Happy Birthday, Jess

I feel so blessed to have such a loving family. Yesterday, granddaughter Jess celebrated her 5th birthday down in London.
She is such a character, 
entering into life with such joy and enthusiasm. She adores clothes, especially hats - and trying new foods, and dancing, and books. She loves words, and numbers, art, crafts and science. We hope you have had a great weekend, with your playdate party in the park - and we can't wait to see you again soon.

Hominid/Homonym - A Weekend Quiz

This is Ook,the Orang Utan librarian who keeps watch over Bob's library of Terry Pratchett books. He is a hominid. 
The word watch can be a verb [to look upon] 👀or a noun [a timepiece] ⌚. Such a word is a homonym. A word with one spelling and two meanings.

I came across a short list of homonyms recently which fascinated me - each had two syllables. But the stress was on different syllables, and that made all the difference. For instance
subject - what you learn at school
subject  to force someone to do something
"I should do a blog post on that" I thought. And then I completely forgot about it. Till Thursday, when we happened to be in Waitrose. Bob had suggested we drop in for some Thai Red Curry Paste** and a yellow-sticker hunt. At the back of the store I saw this display

Their new range of summer crockery is called "Curate" -which is a homonym. The dictionary says 

1. curate -  to select the best and moat appropriate for presentation
2. curate - a member of the Anglican clergy.

So is this new range designed for Vicarage Tea Parties, do you think?

Here's a weekend quiz for you. A list of paired definitions. Between them, in brackets, the number of letters and the initial of the word in question. Remember, same word, but two pronunciations and two meanings. I will give the answers on Monday. The first one is obviously curate. The last two are a bit more challenging!

Member of clergy	[6,C]	Select best for show
A trade agreement	[8,C]	Get smaller
A gift	[7,P]	Show, or bestow
Way in	[8,E]	Charm
Disabled	[7,I]	Incorrect/without effect
Tiny	[6,M]	60 seconds
Stick out	[7,P]	Plan or design
Rubbish	[6,R]	Turn down
Gather together	[7,C]	A short prayer
Create something	[7,P]	Fruit and Vegetables
Ignore	[8,D]	Reduce in price
Fault	[6,D]	Go to the other side
Mouth wide open	[5,A]	God's love [Greek]
Was miserable	[5,M]	A small scooter

**to make some fish curry for the freezer. Thank you Sue for that idea! 

Washing My Dirty Linen...

 On May 30th, Bob and Rosie were swimming in the sea, on June 2nd I was muttering about 'Flaming June' and wanting to wear lightweight clothing, last Friday I was writing about hot, sticky summery days. 

I complained to Bob that the water butt was empty...

And then this week it has rained, and rained

Don't you just love this picture entitled "Spring Cleaning the Ark" ? It is by London artist William  Heath Robinson [see here]
Mrs Noah, and her sons and daughters-in-law, got all the animals onto the roof, and they are giving the boat a proper clean. [even tho it is still raining!]
I had planned to be out working in the garden, but had to come inside when the sharp hailstones descended. I've spent much of the week doing little odd jobs which should have been done last month.
To be honest, in the run up to Bob's hospital visit I didn't feel like housework. 
Now he is feeling better, and we are both sleeping better, I have had a bit more OOOMPH!. As opposed to 0mph, which is Zero Miles Per Hour. I've become very determined in my cleaning regime.

Steph recommended The Pink Stuff, miracle cleaning paste [not that I had any miracles which needed cleaning!] It does seem to tick many of the boxes regarding the environment. Yes it is a little abrasive and there are surfaces where it is not a good idea to use it. But it is brilliant for dirt on the base of my saucepans [they call it 'bottom grime' - an unfortunate name I think] also marks on the oven door and shelves, and bathroom grouting. I keep old toothbrushes for small scrubbing jobs.

