I gave up the marzipan hunt, and decided to buy another pack after my hospital volunteer session. The unit was looking very festive - the tree from the town festival is on display in the entrance, and there are seasonal decals on all the windows. There were quite a few empty beds, I think they're trying to get folk home for Christmas.
The patient I played chess with recently was in his wheelchair by the door, his bag beside him. He apologised that he didn't have time for another game. I had a long chat about knitting with another patient, who was wearing a beautiful jumper she made recently. She told me that as well as her fall, she'd had breathing problems "All my family suffer with their bronickles"
I left and went to Lidl to buy milk, mushrooms, mouthwash and marzipan [I love it when my list is alliterative] The first three were easy to find. But not marzipan. I asked an assistant "we stopped stocking it at the end of November" he replied. What?!? I can't be the only person needing marzipan for their Christmas cake this week?
I went across to Tesco [it's on the same site] They had three options, pre rolled sheets, ready to roll "golden" marzipan and "nutty" marzipan. I'm not paying someone a quid to roll out my marzipan. So I must choose between golden and nutty. "Golden" promises to add a soft, nutty layer, and "nutty" will add a soft, sweet layer to the cake. Golden has more sugar, and added colouring. I chose nutty.
But my question is this
If all marzipan is made of almonds, isn't ALL marzipan nutty?
[Being an Almond myself I have strong feelings about this]
The cake is now marzipanned, iced and decorated. It's smaller than last year's cake, so the figures are standing closer, and the Magi are just strolling round at a lower level!
If pace was my Word of the Year, I think I have totally failed. The pace of life has been rather too fast - except for poor Bob, for whom many activities have been conducted at a much slower pace than in previous years. But Pilates is helping the back/ankle issues, and in the New Year he will be starting regular sessions at the Leisure Centre. And having a Blue Badge means he can at least park nearer his destination and reduce the amount of walking he has to do, we are very grateful for that. But we seem to have had a very full calendar in recent days.
We actually scheduled last Monday as Date Day - time to be together with no commitments to outside activities. I am taking time over the next couple of days to wrap Christmas Gifts.
Most of these have been bought over the last two or three months, and put on the top shelf in my wardrobe, But not everything - there was a stack of things on the spare bed at one point, and when I discovered Rosie and Jess were coming up to Norfolk for the weekend, I promptly hid their gifts. I didn't want surprises spoilt.
On Wednesday I got myself into a real panic because I could not find some gifts, and had completely forgotten where I had put them! Bob helped me locate 90% of them [all in bizarre places]
Then there was the Christmas cake, which I originally planned to ice before Julian came.But he's not really fond of Christmas Cake, so I decided to wait. Could I find the cake on Wednesday? I hunted high and low, declaring confidently "It is in a round tin" Bob looked on the top of cupboards, and took the lids off the various round tins, only to find smaller round tins nesting inside. All empty! Eventually I found the square tin, neatly labelled "Christmas Cake" with the cake inside it [in my defence, the cake itself is round!] I have found the pack of fondant ready roll icing,but not the marzipan. The cake remains uniced as yet. [is uniced a word? it looks so similar to unicef, but pronounced so differently]
I returned the unsold craft goods to the loft, and went on to my 31:13 website to manage the inventory. And discovered to my horror that the mice were mistakenly listed as out of stock.No wonder none has sold for a few weeks! I've reduced some of the Christmas items.
We now have a clearer idea of which family members will be around, and when, over the festive season. So I shall make some serious menu plans and tidy the freezer and food cupboards next week.
I recently had a Waitrose voucher, and decided to stock up on tins from their Essentials Range. I am always intrigued by the items they consider to be 'essential'! These are currently on trays, slid under the spare bed.
On Saturday morning, as I prepared for Christmas Lunch #1, I could not find the cranberry sauce [which I serve with roast chicken as well as with turkey] I knew I had bought a jar. We managed to find three in the end- one in the kitchen, one in the Futility Room anc one under the bed.
