The Vicar came into school today to take Assembly. He talked about Mothering Sunday and Mothers. I remembered I hadn’t posted my pictures from the weekend. My bag from church and the plant inside
And a very cute card [I just love buttons!]
[is the short woman holding the flowers meant to be me?]
The Vicar did an acrostic using some verbs applicable to mothers
And he went on to say that these are things we can all do. I do enjoy Rev Peter’s Assemblies!
At the weekend, we realised that whenever we went out to the garage, a robin appeared!
Judging by the leaves and twigs hanging out of the far end of the pipe, we suspect that there may be a nest in there.
I took this photo with the zoom – I am not getting any closer as I don’t want to disrupt anything!
Bob will not be able to install any cables for a little while, methinks!
Do you have any birds nesting in your garden?
And have they found any unconventional homes?
About twenty years ago, I remember reading that ‘the average British Household contains at least 17 plastic carrier bags’ and for many years I have been trying to decrease my carrier bag use.
I have paid extra to get the more durable ‘bags for life’, collected freebie ‘promotional’ cotton carrier bags from exhibitions, used blue plastic shopping boxes from Sainsbury’s …and made myself [and countless other friends and family members] little storage bags to hang on the back of the kitchen door to hold rolled up plastic bags ready for re-use.
However the results of a recent study “to assess the life cycle environmental impacts of the production, use and disposal of carrier bags for the UK in 2006” were very interesting.
Those lovely cotton bags have a greater carbon footprint, and I must use my fabric one 131 times to match a single use of a plastic bag!
And if I re-use just 40% of my plastic carriers as bin liners, then that means 173 outings for the cloth bag [or 5 for the Bag For Life]
Re-using every plastic bag as a bin liner reduces the carbon footprint still more – and means 327 trips to Sainsbury’s for my fabric tote to match the footprint.
And if I manage to re-use the plastic bag three times – then I need to use the cotton one 393 times. [these charts from the BBC]
So what’s the answer? It is not always possible to re-use plastic bags- many are very flimsy and the sharp corner of a box, or a couple of heavy bottles can render a bag split and unusable half way home – so the bag doesn’t manage one journey, let alone a repeat.
I left a ‘biodegradable’ bag full of buttons behind a chair in the conservatory one summer. When I picked it up in the autumn, it had already been degraded by warmth and sunlight, and the buttons went everywhere!
You can of course re-use in craft projects. Back in London I helped over 40 Girls’ Brigade girls make Christmas Wreaths with the bright green carriers that M&S used in the 80’s. 25 bags per wreath!
Many of our GB families used these weatherproof decorations year after year [and may still be doing so for all I know] Does that count as multiple re-use?
And there are groups who knit bags into warm and durable blankets to distribute to homeless folk.
This Little Wonderwoman looks pleased with the blanket donations she has just made!
In the past week, I have acquired two bags, reused 5 in a shopping trip, discarded one, after it split on the return journey [the assistant commented on its age – it bore an ad for a Sainsbury's Campaign in 1999] and used 3 as bin liners, which disappeared to the landfill on the dustcart.
That’s a net loss of two bags over the week. I now have eighteen in the house. At this rate, I ought to be without plastic bags by June.
Do you use plastic bags? and re-use them?
How many uses do you get from cotton bags?
Have you a ‘favourite’ bag?
Sorry, the comment last week was never fully explained. We decided we really should put up some curtains at the big patio doors in the kitchen. But we needed a pole – and there was the problem of the concrete lintel and how to fix it securely. Not to mention the cost of curtain fabric.
But I had a bolt of green fabric which Marion gave me last year. So I went off to Wilkinson’s and got a pole. Bob put it up 2 Mondays ago – he was extremely pleased with himself, having fixed it securely despite all the complications, and he found some yellow paint for touching up the wooden support batten. Dancing with glee, almost!
I finally got round to sewing the curtains over the weekend [I had to go out and buy some rufflette tape – would you believe, I had none in my stash?]
Sharp eyes will spot a difference in the print on the wall. For two years, my wartime prints have been either side of the doors in cheap clip frames. [Just visible in left hand picture] Scarlet’s recent post inspired me to improve things. I found a brand new frame in a box in the loft [when and why did I buy that?] and promptly dropped it and it split. Bob mended it and I put both prints in the one frame.
He fixed the pole, fixed the frame, and hung the print - and helped me hang the curtains, as I was teetering around dangerously on my kick-stool!**
I think he has every right to look as smug as he does in the picture above.
Eat Less Bread
- Eat Greens!
Two slogans which fit well with GI Diets!
I had a friend in London who always referred to it as The Dalek!
One day I may repaint it, and replace the shabby 1970’s chocolate brown with a brighter colour.
The postman delivered a parcel from Karen at Chelmarsh Chunterings. I was the winner of her recent Spring blog giveaway. Inside the jiffy bag was a brown cardboard box, containing…
..a delightful pink thank you card, containing some coffee sachets and chocolate bars…
… four wonderfully handcrafted greetings cards, with pretty embellishments and beading
…a beautifully crocheted doiley made by Karen’s Mum – it’s around 12” across and the workmanship [workwomanship?] in it is utterly astounding, and finally a few squares of Thornton's chocs in various flavours.
Thank you Karen – you are so very generous. We will enjoy the sweets – and pass on the cards to friends on their special days.
Also this month I won a toast stamp from Jessica at New Beginnings
You press it into the bread, which you then pop into the toaster- out up it jumps, bearing the words
“I ♥ you!”
Next time I shall try it on thicker white bread – the message may show up better!
