Is There Life After Housework?

I read this book back in the 80s. Three things I recall

1. Use a squeegee after every shower, it will keep the glass and walls sparkling [at the time I did not have a shower - but in the years since, I have stuck rigidly to this habit - it works
2. When mopping the floor, keep clean water and wrung out dirty water in two different buckets. I use a pad type mop, and have a clean dry pad for drying and finishing off, rather than wringing out the dirty pad. 
3. I did not like his "life's too short" model - with frequent use of single use disposables, both for cleaning and decor. [Especially "don't put all the Christmas stuff back in store, ditch and and buy new next December"] What about saving the planet, Don?
   However, about the same time I read the book, I often walked the girls home from school along with another mum and daughter. One Friday she said "I feel so guilty, I haven't washed down the skirting boards this week"  I cheerfully responded "Don't worry, I haven't done mine for well over a fortnight, and the world hasn't ended!"  [truth be told, I couldn't actually remember when I'd last done it, it may have been after the flying chocolate mousse incident the previous autumn...I was a busy and stressed Mum back then] 

The more I think back to those sunny days, making models, visiting NT properties, climbing over the cannons at the Maritime Museum, enjoying Holiday Clubs and Pancake Parties, the more I realise Mr Aslett was wrong. The question ought to be "Have you enjoyed life before the housework?" 
Obviously there are some chores which happen as part of the daily routine. Habits like pulling out the wheelie bin on Wednesday. loading the dishwasher after the meal, dropping dirty clothes straight in the bin as you take them off, squeegeeing the shower before you get out and dry yourself, putting the milk jug back in the fridge promptly - especially in hot weather...

But the sun's shining and you want to go for a walk, take the grandchildren somewhere fun, or attend a free organ concert in the Church - so forget washing down the skirting or re-organising the sock drawer! 

Another Mum I knew back then said that she had never seen her mother do housework. Cooking and clearing up meals yes - but cleaning, washing, ironing - Mum did all those other tasks once the three children had gone to bed. I couldn't get my head round that - didn't vacuuming keep them awake? If she ran the washing machine at night, when and how did she get the laundry dry? 

According to a survey two years before the pandemic, the average British woman spends 2 hours a day on household chores, and men a little less than that [i.e. a total of 14 hours a week] . I couldn't find out if the 2 hours included meal prep&clearing. If it does, then that seems about right for us. In retirement it is easier to share out the jobs [and he is a better cook than I] Many working women, like my daughters are well organised, busy juggling family, work and home. I know it is tiring for them [so grateful that my two always make family needs their #1 priority] Perhaps I should keep a time sheet for two weeks and see what gets done and when. But not this week - I'm off to London on Friday morning! 

How have your housekeeping habits changed over the years?

Do you have any help? [humans or gadgets]

Hominid/Homonym - A Weekend Quiz

This is Ook,the Orang Utan librarian who keeps watch over Bob's library of Terry Pratchett books. He is a hominid. 
The word watch can be a verb [to look upon] 👀or a noun [a timepiece] ⌚. Such a word is a homonym. A word with one spelling and two meanings.

I came across a short list of homonyms recently which fascinated me - each had two syllables. But the stress was on different syllables, and that made all the difference. For instance
subject - what you learn at school
subject  to force someone to do something
"I should do a blog post on that" I thought. And then I completely forgot about it. Till Thursday, when we happened to be in Waitrose. Bob had suggested we drop in for some Thai Red Curry Paste** and a yellow-sticker hunt. At the back of the store I saw this display

Their new range of summer crockery is called "Curate" -which is a homonym. The dictionary says 

1. curate -  to select the best and moat appropriate for presentation
2. curate - a member of the Anglican clergy.

So is this new range designed for Vicarage Tea Parties, do you think?

Here's a weekend quiz for you. A list of paired definitions. Between them, in brackets, the number of letters and the initial of the word in question. Remember, same word, but two pronunciations and two meanings. I will give the answers on Monday. The first one is obviously curate. The last two are a bit more challenging!

