In The Pink

Back in the 80s my friend invited me to go with her on a shopping trip to Bromley. Having dropped our daughters off at Primary School, we went in her car for what she described as a day of Retail Therapy. By lunchtime she had a few carrier bags, and I'd bought some new pants for the children. 

"You must get yourself something, Ang" she insisted. So we went into Laura Ashley, and at her suggestion I spent £5 on a lacy pink knitted scarf. She assured me I'd wear it a lot. 

Every so often I pull it out to finish off an outfit, perhaps half a dozen times a year. As I did a couple of weeks ago. Then I decided it should have a wash, so I put in a bowl of warm soapy water and swished it about a bit. I couldn't believe how much colour came out in the water! I felt like Macbeth with "the multitudinous seas incarnadine" I was so glad I'd not put it in the general wash inside a 'lingerie' bag. 

It dried quickly in the warm sunshine. Back in the day, I was quite unsure about the purchase, it seemed rather frivolous on our limited income . But when I look back and think about it in terms of cost-per-wear, at about tuppence a time, I have definitely had my money's worth. I see they are currently being advertised online at £25+. Good gracious!! 

Cockles And Mussels, Alive, Alive Oh!

We used to sing "Molly Malone" at school in music lessons. Did you?

When I was a child, we would visit the family in Leigh On Sea, and my Mum would treat herself to a pint cup of cockles down at the sea front. They were dressed in vinegar - and she loved them. I found the whole idea awful, and refused to taste them.

I never wanted to eat mussels either. Then I married Bob, and he is half Belgian. He loves "moules et frites" - somewhere in the last 40 years I finally tried them, and now I too really enjoy a bowl of mussels [with chips, and mayo, and a hunk of baguette to mop up the broth] 

I read that the Essex cockle fishers are trying to revive our interest in their shellfish. About 45% of their catch is exported to Spain - and the UK cockle industry is valued at about £10M annually, half of which comes from the Thames Estuary. Should we all be eating more of these? 80% of the fish we eat is from the "Big Five" - cod, haddock, tuna, prawns and salmon, says the Marine Stewardship Council. They want  to prioritise 'locally sourced' fish. They're putting blue 'ecolabels' on sustainably sourced products and running a campaign called "Buy Blue, Protect Dinner" This started last September apparently, and promoted Norfolk Brown Shrimps [sorry, MSC that one completely passed me by!] and other fishy dishes

Maybe I should ask the Bunnings Man on Dereham Market. They sell cockles caught off the Norfolk Coast. Mind you, this fish doesn't come cheap - cockles are £18 per kilo, twice the price of Scottish Mussels. 

If I stick to the Flemish speciality, which we both enjoy, am I being shelfish?

I Knew That Some Day, My Plinths Would Come!

As far as we can tell, Cornerstones [built 1972] started with a basic kitchen. In the 80's the owners replaced the units with better ones, with wooden doors. In around 2007, an extension was built, so the kitchen was slightly larger. Some of the old units went into the Futility Room,[without plinths. I can fix that, said Bob] and fairly cheap ones were put into the new kitchen. We bought the property in 2009. In 2018, we repainted the FR units, and added some wall cupboards [surplus to requirements when we moved from Kirby to Ferndown] It took us months, because we weren't living here then. But I was really pleased with the final results.

Eagle eyed readers will spot that there are no plinths visible under the sink!  Bob said "I will make a set sometime" My post of 8 years ago was entitled "Some Day My Plinths Will Come".
We retired here 5 years ago. The fridge freezer moved into the corner, and my French picture came down.  And we began to realise the main kitchen was falling to bits. So 2025 was The Year Of The Kitchen. A lot of hard work, plus help from friends and family [and a few good tradespeople] we ended up with a £30K+ kitchen for around £10K. 
Bob is not a man to let things go to waste. Some of the removed cupboards were repurposed in the garage, and he replaced the upper futility cupboards [small and shallow] with bigger ones. "I shall put new doors to match on the drawers and sink unit" he said. [June 2025] Sixteen years on, and now the FR has new upper cupboards - but no doors on sink, and still NO plinths! I decided to say nothing.

Last Friday he had an amazing burst of energy - having sorted out my table, he then set to with power tools modifying the old doors to make new drawer fronts.
And then he made plinths! Seventeen years after he suggested it. To show my joy at this great improvement I have tided the drawers and cupboards and moved all the random bits of paper from the fridge door. Just four things have been allowed to remain.

This is a really usable room now and easy to maintain [no more things rolling under the sink!] Thank you Bob

Quiet Waters

 Norfolk is the driest county in England- but still has a lot of water - with seven main rivers[ Ant, Bure, Chet, Thurne, Waveney and Wensum] plus the lovely Norfolk Broads, and a very long coastline, from Kings Lynn and the Wash, all the way round to Yarmouth. 

This week I visited the Taverham Mill Nature Reserve, managed by Anglian Water, and went for a walk with a friend, beside the still waters. We enjoyed the sunshine, and talked of God's goodness and faithfulness [even when life has difficult moments]

On Friday morning, as I drove to the Hospital for my Volunteer Visiting Session, I switched on the Radio. The programme was 'Soul Music' which features each week a different piece of music which has special memories for people. It is usually classical, or pop - but this week it was a hymn tune. They were playing The Lord's My Shepherd, to the Scottish tune "Crimond". This is my favourite setting of Psalm 23. I was singing along in the car "He leadeth me, the quiet waters by" and reflecting on the quiet waters at Taverham. I was grateful to God for the peaceful moments. But then I was grateful too for the availability of fresh clean water - so many people across the globe walk miles to collect their water, and so often it is filthy, and carries disease. 

