What Is The Returns Policy On This Item?

I love giving, and receiving, slightly quirky gifts. Nothing expensive, but things which are just a little out of the ordinary, somewhat unexpected. And there are always friends and family members for whom buying gifts can be a challenge. Charity Shops can be absolute treasure stores for such objects. 

One of my best gifts was Christmas 2008, when my SIL gave me a vintage wooden knitting needle holder. It is still in use to hold needles. 

It was even repurposed as a Policeman's truncheon in a school production of Wind in the Willows!

I came across something else the other week, which seemed a good gift for a family member. It is a boomerang! The enclosed booklet explained that boomerangs have been found across the world, not just in Australia - citing a gold-tipped one in Tutankhamun's tomb, and another found in Poland, fashioned from a mammoth's tusk.

I suspect this was previously given as a gift, but not really used, hence its arrival in the CS [The British Red Cross Shop, St Benedicts, St Norwich - always full of wonderful stuff]

If the recipient is not happy with it, I guess he could try and throw it away - but with a boomerang, you never know...

I Have Seen The Golden Sunshine

🌞Wednesday dawned bright and sunny. It was a rare Wednesday-Without-Shed day, and Bob was eager to get out and enjoy the weather🌞 I'd had a bad night, and woken with a headache. After he'd brought me breakfast in bed, it seemed churlish to say "I need to stay home and do housework"

🌞We got in the car and drove up to Deepdale Market on the coast. We stopped briefly en route to investigate a sign saying "Bric-A-Brac - Everything £1" I bought a sign which amused me, and Bob bought a filthy pair of pincers. We drove on to Burnham Deepdale, the sky was so blue, and the countryside so green...

I do love the mural in the alley way to the pop up craft shops. Not much of interest, but two lovely ladies were selling handmade jewellery and knitted accessories in aid of Duchenne UK. They were sisters, and one was the gran of a boy who has DMD. I treated myself to a kilt pin brooch for £5 - decorated with sewing notions and a Manchester bee. 

After a jacket potato lunch we drove home stopping in Fakenham, for milk in Lidl and a mooch round the Sue Ryder shop. I found a book

A simple cover, with fantastic contents. Years ago I got this from the library and knitted Steph the fingerless gloves for her birthday, then made half a dozen pairs as Christmas gifts. The book is divided into four sections with seasonal items to knit, sow, bake,craft and grow... 

Here is a photo of Steph's gloves from 2009

I shall enjoy reading this book again, and maybe I'll have time to do more of the projects. Some are pictured below. The illustrations are clear, with good templates and photos. Worth £2 I think. Altogether I spent £8, plus my spud. A good day out. I'm deciding where to put my sign, Bob polished up his vintage pincers the moment we got home. They look splendid. 

"o

I am not sure why we should" beware children playing". I think "be aware of children playing" probably would sound a little kinder. But the sign made me smile, and I love that children come and play in my garden.

This week's sunshine has been lovely. I hope the weather is kind where you are.

What I Did In The Holidays

Start of term, our writing task. . The highlight for me had been going with my Mum to a rather posh Garden Party. I was 6, and had to present some flowers to the important guest of honour. All summer, I'd practised presenting [not dropping] said flowers,  smiling and curtseying to The Lady.

I wrote about the garden, and the cakes, and then wrote "I gave a bokay to a Lady" My teacher didn't know what a bokay was. She interrogated me at length about this word. I tried to explain to her, I even showed her how to curtsey. She asked the class, and none of them knew about bokays. "Angela, I think this is an imaginary word you have made up." Everyone laughed at me. I cried tears of frustration. I thought everybody knew about bokays, after all, the Queen has them. When Mum collected me from school, she explained about the bouquet. But I was a miserable wreck, and felt the Most Important Day in my holidays had been belittled. But that was 1961, now I am happier talking about holidays!

On Monday morning we went to Felbrigg Hall [NT] and did their splendid Easter Trail. Bob borrowed a mobility scooter and he was able to accompany the Jess and Ro on the whole trail. The scooters are a free service and very well organised. The girls played games on the grass, built dens, found clues, and made music in the woods. The trail cost £3.50 each, but they received a quality chocolate egg at the end. 

Monday afternoon we made Easter cards, and then made and decorated pizzas. The girls had a sleepover.
Tuesday we did more crafts - painting rabbits, and making baskets for egg collection. Jess had asked Grandad to make a sign for her door on a piece of bark she'd found. It was rather soggy, and when Grandad explained, she was happy to have a sign on a better piece of wood. He made Rosie one too.