Member of clergy	[6,C]	Select best for show
A trade agreement	[8,C]	Get smaller
A gift	[7,P]	Show, or bestow
Way in	[8,E]	Charm
Disabled	[7,I]	Incorrect/without effect
Tiny	[6,M]	60 seconds
Stick out	[7,P]	Plan or design
Rubbish	[6,R]	Turn down
Gather together	[7,C]	A short prayer
Create something	[7,P]	Fruit and Vegetables
Ignore	[8,D]	Reduce in price
Fault	[6,D]	Go to the other side
Mouth wide open	[5,A]	God's love [Greek]
Was miserable	[5,M]	A small scooter

**to make some fish curry for the freezer. Thank you Sue for that idea! 

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs

Sometimes my Mum would serve a can of meatballs for tea along with mashed potato. When I was first married, I cooked Mary Berry's frikadeller recipe from Home&Freezer Digest, using a mix of pork and beef. IKEA arrived in the 80s and I was hooked on their Swedish meatballs. Now they sell meatballs, chicken balls, veggie balls and plant based balls. A useful freezer standby - I posted about how to serve your 'Swedish' meatballs in a variety of different ways back in 2015
Recently I rustled up some home made meatballs - this time with a middle eastern twist, using my Ottolenghi Simple Cookbook which Julian gave me for my birthday last year.

I had some leftover lamb and I flicked through this book and found this. It was very easy and very tasty. I had enough lamb to make enough for four portions - so we ate half and put the rest away for later in the week. 

500g minced lamb
100g feta, crumbled into roughly 1cm pieces
2 tbsp picked thyme leaves
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
10g parsley leaves, finely chopped
1 slice white bread, blitzed
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Salt and black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp pomegranate molasses, plus 1 tbsp extra to serve (optional)

Heat the oven to 200C. Put all the ingredients apart from the oil and pomegranate molasses in a large bowl, add three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper, and mix with your hands to combine. Still using your hands, divide the meatball mix into 18 roughly 35g portions and form each into 4cm-wide balls. Heat the oil in a large frying pan on a medium-high flame, then fry the meatballs (cook them in batches, if need be), for five to six minutes in total, gently turning them throughout, until golden brown all over. Transfer the meatballs to an oven tray lined with baking paper, drizzle pomegranate molasses over the top, if using, and bake for five minutes, to cook through. Serve hot, with a final tablespoon of pomegranate molasses spooned on top. [I baked mine in the air fryer]

I forgot to take a picture of mine - but they did look exactly like Yotam's, and we liked the flavour. It was the end of my bottle of pomegranate molasses, I shall have to get some more at Oli's when I am next in London with Liz. It does give a lovely sweet-sharp flavour. I served the meatballs with plain boiled rice, and a quick salad made with grated carrot. 

This is such a fun children's book. We have had hot weather, cool weather, dry weather, rain, thunder and lightning in the past fortnight. But no meatballs!

How do you eat yours?

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?

Je Ne Sais Pas!

 

I really don't know what to make of this. I was so looking forward to Clive Owen's appearance as Sam Spade in a "What happened after he left being a PI in the US and settled in a beautiful French Village"story. But for me, it didn't quite deliver. No Spoilers Here

Pros

1. the scenery is lovely - beautiful countryside, great French mansions, and all set in the amazing, ancient village of Bouzoul which is built round a massive canyon. 
2. the vehicles used are lovely 1950's & 60's French cars 
3. the background music is great, with Brigitte Bardot, Francise Hardy and others
4. the costumes are gorgeous and correct for the time [1960s]
5. Clive Owen interprets the Spade role brilliantly imho

Cons

1. it is quite violent. Ok, I know it is 'film noir', but it was a bit too graphic in parts [eyes down, concentrate on my knitting through these bits...]
2. you really do need to concentrate on the English subtitles, as much of the dialogue is in French, although the spelling of some subtitling is execrable.
3. some of the characters seemed too caricatured to be believable.
4. there were just too many characters. I found it hard to follow the plot
5. the story seemed to move slowly and there were lots of flashbacks. But I think if it had been faster, I'd never have kept up and the flashbacks were essential to understand the many characters.
6. A better knowledge of the Algerian War of Independence would have helped. I couldn't follow all the references to SDECE, OAS, FLN, CIA, MI5 etc
7. at the end, all the loose ends were tied up [just about] by a character who flew in just for the last 5 minutes. I found it a rather unsatisfying denouement.

Short Video of Bouzouls - I mean - wow, look at this place!

