Green Pizza, Red Alert

On Friday evening, we went over to Heydon near Reepham, for "Friday Night Pizza On The Green". Fortunately Jon ordered beforehand, as when we arrived, a sign said "Pizzas sold out" . Clearly it is a popular event. We sat facing the church - below is an older photo - when we were there, there were literally dozens of people sitting around enjoying their food. Family groups, cyclists...Liz took me over to "Folks"at the corner of the green to collect our order. They are open 8-2 Saturday and Sunday for coffee and cakes.

The pizzas were really tasty. Bob and I were grateful we had taken our folding chairs, though! The girls enjoyed ice cream, for dessert.
Then suddenly, there was an alarming noise, as everyone's phones went off with the national wildfire alert. It was quite a surreal moment. We all looked around and smiled nervously at one another.
Complete strangers bound together by one message
Rosie was concerned it meant we were at imminent risk of a nearby fire. We assured her that was not the case. I suppose her only experience of fire alarms would be practices at school, where they have to get up and evacuate the classroom immediately. 
Personally I feel it was a good idea, it certainly alerted us to the importance of keeping safe. But I do appreciate that for others it was upsetting. I note that in Wales there was a bilingual alert [in Welsh first, then English]
My neighbour he was quite frightened by it. I can imagine those living alone might have been alarmed more than alerted. 
Should I pack a Go-Bag? I asked Bob. He didn't think we needed that - but I notice he is starting to updating the household inventory in case of any insurance claims! [yes, I know one should do that every year, but we haven't!

Thinking of all those people who have really suffered with the damage caused by wildfires. Keep safe everybody!

Heavens Above!

Earlier in the week, a friend posted on WhatsApp that he had just been to the optician, who had advised watching the eclipse 'safely' using a mobile phone. Bob said he'd got a piece of appropriate glass to look through. Steph said Jacob had made a pinhole viewer. Then the BBC, NASA  and the Royal College of Ophthalmologists said it was not a good idea to use phones [could damage both your gadgets and your eyes!] Liz, Jon and girls came over at 6.15. Wednesday

Bob showed Jess all the equipment we had ready
1 piece of welder's glass

3 colanders and pieces of dark card

4 cardboard pinhole viewers

and a camera on a tripod don't touch it!

Bob was hoping to use his kit to take a photograph of the eclipse safely.

I had arranged the chairs facing the workshop. Ro and Jess took to walking backwards in case they inadvertently looked up at the sun! The progress of the eclipse seemed very slow to all the grandchildren in Norfolk and Manchester. 

The pinhole viewers took a bit of maneouvering [but they did work well if you could manage them]

Rosie described 'waxing crescents' and Jess picked up a phrase from her Dad about 'a fingernail of sunlight' 

We did our best to make the experience both educational and fun for the children.

Jacob and George held their colander in front of the garden seating, and got hundreds of mini eclipses. 

Bob managed to get a photograph using his glass and his camera. Then he went off to check on the firepit. 

This week, we have introduced the girls to s'mores. Toasting marshmallows on skewers seemed more interesting than squinting at the skies...

But after they'd all gone, Bob and I went back out into the garden at midnight and watched the Perseids Meteor Shower. It was fabulous...

Rosie actually put down her s'mores for another look at the eclipse "Look, there's the sun!" she shouted

How blessed we are, to be able to watch these wonders of nature together. Psalm 8 [from The Message] says

I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
    your handmade sky-jewellery,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
    Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?

Hot Topics Q & A #2

 As before, a question I have answered for myself, and a second one where I need your input please!
[1] Am I Picking Up Good Hydration?

I think so, and I am humming Beach Boys Songs all the time, in this long, hot summer. My best hydration tip is use a smallish coffee flask, and put ice cubes in when you fill it. That keeps the water chilled all day. A big flask is just too heavy to carry around - and you can usually find a suitable tap for refilling if you drink the lot. Eating food with a high water content is really helpful too. A cubes of water melon, slices of cucumber, a thin broth type soup - all these help hydrate. I'm also leaving a filled bowl at the end of the past for all the pooches who potter past with their owners in the blistering heat. Our pets need hydrating too.

