Souls Of Our Shoes

We popped over to Fakenham early yesterday morning [Bob wanted to see a chap on the market about some secondhand tools] and went round to the Parish Church for Coffee. They have a beautiful new glass door, and inside, some new steps and a neat ramp for buggies and wheelchairs. They are making every effort to be welcoming to visitors.

The Norfolk Mothers' Union has a travelling exhibition [Souls of our Shoes] at the moment. MU is spearheading a campaign called RISE UP working to support all those affected by domestic violence. 

The title stands for Respond, Inform, Support, Empower
Unite, Pray

Alongside pairs of discarded shoes are quotes from those affected by such abuse - women, and children. It is very powerful to read their words.

There was plenty of literature offering support and help. Women's Aid [a charity which has been around for half a century] estimates that 1 in 4 women in the UK have suffered domestic abuse [and 1 in 7 men] It was a very thought provoking exhibition. I do hope that all those on the other side of the church, enjoying coffee and cake , took time to stop and look before they left. Well done MU for flagging this up! 

I didn't spend anything much [Bob has yet to buy the tools] apart from 70p on two vintage stitching  magazines and 5 lots of stranded threads in variegated colours. But we did enjoy a very gentle stroll in the sun. 

Ladybird, Ladybird...

 ...fly away home.

Kirsten's gift of the Ladybird book set me thinking about this book series for children. I knew that Henry Wills company was founded in Loughborough, just north of Kirby Muxloe, in 1867. In 1904 he joined with William Hepworth, and they printed their first children's book in 1914 . But "Ladybird" books as such really began in 1940, the first one being Bunnikins Picnic Party. They were slim, small volumes, easy for a child to hold - and the size was chosen because it made most efficient use of a sheet of printers' paper, and there was no wastage [this was Wartime!]

Here is my much thumbed copy from 1958. I was three and a half! The dust jacket has long disappeared. My Mum has written my name and the date inside the cover. Look at the pattern on the paper- the ladybirds have their wings open. Later the company changed to the familiar insect with 10 spots

In 1963, I got Things To Make.  Mum marked it again - but she had obviously acquired a multicoloured biro as 

she's written my name in rainbow hues! Within a few years they were starting to make the covers coloured, and no longer supplied dust jackets. I have a few remaining on the shelf - Kings and Queens of England, and some other historical characters, and a book of British birds,. My Bible Stories have gone awol, maybe I donated them to somebody. 

Now here's a thing - if you ask people about the Ladybird Reading Scheme, many will mention Janet and John. But J&J were written in 1949/50 and published by James Nisbet. The Ladybird Scheme came out in 1964, just in time for my brother starting school, and the children were Peter and Jane. The books remained in print for half a century, and the characters gradually changed [no more golliwog toys, and \mummy gets to wear jeans!]

I continued to acquire Ladybird books - their simple format and cleat presentation of facts made them useful in the classroom and with my own children. On one very long journey, we stopped at the motorway services and bought a copy of Mervyn Mouse to read to the children.

Like the Gruffalo for today's parents, many of us Mums and Dads of the Millennial Generation, knew this one by heart. In it, Mervyn swims the Channel and needs to insulate himself against the cold. I remember a Summer Barbecue, when Bob picked up the butter dish and declared "I will grease you" Lucy said and many of the assembled company chorused back "I've got a pound of lard"

I have a fondness for these little books. Except The Ladybird Book of the Royal Wedding [1986 - Andrew and Sarah] There was an escape situation in the Manse and one of the pet gerbils made a dash for the door. A quick thinking daughter endeavoured to block his way with this book. Unfortunately his head and the book collided, and we had one less gerbil!

Do you have any favourite Ladybird Books?

Normal Service

I am struggling to function normally in this heat, and rather grateful I can take my time about things and not have to worry about guests. I have loved having family and friends around over the past three weeks, but provision of clean sheets and towels and food has been a higher priority than usual. At least the good weather has meant the extra laundry dries quickly!
Last week Rosie muttered [and rightly imho] that when you walk into Sainsbury's the first thing you see is a display headed "Back to School". "But Grandma, it is four weeks till the new term..."
In these lazy, hazy days of summer I have been busy with Services. Not just all the Sunday Services Bob and i have been involved in at various chapels, but also the service on my car [my little Fabia flashes up a message on the screen alerting me that it is due] and the annual service on our boiler. Necessary expenses, and important to get both sorted before the autumn sets in. Thank you Gavin, our efficient boilerman
Normal -now that's anothe rmatter entirely. I mentioned last week that we had saved money at the Museum using Guest Passes for Ro and Julian. This is a new scheme - and the lady at the desk did not know how to put these through her till. She asked a colleague who promptly responded 
"Oh just treat them as if they were a normal family"
The four of us just stood there laughing. She had obviously realised we were anything but a normal family. As we went round, peeping through the holes for photographs, and trying on the dressing up clothes, and generally entering into all the activities with enthusiasm, I'm not sure if we looked 'normal' or not. 

