Lately....

Lately I've been....

1. Walking

Through the bluebell woods.

They are looking wonderful

I'll write more about our visit and show a lot more photos in my next post.

2. Spotting

Other wildflowers in the bluebell wood including Forget-me-Not, Dandelion, Red Campion, Cowslips and a white flower, possibly Greater Stitchwort, perhaps someone reading this can identify it for me?  

3. Reading

The latest Masie Dobbs novel by Jacqueline Winspear. I always enjoy these novels and the latest one didn't disappoint.  In this book Maisie visits an old friend of her former mentor Maurice Blanche in Mecklenburgh Square, in Bloosmsbury which is the setting of Square Haunting by Francesca Wade.  In this book the author visits the Square during the inter- war years when its inhabitants were some of our literary giants.  She has chosen five women to follow including Virginia Woolf and Dorothy L Sayers.   Pulpit Rock is the latest of the Ben Kitto novels set on The Scilly Isles.  I always race through these as they are an easy read.

4.  Listening

To podcasts and BBC radio programmes  'Life in the Garden' by Penelope Lively read by Stephanie Cole.   'The Stubborn Light of Things' a delightful podcast by nature writer and novelist Melissa Harrison and 'Obsessed with Line of Duty' a podcast by former cast member Craig Parkinson.

5. Watching 

'Line of Duty' and 'Keeping Faith'  'Make Up: A Glamorous History'  and  'The Repair Shop' all on BBC also 'Secrets of the Transport Museum' on Yesterday (Freeview) and Criminal UK on Netflix.  I'm not finding a lot of things I want to watch at the moment as there are a lot of repeat programmes and as much as I've previously enjoyed Poirot, Marple, Vera, Endeavour and Lewis, I've probably watched them two or three times and really  I want to see new programmes but I suspect it will be a while before things get back to normal.  It's not a gripe more an observation.

Today is the last day of April and what a strange month it has been.  Today we've had brilliant sunshine and hailstones.  I had my second Astra Zenica jab on Wednesday and it didn't make me feel as ill as the first one did, so far so good.  I'll be back over the weekend with bluebells.

 

Park and Garden

The last few days have been wild and windy here.  Plant pots, bird feeders, bits of fence, wheel barrows  and wheelie bins have been on various trips around the garden.  They are all safely back in their places - for now.

In the garden the Grape Hyacinth (Muscari) have flowered. I love their bright blue colour. 

When I ordered bird nibbles on line I also treated myself to some Sweet Pea seeds.  They came with wool twine called Twool with which to tie the flowers and stems to the wigwam canes.

The seeds were planted a few days ago, there were ten in all and three of them are showing little shoots.

Also growing well are the little tomato shoots.  There are several varieties, all labelled, including Gardener's Delight, Tigrella and Mini Munch.

On Tuesday morning we walked down to the local park.  it was quite warm and sunny.  Spring hasn't quite sprung there yet but there were a few encouraging signs.

Blue Skies

Hellebore

Crocus

 

Daphne

 

 

I was also spotting things as we walked towards the park.

N

I liked all the chimneys on these houses.

A little cat hiding behind the railings in the park.

The gold tops of the railings were glinting in the sun.

The terraced houses above were built for pottery workers to live in, just as the public parks were built for their leisure.  There were lots of pottery factories in the area around here.  Many of which still stand others have been demolished.

 Writing this has reminded me that this Sunday is the final of   'The Great Pottery Throwdown' filmed at the nearby Gladstone Pottery Museum.  I've been enjoying watching this series as much if not more than the previous three which were filmed further North in the city at Middleport Pottery.  We've also been enjoying 'The Great British Dig' and 'Grayson Perry's Art Club.'  I've been enjoying the new series of 'Unforgotten' and am looking forward to the return of 'Line of Duty' next week.

Tomorrow I will have been writing this blog for sixteen years. It doesn't seem possible for it to have been that long ago - Monday 14th March 2005 - when I wrote my first post.

Looking forward to....

 One of my favourite 'dip-into' books from our  bookshelves is Dorothy Hartley's 'Food in England'.  I bought this copy quite some time ago and am always fascinated by the snippets I pick up from it.  It is a social history of  English food through the ages; its uses, its preservation. preparation and presentation.

I know very little about Dorothy Hartley's life except that she was born in Skipton, Yorkshire, that for several years she lived in the vicarage at Rempstone in Nottinghamshire, where her father was the Rector, a village we pass through a couple of times a year on our way into Lincolnshire.   She spent most of her later life in the village of Froncysyllte near Llangollen in Wales, somewhere else we pass through quite often on our way to Porthmadog, where she died  in 1985 aged ninety two.

Consequently I'm very much looking forward to one of the programmes which is part of the 'Food, Glorious Food' season on BBC TV this week.  Historian Lucy Worsley is presenting a television programme about this renowned and well-respected author and illustrator called  'The Lost World of Dorothy Hartley' on Tuesday at 9p.m. on BBC4.  I just know I'm going to find it fascinating.

 I'm also looking forward to putting these pretty Christmas trees on our tree!

I was so lucky recently to come second in Suzy's giveaway at Rustic Vintage Country and when my lovely parcel  arrived as I opened it the smell of lavender was so wonderful.  Your handmade goodies are beautiful  Thank you Suzy.

Where did the Time Go?

I've just realised it is over a week since I last did a post on here and I've no idea where the time has gone, except that it has probably gone by in a haze of going to work and getting home too tired to achieve much of anything except washing and ironing and a little cooking and cleaning.