[2] Box Shocks?!?

One of my lovely little box trees is looking really sparse and sad. Lots of leaves have gone brown and crispy. I have kept watering and some new ones have appeared, but it has completely lots its charming conical shape. SIL suggested it was in the wrong spot by the front door, as it is in full sun all day. She recommended moving it to the shade and giving it a long cool drink in a bucket of water. As I was doing that, one of the many dog walkers passed, and said "Box Caterpillar!" It seems these little beasties are running rampant through the village . "We had a box hedge for twenty years and it has disappeared almost overnight." I cannot see any caterpillars on either bush. Should I leave the brown crispy foliage in situ or attempt to brush it away? I will not attempt to trim the topiary into shape until it has a full head of lush green foliage, 
Have you any experience of Box Caterpillars? 

Thank you all. The box on the other side of the front door seems ok. But I will sadly have to dispose of this one....

Monday Madness

We went over to Kings Lynn to collect my embroidery machine [a long overdue service] and Liz and the girls came with us. We had a fun time exploring charity shops. Then we came back to Cornerstones. By our front door is a green bin for parcels. I keep a brick in it, to stop it blowing over. When we come home, we lift the lid, and usually say "just a brick!" Rosie has shortened this now to JAB! Today Jess ran to the bin and said Jab! But on the doormat was this card

We checked the parcel bin again. Then the big wheelie bin round the corner. The parcel was there.

Fortunately the bin was otherwise empty. But that is not a safe place!!!

The other bit of post had the most wonderful address

I love the idea of Bob Almond at His Shed.

He went off to do stuff, as did Liz. I was with the girls.

I'd promised Rosie she could have some nail varnish I didn't want. 

Jess volunteered to paint my toenails for me. 

I was given no choice about the colour.

I really must get her Auntie Steph to give her some tuition!

The things we grandmas do!

Faithful and Brave

 April 2015, Bob and I took Liz and Jon to Oxburgh Hall - the lovely NT Property the other side of Swaffham. Liz and I climbed into the Priest's Hole - and got our stickers to prove it. I cannot imagine what it must be like to know that at any moment you could be imprisoned or executed for your faith. The Bedingfield Family, who had owned Oxburgh for centuries were staunch Catholics, and throughout the turbulent Tudor period, were 'recusants' - practising their faith as they believed they should. 
When we visited on Saturday with Liz and the girls we were being bright and cheerful. Jess loved taking part in the Summer of Play activities. Lots of games on the grass she could get involved with, and she really enjoyed herself. She was a princess bricked up in a tower by her Mum - from which she escaped with enthusiasm, and she played giant dominoes with Grandad.

Rosie and I went into the house, we looked at various things [including down into the Hole, which was roped off to visitors]
I showed her the picture from 11 years ago afterwards. We also looked at the display regarding the Regency Period.

There were beautiful golden masks for people to try - opposite a grand mirror so they could admire themselves. But my main reason for wanting to go was to see the Esther Tapestry. This is a wonderful story. This huge Flemish Tapestry, created in Tudor times, featured story of Queen Esther, and for centuries a set of 7 pieces hung in the Hall. Then in 1924 they were sold, and went to the USA.

People tried to track them down but failed. Until last year, when one of the set was spotted in a sale in Maastricht by Jeremy Warren, a NT curator. A huge amount of money was raised [total unspecified - rumour has it £1.5 million +!] from NT funds, the V&A, The Art Fund and private donations.

And in June the tapestry finally came home.

It is a fabulous piece of work. The detail of the weaving is astounding. Rosie commented on the Queen's dress and cloak and said she thought it was "beautiful, because you could see the textures in the Queen's dress".  I think the tassels along the top are fun.