"I once was lost, but now I'm found" is the soundtrack to life at Cornerstones this week
There were jingle bells in the Close, on Tuesday as Santa came calling. His sleigh was being towed by a car... and the parking situation being crazy as ever, the poor driver had to reverse really slowly to get back to the main road.
On Wednesday, the Shed Project had their Christmas Mardle. A dozen or so turned up, and it was great for the wives to actually meet. Bob was thrilled that everything has come together so well, and the Shed really is achieving good things.
It was chilly, I was grateful for my warm golden jacket with its fur trimmed hood. I came home and found an email about next Monday - the craft group Xmas get-together. Janet is going to teach us to make macrame trees like this. The email said "please bring string and wooden beads"
l decided that the macrame plant holder I made18 months ago should be dismantled. It was not fit for purpose [the pot fell out in the slightest breeze] So Wednesday evening I watched the Repair Shop, then Shetland, whilst untying all those knots
Eventually I ended up with the string and beads I needed, Bob kindly wound the lengths into tidy balls of yarn.
I may post tree pictures next week.
I don't really think macrame is my craft of choice!
Well done if you recognised the names of members of the Apthorp family. They were potato merchants in London, but when the original business was bought out by Ross foods in 1968. John started his own company selling frozen foods. He took the initials of the family members, plus A for Apthorp and came up with BEJAM. At the time, less than 1% of British households owned a freezer - but as more women went back to work, and wanted food which was on hand, and easy to prepare when they got home, freezer ownership grew. The company began selling freezers as well as the foodstuffs, and then microwaves...and then. after 20 years in business. was bought out by Iceland.
Yesterday I went to the Food Warehouse at Longwater - it is about 11 miles from Cornerstones, and takes 20 minutes on a good day. The Retail Park also has The Range,the M&S foodhall, a large Sainsburys and more, with an Aldi on the other side of the road. I have mixed feelings about this shop plus points
on a Tuesday I get OAP discount, and 10% is worth having [especially on pricematched items like milk and butter]
they were the first UK company to go palm-oil free
their bags of prepared frozen veg are very convenient when my I'mnot getting produce from the Raised Bed
for quick and easy party food and BBQ items they are excellent
minus points
if I'm not careful I can 'overbuy' on the "3 for £5" offers
there are a lot of orange UPF products which I am trying to avoid [I notice many now have 'air fryer cooking instructions' printed on them
in the Food Warehouse, the nonfrozen items are often noticeably more expensive than in Aldi or Sainsburys, and it is tempting to buy in the FW rather than drive to the other end of the complex for just 2 or 3 items.
I don't really like their TV adverts. Nothing to do with Josie Gibson, I just don't like them!
The staff on Tuesday were helpful, as were staff in The Range and Sainsburys. They all seemed very busy, restocking shelves quickly as customers were filling their trolleys. I wasn't buying a lot, just a few specific items, and needed to find them quickly without going up and down all the aisles. I have decided to be Relentlessly Cheerful in shops over the next couple of weeks. There are quite a few Grumblers and Grinches around at the minute, and a smile or cheerful greeting can defuse possible difficult situations.
We've eaten up the frozen stuff I'd bought in for Julian's visit [including the large chicken we ate Saturday night, Aunt Bessie's Yorkshires and the Emergency Loaf] but I need to stock up again before Christmas Day.
Do you have regular frozen goods on your shopping list?
Mine would be a bag of frozen peas, a pack of unbaked croissants, an emergency bread product, some frozen fruits, a pack of butter, and pack of bacon, a pack of sausages,and some pukka pies [proper oven bake ones,not the microwave abominations] and some icecream/
I reckon those things will provide meals if unexpected guests turn up.
We took Julian out on Friday night to a theatrical production at The Memorial Hall in Dereham
It wasn't a Panto
[oh yes it was! Oh no, it wasn't!]
It was A Christmas Carol [a seasonal musical event? no not that either]
So what the Dickens was it then? Exactly A clever adaptation of CD's story about a miserable old man called Ebenezer.
It was brilliant!
Just three very gifted actors managed to convey the story of Scrooge's redemption from being a grasping miser into a generous and thoughtful chap.
