Back To The Swinging Sixties!

Yesterday morning I went off for my Volunteer Visiting at the Hospital. One patient had a fairly uncommon first name, and I asked about pronunciation. Then I said "was your surname previously.....?" "Yes!" she said. "We were at school together, I used to be Angela Hall"  We spent ages reminiscing about old friends from Primary School and High School. Both of us left Norfolk for university and then returned four decades later. It was great to catch up. I came home full of memories of those school years we shared [1965-1973] She's hoping to go home from hospital soon, but we will keep in touch.

In the afternoon I tidied the back bedroom, and listened to the weirdest programme on BBC I-player. It was called The strange parallel world of Christian pop.

If you're my sort of age, and spent your teens involved with church youth groups, names like The Joystrings, Out of Darkness, Parchment and The Fisherfolk may sound familiar. If they do, you might find the programme interesting. In the evening, Bob and I watched an Australian series - Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries on Prime. Also set in the 60s

Much muttering by me of "I had a dress like that!""That hat is all wrong"

The granddaughters had an inset day today, so the family are up for the weekend. Hot chocolate with marshmallows plus arts and crafts at Cornerstones. Grandad Bob was practising his Santa voice "Have you been good little children?" I said it was too deep and scary. Rosie pointed out that if his voice was too high, nobody would believe he was Santa. She told Bob he needed a "warm voice" 

As i said to my friend in the morning, in 1965 at Primary School, we would never have imagined where we'd be at 70 - retired and back in Norfolk!

Flash! Bang! Wallop!...What A Picture!

 

Nothing like a bit of Tommy Steele and his Cockney mates to brighten a cold wet November morning. You will remember we had our own Flash! Bang! Wallop! just five weeks ago with the spectacular demise of the microwave [Video here] John Lewis promptly supplied a replacement. And on Monday, that one went bang too! This time we asked for our money back. We suspect there was a batch of defective magnetics, and research online shows other people have had similar problems. We now have a similar Hyundai. 

What a Picture? Here's one to amuse you...

Bob has been asked to give out the gifts at the Chapel next week at the Toddler Group Christmas Party. Santa #1, who has done this for years, is just out of hospital, with a broken leg. Santa #2, who helped out last year, is about to go into hospital for an op. So Bob is stepping up as Santa #3. Except the costume was bought for #1. A small, slight man, it is Size L. Bob takes size XXL! Furthermore the beard and wig are a massive of  horrible static nylon curls.

Here he is in the unaltered outfit and itchy beard. I spent Thursday making a new beard using some white fur fabric from The Stash. I sewed fur and black gaiters to the bottom of the trousers legs, and let in some elastic into the hat so it would fit better. 

I hope there will a photo later of Santa in full costume, so we can "stick it in the family album"

Top Tips for working with fur fabric

• On the back of the fabric, mark the nap [direction] of the fur with a few arrows, so the pile runs in the right direction
• Use glass headed pins so they are easy to find and retrieve, and don't disappear into the fluff.

Teatowels, Dressing Gowns, Old Pillowcases - And A Nativity Costume Tutorial

When I was a child, I'm sure that costumes for Nativity Plays were just cobbled together from existing garments. Someone cut a head hole and armholes from a white pillowcase, and once you had a circlet of tinsel, that was your Angel's robe. And the innkeeper, Joseph, and shepherds wore their dressing gowns, with a check tea-towel tied on their head with Dad's black bootlace. Traditionally Mary had a blue shawl. Kings had cardboard crowns or Grandma's scarf wound into a turban.
Nowadays, it feels like even the preschool event requires hiring an outfit from the Royal Shakespeare Company! God bless all those teaching assistants and overworked teachers, who have assembled a class set of Nativity costumes which can be fetched out each winter and assigned to the cast. I checked back to 2014. I made 7 angel costumes, 7 shepherd outfits - and "camel humps and bodies" to go with the heads which the TAs had retrieved from the cupboard.
If you are handy with a machine, it doesn't take long to knock up an outfit though.

I found an ancient, much mended duvet cover in the loft. Bought in 1995 as a cover for a futon mattress, and patched with an old check duvet cover in 2011, and again in 2020. The fabric is so thin in parts, it is not fit for a bed anymore!

Rather than use my usual 'three rectangles' pattern I just cut out a front and back T shape with sloping shoulders. 

The neckline is a simple oval with a slit. And I put one belt loop in a side seam.  The side seams end in 10cm slits for easy movement. I used the check patch to cut two rectangles for the head-cloths and two long straps as tie belts. The waistcoat is a 45x90cm rectangle. Fold it in half at the shoulders. Cut a centre slit and curved neckline, and sew side seams to the armhole.

Finally stitch a loop of elastic or stretchy fabric 55cm long, and attach to front centre of the head cloth [75x45 - like a teatowel!] Tutorial HERE. All done and dusted. Ready to go off to Manchester

TOP TIPs

1. Aim to make costumes easy to put on, and generously sized to fit over regular clothes. If it is cold, children may want to wear tshirt and jogging bottoms underneath.
2. Are you dressing the child, or will the TA have half a dozen tots to get sorted? Make it easier for the dressers - the loop means you can ensure belt doesn't get separated from the robe, and Leo doesn't get Theo's sash. 
3. Likewise, the attached strap makes the headcloth easy to pull on, and shouldn't come adrift mid production
4. Shepherds are pretty rustic characters- so don't fuss too much about hemming and use non fray jersey
5. If anybody complains that your angel does not have wings, explain politely that in the Bible they are never mentioned as having wings - it is cherubim and seraphim who have them. [Exodus 25, Isaiah 6] 

THANK YOU to everyone who has made a donation to our Cornerstones Christmas Tableau-  either cash in the pink pot hanging by the display, or online. We have raised around £200 thus far, which is truly wonderful!

