holding a very lovely ceramic olive oil jug/pourer (£4.50). I know one of the local farm shops has unusual flavoured olive oils that I could add and then I spotted all sorts of flavoured olives in the Co-op. That's one present planned. 

And this box has a mini potting tray, trowel, gloves, twine etc and was also £4.50. Other gardening things could be added to this to make a gift.

And then another from  Stowmarket RSPCA charity shop - a Robin nesting-box shaped like a tea pot. The outer box is faded and dis-coloured but I can wrap the inner box, this was £4.

And then another............a tin of 10 lovely notelet cards by Whistlefish for £4. Coincidently in the cupboard I have another but different tin of cards that I found in a charity shop last year and thought would be a draw prize when it's my turn to take one to Over 60's group but then I took something else instead.

So now I have a tin for both sister and sister in law.

Add the hot water bottle found at the one-off Christmas car-boot sale and I'm doing well for next year already.

Then, when I was in Stowmarket for the Christmas trees in the Church, I found the new East Anglian Children's Hospice charity shop had reduced their Christmas cards already - a whole week before Christmas. 10 cards for £1.87 - half price.

 I've put these into next years accounts in my accounts book. So I can remember what I've spent when it gets round to Christmas shopping next year.

Back tomorrow with the annual photo Review of the Year

Christmas from the Charity Shops?

 I found some presents to fill a bag from Charity shops instead of doing two hampers with home made chutneys etc this year.(With no homegrown fruit and veg to use and not needing many myself.  I just didn't make much)

Some Baylis and Harding bubble bath balls - found two of these. A box with 4 mini gins for Sister in law came from a car boot sale and a set of three pots for herbs for the kitchen windowsill from a yard sale for my sister. It's OK to blog about them as neither sister and husband or sister in law and her husband read the blog  (their loss!) so they won't see this! I added a bottle of wine to each bag, one won sometime ago and another won in the tombola from the church Christmas fair. Plus the two food things got from Dobbies using the voucher.

The gifts are already wrapped but the bubble bath things looked like this, they were both £3.50 but from two different charity shops although when I looked on line I found they were only £3.75 each from Boots or Morrisons - so I didn't save much!

But here is a whole youtube thing about everything one family have found this year from charity shops to use for Christmas presents............ if you can cope with several minutes of build-up before she gets to the nub of the matter! and so much arm waving!

( I've tried to watch more of this ladies vlogs but she does wave arms a lot which is really off putting!)

Normally I can find things for two penfriends from car-boot sales during the year but didn't have much luck this year, ending up buying gifts from the craft fairs. But I'm a bit reluctant to buy games etc for grandchildren from charity shops or car-boots as you can never be 100% sure that they are complete.

There are  3 adult children, 2 partners, 5 grandchildren, sister and husband, sister-in-law and husband and BiL to buy for.............maybe I should start looking in charity shops now!

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The Doctor Who spin off with Russell Tovey that started on TV last night was quite dramatic I thought. Amazing what can be done with CGI and special effects - especially the plastic falling from the sky. Clever script too.

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Day 7 of the coffee advent calendar was chocolate/almond flavour which was good.

Third Jigsaw Puzzle for Autumn/Winter

 I'm nearly sorted for autumn and winter with the finding of jigsaw puzzle number 3, from a charity shop this time. Another House of Puzzles jigsaw that I'd seen online and thought it would be a good one to do. Hope the rough seas aren't too difficult.

I just need to find one more  then I'll have one each for October, November, January and February. That's enough or I'll never have time for reading!

It's handy that they are easy to spot in Charity shops because of  the box size and the small illustration on each side of the boxes. I'm looking out for a couple that I've only seen on line -( there are hundreds on ebay to look through but I'll try to find locally to save postage)- one is the signalman and the inside of an old fashioned railway signal box, with steam trains passing by and another of farm buildings with someone repairing a tractor.

 There are several from House of Puzzles  that I wouldn't want to attempt - one called Frosty Morning is all snow, sky, trees and sheep - all much the same colours and there's another of an old fashioned shop with dozens of small packets on the shelves - that looks difficult to sort the pieces and a Christmas one just has lots of similar looking and similar colour Christmas cards.  Those need more patience than I have!

