Tuesday 19 March 2024

The Bottom Line

I may give up on the Village Garden Club. I went to learn more about gardening, but it feels as if one is expected to know a certain amount before joining. I asked a question about rhubarb in the autumn, and the answer was quite confusing. I am happy to report that I ignored the advice given, and my rhubarb is thriving. And had I left the rhubarb in situ, it would now be under the concrete base of the new oil tank. Last month I asked when I should plant out my chitted potatoes "Oh you will just know" I was told before the meeting [my question never even got read out]  I was a little miffed - I didn't know, that was why I was asking! 
So when Bernie came along to our craft group yesterday, [and I know he is a great gardener] I said "Bernie, I have potatoes chitting on my windowsill - when can I plant them out?" he immediately replied "How's your bum?"
"Um, fine, but why are you asking?" Bernie explained that when you can put your bare bum on the earth and it doesn't feel cold, then it's ok to plant out your spuds. 

Other people present said yes, they had heard this piece of folk wisdom. The German lady said she learned it when she came to Norfolk, and was told it was a Norfolk saying, and some said Monty Don and Alan Titchmarsh have quoted this too.

After lunch I went into the back garden and tried The Bare Bum Test - very discreetly! So now my potatoes are all planted. I've also put in some radish and lettuce seeds, as advised by Huw Richards. This year, I am moving everything along 3 sections, so I get proper crop rotation, and I'm not growing things in the same row, year on year. 
The Egyptian walking onions are looking healthy [no sign of bulbils on the top yet] I have daffs, narcissus and tulips in flower too. 
Looking forward to more veg from the raised bed this year, and perhaps more flowers in the front border too.

Monday 18 March 2024

And They All Lived Happily Ever After

When we moved to Dorset, Sir Julian Fellowes [creator of Downton Abbey] lived25 miles up the road. And Highclere Castle, location for the filming, was in the opposite direction, in Berkshire. Less than an hour away from Ferndown. I know it isn't in the National Trust, but please can we visit? I said. In 2015.

I met Sir J and his wife in a local Charity shop once [Lady F took the photo on my phone] A jolly nice chap he was too. In the autumn of 2019 I went with a group of 10 friends to see the first Downton film at the cinema in Poole But I still hadn't been to  to Highclere. "We retire in eighteen months" I said - so in 2020 we must go" Bob said that was fine, we would. Nobody went anywhere in 2020 did they?  [except Barnard Castle, or parties in Downing Street]

And we moved to Norfolk [200 miles, nearly 4 hours to Highclere] The sequel film came out in 2022. Bob wasn't interested in going to see it, I couldn't find anyone to go with. 
Then at last, it was released on Netflix on Friday. Saturday Bob was doing woodwork in the workshop - so I settled down with tea and cross stitch and indulged in an afternoon of  sheer escapism.

If you enjoyed the series and the first film , you will enjoy this. If you are not really up on the backstory of DA it may be a little confusing in places.
But I loved it - crazy plot, but somehow it managed to tie up all the ends in tidy little bows. People who should have got together did, difficult people were placated. Some neat little in-jokes - like when the French Milliner mistakes Carson the butler for Lady Bagshaw's husband. [Carson being played by Jim Carter, Lady B plated by his real life wife of 40 years, Imelda Staunton]

It was enormous fun and I shall probably watch it again sometime. *****




Sunday 17 March 2024

Loving And Giving

 Are we really at the 5th Sunday in Lent already? and next week will be Palm Sunday. How the year is flying by. Delia's little book beside my bed continues to give me food for thought. So many of the Lent studies I have worked through in recent years have been very practical - give to a food back, pay-it-forward in a coffee shop, donate coats to charity, help a neighbour...don't give something up, give something away.

All good in their way - but this study, published over 40 years ago [written pre-internet and mobile phones] is much simpler, and concentrates on encouraging the reader to use Lent as a time to first deepen their relationship with God and then listen and see where He leads.
I have very much appreciated Delia's writings - they are simple, and not preachy. She doesn't write as a theologian, but as a fellow believer - honest and humble about her own struggles in faith, and positive about the way God has led her and blessed her. Looking back over the last few weeks, I can see how there have been moments when, having reflected on the passage in the book, I have found myself better prepared for the situations I have faced as I go about my day.
I am still working on the 'giving away' though. Yesterday morning we popped over to the chapel to donate two sewing machines. a computer, and a few other bits. Tony was amassing a collection for Tools With A Mission. TWAM was launched 40 years ago by members of the Baptist Men's Movement. It has grown and grown. 
Do check out their website and see the amazing work they are doing - giving new life to old tools, and providing life-transforming opportunities for people in poverty across the world.
I watched my friends carrying rakes and spades and other things into the chapel, and thought how wonderful it was that these old, unused items can be redeemed and refurbished and repurposed TWAM grew out of a small group of men praying together about how to use what they no longer needed in order to benefit other people - and now it is a large, efficient charity.
Delia's reflection yesterday, about the connection between praying and loving ended with these words "God's power will give us the capacity to do more than we ever imagined, and the fruits of prayer will flow out to bless others"

