Shume Mire

Which means very good in Albanian. I had the most exciting and unexpected parcel delivered last week, and it was indeed very good

Some people just pack things up and shove them in the post. I confess that I am frequently one of those. But this parcel was so much more than that...

For starters, the outer wrapping was a recycled porridge oats packet. How cool is that? It ticks the green/eco box - and this retro packing is so much more interesting than the 'simply lidl' one I buy.

Then there was a postcard -a beautiful picture of a Victorian applique bed cover. I've spent ages looking at it -the central section is in A-Z of a woman's life ... from Adoration, Beauty, Cupid to Wedding, Xpression, Yes, Zingari. Zingari is an old term for Romany/Gypsy...no idea why the stitcher chose that for Z- perhaps it was a good omen if they showed up at the wedding, like a chimney sweep?

Then a picture of this elderly Albanian lady. She sells eggs and caj mali in the market, seven days a week from early morning till late at night.My friend Andrew buys goods from her when he is in Albania.

And at the bottom of the parcel - a pack of caj mali [pronounced chai marley] I drank this on my WWDP trip to Albania nearly 3 years ago. And when Andrew visited Albania recently, his wife Eleanor [a friend for over 35 years, and follower of the blog]reminded him to bring back some tea for me. So her very kindly made room in his case for some


Caj Mali  means mountain tea -This is otherwise known as sideritis, iron wort, or shepherd's tea. It is often brewed with mint, and sweetened with sugar. I make mine in a saucepan. I'm not sure how E&A brew theirs. I found this YouTube clip slightly alarming!

The older generation in Albania maintain that most ills can be cured with a cup of mountain tea. So perhaps a cup of this may help restore my energy levels .

Andrew taught me a few phrases before I went - and as well as Shume Mire - very good, I also learned faleminderit - thank you!

Thank you Eleanor -  I'm grateful for our long friendship, and I look forward to enjoying my tea, and remembering my wonderful trip to that lovely country in 2017.

One small parcel which has brought so much joy!

Moving Forward

I should have been spending this weekend away in Northampton, with friends. All of us are married to Baptist Ministers. I've been coming to this conference, which happens every two years, since Bob began in ministry [and my mother attended in the years before that] I'm sorry to miss it.

It is a special time of encouragement, support, caring, sharing, laughing, and learning together. 
Our group has recently 're-branded' under the name "Thrive" and the new committee are working hard. Our conference theme is "Moving Forward"
I don't know if they were thinking of the MLK quote when they chose that title. But it is one I have certainly found challenging in recent months...

When Plans Suddenly Have To Change...

I'm OK - but life has taken an unexpected turn in the last couple of days. After the highs of last weekend, things have certainly come down with a bump. I'll explain when I can. But please don't worry about us, we know God is with us through everything.

Demnezeu Sa Te Binecuvanteze

Which means "God bless you" in Romanian. Sunday is our Christmas Shoebox collection day

Like last year, Bob and I opted to do teenager boxes. [thank you to Clarks Shoes in Ringwood and Salisbury for the 2 empty boxes]

Essential toiletries, and things like a hat, scarf, warm socks are always well received. And for girls, some sanpro. In Eastern Europe the girls do not have the benefit of groups like The Red Box Project which UCF supported last year. 
I'm so grateful for belonging to such a generous fellowship. 
More Romanian... Craciun Fecit - which means Happy Christmas. I put a greetings card in each box, and decided it was better to put my message in the right language.
Are you involved in a project like this? What have you put in your box? 

Deliberate Decluttering

I have too much 'stuff'. I need to reduce the number of possessions. But as I go through this process, I realise I must do it deliberately. Not just in the sense of "I will do this thing", but also in the sense of "a deliberate act, done consciously and intentionally". 