Back Soon

Whoopee! Car Boot Season is About to Start...............

...................weather permitting.....tomorrow..............and the forecast is looking OK.

 I started a list  of what to look for this year

• Clothes Pegs. Just ordinary wooden ones with a spring. I tend to use these for pegging all sorts of things in the garden and bags in the freezer and then the number I have to actually peg out clothes gets less until there are hardly any in the peg bag.
• Small ceramic oblong pie dishes. Had to chuck out two small ones last year - both really badly crackled glaze.
• A new sieve - one of mine has a crack in the rim
• Interesting looking books
• Christmas Crackers
• Birthday cards - especially for men
• Useful things from house clearance people - like half used packs of baking parchment, foil, cling film etc
• A Pretty plate for Spring display - cheap
• Jigsaws for next autumn/winter

Then I was in Stowmarket a couple of weeks ago and went in the Barnardo's Charity shop where I saw a pack of pegs for £1.50 - plus the Grandson card for 50p.

So one thing crossed off before the first boot-sale even happens.

Probably far too wet underfoot for the Sunday boot-sale to start although their website says they will try, but I don't fancy getting stuck on their soggy car park.

Back Soon

Sue

The Eye Charity Shop

After yesterdays look at interesting buildings in the town here's just one more photo of a shop in Eye......

 Eye might have lost it's banks and post office recently but it has gained a charity shop.

This is the Home Start charity shop - I always pop in whenever I'm visiting or passing through the town. I wonder why they have no signage - I'd not noticed that until looking at the photo.

Of course I went in when I was doing the walk and photos for yesterdays post and came out with two things, birthday card for one of the Grandsons - there are still two under 6. Plus the Barbara Pym book which was a super find as it's one recently reprinted by Virago Modern Classics and one I've not read......£2 total spend.

Hoping for a Chinese takeaway and another pop into the charity shop sometime in the not too distant future.

Back Soon

Sue

Bigger Spend at a Charity Shop

When I got the set of Edwardian lady months of the year plates from a boot sale more than two years ago  I made room for them in the cupboard by getting rid of a couple of other plates (also boot sale finds) that I'd previously used in the seasonal display on the bookshelf, which was a daft thing to do as I'll never see them anywhere again. They were two from the Villeroy & Boch Four Seasons collection and very pretty.

Idiot!

Anyway, when I saw this in the glass display case of the Hospice charity shop I liked it even more than the two that had gone.

I bought it. It's by Royal Worcester and called 'The British Countryside in Summer'. Being in their glass display case means it cost more than I usually spend at a boot sale/charity shop but at least I can count it as a donation to charity!

Back Soon

Sue

Pretty and Useful

 Went to Diss for the computer shop for my virus protection renewal and had a tour of the charity shops. In the animal sanctuary fundraiser shop their glass case of nice things was full of pieces of Portmeirion pottery, mainly mugs and vases. Among them was this which will be used rather than stood around collecting dust.

Several weeks ago I found two enamel pie/lasagne dishes to replace two pottery ones that had very crackled glaze after being used for many years. But I discovered the two enamel were a really annoying size - too small for two portions but too big for one.

This new one is definitely a two portion pie/lasagne/serving dish - perfect size - cost me £3. It's from their Pomona range featuring redcurrants.

This was the Portmeirion vase I found a couple of months ago, it is a dust collector but one of only a few.

 Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts. Still in a low, flat spot here........ no reason.

I'm not ill, don't need a health check as having one a  month ago has forced me onto tablets to reduce the high blood pressure - been putting off  taking them for years. Perhaps the new tablets aren't helping. I can't even blame the weather as we've had the best of it over here in the East - completely different to Paris and other parts of the UK.

Comments about "knowing how lucky I am" and "valuing each day" might work for anon but I wish it were that easy!

Hey Ho!

Still watching lots of Olympic sport but the BBC is very annoying - too much talk in the studio sometimes, when I just want to know what's happening in the sports I've not seen! Then they suddenly switch to another sport and make everyone scramble to the Red Button viewing to continue what was on the main channel. 

