Saturday 29th - Clocks go Forward

 The last Saturday in March and time for the clocks to go forward by an hour overnight.  Just makes it more difficult to get up early for car boot sales!

Another of the illustrations from the Angela Harding book. Orford is over on the Suffolk coast, the strange buildings to the right were left from the 'Cold War' out on Orford Ness. Boats cross from the quay to visit the nature reserve in summer.

Orford Hares

Reading:-

After finishing ' A Time From the World' by Rowena Farre that I wrote about during the week, I read another book from my shelves - 'Apricot Sky' by  Ruby Ferguson. It's a Furrowed Middlebrow and Dean St Press reprint from a book first published in 1952. Set in Scotland in 1948 it is a lovely story of a family and their visitors and preparations for a wedding. Similar in a way to D.E.Stevenson but very witty and good descriptions of the countryside and weather. 

 They've stopped the 'suggestions to buy' page on the library website due to the changes happening in June - and not knowing what Suffolk County Council will do about anything at the changeover. I wonder if it will mean a whole new computer system - more money wasted.

Watching:-

On the 4 catch up channel I've been watching Jack Irish - a rather violent thing from Australia dating from 2016-2021 starring Guy Pearce - who I remember best from the early days of Neighbours.

Gardening:-

My three veg beds are almost completely covered by the wire-netting frames (which turn into fences later) to keep the neighbours cat off. Before I did this I removed half a bucket of cat s**t, I thought about chucking it back into their garden but of course I didn't.

Now about  a hundred sycamore seedlings have appeared under the frames so I'll need to take them off and hoe out. It's funny that there have never been so many before but now the tree has gone they've all rooted this year, almost as if they know they've got to replace the mother tree - weird.

Pepper seeds germinated eventually, they are growing slowly, should be plenty, and three aubergines. Grass cut again, garden waste bin two days late being emptied but then I pruned some dead bits off the ceanothus and half filled it again.

Socialising:-

 15 people at Keep Moving Group this week which is really good. An odd thing happened. When I was looking in the car glove box to find the book thing for the repair shop to stamp after the service and MOT, I came across a piece of paper with a printed list of exercises that we did with the organisation that started our group in 2022. I must have had it without knowing all this time as I don't remember it being given me.............and why in the glove box? Anyway I'm now going to write out a new sequence  of exercises for us to do for a bit of variety........... as soon as I get a new sharpie pen.

Over 60's group and a guy who volunteers at a workshop for adults with disabilities came and told us all about the workshop and the wooden things they make. If I still had a house with land they make bird-boxes for every type of bird you can think of and I'd have one for each - and bats!. I visited their workshop on a pre Christmas Open Day a couple of years ago.

Eating :-

I got the freezer defrosted on Monday, so that job's done for a year. I'd half forgotten about some of my own raspberries from the summer - better get them eaten - they are a bit sharp when frozen, always better fresh but there were so many last year I froze a few. Shall I mix with meringue and cream and call them a variation on Eton Mess - probably rather too many calories!

What a useful thing a quiche is to make - four days meals without having to think - tuna and sweetcorn this time served up with something different each day it doesn't matter that that it's the same thing for four days.

50/50 Granary/ White bread in the bread maker this week - my favourite.

And that's my week.

Have a good weekend, I'll be back next week - if I have something to write about?

October Round Up

 This time last year we'd had so much rain and everywhere there were floods and the weather had been chilly too. Thank goodness this October has been much, much dryer and milder and the heating oil is lasting well although will need a fill up in November.

I finished painting and got started on garden clearing, but my garden helper has opted out so I really need to get on with it, especially out the front. In the back garden the vegetable beds are not too bad but I need to spread the compost from last years bin and turn this years bin into it - hard work which is not a favourite job.

Not a frugal month as I finished off the living/dining room re-furb with a new table after looking all over for nice second-hand one with no luck. It's circular but extends to oval and has made the room look so much bigger than it did and still room for visitors - although not all 11 of us, but as cooking for too many visitors now makes me very nervous it doesn't matter.

My October income was the usual - State Pension and County Council Spouses Pension.  The usual outgoings of Council Tax, Phones and Broadband, monthly Electric bill, Charity, Diesel for the car, food and household bits. 

