Is This Granny Square?

Back in 1885, in Prairie Farmer magazine, a lady called Annie Phelps released a crochet pattern for "A Crazy Afghan" [Afghan here meaning a blanket, not a hound, nor a person from that country near Iran]
It was so easy to do, it became really popular, and was revived in the 1930's. 

Over the years it came to be known as a Granny Square. [Because it was easy, even if you had failing eyesight, and thrifty Grannies like to use up odd bits of yarn] In 1967 I was 12, and the Beatles released "Magical Mystery Tour" - and Paul McCartney was wearing a Granny Square Waistcoat [or 'vest' as they say in the USA]

I did learn to crochet in Girl's Brigade, but never enjoyed it as much as knitting. Fifteen years ago, I visited Mags in Ireland, and the women at her library crochet group [Hookery in the Bookery] rekindled my interest.
This summer, Rosie has learned to hook, and is happily making friendship bracelets. She spent all summer in her charity crochet sunflower hat

I've just got this book from the library, by the exuberant and colourful Katie Jones. Not because I intend to crochet anything, but because her book is full of projects with Granny Squares. She turns them into vests, jumpers, hats, bags and more. This may help me decide what to do with all my knitted squares from the Double-Knit Collaboration

Katie loves mixing and matching her squares and her bright colours.

Maybe I could reinterpret one of her jumper patterns with my knitted squares [they tend to be sightly more muted colours, I am not really into dayglo greens, luminous lemons and eye-popping pinks!

Do Small Things With Great Love...

Mother Theresa has been credited with this quote. I love the fact that the 'rope' thrown out by the bear and mouse to help their friend rabbit back to shore is strung with hearts.

In these days of 'instant gratification' [Order online now and it will be with you within hours...] it is good to remind ourselves that some things take time, love and patience. The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step [Personally, I'd struggle with 500 miles, and then 500 more, but I would be do it, if it got me to my beloved] 
I was thinking of the goals we set ourselves [major and minor] which may need a lot of little steps

• learning a new language or skill
• tidying and decluttering the home
• restoring broken relationships
• making a patchwork quilt
• teaching a child to read, swim, cycle
• reading a difficult book
• building a good community
• creating a lovely garden
• adapting after a 'life-event' [moving, childbirth, job-loss, aging, bereavement etc]

This month's calendar picture encourages me. It reminds me

• I'm not doing this alone, friends**, family and faith are there to help
• I don't need to be quick, I can go at my own pace
• Some steps will be small and easy, others may challenge and stretch me
• I need to slow down sometimes, and wait patiently for others to catch up

**September marks the birthday of my friend Christine, who generously gives me The Painted Bear Calendar every year for Christmas, it is a year round gift. Thank you Christine for being there on my journey with me for so many years now. 

 

Goodbye, Dolly!

The wonderful Dolly Parton has left us, to go and sing with the angels! She will be greatly missed by so many. Her nephew paid a moving tribute.[see video below]
I loved her, for her music, her honesty and her openness about her faith. I loved her generosity - helping children in the US get to College, and her worldwide Imagination Library [my own grandchildren benefited from the books they received through that] I am appalled that the hypocritical President says flags will fly at half mast for a week at the same time as his Republican Party is withdrawing funds from the I.L.across the States.

Here's Rosie, ten years ago, with her first Dolly Parton Book!

When she learned that the doctor who once treated her after a car crash was working on a vaccine for Covid, Dolly's immediate response was to pull out her chequebook and donate $1M to help. Thanks Dolly, I had my Moderna Jab!

Dolly once said “God has a plan for everything. I think it probably was his plan for me not to have kids so everybody’s kids could be mine. And they are now.”

She brought joy throughout her life, to so many people. but never forgot her humble roots, and was always generous to others. She had a very long and happy marriage. RIP Dolly- we will always love you!

I did love the tribute from the band outside Buckingham Palace today! 

Well, I Did Warn You!

Another post about the visit of that tapestry! The day that tickets went on sale [at 10am] for the exhibition at the British Museum  I logged on at 11.10, to this message

There are 70,564 people ahead of you in the queue.