Could spend money on a month of Discovery+ streaming but they might be just as bad. I'll just have to shut up and put up! 

Back in a while

Sue

Charity Shop Finds

After months of finding nothing in charity shops I had some good book finds in Bury St Edmunds when I had a morning  there last week

 Found this for 50p, it's yet another book that I owned once when there were over 1,000 books on the shelves and regretted getting rid of it later during one of the moves.

And I've added to my small Little Toller Books Collection with this for £2.99. Thought I'd not read it but it's in my 'Book of Books Read' from many years ago. Can't remember anything about it so it will be interesting to read again.

And finally a very unusual find for £2.50 were these - 4 copies of a quarterly publication,  a literary magazine by Slightly Foxed who reprint books from the past and sell other books too. Described on their website.............

Slightly Foxed is the quarterly magazine that introduces its readers to books that are no longer new and fashionable but have lasting appeal. Good-humoured, unpretentious and a bit eccentric, it’s more like a well-read friend than a literary magazine. Every issue of Slightly Foxed includes fiction and non-fiction, books that have stood the test of time and have left their mark on the people who write about them. It’s an eclectic mix, and our contributors are an eclectic bunch too – some well-known, others not so, but all passionate about sharing their enthusiasm for a book or author.

From £56 per year, with subscriber discounts and benefits.

All 80 back issues are available from them for £1,160! and lots are on Amazon for around £4 or on Abebooks for £2 each. My 4 copies at £2.50 were quite a bargain and plenty of interesting reading. Books about books are always good.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Charity Shop Books + Day 16

 While I was in town for shopping last week I nipped into two charity shops and found the Sudoku book in one for £2 and the other book, which I'd not come across before, in the other for 99p. It is something written in 1968 by a Suffolk Farmer telling the story of his family through the 20th Century. It's been edited more recently by Pip Wright who has written several books about bits of Suffolk local history often tracked down through newspapers, he also speaks at WIs and the like.

Day 16 of the Experiment

I took the meat from another chicken thigh joint and stir fried with onion and peppers, (both home grown) added some Fajita seasoning from the cupboard and a plum tomato and a little juice from the tin of plum tomatoes. Served over pasta. Fajita seasoning is something I always have in the cupboard and it was around 50p a packet until recent price rises have pushed the price up to around 75p on average. I use about a third of a packet, fold down and peg closed.

I completely forgot a photo but hope you can imagine a chicken, onion, pepper and tomato sauce over pasta!

I've added 25p to the running total £60.33 + 25p = £60.58p

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 10th

Winter got here on Thursday, greenhouse looking like an ice house and car frozen up, so it was the first outing this year for the windscreen cover  which was a really good buy last year, saves running the engine to defrost the windscreen, which is what my neighbour does at 4a.m.! or scraping like crazy or having to buy that nasty de-icer spray stuff. Colin used to pour a jug of warm water over the windscreen of his works van - but that's not recommended and if it gets into the side windows it stops the electric window opener switch from working until the whole thing has dried out.....ask me how I know!

Finally got the Christmas cards (with notes written) into the post box, just in time as I'd not heard about the earlier posting dates due to the strikes. I just have one more letter to put with one more card and parcel and a few to hand deliver locally and that's the end of the cards. I've had 2 cards so far, one from WI and one from my penfriend on a windy Scottish Island - thank you W for beating everyone this year despite being so far away! (and thank you for pressie and the Robin who has been added to the tree!)

And I've nearly sorted presents. Eldest Daughter and Son in Law are getting a voucher towards a new hoover - boring but useful. She said they'll get it in the January Sales - "Good Plan" I said. Son had no idea really but then said he really needed to replace their utility room door so another voucher for a well known DIY store has been purchased. Again not very Christmassy but useful. Son gave me a good idea for Daughter in Laws pressie so that's sorted, which just leaves Youngest Daughter but as she is in the middle of moving house this weekend, and a move always means something is needed, I expect she will be grateful for some money. I'm a very lazy parent when it comes to buying presents .....it was much easier when they were little! Plus now of course there are also 5 grandchildren to puzzle over.

