Saturday 11th - All Sorts

 Today is the beginning of the two busy birthday months, (and there was DiL's at the end of last month too) some just birthday cards, others cards and presents. Eldest granddaughter is 9 today and a nephews birthday too - he must be around 41-ish. Then there is youngest grandson's 4th birthday on the 13th and son's on the 17th, poor old fella will be 44. Then more cards and a couple of presents in November, and at the same time Christmas presents need sorting  as well - complicated on the buying presents front! Thank goodness for amazon - who can deliver straight to grandchildren.

The lovely colours on the vine against the blue sky early in the week. It's on a piece of trellis by the shed and I have to cut it back so many times through the summer that I often think it's a real nuisance. 

But then the colours in autumn persuade me to keep it for a while longer.

I've had a quiet week reading and not going far after being a bit  unwell last weekend,  hopefully antibiotics are sorting me out, something I've not needed for many, many years. I'm going to have to watch out for foods that effect me even more than before.

One of the books I read was a re-read  of Susan Hill's Book "Howard's End is on the Landing" which is her book about reading only her own books for a year. I'm sure I enjoyed it first time but second time not so much. Then I read two other old crime fiction that I'd bought cheap off abebooks a while ago as they are part of a series and too old for the library to still have. Need to decide which other of my own books to read before the mobile library is bringing me a bagful next week. Choosing which of my own to read is hard!

This is new - it popped up on the post compose page...............

Google Search links: Based on your blog content, Blogger will automatically identify key words and phrases in your post and insert search links in case your readers want to explore more. In Compose View, look for the pencil icon at the top-right of the page to get started.

I clicked on the pencil icon to see what happened and links appeared all over the place and I had to undo them all individually. aaaagh!

We've probably all got used to blogger throwing in changes with no warning but do readers want to "explore more". And I can put in my own links Thank You Very Much! 

Did anyone watch the much publicised 'Celebrity Traitors' - oh my - I found it dreadful - half an episode was enough. One celeb on their own is OK, even 2, 3 or 4 is not too bad - as on Have I got News For You or Richard Osman's House of Games but all that lot at once NO, NO.

Another thing watched was episode one of Murder before Evensong - the TV adaptation of the Rev Richard Coles book - didn't think much of that either!

But for something completely different that I do love -  Ed Sheeran's new release 

and the latest from Lewis Capaldi too.

Back Monday - fine weather forecast here for the weekend - have a good one whatever your weather.

This Week

 Well,  I didn't get the shingles vaccination in the week , the nurse took my blood pressure as she said it hadn't been done for a while, which as usual was way too high and of course it says in my notes that I should be on tablets for it  - and I'm not, I didn't like the side effects. She made me sit in the waiting room for 15 minutes and then took it again - it had gone down a bit but still way too high. So she wouldn't do the jab and instead I came home with a BP monitor again and an appointment to see a doctor after a week of monitoring at home. I explained that I didn't want to take any other medications but they don't like to let you out without being seen to do something if BP is high. At least the monitors have been updated,  no longer do the give out the 24 hour ones that wake you up in the night - adding stress. And previously I've had to wait to collect one on another day but they must have bought more as I was given one straight away. I go back next week for an appointment I don't want and then hopefully the vaccination afterwards.

More garden clearing got done once the bin was emptied on Monday. Just the grass cuttings some Buddleia branches and one huge courgette plant and the bin was practically full again. I'll have to wait for it to settle a bit before I can get anything else in and there is still so much to clear.

Snooker on TV has been keeping me company during the week, it's on ITV4 so plenty of ads between the frames and I noticed how many charity ads there are at the moment - there are always lots but seemed even more than usual. Obviously they think people who watch snooker are easy targets or wealthy. I wonder how much these ads cost to produce and screen.

There was RSPCA, Sightsavers, Save the Children, Donkey Sanctuary, Guide Dogs, Cat's Protection and several others that I can't remember. They would all like you to give 'just' £2 a month which to me doesn't sound enough to cover the administration costs. I prefer to give more each month but to just one charity so there is some actually left after they've taken their costs.

And as I watch them all I remember how many direct debits to charities Col's Dad had been persuaded to set up as he struggled with the brain tumour and confusion at the end of his life. No one knew until after he died just how many and for some very odd charities too.

I raced through one of my library books, tried two others and didn't like the way they were written, so I'm definitely going to be short of library book reading. Then I read this which was in the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing Short List - which I'd totally forgotten about this year. I usually give it a mention and a link - HERE is the long list and prize winners - nearly two months after the prizes were awarded.

I enjoyed this book and the lovely descriptions of a remarkable place.

The amazon info says.........................

Reeling from the pain of devastating miscarriages and suffering from PTSD after military adventures in Afghanistan, Merlin and his wife Lizzie decide to leave the bustle of London and return to Merlin’s childhood home, a Cornish hill farm called Cabilla in the heart of Bodmin Moor.

There, they are met by unexpected challenges: a farm slipping ever further into debt, the discovery that the overgrazed and damaged woods running throughout the valley are in fact one of the UK’s last remaining fragments of Atlantic temperate rainforest, and the sudden and near catastrophic strickening by Covid of Merlin’s father, the explorer Robin. As they fall more in love with the rainforest that Merlin had adventured in as a child, so begins a fight to save not only themselves and their farm, but also one of the world’s most endangered habitats.