Many years ago, I helped a friend in London to move house. She'd already packed most of the clothes/crockery/books etc I remember being quite upset to watch her - as the removal men put large furniture in the van, she just went round each room scooping everything else which was left lying about into bin bags. Among the old magazines,empty envelopes and crisp packets, there were plates, toys, books, even children's clothes...All of it went outside for the bin men. "Oh if I didn't pack them into boxes, I don't want them" she said. There was no way I could go through and sort out decent stuff which might be useful.  
I have therefore decided my decluttering must be done thoughtfully. Last week I sorted out the following things

1. I have way too much Le Creuset cookware. Most of it is 40 years old [wedding gifts] and there are a few newer pieces. I sorted out 4 items I'm not using, and offered them to my daughters.
2. There was a whole stack of empty tetrapak cartons, washed and waiting, in the kitchen. Thank you to all my local friends who pointed out that the recycling area at Ferndown Tesco has a bin for these
3. A dear friend recently died. Her husband asked me to deal with her vast wool collection. These went to the Knit'N'Natter group at the Parish Church, who are currently knitting various items for some overseas charities.
4. I'm about to do my Summer/Winter clothes swap. I spent 5 minutes going through the wardrobe pulling out the items which had not been worn this season** and putting them into a box for the Trussell Trust Shop.

I have also joined a local facebook group called 'Waste Not, Want Not' where people can offer items free to others who might find a use for them.

**One tip I learned years ago – at the start of the season, put all hangers on the rail with the ‘open’ part of the hook facing you. As you wear and replace a garment, put the hook on the ‘conventional way [open part to the back] Then when you get to the swap over, you can immediately discover which clothes you have not worn at all

Being Aware Means Taking Care

Today marks the start of Baby Loss Awareness Week. And tomorrow is World Mental Health Day

For many people, these two issues are inextricably linked. Every bereavement is painful, but the loss of a baby can bring all sorts of added griefs.
The term "raising awareness" is much used in recent days. Yes, I do agree that if we do not know about a problem, we will be ill-equipped to deal with it. But our 'awareness -raising' must not be done thoughtlessly.
Back in 1992,  Carla Joinson coined the term "compassion fatigue" for medical staff who were so burned out from caring for the sick, that they developed "the inability to nurture". The continuous strain under which they were working blunted their sensitivities, and ability to do their work effectively.
I am wondering now if there is some sort of "awareness fatigue" too. Richard, a good friend of my two daughters, wrote a blog post last week which moved me to tears. He has been a brave and passionate advocate for baby loss awareness, and groups like SANDS since the loss of his twins some years ago. But he raised concern about the plans to make the campaign last a month. Isn't that a little too long? Doesn't it make things harder for the bereaved families affected by this issue?
It is more than twenty years since the actor David Haig, and his wife Julia, lost their daughter Grace. David and Julia have been patrons of Sands for many years - and he speaks of the support of other parents, and the importance of the week.

Like Richard, I think David feels that for the other 51 weeks of the year, these parents want to live 'alongside' the tragedy, coping in whatever way is best for them. And sometimes they are tired and struggling, and all the 'public fuss' is just a bit much to bear, however well intentioned. I am not saying stop caring, or that it is wrong to raise awareness of important causes - but I think it is vital to be sensitive about how we do this. 
For twenty years, through the 1980s&90s, the BBC ran a Radio programme for people with disabilities, and their carers. It was brilliantly entitled "Does he take sugar?" - because so many people encounter a wheelchair user, and assume that if their legs don't work, they are also deaf and unable to make decisions about their tea, so they expect the carer to answer for them.
I hope that as I try to awareness of issues, with those who are ignorant of them, that I am also conscious of the feelings of people already affected. If this is a good day, does the person with mental health issues want to be reminded that last week they were really depressed? Every week is baby loss awareness week for some people, and if it is an effort to get out and go to work, do you really want well meaning people reminding you about it when you get to the office? Macmillan Tea Parties are brilliant- but I would not presume that someone affected by cancer "ought" to attend. I found this in a selection of prayers for World Mental Health Day, it is by Christopher Jenkins

May the Lord God bless you each step of Life’s way.

May you learn each day to open yourself to love and the blessings of love.

May you find a stick to lean on when the road is hard

- and not use the stick to beat yourself.

May you be blessed with life's abundance and blessed in poor days too,

-learning again what really matters, what lasts.