The Pantaloon Theatre company has been performing for more than twenty years. In the summer they do lots of open air stuff, and in the winter they [wisely] come inside.
The show was well done, clever jokes [with contemporary references] and there was a decent interval midway, if people wanted a top up from the bar. Music, puppetry, slapstick and a good adaptation of the original Victorian morality tale.
We three enjoyed it enormously. We had good seats on the second row of the balcony [nb The hall is pretty small, what you might call 'an intimate venue'] My only photo of the production didn't come out terribly well
However, afterwards, the three cast members were really good about speaking to audience members. The clientele was a good spread of ages and everyone else seemed to have had as much fun as we did.
I would really recommend them if you are looking for a good evenings' entertainment at a reasonable ticket price. I shall certainly be following them online to see when they are appearing this way again.
They do Shakespeare, Dickens, Wilde and more. What's not to love?
The website is very informative, with lots of reviews of precious shows.
Here's their open air promo video. I'm definitely giving them a ***** review [Thank you, Pauline, for noticing they were coming to Norfolk and recommending them to me]
Julian only had one full weekend off in December, so we designated last weekend to be his "Christmas Family Weekend In Norfolk" The best laid plans...
He arrived mid morning on Friday, but Bob was away at a funeral till teatime. We went out in the evening to a Christmas Production [more on that later] which was brilliant.
Saturday, up early, and after getting the evening meal veg prep sorted, the three of us went to church to set up for the Craft Fair. Home for lunch, Oven timer set, and back again for the 2pm start.
People had worked so hard, knitted goods, pottery, cakes, millinery, books, woodcraft [Bob] textiles [me] ...there was lots on offer. Crystal, the Pastor's wife had a table of children's activities in the back room [all free] Beforehand, Julian helped her set up, then he came through to manage the card reader [useful for all those who didn't have enough cash!]
Quite a few people from the village came in, not just church folk. A couple of the Mums and Toddlers said they'd really enjoyed Tuesday's story, and were reading the little book to their children each evening. It was cold and wet all afternoon, as Storm Darragh rained down. When we got home, we noticed the lights in the Nativity Tableau were off "I think we have had a power cut" said Bob. "My oven!" I said. Fortunately, the power had comer back on again, and we were able to switch on the oven straightaway, and realised our meal would be only about half an hour late.
We all worked hard getting ready. Menu was roast chicken and loads of veg [potatoes, carrots, broccoli, sprouts, red cabbage] plus pigs in blankets, yorkshire puds, cranberry sauce, gravy.... to be followed by choice of two puds [frangipane tart with cherries, apple strudel - and creme fraiche or custard] There were a couple of candles on the table, and napetties elegantly folded in the glasses. I'd just got all the veg in their serving dishes in the warming oven when Adrian and Marion arrived. Bob ushered them into the lounge. I started bring food through to the table and summoned everyone for dinner [this was the second call, first call was the smoke alarm which went off when I opened the oven door!]
As the other four came to sit down, all the lights went out. I found and liut more candles, switched on the three little battery pillar candles- and Bob fetched his huge worklamp. [Think searchlight in the tower at Stalag Luft III]
We ate our meal by candlelight. It wasn't quite how I'd planned... We retired to the lounge, without our usual after dinner coffee. Adrian and Marion went home at 9, to their own, dark, house. We loaded food into the fridge and crocks into dishwasher by torchlight. Power back on at 9.30 and we went to bed promptly, in case we were plunged into more Stygian gloom.
Sunday morning, up early [again] Bob and Julian went off to church in Wymondham [Bob was guest preacher] stopping to pick up Joseph, who had toppled over outside. It was wet and windy. I set off to our church, and was just over halfway when I encountered this fallen tree blocking the road...
No option but to turn round and take a more circuitous route. I got to church 5 minutes late.
It was announced we had raised well over £700 at the Fair - and excellent result, and great community involvement. I came home, in the rain, and picked up a fallen Wise Man before going inside to prepare lunch.