Our Oaken Bones is an honest and intimate true story about renewal, the astonishing healing power of nature, and our duty to heal it in return.

Have a good weekend, I'll be back Monday.

Notes From The First Week of September.

• September started with having the YGD and the MGS here for Monday and Tuesday as DiL had PD days at school - I can't even remember what PD stands for - perhaps it's Professional Development? The school has had some classroom refurbs over the summer hols and teachers coming and going so that's interesting for the Grandchildren's return.

• Has anyone else come across a Channel 5 crime thing - a short series of 3 -  with Phyllis Logan as The Puzzle Lady - 'Murder most Puzzling'. It's weird - cosy crime with swearing! American stories (we don't have Mayors who can tell the police how to do their job!) moved to the UK. So very wrong!
• At odd times over the last several weeks I watched my way through all 5 seasons of an Australian series on the free Pluto channel. It was called Sea Patrol and all about  HMAS Hammersley and the crew and their patrols around the Australian coast off Cairns. It was made from 2007 - 2011 so probably a bit dated now. It had a sad ending - which was disappointing. 

• Because I hadn't heard much about this years Strictly Come Dancing I Looked to see when it starts and who was in it. The first pre-recorded introduction show is on the 20th and I hadn't a clue who half the celebs are although I see they've a drag queen and the Australian Stefan Dennis who I remember from Neighbours way way back.

• Yesterday I got the red tomato, onion and pepper chutney made - 8 jars in total. I'm glad that job's done, chopping everything small is a fiddly job. I used my homegrown red peppers after all so only bought red onions, red chilli peppers and red wine vinegar.

• There's a  government emergency alarm thing on mobile phones tomorrow at 3pm - last time I didn't notice it - either it didn't happen on my phone or the phone was indoors and I wasn't.

• The weird page view numbers are still happening, I thought they'd stopped but this week page views are over 2,000 a day again, when the norm was around 700.

• There is  warm and dry weather forecast for the weekend which is good news, there were several rainy hours during this last week and I discovered my garden shed is leaking again. The water had dripped onto the battery mower. Luckily charging up the battery and standing the mower in the sun yesterday dried everything out and it's working fine again......phew!

Hope you have a good weekend, I'll be back Monday.

Cricket Endings and Cheese Tasting

Was anyone else following the cricket Test Match? England V India. What an amazing ending with India winning by 6 runs.  Who says cricket is boring. Of course India would never had won if England hadn't had so many injuries!!

It made the series end 2 each. Although there can't be many (any other?) sports where it's possible for two teams to play over 5 days and still end in a draw!

 Now and again I've been buying cheeses not tried before to see what they are like. Recently I went to the newly re-opened farm shop - thinking they would have lots of interesting cheeses. But they hadn't and this below was the only one that I'd not come across elsewhere.

What a disappointment this was, more rubbery than tasty. It was eaten but I'd not bother again.

Here's a link to the farm company that make it Joseph Heler Cheeses and a little bit copied from their website.

Hidden away in the heart of the Cheshire countryside, near the market town of Nantwich, lies the Joseph Heler family dairy on Laurels Farm. It is here that our team of expert cheese makers produce classic British regional cheese to time-honoured recipes.

Our story dates back over a century, when Joseph Heler’s grandmother started the family tradition by making one whole Cheshire cheese every day in the family’s farmhouse – Laurels Farm.

This cheese-making expertise was passed down through the generations to Joseph Heler himself, who in 1957 set up his own company – Joseph Heler Cheese.

Lots of history which didn't make up for this boring cheese!

Back Soon

The Week to the First Saturday in August

The first Saturday in August is usually the day I dash out to deliver entries to the the Flower and Produce Show and then go back to help with stewarding for the cookery judge and to see if I've won anything. Not this year, I'm not in the WI there anymore and not growing many veg to have to show and baking for the cookery classes has got very expensive to do. I'm not bothered as it's either very hot in the marquee and/or very wet outside and they tend to have the same events every year.

Brother-in-Law was brilliant last Monday as he came and cut the horrible Yew hedge out the front of the bungalow, it took me an age and too much energy last year with my electric hedge trimmer but with his huge petrol driven machine it took less than an hour to cut, while I cleared up all the bits and he could reach to cut right across the top, which I've never been able to do.

Then there was the  Keep Moving Group, a bit of batch cooking(and cheese scones as a thank you for BiL) and all the usual house stuff . I had another fail with Wordle, only a few days after the previous fail, so it didn't matter - I think the word was Savvy, another odd one. I discovered a new series, series 3 of Whitstable Pearl, on the U channel, for anyone who's read the books by Julie Wassmer. 

It had been an uneventful week so on Thursday I decided on a 'Tourist in East Anglia' trip out. Which I'll write about as soon as I can get the photos to load properly. The internet connection was very poor on several days last week.

And then the excitement of food shopping on Friday and gee whizz I bought a new frying-pan! 

And I still can't get into Chris-in-Porthcawl's blog. Tried various things but it's still blocked by virus protection.

Have a good weekend

I'll be back Monday

 

It's Just Another Book Post

 I popped up to Diss to the computer shop so they could update my virus protection, I'd planned to do a tour of the charity shops while there but it started to rain five minutes after I parked - wasn't expecting that so no brolly with me. I dashed into the nearest two charity shops and had a lucky find with a Persephone book I'd never seen before, and only £1.