Then on Thursday I went with the family to BeWILDerwood. Bob and I took Rosie to this theme park back in 2023, for an evening event, I had never been in the daytime before. It was great fun with treetop walkways, zipwires, mazes, slides, and other energetic activities. Plus gentler stuff - facepainting, crafts, story time, puppets, a boat ride and facepainting. And another Easter Trail to follow. We were there from 11am till 4pm, and really enjoyed ourselves. 

Overall verdict: all good, 5*venues.

The NT day was good - three of us have membership, and Jess is under 5, so we only had to pay for the Easter Egg Trail. The snacks from the food caravan were very generously sized - the girls shared their chocolate brownie, and I took half my pasty home for later. Facilities for the less mobile were excellent, and all the staff were so friendly and helpful. 
BeWILDerwood was a little more expensive [but we spent 5 hours there]  Unlike Felbrigg, where we saw lots of people clearly doing Granny-Duties, at the theme park, there were far more parents-with-children. I suspect that is because there is a lot of walking, and terrain is a bit bumpy for mobility scooters. [Bob was busy anyway, so didn't come with us]
That said, it is very well laid out, with lots of places to sit down if your little legs [young or old] get tired, and plenty of clean, well maintained loos dotted about the site [no need for surreptitious Tree Wees!] The food cabins do not charge excessive prices [we took a picnic, but bought hot drinks when it turned chilly] There were picnic benches and well labelled litter bins.  

Again the young staff were engaged and relentlessly cheerful. They were word perfect in recounting the stories of the Twiggles and the Boggles, and Cedric the Easter Bunny. 
As we left, the girls each got bags of sweets for completing their worksheets. We were all very tired but happy.

Those are some of the things I did in the Easter Holidays, and we were grateful for the opportunity to spend time with the family. I hope you had a good Easter too...

World Book Day Girls

Jessica was a ballerina from "The Story Orchestra - Swan Lake" and Rosie was Harriet the Spy. And Brooke won 1st prize for the best outfit at her school [a £10 book token] I put that down to the log pile hat which was the brilliant finishing touch made by her Mum. 

It's World Book Day!

I really thought I'd got a free pass this year. Over half term I checked with all grandchildren and their mothers, in case costumes were needed. And then Sunday night, a message from my neighbour. Could I help with her daughter's costume, please? She wanted to go as the snake from the Gruffalo
It is her last year at the special school - and she has been upset by the recent deaths of two local boys on Yr Wyddfa [Snowdon] as one has been a friend since toddler group days. 

They'd sourced a dress online, but when it arrived it was too long, and too slim. She needed it shorter, and wider, so she could wear it comfortably in her wheelchair. 
Fortunately 'buffet' dresses, with their tiered skirts have a lot of fabric in the bottom frill. I measured all round and the hem was 204cm. I cut off the frill at a point which made the dress 100cm long. 

I ended up with a piece 200 x 20 cm. which I cut into two long narrow strips.
Her Mum had suggested 

putting a panel centre front and back - but that meant remaking the back of the collar, and a complicated double breasted set of buttons and buttonholes.
Instead I cut the dress in three - vertically from the shoulder seam along two lines either side of the collar and inserted the two panels. I was a bit nervous about cutting up the dress, but it has worked perfectly. Brooke is really pleased with her costume for Thursday, and her Mum is making the snake a 'logpile house' from loo rolls and cardboard to hang on the back of the wheelchair.

Have you been involved in World Book Day?
What costumes have you made?

UPDATE _ The snake off to school. She made her mask, her mum made the log pile house hat

Back To The Swinging Sixties!

Yesterday morning I went off for my Volunteer Visiting at the Hospital. One patient had a fairly uncommon first name, and I asked about pronunciation. Then I said "was your surname previously.....?" "Yes!" she said. "We were at school together, I used to be Angela Hall"  We spent ages reminiscing about old friends from Primary School and High School. Both of us left Norfolk for university and then returned four decades later. It was great to catch up. I came home full of memories of those school years we shared [1965-1973] She's hoping to go home from hospital soon, but we will keep in touch.

In the afternoon I tidied the back bedroom, and listened to the weirdest programme on BBC I-player. It was called The strange parallel world of Christian pop.