And do normal people go out into their back garden at midnight and sit in deckchairs for an hour, staring up at the night sky, looking for the meteors? The first evening we did it, the sky clouded over immediately, but on Sunday night we saw a fair few "shooting stars" as they are often incorrectly called. 
They were truly beautiful.
I went into town on Monday morning, with a bizarre list of tasks

• return some library books
• take 'soft plastic bags' to the Co-op
• check out the dinosaur trail

I did those things, then I came home with some red felt from the Charity Shop [because I am doing Christmas Craft Activities with the Brownies next term - is it normal to buy Xmas supplies on the hottest day of the year] 

and information for Bob and the Mens Shed about the offer of some free wood.

I think I know how Macbeth must have felt...

Please...

 Dear Grandma

I am writing to you to ask for some thing.
So for World Boock Day I would like to dress up as Penut Jones by Rob Biddulph so I’m asking if you would gladly make it for me

Yours sinserly Rosie

When you get a letter like this, from somebody special, you have to take it seriously. Somebody who has noticed that my response is frequently "I'll gladly do that for you" and takes the trouble to give 7 months notice and gives details of the author. I'd never heard of Peanut Jones. I searched the Net and discovered she was created by award winning artist Rob Biddulph.  He seems like a great guy, who wants to encourage children to draw and to write.

The intro to his first PJ book says

Drawing feels like magic to Peanut Jones. But art can't fix her problems. Her dad has gone missing, and she's stuck in a boring new school. Until the day she finds a unique pencil turbo-charged with special powers. Suddenly she's pulled into a world packed with more colour, creativity, excitement and danger than she could ever have imagined. And maybe, just maybe, she might find out what happened to her dad...

All good thus far - then I discovered this guy actually put out a tweet last February, helping people who wanted to dress as PJ for WBD. An illustration with notes. The main requirement was the bandolier. Rosie has the denim dungaree shorts and the red hair already. I ordered some stripey tights online.

So Rosie and I set to, with some rainbow coloured tape, scrap elastic, and some old crayons [really old - the sort that break when you try to sharpen them. One even said Stephanie Almond  and came from Auntie Steph's primary school pencil case c. 1991] Clever Grandad taped the long pencils tUPDATEher then cut them in half. I used the same technique as I rely on when making my pencil rolls, stitching up and down to make channels.

First trying on session - bandolier and topknot [dungarees, tights and blue tee shirt will come later] Rosie is extremely pleased with her outfit. I will be surprised if she waits till next March to wear it!

UPDATE : I just had a comment saying "Great costume Grandma, from Rob Biddulph" which really WAS there, honest. But disappeared when I tried to publish it! I am ridiculously excited that he noticed, and approves!! 

Running Time

The 2024 Paris Olympics is over. But if you have never seen the 1981 film Chariots of Fire, about the 1924 Olympics a century ago, I urge you to watch it. It is available free on BBC iPlayer for the next week, [or to rent on other streaming services] And if you want more info about Eric Liddell, check out yesterday's Morning Worship from BBC Radio 4.

My father was a babe in arms during the summer of 1924. My grandparents regarded Eric as a good man of strong faith, and a great role model. His story was told to their children and grandchildren. So I knew all about him long before the film brought his story to a wider audience. 

Definitely a film worth watching, for all sorts of reasons... 

Thought For The Day

 

Cover Notes

Kirsten and I are obviously both fired up by this latest project, having ideas for the next month while the previous one is still in progress. It was lovely to get her parcel this week whilst Rosie was still here, so we could look at the Flat Gift together. This was published in 1972, and women's liberation was beginning to take off ...[including taking off and burning bras, and shedding our suspender belts in favour of tights]. But you will find none of that nonsense in here, oh no! this is definitely a book for unliberated little girls

• Your first project, a hairband [Ask Mother for a piece of elastic]
• Another project, as decimalisation has just happened, a pocket money purse [perhaps Father will give you a bright new 1p coin to put in it]
• Make a ball for baby and stuff it with cotton wool [or old nylon stockings cut up into small pieces]
• Or a pencil case [ask Mother to press this well under a damp cloth]

Rosie and I had a good giggle. Then we looked in detail at K's stitching. She had used another scrap of her Laura Ashley fabric, but this time done rich, dense embroidery to resemble Kashmiri rugs, with their rows of chain stitching. K said it reminded her of her Oma's house.