May you never give in to despair or the lie that nothing can change.

May you find ways of life and walk them with courage,

knowing that every step is within the heart of Christ

 - who holds all our days in love

I Could Have Danced All Night!

Thank you to my friend Nadia for these lovely pictures from Saturday night. You can see how much fun everyone was having. Bob and I were so happy to have so many friends and family sharing in our celebration.

 

What A Wonderful Weekend!

So much happened, and it was all such great fun - and for once I was just too busy enjoying things to take many pictures. Family members were all arriving at different times - Gary's parents, Andrea and Danny had come down to Dorset from Cheshire on Wednesday, to enjoy a few days by the sea, visiting other relations as well as coming to our Party. On Friday evening the four of us went to Bellagio's, a nearby Italian restaurant. 

When we got back to Ferndown at 10pm, Gary and Steph had arrived from Manchester, and we had a brief chat then all went to bed.
Up early Saturday to decorate the church and sort out the food.
I never got photos of Gary helping our friend David hang the bunting, or Bob making vast quantities of bolognese sauce.
After lunch Adrian and Marion arrived from Norfolk and we enjoyed a cuppa and a chat before getting ready for the dance.

We served jacket potatoes, with three fillings; bolognese, beans, and grated cheese - along with an assortment of salads. 
We decided against the usual desserts served at such events [apple pies, gateaux, trifles or cake]  Instead there were bowls of fresh fruit and small dishes of chocolates.
"NO cake!?" said our friends [we always serve cake at UCF suppers] but then agreed this was a good idea. The little Cadbury's 'Dark Milk' sample bars were particularly popular.
The trusty drinks dispensers were out, with three different chilled soft drinks on tap, and plenty of tea and coffee. At 8pm we all went into the church to dance [all except David and Will, who insisted on clearing up and sorting out the kitchen]

The brilliant Woodsiders Ceilidh Band were cheerful and charming, and we danced from 8 - 10.30 [with an interval halfway, and fresh tea and coffee]

I do hope somebody else's pictures have come out - by the time I remembered [at 10pm] to take a picture, some of the youngest [and oldest] guests had gone home to bed. And my pictures are distinctly out of focus. 
We danced and danced. There were around 70 people present - ages between 10 and 90.  Everybody said how much they enjoyed themselves.
At 10.30, after many thankyous and applause, and farewells, tyhe band packed up - and other people leapt into action re-arranging the tables and chairs for Sunday morning. We left the bunting - far too late for climbing ladders! My fitbit logged 20K+ steps [the most in one day since Liz and Steph gave it to me in April]

Sunday morning, rather bleary-eyed, I confess, I went off to church with Bob. lots of visitors, which was lovely, and a really good re:vive breakfast church.
The children loved making their dancing people.
We got home at lunchtime, to find Steph and Gary had done a marathon job of cleaning up the kitchen for us- saving me hours of work. Thank you- you two are absolute stars!
The four of us went to a carvery for lunch, then they returned to Manchester.
And then I went to sleep for 2 hours!
I cannot begin to thank all the people who made the weekend so special. Lots of lovely memories, and kind comments which Bob and I will remember for a long time.
Somebody asked me what was my secret to staying happily married for 40 years. My mind went bank, and then I said "Marrying the right person" 
I wondered if I should set up a savings account now, to pay for our Golden Wedding Party in 2029. Then I decided that when we get to our 50th, we can leave all the sauce cooking, salad making, bunting hanging and general preparations to our children and grandchildren. I shall just sit in the chair, and direct operations - rather like Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey. Or maybe just sit and enjoy things like my Centenarian friend Mary did last week.

Jesus Turns Our Sadness Into Dancing!

This morning is Re:vive at UCF - our 'breakfast church' - with coffee,croissants, singing, videos, discussion and more. I'm not sure how much energy I shall have this morning,  after last night's Barn Dance, for doing crafts with the children. I decided we would use the verse from Psalm 30:11 "You have turned my sadness into dancing" and make dancing people

I printed off some sticky labels, and everyone will get two 12" pipecleaners, a handful of 'beads' and a cardboard lid [these were from the Scrapstore, originally intended for ice cream tubs] Stick the label on the lid, thread the beads on the pipecleaners and twist together to make a bendy little dancer. 