If you're my sort of age, and spent your teens involved with church youth groups, names like The Joystrings, Out of Darkness, Parchment and The Fisherfolk may sound familiar. If they do, you might find the programme interesting. In the evening, Bob and I watched an Australian series - Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries on Prime. Also set in the 60s

Much muttering by me of "I had a dress like that!""That hat is all wrong"

The granddaughters had an inset day today, so the family are up for the weekend. Hot chocolate with marshmallows plus arts and crafts at Cornerstones. Grandad Bob was practising his Santa voice "Have you been good little children?" I said it was too deep and scary. Rosie pointed out that if his voice was too high, nobody would believe he was Santa. She told Bob he needed a "warm voice" 

As i said to my friend in the morning, in 1965 at Primary School, we would never have imagined where we'd be at 70 - retired and back in Norfolk!

Teatowels, Dressing Gowns, Old Pillowcases - And A Nativity Costume Tutorial

When I was a child, I'm sure that costumes for Nativity Plays were just cobbled together from existing garments. Someone cut a head hole and armholes from a white pillowcase, and once you had a circlet of tinsel, that was your Angel's robe. And the innkeeper, Joseph, and shepherds wore their dressing gowns, with a check tea-towel tied on their head with Dad's black bootlace. Traditionally Mary had a blue shawl. Kings had cardboard crowns or Grandma's scarf wound into a turban.
Nowadays, it feels like even the preschool event requires hiring an outfit from the Royal Shakespeare Company! God bless all those teaching assistants and overworked teachers, who have assembled a class set of Nativity costumes which can be fetched out each winter and assigned to the cast. I checked back to 2014. I made 7 angel costumes, 7 shepherd outfits - and "camel humps and bodies" to go with the heads which the TAs had retrieved from the cupboard.
If you are handy with a machine, it doesn't take long to knock up an outfit though.

I found an ancient, much mended duvet cover in the loft. Bought in 1995 as a cover for a futon mattress, and patched with an old check duvet cover in 2011, and again in 2020. The fabric is so thin in parts, it is not fit for a bed anymore!

Rather than use my usual 'three rectangles' pattern I just cut out a front and back T shape with sloping shoulders. 

The neckline is a simple oval with a slit. And I put one belt loop in a side seam.  The side seams end in 10cm slits for easy movement. I used the check patch to cut two rectangles for the head-cloths and two long straps as tie belts. The waistcoat is a 45x90cm rectangle. Fold it in half at the shoulders. Cut a centre slit and curved neckline, and sew side seams to the armhole.

Finally stitch a loop of elastic or stretchy fabric 55cm long, and attach to front centre of the head cloth [75x45 - like a teatowel!] Tutorial HERE. All done and dusted. Ready to go off to Manchester

TOP TIPs

1. Aim to make costumes easy to put on, and generously sized to fit over regular clothes. If it is cold, children may want to wear tshirt and jogging bottoms underneath.
2. Are you dressing the child, or will the TA have half a dozen tots to get sorted? Make it easier for the dressers - the loop means you can ensure belt doesn't get separated from the robe, and Leo doesn't get Theo's sash. 
3. Likewise, the attached strap makes the headcloth easy to pull on, and shouldn't come adrift mid production
4. Shepherds are pretty rustic characters- so don't fuss too much about hemming and use non fray jersey
5. If anybody complains that your angel does not have wings, explain politely that in the Bible they are never mentioned as having wings - it is cherubim and seraphim who have them. [Exodus 25, Isaiah 6] 

THANK YOU to everyone who has made a donation to our Cornerstones Christmas Tableau-  either cash in the pink pot hanging by the display, or online. We have raised around £200 thus far, which is truly wonderful!

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!

Poppy Sunday

As a small child, Remembrance Day meant standing with Mum in the cold, damp, misty weather, watching the solemn procession to the War Memorial - the military band, followed by men in uniform, then the dignitaries from the council with heavy overcoats and gold chains, and the local clergy [Dad being the only one not in clerical robes!] and finally the Scouts and Guides. Poppies were wire and paper, with a black bitumen centre and held on with a regular pin.
In my teens, I was marching with the Boys' and Girls' Brigade companies [in my smartest uniform, diligently keeping in step] They started putting plastic stems on poppies in 1967, and the paper leaf disappeared. In 1982 there was the Falklands War. There was a resurgence of support for the poppies. In 1987, the leaf was returned [by popular demand] and in 2000 they introduced large poppies to fix onto cars.