My piece was a sashiko wave.  It was a free download from here but I did my practice piece and decided I wanted the wave going the other way! I used a perle thread in shades of blue

Here it is alongside Kirsten's first Laura Ashley Patch. A surprisingly different interpretation of the same pattern. 

Now Rosie's left us, and the house is quiet, I am going to start my next patch. I think this one needs a practice panel too.

K's 2nd Flat Gift was a piece of the LA for me. I am keeping that in reserve for another time!

Time And Tide ...

 ...waits for no man

but it is also the name of the town museum in Yarmouth. According to my blog, it is seven years since we visited! 

We went on Wednesday afternoon with Ro and Julian - and were able to make use of the "Guest Tickets" we got from the Norfolk Museum Service when Bob and I renewed our annual passes.

We were very impressed by the items added since our last visit. This summer there is also a dinosaur trail [find a dozen dino models around the Museum and win a sticker. We drove over after the men got back from the Shed and began with a picnic at the bench in the playground opposite the Museum

So much to see, and we all learned a lot about the men and women who were the lifeblood of this coastal town in days gone by. There were lots of new 'photo ops' - here are the girls who worked to prepare the herrings for market, in 1904....and 2024!

And here we are on the beach

But we didn't just lark about taking silly photos - we all learned a lot about how important the herring industry was to the town - and how the men who went out on the boats could not have plied their trade without the women back home.

Many Scottish girls followed the course of the shoals of herring, and from June to September, worked their way down the East coast, hundreds worked at Yarmouth.

The nets were often damaged, and would be brought ashore, to be repaired in the 'net houses'. Th eupper rooms had large windows and skylights to enable the workers to see what they were doing. The nets were suspended from hooks, and local women would fix all the holes. Each boat would require four workers for their nets. Here is a net house in the 1950s

The women would find tears [spanks] and repair them. The women were called beatsters from an old word for "someone who repairs or makes good" I would like to think of myself as a beatster!

Bob was pleased to relax on the sofa. The  grey/yellow cushion is Sanderson "Dandelion Clocks" fabric. It is very retro, reminiscent of Lucienne Day's 1951 Festival of Britain stuff - but is in fact a Fiona Howard design from 2008. I am really fascinated by umbelliferous designs at the minute!

Rosie checked off all the dinosaurs on her worksheet, and returned it to the staff at the desk. "You may choose a sticker as a reward" said the woman. Rosie turned to me, and asked which one George would like.[she knows her cousin loves dinosaurs] "Is George your brother?" asked the woman. I explained he was Ro's cousin. "That's really kind of you - take one for him and one for yourself"

Time does indeed wait for no-one, the Museum Cafe was just closing for the afternoon. "Where can we get a cup of tea?" asked Bob - and were recommended the Tropical Cafe . A Portuguese, family run place, just around the corner. Tea in a proper teapot, tasty Berlin Buns, good prices and clean loos. Definitely ***** Many thanks to that kind staff member in the Museum!

On the way back to the car park we saw some lovely crafty fish and Ojos de Dios. 

We went home very happy with our afternoon outing!

Crafternoons!

 Rosie is having quite a busy week with us. On Monday she had her swimming lesson, then we made some birthday cards, then she went shopping with Grandad.

Tuesday, after swimming, we delivered birthday cards to one neighbour, and then Ro had a date with another neighbour to meet the two huskies. I have to say she was absolutely thrilled to spend time with these two beautiful animals

In the afternoon we went to the library. By 2.30, the place was heaving with children [43, plus 23 adults] making their John Craske sea pictures.
Someone had kindly donated a box of wooden frames, and the Heritage Society had received a grant for art materials. Children painted a sea picture and then decorated a frame.

The brushes were a little thick for doing delicare work imho! But Ro was happy with her piece

In the evening we had a great family bbq - seven of us [Adrian and Marion, Jon and Rosie, Julian, Bob and me] and despite the earlier heavy rain, Bob cooked outside and we sat round the patio table to eat.