Over half term Liz said she'd had a go at her white towels and sheets, using Ariel Bio detergent. I stopped using bio detergent in 1985 when Steph had a really bad reaction when wearing clothes washed in biological detergent, and ended up in A&E [she was about 8 months old] Forty years later, she lives on the other side of the country. So I decided I would try again. These pods were on offer, so I bought a box. My sheets, towels and hankies are whiter - but I did a longer, hotter wash than usual. Perhaps I should have tried that programme with my regular Lidl powder first. I have ditched the dinge!
Thanks Liz and Steph for the cleaning tips!

Have you noticed that Peter Crouch is all over the ad breaks lately? In the last 6 months, he has done, Ariel, Paddy Power gambling, TNT Sports, Chery SUVs, Victorian Plumbing, Shark Ninja BBQs, Bovril, Alpro Breakfast foods... It is 8 years since he stopped playing professional football.  Maybe he needs to pay for more tooth whitening. .
And still it rains. We have had spectacular thunderstorms. The lightning was so close- we watched it strike our friend's house a couple of gardens away - mercifully no real damage or injury [just a blip in his power supply] 

I am hoping it is dry tomorrow, there is a Yard Sale in Foulsham, and I am looking after the pitch outside the Chapel. I would like people to turn up and pay up! At least we do have the Big Gazebo to shelter under.

What is your favourite cleaning product?

To Coin A Word

The words “to coin” can be used as a verb with a literal meaning to mint a coin, but in 14th century Europe, the term “coining” was associated with inventing words. By the late 16th century, “coining a phrase” implied the invention of a series of words used to complete a sentence. There's also a Greek word koinē, meaning "common" or "shared".  It is used for common language or lingua franca used by speakers of different original dialects or languages. The New Testament was originally written in Koinē Greek, which was the common language, accessible to all, rather than the formal Classical Greek.
I love discovering the history of words, how and when they were first coined, and how their meaning has changed down the centuries. In the study, we have a little paper cup. It is full of the odd coins we find in pockets and bags at the end of the day, or when we are tidying up the table...

What do you call such a collection?

Is it small change? Or loose change? 
I remember that when we had that huge mortgage, I used to say "We do not have loose change here, only tight budgets"

Have you come across the word

shrapnel?

I was thinking about this, and wondered who coined this term. It is an eponym, for Henry Shrapnel [1761-1842] who invented an artillery shell filled with lead musket balls, and a bursting charge, so it exploded in mid air.

The debris from exploding shells and bombs generally was called shrapnel. In WW1, metal and paper shortages meant they had problems at the Monnaie de Paris [the French Mint] and made cheap coins, and there were locally produced banknotes on cheap paper called billets de necessité. Troops fighting in France referred to the tattered notes as shrapnel - . By WW2, shrapnel  had become the slang term among the forces for any small coins. However it was not recognised in British dictionaries till 1984. 

Bob and I were talking about this - I first remember coming across the term in the 90s when I met my friend John [ex Forces] 

Whatever you call such a pot of dosh**,  it is useful to have some around, for charity pots, car park machines, and grandchildren who would like to buy their own treats. Many older people, and people managing debt issues, prefer to pay with real cash they can manage, rather than the credit card, which is 'virtual' money and sometimes hard to keep track of.

I for one do not want a cashless society, for lots of reasons.
What do you call shrapnel?

Are you happy to go 100% cashless?

 [they can't agree on the origin of dosh- it may be doss, the price of a bed for the night, dash, the Colonial African word for a bribe, or the Russian-Jewish word dosh meaning nose, as in pay-on-the-nose, i.e. pay in cash]

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs

Sometimes my Mum would serve a can of meatballs for tea along with mashed potato. When I was first married, I cooked Mary Berry's frikadeller recipe from Home&Freezer Digest, using a mix of pork and beef. IKEA arrived in the 80s and I was hooked on their Swedish meatballs. Now they sell meatballs, chicken balls, veggie balls and plant based balls. A useful freezer standby - I posted about how to serve your 'Swedish' meatballs in a variety of different ways back in 2015
Recently I rustled up some home made meatballs - this time with a middle eastern twist, using my Ottolenghi Simple Cookbook which Julian gave me for my birthday last year.

I had some leftover lamb and I flicked through this book and found this. It was very easy and very tasty. I had enough lamb to make enough for four portions - so we ate half and put the rest away for later in the week. 

