The First Few Finds

 The weather was fine and the temperature just below freezing when I went to the first car-boot sale of the season on Saturday morning. There were lots of people selling and shivering and even more folk walking round - not quite as cold as those standing still but blimey it was cold.

My spend total was £1.50

More pegs, after finding the ones in a charity shop I've now plenty to last me years, a new pad of paper for the grandchildren and an almost full roll of greaseproof paper.

I use the cheap greaseproof to line tins when cooking things that don't need baking parchment, saves some dishwashing.

At the boot-sale I looked through lots of boxes of crockery for a spring plate for the Seasonal Display - no luck. A couple of years ago I had a plate with spring flowers but it's vanished. Did I give it away? If so I'm a idiot!

So it's the Country Diary March plate on top of the bookshelves -it's third outing I think, the Beswick wren and blue-tit are there again and the Hare moves here from the big bookshelves for March. The flowers came from the boot-sale too, they should have cost me £2 but a lady was buying up loads of bunches and gathering them all into a bucket and I jokingly said can you save some for me? and she paid for her 10 bunches and then paid for my two bunches which was such a surprise that I think I forgot to say 'Thankyou'!

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Sue

Morning Adventures Last Week ....No Photos

 If only I'd thought about photos on Monday of last week you would have seen how my morning in the kitchen made me ......

2 Pizza Bases to put in the freezer

1 loaf of 50/50 Wholemeal/white bread

2 pastry cases also for the freezer

Toad-in-the-hole to feed me two days

Roast veg ditto

Sausage rolls for another day last week

And a  left over piece of rolled out pastry to pop in the freezer ready for sausage rolls again sometime

Very glad of the dishwasher!

Always useful to put a few things in the freezer and I soon need to think about re-stocking the batch meals as I'm down to not many left, but I need to do a defrost first. And there's still another pack of 2 Aldi veggie things I got in before Christmas to try. 

Next morning was Keep Moving Group and the guy from Spot Wellbeing, the organisation that started our group over 2 years ago, came to lead us through our half hour of exercises. He worked us harder than we normally do I think. We need to up our game. Although it's still aimed at 65+ so not overly difficult.

On another morning I went to try out another 'old people' exercise group that was also started by Spot Wellbeing just this year( a few miles in the other direction from home). They are now going it alone and are trying out various sequences of exercises and this week they were mainly seated and based on yoga. 

Then there was the usual shopping morning - no coffee out last week. Just Aldi and Asda.

Finally I went swimming - hadn't been for several weeks - it was hard work.

Not sure I can keep up that level of morning adventures! 

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Sue

March 1st

 In the Roman calendar March, or Martius, was the first month of the new year. The month was named after Mars, the god of war and the guardian of agriculture. March was the month when both farming and warfare could begin again after winter.

1st March, St David's Day, The Patron St of Wales. The start of meteorological spring.

Upon St David's Day

Put oats and barley in the clay

2nd March, St Chad's Day(Bishop of Northumbria in the 7th Century)

Saint's David and Chad

Sow peas, good or bad.

Stained Glass from Holy Cross Monastery New York

4th March, Shrove Tuesday - Pancakes!

5th March, St Pirans Day and Ash Wednesday

Sprinkling of Ashes from a Polish Painting C19

6th March, World Book Day

14th March, Full Moon - The Lenten Moon or Plough Moon

 

17th March,  St Patrick's Day. Patron Saint of Ireland  and St Joseph of Arimathea.

If St Joseph's Day is clear

We shall have a fertile year.

 

20th March,  Vernal Equinox, the start of Astronomical spring and Ostara, The Pagan festival celebrating Eostre, Goddess of Spring. 

 21st  March, St Benedict's Day (also July 21st)

Whatever the weather on 21st, that weather will stay until 21st June

 

25th March, Lady Day. The feast of the Annunciation and 1st Quarter day

An east wind on Lady Day

Will keep on 'til the end of May

29th March, Super New Moon and Clocks go Forward Overnight

 

30th March, Mothering Sunday 

It is the first mild day of March:

Each minute sweeter than before,

The redbreast sings from the tall larch

That stands beside our door.

There is a blessing in the air,

Which seems a sense of joy to yield

To the bare trees, and mountains bare,

And grass in the green field.

From ' To My Sister' by William Wordsworth

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Sue