Love the cover of this.......... 'Girl Reading' by Harold Knight 1932

It's a very short book, won't take much reading.

Persephone Books  are few and far between second-hand, my last one found was in October at the Westleton Charity Book sale. They only seem to be publishing two new books each year now, often reprinting books from their back catalogue with new covers instead. Now way more expensive than a few years ago. I get an email newsletter from them a couple of times a year but since brexit they've got a bit political which is a shame, but I still scan the shelves  of charity shops for their grey cover books.

While waiting for  mobile library day,  with another 12 books coming for me, I looked on the library website to see which of Val McDermid's   Karen Pirie series were on library shelves anywhere around and found a copy of 'Out of Bounds', the 4th in the series, was on the shelves at Needham Market so called in there after the church visit last weekend. It was a good story which I enjoyed and as they seem to be filming a new TV series of only one book in three years it might be 2031 before this book gets made, I'm sure I'll have forgotten the story by then!

Back Soon

It Really Did Rain

 There was plenty of rain yesterday morning to make up for the weeks without any. It came down hard early morning and the guttering was overflowing, maybe it was full of the moss washed off the roof. I'll need to get out with the step-ladder and gloves sometime to scoop out what I can reach.

It was a really good day for getting things done indoors and I turned cucumbers and onion into 3 jars of Bread and Butter pickle. A bit different to the Sweet and Sour Cucumber pickle already made. The first has sliced cucumber and onions and the Sweet and Sour has chunked cucumber and celery.

Then I blanched and froze a big bundle of French green beans and meanwhile the bread-maker was chugging away making a 50/50 wholemeal/white bread.

I like the Met Office website where you can see the rain clouds coming in from the west and then moving away.

I didn't get to see part one of the new Karen Pirie series on Sunday night as I was watching the golf highlights (suffering sport withdrawal symptoms from the end of tennis so watching The Tour and The Open Golf to make up!) So yesterday afternoon I watched the first part of K.P.. It only needed a quick look at part one of series one to remind me about it. I picked up one of the books from Needham Mkt library when I was out Sunday to see how I get on with it.

 Why do  we have such short series over here? A series run of crime drama in the States could be 22 or more - here it's 6 if we're lucky. ITV have several other crime dramas returning this Autumn - seen the trails but can't remember what they were

In the evening the other third of quizzy Mondays was back which is good. Only Connect is my favourite of the three.

Back Soon

All Over for Another Year and Just One Book

 I'm bereft!! The weeks of tennis watching are over for another year. It was sad to see Alfie Hewitt and Gordon Reid lose their wheelchair doubles final on Saturday and then AH must have been exhausted as he lost his singles on Sunday. Good to see wheelchair tennis becoming more important at Wimbledon, playing on main courts with big crowds.

Then it was the men's final, just like the final at the French Open five weeks earlier it was a really good game and this time Jannik Sinner came out on top. The first Italian to win the Wimbledon men's championship.  I think this is how it's going to be for many years ahead - two brilliant young players battling it out at every tournament.

 I went to the Saturday boot-sale early and it was already huge and crowded, it started cloudy but then the sun came through and it was suddenly Very Hot.

Many of the people selling are there every week, so by now I've seen most of the junk about twenty times before.

But I hadn't seen this book before so just spent 50p, nothing else and by the time I'd been three quarters of the way round I'd had enough - it was getting hotter so home for breakfast.

I'd not come across this book anywhere and it turns out to be a collection of short stories "inspired by remarkable trees" written by students of the University of Suffolk Creative Writing course.

Might be interesting or it might not! It's been added to the shelves with my other Suffolk books to read sometime.

Back Soon

Saturday 12th

 More tennis watching all week. Yesterday's semi's were very different, in the first there was a good fight between Carlos Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz but then Djokovic was knocked out easily by Jannik Sinner, the number 1 seed and so Wimbledon is over 😢 bar the finals but there are the two British guys in the men's doubles final, which is on before the ladies singles finals today and Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid defending their title in the men's wheelchair doubles final, also today. It's unusual for the Ladies and Men's singles finals to be scheduled later on Centre Court today and tomorrow (not before 4pm it says). Usually they are up first.

There was more heat this week although not too bad Tuesday so there were 10 of us at our Keep Moving group. The temperatures here  weren't as hot as a couple of weeks ago and not as hot as other parts of the country - high 20s ℃ (mid 80s) ℉  rather than low 30s  and  cooler at night so not too bad for sleeping with freezer icepacks wrapped in tea-towels and  gel cool pads working well

Apart from all the normal house work jobs I don't seem to have done much or achieved much this week, although I did make another batch of the Sweet and Sour Cucumber pickle. Strimming round the veg bed edges was quickly done but haven't needed to cut the grass this week. Getting some of the weeds out of the driveway shingle out the front was on the list again - but it was too hot for that job.

Shopping was only a quick very early trip to Aldi - don't need many veg now with courgettes and beans doing well here and beetroot from BiL's garden. I found milk had gone up in price again. From £1.45 just a few months ago to £1.55 and this week £1.65 for 4 pints semi-skimmed. That means cheese and butter prices will also rise soon.

Obligatory photo of the first (almost) ripe tomato! Mini Plum variety

and the size of Giant plum variety Big Mama - still green - when they are ripe they'll be made into Red Hot Relish.

