Just Like Your Mum?

Liz has entered a competition to win a Mother&Daughter minibreak to Bruges. The entry needs to be posted on a blog – so she asked if she could do a guest post on Tracing Rainbows. So I agreed [and now I am blushing to read what she has written!]

Guest post: Just Like Your Mum?

Guest post: I’m Angela’s daughter, Liz, and this mother’s day I’d like to write about why I’m grateful for my mum, and why I’d like to treat her to an amazing mini break to Bruges with Great Rail.

Over the years, I’ve been told “You’re turning into your mother” so many times, not always in a way that might be considered complimentary. It’s usually in connection with something small – learning to knit, drinking too many cups of tea, or having a singing voice that’s more enthusiastic than tuneful. But these aren’t the things that define her, or me.

Being told ‘you’re just like your mum’ is pretty much the last thing any teenager wants to hear – you’re trying to work out who you are, and all people tell you is that you’re just like someone else (who’s considerably older than you). For years I felt frustrated whenever someone told me I was just like my mum. As I’ve got older, I’ve been able to look past the frustrated teenage part of myself and hear that phrase for the amazing compliment it is.

My mother is kind – nothing is too much trouble for her, and over the years she’s gone to extraordinary lengths to help people, expecting nothing in return.

My mother is smart – she loves to learn, and knows that you should never feel ashamed or embarrassed to admit that you don’t know something – only curious and ready to learn.

My mother is forgiving – raising two daughters has presented her with a great many challenges. We have not always been easy to love, but she has always been there for us.

My mother is committed – she has taught me the importance of having convictions and living your values every day.

Am I ‘just like my mum’? I hope so.

Run For Your Wife!

This is my mate Tom Gill, who grew up in Kirby Muxloe. Beside him, his fiancée Carla, who this coming weekend, will become his wife. I pray they will have a great day with their friends and families and a long and happy marriage. I’ve blogged about them before.

Tom is the guy who founded East African Playgrounds- a brilliant charity which provides safe play equipment for children so they can run, jump and play happily [and the energy they expend on the roundabouts does useful stuff like pump water to their loos, as an added benefit!]

And this great guy is Mark Killey, who’ll be marrying my Steph in Jun. Mark and Steph are both keen on running- he proposed to her whilst they were out for a run [He did suggest they stopped and sat on a bench first and then he popped the question!]

Mark has been helping Steph these past few months, not just to prepare for the wedding, but also to prepare for running in the 2015 London Marathon. I was so impressed when they stayed with us after Christmas in Cornerstones – they got up each day and went for a run before breakfast, pounding the frosty Norfolk country lanes. I know that Steph has really valued his encouragement, particularly as she’s had one or two health issues which threatened to prevent her taking part on 26th April [less than 10 weeks now]

I'm running the marathon for East African Playgrounds because all kids deserve to be able to play!

Here’s part of Steph’s Just Giving page- she is asking for sponsors for EAP [she and Tom were classmates, 20 years ago and have remained friends ever since] I am incredibly proud of her for taking on this challenge in a year which already is busy with plans for another Significant Event in her life.

I’m aware that there are constantly requests for this charity and that crisis – but if you’re doing one of those Lent Courses that suggests giving to a good cause, this is certainly one to consider! [and if you want to remain anonymous, perhaps you could put ‘via Tracing Rainbows’ so she is aware of the connection] Her target is £250 – it would be wonderful if that was exceeded.

These two happy, loving young couples freely acknowledge how greatly blessed they are – but they would be even happier to think that  love is being shown to children in Africa without the advantages that they’ve grown up with here in the UK. If you are able to donate – thankyou. If you can’t do so, please just pray for Steph [and Mark, her ever-patient trainer] as she gets ready to run.

Less than 10 weeks to go! Do you know anyone who is running this year – and if so, what charity are they supporting?

Old Mother Hubbard

…she went to the cupboard – and found it bare. Poor doggy! The different names for food storage areas fascinate me. These days, it is usually kept in a cupboard, fridge or freezer. But what about the other names for food storage area- larder, buttery, pantry etc?

I knew that a larder was the old name for a cold room where meats and fats [such as lard] where stored. But until recently, I wasn’t sure about a buttery – I knew that some of our older University had college butteries – and assumed that this was a place for dairy produce.

Wrong! It’s from the Old English “Butts” i.e. barrels of alcohol [not the US meaning of butts!] and a buttery was where the butler kept the booze [Presumably that's why the  students had them, to support their drinking habits!] And a pantry was where bread [Latin – panis] and other foods were kept. Mum had lovely cool pantries in two of our Manses when I was a child, in the days before she had a fridge, or central heating.

In Kirby I used to have a wall cupboard in the Futility Room where I kept packets and ‘current’ foodstuffs, and a shelf in the garage for tins, jams, marmalade and bottled fruit. No garage space or FR here. And the kitchen cupboards have different dimensions – my containers don’t fit properly, some jars, and the cereal boxes were too tall.

