A Penny For Your Thoughts

Have you come across the novels of Louise Penny, featuring Canadian Detective Armande Gamache? To date, she has written 20 books in the series and her 21st is due out in October. I watched Alfred Molina in the TV series in the autumn of 2022, and really enjoyed his portrayal of this large, intelligent policeman, who showed empathy and concern for victims, and a passionate desire for truth and justice.

In September last year, I picked up one of Ms Penny's Gamache stories in Dereham library, and then the next week, another. After a while I realised I needed to read them in order. I have been reserving then reading them methodically for over 6 months 
I have now just finished book 20. I am still waiting for book #17 to turn up - it is clear that at least two other people are working through the series, and the Millennium Library is currently closed for refit. These two factors I suspect have caused the hiatus.
What can I tell you ? - this guy is the Chief Inspector in Quebec, and his sidekick JeanGuy De Beauvoir is his son in law [that happened will through the series when he married the boss's daughter Annie] All the stories feature a little village not far from Quebec called Three Pines [because there are three tall pine trees on the village green] There comes a point where AG and his wife, Reine-Marie, buy a house there [although he maintains a flat in Quebec for convenience] There are eight key people in 3P who manage to appear in every story. Well, nine if you include a duck, belonging to the mad poet who can say one four letter word. And does, repeatedly, That sentence is ambiguous - at times I am not sure if it is the duck or the crazy lady who is swearing. The Gamache website explains everybody, if you start in the middle of the series. It also gives recipes for dishes mentioned in the books

My overall review of 19/20 books...
Positive

• I like AG as a character, and also his long-suffering wife [despite her weird name!]. But I sometimes feel Penny paints JeanGuy as a little bit too weak and unreliable. 
• Each book is stand alone in terms of one crime and its solution, and you do not have to have read the other, although there are some storylines which run right through
• LP does her research very carefully, and covers many contemporary issues, as well as referencing historical events where relevant. 
• Justice is [usually] seen to be done. Forgiveness and repentance are important themes, and handled sensitively
• I have learned some interesting Quebecoise terms. Canadian French is quite different from European French![as are its swear words]
• Sometimes the food descriptions make me hungry

Negative

• LP does repeat herself, a lot. When you binge-read 19 books over 10 months, you notice how many times she quotes the same piece of poetry, talks about the same two specific paintings by Clara-the-artist, or tells you about the one significant case which everyone in Canada knew about, which defined Gamache. And the duck repeats itself too. 
• If 3P is, as she tells us often, not marked on any map, you have to know it is there, then how come Olivier and Gabri in the bistro are able to source such wonderfully diverse ingredients for the meals in the bistro? There must be many food suppliers in Montreal who are driving across the Champlain Bridge [real!] in order to take this fresh produce to their kitchen. And all the police in Montreal must know where there boss lives...
• If a new person turns up in 3P, you just know they are very likely to be either the victim or the perpetrator of the next crime, because we know all the other characters there already. But I guess that is always the case with a series set in a small community.
• Sometimes these Canadians seem a little bit naive. They come across something for the first time, and act as if they have discovered it before anyone else, and nobody else except one obscure librarian or specialist scientist is aware of it. Dear Ms Penny, it was interesting to read about 'The Paston Treasure', a key plot element in one book - but this painting is well known in Norfolk where it was commissioned nearly 400 years ago, and still resides, in the Norwich Castle Collection. [I have blogged about it twice]

As I say, I enjoyed Alfred Molina's on screen portrayal, but did not find Nathaniel Parker's performance as Gamache was quite so convincing. Which was a shame, as I think NP was brilliant in the original Inspector Lynley series. Louise Penny has a huge worldwide following. Her Gamache website is fascinating even if you do not read the books. Individually I'd rate the books between 3 and 5 stars -
so I guess I'd give the whole series an average rating of ****

Have you read any Three Pines stories, or watched the films?
What did you think about them?