On Wednesday we made a pencil holder together. I'd found this for £1 in a CS recently - clearly a present which had never been opened.

It had loads of fiddly pieces, and as soon as all the legs were slotted on to the horse, one fell off! 

The picture looks like the base is a rectangle, with a squared based pen pot - but they are all parallelograms, so slightly skew-whiff. All joints needed a spot of glue to keep them secure. And we glued the spare strips of wood underneath, to stop the whole thing rocking!

But she is pleased with her achievement. I'm afraid I vetoed painting it - but now I am wondering if Bob might help her coat it with spray varnish...

The Cover Stitching parcel has arrived from Kirsten. Details of that to follow [and I foolishly posted mine without taking a picture first!] I have an idea for my next patch, but that will wait till the weekend the departure of our two house guests.

A Batch Of Borrowed Books

 APOLOGIES - I have managed to delete the post  whilst in the process of adding your comments!

Here is my latest stack of library books from the mobile van.

The Christmas Card book [why did I borrow that in August ? I hardly send cards anymore anyway] No new ideas, and required the purchase of various dies and stamps. **

The Vintage Sewing Book - interesting, fun, some useful ideas - but not really aimed at sexagenarian grannies! ****

The Sew Beautiful book was just that. Inspirational ideas, for eight basic garments with variations on sleeves, length etc.  And patterns included for tracing, Ideal for novice sewers - NO ZIPS, NO BUTTONHOLES. Very cleverly fitted. well thought out. *****

Rosie and I enjoed Ellas book - aimed at cross generational meal prep and planning , with easy to follow charts and recipes - stuff about nutrition and healthy eating*****

Slow Cooker Book. Better in the cold winter months I think but some interesting recipes ***

I have started the Val McDermid, and I'm enjoying it. Looking forward to the Robert Galbraith [aka JK Rowling] the next in the Cormoran Strike series. I did enjoy Tom Burke on TV playing CS!

I will give these their * ratings later!!

Sorry that the comments thus far have disappeared

Thunder Enlightening

The weather girl said there may be thunderstorms the other night. At 10.45pm. after I'd watched the news, I suddenly realised there was a lot of stuff on the lawn, I persuaded Bob to come outside with me and pull everything into the summerhouse, and put down the big parasol. There was no thunder that night at all. Typical...

Yesterday morning Rosie and I were waiting for breakfast [Grandad Bob cooking the pancakes] and somehow we started talking about circuses. "What is the name of that tune they always play at the circus" I said. In the kitchen Bob started singing 🎵"DumDum Diddle Iddle, DumDum Diddle Iddle..."🎵 and Rosie said "That's the Dumbo Tune" and I said "I think it's older than that"

As we sat round after breakfast, I looked it up and announced to the family "The tune was written by Julius Fučik, a Czech composer, in 1897. He wrote lots of music for military bands, and was fascinated by the Roman Empire. He called this piece the March of The Gladiators. It quickly became popular with marching bands, and was adopted by many circuses as the piece played for the arrival of the clowns.. In the States it was renamed Thunder and Blazes". "They stole his thunder" said Bob "I wonder where that phrase comes from?"

"I know that!" piped up Rosie "It's an idiom. There was a man who wrote plays, and one play had a storm in it. He built a thunder machine with wooden balls banging on a sheet of iron. The thunder was really good, but the play was rubbish, so they stopped performing it, and put on "Macbeth" instead. Then the man went back to the theatre to see a performance and during the storm scene, he realised they were making the noises using his machine. He was so angry he stood up and shouted, 'You won't perform my play, but you have stolen my thunder!'

Bob and I sat amazed at this information. I checked online, she was absolutely right in every detail - this was playwright John Dennis in 1709, and his failed play was called Appius and Virginia.[I learned it on a podcast, Grandma] So before 9am on a Monday morning, I learned

~the proper name of the 'circus tune'

~the alternative name in the USA

~and the origin of a popular idiom.

And now you know it too!

Floating Flowers

 

Jess and Rosie were with us on Friday afternoon. Following her trip to UCL two weeks ago, Jess is still fired up by the idea of science, and said she wanted to do a science experiment. So I did this one with her

I made up a little story as we decorated the flowers and bugs, about how the bug snuggled into the petals and fell asleep, then the petals closed up for the night [we have talked about this before and the whole daisy = day's eye thing] And then the wind blew the flower onto a puddle and the next morning...