I've now done 5 out of the 6 weeks of the arthritis exercise and management course. I shall be glad to finish as going to something that starts at 1 o'clock  -  neither morning or afternoon  -  seems to spoil the whole day! (and THAT surely is a sign of getting old). Next I can either see a physio again, carry on just doing the exercises at home or do another 6 week  general exercise thing. That starts at 11am so a better time.

In between everything else there has been reading of course, two library books were abandoned, so now reading from my shelves until mobile van visit toward the end of the month - there are already nine ready for me to collect.

And that was the week  finished again.

Have a good weekend, not sure what's happening apart from staying out of the heat and watching the last of the tennis. It doesn't seem long ago that I would be sitting out and enjoying the sun but they say skin gets thinner as you age and I certainly feel burnt even with Factor 50, so best to stay in.

Back Monday

Found One!

 I knew I would find one at a car-boot sale eventually. A very small plate stand for that very small  Brambly Hedge spring display plate. Now I'm ready for March  next year.

 

It cost me all of 20p. 

Well, there might have been many seeds going out in the Men's singles early on at this years Wimbledon but three out of the  four men left in the semis could have been predicted from the start.

Just have to hope Carlos Alcaraz can go on to win .

There are still two Brits in the Men's Doubles and Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewitt are through to the semis in the wheelchair doubles, hoping to defend their title.

Both those matches are today.

Back Soon

The Week

 Hot, even hotter, a few spots of rain, cooler but humid and then sunny and hot but not too hot ............... we love our English weather and talking about it!

After deciding it was too hot for our  Keep Moving Group on Tuesday thank goodness it was cooler for the Arthritis Management and Exercise group - couldn't really drop out of that one. 

The tennis watching has taken priority over everything else all week - except doing the necessary things, even the  shopping trip was very early to get home again in plenty of  time for the start. 

Got myself a new Take-a-Break puzzle magazine while I was out- I always start with the 16 x 16 Sudoku -  but never get to finish it by the time I've done almost all of the other  160 different puzzles in the book. Word-searches are my least favourite but I do enjoy the codewords and piece words. There must be a trick to the big Sudoku  that I don't know.

In between watching tennis I've been reading 'The Wild' by Kristin Hannah - it is a good read, although it keeps making me cry so I'm not reading much at a time. I've only gone and ordered another of her books that the library don't have. Luckily abebooks had a cheap copy. I decided one second-hand book a month is 'allowed' (unless I  go to a charity book sale then there is no limit!)

So many jobs undone and too much heat meant that Friday morning I really had to get outside early and get on with some garden stuff. Scraping weeds out of patio joints - Again - pouring boiling water on the roots remaining - Again. I cut all the dead heads off the huge red rose out the front border too, hope it will encourage more to grow. The front border is as hard as concrete - the grass in the back garden is getter browner. No rain forecast to help either.

Beans, cucumber and courgettes from the garden - so all is well in Suffolk!

And Cam Norrie and Sonay Kartal both got through to the 4th round. Emma Raducanu was still playing when I turned off the lap top so I hope she got through too. There are several Brits still in the doubles , they don't get much of a mention.

Have a good weekend - I'll be back Monday.

The Good and the UPF

 The contrast between the good and the weird.

From a couple of weeks ago........... a home made quiche - very rough looking shortcrust pastry case - my pastry cases would never win a prize -  filled with  vegetables (onion, peppers, sweetcorn, peas and tomato) and cheese, egg and milk. Because it had so much filling it fed me for 5 days rather than 4 which is good - no thinking needed.

And the Weird ........the cheap 53p sponge mix from Asda that I'd seen mentioned as a good bargain. It doesn't appear online either in ' Baking' or 'Just Essentials' but it was on the shelves in store. .

The ingredients seem to be mainly flour, sugar and oils with some complicated raising agents.

How can this small amount possible make a cake I wondered and would it be edible with only an egg and water added? Only one way to find out.

This is what it looked like, using 6 inch cake tins as specified. I mixed up a small amount of buttercream icing and the very last from a jar of strawberry jam made two years ago for a filling. 

Tried a slice (⅛ )with my afternoon cuppa - it was edible but a slightly artificial taste although lighter and fluffier than my home made sponges which always seem to come out more solid than light. Useful as an occasional  quick and  cheap  tummy filler I guess or a cheap way to make sponge for an old fashioned trifle.

It actually tasted better on day two for some reason, not sure how dry it will be by day 8!.

Tennis news...........................There were 4 British men playing yesterday, all predicted to lose which wasn't surprising considering they were playing people seeded much higher, especially Oliver Tarvet playing Alcaraz, although he put up a good fight . But Cam Norrie played really well and beat Tiafoe.

(I'd scheduled this post and switched off the lap top before Arthur Fery played so he might have been a winner. ) I don't take much notice of women's tennis as you can tell!

Weather news........cooler but Mid Suffolk missed out on heavy rain with just a few showers, water butts now empty. I'll be using mains water for watering for the foreseeable as there's no rain forecast for a week at least.

Back Tomorrow

A Hot Lazy Tuesday

The overnight temperature on Monday was supposed to be around 20℃ - uncomfortable for sleeping - so I took two freezer ice packs and two cooling gel pads to bed with me and slept soundly from 10pm to 4am , perhaps it wasn't as hot as forecast.

I made an effort yesterday morning to go and open up the village hall in case people came for the Keep Moving Exercise group but the few of us who did arrive decided it was far too hot for any sort of exercise so we all went home again to keep cool.