That number has planted itself in my brain.The system was well organised. Having entered my email, I was given a personal link - throughout the day I clicked on and it told me the length of the queue and the estimated time till my 10 minute ticket-buying window. I knew from the start to would be sometime after 5pm, and that I'd be sent an email alert.. In the event., I actually got my tickets around 5.30pm. I'd hoped for the last Monday of September but there was but one ticket available at 3.30. So I opted for the Tuesday morning, 10.20am. I decided against the £35 exhibition guidebook! My friend from church logged in later in the day, and was advised that there were no tickets left, and she should apply again when the second tranche is released - there are no tickets left now between September 10th and January 1st. We have booked B&B with my SIL in Barnet.

Having decided against the official guide, I thought I should check out what Bayeux Books I had already. The Churchill tome, which sparked my interest as a child, just has a small section on the dustjacket. 
But for the first time, I looked inside the book. That was fascinating - it is a first edition! Because when it came out in 1956, my father was on the point of leaving Romford to go to another church. Two spinster sisters in his congregation bought him this book as a leaving present, knowing his interest in history. Inside the book is a lovely letter, thanking him for his ministry and assuring him of their continued prayers for 'you, your wife, and Angela. ..we shall miss you terribly, it will be a big gap in our lives' [I was aged 1½] But apart from the cover, not much info.

This book was more promising. £1 from a charity shop, it is a full length photograph, scaled down to one seventh of the original. Nearly 10 metres long. I unrolled it on the kitchen worktop.

What fun! It is accurate [there are no characters with added underwear!] I have treated myself to a 2nd hand book from World of Books by Silvette LeMagnen, who is curator of the  exhibition in France. This is one of their guidebooks [the English translation!]. 

It is well written, with details about materials, stitches and construction as well as content. She includes a note about the women, and the weaponry - as well as a general run through of the sequence of events depicted. When we go, I imagine there wont be a lot of time for dawdling, so I need to have a clear idea of any specific sections I want to see, and be ready to check them out. 

It would be no good to get to the end and say "Oh no, I missed Ælfgyva and Queen Edith!"

To that end I have borrowed a book from the Library. "What do you have on the Bayeux Tapestry, please?" I asked. The librarian pulled up a page from the catalogue. We agreed that the first on the list "The Bayeux Tapestry"  by Frank Rede Fowke seemed to be a good choice. That was the book I collected last week.  It was last borrowed in June 2000!

FRF was the son in law of Henry Cole. No not the biker guy from 'Find It, Fix It, Flog It' on Channel 4. The original Henry Cole, who took the profits from the Great Exhibition of 1881 and used them to build all those wonderful museums in Kensington. FRF married his daughter and helped with all sorts of historical projects and wrote a number of books. This book was first published in 1898, and this is the 1913 edition. It is not kept on the main shelves, it was retrieved from the county store for me. How cool is this!! 113 years old.

It tells the story from start to finish. I shall have to read it with my fold out book in front of me - sadly the black and white photographs at the end of the book are not really that helpful ! Fowke credits them to Count Ostrorog, a Polish chap who was Queen Victoria's personal photographer. Fowke also speaks of Mr Charles Stothard, an artist sent out to France in 1818 to paint a copy of the tapestry. The man brought a fragment home with him! His widow later claimed they were discarded scraps from the restoration work - they were subsequently returned to Bayeux.

Mia Hannson and Sylvette LeMagnen say there are 58 panels - Fowke lists 79.  I will wait to see how these discrepancies occur. 
There will be more posts, I promise! 

Elizabeth Wardle was in a question on University Challenge last night!! 

Books, Books, Books...

 I picked up an email on Wednesday afternoon telling me that Book-Mark would not be coming on Thursday with the Mobile Van. Lots of the older folk in the village really enjoy his monthly visit. They don't have easy access into the town library. Mark is so good, finding and reserving their books. He's just received a certificate celebrating his 25 years as a library driver.

But I realised that many of these ladies [the customers are 90% female!] do not have access to the internet.So Rosie and I strolled round the corner and put notices on both sides of the road where he usually parks. It's far too hot to be hanging about hopefully, wondering why he is late!