I've been enjoying bits and pieces on TV and for once I sat and watched television on a Saturday night which is quite unusual for me. I've become engrossed by the wonderful John Adams on Channel 4. This is a brilliant series so far and I'm really enjoying it. This was followed by a new series on BBC 2, The Victorian Farm, made by the creators of the wonderful Tales from the Green Valley which I thoroughly enjoyed. This one looks as if it will be just as good - and I find that I'm interested in this series and relating it to my family history as it is fascinating to learn how people would have lived and worked through those times. Thirdly and again with family history in mind, having found out in the last couple of years that I have ancestors who moved from Fife and West Lothian into England in the early 19th century, is The History of Scotland again on BBC 2. This is fast moving and presented in a slightly frenetic way by Neil Oliver but it is completely captivating.

I've also been reading; in particular the last two Sunday Philosophy Club novels by Alexander McCall Smith, I loved the first three and ordered the two new ones from the library and have just enjoyed the first one of these 'The Careful Use of Compliments' - I love the gentle thoughfulness of these books and the wonderful descriptions of Edinburgh and in the one just read, of the scottish islands of Islay and Jura.

On Sunday we had a lovely visit from the son of a friend of old and his fiancee who stayed for lunch and told us of their wedding plans.

Last but not least I've been climbing in my family tree again and searching the newly released 1911 Census on line. I've found some interesting things which I'll no doubt report on later on Family Matters but for now I'm still assessing the information I've found.

For some reason I have been thinking a lot about the sea and the sand and walking on the beach and wondering if we will be able to get there this year - I hope we can.

The Beach at Nefyn, Lleyn Peninsula, North Wales, August 2006

So, all in all, it has been a quiet week of pottering with this and that, no walks or visits to speak of but hopefully, weather permitting, we will be able to rectify that this coming weekend.

Lost Christmas

I would say that it hit me, like a bolt out of the blue, on Saturday afternoon, after an early shopping trip to the dreaded Tesco and following a nice lunch. I have only vague memories of Sunday, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and yesterday as I spent most of the days in bed, unable to read, visions flashing by on the small upstairs TV screen, as I lay in some sort of Actifed induced haze, coughing - constantly coughing, until my throat and stomach and chest hurt. I coughed so much one night I pulled several stomach muscles and had to use the Deep Heat spray as well. I never did get round to putting back the curtains I'd taken down to launder; we never managed to cook the 'Chestnut and Red Wine Pate en Croute' ready for Christmas Day and I finally got round to washing the kitchen and conservatory floor this morning - you will have gathered from this that those were the last preparations I had to do for Christmas and that both Paul and I had been floored by the dreaded flu virus. Meanwhile, the fridge is still full of food I can't eat. Paul seems to be ok on the eating front but at the moment I can't bare the taste of coffee, which is unlike me as I love coffee, the idea of toast turns my stomach and I can't contemplate eating any of the plum pudding, cake or cookies we made. For three days I think I existed on grapes, little oranges and yoghurt.

As I lay in bed I vaguely remember watching some television. Carols from Kings on Christmas Eve for a start. I also remember dozing, on and off, through something set in an hotel where people fell through ice on a pond and someone's ashes were used to stuff the turkey - at this point I switched off - did I actually dream that? When you are laying in bed with nothing to do you can be tempted to watch some strange programmes and I was so mad at myself for giving up on 'The Old Curiosity Shop' but I did at one point feel really ill and dizzy during it so am hoping it will be repeated - it looked good. High points? The Sittaford Mystery - a gloriously atmospheric 'Marple' and amusingly yet another strange hotel. Christmas Cooks during which poor Oz Clarke seemed to be under the influence or fighting off flu, or something. Jamie's Christmas at Home I howled as he giggled at his black pepper trick on Genaro - see I told you I was easily amused. Christmas Corrie - the 'olds' continue to delight, their observational, dry repartee worthy of Bennett or Wood - well done the script writers and well done the actors. Especially Blanche - she is priceless. I loved the Christmas dinner scenes in Roy's Rolls the comic timing of Roy's missing of Hayley's calls reminded me of the old Whitehall Farces. I really like Becky and her scenes with Blanche are great - keep them working together please! Another character who has great comic timing is Clare, not tested so much this year, but I've never forgotten her scene from last Christmas day whilst outside her front door the Platt family are having one of their usual angst ridden fall outs over David, spilling out onto the street in their frustration, she opened her door, deposited her black bag in her wheelie bin, turned to the rabble, smiled and uttered the immortal line 'Having a Nice One?' and disappeared back inside again.

Well, I can't say we've had a nice one, I just hope everyone else has. I'm off now - still a bit woozy and coughing as well as ever. I have books and magazines to read, people to phone and cats to cuddle - for some reason they don't like coughing. I may be back to normal come New Year.

Just Ordinary Things

Days are rolling by that are filled with ordianary, every day things that, however small, need to be done in the count-down to Christmas.

Yesterday I wrote out all my Christmas Cards and typed up all my letters and got them ready to post, that's one thing I can tick off my ever growing list. Today I wandered down to the post office and posted them. On the way back I chose a rather nice holly wreath to put on Mum and Dad's grave when we go over to Scarcliffe on Saturday and then on to Chesterfield for a family get-together and present swapping. Still on the list are a few last bits for presents to take with us.

When I got home I made some jars of Christmas Chutney from the recipe on Nigella's Christmas Kitchen show last week. I'm definitely going to make the Mulled Cider on Christmas Eve. How does she manage to make food look so wonderful and sensual? Although I hugely enjoyed the glamour that is Nigella my favourite TV programme this week just has to be 'Housewife, 49' written by and starring Victoria Wood. The acting was superb and the story of Nella Last - not so ordinary housewife - had me laughing and crying at the same time. Victoria Wood has excelled herself with this one.