Fifty Shades Of Red

 Pink, Coral, Cerise, Scarlet, Vermilion, Crimson, Ruby, Burgundy, Maroon, Plum...

This Is Just To Say
 
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
 
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
 
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
[William Carlos Williams]

My friend Anne gave me some plums fromt  he tree in her garden [Thanks Anne] Liz reminded me of this WCW poem, which I typed out and stuck on the fridge when the girls were tiny. [note 'typed' - it was a long time ago!]

After a hard day of work outside, I slung my red overalls in the machine- unfortunately Bobs tee shirt and sports socks were in their too. 

The pink colour is very even - and he says he is still OK wearing them [Thanks Bob]

Matthew 17 ; 20

The raised bed is in place! Bob has been working so hard to get it ready for me to start the gardening adventure in earnest. I've been reading this book avidly, and drawing up plans, and working out what I do first. The book takes you through the year showing exactly what to do and when is you have a raised bed.

The author, Huw Richards is an enthusiastic gardener - aged just 22, he has 500 or so gardening videos on YouTube, and has been described as the greenfingered wunderkind. 

The instructions for September are to sow spinach and mustard [or rocket] seeds directly into the bed. These should give us salad leaves in November. I purchased my seeds and carefully marked out the tiny little trenches with bamboo canes as instructed. These paper packets have a plastic plant label attached to the outside for marking your row, and inside a foil packet of seeds. [99% of you now this stuff already I am sure - forgive me, it's all new to me] 

I decided to do one row of rocket and one row mustard [Huw recommends 'red frill' variety, which 'add a colourful kick to salads'] I was concentrating so hard. Checking the book, marking the row, opening the paper outer very carefully and snipping the corner of the foil pack. 

The spinach rows were fine. Then I did the mustard row, and finally the rocket - only somewhere in the process, I muddled the two packets. These seeds are so tiny, they were really difficult to separate out and plant in the trenches and instead of one row of each I realised I had a half-and-half row. So then I did another mixed row. I guess it will be ok once [if] they grow - as the rocket is green and the mustard is red. But I am cross with myself for making such a mistake at an early stage. - there are mustard seeds all over the place!

In Matthew 17, Jesus says to his disciples Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move.

There are days when I feel that my faith is like my mustard seeds - very tiny and all over the place. I don't need any mountains moving right now - but I do believe God honours our faith, however weak, and he hears our prayers, however softly we whisper them.

I have to leave those seeds in the compost now, trusting they will germinate and grow. And I leave my prayers with God, trusting him to answer. 

Five Minute Mum

 I've been doing Grandma Duties this week. On Monday I looked after baby Jess whilst Liz collected Rosie from school [they cycle together] I set up a simple afterschool activity on the kitchen table using Ro's vast collection of tiny plastic animals, some Duplo, and some Kinetic Sand

Rosie worked out what to do and happily found all the cars and dogs and put them in their allocated places. And didn't really notice she was getting extra practice at reading and counting 

I made this game up myself. But if you need inspiration for activities with young children, Liz recommends this one. Daisy Upton is a mum of two and former classroom assistant. Her principle is that even a five minutes activity spent with small children will give them joy [and a few moments of  peace for their busy carers] 

This book is teeming with great ideas and simple activities - and most just need simple stuff already in the toybox or the kitchen. Daisy is a great encourager, assuaging the unnecessary guilt which some young Mums feel [she says - remember this is NOT a competition, you ARE NOT a teacher]

Daisy's  second book is aimed at children who are at school - with clear explanations of phonics terminology for confused parents, so they can have a clear idea about the projects involving words and reading. 

I am aware that doing such activities with children has been a huge part of my life - but never think that because you aren't a "professional" you can't make a significant difference to the way the children around you learn and grow. 

I know Liz and Ro have really enjoyed trying out the ideas in this book - and I'm happy to endorse Liz's recommendation - a good present for parents, grandparents, and anyone else who has to keep the children occupied sometimes!

Three days in London is always fun - on Tuesday I pushed the buggy to school in the afternoon, and found one area cordoned off, as they were filming the new 6-part TV series "Trigger Point" starring Vicky McClure [Line of Duty etc] I didn't see VC herself - but many of the cast were inside The Ship pub, having their make-up done, and there were loads of "police cars" getting ready for "an incident" to be filmed. This looks like it should be worth watching

You Wood Enjoy This!