Then we had 9/11, and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Previously the veterans had been mostly from WW1 and WW2 - but now there were young men marching, or being pushed in wheelchairs, and young widows, proudly wearing the medals their husbands had won, posthumously. We were not just remembering distant past conflicts, but conscious of very recent sacrifice. More people turned out to walk down to the Memorial in Kirby Muxloe, Rachel played the Last Post, Bob and the Vicar led the Act of Remembrance together

2014 was definitely the Year of the Poppy - 100 years since the beginning of WW1, and the Tower of London had a display of 100s of ceramic poppies, entitled "Bloodswept Lands and Seas of Red". I went to see it with Liz. Adrian gave me a poppy for Christmas.
Back at church in Kirby Muxloe, we had a huge picture of the local castle. and people added their own messages of remembrance written on paper poppies

And that was the year I worked in the Autism Unit, and helped the girls to sew their own poppies, using four red felt hearts [love] with a black button centre[ sadness]

Now the British Legion poppies are 100% paper, and 100% recyclable. And there are far more public poppy displays than ever

But whatever these red flowers on our lapels are made from, however many knitted poppies adorn our churches, shop-windows, lamp-posts and pillarboxes, the message remains the same...throughout the years, so many have paid the price for our freedom - and we honour their memory, their sacrifice will not be forgotten.

We WILL remember them

Walrus, Eric, And Paris.

When I was a supply teacher, in the early 90s, it was not unusual to return to the classroom after lunch and find an enthusiastic pupil waiting to put up a sign for me. This was before interactive whiteboards and so much taught using screens. Many notices were fixed with blutac onto the drywipe board. And these three signs were very popular, and all meant roughly the same thing.
WALRUS  was Writing and listening, reading and understanding
ERIC meant Everybody reading in class
PARIS meant Please, all read in silence
I expect other schools had similar acronyms, for that blessed quiet 20 minutes at the start of afternoon school, when children had their heads down reading and teachers and classroom assistants could get other tasks sorted. It helped to give children the idea that doing some reading every day is a good idea - at school, and then hopefully again at home [maybe with support from family members] 

One phrase popular at the moment is "My chapter book" - ie the book from which I read a chapter each night. Steph tells me that this one is George's current favourite. 
As we get older, it is sometimes harder to maintain a regular reading habit - life so often gets in the way. I am being much more disciplined lately - no screens after 10pm. So no sitting up in bed 'doomscrolling' or even reading magazines or flicking through Facebook or Pinterest. Instead I am going back to a chapter or two of a library book each evening. 

I am very grateful for the Norfolk Library Service, and especially the mobile van which comes once a month to the next road.
Our local Mobile Service is celebrating its centenary this year. The driver told us that their great celebrations got overtaken by all the hype about the Castle refurb- but they had a party for staff, and got a whizzy new electric van, which has a timeline of photos dating back to 1925 along the side.

Thank you to all the team, especially our local driver, Mark [aka BookMark] So many of the elderly folk in our village cannot  easily get into Dereham  or Norwich, but the monthly van brings the books they want to the end of the road.

On Thursday we were on the van, and my friend Jane told us this great story;
Last summer she had been picking flowers and pressing them inside some books. Inadvertently she'd used one of her library books. A couple of days after the van visited, she had a phone call from Dereham Library "Please can you come in and collect something?" Mark was sorting out the returned books on the van, and found the pressed flowers. He worked out that Jane had borrowed that book - so he carefully removed the flowers, put them between two sheets of card, and left them in the town library - having asked the staff there to phone Jane and tell her where they were!! That is the sort of Gold Star service we get round here!! 

Screens are useful, and the ability to find information quickly can be a blessings - but lets not ever forget the benefits of the printed page. And always remember the importance of passing the habit of reading on to future generations. 

Thank you for all the kind words yesterday. The service went well at Church, and Bob and I enjoyed a quiet afternoon. Things are resolving slowly, and I will explain later.  But your love and prayers are greatly appreciated ❤️

The Summer Is Ending

 

Here are the last 6 months of tree pictures - from barely any foliage in April up to this week when we got back from Manchester. My tree has stayed pretty much the same shape all year
The ground below is looking very parched, and I think the leaves are just on the edge of turning to their autumn colours.
We were very conscious as we drove up  and over the Pennines last Monday that there were clear signs of autumn the further north we went - and when we came back on Friday, this was even more apparent. 
The fig tree crop is over, the children are back at school, and next Sunday will be Harvest Festival at chapel...
I am glad for our climate here in the UK, each season has its own special beauty. [but for me, Spring is my favourite, with  new birth, fresh starts, Easter...]

What is your favourite season? Why?