 Then it was another good day of Wimbledon tennis on TV and more British men through to the second round. Jack Draper was two sets up when his opponent retired due to injury and Jack Pinnington Jones - one of the wild cards and playing in his first Wimbledon (I think that's what they said) also won in straight sets and lots of top seeds have been knocked out - makes it more fun when that happens.    I was glad to be at home flaked out as the temperatures climbed to well over 34℃ there and not much less here. I switched off the lap top before the Djokovic match ended when it was one set each but I expect the old misery won through.

Obviously not a lot of housework was done although I did manage a quick hoover round  and picked enough beans for another two meals, they are doing really well, I'm making the most of them as there are no runner beans this year.

It cooled down beautifully late evening and a bit of rain was forecast .

Back Tomorrow 

Saturday - Almost the End of June

Mid Suffolk weather report - There's been all sorts of weather here this week including some windy weather Monday and  unexpected rain on Tuesday morning, - although not enough to do any good, predicted rain that didn't happen and then un-forecasted rain over Thursday night that I didn't hear but filled a water butt  plus some sticky humid with sunshine thrown in too and getter hotter - In other words a Very English Summer!

Bits of gardening were done, pastry cases made ready for quiches or maybe a Lemon Meringue pie - that would be good, 12 people at Keep Moving Group and my 3rd week of Arthritis exercise and management course - not sure it's helping as yet. Plus a very quick shopping trip to get cider vinegar for making pickles - more about that next week.

 I've enjoyed watching some of the Wimbledon qualifying on TV and found a series on the free Pluto channel called 'Flashpoint' which dates back to 2008 - 2012  and is a police drama from Canada. Really odd to see one of the main character actors (Enrico Colantoni) was also in 'Person of Interest' - a US thriller series from 2012 - 2016 which I was watching a few weeks ago. He must have gone straight from one series to the other - a busy actor. ( I looked him up and he's never out of work).

Had the first two small courgettes this week and the  first of the French Climbing Beans- so delicious.

Sorry I didn't reply to comments yesterday and apologies for my mop-heads being boring rather than beautiful!

It's supposed to be a hot (for England) weekend here with temperatures in the 30's C  [ I looked it up for US readers! (30°C × 9/5) + 32 = 86°F ] - so not a lot of galivanting will be done!

Have a good weekend, I'll be back Monday with the end of the month frugal/spending round up. 

A Saturday Post Including Tennis, Book News and Comment Questions.

 Well, here in Suffolk it's been a gloriously sunny week. I'm one of those people who loves the heat, although it was very hot for both the Keep Moving Group and my second week at the Arthritis management/exercise class, which was a bit sweaty! Other than that I've cut the grass, been shopping -  early to beat the heat, made bread and quiche, visited an art exhibition and popped out even earlier to the midweek boot-sale (for exercise!!)  and then had very lazy afternoons enjoying the men's tennis from the Queens Club on TV. Cam Norrie and Dan Evans went out before the quarter finals . Jacob Fearnley lost in the quarter finals but has only been on the circuit for a year and  was ranked around 600 in the world this time last year and now he's in the top 60 - what a story! Jack Draper, the British number one is through to the semi-finals today. I'll be watching for sure.

 This is the first grass court tennis that many have played this year, a preparation for Wimbledon which starts on the 30th. Midweek the wild card list for Wimbledon was published and so many young British guys have been given them. The future of British tennis is hopeful.

One thing new for this year is the absence of on court line judges - everything is electronic now. It's stopped those challenges by players on the big screen which spectators enjoyed even if umpires didn't.

I finished reading The Crash by Robert Peston which is his second book about journalist Gil Peck. This didn't seem as good as the first book which was set in 1997 at the time of the General Election. It was a bit confusing at the start until it got going. The Crash is set in  2007 at the very start of a  financial crisis when a bank's collapse set off a chain of events that travelled around the world. Gil Peck has moved from newspaper journalist to broadcasting but when his part-time lover - who happens to be a director of the Bank of England - commits suicide, he doesn't believe it and investigates, which leads to danger.

Then onto the Homecoming by Kate Morton. I said the size might put me off but with the large typeface and double spaced lines this was a much larger book than it needed to be! So it was actually read quite quickly. We don't have many books here that are  set in Australia (that I know of)  so it was odd that I've  read two this month (Nevil Shute was the other)

 

The Homecoming is one of those stories set mainly in two different time lines - 1959 and 2018. 

Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek on the grounds of a grand country house, a local man makes a terrible discovery. Police are called, and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most baffling murder investigations in the history of South Australia.

Many years later and thousands of miles away, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for two decades, she now finds herself unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and is seriously ill in the hospital.

At Nora's house, Jess discovers a true crime book chronicling a long-buried police case: the Turner Family Tragedy of 1959. It is only when Jess skims through its pages that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this notorious event – a mystery that has never been satisfactorily resolved.

It's about secrets and lies and is well written. I'd never read this well known author before but will probably go on to read more of her work.

My post about remembering the complications of moving house during covid morphed into something entirely different. Was there anywhere in my post where I said covid was funny? It was only the strange headlines in newspapers at the time seeming so odd that they made me smile. Did I have lack of respect for people still suffering? I don't think so, my post was really about my sister querying when covid regulations made moving difficult.