500g minced lamb
100g feta, crumbled into roughly 1cm pieces
2 tbsp picked thyme leaves
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
10g parsley leaves, finely chopped
1 slice white bread, blitzed
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Salt and black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp pomegranate molasses, plus 1 tbsp extra to serve (optional)

Heat the oven to 200C. Put all the ingredients apart from the oil and pomegranate molasses in a large bowl, add three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper, and mix with your hands to combine. Still using your hands, divide the meatball mix into 18 roughly 35g portions and form each into 4cm-wide balls. Heat the oil in a large frying pan on a medium-high flame, then fry the meatballs (cook them in batches, if need be), for five to six minutes in total, gently turning them throughout, until golden brown all over. Transfer the meatballs to an oven tray lined with baking paper, drizzle pomegranate molasses over the top, if using, and bake for five minutes, to cook through. Serve hot, with a final tablespoon of pomegranate molasses spooned on top. [I baked mine in the air fryer]

I forgot to take a picture of mine - but they did look exactly like Yotam's, and we liked the flavour. It was the end of my bottle of pomegranate molasses, I shall have to get some more at Oli's when I am next in London with Liz. It does give a lovely sweet-sharp flavour. I served the meatballs with plain boiled rice, and a quick salad made with grated carrot. 

This is such a fun children's book. We have had hot weather, cool weather, dry weather, rain, thunder and lightning in the past fortnight. But no meatballs!

How do you eat yours?

A Penny For Your Thoughts

Have you come across the novels of Louise Penny, featuring Canadian Detective Armande Gamache? To date, she has written 20 books in the series and her 21st is due out in October. I watched Alfred Molina in the TV series in the autumn of 2022, and really enjoyed his portrayal of this large, intelligent policeman, who showed empathy and concern for victims, and a passionate desire for truth and justice.

In September last year, I picked up one of Ms Penny's Gamache stories in Dereham library, and then the next week, another. After a while I realised I needed to read them in order. I have been reserving then reading them methodically for over 6 months 
I have now just finished book 20. I am still waiting for book #17 to turn up - it is clear that at least two other people are working through the series, and the Millennium Library is currently closed for refit. These two factors I suspect have caused the hiatus.
What can I tell you ? - this guy is the Chief Inspector in Quebec, and his sidekick JeanGuy De Beauvoir is his son in law [that happened will through the series when he married the boss's daughter Annie] All the stories feature a little village not far from Quebec called Three Pines [because there are three tall pine trees on the village green] There comes a point where AG and his wife, Reine-Marie, buy a house there [although he maintains a flat in Quebec for convenience] There are eight key people in 3P who manage to appear in every story. Well, nine if you include a duck, belonging to the mad poet who can say one four letter word. And does, repeatedly, That sentence is ambiguous - at times I am not sure if it is the duck or the crazy lady who is swearing. The Gamache website explains everybody, if you start in the middle of the series. It also gives recipes for dishes mentioned in the books

My overall review of 19/20 books...
Positive

• I like AG as a character, and also his long-suffering wife [despite her weird name!]. But I sometimes feel Penny paints JeanGuy as a little bit too weak and unreliable. 
• Each book is stand alone in terms of one crime and its solution, and you do not have to have read the other, although there are some storylines which run right through
• LP does her research very carefully, and covers many contemporary issues, as well as referencing historical events where relevant. 
• Justice is [usually] seen to be done. Forgiveness and repentance are important themes, and handled sensitively
• I have learned some interesting Quebecoise terms. Canadian French is quite different from European French![as are its swear words]
• Sometimes the food descriptions make me hungry