Goodbye, And Godspeed

This is Bob's birthday lunch three werks ago, when we went to Gem, the restaurant by Norwich Station. We are with our good friends Peter and Wendy [Peter is a week younger than Bob]

I am posting the picture now because today they are leaving Norfolk to go and live in Cyprus. I shall really miss them. When they moved to our area almost 4 years ago, they came to the Chapel. I discovered we had mutual friends in other parts of the country and we hit it off immediately.

Both Peter and Wendy have contributed so much to the life of our little fellowship.

Wendy and I have lots in common. But at least we have WhatsApp and can keep in touch. And who knows, maybe we will fly out for a holiday, and stay in their sunny new home...God bless you both

Going Postal?

Up early Monday, as I had my shingles vaccination at 9am [2nd part, 1st one was 6 months ago] This was not a 3 minute walk to the little medical centre round the corner, but at the main surgery, 5miles away. It is opposite the excellent Tea Post. I had 4 items to post, so Bob kindly said he'd come with me and sort that out whilst I had my jab. And then we could have breakfast. He had scrambled eggs on toast with bacon, I had a bacon sandwich. All good.

Not so good was the cost of postage. Bob said that the book, and the parcel of 3 shed aprons  cost £3.99, as did the book. That was ok. The aprons weighed around 800g. 

The advent calendar, very thin and flat in a square envelope, and weighing 55g also cost £3.99! Apparently the envelope was too wide for it to be classed as a large letter. I'd been so pleased to find a "proper" Advent calendar for the grandchildren, with a picture of the stable, magi, baby Jesus etc. [No chocolate though] Not doing that again!

Unfortunately my arm ached all day which slowed me up a bit, and I had ironing and sewing tasks.  But at least it did not rain! I realised that I'd missed out one of the photos from the Festival. The local woolshop had a triangular frame holding lots of colourful balls of yarn!

On the subject of wool, did you hear that many knitters are objecting to the new solar power postboxes? 250 people in the village of Titchfield in Hampshire have signed a petition in support of the "Yarnbombers" who create "postbox toppers" 

And Banxy the mystery knitter of Syston has also expressed her sadness at the March of technology stifling her creativity.

Yes, I agee these guerilla knits are bright and cheerful - but they do look sad and bedraggled if left too long at the mercy of the elements. 

Today I'm doing Christmas crafts, singing and storytelling at Little Acorns [the Toddler Group at our chapel] I will enjoy that. 

Admiring Trees, And Tracing Rainbows

Yesterday afternoon I drove into Dereham to see the Tree Festival in the Parish Church. They did their first one last year, and have clearly worked hard to make things even better this time. Ten more trees than in 2024, but also better laid out and clearly numbered. Quite a few trees had the same decorations as last year, or the same stuff with a few bits added. There were better refreshments too! Lots of business and charity groups represented. Thank you to all those in the community who worked so hard on this.

The Sally Army tree was an intriguing wooden construction, with snapshots stapled to the 'branches'

Other trees were tall and thin, short and fat, or just regular cone shapes.

The Dereham Men's Shed was another wooden piece, with tools, measuring tapes, and turned wood ornaments. 

The Litter - pickers tree was all 'found rubbish' corks and egg boxes turned into reindeer, and crisp packets heat-shrunk into red and green 'baubles'

The hospital tree had the laser designs I'd helped patients to colour in last year, and the Mothers' Union still had my little felt books - but both groups had added more stuff.

The Forget Me Not dementia group had their interesting green 'golfball tree' again.

The trees were ranged down the side aisles and up into the choir. The Stewards were welcoming and chatty, and the cakes looked tasty. 

They were huge slices, so I wrapped mine in 2 napkins, and brought it home to share with Bob.

The rain had stopped when I came out, and there was a rainbow over the carpark. I watched it all the way home! Just before I got to 'My Tree' I pulled into a layby to take a second photo.

The rainbow's end was a vivid streak of colour going straight down from a cloud, into the field behind the Close! A bright ending to a lovely visit

Hold On To Hope

Yesterday was quite busy. We began with a nearby Craft Fair where we met a few friends [and found a couple of Christmas gifts] then dropped in on the Village Hall where our neighbour was celebrating her 18th birthday with a lunchtime party. Then on to the Hospice for the Christmas Fair there. We encountered a number of Bob's colleagues, including Hugo, the Head of Fundraising, who was interested in the tableau. We purchased a Christmas wreath from Jack, the gardener. The team of volunteer gardeners have made loads of these from greenery around the site. We ended our afternoon in Earlham. A quick stroll round a couple of charity shops, then on to the Greengrocers, for cups of tea, and a shared slice of cake. They have a community noticeboard, where locals can pin their adverts. For maths support, chess tuition, harp lessons, yoga classes and more... I was very taken with the message on a postcard pinned there.

Isn't this the heart of the Christmas message? Hold on to Hope, for behold I bring good news of great joy for all people...
It was a miserably wet day, but when we drove into the Close it was getting dark. The light in the stable shines brightly