Oops! Julian and Bob got back [safely] and we ate our meal, then J drove back to Essex. He messaged me later to say he was "home and dry"
It was so good to have him with us for a couple of days, and we had fun despite high wind, rain and powercuts. Other people in other places had it much, much worse. I hope you have not been badly affected by Storm Darragh.
Alexa and the 'smart' gadgets took a while to recover from the powercuts, and resetting all the electric clocks took a while too
Make sure you have torches and blankets on hand, and take care when you have to go outside.
There are quite a few square shaped things right now. Advent Calendars with little square windows or drawers or pockets. Square table napkins [some waiting to be folded into more elaborate shapes] And Christmas cards. Far fewer through the post these days, we've had 6 thus far, and five have been square shaped. One arrived on Friday, and it left me feeling so sad. It just said "Hazel". It's only a few weeks since my cousin lost her husband, and now after over 50 plus years of signing her cards with both their names, she is alone.
We miss these loved ones all year round, but especially at Christmas. On Thursday evening I went with Bob to Norwich Cathedral, for a service of reflection and remembrance organised by the Priscilla Bacon Hospice Charity.The Dean read a collect which spoke of "those who we have lived and cherished in this mortal life, and who we have placed into your tender hands" .and Helen the Hospice Chaplain lit the trees, "as we remember in thanksgiving those whom we have loved and see no longer, giving thanks for the love and time we shared, and the brightness they brought into our lives"
Christmas is hard for many people, I will look at Hazel's square card, and pray for all those who are sad in this season.
Each year I try and find one new decoration for my tree. This year I have been quite remiss, muttering that "I will stitch something about our Sapphire Anniversary" but I just haven't got round to it. Then on Wednesday, Voluntary Norfolk [who co-ordinate my hospital visiting] invited a group of us for morning coffee at the Station Bistro in Wymondham as a ThankYou for our support. Service excellent, cake portions huge, quirky railway carriage 'banquette' seating...it was great fun. It was here they had the fabric Xmas chains. We were all given a greetings card and a decoration
The words under VOLUNTARY NORFOLK are NCH&C volunteer service- Norfolk Community Health and Care Trust.
"It's a HoHoHat!" I declared. and my companions asked where that name came from. I said my granddaughter Jess called them that when she was two, and the name has stuck.
Other people starting contributing words that have been coined in their families. My two favourites which I may adopt are "WatcherMates" - because whenever the bin men came, they'd call out Wotcha Mate! to one little boy [now in his teens] who then decided this was the correct name for any worker in a HiViz jacket [including road menders, staff at the Channel ferry, etc etc] "WatcherMate" has a lovely sense of safety and security and looking-out-for-you-ness
Our cake arrived, and somebody said "In our family, this is a napettie" pointing to the paper serviette*. We were all puzzled, was it some sort of confusion of napkin/serviette? No- it was because when Mum made an effort [eg at birthdays and Christmas] and they had napkins, she'd say Bon Appetit!
Aren't children wonderful?
*Im a little bit confused, I found this picture in various places on the internet, many describing the product as recyclable paper napkins. Surely they mean recycled? Surely you cannot wash and reuse paper napkins,can you?
I'm definitely adding Napettie and WatcherMate to my vocabulary.
Can you add any inspired family names to my list of neologisms?
This is a wonderful archaic term, dating back to the 1500s. "A Brown Study" is defined as a state of deep thought, absorption or abstraction. I heard my parents use it a few times, [accompanied with laughter] I was totally wrong about Pantone choosing green for their COTY2025 [Color of the year] They have chosen a brown shade, called Mocha Mousse.
"A warming brown hue imbued with richness, it nurtures us with its suggestion of the delectable qualities of chocolate and coffee answering our desire for comfort."
To be honest I'm totally underwhelmed by this choice! Having got married in the 70s, to decorate my home in shades of brown feels a rather retro step. And I'm still using the brown towels from 1979, and my big brown M&S oval tea tray.
Bob's IKEA Poang armchair is covered in chocolate brown leather.
When I had longer, glossy brown hair, I wore brown clothes... but apart from one plain teeshirt, and my new elegant pj's, I'm not sure I have any brown garments...