Negative

• LP does repeat herself, a lot. When you binge-read 19 books over 10 months, you notice how many times she quotes the same piece of poetry, talks about the same two specific paintings by Clara-the-artist, or tells you about the one significant case which everyone in Canada knew about, which defined Gamache. And the duck repeats itself too. 
• If 3P is, as she tells us often, not marked on any map, you have to know it is there, then how come Olivier and Gabri in the bistro are able to source such wonderfully diverse ingredients for the meals in the bistro? There must be many food suppliers in Montreal who are driving across the Champlain Bridge [real!] in order to take this fresh produce to their kitchen. And all the police in Montreal must know where there boss lives...
• If a new person turns up in 3P, you just know they are very likely to be either the victim or the perpetrator of the next crime, because we know all the other characters there already. But I guess that is always the case with a series set in a small community.
• Sometimes these Canadians seem a little bit naive. They come across something for the first time, and act as if they have discovered it before anyone else, and nobody else except one obscure librarian or specialist scientist is aware of it. Dear Ms Penny, it was interesting to read about 'The Paston Treasure', a key plot element in one book - but this painting is well known in Norfolk where it was commissioned nearly 400 years ago, and still resides, in the Norwich Castle Collection. [I have blogged about it twice]

As I say, I enjoyed Alfred Molina's on screen portrayal, but did not find Nathaniel Parker's performance as Gamache was quite so convincing. Which was a shame, as I think NP was brilliant in the original Inspector Lynley series. Louise Penny has a huge worldwide following. Her Gamache website is fascinating even if you do not read the books. Individually I'd rate the books between 3 and 5 stars -
so I guess I'd give the whole series an average rating of ****

Have you read any Three Pines stories, or watched the films?
What did you think about them?

Three Churches In Three Days

On Friday, Bob and I went to Dereham Parish Church for an organ recital. This is part of their fundraising campaign to be able to install much needed toilets and decent kitchen facilities on site.At 12.15 we enjoyed an excellent sandwich lunch [good choice of fillings, also quiches, sausage rolls, pork pies and cherry tomatoes, followed by selection of cakes, choice of hot or cold drinks] 

Then a gentleman started trying to erect a portable screen near to where we were sitting. Bob used to have one like that, and as it's easier to put up with a helper, he went off to assist. Here he is in his best navy blazer, kneeling on the carpet! Then he helped sort out the video camera too...his assistance was much appreciated.

I do not have any photographs of the recital itself, they were not allowed! The visiting organist was D'Arcy Trinkwon. That is not an anagram, D'Arcy's forebears were from the continent and his surname is French. He is remarkably gifted and played various pieces, including some by a Canadian Composer for the foot pedals only [we were able to watch his hands on the keyboard and feet on the pedals via the video camera and big screen] Here's a clip of him playing in Selby Abbey. He's quite the showman!

Saturday from 9.30-4.30 I was in Dereham Baptist Church, for a Safeguarding Training Day. It is very important to us in our chapel that we have the correct procedures and protocols in place, for the protection of any vulnerable person [child or adult] who may come to our premises - five from our chapel attended. People from all over Norfolk were there. I met up with old friends- and it was especially lovely when a woman called Christine came up and introduced herself. She met me at a Women's Day at DBC in 2015, and has been following Tracing Rainbows ever since. I hope we can meet up again sometime, for a proper chat over coffee.

Sunday I was back in my own little Chapel at Foulsham. I was Duty Deacon, so we got there really early. Duties include checking who is on the rotas for tea and coffee, welcoming, prayers etc.

 As it was communion, I had to fill the little glasses [they go in a tray like the one in the picture] I knew we had a number of absentees. So I filled 24 glasses. At the start of the service we had 22 adults [plus adults and children out in the hall at Sunday Club]. But one couple arrived late. Our practice is that a deacon takes the tray, serves the pastor, takes it round the congregation, and then returns it to the communion table. As I took it back to Nick, we realised there was just the one glass left, for me! We sung some good songs, and Nick preached a great sermon about Jairus' Daughter, and the sick woman, from Mark 5.

Three church buildings, one very big, one fairly big, and one small - but good friends and a lovely atmosphere in each one. Bob tells me that nowadays a person is considered to be a 'regular churchgoer' if they attend a service once in 3 weeks. I'm definitely a regular.

Have you come across D'Arcy Trinkwon?
He's a very flamboyant character, and a master of his music.

One Step At A Time..