Please don't tell me off about the 'beads'. Yes they are made from plastic straws. But they are ones I bought in bulk about 10 years ago in Leicester, when I was doing lots of alco-free mocktail bars - and before we knew what damage they can cause. Better to get some use from them, rather than just discard them, surely? 

Put Your Dancing Shoes On!

Really busy today. Definitely no time to blog. But please DO drop in if you are passing, and enjoy some supper and a dance or two. This is [probably] the last of our Ruby Celebration events!

100 Not Out!

This is Mary - the oldest member of our fellowship. She is one amazing lady. Two weeks ago she celebrated her 100th birthday. If you thought Bob and I overdid it this summer, with all our Ruby Wedding Fun, well, we have nothing on this lady! She had a party at the residential home where she lives, along with her 'housemates' another family party, at the home of her son Steve [one of our deacons] and finally a big party for all her friends at the church. 
Steve and his wife Carole kindly invited us to the party at their house, and then last Sunday to the party at church.

Mary is very fond of Bob, and was eager to show him all the cards.
[I decided I would make one which was straight to the point - name, age, and a smart little bird]
Of course, it is obligatory on such occasions for an Royal acknowledgement

In case you are wondering, the blue card is from Thérèse Coffey. No, I didn't know who she was and had to look her up too! She became Secretary of State for Work and Pensions less than a fortnight before Mary's birthday - so she sent Mary a birthday telegram.
She was not invited to any of Mary's parties though.

There was yet another cake at the church tea party [you cannot see the purple "100" candle, it is camouflaged by the icing]

Mary is getting very good at blowing out the candles.
Marys DIL Carole wanted to find a special birthday gift.

She decided to make a quilt - to brighten up Mary's bed in the home. But life was very busy and we were well into September before the project got started. So she asked for a little help. It was a lot of fun - I taught Carole the strip-and-flip technique which we used to do with the Teenagers at the Sewing Club back in Kirby Muxloe.
It is easy, speedy and produces a great result - even if you are not a particularly practised needleworker.

Here is the quilt- on the left, part of the top section on my ironing board, on the right, the finished item draped over my sofa.

Carole wanted the quilt labelled, so I produced a postcard sized piece of embroidery on my machine, and that was stitched up in the corner. No chance of another resident 'borrowing' it by mistake!
Mary was thrilled with it and it adorns her bed now.
But she brought it to the party to show to her friends, and Bob held it up for people to see. 

Happy birthday Mary! Your face radiates love and joy, and your strong faith and determined attitude are an example to us all. You are very proud of your large family - and they are equally proud of you. It is a privilege to know you, and to be able to share in the centenary celebrations.

We Knead More!

People continued to bring goods for the harvest display right up until the service started in Sunday. This was taken at 10am - much more food came after that! You'll notice we have four harvest loaves at the base of the table.
These are the ones made by our young people with assistance from Pete The Baker, of Belinda's Bakery, Ringwood

Here is a close up. Pete himself came along to the service, and we applauded him.
Bob took the smallest loaf and it was broken up and distributed to the congregation.
In the challenging sermon, in which Bob spoke of our responsibilities to the world- both its peoples and its ecology. He quoted Greta Thurnberg, and said it was important to listen to her words, and not dismiss her as 'just an angry child'
He said how good it was that the children had made the bread, and that we the adults could be blessed by it. "Now- what are we going to do to bless others?"

