Thank you and Quizzing

Thank you everyone for your kind words and saying  the blog wasn't too predictable or boring, I'll just carry on the same............until something exciting happens!

 

Devon Mum - Hope the Cappuccino cakes turned out OK for your daughter. I need to add to the recipe that I always put these in the fridge after they've cooled a bit  to cool right down before I box up for freezing. It makes the chocolate topping nice and firm.

Joy and Jennie - I reckon I'll need two bags and my bike to get my books home from the mobile library on the 28th!

Ellen - I read quite a lot of Peter Lovesey books many years ago when they were out first time round and now they've all been re-issued . Back then I liked the Sergeant Cribb ones but not the Peter Diamond so I ought to try those again.

Jane, Hilary and Fun60 - Watching the match at Wimbledon between Tsitsipas and Kyrgios on Saturday was exciting but also annoying and frustrating. Reminded me of McEnroe all those years ago. It was a shame the Cam Norrie match was on at the same time as the Alcaraz match on Sunday afternoon as I would have liked to see both.

 Only a week left now and out of the 17 Brits who started just Cam Norrie left but he has played really well so maybe he'll go further.

 

Now the quizzing......................

 For the first time in nearly 3 years the Suffolk East Federation of WI's organised a quiz. It was so good to be quizzing again after all the covid stuff .I think there were only about 20 WI's out of the 90+ in our area represented, which apparently was only just enough to break even (hire of Needham Market Community Centre and food etc) but they really didn't want to cancel after all the previous cancellations of so many events (luckily on a very muggy evening it meant that we weren't so squashed in the hall like we have been in the past!)

Teams of 4 and all the questions were around the Jubilee, the Commonwealth, Royal Residences and the Queen. We were OK with some and hadn't a clue on many. 

For instance  - do you know who gave the Queen a Play House for her 6th Birthday?? No we didn't either -(It was the Welsh people) and we knew we'd heard how many Prime Ministers had served the Queen during her 70 years several times over the Jubilee weekend but couldn't remember - and I've forgotten again already!

We did really well with Flags of Commonwealth Countries thanks to one of our team being a Brownie Leader (that's the sort of thing Brownies find out about) and had a couple of lucky guesses.

Both Stonham Aspal WI who I used be a member of and quiz with, and Bacton - my other WI had teams entered. I knew we wouldn't beat Stonham Aspal as they have a lady called Ruth who is a whizz for all sorts of general knowledge......... which is why I liked being in her team!

But we ended up, much to our surprise, coming 6th and only 2½ points behind Stonham Aspal.

There was coffee, sandwiches and cake in the half time interval of course  - delicious.

Here are 2 flags from Commonwealth Countries that we didn't know! Can you guess?

             

And here's a LINK to all the rest of the Commonwealth Flags if you want to see the answers. 

I'm already looking forward to the Spring Quiz next year.

(I used the handy search function and found that at the last WI summer quiz in 2019 there were 44 teams taking part - no wonder it was hot and squashed that time!) 

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

July 1st

 June has been dusted and put away and July is on the bookshelves along with a few roses from the garden.

 When I had this library book at home, I took several photos and tucked them in drafts for using later

So this is one of her lovely illustrations for Summer

 July is named in honour of Julius Caesar and usually contains some good hot days sometimes referred to as Dog Days. At this time of year Sirius, the dog star, rises at the same time as the sun and was thought by the ancient Romans to give the sun extra heat. The Dog Days are from July 3rd until August 11th .

As the dog days commence, so they end

Anglo-Saxon names for the month are Heymonath for haymaking or Meadmonath meaning flowering of the meadows.The full moon in July is called the Wyrt moon or Mead moon . Wyrt is an old English name for herbs and July was the traditional time for taking the first honey from the hive and making mead. The Full moon on the 13th will be another Super Full Moon - when it looks extra large.

I'd forgotten this bit of July info that I found in 2019

 "Apparently the word July used to be pronounced with the stress on the first syllable as in duly and truly. It changed to the way we say it now during the 17th century."

Many of the old weather rhymes are connected with farming - so many people's livelihoods depending on the weather back then.

A shower of rain in July, when

the corn begins to full,

Is worth a plow of Oxen.

 

 

Back Tomorrow

Sue