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!

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

This Week

 We know about Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday but  each day of this week has a name..................

Collop Monday had other names in different parts of the country - Carnival Monday, Rose Monday, Hall Monday, Peasen Monday and Nickernan Night.

Nicky, nicky nan,

Give me a pancake and then I'll be gone,

But if you give me none

I'll throw a great stone

And down your door shall come.

This was the last day for eating meat and  for eating up collops of bacon and meat. Any fresh meat still available would be sliced and salted to preserve it until after Lent . A Collop - a Scandinavian word, means a slice of meat.  

 

Shrove Tuesday also had other names -Bannock Night, Brose Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras.

Shrove Tuesday is the last day of Shrovetide and can fall anytime between 3rd February and 9th March.  And since medieval times  the last day for rich foods before Lent fasting starting the next day -and it really was fasting back then - no eggs, no fats, no meat. It was customary to make confession on this day too. But it was also a day for merrymaking and fun and feasting on the last of the eggs and butter.

Pancake Tuesday is a very happy day,

If we don't have a holiday we'll all run away,

Where shall we run, up High Lane,

And here comes the teacher with a great big cane.

Mix a pancake, stir a pancake, pop it in the pan,

Fry the pancake, toss the pancake -

Catch it if you can.

( children's rhymes from the past )

Lacemakers had to stop using candles on this day, no matter the date or the weather conditions.

Ash Wednesday 
The first of the 40 days of  abstinence. The word Lent comes from old English lencten  and Germanic langatin  meaning spring or lengthening of the days. Originally only 1 meal a day was eaten during Lent. It's thought the origins  of fasting might date back as far as 325CE to the Council of Nicaea.

Fritter Thursday
Maybe because of the dough fritters that were often eaten in meatless Lent or perhaps using the last of the stored apples dipped in a flour and water batter?

Kissing Friday or in some places Nippy-Hug day
Once this was the day when boys had the right to kiss girls without being told off,  if the kiss was refused they could nip the girls bottom!

(Information from some of my folklore books)

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And meanwhile .......how about GB at the Winter Olympics.........3 Gold Medals - Never been done before! Well done to them all.

Back Tomorrow

Easter Weekend All Over for Another Year

 The extra Easter bits were added to the seasonal display on the bookshelves, just for the weekend. Nothing 'new' this year and there wouldn't be, because I'd only ever buy from a charity shop etc anyway!

The Surrey family didn't arrive until Saturday due to SiL's late flight back from the US on Friday. But were in plenty of time for getting to the big family meal - for my 70th birthday - at a local (to Son and family) Indian restaurant. 16 of us all together.

It was a very delicious meal, lots of choice with something for everyone to enjoy and DiL made me a gorgeous cake.

"Happy Birthday" was sung to me twice because the 7 sparkler 'candle' lit OK but the 0 wouldn't, so when Son eventually got it going they had to sing all over again!!

Sunday there was an Easter Egg hunt for all 5 Grandchildren in the small garden here and then they hid eggs for us grown ups to find which they thought was great fun so could become a family tradition when we are altogether again at a future Easter.

In the afternoon we had a good walk around a local country park - Thornham Estate - last time we all went was 2019 and there were only 3 grandchildren.

3 small Grandchildren in 2019

                                                        5 bigger Grandchildren in 2025

My children clubbed together to get me a pair of decent binoculars and I also had some other presents from everyone too.

A lovely Big birthday weekend. Thank you to all the family for making it so special.

Back Soon

Easter Crosses

 Stowmarket Church had an Easter Cross Festival again. I met my friend from Grammar School days for a coffee at the Osier cafe in church and then took a few photos. I don't think there were as many crosses as last year and apologies as photos aren't very good I'm afraid but never mind.

So for Good Friday  just a few of the crosses made by various local groups and schools - oh dear to the big spelling mistake!

I might pop in to blog over Easter depending on what family things we do. Hope you have a good Easter break.

Back soon-ish

Sue

Good Friday

In the distant past Good Friday was a day when very little work was done and definitely no washing as it was thought that linen hung out on Good Friday would become tainted with Christ's blood. At one time it was also a day which required people to eat nothing except bread, now it's the proper day for Hot Cross Buns, which are the descendants of small cakes/ buns made in celebration of the arrival of spring and for the Anglo Saxon goddess Eostre. The Greeks and the Romans had festive spring cakes too.

 Even the cross was there before Christianity - it was originally a symbol of the year divided into four seasons. At one time all bread was marked with a cross to help it rise, but this was frowned upon by the church after the reformation so that a cross was allowed only on special Holy days.