So Bob has built me a Pantry. Well, to be precise, he has put some shelves in the understairs coat cupboard [and we bought a coat rack which is now in the porch area]

This is right opposite the kitchen, and easy to access. On the floor are lidded blue Sainsbury's boxes holding tins, spare teabags etc. Behind the tins on the top shelf are my infrequently used plates. The shelf unit was in his studio, but isn’t needed in The Workroom, and the undershelf baskets used to hold haberdashery.

I am very excited about having a pantry of my own at last!

Jammed In A Jar

Off to London this morning at the crack of dawn for a WWDP committee. I am used to doing this by train from Leicester- but not from Dorset. My meeting is at the Sally Army HQ in Elephant and Castle – so I will be dropping in briefly to Liz and Jon’s flat. I have been asked to [a] fee Monty the cat, and [b] leave a few buttons.

Liz has recently been bitten by the knitting bug, and we have had some great conversations about books and patterns and yarn. “Do not buy any buttons, I have thousands!” I told her. She has made some baby things for friends, and said she needed buttons. So on Saturday I unpacked all my buttons and sorted out a jarful for her.

She can have more later – there are still plenty left. I was scattering buttons all over the floor as I transferred them from one jar to the other, until Bob said “Use your Jam Funnel!” This is definitely Tip Of The Month!

There will be more pictures when everything is straighter, but the shelves are in the corner of the front bedroom aka The Workroom. We’re planning to share one room – we have two tables, and my side will have sewing and craft stuff, his side has his PA gear. It will be interesting to see how this works out.

A few years back, Floss introduced a blog theme ‘the thrill of what you already have’ – and already I am discovering new uses for articles that were in our previous Manse, in different rooms here. For instance, the runner which used to be in the Futility Room, in front of washer/fridge/freezer is now in the Workroom, protecting the carpet from our side-by-side office chairs. The geometric book shelf [designed by Steph, built by Bob] has moved from a bedroom to the hall, so support the phone, chargers, router, key basket etc.

BTW, when I get home this evening, we will eat up all the bacon for supper as today is Collop Monday. A collop is a slice of meat, and traditionally this was the last day for eating meat before Lent started on Ash Wednesday. There is more information and a few recipes here. In the old days, housewives saved the pig fat to fry the pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. I’m not doing that! But we are hosting a Pancake Party.

Selah!

This Hebrew word crops up more than 70 times in the book of Psalms, and 3 more times in Habakkuk. Scholars are unsure about its exact meaning – but it is generally accepted that is is probably  along the lines of “pause a moment, and reflect on this” and is used as a musical term. I need a bit of selah myself right now. The last six weeks have been manically busy – sorting out the burglary, packing to move, moving, unpacking, sorting out wedding stuff, Bob’s Induction as new pastor, meeting new friends and neighbours, changing my address with all sorts of agencies.

Stop! Ang, take a deep breath…and reflect on things

Six weeks of total busy-ness…and on Wednesday we begin six weeks of Lent. Traditionally a time of reflection and preparation for Easter. We are hosting a Pancake Party here on Tuesday Night [Bob is doing all the cooking - come and see the Flipping New Pastor!]

But there are then six Sundays when I shall be doing my Pause In Lent posts. If you’d like to join in, please leave a comment at the end of this post, and I shall add your blog to the list in the same way as the Advent Pauses.

Stop – and have a think about it!

Happy Valentine’s Day…

…to all my friends. Here are some flowers for you. Have a good day, and know that you are loved and appreciated, wherever you are!

Oh Crumbs! What To Do With Weetabitz

It was my own fault, I packed the remaining weetabix into a plastic box which was a little bit too big – and when I unpacked them, there were an awful lot of bits in the bottom, and 3½ biscuits intact.

We ate the biscuits for breakfast and I was left with a cupful of crumby bits. I made a variant on the traditional 1-cup All Bran Loaf.

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C
2. Combine in a jug one cup each of AllBran [or weetabitz], flour, sultanas, cold tea – plus half a cup of sugar and one egg. Mix well.
3. Pour into a lined loaf tin [or use a nonstick silicon one]
4. Bake 50 minutes

That’s it. Serve in slices with or without butter. Its more dense than the A-B version, more like a bread pudding. But it is definitely comfort food for a cold day when you want a wedge of stodge with your cup of tea!

Nothing to do with cake – but here is a picture of my lovely blue hyacinths which have just come into bloom.

Their perfume is gorgeous and fills the kitchen.

This house already feels very much like home. I feel truly blessed.