But I'm very happy to serve good brown food and drink
Decent fresh coffee
Drinking chocolate with added cocoa
Chocolate mousse
Boeuf bourguignon
Steak and kidney pie filling
Also a quick mention for chocolate profiteroles, Costa's mocha cortado, marmite on toast [ I miss Chocobee]
Yesterday I was in Wymondham and noticed some attractive "paper" chains - made of fabric strips. Each loop was had a velcro closure. So after Christmas they can be undone and stored flat in a box till next year.
I have fabric bunting which I made about 15 years ago, and that's waiting to be hung up this weekend.
Last week on Fakenham Market, they were selling reusable fabric crackers. A clever design, in two parts, also attached with veIcro. They rip rather than snap when pulled apart. And they have poppers down the back so they too can be stored flat for next year. But costing £10 or more each, I wasn't sure I'd want a set. After all, you still have to add the contents each year. They are not cheap! And if you have fancy crackers like this, finding just 3 chocolate coins would be a bit of a let down!
In 1987 I made 4 fabric stockings - and gradually added a few more over the years. I used to hang them down the staircase in Leicester. This year I decided they should have proper labels. On Saturday, I asked Rosie to look at our anniversary photo and count how many people are in our immediate family. Eleven, Grandma! And I actually have eleven stockings. So I made some durable felt tags, and now they are hanging in a row on the Futility Room Hooks...
We cannot all be together on the same day, but I am glad to have this reminder of those who are very special to me [all year, not just Christmas]
In the 80s/90s we always opened our four stockings in the morning before church, then had all the "main" gifts after. The stockings always contained the same things - a book, a satsuma, a few chocolates and a new toothbrush. All organised by me. As the girls got older,they would add in tiny gifts too. I'm not sure yet if these stockings will just be decorations this year, or whether I will fill four with small gifts for the children.
To have kept these stockings and maintain the tradition is very satisfying!
I am sure you have some precious items which come out every year too...
In other news - Pantone will announce the 2025 Colour of the Year later today. I shall blog about it tomorrow. I think it will be a green shade.
First of all, thanks for all your wonderful memories of retro foods. I have visions of CS up and down the land being overwhelmed by donations of your long forgotten fondue pots! I found a blogpost from 2017 with some retro recipes including prawn cocktail. I have been busy with the littl'uns this week. After Ro and Jess went home on Sunday afternoon, I got busy preparing for Brownies [Monday] and Little Acorns Toddler Group [Tuesday] With the Brownie I did two tried and tested crafts - 'baubles' and 'Napkin Santas' - with the Toddlers, we were using this year's Bible Society toddler materials - and they suggested the little party hats for the children.
If you want to make the baubles, my tutorial is here I made the santa napkins half size using cocktail napkins, and fixed a hanging loop to the top so they could be hung on the tree. Full size ones can be used as part of your Christmas place setting. My tutorial for them is here I recycled last year's Gardener's World Calendar to make the strips for the baubles, they were very colourful and these KS1 children made them with minimal help.
Bob and I are now turning our attention to ensuring we have enough stuff to sell at the Charity Craft Fair on Saturday.
On Sunday, before returning to London, the family came for lunch. It was strictly a 'leftovers' type meal, and I wondered what I had to add to the ham and coleslaw Liz would be bringing. I wanted to make it a bit more festive. I decided to go full on retro and make a party hedgehog. I prepared the body [one large potato wrapped in foil, with googly eyes from my craft box] whilst Bob cubed the cheese and cut two pineapple rings into chunks. I remembered I had half a jar of olives in the fridge [Ro likes olives]
It caused great amusement. Jon asked if we were in a production of Abigail's Party. I said these hedgehogs were everywhere back in the 70s, the height of sophistication. Bob quoted Homer Simpson [if it's on a cocktail stick it is free food]
Rosie suggested we should give the hedgehog a name "Something interesting like Billy...or perhaps Hecuba?" [where does she get these ideas from?!]