The earliest reference to Hot Cross Buns was in Poor Robin's Almanack in 1733 and they  were once thought to have holy powers and one would be hung in the house from one year to the next to protect the household from harm. If the bun went mouldy then disaster would strike the house!

Hot Cross Bun Seller from the Illustrated London News 1851

Hot Cross Buns, Hot Cross Buns

One a penny, two a penny Hot Cross Buns.

If you have no daughters give them to your sons,

One a penny, Two a penny, Hot Cross Buns

I have made my own Hot Cross Buns in the past but now they're just bought  from Aldi and are traditional flavour although there are lots of different sorts available - (like mince pies at Christmas)- I'm not sure about Jaffa Orange or Raspberry and Vanilla and 'Caramel' sounds much too sweet.

The Aldi pack proudly states that they are 'Baked In Britain' - I should certainly hope so - I hope that things never get so bad that we had to import Hot-Cross-Buns! Or perhaps the Aldi message means we already are importing them unbaked and Aldi just shove them in an oven!

(Info  taken from my books -  The English Year by Steve Roud and Cattern Cakes and Lace by Julia Jones)

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Added For Easter and Easter Crosses

 I've added a few extras to the seasonal display on the bookshelves.

Just for my benefit, unless I get any unexpected visitors.

Stowmarket Church has a Festival of Crosses for Easter, so I popped in to have a look. Lots of groups and organisations taking part.

A different idea to encourage people into the church at Easter.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

. 

Easter Saturday

 If you didn't see yesterday's post it was a round up of the total costs of my month of eating meals mainly based on a limited range of supermarket Value/Essential products. It got me back cooking some things I'd not done for a while (like doing myself a roast chicken or toad-in-the-hole meal)  which I'll carry on with as well as eating my frozen batch made home made curries and pasta sauces. I shall be making pizza dough myself using the bread-maker now I know it freezes well after just 5 minutes in the oven. I'm also going to do a batch of the fish curry as that's different to the Thai-red and the squash/spinach curries that I usually make in bulk. Chicken thigh joint meat used as a stir-fry wasn't as good as chicken breast meat which is what I normally use and the value frozen mixed vegetables were too bland and tasteless to use again.

Thank you again to everyone who commented over the month.

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 Easter Saturday and this is a first...............There are NO Easter eggs in the house! I stopped eating chocolate last summer when the weather was so hot and haven't started again so didn't bother with an Easter egg - even though it was my favourite sort of chocolate. 

So...........what have I been up to this week?...........well, the regular every-three-years mammogram last Saturday and dentist on Monday, so bits of me have been examined! Then bits of me got exercised at the Keep Moving Group, it's going well with two new people joining .

WI was interesting with a lady from the Charity Medical Detection Dogs coming to speak to us. They train dogs to detect disease and infections from samples in a lab and also train dogs to do medical assistance for people with things like Type 1 Diabetes who could be prone to problems during the night. Just so incredible how clever these dogs are. After the talk there was coffee and cakes of course and as it's my birthday month it was my turn for a Birthday Posy.

Next was an early drive over to the coast to pick up Eldest Granddaughter for a couple of days while youngest daughter was working. I think we did every craft suitable for a 6 year old that I could think of! And then a round  trip to take her home again.

Hoping for decent weather for the rest of Easter weekend although I've got nothing much planned apart from recovering from having Granddaughter here - she wakes up much earlier than I usually do! and preparing for arrival of Eldest Daughter and the Surrey Grandsons at the end of the week.  There are car-boot sales - if the weather is OK and an Art Exhibition to have a look at.

Have a good Easter Weekend, I'll be back Tuesday.

Sue

Charity Shopping for Easter Holidays + V.R.E. Day 17

 Eldest Granddaughter is coming to stay for 2 days before Easter and like most 6 year olds she likes crafting and colouring so when I spotted this in a charity shop I bought it to add to the things I already have in the Easter Drawer - I knew when I got a whole bundle of Easter stuff from ebay during that first lockdown (Good Grief it was 3 years ago) they would come in handy........... eventually.

The second of the Tuna, Broccoli and Pasta Bakes, made for Day 9, from the freezer was the main meal for Day 17, served with some more of the Value Range mixed frozen veg.....which seems to be lasting forever - they are pretty tasteless and I'm still wishing I'd bought peas alone. Although none of the supermarkets do a Basic/Value range of frozen peas I noticed that Morrisons do  a pack of 'Wonky' frozen peas cheaper than their usual own brand and much cheaper than Bird's Eye. (Puzzled about how peas can be wonky?)

Forgot to say I used self-raising flour and baking fat to make a batch of  8 plain scones a couple of days ago when the sultana sponge was finished.