As the bottom of the flower gets wet, the water soaks in and makes the fibres swell, so the petals open slowly and gently as if by magic. It is a super little experiment and so easy. We made 4 flowers&bugs, and after trying out the first two, the family were called to observe, and make their predictions . I share it with you in case you have any littl'uns to amuse this summer!

Our first experiment, making a water filled plastic bottle spin round did not work well at all! This one needs more work! [Grandma should have tried it out beforehand I think]

UPDATE in the comments below, Alison mentions Kusudama flowers. These are a little more complicated, better suited to adults and older children. The link is here KUSUDAMA

Waiting

I wonder what the artist meant by this, my August calendar picture? There are so many sorts of "waiting" seasons

• those of joyful anticipation - a wedding, a new baby, Christmas, a new home, loved ones coming home 
• those fraught with anxiety - trying to sell/buy a house, the arrival of all important exam results, the start of a new job, the doctor announcing his diagnosis after the biopsies and tests
• those which will inevitably bring sorrows - moving away from a home/job/church where we have felt secure and happy, watching a loved one facing a terminal illness
• those which bring frustrations and necessitate changes in lifestyle - delayed payments, someone else's indecisiveness which seriously affects another person, protracted court cases, the pain endured because of the delays caused by long NHS waiting lists.

Maybe you are in one of these "waiting seasons". We are, right now. The British may be renowned for their prowess at queueing, and standing in line to wait for something [Harrods Sale, Wimbledon Tickets, or to see the Queen's coffin] but waiting is difficult, and a test of our patience. 

I suppose the calendar picture is really saying "accept there will be no instant resolution to your situation - but don't put your life on hold while you wait" Ecclesiastes chapter 3 says "for everything there is a season..." 

My Dad was fond of saying to me "Possess your soul in patience, Ang". I'm trying, Dad - but right now it's very difficult! 

Book Shop

Getting rid of books is HARD. Some books are too specialist for the Charity Shop. But I have been using the Ziffit company for years, and find them very reliable. You sort out the books, check their ISBNs to see if the company will buy them - and then parcel them up and off they go. And the money comes through within a couple of weeks. [You do not have to have the app on your phone, you can just type ISBNs into the website] You do not pay postage - and you can either drop the box off at a collection point or they will send a courier to pick it up. from your door

In the last couple of months, I have found two friends who didn't know about Ziffit. Our Rector, organising a Bank Holiday Book Sale, was delighted to get £100 for some books which didn't sell. Another retiring-and-downsizing friend was equally delighted to be able to get rid of some technical books.

Less than a dozen books got me £5. And I can keep or donate that money. Be aware though - they won't take bestsellers, too many copies in circulation! and tatty, damaged books won't pass inspection. They also take DVDs and CDs. 

[check the boxes- I once sent in a CD set, and one case was empty, so no payment on that]
But this frees up shelf space [for more books?!] and is better than going into paper recycling. 

If you do try is out, here's a reliable promo code which will add to your trade payment Angela's Referral Code

I did try this one, and when I typed in the ISBN, I got a surreal message which said Not Buying it, Levine, Judith, sorry, not buying it 

Puzzled!

 

If the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, does the jigsaw of a thousand pieces start with a single corner? 

During Lockdown, my good friends Richard and Mary lent me lots of puzzles from their vast library. And every one had just 500 pieces.

I discovered that this size really suited me. 

Apart from the Notre Dame puzzle I did in May, [1000] I've stuck to the smaller size.

But before Lockdown I'd picked up a 1000 piece one in a CS and left it on top of the wardrobe here at Cornerstones. It was John Constable's Salisbury Cathedral - a place we loved to visit when we were in Dorset. I thought I'd tackle it in retirement and it would bring back happy memories if that lovely city. 

I finally took it down and tried to assemble it recently. It took two evenings of real concentration to complete the edge. It is a good quality Falcon puzzle.  But [unlike this picture] I think mine was in the window of the CS for a long time. The picture is really faded and I've found the jigsaw impossible to complete because I cannot work out where the pieces go.  Many shapes are so regular that some are interchangeable. After two weeks, I have given up on it. It was giving me headaches! 

But I don't know what to do with it now. It is too difficult and I really wasn't enjoying it. I feel it wouldn't be right to put it back into a CS, but I'm reluctant to consigned it to the recycling bin.

What would you do?

A Prayer Worth Sharing

 Thank you to my friend Sarah for this