I had hoped to buy a postcard but they have yet to arrive in the shop. I shall return in the autumn on a quiet weekday. OH was quite busy over the weekend. Unlike the Mary Queen Of Scots embroideries, and the Bayeux Tapestry, this piece is a woven tapestry. Rosie is rightly proud of her Flemish ancestors. 

I told her the story of Esther, and she remembered watching a film about Purim, the annual Jewish festival commemorating this brave woman, who risked her life to save her people.

I do hope they find the other tapestries in the set some day!

Grandparents went to the bookshop whilst the girls and Mum walked round the grounds. Then we all ate ice creams in the shade. Thank you to my family, and the NT for another day of fun and sun.

 

Home Is Where The Heart Is

 

Hooked On Hats

 At the start of her Norfolk Holiday, Rosie found a lady with a little stall, selling goods for charity. She fell in love with this crocheted sunflower hat, and happily handed over £2 for it. Yesterday Ro and I had to go into Norwich together - lots of people commented on the hat! It is the sort of thing I'd have worn back in the seventies.Careful inspection revealed it to be 5 granny squares and a frill.
Internet research has produced the free pattern if you want to make your own. I cannot guarantee you will look as charming as she does though!

Not Exactly The Tardis!

A request from Manchester"When we get Norfolk, please can Grandad build us a time machine ?" No challenge is ignored by my Shedman. He worked out a design using the L-shaped box which had contained the new IKEA armchair. Bob explained to me there would be a seat inside, with a control panel and joy stick, plus a curtain to shield the eyes of the passengers whilst in flight. [I found suitable fabric for that] We printed off some stickers to personalize the box. And there would be a selection of items in boxes in the summerhouse - costumes, hats, crowns, wigs, flags, water pistols and bubble swords. 

The time travellers climbed into the machine, and the curtain came down. To give the impression of "Time Travel", a portable speaker played the proper Vworp!Vworp! noises and other ethereal music , whilst the everyone else dressed up in random costumes to represent different times and places. Then the curtain lifted and the traveller met them- friends [with bubble swords] foes [water pistols] or flag wavers [either cheering or demonstrating - who knows?]

Utter madness and mayhem, much fun had by all - Jacob was particularly taken with the red curly wig and the Captain Kirk wig. Jess enjoyed being a Chinese flag waver.  Steph wore capes and hats - I have no idea who I was meant to be. The bubble wands were by far the most successful accessory [£2 each, a bargain] We had a couple of days of riotous fun dressing up, brandishing weapons, and declaiming...

A box of costumes, and a reclaimed cardboard box gave us hours of fun. It was good to watch the boys decorating the box before the others arrived, and amusing to hear them all role playing their characters. And the cousins were so good at taking turns inside the time machine. But that was all over a week ago. The costumes are packed away, the boys are back inn Manchester and the time machine will be going into the recycling bin. If TARDIS means "Time and Relative Dimension in Space" what is ours called? 

How about TIC-TAC ?
"Transportation In Cardboard - Timetravel At Cornerstones"  ?

Well, I Did Warn You!

Another post about the visit of that tapestry! The day that tickets went on sale [at 10am] for the exhibition at the British Museum  I logged on at 11.10, to this message

There are 70,564 people ahead of you in the queue.

That number has planted itself in my brain.The system was well organised. Having entered my email, I was given a personal link - throughout the day I clicked on and it told me the length of the queue and the estimated time till my 10 minute ticket-buying window. I knew from the start to would be sometime after 5pm, and that I'd be sent an email alert.. In the event., I actually got my tickets around 5.30pm. I'd hoped for the last Monday of September but there was but one ticket available at 3.30. So I opted for the Tuesday morning, 10.20am. I decided against the £35 exhibition guidebook! My friend from church logged in later in the day, and was advised that there were no tickets left, and she should apply again when the second tranche is released - there are no tickets left now between September 10th and January 1st. We have booked B&B with my SIL in Barnet.