This is the man himself. He came through to the hall for coffee, and said he'd like to buy the cauliflower which had been on display. The trouble was, I'd already bought that - so I swapped it for two aubergines - and gave him the cauli.
"Careful!" he said. "Don't touch the white part" Pete went on to explain to Ali and myself [she's the smiling person behind him in the picture] that if you touch the white part, it will bruise. 
"See those brown patches there? That's where somebody touched the white part yesterday - tomorrow, it will be brown where you touched it today"
Ali and I were both really surprised- neither of us knew about cauli-marks. Did you?
What a wonderful morning

• blessed by the children
• some great singing
• a superb sermon
• a challenge to help others
• excellent coffee
• and I learned how to look after my veggies

All so good- I wish more people came along to church on Sunday
[and in the afternoon, we went back to church for a party, but that's another story]

Pillow Talk

You know me - I cannot bear to waste anything if I can find another use for it. And I am very careful with the pennies. For years now, I have bought inexpensive pillows rather than costlier 'bags of polyester stuffing for toys etc'. It is the same stuff, it comes in a fabric bag, not a thin plastic one which splits. It is much cheaper - and so easy to make a small slit along the top, pull out stuffing in handfuls as needed- then fold over the corner and fasten with a safety pin. 
A memory bear takes around a full pillow's worth of stuffing. So when I had three to make, I bought a bag of four pillows - but discovered an added bonus in the pack.

Four 'free' pillow protectors. Now let's be clear here- this is not fine Egyptian cotton. The pillows themselves, and the extra protectors are made of honeycomb PARC, which is a lightweight non-woven polypropylene fabric

But it is relatively tough, washable, and breathable. I was sure I could use it for something.
Then it dawned on me - Produce Bags. Now there are some lovely bags on the market - organic cotton, drawstring, ecofriendly containers, handsewn by vestal virgins on the banks of the Limpopo [I made up the last bit]
What I wanted was a set of bags in varying sizes to hold my carrots, peppers, leeks etc tidily in the fridge. When I buy my veg, the man on the market tips everything into my big cotton totes- spuds, onions, carrots all tumble together to be sorted when I get home. But in the fridge, sometimes half a stray carrot will get lost and wither in the far corner of the veg drawer.
It took me less than 20 minutes to cut up a pair of pillowcase covers and make a set of 10 bags of varying sizes. Nine will fold neatly to fit in the 10th [small size] bag.

I sorted the salad drawer and loaded up the bags.
Things look so much tidier now and more manageable.
I didn't bother to encase the two spring onions. This might turn them into
w-rapscallions

The bags aren't transparent, but it is not difficult to identify leeks, peppers, carrots etc. I put bag clips across the corners - not so much to seal the bags, but rather to prevent everything falling out.
The medium bag is just the right size for holding a punnet of mushrooms. So it should fit soft fruit boxes too.
I'm very pleased with this project - which took little time and little effort [and no outlay] for a good result.
And I have two more protectors, and 4 more pillowcases for future recycling.

Satisfied Screwfix Super-Scrounger

Last Friday morning I went with Bob, and our friends Alan and Dave, to the Screwfix Live 2019 exhibition at the Farnborough Exhibition and Conference Centre.

This is an annual outing. Bob and his friends go because they can look at tools, and try out equipment, and even occasionally, purchase something [at a better price than usual] It's great fun.

I wandered around, and stopped to look at the JigTech- a tool which enables you to fit a door handle easily. "Oh go on. Have a try!" said the chap on the stand. 
"We haven't had a woman make an attempt yet" So he talked me through the process [fix the jig, drill the big hole, change the chuck, drill the small hole, fit the hardware, tap it in with a hammer]
"OK, here I go" I said - and picked up the cordless Makita and did the job. I realised two things as I finished- [1] there was quite a crowd watching and [2] he hadn't even bothered to use the stopwatch.
Felt slightly aggrieved by this - was it that he thought I would take half an hour? or was it that he was afraid I might complete it faster than the blokes ad damage their male pride?
But my main activity was to explain to the stallholders that I was collecting freebies for Christmas shoeboxes, which would go to teenage lads in Romania. I said that I was just there to scrounge their freebies on behalf of young people who have very little. 
Thank you to all those generous exhibitors who gave me stuff- I came away with over eighty items. Pens, pencils, screwdriver sets, beanie hats, water bottles, keyrings and more...

Do you remember Neil Buchanan on Art Attack? He used to lay everyday items out to make a big picture.
When we got home, I decided to do that with my Screwfix Haul. Here's hoping these things put smiles on the faces of the Romanian Recipients.