Three Churches In Three Days

On Friday, Bob and I went to Dereham Parish Church for an organ recital. This is part of their fundraising campaign to be able to install much needed toilets and decent kitchen facilities on site.At 12.15 we enjoyed an excellent sandwich lunch [good choice of fillings, also quiches, sausage rolls, pork pies and cherry tomatoes, followed by selection of cakes, choice of hot or cold drinks] 

Then a gentleman started trying to erect a portable screen near to where we were sitting. Bob used to have one like that, and as it's easier to put up with a helper, he went off to assist. Here he is in his best navy blazer, kneeling on the carpet! Then he helped sort out the video camera too...his assistance was much appreciated.

I do not have any photographs of the recital itself, they were not allowed! The visiting organist was D'Arcy Trinkwon. That is not an anagram, D'Arcy's forebears were from the continent and his surname is French. He is remarkably gifted and played various pieces, including some by a Canadian Composer for the foot pedals only [we were able to watch his hands on the keyboard and feet on the pedals via the video camera and big screen] Here's a clip of him playing in Selby Abbey. He's quite the showman!

Saturday from 9.30-4.30 I was in Dereham Baptist Church, for a Safeguarding Training Day. It is very important to us in our chapel that we have the correct procedures and protocols in place, for the protection of any vulnerable person [child or adult] who may come to our premises - five from our chapel attended. People from all over Norfolk were there. I met up with old friends- and it was especially lovely when a woman called Christine came up and introduced herself. She met me at a Women's Day at DBC in 2015, and has been following Tracing Rainbows ever since. I hope we can meet up again sometime, for a proper chat over coffee.

Sunday I was back in my own little Chapel at Foulsham. I was Duty Deacon, so we got there really early. Duties include checking who is on the rotas for tea and coffee, welcoming, prayers etc.

 As it was communion, I had to fill the little glasses [they go in a tray like the one in the picture] I knew we had a number of absentees. So I filled 24 glasses. At the start of the service we had 22 adults [plus adults and children out in the hall at Sunday Club]. But one couple arrived late. Our practice is that a deacon takes the tray, serves the pastor, takes it round the congregation, and then returns it to the communion table. As I took it back to Nick, we realised there was just the one glass left, for me! We sung some good songs, and Nick preached a great sermon about Jairus' Daughter, and the sick woman, from Mark 5.

Three church buildings, one very big, one fairly big, and one small - but good friends and a lovely atmosphere in each one. Bob tells me that nowadays a person is considered to be a 'regular churchgoer' if they attend a service once in 3 weeks. I'm definitely a regular.

Have you come across D'Arcy Trinkwon?
He's a very flamboyant character, and a master of his music.

One Step At A Time..

 
Not sure they are appropriately dressed for climbing a snowcapped mountain, but I like the sentiment. It reminds me of the 'Serenity Prayer', which was written almost a century ago by the German-American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. 

This little token is one produced by Alcoholics Anonymous, who adopted the prayer as their own in the 1940s, to help those struggling to reach sobriety and restoration.

Hope, Courage, Serenity. and Wisdom - all good virtues to which we should aspire!

Here's A Hurdy Gurdy!

 A couple of weeks back, Kezzie posted about visiting Kentwell Hall, stepping back into Tudor times, with customs, costumes, and music. She particularly mentioned seeing [and hearing] a hurdy-gurdy played for the first time 'in real life' And she got to try it herself. Do read her lovely post, with all the illustrations if Tudor re-enacters, and Kezzie herself getting happily involved.
In the same week, Bob and I went to a talk at the Dereham Heritage Trust. 

The guests were Chanter's Jigge, Malcolm and Elizabeth, husband and wife,  who also play many many Tudor instruments. They gave us an Elizabethan Musical Experience, with their latest programme,
including a hurdy gurdy.
Clearly Tudor Music is the sound of the summer!

*If Henry VIII really did write Greensleeves, did all the royalties go to royalty?

*Is it true that if Tudor musicians got into debt, they had to pawn their doublets and sit around in their singlets?

Have you ever played a crumhorn, a shawm, or a hurdy-gurdy?