 Running total still at £60.58p

Back Tomorrow

Sue

An Extremely Busy Weekend

 When Eldest Daughter, Son in Law and the two boys come up from Surrey we try and get all of us together as much as possible. This weekend it was 6 adults, 4 children under 6 and the 6 month old baby on 3 days and  if you throw two birthdays and Easter egg hunts into the mix it all gets a bit busy!

 

The two five year old cousins tend to get a bit silly as 5 year olds do and the 4 year old cousin joins in too. Luckily the two year old tends to ignore them and do his own thing. The baby is a happy little chap..........most of the time!

It's all wonderful but exhausting.

 

As usual, always too busy to take photos, but it was a lovely birthday, lots of cards and chocolate and books. Thank you everyone.

 

Just one photo......... an updated peep at the newest member of the family, he was a baby at Christmas and now a little fella.

 

 

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Easter Is On The Bookshelf

I've added some bits to the bookshelf display for Easter.

I remembered the April plate, only a few days late and the egg cup and egg were among the collection of Easter bits that came from ebay in that first lockdown (I don't use ebay anymore - it wastes too much time and money!). The light-up chicks came from when I was helping at the charity shop and the tulips are all home grown.

Copied from one of my posts in previous years........

........Pagan traditions give us the English word Easter coming from the word Anglo Saxon word Eostre , meaning openings and that comes from the Saxon goddess of the dawn Eostre. 

 There are a couple of weather sayings for Easter which could have an impact on the harvest

 Rain on Good Friday or Easter Day, A good crop of hops, but a bad one of hay. 

If the sun shines on the altar during the service on Easter Day, there will be a good harvest . 

 Fair weather from Easter to Whitsuntide, butter will be cheap with cream on the side

 

The Surrey family are (hopefully) driving up to Suffolk tomorrow so I hope the fuel shortage situation will resolve itself soon(caused by protestors blocking the entrance to a fuel depot in Essex and some other places) I'm still OK at the moment but when I went shopping on Tuesday all 3 garages I passed had nothing. If we can all get fuel the whole family should be getting together on Saturday and Sunday. We have two birthdays to celebrate and a family meal out plus a mini Easter egg hunt or two so it will be a good but busy weekend.

Enjoy your Easter, fingers crossed for fair weather.

I'm taking a few days off the blog and will return next week. 

Sue

April Days

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.

How many will I find by the end of the month?

There are many weather sayings for April probably because it was peak time for farming and gardening but can have such varied weather, so country people would be looking for any clues as to what sort of weather was likely.

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

(It might be good for the seeds but I hope it doesn't happen!)

Beware the blackthorn winter -  That's why it's been cold all week

Easter weekend doesn't have many sayings attached as it's dates are moveable but there are lots of traditions associated. Being at home alone for Easter instead of hosting a family gathering I'll have more time to write about some of these at the time - I might even make a mini Simnel cake as I bought the marzipan ready for one and a small batch of Hot Cross Buns.

 St Georges Day on the 23rd we know about but there are lots of Saints in my book who are less well known. What about St Vincent Ferrer on the 5th, St Waudru on the 9th, St Zeno of Verona on the 12th, St Soter on the 22nd and  St Zita on the 27th? Some wonderful names and stories - hopefully I'll get round to mentioning a few in blog posts.


Back Tomorrow
Sue

The First Week of Lent + Thankyou

 First of all thank you to everyone for comments yesterday. As everyone said - they grow so quickly so getting photos at this age when we are all together is a good idea.
No, we didn't have snow just another lot of rain lasting half the night and all morning - it has to stop soon - Right?
(Thankfully Not as much as other parts of the country when people are still getting their homes ruined again and again, I can't imagine the distress it causes.)

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We know about Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday but according to my little almanac book each day of this week has a name..................

Collop Monday
This was the last day for eating meat. Any fresh meat still available would be sliced and salted to preserve it until after Lent. = A Collop - a Scandinavian word, means a slice of meat.

Shrove Tuesday
The last day before Lent when it was customary to make confession. In the past it was a day for merrymaking and fun and feasting on the last of the eggs and butter before Lent fasting

Pancake Tuesday is a very happy day,

If we don't have a holiday we'll all run away,

Where shall we run,up High Lane,

And here comes the teacher with a great big cane.

(a children's rhyme from the past taken from the Cattern Cakes and Lace book)

Lacemakers had to stop using candles on this day, no matter the date or the weather conditions.

Ash Wednesday
The first of the 40 days of  abstinence. The word Lent comes from Anglo-Saxon 'lengentide' which means spring or lengthening of the days. Originally only 1 meal a day was eaten during Lent.


Fritter Thursday
Maybe because of the dough fritters that were often eaten in meatless Lent or perhaps using the last of the stored apples dipped in batter?