I was so busy posting about ZeroWasteWeek, that I completely forgot to post about our visit to The workhouse. We last visited ten years ago
I'd read that their Summer Specials were concluding with a demonstration of woodcraft, and I figured Bob would enjoy this

The woodworker was still preparing when we arrived, so we went inside and had a good look round the Museum. Some displays had changed since our last visit, others had been re-organised during lockdown and were one-way or distanced. All the 'hands-on' stuff for children had temporarily been put away.

I shall post more about the Museum itself later. Ithas some great hostorical artefacts. After seeing all the inside stuff, we had a snack lunch in The Mardlers' Rest Café, then looked round outside. There's a fantastic new outdoor play area. And we spent ages talking to Adam the woodcarver.

He was working at a pole lathe, and had also been carving spoons.

All sorts of lovely items on sale - spoons, dragonfly tops for garden canes, butter knives with colourful handles, plant dibbers, honey dribblers ...

And don't you just love his leaf bunting? That was the safety line to stop children getting too close to the demo. The little flags were made by banging the leaves into the fabric. A collaborative project with his son and his wife. 

I was fascinated by the way a 'blank' of wood is shaped and carved into a smooth spoon, so tactile, so lovely to handle.

This is 'greenwood' work - unlike Bob's use of 'seasoned' wood on his lathe.

Adam and I spent ages discussing the teaching of manual skills in schools, the virtues of 'make do and mend', and the joy of creating something from scratch - be it a spoon, a sweater or a sourdough loaf.

I could have spent the whole day watching him working, 

It turns out that Adam only lives a few miles from Cornerstones - and he runs training workshops . Not only in spoon carving, but also in axe throwing, archery, paddle-boarding and more. I cannot throw dice reliably, but suggested Bob might enjoy throwing an axe. 

Adam gave me a leaflet and told me to check out his website. He kindly said I could use pictures from the site on the blog too. [thank you!]

Do check out his site - there are all sorts of lovely little gifts on sale, and courses to sign up for.

My next retirement adventure? I shall be going to a spoon carving workshop at the end of the month! Not Bob, ME - maybe I won't have the knack of carving, but it will be lovely to have a go. Watch this space...

"Spoons By Adam" - turning the humble spoon and more into beautiful objects for the home

All Your Eggs In One Basket?

 Our language is full of egg phrases

• she's a good egg [or a rotten egg]
• can't boil an egg
• the goose that lays the golden egg
• you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs
• the curate's egg
• to egg someone on
• egg on your face

I'm sure you can think of others. I love the fact that it is so easy round here to find fresh, free range eggs. I usually get mine from the farm at the edge of the village. But on Sundays, the cottage near the chapel has this sign outside

I love the idea of eggs being described as fruit, drops, or berries. I'm not sure I've ever eaten duck or quail eggs though - have you?

When I was making my terrine of summer fruits for dinner with Adrien and Marion, Delia instructed that "strawberries must be halved if they are larger than a quail's egg" How big is that? I wondered.

Here you are - hen's egg at the top, quail is smaller, duck is larger. Average sizes of these [height/diameter] as follows

duck 65/44 mm

hen 58/40 mm

quail 35/27 mm

Quail is clearly a lot smaller. I didn't want to spend an afternoon with a tape measure, checking every piece of fruit - so I worked out a quick solution.

top tip of the day -  if your strawberry will sit neatly inside an upturned bottle cap, that meets Delia's size requirements
I still have not eaten a quail's egg though [you don't seem to get much bang for your cluck buck] 

UPDATE thank you to Anne, who graciously emailed me to point out I'd put cm not mm in my egg sizes. Oops! She gently suggested that the idea of a hen producing an egg 2 feet high is a bit eye watering. Do you remember the Good Life and Margot's Cracker Joke?

Hoodwinked!

At the end of July, we visited my SIL &BIL in the Cotswolds. We had such a great time. Denise and Kevin were gracious hosts, and it was so good to chat, see their new home, and visit local gardens. While we were there, Denise presented me with a challenge - she had begun knitting a hooded jacket for her granddaughter Polly, but it had gone wrong. She'd unpicked and tried again. Same result - so please could I fathom it out? Denise is a competent knitter but an even better gardener. Over the weekend she gave me so much help with my garden planning - this seemed a fair exchange of skills. I brought the wool and pattern home.

