Happy Birthday Steph!

Just a few pictures of the last 40 years - one from your childhood, one from Brazil, when you spent the summer working with the street children, and others since your graduation.

Have a wonderful day!

Never stop sparkling!

We love you so much

Very Cheerful Food [4]

That was a clue in a cryptic crossword I was doing recently. At first I couldn't work it out, but once I'd filled in the down clues, I got it. Very = So, Cheerful = Up. The answer so-up = Soup.

I was at the dentist's on Monday,and as I walked back to where I'd parked the car, I saw this sign
I do love the idea of Soup Church! I wonder if the Methodists of East Harling are Very Cheerful Christians, I do hope so. They are clearly keen on good food and gentleness. It is a shame that it is a 70 mile round trip to my dentists, otherwise I'd be tempted to call in!

There is something special about sharing good food in good company [companion comes from the old French compaignon, one who breaks bread with another] I shall be eating meals at the conference this weekend with many friends,new and old. I know I'll look round the dining room, and hear gales of laughter from one table, and see deep conversations going on at another...
A blessing of retirement is having the time to invite others to share a meal with us - at home, or at a local 'eatery'. It doesn't have to be 5* cuisine - soup and a roll, a cuppa plus cake...but it is so good to meet together, and eat together. 
Jesus did it all the time [feeding 5000, Cana Wedding Feast, Supper at Emmaus, a BBQ on the Beach] I think we should too!!

What The Vicar Taught Me...

Last month I dropped in at the Parish church "Coffee, Cake and Chat" group, and Rev Rachael taught us to make paper roses [thanks]. I've been cutting squares for a Kusudama Workshop I am running today at my conference, here's a quick tutorial on roses...

For each rose you need 3 squares [these are 9cm²]
Fold each square into 4, then diagonally in half.

Now holding the point of the triangle, trim rund the open edge to get an ice cream cone shape. 

Then cut a tiny triangle from the bottom

Now open out your three flowers [A,B,C] Cut one segment out of  A, two out of B and three out of C. Line the 6 pieces up in order of size.

 

Now you need to take the smallest petal, run a line of glue down one straight edge and roll it up. Then take each petal in order, rolling it round the central 'stamen' and gluing down its outer edge. Here is the last petal waiting to be added. The pen mark indicates where you put the glue!

Once the glue has dried, gently roll each petal over a pencil to give it some curves. 

I made stems using wire, wrapped in a thin strip of paper. One flower is made from pages of an old paperback book, the other using an old map. 

The map pages were hard to curl. Next time I shall curl them before  rolling and sticking, I've tucked the blooms in my reed diffuser!

Come back Marie Osmond, all is forgiven!

Busy With My Friends

For the first time since 2017 I am actually going away to the residential conference for "Spouses of Baptist Ministers". Our group is now called Thrive, prior to that it was Connexion, and before that it was "The Baptist Ministers and Missionaries Wives Fellowship". The original title was rather unwieldy - and also outdated once we had husbands of Revs coming to the local groups, and we opened up to spouses of chaplains, and others who were serving in Baptist Churches, but not necessarily in the traditional roles. So in 1997, we became Connexion- because that word historically represented groups of nonconformists, and also because we were a very disparate group, but with this one connection - what our spouses did. Then about 8 years ago, when things were very different and we were connecting via social media, and patterns of ministry were continuing to change, we became Thrive. Because we wanted to encourage our members to do just that - not just to survive the rigours of marriage to someone in a 24/7 job. 
I love the conference- it is time to reconnect, to share our stories- to encourage one another - to relax - to laugh and to cry together. These women [no husbands attending this year!]are among my oldest and dearest friends.

I should point out that even in the days when my Mum attended they didn't dress like this!

Tomato CatchUp

All this talk about the importance of 30 minutes reminded me of a time management system which was popular in the 80s. Back in those pre-internet days, I'd push Steph in the buggy round to the library and come back laden with craft books, novels, and books which promised to get my life, house and family organised. Then the children would play with their toys or look at books, while I sat and read. I made endless lists; things to do, budget charts, meal plans...