This fella 

or actually these fellas, came from a Charity shop last month.

I felt a bit guilty because as I went into the shop a lady was looking at him, but then put it back in a box of lots of decorations and moved further into the shop. I swooped in and grabbed him and then heard another lady say to first lady "I'll have the Russian doll Santa's if you don't want them" by which time I was at the counter paying £1. I saw first lady go back to box to get him and of course he was gone! "Oh" she said "where's it gone?"

I was on my way out of the shop by then!

This is not my first set of nesting Santas, I had some many, many years ago. They stood on the mantelshelf at the smallholding every Christmas when the children were growing up until the heat from the wood-burner warped them and made all the paint flake off, by then the children had grown and flown and I expect the Santas were added to the fire!

My bargain charity shop buy is probably missing a larger Santa and teeny Santa #5 has been permanently stuck inside Santa #4 but for £1 I won't complain and the  two grandchildren who've seen them were still fascinated anyway.

 I wrote about how Santa came to look as he does HERE in a 2021 post.

I've just tried to see more than the 10 most recent posts in my list of "Blogs I read" on the right and the Show More thing isn't working - which is a tad annoying. Hope it rights itself.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

I is for Ipswich

 County town of Suffolk, population roughly 134,000, one of the oldest established towns in England and somewhere I've been going for shopping a few times a year since I was small. We always took the bus there with Mum in the school holidays and it was once full of department stores and really busy all the time.

Now like so many other towns it has many, many empty shops. This was the Co-op, huge store over two floors but has now been empty for many years.

Below is the historically important Ancient House. For many years it was home to Lakeland but they closed during Covid 

As well as the empty Ancient House beside it was once BHS - another big shop now standing sad and forlorn  and on the opposite side of the road a row of empty shops including the old Edinburgh Woollen Mill store.

There are lots more empty premises but it was too depressing to take more photos. Even the Hotter shoe shop has gone since last time I was in town, and it was always so busy.

Every now and again the Borough Council spend money on various bits of the town.

This is The Giles Statue . Giles was a cartoonist from Ipswich and his statue was on the other side of the road but money was spent moving it across the road to make "Giles Circus"

Below is the result of another  bit of "tidying and tarting up" - a photo from summer a few years ago. Now Debenhams is also closed after being the biggest department store in Suffolk.

The Town Hall

With so many empty premises the town seems to consist of coffee shops and charity shops. I avoid Costa, Café Nero and all the rest and always go for a cuppa in the old St Lawrence's Church. The staff are people being helped into work after mental health problems or learning difficulties. There is always plenty of space .

I didn't go in all the charity shops in town but in the Salvation Army shop found this little bit of Poole Pottery in the shape of a buoy, it's actually a bell, and just appealed to me for my Summer Seasonal display.

Finally found a  ring bound diary for next year for not too much money. I've been looking in The Works in Stowmarket for weeks but the Ipswich shop is bigger and had this. I like a ring bound one because it will keep open and lay flat.

There's a bargain Cancer Research Charity shop in town where they sell off leftover things from their other shops (I think) and they had lots of last years packs of Christmas cards. I really didn't need any Christmas cards but these were rather nice so they've been added to my Christmas drawer.

On the way home I called in to the out of town shopping centre to look for some lampshades for the bedroom. The Range, Dunelm and B&M all had nothing suitable.

I wonder which shops will still be open next time I venture to town.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

The End of Restrictions?

 I think all legal covid restrictions have finished today. The virus hasn't gone and will probably re-emerge again in different guises for many years, especially during the winter.  We will learn to live with the virus as we live with 'flu and be careful as necessary. Common sense reigns. 

But some people are still scared and not mixing or visiting others - when will they decide they have to be braver or will their fear never go away?

I don't think I could live in fear for the rest of my life - it wouldn't be worth living.

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The second tin I needed for Christmas Hamper cakes was found in a charity shop in Diss when I went for breakfast and to warm up in Morrisons, when the electric was off on Saturday............... Of course I did a tour of the charity shops first! 

