Into February

 Last weekend the weather was OK to get some gardening done but I had a disappointment when I picked  this up from where he was on the ground so I could rake up the leaves around, as it just fell to pieces in my hands

 Obviously not frost proof. A car boot find from May last year - money wasted.

Ian, the heating engineer came on Tuesday to have another try at finding out why I'd got hot water and no heating. The switch he replaced last time was still fine but he found lots of gunge which might have jammed up the switch. He got it all sorted, perhaps it will be OK for more than 2 months this time!

January hibernation has involved lots of TV watching and with the Six Nations Rugby starting last night, there's something to enjoy on TV most weekends through February and into March. I'm guilty of watching a lot of TV, it keeps me company. At the moment I'm working my way through the US version of The Killing - from way back in the 2010's. I'm also enjoying our home produced crime series, Silent Witness, After The Flood, Madame Blanc Mysteries and Trigger Point, and Death in Paradise starts again tomorrow.

 I enjoy the Great Pottery Throw down but I never watch any cookery programmes - finding them very boring.  Quizzy Monday evenings are always good, although Only Connect has finished for now, 

 they'll be showing repeats I think.

The Masked Singer seemed ever so silly when it started but is slightly addictive as after a while you really want to know who's singing but I don't watch Dancing On Ice - as I don't like seeing people fall over! The return of Gladiators was much hyped but I thought it wasn't as good as I remember and Bradley Walsh and his son introducing  aren't funny although they think they are.

See what I mean? too much TV and I'm turning into a critic!

Have a good weekend, weather forecast here is for mild and blustery.  I have a 4 year old's birthday party to attend and then will be back Monday.

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

February Days

The first three days of February all get a special mention in Chambers Book of Days.

The 1st of the month is Imbolc (pronounced imulk) marking the beginning of spring in the Celtic calendar. It's halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox.
The word Imbolc may derive from old Irish meaning 'in the belly' referring to the pregnancy of the ewes and the beginning of lambing. The celebration  was presided over by the Goddess of youth and fertility -Bride later merging with Bridgid (or Bridget), one of Irelands saints but also known in England and Scotland. There are still churches dedicated to St Bride but none in Suffolk. Brigid died on 1st February 525.

The 2nd is the Christian festival of Candlemas the popular name for the feast of the Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin. Forty days after the birth of a baby, mothers had to go to the temple to be ritually cleansed . Churchgoers brought household candles for blessing to ward off evil in the home, something that was  banned after the reformation but happening in many churches again now. 

At one time the Christmas season didn't officially end until Candlemas and evergreen decorations were left up until the eve of Candlemas.

Down with the holly, ivy, all

Wherewith ye dressed the Christmas hall;

That so the superstitious find

Not one least branch left behind;

For look, how  many leaves there be

Neglected there, maids, trust to me,

So many goblins you shall see.

Robert Herrick, Hesperides, Ceremony upon Candlemas Eve (1648)

The 3rd of the month is the feast day of St Blaise, patron saint of wool-combers. He is said to have saved the life of a young boy who was choking on a fish bone then becoming the saint to ask for protection against throat ailments. The priest blessed two candles, tied them together to form a cross and held them against the throat of people suffering or wanting protection. He was yet another Christian tortured before being beheaded.

From The Illuminated Book of Days by Kay and Marshall Lee this is an illustration by Eugène Grasset an artist who produced posters etc in France during the second half of C19 

February has more weather folklore than any other month and even though it's the last month of winter, there could still be lots of bad weather to come.

In the barn on Candlemas Day should be half the straw and half the hay

When gnats dance in February, the husbandman becomes a beggar

A February spring is not worth a pin

Fogs in February mean frosts in May

If Candlemas day be cloudy and black

T'will carry cold winter away on its back;

But if Candlemas Day be fine and clear,

Then half the winter's  to come this year. 

A warm day in February is a dream of April

All the months of the year curse a fair Februeer

We will find out what weather February will bring in due course. I'm guessing mixed - it usually is, There is often a spell of much colder weather and sometimes snow. Although it doesn't really matter as  I won't be venturing very far again, just swimming, exercise group and  WI this month after the January break and the first of the three Rural Bygones sales at the auction yard.

Back Tomorrow

Sue