Better Late Than Never

Back in 1979 when we we first married, I bought this Phildar Pattern Book. It has lots of patterns for men, women and children. When we moved to Kirby Muxloe, in 1995, Bob said “It’d be nice if you knitted me a jumper sometime” But I didn’t! I made baby things, jumpers for myself, did knitting for charity. But nothing for him.

Guilt finally caught up with me, just after I finished my Scandi Jumper. So I waved the pattern book at Bob and he selected the seeded rib sweater with a wrapover collar.* I bought some wool and began knitting on Boxing Day [this kept me out of the Cornerstones kitchen when other people were trying to cook!]

The grey flecked Robin yarn, aran weight, knitted up beautifully. I only made one modification to the pattern – Mark was wearing a jumper with a wrapover collar, and I thought the button detail looked good. So Bob selected a black leather covered one to finish off the garment.

I didn’t complete the jumper before we left Kirby on Monday January 26th – but I did get it done by Friday 30th. Better late than never!

Bob is extremely pleased, and has already worn it a few times. I’ll try not to wait another 20 years before knitting the next one!

One the subject of lateness, I finally got round to watching “Mapp and Lucia” which I recorded in December. Did anyone else see this comedy set in a 1930’s town based on Rye in Sussex? It was pretty star studded [Anna Chancellor, Miranda Richardson, Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and lots of other well known actors] The settings and costumes were great, and the actors were, undeniably, very gifted. But it didn’t quite enchant me as I had expected – by the middle of the third episode, I was ceasing to care what happened next. Bob came in and watched for a while thewn said “What are we watching?” “Mapp and Lucia” I said.  “Ah, that explains it – for the first five minutes I was expecting someone to get murdered and Miss Marple or someone to turn up. For the last five minutes I have been hoping for someone, anyone, to get murdered! This isn’t my sort of programme” and he went out again.

Did you watch M&L and what did you think of it?

* when I originally purchased the Phildar book, Bob still had thick brown wavy hair like the model in the picture!

Pooling Our Resources

On Sunday afternoon we went for a drive down to Poole – it is only about 7 miles away. We haven’t been there for years. It was a beautiful day, with blue skies and not too chilly. It was lovely just strolling along the quay. I sat beside an old man with a woggle, thinking about Scouting for Boys, while Bob enjoyed Staring at Bikes. Sundays, and Tuesday nights are when bikes meet at the quay!

We climbed a sculpture staircase thing and looked out at the boats

Then we had a look round the Poole Museum [currently being refurbished – but interesting nonetheless] The only drawback to the Museum are the exceptionally low ceilings- especially the sloping ones on the staircases. Bob found it really quite difficult to avoid banging his head. The coffee shop at the top has a roof terrace where I sat and enjoyed a hot chocolate, watched by a suspicious seagull. There were good views of the old town

Around the glass walls were etched distances to various locations, near and far [London, North Pole, Brownsea Island etc] It’s 310 miles to Belfast, Mags – and 98 miles to London.

I did learn two very interesting things in the Museum. That lava lamp which illuminated my bedside last week was made in Poole!

And the biggest import to the quay, is rye for the Ryvita factory!

After a final admiring glance at the vintage fire engine, we drove back home and went to the evening service at Church. I think I am really going to enjoy exploring my new surroundings!

A Cake–And A Correction

As well as a fruit platter, I also served Rachel Allen’s Apple Cake as dessert on Saturday. I used a very large pear which was in the fruit basket. Here is her recipe – it was easy to follow and the result was tasty!

INGREDIENTS

· 2 eggs

· 175 g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

· 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

· 85 g butter

· 75 ml milk

· 125 g plain flour

· 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

· 2 1/4 tsp baking powder

· 2 cooking apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

· cream, to serve

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6. Line the sides and base of a 20 x 20cm square cake tin with parchment paper.
2. Using an electric whisk, whisk the eggs, caster sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl until the mixture is thick and mousse-like and the whisk leaves a figure of eight pattern (this will take about 5 minutes).
3. Melt the butter in a saucepan with the milk, then pour onto the eggs, whisking all the time. Sift in the flour, cinnamon and baking powder and fold carefully into the batter so that there are no lumps of flour. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface.
4. Arrange the apple slices over the batter. (They will sink to the bottom.) Sprinkle over a tablespoon of sugar and bake in the oven for ten minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 180C/gas 4 and bake for a further 20–25 minutes or until well risen and golden brown.
5. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the tin. Cut into 16 squares [or 12 rectangles] and serve with cream.

And a correction – I had misunderstood Steph’s instructions for the banana ice cream. She simply freezes the bananas – and then when she is ready to serve the dessert, she blitzes the frozen fruit in the blender with the other ingredients. This gives a much smoother ice, with no large crystals, and gives you the option of adding different flavours later [like speculoos] or serving it plain. So now we know!

Two Weeks Ago…

Is it really only fourteen days since we left?