 Also charged the phone, filled up with diesel and bought a copy of the East Anglian Daily Times to read while I waited for my bacon bap............and it was a long wait.....I reckon everyone whose electric was off had had the same idea!

A few years ago I wouldn't even have thought of going out  for breakfast, because back then I had an LPG hob and a wood-burner. 

Things always change for better or worse. We just have to do our best to live our lives. 

(This will definitely be the last post that has Strange Times as a label!)

Back Tomorrow

Sue

 

Charity Shop Find and ONS

Why are there so few recent posts with the label "charity shop finds"? I thought to myself, as I looked back through old posts.

 I always do a tour of the charity shops when I go food shopping to Stowmarket or Diss although 'looking' hasn't resulted in 'buying' much at all recently. 

But there was a good find in Diss last week, this Basildon Bond writing paper and envelopes are the same colour but the smaller size to the ones I had on my wish list and received for Christmas..They were in the Oxfam charity shop but un-priced, so I asked and happily paid 99p. I've put them in the drawer for now. I'll probably keep them or they might become a raffle prize for WI. (We all have to take something once or twice a year)

 

On Saturday morning I decided to do a 1 mile detour on my way home from a church visit and went in the Sue Ryder charity shop in Needham Market. They always have a huge selection of nice things although tend to be very expensive (I looked at a pair of 'Brand New With Tags' oven gloves - which were priced at £6 - which in my opinion is quite a lot for something that has been donated).

But a better find was a favourite  Herbal Essences shampoo for £1.50 and this big box of Duplo which will be ideal for Middle Grandsons 2nd birthday next week. It is labelled as "complete except for dog but has extra bricks" and was £8.

I had to think for a second if these prices were cheaper than new and decided Yes (I was right when I looked them up online  and found the shampoo is usually £2 and the Duplo train is £15ish)

 The pricing in charity shops often puzzles me and the £70 pound! for a set of slate table mats that I saw in the EACH charity shop in Diss seemed rather excessive.

The postman brought me a free cloth bag from the Office of National Statistics along with the code

to do another online survey. This will be the 3rd one I've done, all have been connected with finding out peoples response to covid. I should receive another £10 voucher sometime. I'll be passing the bag onto a charity shop as I always seem to get in a tangle trying to load these cloth bags with long handles.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Advent Photos 2021. December 19th and An Idea For Advent 2022

 The Scouting motto is Be Prepared and after 20 years as a Cub Scout Leader I still like to be ready for anything so when I spotted this in a charity shop it was bought straight away ready for next December's Advent blog posts!

 

Now I just have to remember this in 11 months time - can someone remind me please!

And the mention of carols reminds me that sometime this morning I must walk around to the United Reformed Church to see if this evenings carol service is on or maybe there will be a big CANCELLED stuck on the poster. I really hope not.

I so enjoyed the final of Strictly Come Dancing last night - some sparkle and happiness among all the news of doom and gloom.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

 

Saturday Round-Up Again 20th

What have I been doing this week?.........apart from raking up leaves which are falling fast now......

Around the country all WI's have their AGM in November. Ours was pretty straightforward as luckily people had come forward to take on the jobs of treasurer and secretary. The President was willing to stand again and everyone is happy about that - makes life easier if there is continuity and we don't have to vote!  We had Coffee and cakes of course. No singing Jerusalem this month as apparently there's a lot of Covid positive tests going round the village...........I had no idea.

A couple of quizzes had been organised. The first one had us rummaging in our handbags - all WI ladies have handbags! we scored points depending on which things we were carrying around and I had hardly anything compared to some of the others ...........no stamps, no photographs, no perfumes, no real handkerchief and because I cut them all up the other week I didn't even have a loyalty card that gets stamped each time (like the Grape Tree and Greggs and the hairdressers used to do). 

I walked home carrying a Holly Tree, bought off the bring and buy stall for £1. Not sure where I'm going to plant it yet but it needs straightening up when I put it in the ground.

 

 I had a good morning out on Wednesday visiting more churches and picking up a couple of charity shop bargains in the South Suffolk town of Hadleigh. There were no charity shops there last time I visited (about 15 years ago) and now  at least two.