 
Not sure they are appropriately dressed for climbing a snowcapped mountain, but I like the sentiment. It reminds me of the 'Serenity Prayer', which was written almost a century ago by the German-American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. 

This little token is one produced by Alcoholics Anonymous, who adopted the prayer as their own in the 1940s, to help those struggling to reach sobriety and restoration.

Hope, Courage, Serenity. and Wisdom - all good virtues to which we should aspire!

Here's A Hurdy Gurdy!

 A couple of weeks back, Kezzie posted about visiting Kentwell Hall, stepping back into Tudor times, with customs, costumes, and music. She particularly mentioned seeing [and hearing] a hurdy-gurdy played for the first time 'in real life' And she got to try it herself. Do read her lovely post, with all the illustrations if Tudor re-enacters, and Kezzie herself getting happily involved.
In the same week, Bob and I went to a talk at the Dereham Heritage Trust. 

The guests were Chanter's Jigge, Malcolm and Elizabeth, husband and wife,  who also play many many Tudor instruments. They gave us an Elizabethan Musical Experience, with their latest programme,
including a hurdy gurdy.
Clearly Tudor Music is the sound of the summer!

*If Henry VIII really did write Greensleeves, did all the royalties go to royalty?

*Is it true that if Tudor musicians got into debt, they had to pawn their doublets and sit around in their singlets?

Have you ever played a crumhorn, a shawm, or a hurdy-gurdy?

[* apologies for very, very old jokes]

Summer Is...

 ...Days Of Syrup Sliding Off A Silver Spoon

My first squares for our new "Double Knitting Collaboration" new. I did Block 195; Ridges from The Book. This was one of the patterns chosen my good friend Heather. So my first attempt was using a random yarn in heathery shades, with a white contrast. I tried white with heather ridges, and heather with white ridges. Neither worked! The weather was so hot and sticky – like days of syrup sliding off a silver spoon.
Then I found in the stash a soft cream yarn and also a golden yellow. Silver and Syrup. Milk and honey. These did contrast well, so I knitted up the square in both arrangements. I can’t decide which I like best.

I am fascinated by the way that a very simple 4-row pattern [3 plain 1 purl] makes this neat ridge pattern, and would work well even without the contrast. I am delighted by the fact that we both started with a ridge pattern!
These are Kirsten's squares Block 10; Horizontal Ridges. Her pattern has ridges which are twice as deep, and is done in a single colour. She posted me the bright blue, and kept the grey marl.

This was the flat gift I sent her - it seemed appropriate!
She gave me a pretty little notebook

Blocking notes
I cut two 6” squares from a brown card envelope, misted the squares [both sides] with lukewarm water, and pinned them neatly to the cards,
then left them overnight to dry. We need to keep our pieces straight and true!

Read more about these first squares on Kirsten's post today

Forty Eight Years And Counting...

Thomas Hardy's perpetual calendar on his desk was always set at March 7th, because that was the day he met Emma, his first wife. 

I was very taken with this idea, so when I saw Hardy's Calendar in Dorset, eight years ago, I came home and altered my calendar to the date when I first met Bob [this late Victorian calendar was inherited from Great Aunt Amy, Grandad's sister]

For the record, like Thomas and Emma, we met in church. Bob's first words [on seeing my student sweatshirt] "Oh no! not another teacher!". We went on to an after church youth group, and spent the evening sitting on the sofa discussing the sermon, and sharing a 'Youth Praise' songbook. And today marks 48 years together - friend, fiancé, husband, soulmate - my 'better half'

The last week has been pretty significant for us too. After a lot of waiting [three years since the doctor declared him an 'urgent' case] Bob has finally had the denervation procedure on his back, to relieve him of the constant and acute pain he has been suffering for so long.

That was last Friday [hence my absence from the church holiday club] Things are looking good. It's wonderful to see him standing straight and tall and free of pain. 

Last weekend we went to the coast, Bob walked down to the water and swam in the sea with Rosie.

Thanking God for all His goodness to us and to our family 

You Gotta Pita Pocket Or Two!