Initially a little frustrating, as I had a stack of books to return, but then I received a second email, telling me a reserved book was in Dereham Library waiting for collection. So after lunch yesterday I zipped into town and was in and out of the library in 5 minutes!
The returned books were a little disappointing to be honest. Wortking down the pile

• Rosewater - Bob's science fiction book. Did not read
• The Art Of Repair - brilliant. Reviewed here
• OTK Extra Good Things - I borrowed this last year. I thought it looked good then, but did not try any of the recipes then. Re-reading it, I decided I was unlikely to do so now...
• Actually Delicious Air Fryer - rather similar to all the other A/F books. Nothing exciting
  
• Gino's Air Fryer - I am hoping to try the Signor D'Acampo's arancini sometime [recipe here]
• Sicily - recipes from husband and wife couple Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi. A very pretty book for your coffee table. Not sure I'd use it much in my kitchen
• Forage and Stitch; using natural materials in textile art  This was another inspirational gem

Carolyn Hyde-Brown, I discovered, lives a few miles from here! She gathers leaves, flowers, twigs, and other foraged materials, then uses a variety of techniques- hand and machine stitching, felting, solar dyeing, hapa-zome* and more to make interesting and diverse artworks. I'm rather busy with the family around at the minute, but I plan to borrow this one again in the autumn, and try some of her ideas.

*Hapa-zome is the Japanese word for extracting the dyes from leaves and petals by putting them on a sheet of fabric or paper, and walloping them with a hammer! 
Here's a quick explanation of HZ from another artist

Stitching Old Things To New Life

I grabbed this one in the library on the way to the
checkout machines, it was on the end of a shelf and I liked the cover. But I never looked inside till I got home. And found it to be a lovely read! How serendipitous is that? 

Molly Martin tells how her favourite socks wore out, and her Mum showed her how to mend them 

using a darning mushroom. And she loved the idea of reinforcing the thinning stitches, restoring the socks to a new life. She has been stitching and mending ever since. She became an artist and textile repairer, and now works with the company TOAST to teach others to mend. 

This book is a distillation of all she has learned about mending, told through the garments which have been restored. 

Mollie brings the global vocabulary of mending to us - Japanese wabi-sabi [beauty in imperfection] 

and boro [tattered] where patches of fabric are stitched, layer upon layer

to make stronger, padded garments. Mottainai [not to waste] Then there is the Sanskrit word kantha - layering old saris and dhotis to make quilts. The old English word hussif - a contraction of housewife meaning a portable sewing kit [first on print in 1749] These were  used by men as well as women, 

notably soldiers across the world - from the American Civil War, through the Crimea, WW1 trenches and the Vietnam War.  And back to Japan again for sashiko ['little stabs] a reinforcing technique - and to Levi Strauss, who realised that adding copper rivets to his jeans meant they would last longer and could be patched and mended over and over again.

Her book is filled with stories of special garments mended by herself, or by friends. It is beautifully illustrated, and she devotes lots of pages to describing tools and techniques, so others can do mindful mending. And this slim volume is peppered with great quotes about repairing and restoring. I have copied them all down in a pretty notebook Kirsten sent me, and will be sharing them with you sometime. 

This book is a joy - learn about Mindful Mending - the history, the vocabulary, the techniques, the pictures, the stories. Even if you do not sew yourself, reserve it from the library to enjoy the read! *****

A Fête On The Field

The Welsh have their Eisteddfods, the Scots their Highland Games, but the English have their Village Fêtes. Up and down the country, for a century or more these events have been a quintessential part of rural summer life. Drawing on the medieval trading fairs and Victorian community gatherings [especially around harvest time] The 'modern' fête really took off between the two world wars, in the 1920s and 30s. They began as parish 'sales of work' - to raise money for orphans, war veterans and church repairs. 
On Sunday we went to church in Wymondham - Bob is mentoring their minister,[and advising on PA] and we wanted to see how things were going now they have rearranged the inside of their chapel. They have new seats, and air-con too, so we were cool and comfortable, and it was a great service.