Did I actually read all of the book I mentioned? Good grief it was 4 years ago! I've no idea if I read every single word or not but I did copy those strange headlines onto a blog post just because they seemed too strange to be believable.

I could have deleted some of those comments but left them for discussion, which allowed people to jump on what others said and turned what I thought to be a fairly innocuous post into something I didn't plan or want. 

Now anon (you know who you are) will say that I welcome comments one week and complain about them the next!

All Jolly Good Fun!

Have a good weekend, I'll be back Monday - with a dozen less readers no doubt!

Saturday 7th. Random Notes.

Thanks to everyone for comments yesterday, seems we are in agreement - Lists are vital but remembering to actually look at them/take them with you is even more important!!

 After my cinema visit on Monday I looked to see what films were being released in June, July and August to see if there would be anything else to go and see. But goodness me  there are some weird things that don't appeal at all. Maybe the Thursday Murder Club might be OK but turns out it's probably only on Netflix.  The Regal on Monday trailed 'The Roses' - full of famous actors but not something I would bother with and the Final Downton Abbey - costume drama never appeals to me at all. I started looking at the 9000+ on the imdb website that are due out this year but gave up after a few 100!

So it might be a while before another Film Review appears on here as I can't be bothered to go just for the sake of going out -  with 'Happy at Home' being the subtitle of the blog!

I got home in time after the cinema to see both Cam Norrie and Jack Draper getting knocked out of the French Open - the end of Brits in singles. Ho Hum - t'was good while it lasted and there remained the British guys in the Doubles and Alfie Hewitt and Gordon Reid in the wheelchair matches - they've already won so many titles over the last few years but hardly get a mention.

I got my 12 sweetcorn plants out into a vegetable bed this week along with 10 more plants I got for £2 at the car boot sale, that were way ahead of mine. I'm still fencing round plants that I'm putting in  to keep the pigeons from walking into them but the difference to everything without a cat constantly digging stuff up is incredible. My rhubarb is actually growing and I no longer need to cover and peg everything down. I'm sad that the children lost their pet but it's wonderful for gardening - sorry to write that buts it's true.

 The day after planting there was some good steady rain which is useful although it turned really chilly.

There's plenty of black and greenfly around this year and 3 out of 4 Buddleias are really suffering. I cut the two down the side right back but new growth is completely covered in black sticky mess again. Not a good outlook for flowers for the butterflies this summer.

This is my old school scarf, it's been kept for the 54 years since I left school which is probably ridiculous. I had a clear out of a few things from the built in wardrobe/shelving. It's going at last, along with a bagful of other bits. I can't think of any reason to keep it, especially as I've got some much nicer and softer scarves for winter.

Anyone else noticed tins of  sardines are missing everywhere? I was eating a tin every week either in a warm pasta salad or on toast they were only around 50p a tin. Apparently most come from Morocco and they have problems. What's the betting that when they re-appear they will be much more expensive.

I did have one other trip out during the week for free cake with photos but I'll make that a post for next week.

Have a good weekend, weather forecast here is a bit iffy - shame, as it's the village summer fair.

Back Monday

Much Less Spent This Month - And An Explanation for Ana and Others

 After the expenses of April with several annual bills falling due plus dentist and heating oil, May was much better. The only known extras above the normal monthly spending were ED and EGS birthdays and car breakdown insurance.

The normal outgoings are Council Tax, Phone and broadband, monthly electric bill, charity donation, diesel for the car (two lots this month as I've been out and about) totalled £375 and food of course. 

Then there is always something that needs buying in a house- this month I needed new AA batteries and some mastic to redo around the shower enclosure base. All was going well with not too much spent until the cold tap in the en-suite started drip, drip, dripping. BiL looked but said it's one of those new ones without a washer but with a 'cartridge' thing instead, and you have to have the right one. He didn't fancy the job - so I had to call in a proper plumber! Got a recommendation for someone local and it was soon sorted but cost £85! Yikes. - and that was someone reliable who didn't rip off old people!

Garden spending totalled £9.38 for parsley from aldi, courgette plants, bean plants, trailing thyme and a clay flowerpot  from car-boot sales.

A wide top small clay pot for the plant stand to replace one that was starting to be frost damaged

Food spending was up this month, after two lower spend months. Mainly due to replacing items that had been used up to restock the freezer and cupboards. Although prices of things like milk and other dairy products have gone up. I had a pensioners discount Fish and Chip meal for £5 as I'd not had one for a few months and coffee out three times. 

A few frugal notes for those who like to read the list.............