We got up early on the Monday morning, rolled up our bedding, and wrapped up the mattresses. Downstairs was just full of boxes and disconnected appliances. The front garden was full of stuff from the back garden. And then the men just filled the vans.

We loaded and loaded…I climbed on the van, and contemplated riding in there, rather than driving my little Toyota to Dorset. The loft was – for the first time in years- completely empty.

The solitary black shoe never did find its mate- so we reluctantly discarded it. And Bob watched from the front door as the van drove back to its Leicester depot for the night.

Useful tip – that box of lanyards I have been collecting, from every conference, exhibition and seminar I have attended in the last twenty years, has finally proved useful! They are wonderfully strong, and easier to hold than string, when tying things up!

 

 

 

 

We spent the Monday night with Bob’s brother Frank and his wife Barbara – who were so kind – then on the Tuesday I drove to Dorset, and Bob stayed with them until his car was ready. The vans and I got to Dorset around 1pm Tuesday – he arrived 4 hours later. The new house was bright and clean and beautifully decorated [Thanks to UCF]

That’s the phone engineer fixing the line. She had to go up the telegraph pole outside the house too. She told me that when she trained there were 600 on the course- 598 blokes and two girls! Yes that is the same shade of blue as we had on walls in KM. So our curtains and sofas fit beautifully.

By the time the family arrived for the Induction on Saturday, the dining room was just about straight. I had all the best china and cutlery sorted and we had a really lovely family lunch together. Liz, Jon, Steph, Mark, Adrian, Bob and myself. Why didn’t I take a picture of them?

Mags- that is a carrot, coriander and sesame salad like the one you made for me 3 years ago in Belfast!

I shall post the recipe for the cake later. [I’ve still got to get to grips with a new oven] Do you like my cow creamer? Having been taken to Wimborne Market on Friday morning, I had some fresh veg artfully displayed in a trug in the kitchen [Very Country Living, said one of the visitors!]

More pictures will follow as soon as I get rooms properly straight!

Pulling Up The Tent Pegs…

That’s it then – we are definitely here, and Bob has now been inducted as Pastor of the United Church, Ferndown. Yesterday’s Induction service was great. A crowd of our friends made the journey down from Leicester to support us – and the folk here made them very welcome. But they got on their coach and went back – and we remained here, ready for the new challenges ahead of us. My dear friend Kath [also a Pastor’s wife]sent me this helpful poem which seems very applicable to moving on to a new situation.

God who sets us on a journey
to discover, dream and grow,
lead us as you led your people
in the desert long ago;
journey inward, journey outward,
stir the spirit, stretch the mind,
love for God and self and neighbour
marks the way that Christ defined.

Exploration brings new insights,
changes, choices we must face;
give us wisdom in deciding,
mindful always of your grace;
should we stumble, lose our bearings,
find it hard to know what’s right,
we regain our true direction
focused on the Jesus light.

End our longing for the old days,
grant the vision that we lack –
once we’ve started on this journey
there can be no turning back;
let us travel light, discarding
excess baggage from our past,
cherish only what’s essential,
choosing treasure that will last.

When we set up camp and settle
to avoid love’s risk and pain,
you disturb complacent comfort,
pull the tent pegs up again;
keep us travelling in the knowledge
you are always at our side;
give us courage for the journey,
Christ our goal and Christ our guide.

Thank you everyone who came to the service – and those who could not come, but send kind wishes. Special thanks to my brother Adrian who came all the way from Norfolk – and Liz, Jon, Steph and Mark who came along to support us. It was so lovely to have family with us on such a significant occasion.

Rice, Spice, Ice…Nice

Last Saturday, after a delightful day sorting out wedding finery, the girls and I sat in Gelupo in Soho enjoying ice creams. As we enjoyed our treat, I asked Liz and Steph to help me solve a problem.

“I have a can of Aldi smoked mussels – how would you suggest I use them up? I don’t want to buy lots of other ingredients though…” Their suggestion was “If you have some chorizo, make some paella” So that’s what I did on Wednesday this week.

 

I modified Delia’s recipe, using turmeric instead of saffron [my saffron got drowned in the burglar’s flood, and has yet to be replaced] and I used just the mussels instead of the chicken and prawns, and regular long grain rice rather than proper paella rice -but it tasted pretty good all the same…

 

 

 

 

For our dessert I prepared another recipe which was suggested by Steph – Banana Speculoos Ice Cream.

Bob loves these Belgian spiced biscuits, and was given both the biscuits and two jars of the spread as a leaving present. [What a kind thought!]

In a food processor, simply blend three bananas, a generous spoonful of spread, and half a teaspoon of cocoa powder – then freeze. I served the scoops in dishes with a blob of Greek yogurt and a sprinkling of cocoa, with a biscuit tucked in the side.

Both recipes were so simple to make, and so delicious! 

I am very grateful to my girls for these excellent ideas!