You see the garment is knitted in garter [plain] stitch throughout, and it says "Easy knit design"?

Well we were both hoodwinked. It was surprisingly complex. I did my usual thing of going through and circling the specific instructions for the 4th size. Three inches in, I realised I'd gone wrong. I 'frogged' it -that's where you remove the needles and pull out stitches to the point of the error. Allegedly "Rip it! rip it!" sounds like a frog, hence the name.

I tried again. And again. The back was knitted in a T-shape - with increasing on both sides to get the sleeves. The fronts were inverted L-shapes and instructions for the sleeve increases, neck decreases and buttonholes were written out in a way I found totally confusing. So I went through the pattern and rewrote the whole thing, row by row - but only noting the specific instructions for the 4th size. At the 5th attempt, I ended up with a finished jacket.

It is not the best garment I have ever knitted, but it will keep Polly warm and comfy when her grandparents take her out in the buggy. I will say that Stylecraft Bambino is pleasant to knit with. A soft, 'anti-pilling' yarn,100% washable,[useful for childrenswear] - and not too expensive. 

Denise and family are pleased with the jacket - and she apologised [quite unnecessarily] for "Inflicting the pattern" on me, saying "If it challenged your Bletchley Park genes, it must have been hard"

Denise and Kevin celebrated their Ruby Wedding recently - so I posted off the jacket along with a card I'd made. I'm so grateful for my loving family.

Fruits Of My Labours

Apologies about the odd behaviour of comments box yesterday - not sure what was happening. Further news of my adventures in gardening

Convinced that when the man came to collect the skip, the apple tree would get knocked, and the rest of the fruit would fall, I harvested what remained of the crop. I got just 500g of fruit, but it tasted good, even though the apples were small. Next year... 

I picked 3.5 kg of pears from the tree. Their skins were rather blemished - but I have peeled, blanched and frozen them to make pies and puddings later.

I bought some tomato plants from B&Q but they shrivelled and died. I paid 50p each for some more plants, which a village resident had left outside their house on a table, with an Honesty Box. 

I may have grown my first ever successful crop of tomatoes! I am greatly heartened by this progress on the gardening front, and hope that in 2022, when I can concentrate properly and not have builders, skips, and diggers around - and the path and lathe palace are completed - I shall be able to grow much more. Fruit and flowers...

Bob is being so encouraging - I shall post some pictures soon of the amazing raised bed which he is building for me as part of my gardening adventure. 

I'm so grateful for his support [but a bit scared it might all fail] I tried vegetable gardening back in 2009, it was not exactly a resounding success.

We Dig, Dig, Dig!

 
Update on the Garden Path Project... after mapping out the pattern for slabs, loose laying them to check, partially digging the area out, I was feeling positive. Then the guy from Eon said a man would be round to tell us what work needed to be done to change the fuse, and they'd be likely to dig up our path and lay the new cable in November. I lost a bit of momentum. We refilled the hole again, put down some sand to make it more level, and loose laid the slabs as a temporary measure.

Then a cheery chappie turned up who said they could change the fuse to a slightly lower value [but much higher than it is now] and they would not have to dig things up or lay a new cable. So that meant I could get on and finish the task.

Saturday 7th -The slabs were renumbered [rain had washed off my chalk marks] and restacked - and first I removed the layer of sand. Then I began digging out again. I got very tired, and my face got even redder [to match my overalls] Paul next door offered me a cold beer from his fridge

"But I suppose its a bit early for beer" he said as I declined politely and said Bob was making tea. Bob helped me finish the digging.

The bottom layer of hardcore is re-used stuff from the old garden wall. We've had to order extra sand* - the chap delivered it at 7am one morning, but didn't bother to ring the bell. He just left it at the far end of the property by the old garage. So lots of wheelbarrow work needed, to get it to the front door! It keeps us fit.

* currently "slablayer" is unavailable - so we will put down a good layer of sand, then make our own sand/cement mix, before replacing all the slabs. It certainly gives the local dog-walkers something to chat about

Back In The Pulpit Again!

This Sunday I shall be actually preaching in an actual church! I haven't done that since January 2020 [although I did do a couple of 'conference call' sermons on the phone last year]

Here is the church - the Cowper Memorial Congregational Church which stands in Dereham Marketplace. The poet William Cowper spent the last years of his life in the town, lodging with Mary Unwin.