• Gift of bundle of  Rhubarb from my sister. Mine is not doing well.
• Big bundle of asparagus for £1.50 from boot sale, made me two meals with poached egg and wholemeal bread.
• Eggs from roadside stall are still just £2 a dozen
• Found a really good quality t-shirt for £3.49 from charity shop. Lovely jade green and looks hardly worn.
• 4 x 25L bags of free compost from District Council giveaways
• BiL had a small bag of tile cement in his garage which I borrowed so I could re-attach some of the quarry tiles on the front step.
• Reading library books for free
• Home made bread from the bread-maker - 50/50 wholemeal/white this month
• Dishwasher used only every 2 or 3 days
• Washing machine used twice a week only
• Tumble dryer not used all month
• Lights not needed until 8.30 in the evenings for reading.
• Two big bags dishwasher salt for £2 from boot sale
• New kitchen sieve from boot sale 50p
• No flowers bought - I've been bringing in a few roses from the garden.
• Given up feeding the birds for the summer as the huge starling family are clearing out the mealworms and fat balls in 10 minutes. Just leaves the starling proof sunflower heart feeder.
• Free referral to physio appointment for next month to look at my knee problem.
• Made 4 x Two cheese, onion, spinach puff pastry bakes  - instead of buying more 'vegetarian taste test' products.
• Cooked up a big batch of Quorn and vegetable korma curry - 10 meals total
• I put the refill filters for my water jug on my Amazon wish list and keep an eye on the prices because they go up and down. This month they went down by £3 to £9.99 for the pack of three so I ordered, I've still got one filter left in the cupboard so OK now for a year of good filtered water for the coffee maker and to drink with no limescale.
• I use Sensodyne small head toothbrushes and found packs with buy two get one free, so got two packs, 6 toothbrushes should last me a while. Sensodyne toothpaste is cheaper at Aldi than anywhere else.
• First few strawberries from my few plants and  handful of  Very early raspberries - they were a surprise find.

 Personal spending included the first  book find of the year from a boot-sale for £1 and then another for another £1, the old scrap book, mentioned earlier in the month. A much needed hair cut, exercise group, jigsaw puzzle and a new Puzzler Magazine. I also printed out a couple of grandchildren photos for my frames. The £10 spent at Sibton church for 5 books, a birthday card, coffee and sausage roll was added to the charity part of the accounts (clever accounting!)

Finally a special treat..........a   subscription to Discovery+ TV so I can watch the French Open Tennis. Just have to remember how to cancel after a month. Discovery+ has amalgamated with TNT Sports, and cost a lot more than last year , but I decided I'd rather have this than an outing to the Mid Suffolk Railway for their 1940s day, which I'd pencilled in the diary - especially as it was wet and chilly and I don't bother with the big Suffolk Agricultural Show now, so that's a saving of nearly £30 anyway. After the first 3 days of tennis there were still 6 Brits going into the second round of matches and Cam Norrie and Jack Draper both played well to get through. By Thursday evening all the women were out and just  three British men left, apparently that's the first time since 1968 that there have been three British men in the third round. There will be at least one of them in the 4th round as Cam Norrie and Jacob Fearnley play each other today. Still several Brits in various double matches which never get as much publicity.

Looking forward - June is usually a good low-spend month, the only extras above the normal are the annual payment for the Garden Waste Bin. But whenever I say it's going to be a low spend month something usually happens to upset that plan so I didn't ought to mention it - ooops too late! 

Have a good weekend and I'll be back soon. 

And here is my explanation of why I use the mobile library-

The mobile libraries (3 in Suffolk) travel around all the villages so that people can go on and choose books or collect books they have reserved on line, especially useful in villages that are many miles from a physical library building and especially useful for elderly who can't drive. We can reserve books on line and ask for them to be sent to any Suffolk library or to the mobile library. I have read so many books in my 70 years that most of what I read are new books by favourite authors and I rarely find books I want actually on the shelves.
If the books go to a library building they have to be collected within one week of arriving there whereas the mobile saves them up to bring all at once. Also I can keep books for up to two visits (that is 8 weeks) where as people borrowing from town libraries have them stamped for just 3 weeks.
Yes I could drive to a library but it seems silly to do that when I can stroll up the road once every four weeks to collect my books. If I was to use a town library I would need to drive to town (10 miles or 20 minutes) every week to collect my books.
The mobile library service is always under threat of stopping as it is gradually used less and less. When I worked on one we had 5 mobile libraries covering the whole County (several 100 villages) and visiting every two weeks. Now there are just 3 visiting every 4 weeks.
The mobile libraries have depots in 3 different parts of the County where they park and where all books waiting to go on the various routes are stored so my books are not actually somewhere where I can go and collect them at the moment. Hence hoping that the delivery van (a small van that takes reserved books and new books around to all 40 libraries in the County) will bring my books to my nearest library before the next mobile visit at the end of June.
For the last 20 years I have been using the mobile libraries as it's a case of use them or lose them.
.

Random Bits..................

 ....................from this week.

• Haven't had flowers in for a while, it's been so dry there are a shortage in the border but the white rose was blooming well so I cut a few for a small posy.

• After 4 years here I discovered the Bosch induction hob has a child lock, don't know how it got switched on but  I had to search for the instructions for how to unlock it.

• There is a film of The Salt Path book by Raynor Winn. Released on the 30th. Do I want to watch it? Yes, because the book was good, but no because there's a lot of terminal illness involved.

•  Sitting out in the sun was wonderful earlier this week, not too long at a time but even half an hour is so good for mental health. This is what I saw on just one afternoon ...........Way overhead a buzzard circled before disappearing, lower down  swifts were flying round and round - hopefully finding lots of insects, there were several gulls, a housemartin and crows and pigeons of course, a pied wagtail sat on the neighbours roof, a female blackbird came and had a very splashy bath in the birdbath, the sink-pond and then back in the birdbath and then something I didn't recognise stopped on the guttering of my bungalow. Had to get the bird book and decided it was a garden warbler. Only one butterfly - an orange tip but the Ceanothus is covered with bees.

• Why hadn't I had a home made curry for a while? - because there were none in the freezer. I needed to make a batch and had korma paste and coconut milk in the cupboard and a bag of Quorn pieces in the freezer. I started with onions, added potatoes, spinach from the freezer and bought a pack of mangetout peas for some colour. It made enough for 10 meals -  9 boxes to restock the freezer and one to eat straightaway - it was very delicious.

