Temperature Spike

Julian was with us for three days over the weekend. We did fun stuff - the Bridewell Museum in Norwich, the Aviation Museum, Board Games, Lunch with family etc. In April 25, J gave me a Mr Potato Head plantholder. I filled it with an Aloe, and rechristened MrPH 'Spike' 

In 15 months, he has grown a lot more spikes. He lives on the end of the kitchen windowsill. In this extreme heat, I have kept the blinds right down all the time, so that the room doesn't get too hot. 
But I had a bit of a shock on Saturday - it was cooler, so I put the blind up a little more than it has been for the past three weeks. 
Just look at Spike now!
I do believe he is sprouting a flower,
for the first time ever.
I was ridiculously pleased that this has happened whilst Julian was with us. I wonder if the flower will get bigger or open up in anyway.? Do aloes have 'babies'?

Sermon Prep

Next week, I am out preaching. They have given me a passage to work from, so I have been reading it through as I prepare. Here is the second verse of the third letter of John. It seemed a very good greeting to share with you all this morning.  
God bless you, wherever you are, in whatever you are doing, today!

 

Spud-U-Like*

The potato plants were looking awfully sad - and it is the middle of July, so I felt I should harvest them. 

It is not difficult when they are in pots, and in two rows of the raised bed. But they were somewhat varied in size, and rather earthy. I washed and dried them very carefully, then decided to sort them.

I am sure that the commercial potato growers have some sort of mechanical process for grading spuds. 

I used my rubber egg [which was mysteriously laid on my front drive about 15 years ago!] The potatoes were put into 4 groups thus:

• Bigger than the egg
• Egg sized
• Smaller than the egg
• Marbles [just a cupful of these]

I normally keep the potatoes I buy from the veg place in their brown paper sack, on the bench in the old garage. But it is baking hot in there at the minute. So these are all stored away, in separate containers, in the fridge. I found a fun pic on the internet

What does I Papiassos mean? Sounds like a Greek potato pun

Does anyone have any suggestions for what to do with the marble sized ones? 

If I can't think of a good way to cook them, they'll go into the compost bin.

*Back in the 90s, the family always pronounced the name of this fast food outlet as Spudoulikae, having decided it was a small village on a Greek Island in the Aegean Sea, famed for its tubers!

The Blue Bird Of Happiness

In 1908, the Belgian writer Maurice Maeterlinck wrote a story called The Blue Bird about two children, brother and sister, named Tyltyl and Mytyl. It is a fairy story [not specifically for children - synopsis here] but in the tale, the fairy gives them a magic diamond which will reveal truth to them. Mytyl wants to find happiness, and they seek everywhere for the mystical Blue Bird which will grant this. In the end, they go home, and there all along is a cage containing a blue bird. Tyltyl gives this to his sister. That's sort of where this happy blue bird idea started [why did he give the children such odd names though?] And in 1939 Judy sang about bluebirds over the rainbow, and soon after Vera added the bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover.
But what are these bluebirds? Here's the thing - in the USA a bluebird is one of three species of thrush [Easterm, Western, and Mountain Thrushes] with vibrant blue and reddish brown plumage. But we don't get them in Europe...

The writer of the 1941 song was from the US, and never even visited Dover till long after the war. He was unaware we didn't have bluebirds here! So people have made various suggestions

• that blue birds' represented the RAF pilots in their blue uniforms
• that they were the peregrine falcons with blue feathers in their backs - flying over the Channel, trained to intercept German carrier pigeons.
• that the swallows arriving each summer had a blue sheen to their plumage, and that return brought hope.
• they could be the Eurasian Jay which has a bright blue flash on its wing
• they could be blue tits... feeble claim, these are tiny garden birds, and unlikely to be seen soaring over Kent!

Sorry if that burst your bubble...

But do have a look at my bluebird which has just flown in to Cornerstones. A tiny little amigurami crochet blue tit. It was a gift on Monday when I delivered a pair of memory bears. My friend's mother died recently - she was a very colourful lady, 89 years old, and fond of brightly coloured dresses.

I made two identical bears, for my friend and her sister. They have blue bows at the neck and personalised backpacks. And the 'pads' are made from her Mum's fleecy dressing gown - which she wore all the time in the last few weeks of her life. I used the dg to make two bags for the bears to travel in
My friend was thrilled [I may have to include packs of tissues next time I deliver bears] and said she couldn't sew. I admired the crochet items in her lounge, saying that I struggle with crochet. She immediately gave me a tiny bluebird!
Currently he is sitting with the orchids - but I may add a hanging ribbon and put him in the Xmas Tree box.

Can you crochet?

 Have you ever made amigurami birds or animals?

What I've Been Watching...