A Short Spell Of Rain

As a child [OK, I admit, even as an adult to] I was fascinated by words which had more than one meaning. Stable not rocky, or a place for horses. Rocky not stable, or like a rock. Rock a sort of music, or a big stone...
Spell is particularly wonderful. Is a short spell of rain defined as "R A I N" said very quickly, or is it "Abracadabra, pitter patter" said by a wizard? Neither, it means a brief period of rain🌧 
I love those little mnemonics which help with spelling

because Big Elephants 🐘Can Always Use Small Envelopes ✉️
ices can be found in the middle of LeICESter 🍦

deSiCCated CoConutS  all have one S and two Cs

rhythm Really Helps Your Two Hips Move [Steph taught me that when she learned it in primary school]

Spelling matters - I am afraid I get mildly irritated when British people use color, favor, fetus and other Americanisms. [except in Technicolor which is a brand name so definitely has no U]

I'm proud of my grandchildren's efforts to learn, and their good end-of-term school reports.

But I think it is possibly a lost cause. Texting has given us such conversations as "CU L8R?" "Gr8, B4 2moro!"  And ugly sentences like Hi m8, R U out 2nite? Are we surprised people cannot put a coherent message together? Julian recently sent me this picture, with the caption " Prfoof redader wnated" 

But U probably do not have time to db8 this, as U have 2 walk your K9. By the way, these words are called Numeronyms

I do not use these in my messaging, although I admit to some shortcuts [imho, btw, and wfh]

What do you think about these textspeak abbreviations?

Here is the verdict of Jess on Saturday's short [but heavy] spell of rain which soaked us right through. Once we got back to the car, she burst into song!

I'm Sew Excited!

Have you heard? The Bayeaux Tapestry is coming to England in 2026!

OK, it is a temporary exchange of treasures - the French are getting the Lewis Chessmen and some of the Sutton Hoo hoard. In the 1000th anniversary of the birth of William the Conqueror, this 70 metre length of embroidery [it is not tapestry work, by the way!] is coming back to the land of its creation. 

We asked to borrow it in 1953 [Coronation of Elizabeth II] and 1966 [900 years after the battle] and quondam Culture Secretary Matt Hancock* assured us in 2018 that it would be coming in 2022. [huh!]

But now there is a definite date, and it will be on display in the British Museum. Oh how I long to go and see it...
I have dreamed of seeing this for more than 55 years, ever since I laboriously copied a portion onto a bit of sheeting for a school project on mediaeval needlework. [I finally saw my other favourite French stitching, the Lady and The Unicorn, last year in Paris]

I am clearly not alone in this longing, poet Bryan Bilston has written a little ode, which I plan to print out and stick on the fridge...

Tapestry of Dreams

for sew long how I did yearn
to visit you in Bayeux

but with the conquest of the years
my hair is getting greyeux

for Time will wait for Norman
-that's one in the eye for me

yet hope hangs by a silver thread,
I now hear you'll cross the sea

oh, I'm on pins and needles
I've been waiting since my youth

no stitch-up or false-spun yarn
it's the unembroidered truth

Brian Bilston

Will you be going to see it do you think?
* I have always wanted to use the word quondam in a post. I am not at all fond of MH, so am pleased to have found an appropriate adjective for him at last.

More Midnight Madness!

 Monday, 2nd June I stood on Weybourne Beach at 11pm and watched the Northern Lights. Then on Wednesday 11th June, we drove about 3 miles up the road, and parked at the edge of a field where there was a great view of the horizon. 

As the moon rose, it seemed huge and pink, a "Strawberry Moon" [I need to learn how to do better night vision photos] It was glorious. There won't be another like it over Norfolk for 20 years,  according to the paper.  I'm not sure they'll let me go gallivanting around the countryside at midnight then, when I'm 90...

And now it is 1.30am on Saturday morning. As I switched off the light, three hours ago, I suddenly realised I hadn't thought about Saturday's blogpost. But a massive thunderstorm woke us up around 12.45. Bob remembered that the awning he had rigged up to shade the patio [a large tarp, fixed with carabiners to a taut steel wire] might come adrift in the high winds.

So yet again we were outside - this time in pj's- unhooking the flapping fabric, ducking to avoid the water pouring down from it!

Then we stood inside for a while, watching the lightning through the window, listening to the loud cracks of thunder. Son etc Lumiere as they say in France - a fabulous lightshow! As is essential at such moments, I made a pot of tea.

I hope the weather is drier in the morning for the summer fete at the village school. I have finished my tea now, and the thunder has subsided a little. I'm going to sleep 🛌💤