There were three family birthdays and a dentist visit, a haircut and I had to buy postage stamps again.

Christmas shopping for everyone except immediate family is finished but shopping for the 3 children and SiL and the 5 grandchildren hasn't even started which is very worrying. DiL had half Christmas pressie for her birthday and I know what I'll be getting her for Christmas and BiL has given me a pair of jeans he got for himself so I can wrap them and give them back! that means 9 things still to sort - Oh dear. And the 4 presents for the Surrey family need sorting early as they are off to Thailand for Christmas.

I got myself my food treats for the dark days of January. Have to have something to get me through the worst month alone. My choices are  dark chocolate liqueurs and Opies peaches in brandy - I don't normally drink  but love both these and they will be the only bits of alcohol I shall be imbibing! Just need a large bag of mixed nuts to make spiced nuts - another favourite thing.

No point in writing frugal month notes - it would be hypocritical  - although I still do my best to save pennies where I can.

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

I went to the village over 60's meeting yesterday afternoon - my friend Val, who goes to Keep Moving exercise group too, said from where she was sitting she saw two men  fall asleep! It was a lady talking about making 3D Fabric flowers, it wasn't That boring (although it wasn't exactly riveting!). These are the same old men who generally interrupt the speaker when they think they know more. I'm glad they were kept quiet!

Back Soon

Sue

March Planning

 IF, and its a very big IF, the weather is good enough car boot sales will start this month and it's Easter at the end with events to go to.

I need a list of things to look out for at boot-sales this year but at the moment the only thing I can think of is a tray to stand the food-mixer on. It stood on a tray for years until the tray fell to pieces and now I'm pulling the mixer forwards and pushing it to the back which, since the mixer lost one of it's rubber feet years ago,  is not doing the wooden work top much good at all.

A bigger list is what NOT to buy! 

On the financial front the big expense of March will be the car service and MOT. There are a couple of birthdays later in the month and WI subscription is due but other things are just the normal expenses unless something comes up............which it often does.

During the  week I went to the Over 60's group in the village, I think the last time I went was July 2022, I got fed up with the old men interrupting the speaker! Now, because of the Keep Moving group, I've got to  know two of the people who attend so decided to give it another try. 

The speaker's subject was 'Romania beyond Dracula' and it was an interesting talk by a man who travels on his own to out of the way places. He had an English speaking guide/driver to show him around and translate. They mostly stayed in homes of local people who provided them with rooms and meals.

He had slides of all the places he'd been - lots of wide open spaces - Romania is a similar area to the UK but with a third of the population -  and amazing buildings especially the churches and castles .

 He said they seem to eat huge meals and lots of meat and soups. Horses and carts are still used for many jobs and some villages still look very medieval. We didn't know that King Charles owns property there - but perhaps doesn't go there as often as he did when he was Prince Charles.

In March a lady is coming to speak about making TV and Film costumes so that will be interesting. I'm a bit concerned about the May Speaker - a lady once known as Miss Whiplash , who owned a specialist B&B that provided "extras". No idea what the old men will say about that!

Have a good weekend, I'll be back Monday. My car is still mainly with Son and DiL so I probably won't be going far.

Sue

All About London Bridge

Thank you to everyone for comments yesterday and apologies for not replying, too much tennis watching/reading is my poor excuse. 

I could make chutney with the excess courgettes, and Col would have enjoyed it, but I would be giving it all away because I only like my three favourites that I make (Red Tomato and Pepper Relish, Mango and Pepper plus Sweet Onion chutney). I have made pesto with walnuts when we had a walnut tree back at the smallholding but they wouldn't go well in the Spinach and Ricotta Lasagne I make using Pine Nuts. Also thank you to anon who said my photos of the veg growing in the garden meant I certainly wasn't 'mouldering away in my bungalow' - that made me smile!

 

 The Speaker at the Over 60's meeting last week told us all about the history of London Bridge. He had been an engineer and draughtsman before retirement and had become fascinated by the construction of the Bridge and had done the most incredible drawings of how the bridge looked when it was covered with houses and even a church.

The first bridge there was built by the Romans as it was the only place with some solid ground on each side, as most of the Thames flows through mud.