Jess just plodded on enjoying her nutella sandwiches. As you see, I'm still in my best new pjs [Thank you Julian!] The wreath on the door is one made two years ago by Rosie, using a kit from Kirsten [thanks K]
They left and I tidied up, then sat and did some knitting. Only after the doorbell rang and I dashed to open it, did it occur to me that it was 4.30 pm, and I was in pjs and a HoHoHat. The delivery guy was totally unfazed, and asked politely if he could take a photo of my Nativity Tableau to show his little boy. He lives locally, so was then wondering about bringing him over one day next week to actually see it in person.
I've started thinking about other Retro Christmas Party Foods. Sue-in-Suffolk was remarking on those lovely little chocolate Neapolitans. I liked them! We always had a 'glove box' of dates, with those peculiar little plastic twigs for fishing them out. One aunt went in for metal trays of toffee with a little hammer [I was not allowed these, because of my teeth!]
When I was a student in the 70s, people started serving quiche at parties [and at Church Teas] and black forest gateaux. And fondues. We have not used our fondue set since we retired [to be truthful, we didn't use it that much before] I think that may be going to a CS before too long. Fondues are not the sort of thing I would have around small children. Are there any retro foods you miss?
In contrast to my reflective, sombre November stitching all about remembering those we've loved and lost, Kirsten's piece is a riot of colour and joy.
She has used a "Charm Square" with a Japanese print in gold, and added vivid Sarah Homfray threads exploding with colour. The dark blue represents the longer winter nights, and the colours reflect her growing excitement through the month as first her birthday, and then Advent arrive,leading up to the wonder of Christmas [with fireworks in there somewhere too]
The accompanying 'flat gifts' were fun too - a post-it notepad which makes a to do list a workable plan and a little book of Advent Reading.
The readings are from a really diverse range of contributors - historical and contemporary, Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, "high" church and evangelical, trad and post-modern. I think I am going to enjoy these daily Advent meditations.
Thank you Kirsten - you really understand what I will enjoy!
Yesterday was a strange day as we both overslept. I woke up at 9am! We did go to church, sitting in bed in our pj's watching on Bob's laptop [no, the Congregation couldn't see us onscreen, just our names!]
We had two unexpected visitors on Saturday afternoon and I think they wore us out. After lunch Rosie and Jess helped us decorate the tree.
Have you put up any decorations yet?
It took forever, as they were commenting on every other ornament and asking questions!
But it was SO lovely to have their help, and brought back many happy memories of decorating trees in London and Leicester with Liz and Steph's help, singing along to the Christmas music, and wearing HoHoHats* and Holly Headbands [*Jessica's name for Santa's headgear]
Last Sunday Pastor Nick led us in this prayer. I thought how many circles are around us at Christmas - baubles, plates of food [cakes and puddings] our circles of friendship, and our family circle, and this spinning globe where we all live...may we be held in the circle of God's love
It is the end of the month and therefore the end of my knitting challenge. I was supposed to do 30 minutes every day. That would be 30 x 30 =900 minutes = 15 hours There were two days when I only managed a brief 10 minute knit [looking after grandchildren was keeping me rather busy] but in total I've knitted for over 60 hours not counting today, And my generous sponsors [thank you all] have helped me to raise over £450for the Bone Cancer Research Trust. My JustGiving Page will be open for another two weeks, and I'm hoping to pass the £500 mark. What did I knit? One of my Christmas Projects, and a lot of little mini-jumpers. But the second project [a knitted nativity] has languished untouched. I realised that I didn't actually like it! Mary, Joseph and Jesus were knitted in Dorset, but not sewn up. I may just complete those three and make a little stable - without the collection of angels, animals, shepherd and magi outside... I have enjoyed the challenge, and the opportunity to promote a very worthwhile cause. And the weather has certainly proved an encouragement to stay inside.