Below is a photograph of the old Georgian house - subsequently demolished to make way for the chapel. 

Cowper died in 1800 and was buried in the Parish Church. The nonconformist chapel was built in 1873. 

One of the most popular poets of his time, William Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. 

In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called him "the best modern poet", whilst William Wordsworth particularly admired his poem Yardley-Oak. Cowper suffered from severe manic depression, and although he found refuge in a fervent evangelical Christianity, the inspiration behind his much-loved hymns, he often experienced doubt. 

His religious sentiment and association with John Newton (author of Amazing Grace) led to much of the poetry for which he is best remembered. It was Cowper who wrote "God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform". He also wrote "Variety's the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavour"

No, we won't be singing any of Cowper's hymn this morning. [and I'm preaching on 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 3] Here is the current mission statement of the church- I think the poet would have approved

Our mission is to nurture a diverse and welcoming community, committed to following fearlessly wherever God is leading us and make Disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of Dereham and the world!

 

Twenty Years On...

 

Lord of Mercy, Prince of Peace,

This date, 9-11, carries a heavy burden of memory.
This day does not pass in the calendar without our remembering.

 We remember images of death and destruction. 

Images that human eyes were never meant to see. 

We remember words our ears were never meant to hear, the tender last words of husbands and wives who would never embrace again.

We imagine the feeling of emptiness in the arms of children who at the end of the day could not find mum or dad for their welcome home hug. 

We remember our own feelings of emptiness as our sense of security, as our own confidence in the predictable order of life and work was radically shaken.

This date, 9-11, carries a heavy burden of memory.
We remember the heroism of the many that lost their lives in saving others. 

We remember all those who suffered and died, we grieve for them still, friends and strangers alike, along with their families and friends. 

This date, 9-11, carries a heavy burden of memory.
And it is right that it should not pass from our memory. 

But today and in this prayer, along with our remembrance of profound loss, it also seems right that we give voice to our deep longing for peace, and with this prayer, commit ourselves to those actions that will draw us closer to our most ancient and most holy desire, peace among all God’s children.

 Lord, grant us peace. Amen.

ZWW In The Dining Room

Today is the last day of ZWW [yes, I know, why is it only 5 days long?] There are loads of articles in the press and online, and TV programmes and national campaigns devoted to food waste. I am going to share just two things 

The first is something we have been doing diligently since retirement - using cloth napkins [serviettes] These were bought for a song, back in 1982, when Laker Airways went bankrupt. [I'm not surprised, if they gave their travelers linen napkins with their meals] 

The rings do not match - mine is my Dad's chrome one, which was always kept in the top drawer of Mum's sideboard, and came out at Sunday lunchtime. Bob's is an EPNS one from a CS. We use them most meal times, and roll them up again - I only launder them when they get grubby, so they usually serve us for 3 or 4 meals. They are faded from their original scarlet colour, and you can only just make out the logo woven into the fabric. But better than single use paper napkins

Secondly [thank you Liz for this suggestion] I bought some Moopops - silicon lids for cream/yogurt containers. So often the pots of cream/yogurt from the supermarket have foil lids, or very flimsy plastic tops which split or get lost long before the contents are used. 

Moonpops already produce small silicon tops to fit on glass milk bottles - but now they make these larger lids. I think they are good because [1] they seal the pot keeping cream fresh longer [2] they prevent spillage in the fridge [3] I don't need to use clingfilm [I don't like using my beeswax wraps on liquid dairy products] These longlasting tops tick lots of ZW boxes

So that's the end of my posts for ZWW 2021. I hope you've been inspired to think about some changes you could make - Kezzie's blog is always an inspiration to me - she is so thoughtful about putting her ZW ideas into practice, and honest about the struggles. For more ideas try Bea Johnson . She is the world guru - but I find her just a little bit annoying tbh - surely flying to 70 countries for 28 international speaking tours generates a lot of airline waste and gives her a massive 'global footprint' ? [at least Greta T braved a rowing boat across the Atlantic to show her commitment]

ZWW In The Bathroom

According to an article I read last summer, the bathroom is one place where many people tend to forget about reducing waste and recycling. 
I get that - you dash to the loo just before you go out, finish the roll of paper, and even if you put a new one on the holder, you don't take the empty tube to be recycled - you drop it in the 'general' bathroom bin. You finish your bottle of shower gel or shampoo or tube of toothpaste., and do the same thing. And as for sanpro...  