The Medieval bridge was only 20 feet wide with 12 feet in the middle for the carts to pass, leaving just 4 feet each side for the shops and businesses to be built. The ground floor was only 4 feet but the next storey was wider - hanging out over the side and the next storey even wider again. He'd made a small model of a little bit of bridge with a small house to show how the houses balanced on the edge of the bridge.

 The bridge was built and funded even now by Bridge House Estates Charity possible the longest running charity in the world, they made their money from the rents for the businesses and shops on the bridge.

He told us no drawings or paintings of the medieval bridge are to be found in this country so almost everything that is known comes from historical written records and drawings done by Dutch Architects who came here to see it. There is even a London Bridge Museum in The Netherlands. 

He suggested we go online and have a look at this below which  is a model of the bridge that can be seen in St Magnus the Martyr Church on the North Bank of the bridge. Or even better- go and look at it for real.

 

Photo From the London Walking Tours Website

 

The 'London Bridge is Falling Down' nursery rhyme comes from the time when the bridge was given away to the wife of a king (Henry 3rd??) who took all the income from the shops and businesses on the bridge and spent nothing on repairs.

Photo of newest London Bridge in the 1920s blended into one  now, from internet

 It was a fascinating talk and made me want to borrow a book he suggested by Patricia Pierce.

There is much more on WIKI

Back Tomorrow

Sue

 

Saturday 2nd July

 Am I getting too predictable?

On the last day of the month I round up the frugal stuff, on the first day of the month I find some folklore bits, on Saturdays I look back at the week and on Sundays I have a day off..........is my blog getting too boring?

Oh well.........carry on regardless.........................

This week has gone by in a flash because after a couple of uneventful weeks suddenly everything happens. Out to a WI quiz and Over 60's meeting (more about both those next week),  Nanna duty x 2, shopping and I should have been picking up about 16 reserved books from the mobile library van BUT had a phone call to say the van wouldn't be round......aaaagh......tragedy!  

They missed last time due to the Queen's Bank Holiday so there will be 12 weeks of reservations to collect in 4 weeks time! And I'm 'reduced' to reading from my shelves for even longer.

Luckily I have the first seven in The Isabel Dalhousie Sunday Philosophy Club series by Alexander McCall Smith sitting on my shelves ready for just such an event. I tried the first one way, way back just to see if I liked them and then picked up more from charity shops etc. Plus I have those books of country writing from the boot-sale that I mentioned a few weeks ago and a couple of hundred others that could be re-read.

 Another thing that has made the days fly past is watching all the tennis from Wimbledon, there have been some really good matches and this year they have all the courts on the iplayer via red button, so lots of choice to watch. Such a shame that some players have had to pull out due to Covid - it's still around. So far I've managed to avoid watching Djokovic!

This Greater Spotted Woodpecker was good to see on the peanut feeder - first one since moving here although we saw them all the time at the smallholding and now and again at Clay Cottage. He insisted on being round the back of the feeder so the photo is just a glimpse!

Remember that tin of very out of date Home-Cook Marmalade that I picked up for 50p at a boot-sale? I opened it, but it was completely solid and didn't smell right at all so it went in the compost bin.  8 years was definitely too long.....50p wasted.

Thursday evening and I watched a new drama on Channel 4 - all about GCHQ and cyber crime crisis, politics and and COBR ( have to say I'd never really thought about what that stands for but I assumed it was something more interesting than Cabinet Office Briefing Room!)

This weekend there's village garage/yard sales not far away on Saturday afternoon so I may go and look and more tennis on TV to watch of course and for a reason I didn't hear, they are playing on the middle Sunday too - usually only used for tennis when the weather has been awful.

 

This week I'm grateful for

• Nice family gathering at my Sister and Brother-in-Laws house despite the people missing due to Covid.
  
• Always something to read
• Never being bored

 Hope you all have a good weekend, whatever your plans and I'll be back Monday.

Sue

All Kinds of Everything on a Saturday

Snow and cold, windy weather hasn't helped the garden flowers and the poor Magnolia is losing it's petals by the minute. The last lot of daffodils I bought only lasted a few days so something different for the spring display this week

  Spotted a Muntjac over the road recently, finding something to munch under the yew trees that split the graveyard from a field beyond it. Sadly the field has planning permission for some bungalows, so I'm glad there is a graveyard between me and the future new builds.