 First another Diary of an Edwardian Lady plate - this time for April, cost me £3. (The one I found earlier in the year from a boot sale was October) .This will appear on my seasonal shelf next year.

 And most of a box of Charity Christmas cards, also for next year, for £1

 I came home from Hadleigh via the Garden Centre and got my seed compost, and the seeds I'd ordered last week were sitting on the doorstep waiting for me, so I'm right ready for spring.

I didn't have any flowers last week but this week bought a bunch of mixed flowers that are colourful.

 

This week I'm grateful for

• Some good weather for gardening clearing and I even got the grass cut
  
• A nice morning out
• Getting ready for growing some food next year

There are Christmas fairs I could go to today but then I'd probably just feel guilty about not buying any of the craft things again............so maybe not.  Perhaps I should make a start on the library books.

Have a good weekend. I'll be back Monday.

Sue

Things To Make and Do

 Why am I always tempted by craft things?

On the shelves "to do" I have 

• Terracotta self hardening clay ( found at a car boot sale) to make myself some plant labels like I made for the Hampers last year
  
• Some acrylic paints to paint pebbles(last years 12 days of Christmas  presents )
  
• A kit to make tiny books (ditto)
  
• Everything needed to make wax food wraps for gifts  (wax was bought about 2 years ago)
  
• Still lots of card- making bits
• Plenty of cross stitching materials
  

and then I found this in a charity shop in Ipswich for £2 and couldn't resist, better make them for this years Christmas Hampers.................

 

................and all the time my main hobbies are reading, writing this blog and  gardening, which ought to be enough anyway.

I think I must be afraid of  waking up one day and having Nothing To Do!

Update on the Summer of Sport - Super Sunday. The men's final result at Wimbledon was predictable although Matteo Berrettini tried hard,  Djokovic went up a gear after losing the first set.

Only watched the beginning of Le Tour before the tennis. The frequent  repeated adverts on ITV4 are beginning to drive me nuts anyway. Then THAT football match ...............I was a minute late coming back from the kitchen with my cuppa and missed the first goal - duh!- a goal after 2 minutes is a pretty good start and during the first half everything looked hopeful. Then the second half and the inevitable goal by a much improved Italy and everybody knew where this was heading.

I went to bed and listened to the end on the radio. ............A penalty shoot out.

Oh well it's the World Cup sometime next year,

Back Tomorrow

Sue

 

Two Towns and a Garden Centre

 It was so chilly here on Saturday completely different to last weekend and not sunbathing weather for sure............. at least is was fine for my morning out.

I had to take some ID to Jewsons  tool hire place for hiring a turf cutter thing this week and then went into town for a tour of the remaining charity shops. Stowmarket has lost four in the last year or so. I'd heard that the Hospice Charity Shop were going to run the coffee shop that was in the building next to their shop but it's not open yet, they are appealing for volunteers to run it. The new Aldi is also due to open next month this will be the second time they've tried to run a store in town.On the other hand Barclays Bank are about to close and Asda are having lots of building work done, not to expand as I assumed but actually to make room for the Pharmacy to move from is current position in a separate shop in the precinct into the main store, meaning the main shop will actually stock fewer lines.  It's certainly all change everywhere mostly due to Covid.

My next stop was the Garden Centre for a nice big pot and more compost ready for the Tulip bulbs which are due to arrive in August. Haven't got room for a cutting garden here but I so enjoyed the 'Florists Favourite' tulips I had at Clay Cottage that I've got some on order and will cram them in a big pot and bring a few indoors when they flower.

Thought I might as well go another mile into the next small town and visit the two charity shops there and at the Sue Ryder shop I found a few bits............

A magical book - heavens knows why - just curious to look at the spells! The little book "Five poems about teachers" is one of the Candlestick Press 'instead of a card' books. I'll put it away for when one of the grandchildren is old enough 

Next is a card from a painting of Crowfield Church. It's the only timber framed church in Suffolk and where, in normal years, I usually go for their Flower Festival and second hand book sale in May ......hopefully next year? I'll use it as a letter card and my final small purchase was a set of Jacks and a ball - hadn't seen these anywhere for years. Thought it would be fun to show the grandchildren when they are bigger.