Having decided against the official guide, I thought I should check out what Bayeux Books I had already. The Churchill tome, which sparked my interest as a child, just has a small section on the dustjacket. 
But for the first time, I looked inside the book. That was fascinating - it is a first edition! Because when it came out in 1956, my father was on the point of leaving Romford to go to another church. Two spinster sisters in his congregation bought him this book as a leaving present, knowing his interest in history. Inside the book is a lovely letter, thanking him for his ministry and assuring him of their continued prayers for 'you, your wife, and Angela. ..we shall miss you terribly, it will be a big gap in our lives' [I was aged 1½] But apart from the cover, not much info.

This book was more promising. £1 from a charity shop, it is a full length photograph, scaled down to one seventh of the original. Nearly 10 metres long. I unrolled it on the kitchen worktop.

What fun! It is accurate [there are no characters with added underwear!] I have treated myself to a 2nd hand book from World of Books by Silvette LeMagnen, who is curator of the  exhibition in France. This is one of their guidebooks [the English translation!]. 

It is well written, with details about materials, stitches and construction as well as content. She includes a note about the women, and the weaponry - as well as a general run through of the sequence of events depicted. When we go, I imagine there wont be a lot of time for dawdling, so I need to have a clear idea of any specific sections I want to see, and be ready to check them out. 

It would be no good to get to the end and say "Oh no, I missed Ælfgyva and Queen Edith!"

To that end I have borrowed a book from the Library. "What do you have on the Bayeux Tapestry, please?" I asked. The librarian pulled up a page from the catalogue. We agreed that the first on the list "The Bayeux Tapestry"  by Frank Rede Fowke seemed to be a good choice. That was the book I collected last week.  It was last borrowed in June 2000!

FRF was the son in law of Henry Cole. No not the biker guy from 'Find It, Fix It, Flog It' on Channel 4. The original Henry Cole, who took the profits from the Great Exhibition of 1881 and used them to build all those wonderful museums in Kensington. FRF married his daughter and helped with all sorts of historical projects and wrote a number of books. This book was first published in 1898, and this is the 1913 edition. It is not kept on the main shelves, it was retrieved from the county store for me. How cool is this!! 113 years old.

It tells the story from start to finish. I shall have to read it with my fold out book in front of me - sadly the black and white photographs at the end of the book are not really that helpful ! Fowke credits them to Count Ostrorog, a Polish chap who was Queen Victoria's personal photographer. Fowke also speaks of Mr Charles Stothard, an artist sent out to France in 1818 to paint a copy of the tapestry. The man brought a fragment home with him! His widow later claimed they were discarded scraps from the restoration work - they were subsequently returned to Bayeux.

Mia Hannson and Sylvette LeMagnen say there are 58 panels - Fowke lists 79.  I will wait to see how these discrepancies occur. 
There will be more posts, I promise! 

Elizabeth Wardle was in a question on University Challenge last night!! 

A Whale And A Worm

We were all at the Dinosaur Park. Steph was with the boys in the queue for the amazing Fossil Falls Slide. She sent me a WhatsApp "The children standing next to us are called Septimus and Nineveh" We speculated, was Septimus child #7 ? [J Rees Mogg called his sixth child 'Sixtus'] Bob wondered if there was an Octavia between child #7 and child #9 [maybe pronounced Nine-eva]

I suggested it seemed rather bizarre to call a child Nineveh. "Who was Nineveh? I know it's in the Bible" said Liz. I explained Nineveh was not a person,  it was a place [in northern Iraq]. And on the way home, I reminded my family of the story of Jonah. God sent him to Nineveh to preach to the people encouraging them to turn from their evil ways and do good.

 But Jonah didn't want to go, so he got on a boat going the other way. There was a storm and everyone was scared. Jonah said it was probably his fault for disobeying God, so they threw him overboard. He was swallowed by a whale.

After three days, the whale spits him out, and Jonah goes off and does preach to the people in Nineveh, who do repent and turn from evil to good. Jonah is a bit annoyed and goes off out of the city to have a sulk.