One popular time management technique was developed by an Italian, Francesco Cirillo. This guy's motto is 'work smarter not harder' Pomodoro is the Italian word for tomato. and Cirillo realised his tomato shaped wind-up kitchen timer was just what he needed to get things done.
The idea is to break everything down into smaller tasks which take 25 minutes. Wind up the timer. Do one of these 25 minute bursts of activity, then rest for 5 minutes, then repeat. After four such tasks, take a longer break. Like this...

For some tasks, this is a really helpful way of breaking up the activity. Although a cup of coffee every half hour is maybe a little too much caffeine for me!
I notice that a number of British Universities actually promote this technique to help students with revision. 
I have a slightly less structured way of doing a similar thing.
Whenever I put the kettle on, I try and find a task I can do in the time it takes the kettle to boil. I know I can

• clean my teeth
• empty the dishwasher contents onto a tray and carry it into the kitchen [Bob often puts things away, which helps - otherwise they sit there till the next kettle-boil]
• empty all the wpbs and pull out the wheelie bin onto the pavement.
• take the dirty laundry to the Futility Room and load and run the machine
• empty the machine and hang the wet laundry on the airer
• water the houseplants

If it's true that "A watched pot never boils" then there is no point standing in the kitchen staring at the kettle - I can catchup with my tasks and make positive use of my waiting time.

Do you use a Pomodoro Technique or similar to ensure that you get tasks completed?

Just Ten Weeks...

I do not bother to get so organised about Christmas these days. Fifteen years ago, our family Christmas and the church calendar was utterly manic. I made Bob a special tee shirt listing all the events.

Retirement has many blessings - and one of them is having time just to enjoy the season.

I don't really need to add to my seasonal decorations - and certainly I decluttered lots of stuff in the Autumn before retirement. We have no need of a staircase garland when you live in a bungalow, or the shelf with stocking hooks when there is no mantelpiece.

But I did succumb this week, and spent £2.50 on Charity shop bargains.

The needle-felted dog on his sled, and that red love-joy-peace mug really needed to come home with me!

I did not succumb to the Musketeer Bear. There were at least 60 bears from this collection in a bin in the CS**, at £1 each. At their original prices, that would have cost someone over £300. Cute though they were, I did not fall for the charms of Caesar the Roman bear,nor Vik the Viking, nor Giorgio the Gondolier. But a serious arctophile like Gyles Brandreth would find lots of bargains here [**the new PACT charity shop in Dereham] 

Have you started 'Christmas Planning' yet?

The Fruits Of Their Labours

On Sunday after church we drove over to the Museum for Apple Day. Many people were lining up for selfies with the Big Apple [not me]

Plenty of activities - crafts to try, apples to taste. All these ones which were actually developed in Norfolk, as well as dozens of others from around the country. I asked for advice about what to do with my new plant. I was told that if it was a seedling it probably would not survive, and who knows what variety it will be? [I was not encouraged by that!]

There were lots of exhibitors at the event - craftspeople, apple growers, compost makers, spinners and weavers, beekeepers, folk dancers. 

For me, the most interesting person I met was Robin Carter, who is an illustrator. He came to Gressenhall a while back to paint the Suffolk Punch Horses on the Farm attached to the Museum. It was suggested he should bring some artworks to Sunday's event. You can see examples of his work here. But what fascinated me was his stamps. Robin illustrates postage stamps. He was asked to produce one set and the whole thing just took off. If you go to the Stamps of the World website here and type in Robin Carter, you can see just how many he has done. 

A lot of places use commemorative stamps as a way to boost there economy - there are philatelists out there who will snap up the Falkland Islands Land Rover Set . Robin explained that he is given his theme, and usually works from photographs [he doesn't get flown out to Ascension Island, or wherever!] He produces a finished artwork about 6" square, then it goes back to their printers who add the "furniture" that is, the sovereign's head, the value, and other necessary wording. What a fabulous job - and one which clearly makes great use of his undoubted talents.

Here is the original alongside a sheet of stamps, which were produced to mark the 350th anniversary of the Royal Marines.

Robin was so interesting to talk to, I felt I had learned so much. 

I am grateful to all the volunteers who gave up their day to make it a good event. There were loads of people there, and the weather was good - families were going across to the farm,and down to the adventure playground. I wished we could have had some our of littl'uns with us. They'd have loved riding the mini tractors and diggers, and sampling the fruits.

Thank you Robin and co, for making Apple Day so good this year.