On the way we passed some signs to a nearby village. So, after church, we grabbed a snack at Wymondham Food Festival, and drove to a little village in the middle of nowhere [I don't recall going to Hardingham before] It was fabulous!

Helpful adults and cheerful children with collecting buckets, all in hi-viz vests, directed us to the parking area at one edge of the cricket field. 

These are just some of the gazebos! Everyone was raising money for the upkeep of the Village 'Memorial' Hall and the Parish Church. And they had all the 'proper' things you expect at a fête

Tombola, hoop-la, books, bric-a-brac, bottle stall, old tools [Bob loved them] cake stall, smashing crockery [with the option to buy any unbroken pieces from the baskets if you wanted!] obstacle course, children's games, facepainting, raffle, "village croquet"...

And inside the adjacent hall, tea, cakes, scones at one end, a bar at the other, and just outside two blokes cooking sausages and burgers. And all the while, the Norwich City Concert Band, under their huge blue gazebo, entertained us with fabulous tunes. 

I bought a Victoria Sponge from the cake stall for later, but also cups of tea and scones to enjoy outside in the sun.

Mercifully it was nothing like as hot as the previous three days.

I also had a good chat to the lady on stilts. She was so adept at balancing, walking, and standing still - and delighted the children with her handheld bubble machine. She makes new costumes each year - we talked about play costumes, and the complications of 'trousers' for the stilts.

Bob bought two chisels to refurbish and I got a calligraphy set. Before we left, I went to thank the guy at the organisers' table next to the First Aid Tent. He told me the event had run for 80 years, apart from Covid year. They begin planning in February! He said they had introduced 'tokens' this year to cope with the whole cash/cards problem. You could buy as many [or as few] as you liked from his table at £1 each, [he had a card reader] then use them at the stalls round the field. Bob and I did have cash with us - but he said many people don't carry much anymore, and this system seemed to work well. I thought back to the wonderful fundays and fêtes we had been heavily involved in, both in Kirby and Ferndown - and said we really did appreciate how much work went on behind the scenes to produce such a lovely event.
In my opinion, this is the sort of event I like to visit - you can keep your commercialised, over priced, politicised State Fairs and the like. This is just ordinary people in their community getting together to do good. I hope they do really well [and get enough money for the village defibrillator!]

Have you been to any good community events this summer?

Are you involved in anyway, baking, making, selling etc?

The Simple Things

I have blogged about Edith Schaeffer and her book"The Hidden Art Of Homemaking" before. This gifted mother of four, [and wife of Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer] wrote this book in 1971. Her premise is that in the ordinary everyday routine, we can find "hidden art". That with a little time and effort we can transform the quotidian into something beautiful. I used to have this page from "Simple Things" magazine pinned up in the kitchen.

I thought about this on Sunday. Jon and Jess popped round for an impromptu lunch before going back to London. I had a small amount of ice cream in the freezer - what could I add to make a "proper pudding" for our Fathers' Day lunch? 

One Kiwifruit, one banana, one easy-peeler and three strawberries,. Less than five minutes with a sharp knife and a pretty glass plate... [and a little lemon juice to stop the bananas from browning] 

Much prettier! Very healthy too [if you ignore the scoop of ice cream!] 

After lunch I showed Jess how to make a daisy chain bracelet.

The end of a lovely weekend with this lovely little girl. 

Once my photos are sorted, I will tell you what we did on Saturday. 

But if I'd had more time and some blueberries... 

PS Thanks for all the encouraging comments yesterday about minimal housework!

Happy Birthday, Jess

I feel so blessed to have such a loving family. Yesterday, granddaughter Jess celebrated her 5th birthday down in London.
She is such a character, 
entering into life with such joy and enthusiasm. She adores clothes, especially hats - and trying new foods, and dancing, and books. She loves words, and numbers, art, crafts and science. We hope you have had a great weekend, with your playdate party in the park - and we can't wait to see you again soon.

Great Oaks From Little Acorns Grow

Sometime I must ask Ann just why they call the Toddler Group "Little Acorns" I mentioned yesterday that the lady at the Fete from the local council had been very interested in our group. She gave me a nylon zip bag and two plastic folders and hoped they would prove useful.When I got home, I unpacked them in the kitchen

Would you believe this amazing hoard?