Forget everything you remembered about Humphrey Bogart in the Maltese Falcon, which was set in 1930s America, and enjoy this for what it is - a thriller set in 1960s France, with the backdrop of the Algerian War of Independence. [De Gaulle, Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth all get a mention]  After Spade, I found the teenage girl the most interesting, and the little boy was very sweet [but his character was a bit colourless]
See what you think - I know quite a few of you who follow the blog have a much better knowledge of the French language, and experience of the country than I do. 

I'd rate it trois étoiles et demie ! 
Monsieur Spade is currently on U&Drama,free to watch in the UK

Caps, Crafts, Clare

I think the first time I came across the word forage was as a child, when my Dad put on his Boys' Brigade Officer's Uniform - he added badges to his suit lapels and put on a navy woollen cap, which he referred to as a forage cap or Glengarry. The word  comes from the Old French fourrager - which meant 'plundering, or hunting for fodder'. Soldiers would wear a soft fabric cap rather than a fancy military helmet when they were away from the battle and doing other jobs, particularly looking about for food for their horses. Being soft, these caps could be folded and put in a pocket or backpack. A Glengarry was the name given to this popular style of forage cap developed by a regiment of Scottish 'fencibles' at the end of the 18th C. It was adopted by the BB who began in Glasgow in 1883.
But I later learned that forage could mean 'to hunt about for things' or 'to scavenge'. To look for 'wild' food [eg mushrooms], or for things to use - often at no cost, because they have no value to others. 

So when I spotted this book on the library shelf, I grabbed it. Firstly it is by Clare Youngs, one of my favourite craft authors, second, I love recycling, and finally, if the foraged resources are free that is even better!
There are 35 projects in three sections - foraged 'natural' materials, paper & card, fabric & thread. Clare makes decorations, clothing, gifts and useful objects - using new ideas, fresh twists on old techniques, and traditional skills.

 

covered buttons, boro stitched jeans, painted pebbles, stitched denim sashiko coasters, pressed seaweed cards, foiled leaf garlands, and loads more... coasters, cushions, dolls, gift tags, stationery...with CYs precise instructions, clear illustrations and accurate templates

Lots to copy, or to inspire you - adaptable for all ages and skill levels. Another *****
Have you read any good CY books, and would you recommend them?

A Household Name?

Have you come across the author Geoffrey Household? He was an amazing guy, born in 1900, died in 1988 - and as well as writing, his  career also included training as a banker in Bucharest, selling bananas in Spain, serving as a security officer in WW2...He was passionate about cats, gardens, Spanish Rioja and pipe-smoking - a quintessential Englishman with a glamourous Romanian wife. He wrote 37 novels, numerous short stories and a few children's books. 

I first came across GH in the late 1970's, when his book "Rogue Male" was made into a film for the BBC, starring Peter O Toole. I thought the plot was brilliant and found a secondhand copy of the book, which I read, and re-read till it fell to bits. GH wrote it in the late 1930s. Told in the first person, it is the story of an aristocratic Englishman who makes a failed solo attempt at assassinating a 

particularly evil European dictator. He escapes captivity, and gets back to England where he hides from foreign agents seeking to capture and kill him.

Having grown up in Dorset, our hero returns there, and digs himself into a sandstone tunnel at the end of a country lane in a remote woodland area. Radio 4 commissioned a audio version of the [abridged] book, which was first broadcast in 1989, and starred Simon Cadell. Then in 2004, Michael Jayston read the whole book [15 halfhour episodes] 
During March 2026, to mark the 30th anniversary of Cadell's death, R4extra re-broadcast his Rogue Male. For the next few weeks you can hear Michael Jayston reading the sequel, Rogue Justice [which Household wrote in 1982, 40 years after the first book] 
Household was an extremely prescient guy - living in Europe in the 1930s, he watched Hitler's rise to power. He was aware of what Adolf was capable of, long before many others.  He hated the Nazi regime with a passion. This  inspired his Rogue Male story. It is considered to have inspired Fleming's Bond, David Morell's Rambo, Forsyth's Jackal, and a number of other action-hero books. 

Just before we moved to Dorset, author Robert McFarlane set out to find the "Hollow-way" where Household's hero hid, although GH had said it was not marked on any OS maps. He failed! But since we left the area [typical!] another author, Sara Hudson, claims to have located the spot.  One day I might get back...

It is a cracking adventure story, a true classic, and I think Geoffrey Household deserves better recognition. 