But the sun gets blazing hot. God makes a tree grow up to shade him. Then a worm eats up the tree and he is uncomfortable again and starts complaining that he wants to die. God suggests that the grumpy preacher cares more for his shady tree than he does for the thousands of people in Nineveh!

A good reminder to all of us to care for other people whose situation is much worse than ours [I did the turn from evil to good sermon last week]

But why would someone call their child Nineveh?? Beats me!

You Can Only Go So Far On A Sofa...

 ...Cos A Sofa's Got Small Wheels

That was the first line of a very funny Joyce Grenfell poem I remember from my youth. 

I am very fond of our big black sofa. It is an IKEA Friheten. We first saw it in store in 2017, and put it on our wishlist for retirement [having measured the space first] It fits perfectly in the corner of the lounge. We bought it sooner than we expected, early in summer 2019, when nobody dreamed what lay ahead of us. The sign said "Last chance to buy" so we did. 7 years later, IKEA still sells them.

This past week, with both daughters here, they asked if we could possibly look after the 4 children while the four adults went for a meal in Norwich. So they all came to Cornerstones for a sleepover. It all worked really well, and the sofa was most useful. The second mattress rolls out on small wheels and rises up to make the L-shape into a big double-bed sized rectangle.

After pizzas, bathtime and getting into pj's, Rosie read Cat in the Hat stories to the Littl'uns. Then it was Film Night - we sprawled about watching Toy Story #1. The children went off to the bedrooms - George and Jacob shared the double in the back bedroom, Rosie and Jess in the front in ours. Bob and I put sheets and pillows on the sofabed, and slept in the lounge. Next morning they piled back in with us. Bob went off to fix breakfast. I love the way Rosie is quietly reading her book while the other three are busy snuggling and giggling together. 

We enjoyed the traditional Sleepover Breakfast, of pancakes with assorted toppings. Their parents came and collected them mid morning and they all went off together to go swimming.
After lunch, Bob and I did the library run, then spent the afternoon 'reclaiming' our home - and putting sheets and towels through the washing machine.

The actress Beatrice Tanner [aka Mrs Patrick Campbell 1865-1940] described her marriage as "The deep, deep peace of the double bed after the hurly burly of the chaise longue" In my case, getting back into my own bedroom on Thursday night was "the deep, deep peace of the double bed, after the hurly burly of four excited children on a small-wheeled-sofa-bed"

Fancy Birds, Crazy Words

We have been having such a fabulous family time. I've had some issues with my photos, but I did get this one on Monday on my phone. This 'fancy bird', as one of the family described it, paraded across the picnic area at Roarr! . So lovely to see these real creatures, in among all the animatronic dinosaurs, strutting their stuff, and owning the place. 

The peacock reminded me of that 'trick poem' written nearly 400 years ago. You can read it as it is, or read it from the middle of one line to the middle of the next [use the red blocks # as line breaks.] I must show Rosie when she comes round later

    I Saw a Peacock # with a fiery tail

    I saw a Blazing Comet # drop down hail,

    I saw a Cloud # with Ivy circled round,

    I saw a sturdy Oak # creep on the ground,

    I saw a Pismire # swallow up a Whale,

    I saw a raging Sea  # brim full of Ale,

    I saw a Venice Glass # Sixteen foot deep,

    I saw a well  # full of men's tears that weep,

    I saw their eyes # all in a flame of fire,

    I saw a House # as big as the Moon and higher,

    I saw the Sun # even in the midst of night,

    I saw the man # that saw this wondrous sight.

[pismire = ant, Venice glass = venetian glass goblet]

Tune The World Out

A few weeks ago, I treated myself to a pair of noise cancelling headphones. They have proved useful in lots of ways - helping me relax, enabling us both to sit in the same room, but listen to different music, 

they are brilliant for listening to radio plays when the sewing machine is humming, and also managing my tinnitus.

So much has been happening in the last month. Some good, some bad, some joy, some sadness. 