[* apologies for very, very old jokes]

Summer Is...

 ...Days Of Syrup Sliding Off A Silver Spoon

My first squares for our new "Double Knitting Collaboration" new. I did Block 195; Ridges from The Book. This was one of the patterns chosen my good friend Heather. So my first attempt was using a random yarn in heathery shades, with a white contrast. I tried white with heather ridges, and heather with white ridges. Neither worked! The weather was so hot and sticky – like days of syrup sliding off a silver spoon.
Then I found in the stash a soft cream yarn and also a golden yellow. Silver and Syrup. Milk and honey. These did contrast well, so I knitted up the square in both arrangements. I can’t decide which I like best.

I am fascinated by the way that a very simple 4-row pattern [3 plain 1 purl] makes this neat ridge pattern, and would work well even without the contrast. I am delighted by the fact that we both started with a ridge pattern!
These are Kirsten's squares Block 10; Horizontal Ridges. Her pattern has ridges which are twice as deep, and is done in a single colour. She posted me the bright blue, and kept the grey marl.

This was the flat gift I sent her - it seemed appropriate!
She gave me a pretty little notebook

Blocking notes
I cut two 6” squares from a brown card envelope, misted the squares [both sides] with lukewarm water, and pinned them neatly to the cards,
then left them overnight to dry. We need to keep our pieces straight and true!

Read more about these first squares on Kirsten's post today

Forty Eight Years And Counting...

Thomas Hardy's perpetual calendar on his desk was always set at March 7th, because that was the day he met Emma, his first wife. 

I was very taken with this idea, so when I saw Hardy's Calendar in Dorset, eight years ago, I came home and altered my calendar to the date when I first met Bob [this late Victorian calendar was inherited from Great Aunt Amy, Grandad's sister]

For the record, like Thomas and Emma, we met in church. Bob's first words [on seeing my student sweatshirt] "Oh no! not another teacher!". We went on to an after church youth group, and spent the evening sitting on the sofa discussing the sermon, and sharing a 'Youth Praise' songbook. And today marks 48 years together - friend, fiancé, husband, soulmate - my 'better half'

The last week has been pretty significant for us too. After a lot of waiting [three years since the doctor declared him an 'urgent' case] Bob has finally had the denervation procedure on his back, to relieve him of the constant and acute pain he has been suffering for so long.

That was last Friday [hence my absence from the church holiday club] Things are looking good. It's wonderful to see him standing straight and tall and free of pain. 

Last weekend we went to the coast, Bob walked down to the water and swam in the sea with Rosie.

Thanking God for all His goodness to us and to our family 

You Gotta Pita Pocket Or Two!

I sometimes buy packs of pita bread from the supermarket. 50p for 6. Not an expensive product. But a few years ago Liz took me to Shuk, a street food stall in Borough Market. Shuk  is the Hebrew word for Street Market. Among other things, they sell stuffed pitas. Fabulous fluffy, light pockets full of tasty fresh food. I'd never tasted "proper" fresh pita before, the supermarket stuff seems like cardboard in comparison. 

Then I had pita in Gem, a Turkish restaurant near Norwich Station. I asked the waiter if they were made in the kitchens or bought in. He said they came from London, arriving fresh every morning on the early train. "you can't buy them like this in Norfolk!" he said.

We had roast lamb for lunch on Sunday with the family [it was in the freezer, I'd got it half price in Morrisons a while back] Bob suggested the leftovers would be lovely in pita pockets.

So I decided to make my own.

I used Delia's recipe for pita dough in the breadmaker. It was really easy. (here) The recipe makes 12. I cooked four on each baking sheet. We had two each, and put 8 in the freezer.  They were soft and fluffy like the ones in Shuk and Gem. I made some raita with my homemade yogurt, and the free cucumber I got in Lidl at the weekend. Bob added spicy sriracha sauce too. 

And the cost? 50p for twelve - half the price of cardboard ones in the supermarket. I shall definitely make these puffy pita pockets again. If you have a Breadmaker with a dough facility, give it a go.