The contents were: five quality books*, thirteen activity cards, two booklets (songs and games)  one finger puppet, one headband, one  set of "feelings" cards,  one Orchard Toys boxed game, a safety mirror, a wooden pig and a cow, a stress ball, a pot of bubbles, one-minute timer, chiffon cloth, foil blanket, biro, box of crayons, and two Norfolk Council information sheets. 

I reckon at least £40 worth of materials. The activities cards related to the books too, so you could plan a morning's activities round the stories. Ann was really astounded at church on Sunday to receive this bag of goodies. She asked if the lady was giving them away to lots of people - I said that nobody else came up in the whole time I was near the council display. Which is a real shame. [* including a proper Julia Donaldson lift-the-flap one]

Thank you Louise, from Broadland Council for your generosity!

Are you involved in any sort of Toddler Group or activities with Preschoolers? 
Have you come across any positive support for young families in your area?

I'm On the Train!

I had carefully planned some activities for the 9 hours I was expecting to spend on trains over the weekend. "The best laid plans of mice, men [and enthusiastic grandmas] gang aft agley" said that Scottish guy [almost] Bob bought me a newspaper at the station, while I got a croissant  - I'd got a flask of coffee in my bag.

 When I boarded the train, well before 8am on Saturday, I was thrilled to find a table seat. I folded the paper back to the crossword. I was joined by a very chatty woman going to Leicester to watch her son play rugby. She was accompanied by the son's girlfriend and his shorts, which he'd forgotten to pack when he left earlier in the week! 
She chatted all the way to where they changed trains. The girl dozed [or pretended to!] I now know all about burial customs in the French Cameroons [where she regularly visits her late mother] and grape-growing in Norfolk. They got off, I began my crossword. Filled in two clues. Then the next person came and sat opposite me. She also started up a conversation, I put down my pen. 

A delightful woman, a charity worker, en route to a surprise birthday party. "Do you mind if I put my make up on? I didn't have time before I left?" She managed to do amazing things with brushes and palettes whilst conversing about anything and everything. I learned, among other things, that the phrase in use when I retired from teaching "high functioning autistic" should now be replaced with "twice blessed" [Duly noted] She de-trained just before Sheffield.

My final travel companion was off for a girls' weekend with old friends from Uni. Her two children were the same age as George and Jacob, but she was confident their Dad would cope. She had been a teacher, but after the children arrived had moved to a part-time admin job, which was less stressful - and finished at 'hometime' - not evening marking and prep work! She got off and I had half an hour to myself. I finished my lukewarm coffee and my crossword.  Steph and Liz met me at Manchester Piccadilly. Liz had brought a book with her to lend to Steph, and I speed-read it over the weekend. 

I may review this later! The journey back was good. I boarded the train with a couple of similar age who were going right through to Norwich, and on to Yarmouth for the racing. We chatted for a bit as we settled in, then he did a huge crossword, she put in her earbuds, and I sorted out my cross stitch. Having established which colours I needed beforehand, I made three strips of card, drew the little symbols and numbers and cut and threaded lengths of yarn.

I was pleased to have my threads ready for beginning the project. Then I read my book right through!
I can't review it yet, Bob wants to read it first! Yes I know "Murder under the Mistletoe" is somewhat unseasonal.

It was a birthday gift from my old schoolfriend. She is still  in hospital, and unable to shop. So is wisely regifting her Xmas presents, and felt a book by a Rev was one she could happily pass on to me.

I did pack a second book, but I suspect I have left that in Manchester...

How do you pass the time on long train journeys?

.

I Have Seen The Golden Sunshine

🌞Wednesday dawned bright and sunny. It was a rare Wednesday-Without-Shed day, and Bob was eager to get out and enjoy the weather🌞 I'd had a bad night, and woken with a headache. After he'd brought me breakfast in bed, it seemed churlish to say "I need to stay home and do housework"

🌞We got in the car and drove up to Deepdale Market on the coast. We stopped briefly en route to investigate a sign saying "Bric-A-Brac - Everything £1" I bought a sign which amused me, and Bob bought a filthy pair of pincers. We drove on to Burnham Deepdale, the sky was so blue, and the countryside so green...