Here in Norfolk. because it is so flat, there are problems with water pressure - so we have lots of water towers across the county. Old redbrick Victorian ones, and at the end of the 20th century more modern concrete ones. Often they stand out on the landscape and can be seen for miles. Many of them are now listed, converted into 'dwellings'. Just down the road from the hospital, Dereham's old tower stands right alongside the 1960's "mushroom" at the highest point in the town.

As I drove into town on Friday I was aware of a huge crane beside the tower. I pulled into a side road, and got out to take a photo.

I have no idea what the three men in pink hi-viz vests were doing. I couldn't have worked so high up there. I am grateful that our water supplies are being maintained. And truly grateful for the living water that Jesus gives us, reviving our souls [John chapter 4:10 and 7:37] Psalm 23 - He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.

Thank you to Christians in the Chet Valley, South Norfolk for this hymn 

I've Got Some Nice Legs!

Said Bob. It was during the great pre-retirement downsize, I realised that one thing I did need at Cornerstones was a small table in the back bedroom. I had hoped it would be a worktable for my craft activities, and a place for visitors to put their stuff. That was why Bob mentioned his nice legs [!] and that he had a piece of wood, a short length of kitchen worktop retrieved from our neighbour's skip in Dorset when they had a refit. The legs were red metal [IKEA bargain basement, £5, years ago] and had remained in his stash, stuck together with parcel tape. He promptly screwed the legs to the wood and there was my table. It has been in use ever since. But he never actually finished it properly. I put a tablecloth on it when we had overnight guests.

Here it is, this time last year, stacked with food and jars during the kitchen refit. The top is grubby, it had sharp edges and corners, and the base of every leg [hidden in this shot] is a mess of half removed brown parcel tape. More recently my worklamp has been clamped to the edge, and the table has been covered with sewing projects.

On Thursday, I had been tidying the bedroom, the tabletop was clear. Bob leapt into action, and took the table outside. He removed the legs, and while I set to work with solvent to clean off the sticky tape and goo, he rounded the edges of the top. He sanded everything and finished it off with a coat of Osmo. It looks so much better now

Clean, shiny and no sharp corners! This will count as a restoration project, another of my #word365 activities. Thank you Bob. I shall refix  my lamp and I'm 'good to go' again

Poem Of The Week

I wandered lonely as a clod,
Just picking up old rags and bottles,
When onward on my way I plod,
I saw a host of axolotls;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
A sight to make a man’s blood freeze.

Some had handles, some were plain;
They came in blue, red pink, and green.
A few were orange in the main;
The damnedest sight I’ve ever seen.
The females gave a sprightly glance;
The male ones all wore knee-length pants.

Now oft, when on the couch I lie,
The doctor asks me what I see.
They flash upon my inward eye
And make me laugh in fiendish glee.
I find my solace then in bottles,
And I forget them axolotls.

[From ‘Mad Magazine’ 1958]

This poem is dedicated to nature-loving 10 year old Evie Hill from Leicester. Visiting Bridgend, Wales Evie and family were by the "Dipping Bridge" when she spotted something in the shadows. It was a Mexican Axolotl. Evie saw it had damage to its tail and stomach. She managed to catch it, and put it into a plastic tank. 

The family cut short their camper-van holiday and returned home with the creature. They sought expert advice and discovered they are allowed to keep the axolotl at home. 

"Dippy" now lives in a large tank. The National Centre For Reptile Welfare say Evie probably saved the creature's life. This is the first documented discovery of an axolotl living wild in the UK. There has been a surge in their popularity as pets, since they appeared in video games like Minecraft and Roblox - but the NCFRW says many people do not know how to keep them and discard them in rivers. These creatures are an endangered species, experts say there are less than 1000 globally. Here's a close up of Dippy - who is about 23cm long

Well done Evie, thank you for saving him ... and apologies to Wordsworth for the parody of his poem. [It is the only axolotl poem I know] I'm not sure I would have recognised it if I had been paddling in Wales [although I suspect Rosie would have done]

Mama's Little Baby...

 ...loves short'nin', short'nin' 

I have been doing much shortening and altering this week - some for myself, some for my neighbours

• 2 pairs of trousers
• 2 zip replacements
• 2 dresses, sleeve adjustments

It is lovely to sit in the sun and handstitch garments.

We were also sitting outside on Tuesday to eat our lunch. My neighbour called over the fence "Can I give you those trousers now, Angela?" I took them from her. Then a few minutes later she called back "Do you two want some cake with your lunch?"

She passed me a plate with two huge slices of freshly baked Victoria Sponge. 
Bob says he greatly approves of this arrangement where I do the shortening and he gets to eat cake!

I have completely missed out on The Wiggles but this video was more fun than the original Andrews Sisters clip. 

On the subject of children's TV, what's the story in Balamory? My grandson is incredibly excited, as his classmate's Dad works at CBeebies, in MediaCity, Salford. This chap came in to school and now George tells us he knows all the secrets behind the production!