Kissing Friday
Once this was the day when boys had the right to kiss girls without being told off !


Who Knew!


Back Tomorrow
Sue

Another Week in Suffolk

What a glorious Easter weekend it was for family get-togethers. Sunny and warm.

There were a plethora of one year olds at Willow's birthday party last Saturday as DiL had invited some of the families she had met at NCT classes. So interesting to see them all the same age, bar a week or two, yet all so different.

This was my Easter Mantelpiece, the light up chicks came from the charity shop on my last morning there. (The clock doesn't usually live there, but had been moved out of reach of three small people and not moved back)

On Sunday it was my turn and all the family came for an old fashioned Easter Sunday tea and an Easter egg hunt.

Son, AKA Uncle M hid the eggs and had just as much fun as Florence and Jacob helping them find them again. (Why does it make me feel very old to have a son who is an uncle, seems even older than a son who is a Dad as my Uncles always seemed so old!)
 The two older grandchildren had huge fun together and in a year or so Willow will be tagging along behind while Jacob and Florence who are almost two years older will be getting her into mischief too.(My next job here is to organise some fencing and gates!)

Colin's sister and husband and Col's brother came too so all of us together did the scattering of Col's ashes around the trees in the birthday wood.  It wasn't too sad to do because the Colin I knew for 38 years isn't the ashes but the memories in my head, although family times is when I miss him most and after everyone goes home it can be really difficult.

But enough of all that..............

Monday was spent finishing the clearing up, not too much as the grown-up children had cleared the toys and washed up and Sister in law had done another heap of washing up after tea.
I planted out the Elder saplings and sat out with a book. Unfortunately the book I was finishing "Three Things About Elsie" by Joanna Cannon is so sad in parts that it was no help in cheering me up. (It's on the Books Read 2019 page now)

The electric was off all day on Wednesday - a planned outage- I got a text message to say the UK Power Network had a "Welfare Van" parked down in the village which would make hot drinks and provide free wi-fi etc for anyone who wanted to call in - never had that message before - must be a new thing. I didn't need to use the welfare van as I went out  to visit Youngest and Florence in their new home. It's in a much quieter spot in Leiston than anywhere they have lived before, but further out of town so Youngest is planning on a bike with a bike seat to get to work and childminders.

Shopping - not much needed although two Cadbury's Easter eggs reduced to 50p somehow jumped into my basket. (That's my brexit store restocked!! along with the Lindt Lindor Youngest gave me for my birthday).
Swimming, housework and a haircut and that's another week gone.

This weekend I need to go and get some decent multi-purpose compost as the stuff I got from the Wyevale-that's-now-a-Dobbies is the weirdest looking compost I've ever seen. Then the tomatoes need potting on again  they are not really big enough for their final large pots. The aubergines that I thought had had it due to cold nights have recovered and growing well, as are the peppers and cucumbers despite the cat attacking them. I also need to get dwarf beans and sweetcorn sown, suddenly I feel all behind with the growing season.


This week I am grateful for

• 2ml of rain - in the hope that every little helps?
• My children and grandchildren - as always 
• Vegetable plants still growing in the greenhouse
• More tulips from my cutting-garden

Have a happy weekend folks
Back Monday
Sue

Warming up for Easter

Whoop, whoop, we had warmth and sunshine yesterday afternoon and I'm loving the look of the weather forecast for the weekend. Outdoor things are planned.........

Easter is almost upon us, it's the main festival of the Christian church, and is a moveable feast. Why.....?.

Easter Day falls anytime between 21st March and 25th April. The date depends on the first full moon of spring. It is calculated  as the first Sunday after the full moon on or after the 21st March. But if the full moon falls on a Sunday, then Easter is the following Sunday. 

Hope that clears that question up?!


Pagan traditions give us the English word Easter coming from the word Anglo Saxon word Eostre , meaning openings and that comes from the Saxon goddess of the dawn Eostre.

The weather at Easter could have an impact on the harvest

Rain on Good Friday or Easter Day,

A good crop of hops, but a bad one of hay.

If the sun shines on the altar during the service on Easter Day, there will be a good harvest .

Fair weather from Easter to Whitsuntide,

Butter will be cheap with cream on the side

Easter Sunday is the proper day for exchanging Easter eggs. The egg is the symbol of new life and because they were forbidden during Lent, people gave eggs as presents to their friends and servants once Lent was over, often decorating them with natural dyes.

In the past Easter was often the time for a new set of clothes for Sunday best. This would have included a new hat for the ladies.........  so   Easter Bonnets.

I'm ready for an Easter Sunday egg hunt!

Back Tomorrow

Sue