I do love the mural in the alley way to the pop up craft shops. Not much of interest, but two lovely ladies were selling handmade jewellery and knitted accessories in aid of Duchenne UK. They were sisters, and one was the gran of a boy who has DMD. I treated myself to a kilt pin brooch for £5 - decorated with sewing notions and a Manchester bee. 

After a jacket potato lunch we drove home stopping in Fakenham, for milk in Lidl and a mooch round the Sue Ryder shop. I found a book

A simple cover, with fantastic contents. Years ago I got this from the library and knitted Steph the fingerless gloves for her birthday, then made half a dozen pairs as Christmas gifts. The book is divided into four sections with seasonal items to knit, sow, bake,craft and grow... 

Here is a photo of Steph's gloves from 2009

I shall enjoy reading this book again, and maybe I'll have time to do more of the projects. Some are pictured below. The illustrations are clear, with good templates and photos. Worth £2 I think. Altogether I spent £8, plus my spud. A good day out. I'm deciding where to put my sign, Bob polished up his vintage pincers the moment we got home. They look splendid. 

"o

I am not sure why we should" beware children playing". I think "be aware of children playing" probably would sound a little kinder. But the sign made me smile, and I love that children come and play in my garden.

This week's sunshine has been lovely. I hope the weather is kind where you are.

What3Words?

Are you familiar with what3words? It is an alternative way of finding a location, using a unique combination of 3 words for every location on the planet. For instance, Foulsham Baptist Church

• street address is 50 Station Road, Foulsham, Dereham, Norfolk
• postcode is NR20 5RD
• latitude/longitude 52.688146/1.620782
• OS grid reference TG448162
• what3words ///harvest.encourage.collected

[actually, if you check the other side of the chapel it is ///knee.local.organist  - but that doesn't sound like a very good thing to do in church!!]

We were listening to the end of the local BBC news, and the announcer said "Coming next, The One Show, with Alex Jones interviewing Hero Fines Tiffin" I turned to Bob "What did she just say? It sounded like a what3words location."

I looked it up ///hero.fine.tiff is in Queensland Australia, and ///hero.fines.muffin  is near Marrakesh, Morocco.

I had misheard - Hero Fiennes Tiffin is actually a real person from the Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes family Ranulph is an explorer, Jake is a conservation director in Norfolk, and brothers Ralph and Joseph are actors. HFT is nephew of the acting brothers. [but no relation to HFW the cook from River Cottage!] 

Well once I had established he was a person, not a place, I watched the interview. He was in a Harry Potter film [which I have not seen] And his mum's a film director, and father is a cinematographer.  But according to the director, he was cast for his ability to 'find the darker space' and 'having a wonderful haunted quality' ...nothing at all to do with family connections, and Uncle Ralph playing Voldemort!

He was being interviewed by Alex because he is the star of the new series "Young Sherlock" on Prime. So we have watched some of it. It's a long way from Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth - and seeks to portray the youthful antics of Mr Holmes. His father is played by his Uncle Joseph, and his brother Mycroft is Max Irons [son of Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack] One feels these acting dynasties are producing a lot of nepo-babies.
What did we think? Bob described it as 'a bit pretentious'. The plots are ridiculously contrived, and I cannot see how this tearaway is going to become the measured, thoughtful Sherlock [who is always Jeremy Brett in my head, in the same way that David Suchet is Poirot] there are nods to the future [the young copper Lestrade, and the senior copper who wears a deerstalker] and it is produced by Guy Richie. But it is a bit of slapstick fun with some very shaky plotlines.

If you like crime on TV, Sue in Suffolk did an excellent blogpost yesterday, with a great round up of what's on.  Marlow Murders #3 airs next Wednesday [18th]  They have finished filming Strike, and that's due later in the year. The lead actor, Tom Burke is son of actor David Burke [now aged 91] who played Watson opposite Jeremy Brett's Holmes, his co-star Holly Grainger is currently in Capture #3. Lots of plots to watch right now, and in the months ahead
///what3words ? How about ///who.dun.it ?