November is a month for remembering, and I chose that for the theme of my CoverStory piece. Yes there is the acknowledgement of those who died in the service of their nation - we wear our poppies, on the 11th [Armistice day/Poppy Day] and on Remembrance Sunday [the 2nd Sunday of the month] But for me it also a month to remember two precious family members I have loved and lost. Cousin Gillian, who died on Remembrance Sunday 2021, just a few days after her 65th birthday. And Gill's Mum, my Auntie Peggy. She died in March 2023 - but her birthday was November 17th. So I decided to stitch poppies. I used nets and voiles in shades of red and overlaid the whole piece with a pale scarlet voile.
There's a phrase "beyond the veil" - which comes to us from the Jewish tradition.
For them it referred to the Veil/Curtain in the Temple, which separated the ordinary people at worship from the very holy place, where the priest offered special prayers, in the presence of God. In William Tyndale's translation of the Bible 500 years ago, he brought this phrase into common English. It came to mean the place where God is - and where the saints join with Him after death.
Therefore I chose the nets and voiles, translucent fabrics, to symbolise this. Lost, but not forever - one day I believe we will all be together again.
This is the sixth piece I've stitched - so we are halfway through the patchwork - after which there will be embellishments to work on.
I ought to confess that as a child, when I heard old people in church speak of "Those we love beyond the veil" I thought they meant young women who had gone away and got married!!
On Saturday week we are having our first Christmas Craft Fair at the Chapel. We hope to raise funds for a village charity, FRIN. Foulsham Relief In Need supports individuals or families who have disabilities, or need other support. So I'm making some bits and pieces to sell. I'm going for inexpensive stocking fillers. Like pencil rolls and tissue holders
I spent all Wednesday at the machine, really enjoying myself, while the rain just kept on raining outside. I'm so glad it was fine and dry yesterday morning when Sam and James were working on the door!
I've decided to make some decorated hair clips too, they have sold well in the past
It was fun sorting out buttons to sew on to hair clips, I shall do that over the weekend. It's made a change from all the knitting.
QUESTION does anyone else read the lovely Family Barwitzki blog, written by Viola in Norway? It continues to show up in my reading list, but the link seems to be broken and so I cannot read her posts. Is anyone else having this problem. Viola, do you know about it?
At 8am yesterday, Sam and James turned up to replace our front door. The one we have always had at Cornerstones is getting on for twenty years old. It is not exactly good quality, and very poorly insulated. We decided we would replace it. I hadn't realised exactly how much a new door costs, but this is a 'buy once, buy well' purchase so we chose very carefully. Wre wanted glass to let in light, but not a large translucent panel. With the old one, and the light on, it might as well have been clear glass! A secure lock, a simple, waist height horizontal letterbox [none of this kneeling on the ground stuff, or struggling to open the flap whilst pushing letters sideways...] and a knocker. Yes, we do have an excellent doorbell, but I like the appearance! The guys took out the old door [and took it away], got the new door from the van [and stood it on the gravel to check all was well] Then they fitted the new door and cleaned up beautifully
Here we are inside and out
So very bright and cheerful. I love the patterned glass - and the way the light coming through sparkles on the wall.
When we acquired this home in 2009, the path was narrow [not wide enough for a buggy] and there was quite a step over the door frame from the ground into the hall. That trip hazard has disappeared - and we have a path twice the width now. Improvements all round. And we are already noticing the warmth in the hallway.
I much prefer the 2024 red door to the one we first opened in 2009!
We've fetched all the Christmas boxes down from the loft. There do seem to be a lot. I have told Bob that I will try to reduce the number that go back up again at Epiphany! The figures and costumes for the Nativity Tableau came down on Sunday [the frames were in the workshop and came down today] I stood the little shepherd boy on the other side of the kitchen door, beside the manger
All was ok till I went to the loo at midnight. The motion sensor triggered the nightlight. And I jumped, because I'd forgotten he was there, and thought a small child was hovering in wait! Bob wants to strengthen some of the frames before I dress them - but I hope to have everything ready for Sunday and the beginning of Advent, so the Cornerstones Tableau is in place. I have moved him into a corner for the time being!
Preacher, teacher, wife, mother, grandmother, craftswoman. Married to wonderful Pastor Bob since 1979, now happily retired to Norfolk, but still busy. I am blessed with two brilliant grown-up daughters and four wonderful grand children