• Next door neighbours cat was hit by a car and killed this week. Their daughter is distraught as Crumble was her cat and followed P up the road to the school bus stop every morning before coming back when P met her friends. Crumble was a lovely cat but her favourite place for hunting was over the road in the new part of the burial ground and I've held my breath many times when I've seen her dashing back across the road not far from a passing car. 

•  I've just finished  a crime fiction book set in wartime Cambridge (Jim Kelly- Night Raids) and it mentions a lady using a tea-bag - now I'm sure (well I was sure until doubting) that teabags weren't around in the UK until much later. I googled of course and it says "Tetley introduced teabags to Britain in 1939 but paper shortages meant they didn't become common until the 50's and not in general use until the 1960s".  What was used in the first half of the C20, for making one cup at a time were infusers - holding loose tea . My mum said that during wartime rationing, tea was used many times for a cuppa until it tasted of nothing much except hot water.

• Eurovision Song Contest on TV tonight. I half watched the semi-finals - good grief there's some rubbish this year - but people seem to be having a really good time out in Basel and if it brings together people from many parts of Europe and makes a lot of people happy then it has to be a good thing. 

And that's the end of another week. Thank you for reading and  comments  and have a good weekend.

Back Next Week

Sue

First Saturday in May, Featuring A Book , Additives and A Bank Holiday

 What a glorious week of sunny weather we have had here in Suffolk with record temperatures for the time of year in some places. The trees are all wonderful different  greens and  I watch the limes and poplars  over the road on the edge of the graveyard changing every day. 

In the garden the ornamental Beech is bright lime green compared to the dark green and blue of the Ceanothus beside it  

 

The last of my April library books was a lovely book that was mentioned on a blog - probably by Debby at 'Life's Funny Like That' in the US, it's something I would never have read without a recommendation, but I'm glad I did.

Elif Shafak - There are Rivers in the Sky. A magical story that brings together different times in history all linked by water. In ancient Ninevah hidden in the sand are fragments of a long lost poem. In Victorian London, an extraordinary child is born on the mud banks of the Thames. In Turkey in 2014 Narin, a Yazidi girl living by the Tigris and her grandmother travel through war torn lands to reach the sacred valley of their people. In London in 2018,  Zaleekhah, a hydrologist, moves to a houseboat on the Thames after the break up of her marriage. 

Very clever story and so well written.

 

After the post about foods and which countries we import from I was fiddling about on t'internet and came across details of this additive butylated hydroxytoluene which apparently is banned in some countries. It's added to some breakfast cereals by Kelloggs - but not in this country.

Then up popped an article about the '10 foods Americans love eating that are banned in other countries' .HERE .

Here's something I'd never heard of...........

Mountain Dew: This citrus-flavoured soft drink is popular across the U.S., but it contains brominated vegetable oil (BVO), an emulsifier that has been banned in Japan and the European Union. BVO is also used in flame retardants, and its presence in food has been linked to health issues like memory loss and nerve damage.

Goodness! Reading too much about additives is frightening! 

We've only just had Easter and now another Bank Holiday weekend for 'May Day' . Not sure what I'm doing but  the council are giving away bags of compost today so I may head up the road early to collect some - limited to two bags per car. 

There's the second open afternoon of a Bluebell wood at a private house and park a few miles away tomorrow. I tried to go last Sunday but found a massive queue of cars  half a mile from the entrance so did a turn around and came home again - what a crowd there would have been in the woods. Not sure I shall bother, I've got Bluebells here after all although mine aren't the native ones and there isn't a wood full of them!

On Monday there are several May Day events - but they'll all be busy and family/couple orientated  which puts me off, so maybe it will just be the extra boot-sale and home to watch the final frames of the World Snooker Championship which I've been following and enjoying for the last two weeks.

Have a good weekend, the forecast is for much cooler than last week which will please some people although I've loved it.

Back Next Week

Sue

Moving Through April

Last weekend I went to see the 8 year old EGD in the Dance Show. Chloe Kinkaide - or Miss Chloe as she is known to all her girls - and a few boys - runs ballet, tap and modern dance classes in several places over by the coast. EGD started when she was little and then stopped for a while but has been going again for a few years. Every other year they put on a show and it gets packed out with Mums, Dads, Nans and Grandads as well as brothers, sisters and many other relatives! There were almost 250 children taking part.

I sneaked in a quick photo at the end when nearly everyone was on stage for the final bow. The teeny- tinies are so cute in their tutus. 

One of the books I had from the library van with a-new-to-me-author was a good read, which is handy as he has 17 other books in three different series to look for. The book was The Great Darkness by Jim Kelly details here

I never thought I'd say that I'd given up on an Elly Griffiths book but her new series of a time travelling detective starting with The Frozen People was too odd to bother with. It's science fiction pretending to be modern/ historical crime fiction. I watch Doctor Who but don't read Sci Fi. Maybe I'll come back to it sometime but I've plenty of other reading.

 Boat Race Day on Sunday which traditionally is a must watch for me like the Grand National and The Eurovision Song Contest!  This years UK entry is 'What The Hell Just Happened' by a three girl group called Remember Monday, who I've only just heard of though apparently they've been around a while.

  

 Hope you have a good weekend.

Back Soon