If you like sport, then the last few weeks have provided some good TV. Tennis, Football, Grand Prix...and more.(sad that England lost last night) If you are like me, and don't really like watching sport on TV at all, the programme listings have been a little dull. 
However, I did manage to catch some of the Penelope Keith programmes, following her recent death. How I loved her wardrobe - both as Margot Leadbetter and Audrey Forbes-Hamilton! She was so tall and statuesque and could really pull off those fabulous silk kaftans, satin evening gowns and glorious millinery. At a diminutive 4'11" with a small budget, I was more at home in the old jumpers and dungarees favoured by Felicity Kendall. PK was a brilliant actor and I can watch re runs of The Good Life any time. 

At last Quizzy Mondays have returned. This week we had to deliver something to a friend, and we were delayed, so it was just after 8pm when we arrived "I thought you two would be the sort of people at home watching Only Connect right now" she said. Our friends know us too well! We watched it later, when we got home. Good to see Clive, Amol and VC-M quizzing away as before. 

We have been watching the 2010 reboot of Hawaii Five-O on Netflix. Quite enjoying it, altho it can get a bit violent.  But we are particularly grateful to Liz for alerting us to a policeman called Panda

NO not Peppa Pig's Policeman Panda, voiced by VCM's husband David Mitchell, but a French crime drama on Channel 4's Walter Presents

Panda [aka Victor Pandaloni] is an ex-cop, turned relaxed vegan pacifist, who is reluctantly dragged back to the force. But he insists on working on his own terms. So no early morning callouts, cycling rather than using a car, no weapons or violence.
It's so clever and so witty. Providing you can cope with subtitles , it is easy viewing for a warm summer evening. Set in the Camargue [yes there is a pony, sunshine, sandy beaches etc] It has all the usual tropes...

-longsuffering boss [permanently tired due to young family]
-attractive but highly-strung female partner, who is his polar opposite
-younger idiot cop who worships Panda 
-teenage son whom Panda 'accidentally' adopted

C'est Très Drôle

No Reds Under The Beds Here!

When we got married, Bob's parents bought us a bed. The guy in the shop told us to turn/rotate the mattress every three months to ensure even wear. I diligently marked each corner, top and bottom. Thus in the corner under Bobs pillow, it would say Jan 1st/ Apr 1st/ July 1st/ Dec 1st depending on which season we were in. We kept the bed, but changed the mattress a few times. The bedframe had four built in underbed drawers. So useful when we lived in tiny flats.

Then Bob got sleep apnoea. We got a new bed and a new mattress. Now we had one with a definite top and bottom, so it's turned round, but not over - every six months. Last week we did the July turn. This is an IKEA Malm bed, and matches our bedroom cupboards [as does the one in the back bedroom] IKEA are about to phase out the Malm range. Look out for bargains on FB Marketplace!
A few years back, IKEA had an ad campaign for its beds "Where family starts" claiming that German researchers had discovered than 10% of European babies were conceived on IKEA beds. They had a photographic family tree including bed pictures. [The other Europeans were presumably conceived "out of bedlock"]

It is always slightly embarrassing to see how much dust collects under my bed despite my 'swiffering'. There are a few things which live there

• the extension cable for plugging in bedside light, phone charger etc
• A small zip underbed bag where I keep our summer sandals and beach shoes over the winter.
• The big pack of spare kitchen tiles, because when the boiler dies, probably soon, I will need to fill the gap. And these tiles are big and need to be stored flat
• A small box of emergency foodstuffs. A hangover from the days of my Brexit box, I check this and use/swap stuff that is going out of date every so often. Rosie recently asked me "Grandma, why do you keep snacks under the bed?" I pointed out that a can of red kidney beans doesn't really count as a midnight snack!

In the back room, the bed is a little higher, and I have two proper Malm storage drawers. One has all my craft paper and card [flat and accessible] The other holds spare bedlinens and tablecloths. The contents of both drawers are slowly being used up/donated to CS. 

There is something very satisfying about doing a thorough clean, washing the bedside rugs, putting fresh linen on the bed... 

At the moment I use the duvet cover as a loose top sheet. Even in hot weather, I like to have something over me when I sleep] My preferred heatwave pjs - an ancient "Friends" t-shirt, and M&S men's boxer shorts.[3-pack, for £10 in 2023] Confession; some of these hot mornings recently, I get to lunchtime and I'm still slumming around the house in these!

Years ago [having read the joke in one of her dad's books] my daughter asked her Sunday School teacher

"Is it true that we come from dust and go to dust?"

The somewhat surprised lady said "Well, that's what the bible tells us, dear"

My cheeky child responded "Well, there's a lot of people coming and going under my bed then

Seeing Double

On Sunday evening we went into Norwich for a classical music concert. The two performers were identical twins, Peter and Zoltan Katona, playing identical guitars. They were absolutely stunning. Although they are Hungarian, they are expert in Spanish guitar. They thrilled the audience with Scarlatti, Manuel de Falla, Bocherini and more

The two came to England to study at the Royal Academy of Music, and then settled in Liverpool. They love the Beatles, so their encore was a great rendition of "Come Together" 

It was a simply magical evening. Bob had booked the tickets months ago, not really what to expect. They are in York this week, Cheltenham next. There are tickets still available. Do check out their Website.

Have you ever heard them play? What did you think?