• Huge things, global issues - wars and wildfires. 
• Political turmoil, comings and goings, 
• Burnham and Binface, and more.
• The deaths of famous people, ordinary people, and friends and family I know and love. 
• Unexpected illnesses. 

And those lovely events which have made me smile - 

• The Tunnock and Tardis at the Commonwealth games, 
• Punch the Macaque [look him up] 
• Happy moments with the family, 
• Unstoppable, enthusiastic grandhildren

Sometimes these things can overwhelm us .The strapline on the ad for my headphones says "Tune the world out" and I confess there are days when I want to do just that. Singing this hymn to myself helps... 

What calms your soul? 

Family FITS*

,*That's Fun In The Sun

bikes, balls, beaches, brothers, books...

And sipping long cool drinks through a straw

 

It's The Silly Season!

This phrase was first coined in the UK in 1861, describing late July. August and September. It is a period during the summer months when the papers publish trivial news stories to fill space, primarily because major institutions are in recess. During this time, stories about massive vegetables, strange animal behaviour, or Loch Ness Monster sightings often take centre stage in the news.
Here in East Anglia, we have had some rather ambiguous headlines, alongside bizarre photographs in the last couple of weeks. Julian and I were reading the Eastern Daily Press online over the weekend. We honestly couldn't decide of some of these captions with the accompanying pictures were deliberately chosen, or whether the head had gone to their heads.
For instance 

Sandringham Estate in Norfolk
hit by "Vermin Infestation"

The report does explain...A tenant, who did not wish to be named, told a national newspaper: "There are always rodents in an agricultural area like this, but most people can keep the numbers under control by having a cat."…However, tenants on the estate are banned from keeping cats under a rule introduced by the late Queen Elizabeth II to protect wildlife in the area. Despite the complaints raised at the council meeting, it is understood that the estate has not received any direct reports of vermin from tenants, . …It comes after Andrew Mountbatten Windsor's new home on the estate, Marsh Farm in Wolferton, was invaded by moles earlier this year.

Next My Grandsons are particularly keen on this local theme park. But this picture certainly made Julian and me laugh

Dinosaur Park gets green light for new look

We presume the exclamation mark is to be illuminated in future !!

Thirdly

Owners of "hidden" sauna, built without planning permission, fight to save it.
The bizarre thing about this story is that the sauna never was 'hidden' - the EDP had a big feature on it back in April when it opened.

The establishment is called The Hidden Sauna Club because it is off the beaten track, looking out over the countryside. It has proved incredibly popular. Quite why the owner thought she could build this without first seeking planning permission is unclear. But she is now applying retrospectively, claiming "the sauna is small in both scale and impact"
It is proving very popular, operating seven days a week, daytime and evenings, with sessions for up to 8 people at a time.[£20 an hour, if you're interested] So it's clearly a nice little earner. But the first sentence really tickled me
"The owners... hope the council planners WILL NOT POUR COLD WATER on its bid to stay in business" 
I don't know about the silly season, but as they say round here, it is

One final thing, picked up, bizarrely, by the Manchester Evening News before the EDP or the BBC reported it - the World Snail Racing Championship at Grimston in West NorfolK, was won this year by Snailor Swift!! [here]

Temperature Spike

Julian was with us for three days over the weekend. We did fun stuff - the Bridewell Museum in Norwich, the Aviation Museum, Board Games, Lunch with family etc. In April 25, J gave me a Mr Potato Head plantholder. I filled it with an Aloe, and rechristened MrPH 'Spike' 

In 15 months, he has grown a lot more spikes. He lives on the end of the kitchen windowsill. In this extreme heat, I have kept the blinds right down all the time, so that the room doesn't get too hot. 
But I had a bit of a shock on Saturday - it was cooler, so I put the blind up a little more than it has been for the past three weeks. 
Just look at Spike now!
I do believe he is sprouting a flower,
for the first time ever.
I was ridiculously pleased that this has happened whilst Julian was with us. I wonder if the flower will get bigger or open up in anyway.? Do aloes have 'babies'?