I recommend you get ahead of the game, and read Rogue Male now. If only because the lovely Benedict [Sherlock etc] Cumberbatch is busy making a new film version!
Have you read Rogue Male?

Do you remember the Peter O Toole film?

Oh Don't They Know? There's No Such Thing...

I know I am not the only one excited by last week's announcement by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. There's a new book coming in the Autumn, featuring the Gruffalo Granny! 

JD says the idea has been bouncing around in her head for over twenty years, and now she's a granny herself, it has all come together. AS says that down the decades since the first book came out, he has occasionally drawn a few Gruffalo pictures, to keep his hand in, Personally, now I am a granny too, let me add my two-penn'orth to the comments 

• I approve of the fact the Granny has let the rich chestnut fur grow naturally into an attractive silver grey
• As I suspect, the Deep Dark Wood may be in Norfolk. Evidenced by the lack of adequate dentistry.
• Her tail and ears are a little droopy  -  body sagginess a definite sign of age catching up with this busy woman. 
• A stick is always useful, for walking, poking, or hoicking things down from high places.
• Her eyes remain alert and bright
• Her expression is amiable, she looks secretly amused
• She carries a pencil and notebook ready record important things
• She has a sensible crossbody bag, capacious enough for knitting, drink, snacks, tissues whatever

The plot has yet to be revealed. Thus far we have just one line
the Gruffalo said to his daughter one day
    "your Gruffalo granny is coming to stay"

My daughter has suggested that maybe granny visits so that G and his missus can go out to the Pub [that would be the one on the far side of the Deep Dark Wood? ]

However I suspect she may be going to teach her granddaughter important life skills

• calculating the the Fibonacci sequence [you maybe female, but STEM subjects matter]
• learning to bake [see here for a good cookbook] 
• telling those stories that parents sometimes 'forget' ["when your Dad was small, he ..."]
• practising how to be a proper activist and go on demos. [let's role play, child - I will be Emmeline Pankhusrt, and you can be Greta Thunberg]

What do YOU think that Gruffalo Granny should be doing when she visits

Breadsong Buns

 In the autumn I read this lovely book and really enjoyed it. I was delighted to receive it for Christmas, along with the instruction to "make the cinnamon buns, Mum" So here is my first attempt at them. They were very tasty..

They are a sensible size too. Not so big that you wonder if you should only eat half, but not so small that you want to eat two. 

I love the instruction for rolling the.spiral of dough like a snailb- then stretching the last bit across the top and underneath "as if it's checking its undercarriage"

The buttery cinnamon dough is flavourful, the simple milk and sugar glaze is quite sufficient. You do not need extra frosting.

[Recipe here]

Balls!

Eight weeks ago, I got this book from the library. I enjoyed reading it, and thought the projects looked good. But I've never been one for knitting socks on 4 double pointed needles. Arne and Carlos wrote the book 15 years ago. It was a fun to read,  but no way was i going to wrestle with those patterns..

And then last week, I dashed into Dereham Library to return some books and found they have recently written a follow-up.

The guys started designing more patterns for balls during lockdown, and this collection of 65 balls, [plus seven recipes for Norwegian Christmas biscuits] was published in the autumn. Maybe I could have a go, I thought. And then I remembered a "flat gift" Kirsten sent me a while back [along with a pattern and some lovely blue sock wool]

These are addyCraSyTrio needles. They are a set of three amazing double pointed, folding needles, designed for knitting small diameter patterns [like socks] I wondered if I could attempt a ball.

I decided to attempt a one colour sphere and get the hang of the structure before I embarked on a two colour design. After 3 evenings, with much unravelling and reknitting, I'd got this...

Now I understand how the four section sphere comes together [the motifs repeats 4 times round the ball] And I can see how to stuff it into a globe. Maybe I will attempt a red and white patterned ball. I think it would take me a week to make one The Website has lots of links to their YouTube site. 

Watch this space

Thank you all for your comments yesterday. Especially those from friends in the USA. 

A Good Beginning

 The New Year started well. We looked after Ro and Jess on Thursday. At the start of the month Jess had been at Cornerstones reading this excellent book. I got it in 2020 [the Covid Summer of Grandma's Nursery] and have done a lot of the activities with the grandchildren.