Now if you are really dedicated to zero waste, you are reading this and saying 'oh we use washable family cloths, not loo paper' or 'lush make shampoo bars, no need for packaging' or 'I brush with eco friendly products'. But most of us aren't quite ready for many of those changes yet. 

Going ZeroWaste is a journey - and part of that is disposing of things carefully and not sending them to landfill once we have finished with them. There are a number of groups who can help us with this in the 'bathroom department' 

Dental Products- Both Phillips and Colgate offer recycling programmes, collecting at dental practices across the country [ check here and here for your nearest drop off] 

Make-Up - Maybelline are collecting empty make up containers [details here]...and these companies accept all brands, not just their own.   This has to be a good idea. 

Blister Packs - even if you are not on regular meds, like me, you may have ibuprofen or cold relief tabs in the bathroom cabinet. Take the empty packaging to Superdrug who will recycle and send the cash to Macmillan Cancer Care

Pants - it's three years since I wrote about my leak-proof pants. These are easily available in the UK now [sometimes called period pants] You can get them in M&S, Sainsbury's, Next, Primark, Tesco...Just think how many plastic adhesive strips and plastic tampon tubes are not needed if a woman switches to these garments. [Other women prefer to use Mooncups™ or similar] 

Depilation - forget all those plastic disposable razors - Estrid offers a much more eco friendly solution. I am so pleased with mine, and have persuaded other friends and family members to get them too.

I'm sure you have zero waste bathroom ideas too - even the simplest 'short showers not deep baths' saves water from being wasted.

Please comment if you have a top tip to share!

ZWW In The Wardrobe

In her brilliant book,"The Tudor Tailor", Ninya Mikhaila explains that we have very few examples of the clothing of 'ordinary people' dating back to Tudor times - simply because they

wore their clothes for as long as they could. It was usual to leave garments in a will, because they were worth something. Grace Cockete of Newport in Essex bequeathed "To Margaret Coper, my best red petticoat, to Grace Rochelle my next red petticoat, and finally to Robert Jackson's wife my worst red petticoat" [clearly even Mistress Jackson was receiving a garment which was still wearable]

And once these had been patched and darned and repaired [fringes and 'dun guards' were often stitched on to hems, to take the dirt and wear, then be replaced] then the best parts of the fabric would be extracted to make smaller garments or childrenswear. And the remainder went to household rags.

Fabric was far too precious to waste! Of course it was all natural fibres, so totally compostable too. We need to reclaim our heritage here!

Liz presented me with two challenges over the summer. The first was relatively easy. A summer dress in loose weave cotton. Somehow this had caught in something sharp and an area about 2.5cm² was damaged. I found a length of broderie lace trim in the Great Stash [still great, despite pre-retirement cull!] and cut off one flower. I strengthened the back of the hole with iron on interfacing, and handstitched the trim in place. One little daisy makes all the difference.

The second garment was far more challenging. Liz had an old black cashmere Boden jumper [These currently retail at £115. I suspect got hers for far less than that, she is my thrifty daughter] It had a number of moth holes - 5 large ones on the front, 2 slightly smaller on the back. Could I remake it into a sweater dress for Rosie, please?

I loved this challenge! First I made a copy of the position of the moth holes, then stabilised them on the back with fine iron on interfacing. Then a I took a tracing of another dress to get an idea of hip size and length, and measured Rosie's sleeve length.

The scary bit was cutting into the jumper - no turning back now! I cut off the sleeves along the original seam line, and shortened them. 

All cut edges were finished on the overlocker. I resewed the sleeves and took in the sides. I darned the tiny holes on the back with plain back thread, but made a design to cover the larger front holes. Here's one happy little bee, flying away from the flower!

Before I began the embroidery, I used a piece of one shortened sleeve to practice stitches, and I used a hoop to keep the fabric taut. I used 2 strands DMC embroidery floss for bee and flower, three strands for the flight path. This will be a good little winter garment over leggings, loose enough for tee-shirt or vest underneath. [thank you for inspiration from the book Joyful Mending]

Two garments saved for another day!