Thank you Karen, and Jessica for your generosity.
intelligence is…
checking the pockets of your jeans* for tissues and such…
before putting them into the machine
discovering there is not only a tissue…
but nestling in its crumpled folds there is also a coin
realising it is not £1 …
but merely 1p
knowing that the 99p difference doesn’t matter…
and having clothes to wear and a machine to wash them in makes me a rich woman, compared to most of the world.
*these are not my legs! I wanted a picture of some button-fly Levi’s and this came up in my search. I love those tan shoes though!
It is, I understand, ‘on-trend’ for older women to wear NYDJ [Not Your Daughter’s Jeans]
I am proud to announce that since I’ve lost weight, I do not follow this trend. I wear MDDJ[My Daughters’ Discarded Jeans] – which is why I have been spotted round the village in button fly Levi’s, and also in Calvin Klein's!
Anyway, the legs on both these models are at least twelve inches longer than mine.
Just a few pictures from last night’s celebration for our friends Ken and Joyce from church – they have been married for 50 years.
The cake [which tasted delicious]
The Happy Couple in 1962 – and Ken and Joyce now…
As usual, I was too busy chatting to take many photos. Their daughters had arranged a wonderful buffet and we all had a great time. The Church Hall was packed – as well as friends from our church, and family members, and their neighbours, there were also friends from other churches in Leicester, and from Street Pastors [Ken does a regular turn with SP] and Boys’ Brigade – and Joyce’s bridesmaids, as well as Ken’s best man. In fact, it seemed that everyone who was anyone had turned out to wish them well. What a tribute to this pair who are always so generous and caring towards others. Despite the ups and downs of life, this lovely couple share a strong faith and their trust in God is truly ‘Sure and Steadfast’. Congratulations on 50 years together!
I had to look this one up – and found this definition
Liberality – the pursuit of Will
Liberality is a spirit of generosity for a proper and worthy charity that may involve the donation of our time, our money, or other possessions.Liberality is completely different from the political philosophy of liberalism. Liberality is personal rather than social, and it is the opposite of the sin of avarice.
Avarice is greed, the inordinate love of earthly things, especially money. It is inordinate when we are not guided by reason or need, when we go to unusual lengths to get material goods, or when we are miserly in giving. Greed short-sightedly neglects permanent reward in heaven for temporary rewards in this life. We conquer greed by the practice of liberality
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
For three years running [2009-2011], my Lent Challenge was to give away something every day from Ash Wednesday till Easter. It was incredible – some people found it hard to accept something given without expectation of return, I was amazed by how many things other people kept giving me – and I can honestly say I have not missed anything I donated, or regretted passing it on.
There are some things about the definition of the virtue of liberality above that strike a chord with me
“He is no fool who parts with that which he cannot keep, when he is sure to be recompensed with that which he cannot lose.”
Despite sophisticated alarm systems, thieves still manage to nick stuff. Moths chew through sweaters and ballpoint pens leak over tablecloths and handbags. Recent events have shown us that banks are unreliable. Let’s keep our real treasures in heaven, and hold lightly to the things we have on earth – and be ready to share the many blessings we have with others.
I had a glass of red and put my soul into it, says winning chef
I read the article by Hilary Rose in detail. HR quizzed Shelina Permalloo about the fact that this was the third time she had applied to be on the show, and what had changed? I discovered that what SP actually said was
I poured myself a glass of red and put my soul into it
I have heard of an olive in your martini, and a slice of lemon in your gin – but soul into your red wine?
And even if that is what the winner said, I think it does not make a decent headline. Where have all the good journalists gone?
The 284 page book has 120 recipes and is lavishly illustrated. Many of the recipes are developed from ones used in Ottolenghi’s restaurant, and originally printed in the Guardian’s “New Vegetarian” column.
I decided to try his Multi Vegetable Paella for an easy evening meal. Here’s the original version from the Guardian
MULTI VEGETABLE PAELLA, SERVES 2 GENEROUSLY
Heat the oil in a paella or large, shallow frying pan, then gently fry the onion for five minutes. Add the peppers and fennel, and fry over medium heat until soft and golden - about eight minutes. Add the garlic, cook for a minute, then add the bay leaves and spices, stir, add the rice and cook, stirring, for two minutes. Add the sherry and saffron, boil down for a minute, then add the stock and a third of a teaspoon of salt. Reduce the heat as low as it will go and leave to simmer for 20 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Do not stir: the low heat will prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Remove the pan from the heat. Taste and add salt if needed, but avoid stirring the rice and vegetables much. Scatter the tomatoes, artichokes and beans over the rice, cover the pan tightly with foil and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Take off the foil, scatter the olives on top, sprinkle with parsley and serve with lemon wedges.
Being the sort of cook who frequently gets to the kitchen with only a vague idea of what to cook, I had to improvise with some of the ingredients. I didn’t have any of the following
fennel, sherry, saffron, plum tomatoes, artichokes, broad beans.
I just ignored the first three, used regular salad tomatoes cut into eighths, and replaced the artichokes with courgette, and the broad beans with half a can of flageolet beans. And my olives were green, not big black Kalamatas – and I had some lemon slices [not wedges] from the freezer. Oh, and I have no idea about Calasparra rice – I just used my regular stuff. Mine looked like this
It tasted great – and there was enough for 3 portions [so one has gone into the fridge to serve as a side dish for two] We ate it with hunks of crusty bread. Don’t you love my big paella pan? It was a bargain from Aldi a few years back.
I haven’t finished reading the book yet [stuffed onions on p39, and this recipe is on p80, and I was so tired I fell asleep soon after that] but I imagine I shall want to try out others from the book.