Jess had asked to make the dancing ribbons. So when she arrived I had everything ready. I copied Janet's idea, and cut two rings from the bottom of my scarf tidy on Wednesday afternoon [and organised my scarves neatly afterwards] This was a good lesson in counting, measuring and learning to make loops. Plus using adjectives- wide, narrow stiff, floaty, silky...as well as colour names.

Meanwhile Bob and Rosie dismantled the Nativity Tableau. 

Here they are adding up the donations [cash plus onoine]. Note how she's checking carefully using her fingers digital calculator. 

£275 - thank you!

Our new neighbours are getting their bungalow straight. They brought us some chocolates. The girls made them a thank you card whilst I prepared lunch . Liz and Jon came back, we exchanged gifts, and ate Bob's splendid Christmas pie. 

The end of all our family events. Time to start un-decking...

The End Of Their Search - And The Beginning Of...?

I often wonder what their journey home was like - what did they talk about?
Did it change them forever?

In the book Ben-Hur, author Lew Wallace cleverly depicts a character who was one of the Magi. [The book is way better than the film , imho] Wallace describes how the scholar's experience affected the rest of his life.

For many people, finding Jesus is a truly life changing experience. 

Wise folk still seek him

Good News For Everyone

 Glad tidings of great joy

Even the sheep and sheepdog look up to see the angel

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room

 And Heaven and Nature Sing...

There are so many animals in this picture! A reminder that He came to redeem a fallen World, a damaged Creation and well as lost Humankind

May Christmas joys be yours today, the peace and love of the ChristChild fill your hearts

No Vacancies

 
Look at the detail - the roosting birds, and the sign on the Inn - Three Crowns = The Three Kings, perhaps?

The Angel Told Mary...

I found Jan Pienkowski's "First Noel" on the Charity Book Table in Aldi. The book has just 10 pages, which open up and have a ribbon which ties up to make the pentagonal prism.

It has five pictures of the Christmas story - glorious paper cut-outs, and verses from the King James version. We are away at Steph's, so I may not get the chance to blog, so I am sharing a picture each day. 

I hope you enjoy them ...

I did not know that Mary had a cat!

Felt Happy

I did enjoy the pegdoll book by Margaret Bloom. I decided to make a nativity scene. I'd been given some lovely felt last year, and I had some wooden dolls in my Stash

Kezzie had sent me some bamboo food boxes, and one [cut down] made a little stable. 

Two interlocking rectangles made a manger. I stuck a wooden craft star onto a bbq skewer. Two 'pony beads' stuck on the back of the stable held the stick in place, but it could be removed for storage.

I was given the felt, and the boxes, so I felt happy giving this little decoration away to someone who will enioy it. Maybe I will make myself a similar one [after Christmas when I'm not so busy]

A Word Of Appreciation

Covid prevented many important social gatherings - weddings, funerals, birthdays - and retirement events. I was sad that after 40 years in the same job, serving so many churches and communities as pastor and friend [councillor, school governor etc etc] Bob felt his ministry had sort of fizzled out unnoticed. He didn't get the big send off that most ministers do. I was determined to do something to rectify that. So in June I sent out about 30 emails, to the people and places where we'd been since 1981 when he first became a student pastor, up to the present day. I asked for letters, just acknowledging something about the friendships he had made over the years. I asked people to pass on the request to others. The letters were all to be sent to my friend Wendy [so he would not suspect anything] He had no idea!
I was delighted to receive 50 letters, representing over 80 people. Some I had completely lost touch with, and wondered how they had heard about the secret project. The letters were so appreciative, from pastors he had mentored, people whose marriages he'd conducted, or families who appreciated his input when they were bereaved, college staff, those in the community who had benefitted from his contribution to the well being of the area...

I collected the letters and took them secretly to a friends, where I printed off Bible verses and favourite hymns too. And on the evening before his birthday, after our special meal together, I presented it. We were both really moved by the kind words we read together. I am not posting any of those here - they are his letters and very personal. Just a few photos

But the day after his birthday, a letter came from Rosie. This is going to be added at the back of the book, after these final photographs.

Bob, your ministry certainly has not fizzled out unnoticed. In retirement, you are still doing amazing things here in Norfolk, and with your family. We love you so much - cooking pancakes and bbqs, craftsman, doing silly voices and telling great stories, the best grandad, dad, husband...

That's definitely the end of the 70th birthday celebrations!