 My Mothering Sunday was a quiet one because the nearest bit of the family had been on holiday and came back with Covid. That means all 3 children have now had it for the first time recently, luckily the grandchildren haven't been ill.

 The rest of the week had cancellations  as I was supposed to be looking after Middle Grandson for a couple of hours but as DiL wasn't working due to the  Covid  that was cancelled leaving me with an empty diary. I made marmalade instead.

Finally got to my second Over 60's group meeting after missing January and February. The speaker was a Ipswich tour guide and she took us on a slide tour of Ipswich then and now. Showing some of the most historic buildings and how they looked in early photographs and paintings compared to now. I had been in some of them when they were open specially on the Heritage Open Days. Somewhere I've not been that she mentioned is the newly restored church by the old docks....now called The Waterfront Area. Must get there sometime. Tea and biscuits and a raffle and I paid my subs and got the programme for the rest of the year. I think I might be at least 10 years younger than most of the other members which is a shame.

I decided to try again with the TV programme ' The Simpler Life'. It got better after after one family left and then others left 'til there was hardly anyone left to leave!  Thought they rather wasted the opportunity. There is another programme  that I'm enjoying ......Grayson and Phillipa Perry's art club. He's an interesting man although the first time I saw him dressed as his alter-ego many years ago, before I knew who he was, I wouldn't have said that!

There's another Art programme starting this week that also sounds watchable .....'The Art That Made Us'' in which contemporary artists look at pieces of art from the past.

The Reed Bunting came back and this time on the nearside of the feeder for a better photo.

This week I'm so grateful for

• The birds,animals and flowers around us
  
• Walking to things in the village
• All sorts of weather to talk about!
  

 

Hope you have a good weekend. I'm wishing for good weather for yard sales in the next village today and the first Sunday boot sale at Stonham Barns - if their field has dried out. 

Back Monday

Sue

 

Advent Photos 2021. 11th December + My Week

Here's another photo of an old Christmas card, this one is in a book called Christmas Fare which I think I picked up in a charity shop last Christmas.

 

 My week began making another batch of ricotta cheese  and then using it to make some ricotta and spinach lasagna - 9 portions in total and 8 went in the freezer. I'm right out of storage boxes now but have enough pizza topping and lasagnas to last me weeks!

 

I started reading Richard Osman's second book this week, whilst reading I kept thinking "blimey, this is rubbish" - the first one was pretty unbelievable but ' The Man Who Died Twice' is just bad. I may give up. ............ STOP PRESS.....I did give up!  and read the most recent Donna Leon instead - 100% better writing and much more readable and believable. (Sorry Mr Osman but your celebrity status doesn't make you a great writer!)  The library van is around next Thursday with several books for me but a worrying shortage of crime fiction for Christmas reading.

 

Wednesday morning I had a minor panic as the oil-fired boiler stopped working. After leaving a message on Ian's phone - the man who has looked after the boilers since we moved back to Mid Suffolk - he phoned me back and talked me through resetting the darn thing and Phew - thank goodness it worked. The boiler here is a combi-boiler whereas the one at Clay Cottage wasn't, so it's a bit different. (I'm a Learner when it comes to boilers anyway as we never had one anywhere until 2016)  At least I now know something to try if it goes off again.

On Wednesday afternoon I went to my first village Over 60's Club meeting - I might have been the youngest there by 10 years but - hey ho. Before Covid they had a membership of 75 people now less than 30 turn up - the others haven't all died I'm sure. The speaker did a presentation about all the Christmas legends that I've been writing about through December. There were a couple of things he mentioned that I'd not read about but by the time we'd had coffee, mince pie and the raffle (didn't win - never do!) I'd forgotten what they were!

 

 Friday and a coffee morning and raffle (again didn't win - never do) with Christmas Carols 🎵 , all in aid of the United Reformed Church.

Today I'm off to another coffee morning with my sister in the church in the village where she lives- hope they have carols playing 🎵. On the way back I will drop off a Christmas card to Col's Auntie and Uncle who will be at the village hall at another regular coffee/breakfast thing in their village.

I seem to be attending an awful lot of coffee and cake things!........ making the most of all the local events to attend - just in case THEY  lock us down in January, although after this weeks "party-gate" and "obvious lie" revelations who's going to obey anything!

 

 

Back Tomorrow

Sue