Saturday 16 March 2024

Stepping Out

The Start Rite company of Norwich claims to be the oldest shoemakers' company in Britain - founded in 1792. In 1955, they received the Queen's Royal Warrant, having supplied shoes for Prince Charles and Princess Ann. A second Royal Warrant came in 1989 from Prince Charles - Princes William and Harry had StartRite footwear too. Altho the warrants were withdrawn in 2003 when production moved overseas - although Prince George was wearing SR shoes in the official photograph for Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday.
As a child I remember the distinctive advertisements showing two children walking hand in hand. I always wanted a pair of my own [too expensive, my Mum said!] But I thought of the ad again this week, when Steph sent me a lovely picture of the boys walking into nursery together

Update: I sent this to StartRite Customer Services and had a lovely, prompt email in reply saying they rarely got such nice messages, and it was much appreciated 

Friday 15 March 2024

Once Upon A Time...

... there were three bears. They were made from shirts patterned in red, white and blue
 They had little green backpacks

And on the sole of the right foot, each one had the logo of JD Home&Garden Services.
These fabrics all came from shirts belonging to our dear friend Jason who died in December. His daughters particularly wanted the logo from his green workshirts incorporated somehow, and this worked well. 
I used the green shirts to make the backpacks [the fabric was too stretchy to use for the bodies of the bears. Each backpack has a personalised label inside the flap. Special gifts for three friends - in memory of a wonderful man. 



Thursday 14 March 2024

I Don't Believe It!

We watched the Marlow Murder Club. I was so looking forward to this. I knew it came under the 'cosy crime' category - like Midsomer, and Death in Paradise, Rosemary and Thyme et al, and the author, Robert Thorogood, wrote some episodes of D in P. Cosy crime is people getting bumped off, but always with a bizarre underlying thread of humour involved.  I was expecting all that.
But honestly, I found it really disappointing. Samuel Taylor Coleridge coined the phrase suspension of disbelief  meaning our willingness to believe the unbelievable for the sake of enjoyment. 
Too many things in this programme were just utterly unbelievable. 
These comments are not plot spoilers
I may not be an Anglican but there are a few things I know - one is that bishops are not expected to wear their mitres outside of liturgical situations. Squashed in between two women in the front seat of a van is definitely not a liturgical situation.
Also, no clergy spouse that I know off would be able to rootle about in a drawer at church and succeed in finding a knife sharp enough to saw through a bell rope. Bell ropes are 2" thick and very strong. Most accessible knives in the church kitchen are unlikely to cut much more than butter. [If there are truly sharp ones, the catering team keeps them under lock and key]
But the worst bit of the whole thing, for us both, was ignoring the laws of physics. If your car is parked next to a street sign like this


then its reflection in your windscreen will be like this below [not as shown above]


I know this is incredibly pedantic, but Bob and I found it really jarring watching the driver of the car talking on her phone with the erroneous non-reflection onscreen in front of her. It was really just careless editing on somebody's part. 
I have not read the book, but a few reviewers have said the book is much better, because the TV adaptation introduced some really clunky dialogue, and that the book would have suited a slower four-part adaptation better. Author Robert Thorogood has written two more books in the series, so I shall try and read them before Samantha Bond and her pals come back to our screens. 
I know lots of friends really enjoyed this whodunit - please don't be put off by my review! 
At least Death in Paradise is still there, and the spinoff [Beyond Paradise] from Cornwall is coming back soon...

Wednesday 13 March 2024

Sew Far, Sew Good


I have been very slow at posting about our latest collaborative stitching. We have both been busy with other projects. But here are our Jan-Feb pieces
I love snowdrops and this is a beautiful piece of stitching, my photo does not do it justice
My piece was our names done in hieroglyphics in a sort of Egyptian cartouche. I only discovered afterwards that the horizontal line at the bottom and the crossed lines indicate that this means a Royal Personage!

I have yet to work out what my final section will be. I had a really good idea in the middle of the night on Saturday, but I have been struggling to remember what it was since I woke up on Sunday morning. Hopefully it will come back to me soon.
I have been working really hard on three memory bears. They do look sad and floppy when they are half-stuffed!