I sometimes buy packs of pita bread from the supermarket. 50p for 6. Not an expensive product. But a few years ago Liz took me to Shuk, a street food stall in Borough Market. Shuk  is the Hebrew word for Street Market. Among other things, they sell stuffed pitas. Fabulous fluffy, light pockets full of tasty fresh food. I'd never tasted "proper" fresh pita before, the supermarket stuff seems like cardboard in comparison. 

Then I had pita in Gem, a Turkish restaurant near Norwich Station. I asked the waiter if they were made in the kitchens or bought in. He said they came from London, arriving fresh every morning on the early train. "you can't buy them like this in Norfolk!" he said.

We had roast lamb for lunch on Sunday with the family [it was in the freezer, I'd got it half price in Morrisons a while back] Bob suggested the leftovers would be lovely in pita pockets.

So I decided to make my own.

I used Delia's recipe for pita dough in the breadmaker. It was really easy. (here) The recipe makes 12. I cooked four on each baking sheet. We had two each, and put 8 in the freezer.  They were soft and fluffy like the ones in Shuk and Gem. I made some raita with my homemade yogurt, and the free cucumber I got in Lidl at the weekend. Bob added spicy sriracha sauce too. 

And the cost? 50p for twelve - half the price of cardboard ones in the supermarket. I shall definitely make these puffy pita pockets again. If you have a Breadmaker with a dough facility, give it a go. 

We Are Not 'Posh Grandparents'

According to the fashion writers, the style for this season is 'Posh Grandpa'.  I kid you not. Style points; vintage jackets or blazers, check or cord trousers [not jeans], loafers or laced brogues [not trainers], waistcoats or woollen sleeveless slipovers. Well, I checked, and I can produce all of those items from my wardrobe. And Bob has most of them in his size too. 

But it's flaming June out there!!
Personally I would prefer to be in a diaphanous dress like Lord Leighton's beauty* today rather than wrapped up like an aged Oxford Professor in December.
I checked out Jane and Beryl [aka The Ministry of Style.] Have you come across these two friends in their sixties, who suddenly found their jokey fashion posts going viral during Covid

Their comment on dressing like Posh Grandpas is here. I found B&J amusing in the early days, when their videos were not quite so polished, but now they have upped their game and become a teensy bit too smug for me. In their mid 60s, it was initially a bit of a game in retirement, but now they are making a living as 'influencers'. So they are sponsored by various clothing and cosmetic companies. I suspect they were not short of a bob or two to start with. Jane, the tall one, was an accomplished artist and milliner, [her hat company supplied Harrods]

Many of the videos are shot in her house [which could belong to the NT] When I started watching them I discovered some fun portmanteau words [wearing a Breton top makes me striped-boobed or "stroobed"] and the Acorn Antiques clips are a scream.

But I wondered about tall Jane's coloured pointy stick, used to indicate fashion points on Beryl's shorter, dumpier body  What is it?
Well done if you correctly identified it as a Croquet Stake! I mean, doesn't everyone have one of them lying around? The Ministry Of Style Ladies are a lot posher than me! Btw I'm a Compact Beryl rather than a Statuesque Jane. 
Do you dress like a Posh Grandpa?
Have you watched any Ministry of Style clips?

*but wearing more underwear than she is, obviously

Will I Be Shot For Treason?

Julian gave me some little resin models of Sir David A to guard my orchids in the bathroom. On his birthday, [David, not Julian] I decided to move them all to the top of their sticks in celebration. 

But disaster struck. I caught my sleeve, on my favourite one [seated with the butterfly]Is decapitating a centenarian National Treasure a capital offence? Fortunately Bob came to the rescue. DA is restored. 

Sadly no restoration possible for my fabulous moth orchid - shown here in May 2022. Over the winter it just...died. But good friends Rick and Angela who visited recently brought me another plant. There are now four plants, all in shades of pink/purple, all in bloom. Beautiful. And the mended Sir David is carefully seated on the new one, low down!

These look good photographed against the white tiles - but they cannot stay there, on my glass hob. I have carefully replaced them in the bathroom.

Orchids have become my favourite houseplants I think.
Which houseplants do you enjoy?