 

These are my first charity shop finds for a while........... apart from the Persephone books in May. I still love looking around but don't often spend. 

And it was so cold on Saturday evening I had to put the heating on - not fun for June.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

 

It's taking a while..............

.......................for me to feel like I'm  living a normal life again. 9 weeks in holiday lets with nothing much to do has upset my rhythm. 

Also holding me up is not having a decent sized freezer. The one that came here was the small one I had in the back porch and my fridge is the teeny one we had during our year in Ipswich so I need to order a bigger fridge-freezer sooner rather than later. I've had chest freezers since even before we got married so I'm used to batch baking and cooking. 

At least I can start weeding the garden as my brown garden waste bin has arrived. It came on Tuesday afternoon in between showers of rain and hail, the water was running down the road. The bloke delivering it said he'd been in the South of the county with no rain. A while later my Sister's husband dropped some puzzle pages into me on his way to the doctors and he said they'd had no rain 4 miles away in their village and then later BiL Andrew (3 miles away) rang to say his neighbour's were getting rid of some paving slabs which he knew I wanted for putting under my 'dalek' compost bin and he said he'd been up a ladder painting his house  all day with no interruptions for rain and definitely no hail!

 I seem to have moved across the A140 from one village that always caught any showers to another the same. So very different to the 23 years at the smallholding near the coast where we often missed the rain.

One little bit of normal was going swimming again after a couple of weeks missed through the move. While I was out it had been dry here but then it started raining again - seems to have been rinse and repeat all week!  On the way home I called in at the charity shop in Eye and found another Persephone - this time I knew I'd not read it and that it would fit on my shelves so snapped it up for £1. Persephone 23 -Reuban Sachs by Amy Levy - originally published in 1888.........older than most books I read.

Here's how my book shelves are looking now I'm all unpacked. Even my cookery books are here in the living room as there is nowhere for them in the kitchen

I've gone against my library assistant instinct .....where everything is pulled forward to the front of the shelves. Instead all the books are pushed to the back of shelves to make room for all my bits and bobs that used to live on my dresser (that wasn't really a dresser) and on the mantel-piece. 

No more seasonal mantle shelf decoration! 

Although I could do a display on the top of the pine shelf unit to the left of photo which holds all my books that I use for finding out about weather sayings, folklore and trees and all the other things I sometimes write about. 

Because of wood-burners and endless dust it's been 30 years since I dared have all my books in the living room................ nice to have them close at hand again and I'm pleased at how many I got rid of (so there is room for more?!)

 

Thanks for all the comments yesterday about the yew hedge - it's honestly very, very ugly but no, even if it's mine I'll not be digging it up anytime soon.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Two Cheering Bargains

 £2 spent while I was in Stowmarket will fill up some more of my waiting hours and cheered me up considerably!

The East Anglian Daily Times had a stall on the market with their bargain offer of EADT and Ipswich Star Newspapers plus a bottle of water, bag of popcorn and packet of crisps for £1. Then the Barnardo's charity shop had these as-new Persephone books for 50p each.

The Thursday EADT has extra puzzle pages and would normally be 90p which means all the other things were 10p. The books are Greenbanks by Dorothy Whipple and Patience by John Coates. (one of their few books by male authors)Somewhere in the last couple of years I lost the little book I had in my bag with it's list of all the Persephone books  read/owned so it was annoying to find when I got back to the caravan and looked in my book-of-books-read I'd read Greenbanks but no idea if it's in a box in store and I can't remember reading it anyway. I've not read the other one.

In 2019 I saw some Persephone books at the Stowmarket  Oxfam shop(only bought one), so there must be someone in Stowmarket who buys or gets given these brand new. They even still have their bookmarks.

If you don't know about Persephone Books, HERE is a post I wrote a few years ago and THIS  

is a link to their website. From which I see they are moving their shop from London down to Bath and not publishing any new books in April like they usually do.

Back Sometime

Sue